The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]

Chapter 1106: The Glass Statue

"JAX! You’re gonna want to ta—"

The automatic doors slid open smoothly, and Ollie burst into the medical bay carrying an assortment of snacks and food containers carefully balanced in his arms, only for his words to abruptly die halfway through his sentence.

"Huh?"

His enthusiastic expression immediately gave way to confusion.

Standing by the doorway, Ollie blinked at the scene before him.

It was... strange.

One person was sitting upright on the bed with one hand covering part of his face, looking suspiciously like someone mid-groan. Meanwhile, the original patient was calmly sitting on the bed, folding towels into impossibly conspicuous shapes that looked ready for a luxury zoo.

"...?"

The atmosphere was strange.

Weird.

"Brother-in-law?" Ollie asked. "You’re still here?"

The blonde sounded genuinely confused and immediately checked the time on his terminal, wondering if he had somehow gotten the schedule wrong.

Had he spent too long salivating over the food?

Long enough to accidentally miss an entire shift and arrive for the next one instead?

Uh-oh!

But a second later, his eyes widened.

"Oh my god, why are you here?!"

He looked back and forth between his terminal and Killian several times before screeching.

"Aren’t you supposed to be at the office?!"

The Chief of Staff, who suddenly felt like choking on absolutely nothing, straightened his posture.

"Was just about to leave."

The answer came perhaps a little too quickly.

Killian stood up immediately afterward.

He looked reasonably composed.

Mostly.

At least until one noticed how he seemed determined not to maintain eye contact with anyone. Not even the bees on the wall.

The man strode toward the exit with what was clearly intended to be a casual pace.

Ollie followed him with his eyes.

Then, just as Killian reached the doorway, the towering worker casually reached over, grabbed a piece of toast from Ollie’s tray, and nodded.

"Thanks."

A second later, he was gone.

The door closed behind him.

Silence.

The blonde stared at the empty doorway.

Then stared at the now-missing piece of toast.

Then back at the doorway.

"Ack!"

The delayed reaction finally arrived.

"I didn’t even get to stop him!"

The newest legal member of House Nox looked horrified enough that his hair antenna seemed to malfunction on the spot.

"He’s my brother-in-law, but I shouldn’t let him get away with things like this!"

The blonde pointed dramatically toward the door.

"What if he grows up thinking it’s okay to snatch my snacks?!"

Having thoroughly expressed his ironically grave concerns about the well-being of a being that was very clearly already grown, Ollie finally turned toward Jax.

His expression immediately softened.

Poor Jax.

Clearly his friend had just lost out on one glorious piece of toast.

Unfortunately, the redhead didn’t seem remotely bothered.

In fact, Jax looked perfectly relaxed as he leaned back against a mountain of pillows.

"Actually," he said thoughtfully, "I think you should’ve given him all of it."

"What?!"

Ollie nearly dropped the entire tray.

"Do you even know what these are?!"

The blonde held the containers up dramatically.

"My brother specifically packed these for you!"

"I had to spend the entire trip here convincing myself not to eat them!"

"Do you have any idea how difficult that was?!"

"I thought I was going to starve to death!"

Jax stared.

The redhead carefully examined the supposedly starving individual standing before him.

The problem was that Ollie looked incredibly healthy.

Suspiciously healthy.

Almost aggressively healthy.

His cheeks were slightly plump.

His complexion practically glowed.

Every movement somehow carried the energy of someone who had recently consumed enough food for at least ten.

If anything, Jax felt like he could hear a boing sound every time the blonde bounced around.

"..."

"..."

Nonetheless, the supposedly bed-resting patient decided not to mention any of that.

Instead, he simply shrugged.

"Of course, I want some."

Then he added matter-of-factly,

"But people who need more nutrients should get more food, right?"

Ollie blinked.

"Huh?"

"Who needs more nutrients?"

"Killian."

The answer came instantly and surprisingly in detail...

"Maybe it’s because he skips meals or sits too much, but he’s currently too soft and doesn’t have enough stamina."

"Sorry, what?!"

The mop looked completely stunned.

For several seconds, he genuinely questioned whether they were talking about the same person.

Then he pointed at the door.

"The guy who just left?"

"Mm."

"That Killian?"

"Mm."

