CW: Explicit language, mentions of hanging/execution, mentions of abuse, mild sexual content (not explicit).
Today is the One Year Anniversary of this novel!!! ☆*･゜ﾟ･*(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆
I posted the first chapter on Chrysanthemum Garden on 31 August 2021 and I made a vow to finish this trilogy no matter what. Honestly, I’m shocked I made it this far. I know what I’ve written isn’t a lot in the world of webnovels, but I went into this (rashly) as a short story writer. So this has been a steep, steep, learning curve, and I still have very far to go (╥_╥)
On a side note, I think my writing style has changed a lot over the course of Book I, and although what I have now isn’t very literate, it’s sustainable and satisfying for me. Please bear with my bad writing for now.
Thank you so much for sticking with me and this novel over the past year. It’s been a really rough time, but your support has kept me motivated and on track! Here is an extra fluffy chapter to celebrate one year of our Himbo and his Trashboi <3
Next chapter will be uploaded on Thursday EST as per the usual schedule.
Fun Fact: If Rin wasn’t destined to be an evil tyrannical emperor, he would have gone into musical theatre instead~
The Sweet Brier Inn is bustling, even in the early hours of the morning. Fresh eyed Roses mingling with night workers finished looking to unwind; heavy drunks three days deep into their latest bender; grizzled patrons nursing their hangovers, soaking the last of their drink with a hearty breakfast. And in the corner of the tavern, a certain Rat, steadily working his way through a pitcher of River Wine as he ruminates on his current predicament.
It’s with a sense of relief when Rin’s eye lands on a familiar figure picking his way through the raggedy crowd.
“What are you doing here?” he smiles, kicking out the vacant seat beside.
“I have been searching for you,” Jun pants, dropping down into the proffered chair. He pulls out a handkerchief and dabs at his clammy face. “Rinnie, we need to talk.”
“Drink, then talk.” Rin refills his cup and pushes it towards the weary lord. He grabs the half-empty pitcher for himself and takes a deep swig.
“This is serious.”
“So’m I,” the raven gasps and slams the pitcher down. “Another one, Tann!”
“Right you are, Rat!” The barkeep calls over and sets about pouring another pitcher of River Wine for his arguably best customer.
Rin gives his little lord a blue-stained grin and huddles in close, bringing his face mere inches away. “Go on. It’s about time we had a proper date, don’t you think?”
Despite his urgency, Jun feels his cheeks burn under that cloying gaze, and he quickly takes a sip of his drink. He tries not to wince at the sticky, sweet taste. “While I would very much enjoy a…a date, there are unfortunately far urgent matters to attend to.”
One of the Roses, a rather burly man with a penchant for inflicting pain if Rin remembers correctly, delivers the fresh pitcher of River Wine. He winks at the raven and sashays away, in search of his next client.
“He’s a helluva good time,” Rin chuckles. He stops short upon seeing his lover’s austerity. “Sorry. I’m listening.”
Jun releases a sharp breath and launches into his anxious speech. “I have Mira look into a few things, while you’ve been busy with…the hares,” he says, vaguely referring to the Otsukis. “She has returned with the most troubling news. The Slummers who were unjustly arrested by the Governor. They have been given a choice of the gallows or the war for their ostensible betrayal of the crown.”
Rin stares down at the old pitcher. There are blue dregs swimming at the bottom. He clenches his jaw as a flash of rage pulls him taut in all directions. “That’s not a choice, Jun.”
“Of course not,” the lord says, keeping his voice low. He tugs the hood of his cloak over his face. “Rinnie, this is enslavement. These Slummers are being forced to become foot soldiers. Cannon fodder for the frontlines of combat.”
“No-one’s seen Stout or Gilly for over a week. And Masa’s shop’s been closed for longer.”
“It is likely they have been arrested and made into soldiers. Unless they chose the gallows.”
“No.” Rin drains the pitcher and sets it aside, replacing it with the fresh one, brimming royal blue. He’s starting to lose his appetite for River Wine. “They’re Slummers. They wouldn’t ever choose to hang. Even if the war is another kinda death, at least they got a shot at surviving. That’s what I would pick, anyway.”
“As would I,” Jun murmurs, bowing his head.
“There isn’t anything you can do.”
“No. Not while Hwan Sun maintains his position as Governor.”
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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“Qbeivc’a qea la qjra tlw – frqfmljiis joafg tlr raeca klat Dilrr. Zlgj olcv jcsatlcu jybea atja?”
Jun shakes his head, taking a larger sip of his drink. He looks on the haggard side, as if he’d been travelling hard for days. Rin relaxes his jaw and touches his little lord’s hand, drawing him back.
“Mira, while under the Governor’s employ, is still my maidservant and Swordsmaster. He would give her nothing nor would Zev.”
