Chapter 4. Wrath (12)
Ronen, whose body wouldn’t obey him as he staggered, lost his balance and collapsed onto the table. He barely avoided falling, but the wine bottle that had been on the table fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.
Neither Ronen nor the Grand Duke seemed to care about such things, but the attendant Osian quickly brought another wine bottle. Without giving the two men a single glance, he cleaned up the broken pieces. It was done in an instant. Watching his retreating figure after finishing his task, the Grand Duke still thought he was too valuable a child to kill. He had survived so long without dying precisely because he was so quick-witted.
Though the distance was close, Ronen, who only now came staggering over, slowly climbed on top of the Grand Duke’s body. Unable to bear the weight of two people, the bed creaked and made noise once again.
Ronen’s red lips parted and sweet whispers flowed out.
“Perhaps there’s a separate way to reach paradise.”
“…You’ve guessed correctly.”
Ronen’s skin was flushed from alcohol and drugs. His eyes were the same. His gaze, reddened as if he had reached climax, was languid. His light green eyes were utterly seductive. Watching Ronen, who was bewitchingly alluring despite being a man, made his blood boil and left him thirsty.
As blood rushed to his center and he hardened, Ronen, who had climbed on top, placed both hands on his stomach and subtly rubbed his own body against him. The movement was so light that it was all the more tantalizing.
However, since there was no need to be hasty, the Grand Duke reached for the wine bottle to wet his burning mouth. His gaze remained fixed on the lewd Ronen who was seducing him. Since this was the first time seeing such an active Ronen, he watched carefully while swallowing the wine that went down his throat.
Suddenly Ronen reached out his hand. With trembling hands, he somehow managed to snatch the wine bottle and poured it into his own mouth. It was an impudent act, but the Grand Duke decided to generously forgive him. This was also the first time seeing Ronen being so impulsive and honest with his emotions. Just as he was reaching for the exposed neckline and the platinum hair that swayed as delicately as feathers.
Ronen, with his mouth full of wine, pressed his upper body against him. The hot, meltingly soft texture of Ronen’s skin could be felt all over his body. Under his lowered eyelashes, jewel-like brilliant light green eyes captivated him. As he seemed to draw closer and closer, he cupped the Grand Duke’s head and kissed him. Through their interlocked lips, wine that had quickly taken on Ronen’s body temperature flowed over.
His surprise was brief. The Grand Duke swallowed the wine, now thick with fragrance, down his throat while pulling Ronen’s waist even closer. The completely pressed-together upper bodies were utterly satisfying. Ronen, breathing roughly from excitement into his mouth, was quite lovely.
“…Sometimes this kind of thing isn’t bad either.”
He could understand why Hakan had enjoyed such lowly things. Whether due to the atmosphere, he surrendered his entire body to the rapidly dulling sensation and felt Ronen with his heightened senses.
***
Tap. Tap. A sound came from nearby.
Even in his sleep, he unconsciously focused on that sound. It seemed like something hard and sharp was tapping on a window… The sound that might occur when throwing small pebbles the size of fingernails to hit glass was repeating irregularly.
His sleep fled in an instant. The moment he opened his eyes and bolted upright, a flock of black birds sitting by the window was startled and flew away. Seeing the birds fluttering their wings as they flew, his startled heart gradually calmed down. The flock of birds didn’t go far and seemed to settle nearby, cawing noisily.
His heart, which had dropped with a thud, was still beating rapidly. As he wiped away the cold sweat that had immediately broken out and let out a deep sigh, an arm reached out from behind and wrapped around his stomach. His body trembled like the birds from before.
“Why are you so startled? Did you have some kind of bad dream?”
The voice, which wasn’t high to begin with, was low and husky with sleep. Perhaps thanks to the calm voice, his pale face gradually regained its color. When he lay back down, the owner of the voice embraced him affectionately.
“What kind of dream did you have to break out in such cold sweat?”
Compared to his lean body, his fingers were thick and bumpy with calluses all over. The rough fingers carefully arranged his hair, being cautious not to cause any wounds. Lips briefly touched his sweat-dampened forehead before pulling away.
