MRG Chapter 16: Will Always Protect You

Translator: Kii

Editor: yuki_shuichi

The spacious bakery exuded a captivating aroma.

“What…is he doing?” Shea pointed at Xavier, who was kneading dough like he was playing with mud, two or three meters away from Mu Chen.

The latter had flour on his forehead, looking down at the paste in his hands with a look of disdain. Every time he kneaded the dough, he would secretly raise his head to look in their direction, almost like a thief.

Shea furrowed his brows. Ever since the last time Xavier and Mu Chen had that fight and then went out for a while before coming back, he seemed like a whole different person—or rather his illness had worsened.

Now, Xavier liked to follow Mu Chen wherever he went, even to the “flower arranging” and “bakery” extracurricular classes, which he looked down on before.

The moment Mu Chen stopped his movement to look back, Xavier immediately looked down, as if to avoid eye contact with him.

Mu Chen looked at Shea. “No idea.”

If the other person was sick, then it was only normal that they didn’t understand this kind of behavior.

Seeing that Mu Chen wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, Xavier breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he was scared of looking into those blue eyes.

The reason why Xavier had been following Mu Chen these past two days was because he mainly had something on his mind that had been bothering him, but he hadn’t found the right time to talk.

When he thought of this, he couldn’t help but look in Mu Chen’s direction.

Mu Chen was wearing an apron on top of his clothes in order to prevent flour from getting on him. His soft silver hair was tied into a high ponytail at the back of his head. His profile was particularly peaceful, with long drooping eyelashes and sweet dimples, making it hard for anyone who saw to not be mesmerized.

Even Xavier couldn’t help but look at him several times. Mu Chen looked like an angel on the outside, but he was actually a devil on the inside.

The last time he was almost beaten to death was still deeply engraved in his mind.

After an unknown length of time, Xavier finally found an opportunity to talk alone with the other party.

Mu Chen was concentrating on pouring the prepared cupcake batter into the mold pan when suddenly a shadow fell in front of him and a stuttering voice sounded in his ears.

“You…”

Mu Chen raised his eyes and looked thoughtfully at Xavier, waiting for his next words.

Xavier’s face flushed from being stared at by Mu Chen. He blurted out everything he had held inside, “You’re gifted in piloting a mecha, why waste time on these things?”

Being a mecha pilot had always been Xavier’s dream, and he had always believed he was especially talented in it, that was until he met Mu Chen.

The feeling of being crushed by someone of a higher level, he couldn’t imagine how happy he would be if he had the same talent as Mu Chen. He would probably wake up from his dream laughing…

So at this moment, Xavier plucked up the courage to say in front of Mu Chen, “If you accept training, then…”

In the next second, the person in front of him suddenly stood up.

Xavier was suddenly startled. “What…what is it?”

Mu Chen looked directly behind him. “I need to put these cupcakes in the oven, you’re blocking it.”

He furrowed his brows in annoyance. So it turned out he came over here just to say such words to him…

How boring.

“Why…”

“You should…”

“You are…”

Mu Chen had heard this kind of sentence structure ever since he could remember until now.

“Oh.” Xavier subconsciously moved aside to get out of the way, but his tone still carried a bit of regret.

He looked at the other party’s retreating back, grabbed his hair in annoyance, and he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart…

He’s a really hard to figure out guy.

After baking class had ended, Mu Chen shared the freshly-baked cupcakes to many of his classmates, then put the ones that looked the most fluffiest and softest in a paper bag.

Seeing the little merman smiling while being surrounded, Xavier looked down at the coal-like lump in his hands, and thought gloomily in his heart—

Why didn’t he give me one?

After distributing the cupcakes, it was almost time for school to end. Parents came to pick up their children one after another.

“Gege.”

Once Light showed up, Mu Chen immediately ran up to him and hugged his waist. He buried his face in Light’s arms, closed his eyes, and the smile he had been maintaining the entire day finally relaxed. He no longer had to make any expression for others to see.

He was used to pretending, wearing a smile most of the time. After a long time, the mask would be so firmly attached to his face that it couldn’t be taken off. Sometimes, Mu Chen couldn’t tell whether he should actually be happy or sad.

However, at this moment, Light’s palm gently stroked his head. Without saying anything, he just let him hug him. Mu Chen could feel his heart relax, like standing barefoot on an empty beach, letting the seawater wash over his ankles in peaceful silence.

In the past fourteen years, the cruel rules of survival had taught him to strip away all worthless things, one of which was genuine emotions—if genuine emotions were useless, then they should be replaced with false ones.

So for Mu Chen, smiling and crying were never expressions of emotions, but just a means to achieve a certain goal.

But while staying with Light, he could feel his real self, and these originally useless emotions turned valuable again.

After a moment, Mu Chen raised his head from Light’s arms. The other party reached out his hands to tidy up his silver hair. “How was school today?”

Mu Chen, “I learned how to arrange flowers and make cakes, look…”

As he said this, he handed the packed cake bag to Light. “This is for Gege.”

Light took the bag from him. “Thank you.”

“Do you like it here?”

Mu Chen nodded vigorously, clinging to the other party as if he had no bones, and rambled, “It’s pretty good, most of the classmates are quite nice as well. It’s just that there is someone who is more annoying.”

