Chapter 247: Overwriting Bad Memories

That day, Qiu Nuoya and the others went to the royal castle at Prince Lucien’s invitation.

For one thing, they needed to clarify the whereabouts of the Divine Sword Velikorya, which Qiu Nuoya had inadvertently ended up obtaining. And when the prince told them that they needed to bring Xiao Tao, the summoned Hero who had disappeared immediately after being summoned, before his father, the king, they could hardly refuse.

Well, they probably could have refused, but Qiu Nuoya had a feeling that doing so would only make things even more complicated. So, in the end, they deliberately decided to go to the royal castle.

Xiao Tao looked anxious, but Lady Sherria had understood him once they had properly talked things through. Surely the king would understand as well if they simply explained the situation to him. Hopefully.

Although Xiao Tao had been summoned to this world as a Hero, he was not the hot blooded type of protagonist one might find in a battle-oriented shonen manga.

He was not the kind of person who possessed baseless confidence, thinking, I can do this! I’ll fight and save the world!

If anything, Shangguan Wan’er was the one who had that sort of personality, while Xiao Tao was more like the childhood friend who had been dragged along against his will.

If Shangguan Wan’er occupied the position of the shonen protagonist and Xiao Tao were the beautiful heroine, perhaps it would feel a little more like a classic shonen manga. In that case, the story would probably begin with the protagonist searching for the heroine after she was kidnapped in another world.

But, unfortunately, things had not turned out that way.

Shangguan Wan’er had been searching for Xiao Tao, but that was solely because she wanted to find the Divine Sword Velikorya and increase her own level. No matter how hard they tried, there was no way a classic shonen manga story could begin like this. And Xiao Tao, despite occupying the heroine’s position, was being treated so carelessly that he could hardly be called part of the story at all.

Qiu Nuoya glanced at Xiao Tao, who was constantly looking anxious beside him.

Was it merely his own arrogance to think that he had to do something to help him?

"Xiao Tao, you don’t have to look so worried. Everything will be fine."

"Eh... Ah, I’m sorry..."

There was absolutely nothing for him to apologize for, yet Xiao Tao nervously apologized to Qiu Nuoya.

Is this what they call the desire to protect someone?

Perhaps this was the same feeling that made everyone else want to fuss over Qiu Nuoya.

Although, if anything, Qiu Nuoya thought Xiao Tao was far more the type of person who made others want to protect him.

Come to think of it, Xiao Tao had originally been summoned to this very place, the royal castle. Yet the mystery of how he had somehow been transported through time remained unsolved.

They already knew that it was Cassian, Viktor’s father, who had summoned him, but Cassian had claimed that he had nothing to do with Xiao Tao’s subsequent transportation.

Whether that was a lie or the truth was impossible to determine based solely on his testimony. And even if he was telling the truth, they still had no idea who had cast Xiao Tao out of the royal castle, or why.

Had Qiu Nuoya and the others encountered him purely by chance, or had it been inevitable?

And if someone had deliberately guided Xiao Tao to them, then for what purpose?

There were simply too many things they did not understand.

"Nuoya, why do you look so troubled?"

"Huh?"

"I have not a single good memory of this castle. Nothing good could possibly happen in a place like this. If you do not want to be here, we can cancel the audience with the king."

"We’ve come all this way, so we can’t exactly do that now, Viktor."

Qiu Nuoya gave Viktor a wry smile.

What Viktor had said was probably true from his own perspective. He must have hated being in this castle more than anything.

"Perhaps the best way to deal with bad memories is to overwrite them with good ones."

With that, Qiu Nuoya took Viktor’s hand.

"Wh...!"

Viktor looked startled.

Qiu Nuoya leaned closer to look into his face and asked, "Do you dislike holding hands with me?"

Viktor immediately shook his head with all his strength.

Qiu Nuoya often walked hand in hand with Warren, but this was the first time he had ever held Viktor’s hand while walking.

It would be a lie to say he was not embarrassed, but Qiu Nuoya still looked like a child on the outside. Surely something this innocent was fine.

"But why...?"

Qiu Nuoya could clearly sense Viktor’s confusion. And it was only natural. Qiu Nuoya had never done anything like this with him before.

But there was a very deliberate motive behind what Qiu Nuoya was doing.

Qiu Nuoya liked Viktor.

He had repeatedly rejected Viktor’s feelings, refusing to become nothing more than a substitute for Qiu Tailang. But now that Qiu Nuoya knew Qiu Tailang was still alive, he had realized something.

He hated the thought of Viktor being taken away from him by Qiu Tailang even more.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Qiu Nuoya understood that the ordinary middle aged man he had been in his forties would have had no chance with someone as beautiful as Viktor.

But now, Qiu Nuoya was an exceptionally handsome young boy whom no one could be ashamed to show off.

His current appearance still felt somewhat like an avatar to him, and he had yet to fully accept that this body was really his. Even so, he had decided to make full use of his unnecessarily adorable appearance.

Fortunately, Viktor did not know what Qiu Nuoya’s true appearance had been like as an ordinary middle aged man. And the adorable version of Qiu Nuoya standing before him was someone Viktor already loved.