The eyes looking down at him, full of worry, were beautiful like flowers. He was still deeply captivated by the mysterious charm created by various colors intertwining, unable to escape. This was surely the first time meeting someone for so long, the first time liking someone this much.
Because of that, it held great meaning, and it was so precious he didn’t want to lose it.
The vivid golden hair, the refined and white face unbecoming of a knight, the healthy body packed tightly with muscle without an ounce of fat, the faint scars that seemed to tell of the years he had lived,
“Lord Hakan.”
And the soft lips that called his name—all of it.
Hakan, who had been staring at him blankly as if not fully awake, opened his mouth.
“…Shall we run away somewhere far?”
“Pardon?”
Even the drowsiness that had been clinging to his neat eye corners seemed to flee as his eyes gradually widened. Hakan spoke again, as if addressing himself reflected in those glass bead-like eyes.
“Let’s run away. To a very distant place.”
“Lord Hakan… Suddenly talking about running away… Did you perhaps steal something in your dream?”
His lips slowly curved upward as if finding his story amusing. Though he quite liked the seemingly joyful expression, he couldn’t just quietly admire it.
“Ardwino. I’m not joking right now.”
At Hakan’s unusually serious words, the smile on Ardwino’s face faded. He sat up and looked down at Hakan.
“What’s the matter?”
Hakan reached out and cupped Ardwino’s cheek. This overflowing emotion was surely deep affection, yet it was unbelievable that such pure feelings were considered sinful merely because of gender. It was agonizing.
If he could, he wanted to go somewhere their god didn’t exist. Even if it meant betraying God.
“I don’t care where. We could cross the sea to the Eastern Continent, or if you don’t like that, we could traverse the Kingdom of Yespe and go to the western edge. If you don’t want to go far, how about going to our Estania instead? If we’re determined to hide, they won’t find us easily.”
“Running away, hiding… I don’t understand what you’re saying. Why should we run away and hide?”
“They… they’ll chase us. You’ll get hurt.”
“By ‘they’ you mean…”
“The officers.”
Ardwino’s expression became calm again.
“They have no reason to chase me.”
“But…”
Hakan’s words were cut off. He only moved his lips before swallowing his voice.
Lately, Hakan’s mind had been complexly tangled, leaving him constantly in a daze. His insides were beyond description. He was anxious and afraid, unable to bear it. He even had nightmares of Ardwino being dragged away and burned at the stake. He was terrified that it might become reality.
So it would be better if they just ran away. Unfortunately, unlike himself, Ardwino was far too upright a man. He was a knight full of integrity.
“As I told you before, we only helped each other on the battlefield, there was no kind of transaction…”
“…People reporting knights are already increasing.”
Ardwino’s mouth closed. His eyes widened and trembled.
Hakan managed to drag out what he hadn’t wanted to say, but had to say.
“The Pope’s target isn’t prostitutes. It’s knights like you—there are too many of them and they’re hard to control.”
“That, that can’t be. We answered His Holiness’s call…”
“The war ended long ago. What happens to swords and shields that are no longer needed? How threatening would it be for those things that should have rotted in storage to still be strutting about the streets?”
It was only natural for useless things to be discarded. All the more so if they were difficult to handle and getting rid of them brought great benefit.
“Once the brothels are cleaned up to some extent, it’ll be your turn next. The list has probably already been compiled.”
The street prostitutes and homosexuals were already dead or waiting to die. Since rewards were given for reports, people still flocked to the courts. Duran had reached the point where there was no one left to report, so they turned their eyes to reporting the soldiers and knights who until recently had been praised as heroes.
Knowing this fact, Hakan couldn’t just stand by and watch.
“If that’s truly the case, then rather hide somewhere. Run away as quickly as possible to a place even I don’t know.”
Ardwino didn’t know how to respond to Hakan’s attitude of trying to send him somewhere even while prepared to part ways. Ardwino looked out the window. Today too, smoke was rising from the square.
The pitch-black smoke covered the sky and swallowed even the sun.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
