The Emperor’s Daily Nitpicking

The Beifeicu Empire was covered in ice and snow almost all year long.
It was bordered by the Cesar Icefield in the north as far as the eyes could see and the vast and mighty dangerous Carat River in the south.
The imperial city, Feiling, was located at the center of the northern side.
It was so cold and dry that even until the 5th month, one could breathe out cold air when walking outside.

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As there were a few frozen groundwaters under the city, the temperature underground was even lower than on the ground, and it was also damp.

The Beifeicu Empire’s dungeon was immorally built in this nastiest environment, right beside the frozen groundwater.

Kevin folded his long legs and sat on the uneven ground with a completely comfortable posture.
He leaned on the prison’s gloomy and cold stone wall, bowing his head to look at his right arm.

In this prison, except for the few ventilation 8holes smaller than the size of a fist on the ceiling, it was impossible to find anything more related to the outside world.
The wall light on the corridor was pathetic and dimly lit.
The flames weren’t strong at all, as if they were holding on to their last breath.

Kevin’s right hand seemed to look more terrifying under the dim light…

If it could still be called a hand then.

The intact skin and flesh ended abruptly on the wrist, and there were multitudes of white bones under the dripping blood on the wound; even the bones weren’t intact.
The metacarpal bones lacked half of their original form, and only two finger bones were intact.
The rest might as well have been bitten by a dog.

Tck.
It was hideous.

Kevin looked down for a while, then mocked himself: Anyway, he was lucky that a few bones were still left.

There weren’t even any dog-gnawed half metacarpal bones that could be seen a few minutes ago.

Suddenly, a skinny rat came out from the stone wall corner.
Its stiff hair rubbed against Kevin’s dripping wound, making him speechless.

Kevin silently inhaled, glanced at the rat, and nimbly flipped his fingerbones a few steps away from it.

In barely a blink of an eye, his dog-gnawed metacarpal bones seemed to grow a little more, and his middle finger now had two more knucklebones.

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The scrawny rat squeaked a few times.
It was unknown if it was being frightened by the touch of those bones or Kevin himself.
It turned around to change direction and ran away.
In the end, it couldn’t find the right way and instead knocked against the muscle on Oswald’s arm, rolling over before hurriedly fleeing away.

Just by this not light or heavy touch, Oswald lying on the ground twitched his hand twice, frowned his brows, and opened his eyes.

He was currently unable to grasp their situation.
He glanced around, then abruptly propped himself to sit.

“Hiss –” He pressed the wound on the back of his head, let out a few slow breaths, and then raised his eyes to ask.
“Where is this damn place?”

Kevin casually waved his left hand.
“Of course, inside a prison.”

As for that not very beautiful right hand, he could only cover it in the shadow of the side of his back.
It was impossible to see it from Oswald’s angle.

Kevin pointed at the symbol carved on the side of the chain’s keyhole on their feet and added.
“In Beifeicu Empire’s prison.”

Oswald’s face became completely dark.
“The Sand Ghost exerted effort to catch people, but they were locked inside the Beifeicu Empire’s prison?”

It seemed that there was indeed something strange going on.
It was known that the Beifeicu Empire was equivalent to the Sand Ghost’s lackey.
Maybe the Sand Ghost could help them make deterrence, but nobody expected that they would exert real effort.
On the contrary, the Beifeicu Empire busily bounced all over the place for most of the time, and the Sand Ghost only waited for the profits.

Looking at the way now, it seemed there was a complete change from being a lackey into equal cooperation.

“If there were cooperation, then there would be an exchange of benefits, but who knows where that old bastard Sapir suddenly got so much wealth to bargain.
Maybe they had dug out an exceptionally hidden treasure, or something like that…….” Kevin fiddled with the keyhole chain on his feet.
He seemed to be studying how to stir the lock open.

“Speaking of benefit exchange…..” Oswald frowned and said, “What happened to the Sand Ghost today? Everyone who touched him would die.
What kind of joke is this?! A mutation?”

Kevin casually said, “Maybe this is the benefit.”

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Oswald, “…..”

“Please don’t use that kind of manner to speak of this terrifying guess; thank you.” Mio’s muffled voice was carried from next door through the rat hole.
“I’ve just opened my eyes and heard your conversation.
I think it was better and worry-free for me to faint again.”

“You’re still alive?” Kevin asked with astonishment.

Mio, “…..I’m not completely unworthy, ah.”

There were rustling sounds of clothes from beside.
After some time, Mio’s voice had shifted position.
It directly came from across the wall, making it a lot clearer.
“Honestly, only one Sand Ghost like this had killed so many of our people.
If there were a little more, how could this fight still be done ah……”

Who the hell would be able to fight them?!

