“Do you have something to say to me?” Cayden asked.
“What?”
“I’m working, so I can’t spare much time. I’d appreciate it if we could finish quickly. First, let me send my junior… this friend away, then we can talk.”
Cayden said these words, nothing more. Just that, yet cold sweat broke out as though he were ill.
Alex straightened his bent posture and faced Cayden. A cold smile settled on his face, which had changed color from being choked.
“Why? Afraid I might tell stories about your past in front of him?”
Cayden’s heart pounded roughly, making a thump, thump sound.
“So you don’t want that alpha to hear about us? What does it matter if he hears? He’s not your new master, is he?”
Cayden didn’t answer Alex. Turning around, he grabbed Assad’s hand. Unable to look up and meet his eyes, he spoke with his head lowered.
“Amun. Would you go back to the lodging first?”
“…”
“I’ll be there soon.”
Cayden said with an awkward smile. He was making a request to Assad.
“…You. Who told you to turn your back on me?”
Alex irritably grabbed Cayden’s shoulder.
It was horrible. Alex’s hand touching him, his pheromones stabbing into his skin, his breath… everything was disgusting and chilling.
But Cayden forcibly swallowed his rising repulsion. He put Assad behind him. Once again, he obediently faced Alex. He barely raised his head to look at him. He didn’t want to run away like last time. He couldn’t let that man harm Assad.
Cayden managed an awkward smile. The Assad standing behind him now was not the crown prince of the empire. He was just a junior colleague from the small trading company where he worked. He couldn’t involve him in his senior’s personal affairs. Thinking and rethinking this way, Cayden endured.
“Young master.”
“…”
“I’d like to go somewhere quiet. It’s crowded here, noisy… chaotic. I want to talk in an alley.”
Anywhere would do. As long as Assad wasn’t there.
Cayden didn’t look back at Assad. He didn’t dare to see Assad’s face with his own eyes.
Right now. What expression would Assad be wearing? Would he be looking at him with a cold face like the farm workers? Or would his face resemble that of the Count and Countess on the day they cast him out? Either way, he didn’t want to face it. He was certain that Assad wouldn’t look at him as he usually did. That’s why he didn’t want to know.
Fortunately, Alex didn’t mock Cayden’s suggestion. He didn’t add unnecessary words either. He simply grabbed Cayden as if he had been waiting and headed toward the alley he had come through.
The arm seized by Alex hurt. Still, Cayden quietly followed Alex. He couldn’t hear any footsteps following him.
Assad isn’t following. That’s good.
Cayden thought with a flimsy smile.
“…”
He was pushed into a narrow, dark alley. A sigh-like breath escaped through his teeth.
Cayden stood alone facing Alex. Unable to meet the eyes of Alex who blocked the alley entrance, he only rubbed his throbbing arm. Just dwelling on the fact that Assad wasn’t beside him made his body and mind shrink.
‘After begging him to go back.’
Cayden mocked his own contradiction.
“Did you sleep with that bastard?”
Alex, approaching Cayden closely, asked. He waited for Cayden to look up at him with a stupid face.
“What do you…”
“Did you spread your legs for him?”
A smile appeared on Alex’s lips. Cayden awkwardly stepped back. Alex’s smile was, at least for him, not a good sign.
“You did, right? That’s why that young one acts so arrogantly, right? Following you even to the wedding of a woman he has nothing to do with. That desert rat pretending to be a gentleman, in front of me…”
“No. No, that’s not it.”
Cayden repeated in alarm, cutting off Alex’s words without realizing it.
“Helio people are ignorant. Such base ones are even worse. They arrogantly confront nobles and don’t even know they’re in the wrong. But he’s not just ignorant. He’s crazy. Isn’t he?”
“…Amun is smart. He’s really smart, like someone living in a different world from me.”
“…What?”
Alex’s mood instantly sank. Cayden, with his head lowered, occasionally raised his eyes to gauge Alex’s reaction. But he didn’t stop speaking.
“That kid is a good colleague who cares a lot about me despite not being close. But there’s no relationship between us. We’re just senior and junior colleagues doing the same work. Besides, he has a girlfriend as pretty as a painting. Such misunderstandings are nonsense.”
“…”
“He’s really kind and has a good personality. He’s just treating me well like he does with others. As for the wedding, we came to the capital together for work, and since he had free time… he came for fun…”
Cayden shook his head, rambling as he drew a line between Assad and himself.
Silence raced through the alley.
“Right. An alpha like that wouldn’t have any interest in someone as ugly as you. You know well. You’re aware of your place.”
