#28
“Is there anything you’re hiding from others?”
Afraid of being swept up in Noah’s questioning and unable to say anything, Derik threw a roundabout question at him. Many things were suspicious, but considering Noah was a young child, he avoided direct questions.
“What?”
“Anything. Do you have any secrets?”
“…”
Though he blinked his large eyes and tilted his small head, Noah only nibbled on his small lips without easily saying anything.
“Why did you come here today?”
“I came to play with Aeongi. Oh, Aeongi. Where’s Aeongi? Where am I? Am I dead?”
Derik had been planning to ask deeper questions about his reason for coming here, the mana stone mine, or related topics, but seeing Noah suddenly looking for Aeongi and then reaching the conclusion of death with tears welling up in his eyes, he quickly stroked the small back.
“What do I do? I’m dead, right? You were supposed to take me last time, but you couldn’t? So where do I go now? No, the angel said that wasn’t it. So do I go to hell? But what about Aeongi? Aeongi shouldn’t die. He needs to live a long, long life. Our Aeongi is really good.”
“…I think you should sleep a bit more.”
It seemed like he was hiding some secret, but now didn’t seem like the right time. When he grew a bit more, they could have a proper, systematic conversation, so Derik decided not to rush. After all, time was one thing he had in abundance.
As his hand touched Noah’s head, unable to watch any longer as the boy desperately searched for Aeongi with tears streaming down, the small body collapsed into Derik’s arms.
Having just woken up from sleep and speaking incoherently in a dazed state, Noah would think it was a dream. And above all, what was making Derik’s mind fierce now was Lucas. He had been continuously tracking Noah’s location, and when he suddenly couldn’t track him properly, he became agitated.
Derik could feel how the whole mountain was in chaos, with all kinds of wild animals being disturbed as if someone was ransacking the entire mountain.
“Little one with many secrets. Let’s talk when you’re a bit older. I couldn’t answer you earlier, but my name is Derik. Not Aeongi, but Derik.”
As Derik rose from the rocking chair, the cozy living room where they had been and the two beings completely disappeared from that space.
The wild animals were running amok due to the loud presence overturning the Heidel Mountains. Despite all the mixed sounds, Aeongi remained calm.
Next to Noah, who was leaning against the large Aeongi’s embrace, were the bag he had brought today and the diamond ore he had just picked up.
Aeongi raised his head and pricked his ears toward where the noisy sounds were coming from. The mana stones attached to Noah’s necklace and bracelet, which had lost their light a little earlier, began to flicker with a bright light.
Aeongi, who had pulled the drowsily sleeping Noah closer into his embrace with his tail, yawned languidly.
There was no need to reveal the location of the mana stone mine. Rather, it was obvious that the mana stone mine would soon be discovered by Lucas.
Since Noah was found asleep here, given Lucas’s personality, it was clear he would search this area thoroughly. Then he would find the cave just a few dozen meters away, and for safety’s sake, Lucas would check inside as well.
In that case, it was only a matter of time before he found the entrance to the mana stone mine that extended from the cave.
“Noah Schwein!”
Along with Lucas’s loud voice that seemed to echo throughout the mountain, the sound of people cutting through the forest was heard right in front.
And seeing Lucas, armed with a long sword, leading a group of fully armed knights rushing in, Aeongi gently swayed his tail.
Come quickly and take your troublemaker son away.
* * *
Sitting on a chair, Noah bit his lower lip. His eyes, which had been tapping the tip of his thumb, rolled to look at the doorway.
Just as he was about to return home without finding the mana stone mine, he had accidentally picked up a diamond. He had danced with joy, then staggered and felt himself falling down. When he opened his eyes, he was home.
He hadn’t found the mana stone mine, which was his initial goal, and he had lost the diamond ore, but that wasn’t important. As for the diamond ore, since no one could enter the Heidel Mountains without Lucas’s permission, the chances of someone picking it up were low.
It was a place he had reached by riding Aeongi through the treacherous forest, so it wasn’t somewhere people frequented. While finding the mana stone mine now would help the family finances, by the time he became an adult, the mana stone mine had already been developed. So it was a place that would be discovered someday, even if he didn’t find it now.
Although he was extremely disappointed about not accomplishing his original goal and leaving the diamond behind, Noah’s mind was now filled with just one person instead.
