#66
‘Perhaps?’
Either it’s a dream or it’s not. What kind of answer is that?
Above all, he really is handsome. Why does the moonlight have to shine from behind him, giving him perfect lighting?
Noah, who had been twitching his fingers wanting to touch that handsome face just like when he was young, blankly stared at the person who seemed to read his mind and pulled his hand to touch his cheek.
‘But why……’
Noah’s fingertips that had touched the soft, warm cheek slightly curled back. The fact that the being who had stayed by his side without revealing anything for a long time was now revealing his true form meant that there would be a change in their relationship thus far.
‘I thought you might worry if Aeongi suddenly disappeared.’
‘What……’
What are you saying? I wanted to say, “Speak properly,” but suddenly drowsiness overcame me.
‘I’ll come back before your twentieth birthday. Think of one wish. Whatever it is, I’ll grant it.’
As the person kissing his palm became blurry, Noah tried to force his eyes open. But he couldn’t lift his heavy eyelids, and the bed sheets touched his hand that had been on the other’s cheek and lips. He could feel the presence stroking his head and pressing lips to his forehead, but his body, sinking into a hazy state, wouldn’t move at all.
After closing his eyes like that, Aeongi disappeared and hadn’t shown himself until now, several years later. Even the knights who regularly went on expeditions said they hadn’t seen the snow leopard in the mountains. Noah too had followed the chestnut-picking teams in autumn with all sorts of excuses, but he couldn’t find Aeongi.
If the angel who looked after him when he was young was always Aeongi by his side… Aeongi, or rather the snow leopard, was considered the guardian of the Heidel Mountains, and the master of the Heidel Mountains is the Silver Dragon Derik.
The being who brought this cold weather.
Dragon.
Yet Derik from the southern region resembles the angel. If his friend Derik is Aeongi, the angel, and the dragon Derik?
Strangely, Noah couldn’t directly bring Derik and Aeongi together. There was a time when Derik and Aeongi were coincidentally at a street stall together, but they were only together briefly. Soon after, Aeongi disappeared.
Moreover, before the angel disappeared, he promised to grant Noah one wish when he returned. If he was the dragon, then that was a dragon’s promise.
“What are you lost in thought about again? No excuses or explanations will work, so let’s go now.”
Noah, who had been standing still looking at the firmly closed bedroom door, slightly shook his head at David’s urging.
Every night had felt empty since Aeongi disappeared. The emptiness became so deep that he even disliked his own bedroom where he had always been with Aeongi, to the point where he moved to a different room. Now, what kept him warm during the cold Austen nights was a mattress filled with magic stones enchanted with warming magic.
“Aeongi.”
“…I heard he left.”
“I suddenly miss Aeongi.”
David, who was hired after Aeongi left, didn’t know Aeongi personally, but he had heard so much about him from the people working at Schwein Castle and from Noah that he almost felt like he had seen him in person, not just in his imagination.
From how big Aeongi could grow or how adorably small he could become, to how he could easily devour 20kg of meat in one meal, how his fur was smoother than silk, and how he was so strong that he easily carried heavy loads on days when goods regularly arrived—David had heard all sorts of legendary stories.
“Didn’t he say he’d return before your twentieth birthday?”
“My birthday is not far off now.”
Noah grumbled as he was forced to walk by David’s hand.
“Oh, by the way, Derik Howard will also be attending today’s party.”
Noah’s head quickly turned back toward David, whose hand was supporting his back and forcing him to walk. Seeing the slight upward curve of David’s lips, who was a head taller than him, it was clear that he had deliberately mentioned this late.
You should have just told me from the beginning.
Unlike Ray and Benjamin who regularly came to visit and annoyingly asked him to make this and that, Noah hadn’t been able to see Derik for some time. Ray seemed to be in contact with him, and according to Ray, Derik was extremely busy.
But could he really be busier than me, who’s preoccupied with expanding and managing various businesses?
Anyway, it had been quite a while since he’d seen Derik. Unlike Ray, who enjoyed parties so much that he even crashed ones he wasn’t invited to, Derik hadn’t shown up even at parties hosted by the Imperial Family.
“Are you now more willing to go?”
Though he was forcibly walking forward, Noah could bet all his chain stores that David was smiling behind him.
