At night, he came, saying he wouldn’t just undress him and touch him. The omega, who knew no fear, eventually pressed his lips to my fingertips, and seeing this, the duke could no longer bear it and turned away and left.
He became utterly helpless when encountering this omega. He couldn’t use authority to dominate, nor could he force submission through violence. All that lingered in his mind was the omega’s face. The awkward and petite face that used to explain about the omega’s nipples… that awkward and tiny face.
So, when the duke heard the rustling coming from behind the bushes, he immediately realized that he was right there. It was because his voice always echoed in his mind.
“Take off the upper garment. It’s white, so it might not come off easily.”
“I’ll take care of it myself. It’s okay.”
The omega struggled with the man trying to undress him for a while. The duke’s hand holding the reins tightened. The red-haired man was gripping the omega’s collar, trying to undress him, while the omega awkwardly twisted his body, revealing a long, white neck.
But he didn’t look truly awkward. His lips were smiling, and his eyes seemed to be smiling subtly.
The duke observed this scene expressionlessly. He observed the omega recognizing him first and making a surprised expression. And the moment blood dripped from his nose onto the red-haired man’s fingers. The duke had been watching for a very long time.
“Your Grace!”
Finally noticing the duke, the red-haired man shouted in surprise and quickly bowed. The omega, who had been bowing slightly to the side a beat late, also bowed. At the same time, with the sound of thick raindrops, more blood fell to the ground, and the omega quickly wiped his nose.
The duke, speaking slowly, approached the omega. Commoners standing in front of a knight on horseback would feel authority, fear, and a sense of submission just by the knight standing still.
Not this omega. The omega waited quietly for him to pass, but when the wait became too long, he raised his eyes. Above the omega’s face, repetitive question marks appeared and disappeared.
“Your Grace, hello…”
As the omega hesitated to offer a greeting, the duke lowered the reins and moved forward. From behind, a sharp gaze was felt. Even without turning around, it could be known that the omega was bewildered. Only then did the duke feel slightly better.
“Wow.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Once the duke completely disappeared, the red-haired man placed his hand on his chest and took a deep breath.
“Kb wffa Llr Xgjmf, atf Gexf, ja remt j mibrf vlrajcmf. Pa’r j olgra.”
“Pr atja rb?”
Ktf jawbrqtfgf kjr vloofgfca ogbw atf wjcrlbc. Ktf wjcrlbc kjr ktfgf cbyifr gjlrfv ilnfrabmx remt jr qlur jcv qbeiags. Rbyifr mbcrewfv atf jclwjir atfs gjlrfv, yea atfs vlvc’a cffv ab wffa atfw vlgfmais.
“Just seeing him gave me goosebumps. Indeed.”
The red-haired man, forgetting the scuffle with Niall and drawing water from the well, made a fuss.
“But why were you wearing such an angry expression? Is that your usual look? You were frightening, but you were so splendid that I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Truly remarkable.”
The red-haired man handed water to Niall’s shoulder. The two of them, each carrying four water containers on their shoulders, moved on to the mansion again.
“Come to think of it, the rain has stopped.”
The red-haired man, who had been pouring out stories about the duke for a while, remarked.
“Yes.”
Niall replied with a humorless smile. It wasn’t an intentional smile. It was an awkward laughter.
The duke’s recent actions were undoubtedly deliberate. He intentionally stood in front of Niall for a long time, and when Niall felt some pressure and tried to initiate a conversation, the duke deliberately ignored him and left.
“Why is that? Does something hurt?”
The red-haired man asked Niall, who was laughing without sincerity. Niall shook his head. He couldn’t grasp the duke more and more.
Did he want to break his spirit, or was it just a whim?
Trying to guess the reason, Niall scattered thoughts about the duke.
“Just because. Maybe the weather is warm today.”
To Niall’s words, the red-haired man looked up at the sky. Niall, after wiping his nose once, headed towards the mansion to make a toast.
∞ ∞ ∞
While one of his professions was related to information, Niall was not particularly eloquent. Instead of being good at eloquent speech, he was adept at throwing well-timed and interesting stories that would capture people’s interest and then adapting to the atmosphere – a survival skill.
