Chapter 150
Left alone, Tae-geon sat on the bed, lost in thought.
The rut had ended overnight. There was no usual terrible headache or muscle pain. His body felt refreshingly free of any aftereffects.
Was it because he had dreamed of Hyeon-woo again last night? He felt a gentle touch caressing his sweat-soaked forehead. His body, burning with desire for Hyeon-woo, experienced an electrifying climax under that touch. Then he surrendered everything to the tranquility slowly consuming him.
Though knowing it was just a vain delusion brought on by intense craving and drug-induced hallucinations, Tae-geon slipped his hand into the opening of his robe, as if to confirm, and felt himself. It was clean, without any secretions. The sheets were the same, perfectly dry.
“…Hah.”
Feeling strangely disappointed in himself, Tae-geon let out a hollow laugh as he withdrew his hand. Just then, a stinging pain spread across his thigh where it had brushed against the robe.
Frowning, Tae-geon felt the skin that was transmitting this unfamiliar pain. There was a long vertical scratch as if from something sharp, with the skin slightly swollen around it. It wasn’t there yesterday.
It seemed to be a wound he had unknowingly inflicted on himself during his violent thrashing last night. Dismissing it as insignificant, Tae-geon burrowed deep into the bed.
Soon, an employee knocked on the door, bringing breakfast. When given permission to enter, the employee came in with a trolley and quickly set up the food. After Scott left, the two sat side by side at the table and ate together as usual.
After clearing away all the empty dishes and returning, the employee approached Tae-geon, who was sitting in the armchair, and tapped the back of his hand.
Tap, tap.
As Tae-geon extended his hand beyond the armrest, the employee carefully unwrapped the bandage on his hand. This was the usual dressing that took place after meals.
Contrary to Tae-geon’s expectation that he would soon feel hands applying medicine to his exposed hand, the employee stood up without any treatment.
Tae-geon unconsciously grabbed the employee’s clothes, then quickly let go, startled by his own action.
“Is it, completely healed?”
There was lingering bewilderment in Tae-geon’s voice as he asked. The employee tapped Tae-geon’s shoulder twice. It was an affirmative. Tae-geon nodded in response.
“I see, understood. Thank you for your hard work.”
“…”
Tae-geon stood up and entered the bathroom to wash, but suddenly opened the door again to call the employee.
“Come and help me.”
“…”
The employee, who seemed to have frozen in surprise at the request, slowly approached with hesitant steps. Tae-geon took off his robe, becoming naked, and stepped aside to make it easier for the employee to enter.
Shhhhhh-
Hot water began to fill the bathtub. Soon, everything was filled with a hazy mist. As the faucet turned off, Tae-geon immersed himself in the large enamel bathtub.
The employee thoroughly wet Tae-geon’s hair, which was sticking out of the tub, with the shower head. Just as the employee was about to stand up to squeeze out some shampoo after roughly wringing out the water, their arm slipped on the wet edge of the tub.
“…!”
Splash-!
Unfortunately, they fell headfirst. Perhaps startled by the water rushing into their airways, the employee struggled to find their balance in the embarrassingly shallow bathwater. Tae-geon grabbed and lifted them up.
“Cough, cough…!”
Water-choked coughs poured from the employee’s mouth. Their hands, braced against Tae-geon’s chest, were trembling.
“…Huff, huff!”
The employee’s hot breath, gasping with heaving shoulders, touched Tae-geon’s nape. In that moment, Tae-geon felt his hair stand on end and a chill run through his entire body. The contours of the body pressed against him, the body temperature, the texture – it was too similar to someone in his memory.
Tae-geon instinctively leaned his head towards the warmth. When the startled employee tried to pull away, Tae-geon firmly grasped both shoulders to prevent escape and immediately buried his face in their neck. Rubbing his nose against the pulsing point, Tae-geon slowly inhaled with trembling anticipation.
However, contrary to his pounding excitement, he couldn’t smell any scent. He inhaled several times, but it was the same.