* * *
“This is why I hate parties.”
After dawdling and arriving late to the party, Noah’s first action was to confirm whether Derik was in attendance. The moment he heard that Derik hadn’t attended the party, Noah had essentially lost any reason to actively participate.
Though Derik wasn’t there, Noah still needed to leave clear evidence of his attendance, so after paying his respects to Emperor Alex, he headed not to the party hall but to the back garden, quickening his pace as he shielded his eyes with his hand.
While it was called a party, it was no different from a matchmaking event for those without partners, so it was natural for couples who had made eye contact to leave the party hall to enjoy time alone.
And naturally, the places they sought were quiet locations away from people’s eyes, which meant that Noah, who was looking for a quiet place for different reasons, couldn’t help but frequently encounter couples occupying secluded benches.
“Keep it moderate, please, moderate.”
Noah grumbled as he passed by people embracing so tightly it was hard to tell if they were two people or one. Then he entered the rose garden located in the farthest corner of the palace, which he always visited, and instead of sitting on his usual bench, he simply lay down comfortably.
“No one I want to meet. But there are stars.”
Strange lyrics flowed from Noah’s mouth as he looked at the stars densely embedded in the black night sky.
He had finally reached the starting point of when he first transmigrated. The situation was both similar and different from that time.
Currently, Noah hadn’t come to the party due to Lucas and Loren’s pestering, but rather due to Matthew’s not-so-subtle coercion. Unlike then, when he knew nothing and was just dragged along, now he was thoroughly familiar with the atmosphere and situation of this place.
Noah had earned enough money from [Aeongi’s], which he had started by chance, to live comfortably for a lifetime, not just from the enormous wealth he would inherit from the Schwein family.
On the other hand, he had exercised diligently, eaten well, and slept well because he wasn’t satisfied with his small stature and delicate body, but seeing that his body remained exactly as it was when he first transmigrated, it seemed that genetic growth was unavoidable.
He spread his palm and stretched it out as if to grab a star, but when he closed his fist, nothing came into his hand.
He thought he had lived quite diligently, but like when he first transmigrated, there was no one by his side. Aeongi, who had been attached to him like a limb, was gone, and just like before, his parents were in the southern region.
“Ah, there is something different.”
There was no one following him around, monitoring and supervising him. The woman who used to introduce him to suitable candidates from good families and force him to dance.
She was called an etiquette teacher, but to Noah, she was just a nagging woman. After each dance, she would rapidly list how many times he had stepped on his partner’s foot and which courtesies he had failed to observe properly.
That’s why back then, instead of spending time leisurely outside the party hall like now, he was in the middle of the crowded party hall. He would smile with trembling lips to people who showed interest in the omega only son of the Grand Duke of the North, and dance something like a waltz to a 3/4 time piece, pressed close to his partner to gain their favor.
And the scents of people that felt natural.
“Huh, is it today?”
Noah, who had been lying on the bench with nothing to do, clenching and unclenching his fist toward the unreachable stars, suddenly sat up.
The day to meet the guy who ran away claiming it was cold just three days after marriage.
The alpha guy with that strange pheromone that seemed like it could only come from burnt black ashes.
What did he do again?
Having thought that far, Noah abruptly sat up.
“I was drawn by the too beautiful fragrance.”
“……”
The rose garden, structured like a maze, had a small fountain and bench in the center. But reaching this central space of the rose garden wasn’t easy.
Which empress was it? An empress who loved roses wanted a space away from people’s eyes to be alone, and the emperor created this place for her.
Because of its complex maze structure, most people couldn’t set foot in this central area and were pushed toward the exit, but because it was such a beautiful place, people who managed to look around it, even in that way, unanimously praised its beauty.
Anyway, that’s beside the point. The reason Noah always hid here was because Matthew, who had grown up in the palace, strangely couldn’t find this place. How could he not find it after wandering around so much?
On that day, having escaped to the garden to avoid the endless dancing, Noah had accidentally found this place, and as he was taking off his shoes to rest his sore feet, just like now…
“It seems fate has led me here.”
Nonsense. Shut that mouth right now.
Noah placed his hand on his forehead as he looked at his first husband, who was smiling at him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