Administrative management involved recording the collected money in the ledger and controlling the traffic at the port. However, the actual task of mingling with sailors, engaging in conversations, persuading them, and sharing hardships was all the responsibility of the assistant.
Therefore, Niall had to adapt well to the atmosphere. Niall was easygoing. In the bustling port of Galen, where dozens of ships docked every day, there were not only traders from the central and southern regions but also followers of different faiths with black or red skin from other continents. They all had different ways of eating, things they could and couldn’t eat, prayer times, prayer directions, handshake methods, and even drinking styles.
Niall had to skillfully handle these meticulous people to collect taxes. At first, he made mistakes – for example, offering food with the left hand, considered highly impure by people from the western continent, leading to challenges – and even faced threats to his life. However, in the end, Niall managed to become acquainted with people, successfully collecting taxes. It was challenging, but there was a way.
In the end, there was always a way.
The southerners were passionate and lively, the central people were refined and leisurely, but the northerners were rugged and blunt. While southerners would naturally exchange greetings and smiles when their eyes met a stranger, northerners remained guarded and slow to open up.
Slowness here was according to Niall’s standards. Niall, with his tax-collecting duties, had a charisma that could quickly make friends with sailors whose spirits soared after paying their taxes, despite their difficult nature.
Mr. Phil liked Niall from the beginning, but it took ten days for him to be comfortable leaving Niall alone with Masa.
When the dockworkers introduced Niall as his assistant, the tension eased immediately, but from behind, Niall was constantly scrutinized.
Laughing together, talking together, sometimes exchanging gossip, but there were moments when something odd seemed to hang in the air. Moments when I felt I was still being excluded from these people.
Fortunately, Niall was easygoing. Even when grumpy men started telling Niall old stories he didn’t know, he would sit next to them, laugh together, and subtly change the topic at some point.
“Wasn’t the capital frozen last year? I’ve experienced that too. You know, I used to work at the port. Well, once it was so cold that the sea froze, and those big ships got stuck in the harbor, completely frozen.”
People preferred to hear stories about foreign trade ships being stuck in the harbor unable to come or go rather than mundane stories about the capital freezing.
Being together was fun and enjoyable, and Niall was good at his job. Initially, northern men who suggested a fistfight just to test him quickly opened up to Niall, and within less than a fortnight, they had warmed up to him.
“Came up north following a relative involved in trade?”
Niall had the typical outgoing nature of central people. The soft accent, a cheerful demeanor, and bright hair color – all characteristics of central people. People were curious about why a central person had come to Shirarund Castle.
“In terms of administrative assistant work, there was simply no way to repay the debts,” Niall said, chopping wood.
“I was pondering how to repay such a huge debt, and that’s when my friend introduced me to this job. He said there’s an elderly person in debt who’s looking for someone to go north with him. According to this elderly person, the minerals in the north are rare, and if brought back, we can surely make a good profit. However, people in the north are very cautious, so it takes time for them to accept newcomers. Therefore, this time, let’s just show our faces and come back.”
Niall expressed that people in the north were cautious instead of saying they were suspicious, and the northern men liked that expression. They nodded, saying, “Yes, we tend to be cautious.”
“I came to the north with that elderly person. It was really not an easy journey. As someone from the central region, have I ever experienced such cold? But after all the hardships, when I arrived here, the trader I was supposed to deal with suddenly died.”
Niall paused here and took a sip of tea. The northern men listened attentively, interjecting with comments like, “Oh,” and “So what happened?”
“I couldn’t discuss trade matters in a portrait house, and the dispute over who among the deceased trader’s sons would be the next head was still unresolved. So, we had to go down to the central region. The problem was me. What good would it do for me to go down? I would just be chased by creditors. So…”
“So?”
“The elderly person mobilized his connections and arranged for me to work as a laborer in this castle.”
Niall chuckled.
“In other words, a friend of a friend’s acquaintance, who was a trader associated with the deceased trader, happened to be the lord of this castle.”
