―Your Grace.
“……”
―Your Grace, Grand Duke.
My eyes wouldn’t open properly. Even though I seemed to have somewhat adapted to this terrible white light. The light of this space, the subtle flow of power surrounding the space, no—this space itself felt somewhat overwhelming.
“Achille.”
At the affectionate call, my flickering consciousness slowly returned. The mass that had been entirely white began to gradually divide and become distinct.
A white man was mounted on top of me, lying on a pure white floor. Hair draped long like a veil slowly tickled my forehead, cheeks, and nape of the neck with each strand that swayed.
“Are you coming to?”
How did I end up here? It couldn’t have been peaceful sleep. The last scene I clearly remembered was…
‘There’s p-poison in the fluid!’
‘Bring the antidote herb right now!’
‘He was covered in quite a lot but shouldn’t have absorbed any, so why is he vomiting so much blood?’
‘His body temperature has dropped too much. If he loses consciousness now, it could be dangerous!’
‘…Hyungnim! Hyungnim, you can’t fall asleep… You have to wake up! Keep your eyes open, please! Achille-hyungnim!’
In a situation that could only be described as pandemonium, it seemed I couldn’t withstand the helplessly falling Chaos Meter and ended up fainting.
As I furrowed my brow deeply and rummaged through my memories, he, who had been quietly looking down at me like that, spoke.
“You’ve accepted the changed fate. Are you satisfied?”
“Well…”
It wasn’t a particularly satisfactory response. It seemed it would be quite a headache to clean up.
I didn’t think Lenox, who’d seen my state, would have gone back saying he couldn’t stay in such a place anymore. No, it would be the opposite. He’d try to stick even more to the castle, saying how could he pretend not to know when Hyungnim got hurt because of him.
Still.
“It’s fine.”
Lenox wasn’t hurt. That young child survived safely. It was worth turning into bubbles my determination not to get entangled as much as possible.
“Since I’m more or less a lifesaver, no matter what happens from now on, won’t he hate me a little less?”
I didn’t want to remain in a brotherly relationship of ruining and killing each other. If Lenox appreciated the sincerity I showed for that, it could be called a perfect success without anything more to be desired.
“Your Grace’s little brother is safe.”
Unlike me who was satisfied, a slight chill seeped from his voice.
“But you are not.”
“……”
“If I don’t heal you as you are, something serious might happen…”
“Me?”
Isn’t that not the case?
Last time too, I heard the poison was eliminated with the system’s help. Not only that, but he said even wounds reaching fatal injuries could recover quickly.
As if reading my thoughts, he smiled slightly, wrinkling his nose bridge.
“Healing quickly means you have to hurt that much more to get better quickly. You didn’t know that?”
“Mm.”
“And that’s not the only problem either.”
That statement was true. The Chaos Meter I briefly checked right before fainting was almost 50 percent. It was dropping so frighteningly fast that perhaps for the first time ever it might have hit the 40 percent range.
‘To recover, I’ll need to receive about twice the usual amount of power.’
Sitting on a chair and embracing would absolutely not work. Even a considerable kiss might not even make a dent.
“If I help you this time, I might not be able to visit for a while.”
He said in a quite serious voice.
“So, you have to use sparingly what I give you this time.”
I felt around my solar plexus area with my fingertips. It was near where he’d left his mark.
“Will a kiss work?”
As he lowered his head, our lips engaged lightly. The cleanest eyes and a white, cool, fragile sensation like molded from frost clung in clusters to the mucous membrane.
“Can you do more?”
“……”
“It would be good to do more.”
I involuntarily swallowed dry saliva at the implications embedded in those ambiguous words. I couldn’t say let’s do it or let’s not, so I felt needlessly dizzy.
Unlike me whose insides became noisy in an instant, he was composed.
Thinking about it, from when we first met until now, he seemed to have only shown a leisurely appearance every time. As if someone like me was placed in the palm of his hand. As if my very existence was merely an object of curiosity and an amusing pastime for him.
“Mm.”
Cool lips covered my breath and gently received and swallowed my exhalation.
A soft tongue pushed into my naturally opening mouth, and he brought his hands down to rest on mine placed beside my head, even interlacing our fingers.
It felt like being thoroughly stirred, like being swallowed whole, then like merging into one heavy mass.
At the mysterious sensation, my whole body floated up then sank deeply, and I felt my body, struggling to keep up with those changes, flinching and trembling.
Cool power that came over through our touching lips surged in down my throat. At first it was close to cold water, but the more it pooled inside, the subtly warmer it became.
The longer this contact continued, the more I floundered not knowing what to do, and he would skillfully soothe such a me or sometimes hold me down while pushing power in to the limit.
So as far as I was concerned, I only had to close my eyes tightly and docilely receive what he gave me.
“…Hah.”
My flustered body bounced up.
His large, beautiful hand gripped my waist tightly. I could feel a heavy pressure from below.
“Wait, a sec, you…”
“It’s okay.”
“Ah!”
His lips, which had moved to my ear before I knew it, seemed to move slowly along the shell of my ear, then lightly bit my earlobe. When a moist tongue touched where shallow pain had occurred, goosebumps rose and my fingertips curled inward.
“It’s best to go deep inside and connect, so inserting it would be most effective…”
“……”
“Would you hate me if I did that?”
I wouldn’t hate it. It might be overwhelming or embarrassing, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Besides, whatever it was, I wasn’t so ill-mannered as to get angry at someone trying hard to help me.
However, I did think it was sudden. Since I’d never made contact with anyone like this, my thoughts creaked as if overloaded.
What ultimately came out of my mouth was old-fashioned, foolish nonsense.
“That kind of thing… shouldn’t it be meaningful to do with someone you like…”
Then a light vibration was transmitted through our touching bodies. It was because he burst out laughing.
“…Why are you laughing?”
“What do you call this, Your Grace? Innocence?”
“No…”
I wish he wouldn’t describe me with such a ticklish word. I just meant, well, anyway it’s fine but let’s have a sense of responsibility.
“But I like you. You look delicious, and you’ll become even more delicious in the future. Wouldn’t that make it meaningful?”
“If it only has meaning for you, hah, then… ah, I’m, ah, talking here.”
My voice kept breaking off with moaning sounds slipping in between. It was because he rubbed his body while holding me tightly.
Usually appearing small and cute while chirping away, only at times like this did he bulk up considerably to firmly overpower me.
“I have to… like you too…”
“Then like me.”
The heat that had been poking inside my stomach now soared so high it finally ripened even my cheeks red. It felt like what he’d passed over had become heat boiling my entire body finely.
“If you like me, it’s resolved, isn’t it?”
“……”
“Right?”
That’s not true. The heart doesn’t move so easily as one intends. It’s difficult to gauge, and following premises is even more arduous.
So I should say that it’s not neatly organized as if cut precisely for convenience or resolution like you said…
“…Haah.”
I couldn’t speak in time. There was clearly a timing to answer, but my lips stuck together arbitrarily and wouldn’t separate. Yet when he kissed me again, they opened easily, giving up everything inside.
How many times did I repeat gasping and swallowing power that poured down enough to make me retch? He looked down satisfiedly at me tearing up, unable to withstand the difficulty.
“Do you know this, Your Grace?”
I didn’t even have the strength to answer and just looked up at him quietly. Until right before spilling blood and fainting, I’d been out of my mind from pain, but now I was out of my mind in a different sense.
“I have no choice but to like Your Grace.”
I whispered in a voice that seemed to leak air.
“…Because my soul looks the most delicious to you out of all the souls you’ve seen?”
Then, the beautiful man smiled broadly and answered.
“I like pretty things, you see.”
