“Yes, I accompanied the commander-in-chief to meet the head of state,” he suppressed a smile, because the topic he was about to discuss was very serious. “I am a general in the Imperial Armed Police, assigned to the SS, and work in the Security Service. Of course, these are not secrets. But my whereabouts, what time I go to work, what time I get off work, when I occasionally go on business trips, where I go, who I am with, and the things in my briefcase and study, in a sense, those are all classified.”
“You said briefcase, is that the black briefcase that you put down every day when you come home?” She recalled that he would carry a heavy black leather briefcase in his hand every day when he came back, and she had inadvertently opened it once.
“Yes,” the corners of his lips slightly curled up. In fact, he was not very willing to bring up this topic, but the word “home” inexplicably warmed his heart.
Her dark eyes blinked. That time, she always felt that his bag was too heavy, and she wanted to tidy it up for him. Inside were some documents, either in parts or single pages, several black notebooks, a small stack of film and several hard cards tucked into a dark compartment, and a black iridium fountain pen. Everything was arranged quite neatly by him. It seemed that there was no room for anyone to intervene. She reluctantly zipped up the briefcase again, picked it up with both hands, and placed it in the cabinet in the room. “But you hand it to me every day. What if I’m a spy? Aren’t you worried that important information will be exposed?”
“You’re a spy?” He chuckled, pinching her delicate nose with his fingers. “Tell me, which country’s intelligence agency do you work for, hmm?”
“How could anyone be so easily interrogated about who they work for?” She lowered her head, saying jokingly.
He laughed even louder, then pressed her soft, boneless body tightly into his arms. “Perhaps, you really are a spy, sent from the land of love. You have committed heinous crimes because you have unknowingly captured my heart.”
He knew what day it was today, so he deliberately returned a bit earlier, of course at the cost of canceling several important dinner engagements with high-ranking officials. As soon as he stepped through the door, he was first drawn in by a rich, sweet aroma of cream in the air, and then he noticed a large cake placed in the center of a newly arranged dining table, decorated with a strange animal drawn in chocolate and densely filled with candles. He paused in front of the cake, smiled for a moment, then changed his clothes and quickly ascended the stairs.
When Khanyi came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of cheese potato cakes, she glanced at the neatly hung black uniform and hat on the coat rack and knew he had returned, possibly taking a shower in the bathroom. She placed the potato cakes on the table and suddenly noticed that the arrangement of the candles on the cake was not as neat as before. After counting carefully, she realized that a few candles were missing.
“Evelyn, how many candles did you put on the cake?” Khanyi returned to the kitchen and asked the maid who was wiping glasses.
“According to your request, 35, not a single one less,” Evelyn replied, turning her head with a puzzled blink of her brown eyes.
“But… well, okay.” Khanyi hesitated, walked into the kitchen, tiptoed, and took out four candles from a high cabinet. She quickly returned to the hall, found a few sparse spots on the fragrant cake, and inserted the candles one by one, then skipped happily back to the kitchen.
After he finished his shower, he descended the stairs slowly, changed into a clean outfit, feeling much fresher and lighter. However, when he approached the dining table, ready to admire her masterpiece—the oddly decorated birthday cake—his smile gradually froze on his handsome face, because the candles he had just pulled out had been reinserted. He raised his right hand, two fingers pointing at the cake, preparing to pull out the extra candles again.
“Ah! So it was you who pulled them out…” Khanyi walked to the front of the dining table, exclaiming loudly as if she had caught a child sneaking a snack.
He shot her a glance, ignoring her protest, and continued to move his fingers, gently pulling out a few candles and placing them beside the cake. “Do I look that old? In fact, I lied about my age to enlist in the army; that’s how it should be.”
Khanyi counted the number of candles on the cake again, surprised, and asked, “Are you 31? I’m 19 this year, so you’re exactly a decade older than me.”
He raised an eyebrow, not asking her what “a decade” meant, and opened his arms to pull her into his embrace, softly asking, “Darling, what did you draw on the cake?”
“A dragon, I thought you were born in the Year of the Dragon,” she said, biting her lower lip, happily gazing at her “work.”
“A dragon? If it’s a dragon, it seems a bit thin,” he squinted his ice-blue eyes, clearly being a bit nitpicky as he pointed and said, “And there are too many claws; it looks more like a malnourished lizard with excessive claws.”
“In African culture, dragons are auspicious divine beasts, capable of riding clouds and calling rain, unlike your kind that hides in the mountains and breathes fire at the slightest provocation!” she protested, “But by that logic, you should be born in the Year of the Sheep.”
“What did you say, sheep?”
“In South Africa, we use twelve animals as the twelve zodiac signs, and everyone has a corresponding sign.”
“So… you mean my corresponding animal is a sheep?”
“Yes,” she nodded, “Don’t you like it?”
He honestly shook his head, smiling a bit helplessly, “Lambs are sacrificial offerings, sacred as they may be, but I prefer wolves; they embody speed, strength, and a spirit of cooperation.”
“But in our Central Plains culture, wolves are an unwelcome animal; they are synonymous with treachery, cunning, and brutality, how could anyone use a wolf as a zodiac sign!”
He raised an eyebrow, noncommittal, not wanting to argue with her on this point. In fact, in his language, the meaning of his name is “King of Wolves.” He had made up his mind to be a wolf, leaning down to kiss her hair, her cheek, and her ear, like raindrops, increasingly dense.