“And Tiger’s fucked off to gods knows where. Probably Taecho, since the Bliss operation’s gone tits up.”
“The Governor would be displeased with him.” Jun drops his head in his hands, fingers clutching at his hairline as he laments. “I hate speaking of him in such a way. As though he were a man to fear. I understood him to be an intimidating figure, but never a dangerous one. Never immoral.”
“Yeah. He’s a true paragon of virtue,” Rin snorts. “You gotta get it in your head, little lord. Your old man’s a write off. There’s no point agonising over him.”
“I am not agonising,” Jun frowns, dropping his hands to wrap around his drink instead. “Although there is a state of equilibrium between us – albeit one that is rather impersonal – losing my father is a loss nonetheless. I…feel as though I am orphaned.”
When his thoughts turn to his own father, Rin mutters darkly, “Would that I could…”
“Your father is a different man altogether.” Jun takes another healthy sip and the raven promptly refills his cup.
“Yeah, but he’s the same breed of asshole. Forget him. Forget Hwan Sun. You and me – that’s all it’s ever gotta be, right?”
Jun gives him a wan smile and grasps his lover’s hand. Their fingers link naturally, expectedly. A long-ingrained habit for the both. “Rinnie, what will we do? I may be working within the capacity of Governorship, however I lack the true weight of the title. At least until the inauguration.”
“We got Silverswords stomping around the Slums, free to arrest whoever they want. Maybe we show them that we won’t go so easy.”
“Your father?”
“I’d rather eat shit,” Rin sneers. “I have an army, don’t I? One that’s been training for weeks and they’re just sitting on their hands. With Stout and Gilly arrested, I think the Vermin can be convinced to patrol the Slums. Make sure the Silverswords know that we’re not without our own protection.”
“There is risk of the Vermin themselves being arrested,” Jun frowns, pulsing nervous squeezes around his cup.
“They’re strong. They can fight back. Chase ‘em out. And they can wear masks, paint, to keep their identity hidden. And anyway, they’ve been itching for a good fight since the Rose Palace. Wanna prove their worth. I don’t see a better solution.”
Jun drinks silently for a moment, his reluctance to endanger the Vermin staying his words. But he knows that Rin’s logic is sound. He himself had overseen the Vermins’ training and he knows they are far better equipped to handle combat than when they first stormed the Rose Palace. With every sip he takes, his anxieties seem to be further allayed, until finally he gives a tired nod.
***
There are some precarities to dragging a drunken lord through the Slums, but none that the Rat and his fearsome mien can’t fend away with, perhaps, an insulting efficacy. Regardless, he makes it known that this particular drunken lord is his alone and dare anyone lay a single hand upon him, they would be met with a blood drenched glare and a raised fist.
Jun of course, is hardly cognisant of his own peril, as he’s focused entirely upon slurring about this and that. At present, he’s ranting about his father: “–and he’s always bouncing between the Blue Plains and Hanjuyang, however I suspect that he’d much rather stay at court. Really, Rinnie, you wouldn’t believe how tense it’s become. Even the servants are growing white hairs. Surely that isn’t healthy for one’s constitution. Yes, it’s as though he is…he has a…what is it you say? Ah yes, it’s as though he has a stick up his ass!” The lord yells the last before collapsing into a laughing fit. His feet snag upon the ground and he slumps into Rin’s side, one arm slung around his thin shoulders.
The raven huffs and tries to readjust his hold upon the drunken man. “I know you don’t drink much, but this is ridiculous. You only had one pitcher to my five.”
“We must continue imbibing,” Jun urges, bringing his face inches from his lover’s. “You and me. I mean, you and I. You and we. We must imbibe and make merry! That is what you value, is it not? Drinking, eating, and-and all the other things.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Rin pants, blinking sweat from his eye. “But I think we should stop drinking for the night. Get you into bed all nice and cosy. I’ll even tuck you in. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
Goldens draw even closer in his periphery. Saccharine breath puffs hot against his marred cheek. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re rather good looking?” Jun slurs, tapping a finger upon the edge of Rin’s eyepatch. “So dashing. Like a prince. Or a princess. Or both. But better, I think. Much better. May I kiss you?”
Despite his irritation, the raven can’t help but flush hot at Jun’s poor attempt as seduction. Somehow, the lord’s inebriation makes this all the more endearing.
“…You can kiss me if you behave,” he says, glaring at a pair of Silverswords passing by. Judging by their unsteady steps, they too are cups deep into the night. Their saving grace, perhaps. “Come on, Jun. Pick up your feet. It’s not safe out here.”
“I’m on my best behaviour!” Jun announces loudly, before planting a sloppy kiss upon the raven’s cheek. He grins when the latter grumbles but doesn’t pull away.