"The Killian?"

Jax nodded patiently. Because who else could he be talking about?

Ollie looked personally betrayed by reality.

"Where?!"

The blonde’s voice echoed through the room.

"Where is this softness you’re talking about?!"

He pointed at the door again.

"Because that guy looks like he could snap me in half!"

Ollie was picturing Killian’s broad shoulders, intimidating presence, and more than enough muscle to make most military personnel feel inadequate.

Nothing about that image matched what Jax was describing.

So between the two of them, who actually had eye problems?!

Meanwhile, Jax merely shrugged.

"Well, he’s always been delicate."

The statement nearly caused Ollie’s brain to stutter, lagging as conflicting ideas clashed in his already zinging brain.

His brother-in-law... delicate?

"?!"

Though that wasn’t exactly wrong if one viewed it from the perspective of a certain workout junkie.

After all, when they were younger, Jax mostly remembered seeing Killian buried beneath books and paperwork.

And as hard to believe as it was, prior to the inevitable growth spurt that would hit all of them, the eldest Nox most definitely looked the most delicate of them all.

In clothes that were always immaculate, he would sit by the window reading for hours, maintaining the exact same posture so perfectly that he often resembled a glass statue, with only the occasional shift in expression betraying the fact that he was alive.

See, while the three of them were busy toddling around, hijacking mechas, and probably eating mud—well, at least one of them had definitely been eating mud—the only older child in their immediate vicinity was usually indoors, endlessly studying things that never quite managed to capture the wide-eyed Jax’s interest.

Not that Killian never interacted with them.

He definitely did.

In fact, he was often the first person they sought out whenever they got themselves into trouble.

He had always been strangely busy with things most children his age probably wouldn’t have spared a second glance for.

Even so, whenever enough panic made its way into their voices, he somehow ended up helping anyway.

Granted, such assistance was usually accompanied by several exchanges of thoroughly (un)brotherly words and even blows between the two Nox brothers...

Still, he helped.

Whether it was helping them come up with believable alibis, figuring out how to avoid getting caught, or arranging treatment for the bruises and injuries they inevitably acquired from doing things they absolutely shouldn’t have been doing, Killian would end up getting begrudgingly roped into their shenanigans.

Looking back, it probably helped that Kyle’s big brother simply had a better reputation for staying responsibly safe, so they would normally get away with most of their youthful "crimes."

It was probably really difficult to punish someone who could always be found exactly where he was supposed to be, so hiding behind him as a shield almost always worked.

But it wasn’t like Killian had been required to stay cooped up inside to earn such credibility. Quite the opposite actually.

The adults, afraid of his workaholic tendencies, would always tell him to come outside to play.

But unlike the rest of them, who shouldn’t be outdoors but would still eagerly run amok whenever there was an opportunity to become stronger (to play), Killian always looked as though he was being forcibly escorted to his execution whenever physical activity appeared on his schedule.

Unfortunately for him, he was also the heir of House Nox.

And as such, responsibilities didn’t simply disappear because he disliked them.

So Killian followed his schedule.

Day after day.

Year after year.

Eventually, the rather scrawny child who definitely needed more sunlight and significantly more outdoor exposure grew up like every other Nox before him—strong enough to defend both himself and his House.

A government official whose duties kept him far from the front lines, yet whose physique looked ready for immediate deployment.

That was what Killian likely looked like to the blonde at the moment, so the redhead simply said.

"Well, he’s trained a lot since then, but even so..." Jax continued thoughtfully, as though replaying the earlier incident in his mind and arriving at his own conclusions.

"Hm."

He nodded to himself.

"Maybe I should look into what kind of training he’s doing these days."

The redhead rested his chin on his hand.

"With the right regimen, he won’t get weakened so easily."

He paused.

Then nodded to himself.

"And maybe he’d be able to handle longer sessions too."

Jax seemed quite pleased with that conclusion.

Across from him, Ollie could only stare.

The blonde had absolutely no idea what kind of alternate version of Killian existed inside Jax’s head.

But apparently, it was a very fragile one.

He most definitely had to ask his husband!

Then again, unbeknownst to the wiggling mop, said husband was also busy after accidentally encountering his older brother, who walked as if he were escaping from a burning building.

"...?!"