It was hard to tell if it was due to the drug’s side effects or if the scent he expected truly wasn’t there. His mind was completely blank, filled with heat like the steamy bathroom.
“…Hah.”
Tae-geon let out a hollow laugh and released his grip on the employee’s shoulders. He could feel the employee’s body, frozen with tension, relaxing with relief. Just as Tae-geon was slowly pulling his head back:
A single scent tickled his nose like a foxtail.
The moment he deeply inhaled that scent, barely caught with all his concentration, an overwhelming stimulus shook Tae-geon’s entire sensory system. He was completely overwhelmed by a terrible excitement that felt like it would burn his soul.
The scent he had longed for every single day without exception.
For some reason, that scent was emanating strongly from the employee.
*
After finishing attending to Tae-geon’s bath, Hyeon-woo returned to his room to change out of his wet clothes.
Thanks to Tae-geon’s quick wit, they usually worked well together without needing to speak much, but today he had acted stupidly, like a dazed person, making it difficult to assist with the bath. Though he was the one who had fallen into the water, he was acting like he was the one who had swallowed it.
Only when drying Tae-geon’s wet body with a towel did he seem to come to his senses, his usual arrogant and bored expression returning to his face as if nothing had happened.
Recalling the incident in the bathroom, Hyeon-woo shuddered. He thought he would surely be discovered. His heart, which had shrunk like a bean when Tae-geon suddenly buried his nose in his neck, was still pounding. Fortunately, perhaps due to the drug’s side effects, his identity didn’t seem to have been revealed yet. But it was only a matter of time.
Now only the last rut remained. His identity would be discovered within a month, two months at the latest.
Just as he was thinking it might be good to start distancing himself from Tae-geon, and feeling relieved that there was no need to stay close and attend to him now that the burn had fully healed, Tae-geon completely shattered his expectations.
‘Come and help me?’
Whether Tae-geon’s hand was fine or not, coming when called to attend to him was the role given to him here.
Hyeon-woo took out a new uniform from the closet.
How would he react?
He tried to imagine Tae-geon realizing his identity, but he couldn’t quite picture it.
*
He entered Tae-geon’s room with dinner. The trolley with food for one person felt quite light. When he discreetly suggested preparing meals as before, mentioning that the young master’s hand had fully healed, the head butler had accepted without much thought.
After setting the food on the table, he stepped back and assumed a waiting posture. Standing alongside Scott, waiting for Tae-geon to approach, they saw Tae-geon get off the bed and head not to the dining table but to the side table with the intercom. Soon, the head butler’s voice flowed from the receiver in Tae-geon’s hand.
“Yes, young master.”
“Hasn’t Ian’s meal been prepared?”
Hyeon-woo, startled, lifted his head to look at Tae-geon. The head butler’s embarrassed voice echoed softly in the quiet room.
“Ah, that… I heard your hand had fully healed, so…”
“What does my hand healing have to do with having meals with Ian?”
“…I was short-sighted. I apologize. I’ll send it up right away.”
Not long after Tae-geon sat down at the table, there was a knock. When given permission to enter, Carol appeared through the opening door. Carol was an employee who managed the household goods in the East Wing. Her tense manner of pulling the trolley was clearly awkward compared to the experienced Lily. After placing Hyeon-woo’s portion of plates on the table, Carol finished her greeting and hurriedly left the room.
Hyeon-woo watched Tae-geon’s reaction in an awkward posture, neither sitting nor standing properly.
“Are you going to keep standing like that?”
“…”
Tae-geon picked up an empty glass and tapped it on the table. Hyeon-woo, as if by reflex, picked up the water jug and filled it. After drinking it all in one go, Tae-geon put the glass down on the table and said:
“I’m hungry, let’s eat.”
“…”
“Sit down.”
Hyeon-woo, who had been hesitating, reluctantly sat down. Scott, who had been standing awkwardly between the two, quickly finished explaining the dishes after assessing the atmosphere and left the room.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