He knew there were many beautiful people here. With the variety of hair and eye colors, everyone looked unique to Noah’s eyes. So much so that when faced with fluorescent green hair and red eyes, other features wouldn’t even register.
But the being he was thinking of now was someone he had seen before. It was that angel from two years ago whom he had only remembered as an extremely handsome man because he couldn’t recall properly.
Even when he tried to revisit the memory occasionally, the man’s appearance didn’t come to mind clearly, as if covered by a hazy fog. He seemed to have said something, but the voice wasn’t remembered either.
But the moment he saw him again, Noah was certain it was the same being.
The angel.
The angel, whose beauty felt sinful to even attempt to assess, had held him tightly like his mother and touched his face and head. The shining silver-white hair and mysterious gray eyes came to mind clearly. Every time he smiled and touched Noah’s head and face, the pain subsided.
It had been the same then. When he fed Noah something and gently stroked his body, the pain that had been sinking heavily and throbbing due to the high fever gradually subsided.
Whether it was a hallucination he only saw when he was struggling and in pain, or whether he really met him, he was someone Noah encountered in extreme situations. After suffering from that fever, he had caught mild colds a few more times, but he couldn’t see him then.
It seems you have to be sick enough to nearly die or roll down a cliff to meet him.
‘Marriage…’
‘Name…’
“Ah, you idiot.”
The moment the brief conversation with the man came to mind, Noah raised his hand and tapped his head. It wasn’t surprising that he already knew he was attracted to men and a bit foolish. Before his transmigration, when living as Jihun, he couldn’t easily approach anyone he found attractive.
But here, he was uninhibited. He outright asked for names, ages, and even marital status upon first meeting. It wasn’t as if he had a marriage obsession.
No, at this point, it might be a marriage obsession. It was clear that the countless men he had met without even understanding the situation after his initial transmigration, and the two marriages he had ended up in, only to be rejected, had left a deep impression.
Having experienced the disappointment of marrying someone he didn’t love as if compromising, this time he seemed to have developed the desire to live well with someone he liked and who loved him back.
“But let’s consider the age gap, Noah Schwein.”
It would be wise to find someone around his age who would go through the magical puberty well and grow up admirably, but this was all because of the extremely handsome men who suddenly appeared.
Raymond was like that, and the one who appeared in his dream… ah, come to think of it, he didn’t tell his name again. With all the beings that caught his eye being exceptionally handsome, it was impossible to maintain his sanity.
As Noah was justifying his feelings with ridiculous reasons to counter the self-blame flooding in, he sat up straight at the sound of voices from outside.
After rolling down the cliff-like place and meeting the angel, the first person Noah saw was Loren. It seemed either Aeongi had carried him in his mouth after he fell from the cliff, or Lucas, who had gone out to look for him, had brought him home.
When Noah opened his eyes in his room, he believed Loren, who had been watching over him, would hold him tightly and comfort him, telling him everything was alright and not to worry. But as soon as Loren saw Noah waking up, she left the room. Following that, the sound of people moving filled the room.
After Loren, Lucas, the butler, the knights, and even the employees who seemed concerned about him all rushed out, only Elisa remained by his side.
‘Elisa.’
‘How could you disappear without permission? It’s fortunate you’re not hurt. Even though Aeongi was with you, I heard you went deep into the forest. Everyone was so worried, and this time, young master, you were in the wrong. Like last time, it’s fortunate you returned safely, but the forest is such a frightening place… sigh.’
Whether he had fainted or fallen asleep when he fell, anyway, after being discovered with Aeongi in the forest and returning to the castle, there had been quite a commotion, with a doctor even coming from the capital. His location tracking had been cut off at one point, and anyway, Elisa advised him to sincerely apologize to his parents, who had been very worried, promising never to do it again. Noah sighed first at her words.
If he had seen the diamond ore, he should have just put it nicely in his bag, but why did he have to be so excited?
Anyway, after waking up and having a simple meal brought by Elisa, Noah was now confined to Lucas’s study. It was clear that there had been a major conflict between Loren and Lucas regarding his punishment.
The only reason the love birds, who couldn’t live without each other, had a marital dispute was Noah.
Dangling his legs and wondering what excuse to make, what to say to get in less trouble, Noah slid down from the chair at the sound of a presence followed by the door opening.
He knelt down, placed both hands neatly on his thighs, and lowered his head.
Although it was a posture he had just assumed, they wouldn’t know whether he had been like this for a minute or the entire time he had been confined.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
