The Duke already disliked himself. He was the one who called Niall derogatory names and slapped him. It was already a difficult situation.
Why did I say such words to a difficult person, even when sweet words would suffice?
Niall couldn’t help but sigh all the way down the stairs. The magnitude of his mistake left him with no idea how to make amends. Instead of making amends, he doubted whether the Duke would even call him again. Niall sighed as he looked at his own shadow descending the stairs.
Hopefully, the Duke would call me again. So I can apologize for my mistake.
That’s all Niall could hope for.
∞ ∞ ∞
Niall worried that the Duke would never call him again, but fortunately, that worry proved to be unfounded. Since that day, Niall continued to encounter the Duke.
Whether stepping on blankets in the laundry room, returning to the mansion with firewood on his back, supporting injured soldiers down the stairs, or running down the castle walls for urgent errands, Niall felt the Duke’s gaze on him, and whenever he looked up, there was always the Duke.
Niall approached the Duke several times, wondering if he had something to say, but soon realized that the Duke had no ulterior motive. The Duke simply looked at Niall. After staring at Niall for a few seconds to a few minutes, he quickly lost interest and often turned away.
“If only I could talk to him and apologize for that day’s rudeness.”
Every time Niall saw the Duke from a distance, he felt restless.
“How can I talk to him? How can I face him? I want to talk to him. I want to initiate conversation.”
Frustrated, Niall kicked his foot.
“I miss him.”
Niall had been in six relationships so far. Not just six relationships, but he had experienced countless harmless flirtations and teases that often occurred among young people.
Like greeting the young mistress of a fish store, saying she looked even more beautiful overnight, and gently smiling back at her, or subtly brushing hands with the steward of a mansion when handing over a coat for errands.
Or, when riding in a carriage, sitting next to the coachman instead of the back seat, and after buying delicious snacks, asking if he would like to taste them, then putting one in the coachman’s mouth. Niall had always managed such things with elegance.
After teasing them harmlessly, they always seemed delighted to see Niall, as if they had received a gift, and Niall himself felt uplifted during their playful encounters. Niall was really good at such things.
But why?
Why was it that with the Duke, of all people…?
Niall stole a glance at the Duke’s back, feeling sad. And also sorry for inadvertently hurting him.
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.
Of course, someone like a Duke of Shiralund shouldn’t be hurt by someone like me, but the last expression on the Duke’s face as he ordered me to leave kept lingering in Niall’s mind, making him feel unjustly sorry.
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While doing so, Morin added, “Since you’re going out anyway, take those recovery soldiers who are constantly demanding things and wasting time lying in bed and get them to pass the time.”
Listening to her, Niall blamed himself, but still brought a leather ball and led the recovery soldiers. There was no need to incite them; the men who saw the ball followed Niall as if possessed. Niall then led them straight to the training ground and organized a match.
“The losing team doesn’t get dinner tonight. The winning team gets to eat it all.”
As they wagered the same, the atmosphere became tense enough to cut with a knife. The men rolled their eyes and chased after the ball.
“Stick close! Don’t let them steal the ball!”
“Use your feet, not your hands!”
“Pass it to Deep! Deep will score!”
Since the scores were tied, Niall decided to act as the referee. He ran around, shouting at both sides and admonishing them.
Whenever someone secretly used their hands or pushed another soldier too hard, Niall warned them by putting his index finger and thumb to his mouth and letting out a sharp whistle. Even in their excitement, the soldiers stopped in unison when Niall whistled.
During this time, Niall felt a sense of satisfaction he hadn’t felt in a long time. Despite everything, he was still a man, and men loved chasing after a ball and sweating.
Morin had requested Niall to stay out until dinner time if possible, so Niall subtly manipulated the game to keep it going throughout the afternoon.
The men’s faces were drenched in sweat. Despite it being winter, having come from the south, the northern men felt the weather at the shrine was warm like spring, so they gradually took off their clothes after each game. By the time the fourth game started, they were all shirtless.
“Niall, why are you still wearing clothes? Aren’t you hot?” asked Deep, whose disheveled hair Niall had nursed for a full three days due to an infection. Niall chuckled and shook his head.
