The humans, who had been somewhat cautious until they surrounded him, quickly became capricious after Erich left. As they handled him recklessly, the rope rubbed Rayan’s skin and it hurt.
In the process, the robe he was wearing came off. A moment of silence came when Rayan’s face was revealed through the wavy hair.
The gaze was blatant. A ripple of sighs that could not be swallowed was heard. Rayan lowered his head, trying to cover his face.
As he averted his gaze, the person holding Rayan cleared his throat. Even the handling of the hand became rougher, as if they were trying to hide their embarrassment.
Rayan swayed as they moved. He should have resisted and got out of this position right away, but he had absolutely no willpower to do so.
Gone was the Erich who wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth as he ate his cookie. There was no mischievous smile after giving him something with a strange taste, no showing of fireflies, no kissing the corner of his mouth after meeting eyes, none of the tongue-in-cheek but ultimately friendly manner anymore.
Erich, whom he finally met after three years, treated Rayan with indifferent eyes, and tried to subdue him with something unknown. It was unfamiliar. His heart ached at the sudden sense of loss.
Rayan squeezed his eyes shut tightly, then opened them.
“I’ve brought him.”
After being dragged somewhere, Rayan was thrown to the floor. As soon as he turned his uncomfortable body, the spear pointed at him painfully poked his shoulder.
“Stop.”
As soon as the spear, which weighed down on his shoulders, was removed by a displeased voice, his body became much lighter.
“Release the restraints too.”
“Your Majesty. We don’t even know his identity yet, but to untie him…”
“Do I have to do it myself?”
With that, the rope that scratched his skin was loosened and he could breathe easier. Rayan only glanced up while fiddling with his sore wrist. Erich, who was sitting with his legs crossed and watching him, frowned for a moment. For an instant, it seemed as if his hand was about to reach out to him, but it patted the armrest as if it were just an illusion.
As Rayan stared at him blankly, Erhart tilted his head and looked down at his ankles.
“Like before, why do I feel like you’re hanging around me?”
“…”
“Hm?”
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.
Even as Rayan pondered over the sense of loss, feelings of injustice suddenly surged.
Yo mbegrf, atlr alwf tf tjv yffc mjeuta rcbbqlcu jgbecv yfmjerf tf kjcafv ab rff Sglmt, yea veglcu atf vjs la kjr gfjiis j mblcmlvfcmf. Ccv, ab qea la wlivis, la kjr wbgf ilxf Sglmt tjv mbwf ibbxlcu obg tlw. Ejsjc tjv yffc atfgf atf ktbif alwf.
Qjlalcu obg tlw, bg ribkis ojvlcu jkjs.
“I’m not very patient.”
Tap, tap. Erich tapped his armrest with his fingers rhythmically. Instead of retorting, Rayan shut his mouth like someone who had forgotten to speak, and stared at him. Erich said he had no patience, but he didn’t push him further for quite a while. The silence stretched for a very long time.
Rayan wanted to brag that he had come of age too when he saw Erich. He also wanted to see how much the difference of height between them had diminished, and he wanted to say that they could now be together for a long, long time without any restrictions anymore. And that maybe he could live on his feet in his world, so he wanted to confess that he wanted to be with him for the rest of his life.
But Rayan couldn’t do everything he could have done with him, or he wanted to do. He couldn’t hold hands, stand next to him, or go anywhere. Even the thought of Erich being genuinely happy for him, seeing how much he had grown up, was impossible to imagine now.
“How rude. Are you not going to answer His Majesty the Emperor?”
As Rayan floundered in the waves of his thoughts, he didn’t say anything for the entire time, so someone who had been watching urged him threateningly. When the word for the highest human being came out, Rayan glanced at Erich involuntarily. Erich was the only one who asked him a question here, and thinking about it, he was the one who was sitting while everyone else was standing.
There was no question of which emperor the men were referring to.
He had heard through the grapevine while living on the surface. They said that the prince whom they thought was dead had returned and sat on a throne soaked in the blood of his father and brothers. So much blood was shed that the pure white castle was stained with red blood and did not go away for a long time. For this reason, the emperor was also called the Blood Lord for a long time.
But that person was none other than Erich.
‘I’m trying to take my father’s place.’
Rayan suddenly remembered years ago when he said he was trying to take his father’s place. The memories fit together seamlessly… Erich had fulfilled his promise from that time. He was happy and melancholic at the same time. The reason he had no choice but to do that was sorrowful.
