Pr: Helen
Erhart did not like the idea of thoughts that could not be controlled or restraint that was worn out. That was why it was an impulse to be generous to the Varen heir, whose name he could not even remember.
He deliberately paid attention to the red-haired young man so that Rayan would not even come to his mind. The fact that Marcel Varen was Count Varen’s successor was neither a consideration, nor was the fact that his personality was quite eccentric. At least he acted obediently in front of him.
It was the first time Erhart had let someone so close to him personally, except for Karel. Of course, there was no way the social world would not take notice of this. There were even rumors that the Emperor’s lover had changed from Karel Isaac to Marcel Varen when he allowed him to stay, even if only temporarily.
In any case, Erhart tried to erase the abnormal feelings he felt toward Rayan. He planned that when this impulse and unknown obsession was completely suppressed, he would find out from him about the person named ‘El’ and how he came to have the bracelet he made.
He would then fill in the fragments of his lost memories, or, if the memories that remained to be filled in were of no value, he would leave them all in the past.
Also, once everything was resolved, he planned to drive Rayan out of his daily life. Even though Erhart’s daily life was in a state of instability that could not be resolved, he had no intention of being swayed by anyone in particular anymore.
‘The Varen heir asked for a musician, and it is said that the musician whom His Majesty brought from Arhen went to the VIP palace a little while ago.’
Or so those were certainly what he planned, but when he came to his senses after hearing Chamberlain Jurgen’s words, he had already arrived at the VIP Palace. And he got to this situation he was in now.
“Haa…”
Even though it was snowing, because the wood in the fireplace had been burning all day, the once cool bedroom was filled with heat. Watery breathing filled the quiet silence.
It was already dark outside. He heard a servant knocking on the door and calling for him from outside a few times, but he ignored it and lusted after Rayan’s body. No, in retrospect, there were moments when he didn’t really hear them. He remained unresponsive the entire time, and after a while, there were no more calls for Erhart.
In the undisturbed silence, Erhart indulged as if he were eating something that caught his rationale and shook him. It was funny how he’d assumed himself to be so uninhibited in his desires for anyone, but he reacted to even the slightest breathing sound that Rayan let out, and was anxious to capture even that small breath. Even a boy just past his puberty wouldn’t be like this.
Even though he laughed at himself for his lack of self-control, Erhart couldn’t stop.
For several days he had been unable to control himself. This was by far the first time in Erhart’s life that he had such destructive impulses and desires. Later, it became a blur as to why he even tried to resist.
Originally, being in union with someone, having their bodies touch each other, was something that made one side of his head burn like this.
There were no shortage of promiscuous scandals in the free and permissive court. It was the mildest rumor of all that a noble lady was caught having a secret affair with a knight.
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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“…”
Erhart looked down at Rayan, who was disheveled below him.
His jet black hair flowing down on his white bedding created a vivid contrast. His eyelids, more fragile than the fluttering wings of a butterfly, trembled even when closed. The corners of his eyes were red. But when he wiped them, there was no moisture.
When Erhart left traces all over his pale white skin, his eyes were moist as if they were about to shed tears, and his features contorted with pleasure, but the water that shimmered in his eyes never flowed down. If he felt like the eyes were going to spill, he would close his eyes and shake it off. Erhart didn’t like it, so he became more persistent, but Rayan never shed a tear, as if he shouldn’t be.
Erhart gently rubbed the area around Rayan’s eyes.
The area around his eyes, which was already red, became a little more red due to the rubbing.
Funnily enough, there was once again a response from below. Half a day had passed, and even though he had been indulging and indulging to the point where the other person was telling him to stop, Erhart was still feeling an unquenchable thirst.
Should he do it?
Rayan was almost fainting and Erhart was casually continuing his contemplative thoughts when a voice interrupted him.
“Your Majesty,” it was Jurgen’s voice.
Erhart, who was glancing at Rayan, saw him flinch and straightened up. He put on his robe and went outside instead of calling Jurgen inside.
It was cold outside, unlike inside. Jurgen looked surprised, as if he had not expected the emperor to come out in person, but he skillfully handled it as if he had never seen anything like that before.
“What’s going on?”
“Lord Varen is-”
“Shh.”
Erhart frowned as if telling him to lower his voice. Jurgen made a confused face, then glanced at the bedroom and lowered his voice.
“… It is said that Lord Varen has collapsed. I came to ask what I should do.”
“How frail he is.”