Alex laughed, observing the self-loathing that appeared on Cayden’s face. His tightly set lips softened with satisfaction.
“Cayden. I was worried that you might get carried away and dream pointless dreams. You’d be hurt when you wake up from those dreams.”
“…”
“Do you know how much I’ve been looking for you?”
Alex’s hand touched Cayden’s nape. The hand that had been fiddling with the white shirt collar grabbed the cravat cloth as if displeased with something.
With the feeling of being choked, Cayden was pulled toward Alex. Cayden didn’t resist. He willingly reduced the distance between himself and the man.
“After my father threw you out, you don’t know how many people I assigned to you. How much money I spent looking for you…”
Alex’s voice echoed inside the alley. His words continued without interruption.
“I, Cayden. I had to know where you were and what you were doing. I had to know everything about you. I would eventually need to have you by my side again, and until then, what if you went around whoring yourself out without my knowledge? My possession shouldn’t be soiled. That’s why I kept surveillance on you.”
“…”
“But it’s strange, isn’t it? The men I had assigned to you suddenly disappeared. They vanished without a trace in an instant. Then… ha, after months, I heard that you had gotten a job at some strange trading company I’d never heard of and gone to the desert for work… How bewildering it was.”
Alex, letting out a hollow laugh, continued speaking slowly.
“So. I went to Helio, pretending to be deceived. They said it was the day when all the desert’s trading companies gathered in the capital. I had to go. And… you were really there.”
“…”
“I spotted you instantly among so many people. You recognized me at once too. I saw you, and you saw me. No matter how much you tried to avoid it, you couldn’t. Isn’t that ridiculous? We didn’t form a magical master-servant relationship. Yet that happened.”
The strength left Alex’s grip on the cravat. His fingers, as beautiful as his face, touched Cayden’s cheek.
“Why did you run away to the desert?”
“…”
“Why. Why did you run so far away? I wanted to know that, but the men I left in Acro didn’t give me an answer. The contact was cut off.”
“…I didn’t run away.”
“Going so far away was definitely running away.”
Meeting Cayden’s eyes, Alex whispered. His words continued.
“My father will die soon. I heard it directly from the doctor. He fell ill because the business went wrong. Isn’t that good news?”
“…”
“Once I get the title, there’s no reason to please my parents anymore. I can completely possess you as I please. I’ll choose a new wife, someone who understands and embraces your existence. You don’t need to worry about your future.”
“…I don’t want that.”
Cayden’s voice echoed through the narrow, dark path. A brief silence filled the space between the two.
“What?”
“I don’t want that. I won’t work under you anymore, young master. No, I can’t. My debt isn’t an issue anymore. The Count cleared it all. On the day I left the farm.”
Cayden was afraid. Finding it hard to breathe, he kept stumbling over his words. But in the end, he succeeded in fully conveying his intention to Alex.
“I… am not your slave.”
Cayden said. Though he hid his trembling hands behind his back, he didn’t fall into the same irrational fear as last time.
If even one of the people assigned to guard him and Assad remained here, they would prevent him from being beaten to death by Alex. Cayden harbored such a thin hope.
Even if he couldn’t receive help, it didn’t matter. It would be better to die here than to be caught by Alex again and return to the farm.
Today was a very special day. It was a day when he had tasted special joy that had never visited his life before, not even once. He had experienced all the good things he could.
So it was okay.
“You’ve gone mad.”
“…”
“Your new master must be making you comfortable enough to live?”
Alex, furrowing his brow, pressed his body closer. The man, his face reddened, forcibly grabbed Cayden’s hands that were trying to push him away.
“You still can’t use force against me. I taught you well, didn’t I?”
Alex whispered in Cayden’s ear.
Alex buried his nose in Cayden’s nape, exposed through the crumpled and open collar. He persistently sensed his scent. He searched for any traces someone might have left on Cayden.
Then, as if disgusted, he detached himself from Cayden.
“…Disgusting.”
“…”
“A male prostitute with alpha pheromones all over him.”
Cayden didn’t reply. He only fixed his disheveled appearance. Looking down at his own shoe tips instead of Alex’s eyes, he endured his fear.
“Well, what proper work could you do? You probably dragged yourself all the way to the desert just to sell your body.”
Alex, smiling, turned his body. Cayden reflexively lifted his head.
“Done watching? Why don’t you go tell your master?”
Alex threw these words toward the back, toward the man leaning obliquely against the wall. But immediately, as if he had made a mistake, he spoke once more. This time using the imperial language.
“Done watching? Why don’t you go tell your master?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