He recalled Erich getting colder and occasionally stopped breathing. The image of his helplessness as well. Even though it was just a memory of the past that had already faded away, it vividly came to mind and made Rayan tormented.
“Your patience is shorter than mine, guard.”
Rayan’s eyebrows slumped down in the end. At the same time, Erich’s voice towards his subordinate suddenly became sharp.
“… I apologize, Your Majesty.”
Assuming that he was in a bad mood, the man shrank back, cowering. In the frozen air, Erich strode forward.
Rayan’s head hurt to look up at him standing there, and he didn’t want to see those cold eyes that didn’t show the slightest hint of affection. He wasn’t used to Erhart looking at him this way, so he kept his head down. Erich lifted Rayan’s chin.
“Ah.”
His jaw ached where it was held. The grip on his chin weakened as soon as he let out a short moan. When he looked at Erich, he stared at his withdrawn hand for a long moment before running a hand through his hair.
It was difficult to guess his mood just by looking at his face as his colorful expressions converged to blankness in three years, but that was an unconscious habit that came out when he was startled internally. His memories of Rayan were blank, but the habit was still there.
The unfamiliarity and melancholy have gone a little. It was like the Erich he knew now.
“… El.”
Unable to overcome his delight, he inadvertently muttered Erich’s name.
“You’re calling me that again.”
Even though he knew that he couldn’t reveal it first like this,
“I mean, you resemble someone I know.”
“You mistook me for someone who looks alike?”
As he asked, he tilted his head strangely. Rayan nodded, then paused, hesitated, then nodded again. It looked funny, but Erhart didn’t let out a laugh.
Instead, he was annoyed again. To be mistaken for someone who was called by a nickname that could have been used as a pet name for a young girl. Had there been at least one element that could be misunderstood among the things he has achieved?
The Emperor was a man with many problems, close a scumbag to put it vulgarly, but his face was the only place where one could not be able to find fault with, even if they tried to find a flaw, and Erhart was the son who most remarkably resembled his father.
No, apart from that, who would dare to mistake him for anyone else? And just who in the world could that person be, for the man in front of him to have such a sorrowful look in his eyes.
“You.”
“I am Rayan … yo.”
“…”
Erhart was momentarily at a loss for words. Rather, he had too many things to say. The sloppy honorifics didn’t even feel worth pointing out, and he even gave him his name even though he was not going to call him or even curious about it.
But what was even more absurd was that when he heard his name, he felt his heart sink to his feet. It was an inexplicable feeling of agitation… The man, or rather, Rayan, chattered while Erhart was speechless for various reasons.
“And I was not following you.”
“…”
“No. I’m here now, but earlier, Eri… Your Majesty came to me, right?”
It was like the long silence earlier was an illusion. The knitting of his eyebrows now were shameless. Was it a temptation? Was he doing that inadvertently? Was there anyone who lived before him and treated him this way? However, it wasn’t those things that bothered Erich.
“How impudent.”
He definitely shot the gun, ensuring it would miss, but there was a fragment. The white cheeks with a red scratch, the disheveled outfit, the red wrists that seemed to have been rubbed when they were tied up, and then…
“Did you not learn manners because you were a slave?”
That was the seal of a slave engraved on his exposed ankle.
When Erhart’s sharp words turned towards him, Rayan pulled down his robe with a frustrated expression and hid his ankles, but it was too late. What’s the use of hiding it after he had seen it?
“This isn’t like that…”
Rayan pursed his lips as if trying to make an excuse.
Erhart didn’t feel the need to listen. It didn’t look like he’d been stamped at birth, and if he had, he could see the use.
“I will acknowledge that, as you said, the first time we met, it was not your intention.”
Erhart was not very happy with the feeling of being out of control.
“But keep in mind. There will be no intentions of mine to meet in the future.”
There was no need to meet this man anyway, unless he was involved in the blank spots in his memory. Erhart straightened his back.
Rayan’s gaze followed.
The bright green eyes shimmered as if they were soaked in water. If one were enchanted by those eyes, they might be able to destroy a country for them. Useless thoughts raced through his mind and Erhart hastily brushed them off.
“I’ll tell you to go back.”
“…”
“Next time, you won’t be able to return safely like this, so don’t even think about hanging around.”
Erhart’s hand hovered near Rayan’s cheek for a very short time before being withdrawn. He clenched his fists and pushed the door with both hands. The gaze continued to follow from behind.
Wat comes next I want to know but have to wait till next week ahhhhh the wait is killing me 😫😭thanks for the chapter 🙏 🙂
Ah, I’m really curious how they’ll find back together.
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)