Chapter 6. Jealousy (10)
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A single small lamp flickered within the dark monastery. It was the deep of night when everyone was asleep.
Three shadows cast by the wavering light walked side by side down the corridor. Moving stealthily except for the sound of their footsteps damply touching the stone floor, they descended stairs heading to an even deeper place. The basement, with only a small window at the end, was even more damp and quiet.
The monastery was much larger than it appeared from the outside. Though not tall, it was wide and deep. From outside there seemed to be only a few windows, but once inside, countless doors were laid out along the long corridors.
Eventually arriving before a certain room, the monk searched for a key. The sound of the rusted lock opening rang quite clearly within the stone monastery.
Since it was a small door even for Ronen, he ducked his head while tightly grasping the blanket wrapped around his body as he passed through. The room was so narrow that it contained only a bed and a small shrine to God. Holding a candlestick while looking up at the ceiling mural depicting God, the monk spoke to Ronen.
“This was originally the room where Sir Eckart stayed.”
Hearing those words made it feel strange, and Ronen unconsciously looked at Eckart. Young Eckart had grown up here. In this very room where Ronen now stood.
“Would you wait here for a while?”
“Of course.”
Ronen answered readily with a smile. The monk smiled back in response and spoke to Eckart.
“I imagine you have quite a lot to discuss with him.”
“Yes.”
“Please rest comfortably.”
At the monk’s words, Ronen bowed his head lightly. Leaving Ronen there, Eckart and the monk left the room.
The two quietly left that place and came outside, worried they might wake others. In the center of the cloister was a quite spacious courtyard. Memories of offering outdoor prayers or training there came flooding back. In spring they would plant flowers and plants here and there, but now when it was still far from warm weather, it was desolate.
The monk, who had been silently watching the still fiercely pouring rain, opened his mouth.
“What circumstances could possibly have brought you rushing here without word, Eckart? Who is that person?”
The monk considered Ronen an extraordinary person based on his appearance and the atmosphere he emanated. The nobility that couldn’t be hidden even dressed in rags shone even within the cold and gloomy monastery. Since distinguished guests in danger had often secretly come to the monastery to hide in the past, he made such a guess.
Instead of explaining all the circumstances, Eckart made a plea.
“I hope you could hide him here for a while. Just briefly would be enough.”
This place wasn’t safe either. Eckart recalled the Grand Duke’s snake-like eyes. The gaze of a cruel predator that bound its prey tightly and slowly cut off its breath.
He had an ominous feeling that the man would eventually find Ronen even if he had to search the entire continent. Though it would be difficult immediately, given time he would surely pursue them like this time, so a safer and more certain refuge was needed.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can’t allow even our monastery to become endangered.”
“…I understand well.”
Though he didn’t know what the matter was, there must be a reason for Eckart to ask this much. This was Eckart, after all. Since there was solid trust that he wasn’t one to act recklessly, though the monk hesitated with obvious anxiety on his face, he eventually nodded.
“If it’s just briefly… I understand. I’ll try my best.”
“Thank you.”
“If he needs to hide without anyone knowing, the rooms where distinguished guests stay would be difficult. But staying in that room now… If meals start going in and out of what should originally be an empty room, it will naturally arouse suspicion…”
The monk fell into worry about how to handle this matter. Eckart, who had likewise been lost in thought, opened his mouth.
“…Couldn’t you make an excuse that I’m staying here?”
“You, you mean?”
“Yes. Even if I happen to encounter others, it would be natural.”
“If that person just doesn’t leave the room, that method wouldn’t be bad either.”
“I’ll speak to him about that properly.”
Saying literally that he had decided to stay mostly in his room to be faithful to religious life would make it convenient to bring meals directly as well.
The monk nodded, saying he understood. Eckart expressed deep gratitude to the monk who said he would bring meals directly and not to worry.
The night felt particularly long. Even after the monk went back to sleep, Eckart sat for a long time in the empty chapel. He looked up at God and prayed. But God did not respond to his prayers. No voice could be heard.
As dawn broke, light dimly filled the chapel. Eckart, who had been quietly offering prayers until then, rose.
Returning to the room, Ronen, who seemed to have been waiting for him, quickly stood up from where he had been sitting on the bed. He had changed into the black clothes the monk had given him, but rather than looking ascetic, his white skin and slender lines stood out even more, only adding to his characteristic allure.
In that faint darkness, Ronen’s eyes met his. Eckart avoided that gaze and changed the subject.
