“I thought we’d meet after the engagement ceremony.”
Niall called out to Duke with a dumbfounded expression, prompting Duke, who was sitting on the straw bed, to rise. He rolled up the black coat, which extended to his ankles, in one hand and shook it lightly. As he shook it, the coat’s hem billowed like a gust of wind before gracefully settling down. In that moment of distraction, Duke swiftly approached and grabbed Niall firmly.
Their lips met immediately. It was only then that Niall realized Duke had returned. It was a kiss full of force, as always, with so much pressure on his arm that it hurt, but Niall didn’t push Duke away. Instead, he parted his lips and slowly explored his palate.
“Have you been put?”
After a while, Duke asked, his breath uneven. Niall nodded.
“Yes, I’ve been patiently waiting only for you, Duke.”
“But it must have been lacking. Because the burning desire of an omega…”
“Then just fulfill it now!”
Niall unintentionally raised his voice. It was almost a shout. Duke looked at Niall with surprise. Niall bit his lip, then lightly tapped Duke’s chest. It didn’t hurt at all, as if a small animal was tapping its owner after a long time.
“I missed you.”
“…”
Niall spoke those words in a small voice and then bit his lip, avoiding Duke’s gaze. Duke couldn’t take his eyes off Niall, whose chest he tapped had warmed up like a sunlit stone.
When Niall lifted his head to meet Duke’s gaze, his eyes showed not only the joy of reunion but also faint traces of resentment.
It was another expression of longing, but Duke didn’t perceive those eyes and emotions. He was still too inexperienced to discern such feelings. Distinguishing between the clarity of day and night, or the hues of dawn’s ambiguity, was still too early for Duke.
Instead, Duke placed his hand on Niall’s chest and felt the sound of Niall’s heartbeat beneath his hand. Niall’s heart was beating a little faster. It felt like when he cupped a small butterfly in his palm as a child. There was life beneath his hand.
Looking up at Duke in silence, Niall undid the buttons of his shirt and tried to slowly spread it apart. Duke stopped his hand and instead reached forward with his palm extended.
“Hand.”
“Yes?”
“Hand.”
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.
Gexf gjlrfv tlr bearagfamtfv tjcv lc atf jlg obg j wbwfca. Pc regqglrf, Rljii qijmfv tlr tjcv bc abq bo la. Gexf, klat tlr tjcvrbwf ilqr rilutais qegrfv, abbx j vffq ygfjat, jr lo tf tjv rbwfatlcu ab rjs yea vlvc’a xcbk tbk ab jgalmeijaf la.
“Rljii, ktja vb sbe atlcx lr atf wbra lwqbgajca atlcu lc atlr kbgiv?”
After deliberating for a while, Duke finally spoke. Niall opened his mouth and blinked twice. He didn’t understand what was being asked.
“The most important thing?”
“Yes.”
Niall closed his mouth and rolled his eyes. Suddenly being asked such a question. He couldn’t think of anything.
“Well, I… ”
“I think it’s wheat.”
Duke quickly responded as if he had been waiting for the chance to say what he had memorized. Niall remained silent. Duke seemed to have wanted to say those words from the beginning.
“Without wheat, you can’t make bread. Without bread, people can’t survive. Therefore, the most important thing in this world is not gold or jewels, but wheat.”
“I see.”
But why suddenly wheat… Why of all things… Unable to understand the topic of this conversation, Niall tilted his head to the side.
“Some people say that corn, which is necessary for feeding livestock, is more important than wheat. Since raising livestock allows people to eat meat, isn’t corn more important than wheat? However, my opinion remains unchanged. I still believe that wheat is a far more valuable grain than corn.”
Duke looked at Niall as if to ask, “Do you think so too?”
Niall just nodded his head.
Duke’s expression relaxed noticeably upon receiving Niall’s agreement. He lightly brushed Niall’s hair aside and continued speaking.
“Niall, your hair is like well-ripened wheat. Do you know that your hair shines golden when it catches the sunlight, just like the most important grain in this world?”
Oh, no. With a sudden thought, Niall tucked his lips in.
“Wheat also grows in the North. Centralians may think that wheat doesn’t grow at all in the North, but I know how beautiful the pre-harvest wheat fields can be here, as we cultivate wheat that can survive until early winter through breeding.”
Niall felt like he knew why Duke suddenly started praising wheat. So this is…
“Niall.”
Duke spoke in a deep voice. He tightened his grip on Niall’s hand.