Not far away, Xavier who was waiting to be picked up, saw the two figure, and he thought gloomily—

An annoying guy…

Who is it?

……

A melodious piano sound came from the auditorium.

Blake was leaning on a cane, his gray hair neatly combed back, his eyes closed and nodding slightly to the rhythm of the music.

“Ting~”

A distinct noise was mixed into the tune.

“Wrong…”

Blake suddenly furrowed his brows and tapped the floor with his cane, looking like he was going to issue a stern rebuke.

But when his gaze met with Mu Chen’s blue eyes, the words that were at the tip of his tongue could no longer be said.

Blake coughed a few times, suppressing his berating tone, and tapped the music score with his finger. “Start again from the fifth bar.”

After he finished speaking, he closed his eyes, ready to hear Mu Chen play again.

But the music didn’t start immediately.

The little merman’s hands left the piano keys, his eyes weren’t on the music score anymore, rather, he was looking into the distance.

Blake furrowed his brows again, resisting the urge to scold. He followed the merman’s gaze, then saw Light standing by the door.

Light was wearing a black military uniform, and his blonde hair was combed back, revealing a smooth forehead. He had just gone to the capital’s military base and was doing final check before leaving, so he hadn’t had time to change his clothes.

“Your Highness.” Seeing Light come in, Blake lowered his head in greeting.

Light nodded. “Did I bother you guys?”

Blake knew the Prince would need to return to the borders in a few days, so he must be here to find Mu Chen.

He shook his head and said to Mu Chen, “We’ll end here today. You’ll still have to start from the fifth bar next time.”

After saying that, he took his music sheet and left the auditorium, giving the rest of the time to them.

Light sat down next to Mu Chen on the piano bench.

Mu Chen seemed to be very interested in the medal hung on his shoulder. As soon as Light sat down, he took the initiative to lean closer to him.

It was a golden round medal with an eagle carved on it and the numbers “343” written below it.

Mu Chen had taken several classes on modern history of the Oz Empire at school in the past few days and he knew what this meant.

The eagle was the symbol of the mecha army, while the number represented the highest kill record set by Light. He destroyed a total of 342 Zerg mechas.

This was the highest kill record in the entire Oz Empire.

Light asked him, “You like it?”

As he said this, he was about to take the badge off to give it to Mu Chen to play with.

“Gege…”

Mu Chen raised his head to look at him.

“Hm?”

“Is your mecha in the capital right now?”

“Yes.”

“Can I have a look at it?”

……

The evening breeze blew across the largest port in the Oz Empire—Star Harbor. A mecha as tall as a building was parked on the warship deck. The back of the mecha had a pair of black wings that shone like light and blended into the night sky, like an eagle spreading its wings.

Light sat in the pilot seat while hugging Mu Chen on his lap.

Apart from the few mecha repairmen who occasionally come to debug the functions of the mecha, Mu Chen was only the second person in the entire Blue Planet who sat in this seat.

At this moment, the bustling city capital shrank before them into a web-like image formed by the light of a thousand stars.

Mu Chen looked at the mecha, which was brand new inside and out. He could tell that Light valued this mecha of his.

Lance had once teased Light that he was a “mecha lover.” Mu Chen of course didn’t know what that meant, after all, how could a person love mechas?

However, as he sat in this seat and looked down upon this entire capital, Mu Chen seemed to understand a bit. It should be a feeling of liking and cherishing very much.

At the same time, there was also a sense of responsibility.

Light had asked in the palace why he suddenly wanted to see the mecha.

He didn’t give a reason, just said that he wouldn’t be able to see it after his Gege left.

And Mu Chen, who was in his arms, suddenly said, “Gege, do you still remember that annoying classmate I told you about?”

“Mhm.”

Mu Chen, “He said it’s shameful for me to like flower arranging and baking, while people like him will inevitably be a mecha pilot in the future. Gege, do you also think me liking these things is shameful?”

Light was stunned for a moment. “It’s not.”

Mu Chen raised his head, looking him in the eye. “But Gege also doesn’t like these things, you can even pilot mechas, and you are the best one in the entire empire at that…”

“I also want to be as amazing as you, Gege.”

Light didn’t know why someone would instill such a thought in him. He was silent for a moment, as if thinking of how to word it, then immediately raised his chin. “Do you see those lights down there?”

“Mhm.” Mu Chen nodded.

Light, “Each light that turns on represents something different—it could be a harbor, a dock, a railway, a shopping mall, a residence… There’s also a flower arranging and bakery shop. The purpose of piloting mechas is to protect every inch of land here, so that they can do what they like with more peace of mind.”

“You don’t need to force yourself to a certain person. It’s fine as long as you’re doing something you like…”

Light lowered his head and said to him, “I will protect you.”

Mu Chen saw the brilliant galaxy reflected in the other person’s eyes. A gust of wind blew outside the mecha, bending the branches and scattering the myriad lights below, turning them into dazzling lights that gradually merged into the depths of Light’s deep eyes.

The corner of Mu Chen’s lips raised, and he asked, “Will you always protect me?”

“Yes.”