The place chosen for sledding was in the middle of a steep mountain ridge. Niall looked down below with a puzzled expression.
“Isn’t it too high?”
“What’s so high about it? Even kids can ride down this. Don’t worry, Niall. Even a tiny guy from the central region like you can slide down on a sled.”
“There’s a pile of rocks without snow cover over there.”
“Then just don’t go that way! Come on!”
Ignoring Niall’s unease, Perad pushed his sled. Niall screamed and leaned back. The sled with sharp blades glided coolly down the snow. The chilly wind brushing past his ears felt refreshing. At some point, instead of screaming, Niall found himself cheering.
“This is really fun.”
As Niall reached the bottom, his face turned bright red. Deeb teased him.
“Fun, isn’t it? You should have joined us sooner.”
With only two sleds for five people, they had to take turns.
Niall took turns riding the sled three more times. Climbing the steep mountain ridge each time consumed quite a bit of his stamina.
Now contemplating whether to stop, Niall looked up at his friends on the mountain ridge. Perad was cramming his large body onto the sled.
“Hey, Niall! Want me to show you a more fun way to ride?”
Perad shouted to Niall and raised both hands.
Isn’t that a bit dangerous? Niall frowned as he watched Perad descend. Seeing the large Perad riding the sled with his hands up made him nervous.
“Oops!”
“Whoa!”
As expected, Perad’s sled wobbled dangerously. Perad tried to steer the sled back on course, but it had already veered towards a sharp rocky mound protruding from the snow. The sled collided with the rock and bounced violently.
“Perad!”
Thrown from the sled, Perad tumbled onto the snow. Niall threw himself and caught Perad, who gained momentum with each roll. After several more spins, they finally stopped.
“Are you okay?”
Niall hugged Perad tightly to his chest and asked. With a dazed expression, Perad nodded.
“I’m fine. What, what happened? I’ve never experienced anything like this before, even when I was young.”
“Back then, your body probably fit snugly into that sled.”
“Oh, I see.”
Finally understanding, Perad nodded.
“Can you stand up?”
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.
“Yo mbegrf.”
Mffilcu j yla yfaafg, Ufgjv jcrkfgfv mbcolvfcais, yea jr rbbc jr tf aglfv ab rajcv, tf ugbjcfv jcv rajuufgfv. Rljii delmxis rilv tlr tjcv ecvfg Ufgjv’r rtbeivfg ab reqqbga tlw.
“Rljii! Ufgjv! Cgf sbe bxjs?”
Gffy rtbeafv ogbw atf wbecajlc glvuf jybnf. Rljii kjnfv bcf tjcv abkjgvr Gffy.
“We’re okay! But Perad seems to be hurt, so I’ll take him back.”
“Should I help?”
“No need! I was just about to leave anyway!”
Adding a bit of teasing, Niall continued.
“It’s dangerous, so you guys should walk down!”
The men sitting in a row on the mountain ridge all fell silent with their heads straight. It was only after seeing Perad rolling that they realized sledding here was dangerous. Niall chuckled and then helped Perad walk away.
“Ow, ow. Gently.”
Initially walking gracefully, Perad began to whimper as they approached the castle. When Niall told him not to exaggerate, Perad started to cry for real.
“Could it be that you injured the same spot again?”
“It feels like it. Looks like I’ll have to hobble around for a while again.”
Perad had injured his thigh during the war. And now it seemed he had struck that same spot when falling off the sled.
“Let’s go to my room. There should be some ointment left from last time.”
“Thanks. That ointment worked really well.”
Perad, who had agreed absentmindedly, suddenly became serious.
“I’ll apply it myself this time.”
“Why? I can do it for you.”
“Do that embarrassing posture again?”
“It hurts, you know.”
Perad couldn’t bring himself to boast about his wounds when injured soldiers returning from battles proudly displayed their scars. Perad himself couldn’t understand how he ended up getting hurt in such a place. It seemed that in a fierce battle, a blind blade had penetrated his thigh.
Perad couldn’t bring himself to ask the female nurses to treat his thigh instead of his arms or abdomen, and the untreated wound worsened severely. Eventually, it was only when Perad was on the verge of collapsing that he could receive treatment with Niall’s help. Niall spread Perad’s legs wide open, sitting between them, squeezing out pus and applying ointment. Perad was truly grateful, but he asked Niall not to mention this incident again and bought him a drink.
“I’d rather die than spread my legs in front of you again.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s just go to my room for now. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.”