“Your hair sparkles like a wheat field, incredibly beautiful.”
Through this lengthy conversation, Duke had been emphasizing the importance of wheat, intending to say that Niall’s hair is as beautiful as a wheat field during harvest season.
“Duke, are you following the order I told you to?”
Niall asked cautiously. Duke nodded, then looked at Niall with a slightly anxious expression, as if wondering if he was lacking something.
“Hold hands, give compliments, make eye contact. And after kissing, touch the chest.”
Duke remembered Niall’s words and followed the sequence. Yes, Duke was praising Niall through emphasizing the importance of wheat.
“On the way back from the border, I suddenly thought about it. I mentioned that you should give compliments before touching the chest. I wondered if it shouldn’t be me but you who hears those words from me…”
“…”
“Because I’m the one touching your chest. So maybe the compliments should come from me, not you. I had that thought. Does that make sense?”
Niall nodded silently.
“So, I was right in praising you earlier?”
Niall nodded again. Duke’s expression brightened.
“Niall.”
The distance between them grew even closer. Now Niall was almost leaning against Duke. Their lips touched briefly, then parted. Both of them sighed. Their fingers trembled between them.
“Can I fulfill your desire now?”
The kiss, which only touched their lips and parted, was more heart-pounding than any passionate kiss they had shared before. Niall wordlessly pushed back his shirt. The wrinkled muslin shirt fell open, revealing his bare chest. Duke leaned in, burying his face into Niall’s chest. As the moist breath reached the slightly protruding nipple, Niall tightly closed his eyes.
Duke had returned. Niall was overjoyed to the point of being strange. The fatigue that had tormented him all day disappeared without a trace.
∞ ∞ ∞
“No love can overcome the barrier of status. Men are bound by honor more than love.”
It was Tatiana’s words. Niall often remembered the words she tossed out like playing a card game after she arrived in the North. Tatiana was truly the protagonist of a remarkable scandal, and her guests were clergy and nobles. She had sincerely loved some of them.
“Forgetting happens often in the wine of love. Countless women, from prostitutes to weavers’ daughters, tavern owners’ young wives, sailors’ daughters, maids… There are countless women who have held hands with noble youths and run away. And they all failed. Because men always end up regretting. When the honeymoon period ends, they soon realize what they have left behind. Without honor and lineage, they are nothing. Noble men need noble women. Love between unequal ranks is bound to break.”
Tatiana muttered while smoking, her voice tinged with self-pity.
“Abandoned women end up with bastards and lead miserable lives. So, women must remember. What matters to nobles is not love but honor and lineage. They should not risk their lives for unattainable love. Never forget that.”
‘Never forget that.’
Niall walked out of the hallway, mulling over Tatiana’s words.
He and Duke were in a contractual relationship. He had come here to serve as Duke’s bedmate and was paid for it.
Sex for money. It’s called being a rent boy in society.
Until he was approached by Gerard, Niall hadn’t fully realized this fact. Because the man he dealt with was only one, and he had a fear of intimacy. Perhaps in his mind, Niall considered this more of a therapeutic act.
But now, the fiancée had appeared. Duke’s legitimate and lawful wife who matched his status.
Since the fiancée arrived at Shiralund Castle, Niall had tried to avoid them as much as possible. When passing the corridors where Duke’s fiancée and her attendants, servants, and knights stayed for a week for the engagement ceremony, Niall kept his head down and did not raise it.
They would stay for a week and return to Earl Ellem’s estate after the engagement ceremony. And when spring comes, Duke will go down to Earl Ellem’s estate again for his wedding and then return to the North to welcome his bride.
Two days have passed, and now there is only one day left. Niall had decided to avoid the fiancée for these three days. He truly did not want to meet Duke’s fiancée or her entourage.
sorry for uploading three chapters this week…haven’t got the chance to edit another because of finals (the translation is done though) _(:‚‹」∠)_
Thank you for the chapter!!
My thoughts in this chapter:
-PURPLE HEART THEY SAY IT, THE TITLE HE SAY IT
-Damn Niall 🙁
-Duke finally get it, I almost think that he have a praise kink 😔🙏 since he always get só happy when is praise for Niall (in bed)
-Honestly, both Duke being a etereal man and isolation is what is making Niall falling in love. Isolation is a huge factor cause he cannot distract herself from get on his feelings :((
And thank you for the chapter 💝
Thank you for the chapters! The tension is building