“You should take yours off too. What’s the harm among men?”
“I’m fine.”
“Come on, just take it off. It’s hot.”
Pered, who overheard their conversation, chimed in. He, too, had been nursed by Niall and felt grateful to him. Pered’s injury happened to be in the groin area.
Because Niall had applied ointment and bandaged Pered’s wounds as the only male nurse, Pered didn’t have to expose his groin in front of the girl he had a crush on. Pered had been grateful for that incident ever since.
“Take it off! Let’s be manly and take them off!”
“We should all do it together!”
“Take it off! Take it off!”
The men crowded around Niall, shouting for him to take off his undershirt. Niall’s face showed a hint of embarrassment amidst the chorus of men urging him to expose himself. Hesitating, Niall turned and ran to a corner before finally taking off his shirt.
That’s right, refreshing! Amidst the men’s cheers echoing, Niall quickly grabbed a sleeveless undershirt and put it on bare-chested. Then he turned around and shrugged as if to say, “There, done.”
“What’s that? Just take it all off. That’s not manly.”
Deep frowned with dissatisfaction. Niall tightened his undershirt around himself and lowered his head.
“I’m a bit cold.”
“It’s like spring weather here, what do you mean you’re cold?”
“But I’m from the central region.”
Niall hugged himself with both arms, shivering.
“You guys probably don’t feel the cold naturally. This level of cold would barely affect northern men, right? But I’m from the central region. I get much colder than you guys do.”
The northern men instantly felt good hearing that.
Yeah. Niall was a weak, fragile central region man, after all. So, let’s cut him some slack. It’s not even that cold for us northern men, but he’s from the central region, you know? They said so as they dispersed.
“Did you forget about the bet? The losing side won’t get dinner tonight!”
Niall sent the ball flying forcefully into the air. Seeing the ball soar, the men shouted and rushed after it like a pack of wolves.
“Huff…”
Left behind, Niall wiped the sweat from his forehead without anyone noticing. Then he tightened the knot of his undershirt one more time.
It was after the game, when Niall, exhausted, returned to the dormitory to rest. Just as he was about to open the door and go in, someone grabbed his shoulder. When he turned around, a blond knight stood there. Niall’s eyes widened.
“Did he summon me?”
The blond knight nodded without saying a word and gestured for Niall to follow.
Finally. Niall swallowed hard. At last, the Duke had called for him. This time, he wouldn’t make any mistakes.
The Duke greeted Niall with a somewhat displeased expression. Niall bowed as politely as he could, but before he could even lift his head, the Duke asked without any interest in how polite Niall was.
“Do you have exhibitionism?”
“What?”
Now, Niall, who had been intending to sincerely apologize for his arrogant and rude attitude and beg for forgiveness, raised his head with a dumbfounded expression.
“I understand your sexual preference. You said you don’t like Alphas, right? I understand that well.”
“I never said I didn’t like… ”
“Even so, you’re exposing yourself to Betas. Are you out of your mind?”
“When did I…”
Niall was bewildered.
When did I ever do such a crazy thing?
Niall tried to sort out the situation slowly but couldn’t make sense of it, so he asked again.
“Expose myself to Betas? When?”
“Don’t deny it. I saw it with my own eyes during the day.”
There was nothing to say to that claim of seeing it firsthand. Although it seemed to be related to the football incident during the day, Niall couldn’t remember ever exposing himself to Betas in that way, even after racking his brain.
“Do you even know how many Alphas are here?”
“Well, roughly…”
“There are three hundred.”
As Niall was trying to calculate the answer in his head, frustrated, the Duke spoke first.
“All the knights are Alphas, and even some of the soldiers are. In such a dangerous place, you…”
Pushing aside his long cloak, the Duke stood up. Then, like someone facing a pressing problem, he paced around the room with long strides.
“…expose yourself so recklessly. …Not now, but earlier!”
ughh just say you’re jealous Duke!🙄🙄
Jelly
bu büyük bir sirke kavanozu.
merci beaucoup💜
When is the next update for this one please?😔
tomorrow, hopefully!
Yey, thank you for the hard work😭