Jurgen had a lot to say, but he held his tongue. Although it was said to be spring soon, the days were getting colder and snow has been falling like never before since yesterday. On a day like this, it would not be strange that the heir of House Varen, who had not yet been knighted, stood outside in the snow for hours and did not collapse.
Of course, it could be that he couldn’t overcome the humiliation and shame and pretended to faint.
“If you leave him as is, he would freeze.”
In any case, he really had collapsed and if left unattended, the palace may have to remove the corpse. The emperor’s eyes, looking down, were extremely impassive, as if wondering if that had anything to do with it.
Since he was Count Varen’s successor, he was sure there would be a lot of talk about him, Jurgen thought carefully.
Even without that, the rumor had already spread throughout the palace. Marcel Varen was being punished for offending the emperor. Count Varen was so anxious about his successor that he had already stopped by several times and eventually had to return empty-handed. Would he, who cherished his successor, just sit back and watch the insults suffered by Marcel?
“…”
However, the emperor was not in a state of mind to care about that. On the contrary, he could accuse Varen of treachery and erase the family from the noble lineage in one fell swoop.
“Your Majesty.”
Jurgen decided to wait for the emperor’s answer rather than bother him.
Erhart thought of Marcel Varen. Wrinkles appeared on his expressionless face. He remembered the scene from earlier, when he stepped on Rayan as if he were a mere insignificant object and stretched out his hand as if he were going to take off his robe.
Covering his face was something he allowed Rayan to do. It was annoying that he dared to force it. But that was secondary; it was his dirty feet that trampled on Rayan that caused Erhart’s agitation. Even the sight of him stumbling around after being hit by that foot.
It was really annoying when he got into a fight with a bunch of gangsters at a bar, but it was nothing compared to that this time. In the end, when a certain emotion passed through Marcel’s eyes on the face revealed through the removed robe, Erhart was overcome by the urge to cut out someone’s eyes for the first time.
“Leave him until tomorrow morning and then send him on his way, with a message to Count Varen.”
“Yes.”
“Marcel of Varen will never set foot in Djerba again.”
“…”
“Also, I will not allow his successor to inherit the title.”
Erhart gave the Varens a choice. He could keep Marcel Varen as his heir, ending a title that had been in the family for over a hundred years, or he could create a new heir and preserve the family name.
“All of which is assuming he is still breathing by tomorrow morning.”
There was not the slightest bit of generosity to be found in the lightly added words.
“I will do as you commanded.”
Erhart glanced at the closed door as he listened to Jurgen’s words.
“Excuse me, but the person in the bedroom…”
Jurgen, conscious of the sidelong glances, carefully asked the emperor’s intentions. Although he himself was not from a very noble family, he did not feel awkward or offended by using an honorific title for a young man who was at most a commoner bard. It was all because of the emperor’s attitude toward him.
The emperor had been indifferent to him ever since he was brought to Djerba, but he could still sense that he was secretly paying attention to him. Although it had not been long since he had served him as the emperor’s chamberlain, it was his first time seeing this. Not even with the rumored Karel Isaac.
Noticing this, Jurgen checked the radius of his actions and reported it to the emperor once or twice. He knew that his judgment was not wrong due to today’s events, but it was difficult to go beyond that. Was it a passing curiosity? Or did it mean something more than that?
“Jurgen. It’s none of your business.”
When asked about what happened next, the emperor responded more sharply than expected. Jurgen immediately lowered his head to avoid his gaze.
Erhart looked at the back of his head, then opened the bedroom door and went in. It was cool, but warmer than outside. The person buried under the blanket was in a deep sleep, wheezing as if he had been tossing and turning before. The traces of lying around promiscuously for half a day were obvious, so it might have been uncomfortable, but he seemed to be preoccupied with sleeping.
He walked closer and looked down at him.
“…”
He didn’t even blink and his vision soon became blurry. Erhart, who was pressing his eyes, laid down next to him and held the sleeping Rayan in his arms. His damp body was filled in his arms. He closed his eyes. Today, he suddenly had that feeling. He thought he could sleep well.
It was like when he had fallen asleep without realizing it while waiting for Rayan to wake up in his room at a cheap inn in Arhen.
Erhart eating his own vinegar is still hilarious. I just hope he’ll recover his memories soon. Thank you for the chapter (´,,•ω•,,)♡
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
Ah, que bonito, pero me hubiera encantado todavía más que su primera vez durmiendo abrazados fuera cuando sí lo recordara.