“The fortune teller’s name is Romana. She predicted a landslide and once caught a murderer in a labyrinth. Impressive, right? So, I’m going to live a long life.”
The Duke held Niall tightly. Their hearts beat together. Soon, the Duke’s lips moved to Niall’s neck, taking in a deep breath. Their bodies warmed, but they simply held each other without progressing further, remembering the medical examiner’s advice. Yet, with the memories of the past three days lingering, it was only a matter of time before they rekindled the flame.
Even though they had left the confined room, Niall’s world shrank back to the size of a single room. The Duke locked Niall in his room and voluntarily stayed there with him. From the moment he woke up until he fell asleep, the Duke was almost always there. He made only brief outings and quickly returned, conducting his duties from the room where Niall stayed.
Niall did nothing. He just kept sleeping. The medical examiner explained that it was part of the process of stabilizing their pheromones. Both the Duke and Niall were almost immune to omega and alpha pheromones, respectively, and had been suppressing their own to the limit. Suddenly being overwhelmed by internal and external pheromones had sent them into shock, and their bodies were now trying to adapt.
“I want to go outside.”
Just sleeping didn’t suit him. Niall wanted to move around. But the Duke shook his head.
“It’s still dangerous. You’re not well.”
Pheromone shock wasn’t an illness. Niall wanted to argue that. But…
“Don’t go.”
The Duke knelt by the bedside, looking into his eyes.
“Stay with me. Okay?”
With just those words, Niall gave in. He found himself nodding despite his nature, which would normally go crazy being confined. The Duke pulled down thick tapestries, blocking the windows. With the world outside shut off and candles lit, the room became even smaller and darker.
‘It will end soon. Just until our pheromones stabilize. Then we’ll part ways.’
Niall became indulgent. He wanted to grant the Duke’s requests as much as possible since their time together would soon be over.
“I grew up in a traveling troupe. When I was very young, my parents sold me to the troupe. The children who were sold were distributed randomly, and I was taken in by the great fortune teller, Romana.”
In this isolated world, the room was no longer a room, and the bed was no longer a bed. They lay side by side like the only two survivors of a shipwreck.
“What’s a traveling troupe?”
“A troupe of performers. Jugglers, singers, actors. People come to watch and pay to see the performances. That’s a traveling troupe.”
Niall explained slowly.
“Children have to prove their worth. A singer’s child must sing well, an acrobat’s child must know how to walk a tightrope. Those without such skills draw charms or make voodoo dolls. If they can’t do that, they learn to pickpocket. And if they can’t do that… they sell their bodies. From a very young age.”
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.
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“I learned how to embroider costumes for actors and how to fold flowers out of lace. I’ve been on stage and made furniture. There’s only one thing I didn’t learn—fortune telling. Romana loved me dearly but never taught me fortune telling. She said it had to be innate.”
“So, what did you do to earn money?”
Niall’s eyes grew distant. He hesitated for a moment before answering.
“I helped the other troupe members, and they paid me for my efforts. Besides, Romana was so good at making money that she covered the debts owed by me, my sister Sera, and my brother Louis.”
“Louis?”
“Yes, Louis of the Ellem family, Duke’s fiancé, and my brother. We grew up together in the troupe as companions and family.”
The Duke understood the implication of those words.
Why would a count’s son grow up in a traveling troupe? Either he was kidnapped or abandoned by his parents. The troupe wouldn’t have kidnapped a noble’s son, so he was likely abandoned. And why would a noble abandon a child? Either because of a disability or because he was illegitimate. Since Louis had no disability, it meant he was illegitimate.
Niall, feeling concerned, grasped Duke’s hand tightly. Duke reassured him, gently stroking the back of Niall’s hand with his thumb.
“The North doesn’t ostracize bastards. Children aren’t at fault. A bastard can’t inherit a title or become a lord, but they are treated as family and can inherit property.”
Niall felt a great sense of relief at those words.
“Listen, Duke. Louis and I really fought a lot growing up.”
“You? With the heir of the Ellem family?”
Duke couldn’t believe that Niall had fought fiercely or that his opponent had been the Ellem family heir.
“Do you want to hear how we fought?”
Niall leaned in close, as if sharing a secret only with Duke. Duke leaned in too, even though they were alone.