“If the fact that an outsider has entered the monastery is discovered, it will become troublesome, so you cannot leave this place for a while. It will be uncomfortable, but please bear with it for a moment. …It won’t be long.”
Eckart’s voice grew smaller as he spoke the last words. It sounded like a murmur to himself.
“What about you? What will you do?”
“…When it gets dark again, I’ll go down to the village. There I’ll…”
Ronen, who had been standing quietly, approached Eckart. Step by step, the distance between them narrowed.
“I’ll find a way to hide you from the Grand Duke’s eyes.”
Before he knew it, Ronen had come right up close. Just as Eckart felt it was too close and was about to step back, Ronen cupped Eckart’s cheek.
Looking straight up at Eckart, who widened his eyes in surprise, Ronen said:
“You said it yourself. That you’re already a sinner. That you’ve committed so many sins that committing more doesn’t matter.”
Ronen’s thumb lightly rubbed Eckart’s cheek. He could vividly feel the tension entering Eckart’s body. The hand that had been stroking Eckart’s rigid face brushed past his ear and gradually moved down to his neck. The sensation of thin, dry fingers grazing his skin made him shiver.
In Eckart’s wavering eyes, Ronen’s red tongue licking his own lips was embedded.
“In your dreams, and in your imagination, what did I look like?”
Ronen placed his hand on Eckart’s chest and pushed lightly. Though it was the weakest of forces, Eckart was easily pushed back. When his legs hit the bed and he sat down heavily, Ronen whispered in his ear.
“Can I do exactly what you saw in your dreams, exactly what you imagined?”
When Eckart made a pained expression, Ronen showed an even more seductive smile.
“From now on, I’m going to touch you, feel you, and devour you. Without leaving anything behind.”
Ronen’s voice was as sinister as Satan’s. Eckart swallowed dry saliva and slowly lay down on the bed. Ronen climbed on top of him.
Since this was exactly what he himself had desperately desired, Eckart did not refuse Ronen. He quietly accepted the lips biting his earlobe and the hands loosening his still not completely dry clothes.
Soon the rough breathing that both men exhaled filled the narrow room. Due to the heat, his mind was dazed and all his nerves were concentrated on the sensations they gave each other, making the hymns and prayers faintly audible from outside feel like hallucinations.
Ronen’s tongue smoothly descended along Eckart’s neckline. Before he knew it, Eckart’s chest was fully exposed. When Ronen’s lips lightly bit his well-trained chest muscles, Eckart gripped the blanket tightly while exhaling hot breath.
“Ugh…”
Ronen’s breath touched skin that had never been touched by another’s hands. The soft lips and moist tongue were very stimulating. Wherever he touched became burning hot, and a strange tickling sensation made the back of his neck stand on end.
Ronen’s hand entered under his clothes and caressed Eckart’s abdomen. His stomach rose and fell greatly. The flinching was nakedly transmitted through his fingertips. Ronen’s touch, delicately and gently stroking Eckart’s sweat-dampened body, was dizzying and sufficient to paralyze Eckart’s reason.
Eckart struggled to open his eyes and look down at Ronen. The lewd and seductive appearance of Ronen that he had once seen in a dream was unfolding before his eyes. Ronen caressed his body while rolling his nipple in his mouth. When their eyes met, he smiled with his eyes and stuck out his tongue to lick the nipple – the sight alone was enough to make blood rush as if he could climax just from watching.
“Haa… Huk…”
Eckart tensed his body and endured. His expression was as if enduring trials. When he turned his gaze away from Ronen to look up, God painted on the ceiling was looking down at him. His eyes trembled. Ronen’s hand came down over them.
“Don’t look.”
Before he knew it, Ronen’s face had come up near Eckart’s face. Ronen’s breath touching his cheek made it feel like his fine hairs were standing up. Rapid breaths continuously leaked through Eckart’s parted lips. Ronen’s lips, which had only been brushing around his chin as if they might touch or not, moved again.
“…Then God won’t be able to see you either.”
Ronen’s low whisper was excessively lewd. His voice, seeming equally excited and moistly soaked, had rough breathing melted into it. In the end, their lips didn’t touch and moved away. Even though his eyes were covered, he could feel it vividly, making Eckart yearn.
However, when Ronen’s hand, which had been freely caressing and kneading Eckart’s body, dug into his lower garments, he became unable to think of anything at all.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