Let alone the Jinshi Empire or the Beifeicu Empire, even all the clans and races on the entire Mainland would still be trampled.

“But they still cooperated with the Beifeicu Empire.” Oswald said, “So, there must’ve been something odd in the midst of this.
Either their situation wasn’t so difficult to be dealt with as it looked, or there was still something or someone in the hands of the Beifeicu Empire.”

Kevin still fiddled with the chain on his feet, and he let out an ‘en’ to express his agreement.

Speaking of hands…

Oswald suddenly raised his head and asked Kevin.
“What about your right hand?!”

Kevin, “……Isn’t the level of your topic jump a little too high?”

He put aside the chains, raised his eyes, and asked Oswald in puzzlement.
“Why did you suddenly ask about my right hand?”

“What nonsense –” Oswald saw that he was trying to divert the topic, and his complexion immediately sank.
He leaned his body over and clamped down on Kevin’s right hand, hidden behind his back, without saying another word.

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“If you want to ask a question, then nicely ask it.
When you disagree, then you will immediately use action.
What kind of craziness is this?!” He exasperatedly pulled Kevin.
He took the opportunity to extend out his right arm.
“So, what wrong did my right hand do to you?”

When this person pulled him, there was a shift in their position.  A little ray of moonlight leaked through the hole in the ceiling and shone directly on top of Kevin’s right hand.

He only saw that his fingers were long and well-shaped.
Although he used to hold swords all year round, there weren’t any hard calluses left.
With a slight movement, the muscles and bones on the back of his hand would prominently appear.
Compared to Oswald’s hand, except that it was leaner and paler, there wasn’t any other difference.

“How could it be……” Oswald’s expression turned complicated in an instant.
He didn’t know if the feeling of relief or disbelief was more significant at this moment.
“I clearly saw –-”

“Saw what?” Kevin raised his brows.

Saw that your right hand had been sucked inside the sand…

Oswald opened his mouth, but he swallowed back this sentence in the end.
The space between his brows showed distress and hesitation.
Previously, did he really see clearly in that critical situation? Could it really be the problem of the angle?

It still didn’t feel right…

But if it was really sucked inside the sand, this right hand should have been gone long ago.
How could it be this intact with not even a wound seen……?

Oswald felt apprehension in his heart.
He had forgotten what he was going to say.
He stared blankly at that right hand, then rashly said, “Why is your hand so cold like a ghost?”

“…..” Kevin, “Can’t you be any worrier than this?”

Oswald expressionless said, “I think you need to return to the academy to retake etiquette class, such as learning how to talk to the Emperor to live longer.”

Kevin gave a very bastardly smile.
“Unfortunately, Your Majesty the Emperor is now prisoned together with me.
It’s not easy to say if we can come out alive from here.”

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Oswald, “…..”

He gazed into Kevin’s eyes for a while before abruptly throwing this bastard’s right paw away.
Then, he took out a round carved bone pendant hanging close to his neck and pressed on something on the corner until a ‘click’ sounded.
The pendant was divided in half, and there was a hollow groove in its middle—three black ‘small beetles’ placed in the groove.

“The sand messenger…..” Kevin astonishingly said.

The leather bag on their body had either been lost or taken away.
He absolutely didn’t expect this person had left behind a thing that would come in handy.

Oswald poured out one and pinched it without saying anything, then unhurriedly said toward Kevin.
“The possibility of coming out from here alive is higher than Your Excellency’s prediction.
Now, you can think carefully about going back to the academy to study etiquette.”

Kevin, “…..”

After finishing, he inspected himself again and turned over all of the places on his body that could be turned over.
He even turned over Kevin’s clothes in passing.
Lastly, he had touched the metal ring on the buckle fastened at Kevin’s waist.
He raised his head and said to a dumbfounded Kevin, “Carry your pants.”

Kevin rolled his eyes.
“…..
By pulling on the ring, the pants will also not fall.
Thank you for being so concerned.”

Oswald wordlessly pulled on the metal ring and immediately twisted it into a hook using his bare hands.
Then he rubbed it a little before poking it into the keyhole of the chain on his feet and fiddled with it.

Kevin heard a ‘click’ sound from the keyhole with a confused look on his face, and then the chain was loosened.

“You were a young master in your childhood and became the Emperor when you’re grown up.
Tell me, where did you learn this skill from?” Kevin poked at his own keyhole while lamenting.
“Fortunately, the guards here didn’t like to patrol around the prison groundlessly.”

“But they must be guarding the exit,” Oswald said while aiming for the cell door keyhole, but then they heard a sudden gust of wind pouring inside the prison corridor.

The two people stopped their movement.
They instantly leaned back on the wall, tilted their head, and quietly pretended to be unconscious.