Sniffling, Perad nodded his head. Phew, Niall breathed heavily, wrapping his arms tightly around Perad’s shoulders. Even among the tall Northerners, Perad stood out noticeably, and honestly, it was a bit challenging. He seemed almost as big as Duke.
Should I have just asked for Deeb’s help earlier when he offered? Niall briefly regretted it.
Was it because of Duke? A man who looked like Duke was standing at the slope leading to the castle gate. With Perad whining about his pain, dragging him alone was already difficult, and with snow falling lightly, Niall decided to ask the man for help.
“Excuse me. Could you please help us?”
“…”
Due to the snow, the man’s face wasn’t clearly visible. Along with the snow, the wind blew, making the visibility even more unclear. Still, the sword stuck in the man’s waist was visible. With a polite demeanor, Niall raised his voice a bit more.
“Sir. Can’t you lend a hand to someone in trouble?”
“…”
“If you help, I’ll definitely repay the favor.”
“…”
“We just need you to take this friend of mine to my room. He hurt his groin and can’t walk alone.”
The man continued to remain silent. Hmm, thinking it would be difficult to get help, Niall took another difficult step forward. There was a squeaking sound underfoot. Perad seemed to have completely lost his strength now, dragging his leg while leaning heavily on Niall.
Niall struggled halfway up the slope. As the distance with the silent knight closed, Niall suddenly thought that the man looked like Duke.
“No way.”
Niall squinted his eyes and looked at the mysterious knight. The ends of his hair, swirling around in the snowstorm, gleamed silver. It was really Duke. He had returned.
“Wow.”
Niall smiled brightly. He hadn’t expected to meet the lords of the North and conduct an inspection after the New Year’s festival, so he hadn’t expected to meet them so soon. Especially not the day after he had dreamed of Duke. So quickly.
What should I do? Should I run to him like in the dream? As Niall looked at Duke with excitement, Duke raised his hand and gave a short nod. Then, the knight who had been standing far away approached, taking Perad from Niall and putting him on his back. As Perad’s legs spread apart, he groaned, but the knight silently climbed the slope and soon disappeared.
“Duke.”
Niall also approached Duke. There were so many things he wanted to say. The New Year’s festivities were fascinating. I also made a wish, is there nothing more to do now, should we really meet every day from now on? Niall wanted to say those things, but he couldn’t say a word. Duke’s expression as he looked down at him was too cold.
“Hello, Duke. I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
Niall gathered his courage and greeted Duke.
“My friends asked me to go sledding, so I came to have some fun. Please don’t tell Sir Phil.”
“…”
“They say all the children here sled when they’re young. I’ve never seen sleds like these before. With blades underneath. I used to ride on old leather pouches when I was young.”
“…”
“Did you also ride sleds when you were young, Duke?”
Duke didn’t respond to any of Niall’s words, and the smile that had hung around Niall’s lips disappeared. For some reason, standing in front of Duke without having done anything wrong made him feel small.
“That man just touched your chest.”
“What did you say?”
Niall’s eyes widened at Duke’s words. Understanding what he meant, Niall quickly corrected himself.
“He didn’t touch my chest, he just put his arm on my shoulder, so his hand came down to my chest.”
If there were eyes, they wouldn’t mistake that…. Niall thought to himself.
“Where were you trying to take that man?”
“I was trying to take him to the medical investigation quarters. He got a cut, and I thought there might be medicine there….”
“Lies.”
Duke interrupted Niall.
“Don’t lie to me. I detest liars.”
“…”
“I’ve heard enough. Are you two lovers? Weren’t you planning to take him to your room and spread his legs there?”
“Duke, that’s…”
“Think carefully and answer. I have an extreme aversion to liars.”
Niall had to keep his mouth shut. As Duke said, he was indeed planning to take Perad to his room. And it was true that he intended to spread his legs there to apply ointment for treatment.
“How many men have you dragged into your room so far? How many men have you stripped off their pants under the pretext of treatment?”
“Oh my. How could you misunderstand like that?”
As Niall carefully chose his words, Duke muttered nonsense, as if he had drawn some conclusion.
“Do you fancy him?”
“Absolutely not! What nonsense is this?”
Niall sighed deeply. It was hard to find the right words to respond to such absurdity.
“Do you think you can deceive me, even though I saw it with my own eyes? You, right now. Right now.”
Duke shouted angrily.
“You were trying to take that man to have sex!”
Dük tam bir drama kraliçesi
For real