“You know. I thought I’d like you better drunk, but actually, you’re kinda annoy–ackk!” The youth is suddenly yanked off the street and into a night drenched alleyway. He tries to steer the drunk back on course, but Jun’s grasp is unyielding. Firm.
He’s no choice in the matter.
His back hits the grimy brick wall. His head follows suit. A large hand slaps the wall beside Rin’s ear and his heart gives a spooked jolt.
When he raises his head, he sees the lord looming overhead like an imposing sea of black clouds, electric, potent, imminent. His stuttering heart leaps into his mouth.
Those goldens, that bear down upon him with the weight of crushing boulders, seem to glow unnaturally bright. They are an uncontrollable blaze, setting him alight from bone to skin.
For a second, or perhaps an aeon, he’s unable to speak. His thoughts are a mess. His breathing moreso. And though he knows that Jun could never hurt him, there’s a small part of him which thrills in the idea. He thinks that he must be sick. Sicker than usual, anyway.
Finally, he manages a quiet, “…Jun?” His voice has never been meeker.
“Do you recognise this place?”
Rin licks his dry lips. “It’s where we first met.”
There’s the barest hint of a rakish smile, tugging at the corner of Jun’s mouth. It makes his blackness blacker. His oppressive aura heavier. He’s an unendurable force, crushing the smaller man in the most exquisite of ways. “It’s where you bought me,” he rumbles. The prelude to a thunderstorm.
“One gold coin,” Rin says, breathlessly.
“When you disappeared, I searched for you every day. Without fail, I always found myself here. Gold coin in hand. Staring at this scar.” His hand runs over the wall, and for the first time, Rin notices the deep gouge left there by Jun’s sword. Has it really been a year?
Feeling helplessly lost, yet sweetly imprisoned, Rin presents the gold coin to his captor. “…I still have it. If you want it back.”
Oaken lashes lower, slicing golden orbs in half. Jun’s smile softens. “It kept you safe in the Blue Plains and there are more trials ahead.”
Rin gives a pleased hum and slips the coin back into his pocket. The metal warms his cold fingers. “I was hoping you’d say that. It’s become my good luck charm.”
“For your safety, it has become mine also.”
“Hwan Jun, are you flirting with me?”
“I thought you had died,” Jun says suddenly, his expression grim. “Back then, I thought I lost you. I haven’t stopped thinking it. Dreaming about it. Even though I’d been possessed, there was enough of me left to realise what had befallen you.”
“What happened is in the past,” Rin murmurs, stroking the man’s pulsing jaw. “It’s over, Jun.”
“It’s still happening for me.” The lord leans into his lover’s touch. “When you jumped, it was the end, not just for me, but for this entire Empire, this Cycle, this…this everything.” His voice breaks, on the verge of shattering. “The pain was unlike I’d ever experienced. It was so excruciating, I thought I would die. I think…I think I did. For a moment.”
Jun grasps the sides of Rin’s face, thumbs running gentle strokes over his cheek bones. The latter’s breath shivers between his lips. His eye waters, but he doesn’t know why.
“And I still feel it. When you stormed the Rose Palace. When we were battling Crow and his Flock. When I saw how Korain hurt you.”
“But you came for me,” Rin urges, leaning into his lover’s touch. “You saved me.”
“I was too late.”
Rin’s brows crinkle in confusion. “No, you came just in time.”
“I was years too late.”
Rin’s heart flutters when he realises the lord’s meaning.
Jun’s despair dissipates in a white-hot flash of fury. There’s something wild and brutal in the little lord, that steals Rin’s breath away. “When I attacked him, I did so with lethal intent. And I know that it’s wrong. It’s wrong to wish for another’s death. But hatred lingers within me, Rinnie. It stains me. Dirties me. And nothing I do rids of it.”
“It’s okay, little lord,” Rin murmurs, placing his hands upon Jun’s broad chest. “You didn’t kill him. You’re not dirty.” He grimaces at the word. Dirty. Is that how Jun sees him?
His uneasiness is quickly forgotten when Jun imprisons him in the honeyed cages of his gaze. “Thank you. For stopping me. I otherwise would have chased after him and…”
“I know.”
“Will you be alright? Knowing that he’s still out there?”
Rin sighs and pets his beau’s chest. “There’s no trace of him in Hanjuyang. So he’s either in the outskirts or he’s gone somewhere else.”
“Without his tongue, he won’t be able to beguile people with his lies.”
“He probably won’t survive the winter and I’m satisfied with that.”
“You are a larger man than I,” Jun says, his timbre deep and warm.
Rin scoffs, cheeks burning under those calloused palms. “Says the giant. Don’t you ever stop growing?”
“Would you like me to stop growing?”
“…” Rin purses his lips and averts his gaze. “No,” he mutters, barely audible.