“Do you know the game of repeating words? It’s a game that drives the person being mimicked crazy while the one doing it doesn’t exert any effort.”
“How does it work?”
“Do you want me to show you?”
Duke nodded. Niall smiled mischievously. Duke waited, but Niall just smiled without saying anything.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Niall repeated Duke’s words exactly. Duke looked confused.
“Niall, why aren’t you talking?”
“Niall, why aren’t you talking?”
Niall repeated again. Duke propped himself up on his elbows. Niall did the same.
“Why are you copying me?”
“Why are you copying me?”
“What are you doing? Answer me, Niall.”
“What are you doing? Answer me, Niall.”
“……”
Duke raised his eyebrows, seemingly trying to figure out what was happening. Niall burst out laughing.
“This is how the game goes. It’s really annoying, isn’t it?”
“……Is this supposed to be fun?”
“Louis played this trick often. When I got annoyed and stayed silent, he’d squat behind me, waiting for someone to talk to me so he could repeat everything I said. Can you imagine how irritating that was?”
“Incredibly annoying.”
Even from a brief experience, Duke felt a surge of frustration, wanting to lash out. For this game to break the composure of someone with the patience of a heroic lineage like Duke, it was indeed a formidable annoyance.
“Louis and I fought a lot. Especially over food. Honestly, isn’t it the worst when someone messes with your food? It’s outrageous to take the last bit of something you were saving. And everyone knows the strawberry on top of a strawberry cake is the most important part. But he claimed he didn’t know. He thought I wasn’t eating it because I didn’t like it. Does that make sense?”
“……”
“Once, out of spite, I told him that stepping on someone’s shadow repeatedly would kill them. So, he followed me around stepping on my shadow. I hit him just once, but he cried and threatened to tell his mom. I teased him, saying his mom wasn’t here, she’d abandoned him. He ran to Romana and tattled, and I had to stand with my hands up until evening for making my little brother cry. Everyone there had no moms, so why was I punished for teasing him about it? I didn’t have a mom either.”
Duke laughed out loud because Niall looked genuinely aggrieved. Niall, seeing Duke laugh, also laughed and leaned against his arm.
“I’ve told you my story. Now, tell me yours.”
“I have nothing to share.”
“Anything is fine. Tell me about your childhood. I want to know the name of your childhood friend.”
Duke’s gaze drifted to the distant past, but he soon shook his head.
“Nothing… I have nothing.”
“……”
“No friends, no siblings. All I have, all I own, all I’m responsible for is the North.”
The beautiful alpha who had everything but was always on the brink of despair spoke in a calm tone, devoid of any feelings of pity or sadness. Niall felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness, like watching a wind-swept reed bed.
How could a man who had everything have not a single happy memory? Even Niall, who had grown up in a traveling troupe without memories of his parents, had happy childhood memories filled with love.
“Should I tell you more about my story?”
So Niall asked in a deliberately cheerful voice. If Duke had no memories to share, Niall wanted to share his own.
“Fighting with Louis was nothing. I mentioned I have an older sister, right? Fighting with Sera was a real war. Want to hear about it? One time…”
As Niall recounted these trivial stories, the day passed by. He shared with Duke only the fun and amusing parts of his experiences during his time with the traveling troupe. He omitted the sorrow of being treated poorly everywhere they went, the drunken customers who resorted to violence, and the women who were beaten.
And Duke, listening to Niall’s stories, brightened with joy.
‘Just a little more.’
Thank you for updating this😭😭❤️❤️❤️
the smexy parts are very uncomfortable for me to read😅😅 but I can’t hate Duke though, maybe because it was his first time and he was manipulated by their pheromones.
I hope the angst part would not be too long and would resolve quickly 🥺🙏
Yeah the smut scenes were viscerally uncomfy, but when I thought about how the duke is also a victim to pheromones and literally seemed like he was drugged/high asf, it seemed more like an unfortunate reality where nobody is to blame except the author for making this depressing reality 🙁 although I feel much worse for Niall than the duke, despite both of them being sexually assaulted as young children
+1
the smut scenes were really uncomfy and i feel sorry for nail too
omg niall** i’m so sorry
😭😭😭