The lord chuckles and presses his lips against Rin’s forehead. His breath tickles his skin. “Rinnie.” His name. The name he chose. Uttered so tenderly. It’s hardly a word at all, but a priceless treasure that might disintegrate at the smallest provocation.
Hellebore eye, red rimmed and conflicted, meets its molten doom.
“My dearest. My one. I know we spoke of it before. Many times, in fact. However, I never asked you formally…”
“Asked me what?” But his heart is pounding, rattling, and he knows exactly what he’s talking about–
“Rinnie, will you do me the honour…”
Ah, fuck, here it comes.
“…of bearing my children?”
Something breaks in Rin’s head. A vital gear, surely, for the machinery subsequently collapses in a spectacular fashion.
He stares blankly at his little lord, plump lips popped open in shock. There must be water in my ears, he thinks to himself, feverishly. He can’t have just said–
“Huh?” he says, dumbly.
Jun grasps Rin’s shoulders and pushes him flat against the wall. His expression is flushed yet sincere, and not a single word is uttered without gravitas. “There is very little I want for in this life. At least, before I met you. But lately, I have found myself to be increasingly greedy. Now I want many things. And endless list of things. I want you to be my wife. I want you to bear our children. I want to live in domesticity with you. To cook and clean and grow fruit in our orchard. I want to grow old with you. Rinnie…with all my heart, with all my soul, I want you.”
Every word strikes Rin deep. Grievous wound upon grievous wound. His legs grow weak. His resolve is even weaker. “Little lord–” His wavering protest is stifled by Jun’s hungry mouth, and he’s swallowed whole by his lover’s passion. With every flit of their tongues, he melts away, losing his lines, his edges, until they are a mess of each other. They are smudged and meshed and entwined. They are no longer, but the other.
When they part, he sags against the wall, and would have fallen if not for Jun’s pinning grasp. His head spins and his mouth tingles. He’s pleasantly numb, like it was he who had a low tolerance for drink. “If anyone’s the wife,” he pants, gripping the front of Jun’s shirt, “it’s you, little lord.”
Jun chuckles, sending vibrations through Rin’s fingers. The sound is so deep and delicious, his pelvis clenches. “Very well. Then I shall be your wife.”
“And…?”
“And I shall bear our children.” He chuckles, huskily, and the sounds sends a shiver down the raven’s spine.
“All that stuff you said,” Rin murmurs, tremulously. “About being domestic. Cooking and growing fruit. I want that too.” Rin worries his bottom lip, the black fan of his lashes fluttering upon his irritated waterline. “I want wrinkly old you. Squabbling about the season’s yield. Sitting in our rocking chairs. Whatever old people do. All of it.”
Jun’s smile radiates through the raven like Solaris’ summer blaze. “I don’t have a ring. So I shall give you this instead. A promise of one.” Swaying ever so slightly, Jun pulls a loose thread from his sleeve and ties it around his lover’s finger. His own calloused digits fumble from drink, but years of sewing gives him a deft edge. Eventually, Rin’s presented with a clumsy engagement ring made of thread, and he couldn’t have cherished it more.
He brings his precious ring to his lips. His little lord’s promise. “…Thank you,” he whispers, and that’s all he can manage.
Iseul, this is my favorite chapter, yet. I want them to be like this forever. I don’t want Rinnie to change, except to grow stronger and healthier, and I want the little lord always to be at Rinnie’s side! <3
Thank you my friend!! <33 I admit, I’m not the best at fluff, but I’ve been really challenging myself for this arc to get used to writing more scenes like this. Also, Rin and Jun will definitely get their happy ending!! But the journey to get there will be long and difficult ;u; Hopefully people won’t get too fed up with all the angst in the meantime lol Thank you as always for your support, Blu!! <333
The angst just make the fluff all the more precious and sweet and wholesome
Hehehe so more angst~? O3O
Thank you Clozed for this past year of relentless support and encouragement (and spitting rage) <333 I appreciate your murderous energy c: <3
As long as Rinnie has a happy ending (so to speak, lol!) I will be happy with the journey and can’t wait to see where you take us next. <3 Looking forward to seeing the changes in the little lord, too! You’re doing great, writing these scenes! Keep up the great work! This is a fascinating gem of a story.
Thank you so much lovely ;u; I really truly appreciate your ongoing encouragement and support TuT <3
Us writers should always love, support and encourage one another! I am a firm believer in encouragement and support, and you are one hell of a storyteller, my friend!
Istg if this ring ever get destroyed somehow i’m going to raise a storm for the little lord and rinnie
YES
^3^ Well it is a thread ring….
I can’t believe it’s been one year already ;-;
I loved this chapter and i love how they love each other and everything ;-;
Thank you for the chapter!! <333
The year has been both super long and super fast! Thank you so much for your support Donburi!!! <3333 Your encouragement means a great deal to me ^3^ xox