Knock knock —
At the faint sound of knocking, Yuri’s eyes snapped open. It seemed he had drifted off without realizing it, curled up with both legs pulled to his chest. He glanced absently toward the window — it was already bright outside.
“Uriel.”
He hadn’t answered right away, startled awake by the knocking. A moment later, there came another small knock against the rough wooden door, and someone called his name again.
“J-just a moment.”
Yuri straightened out his curled body. Having slept hunched over for so long, every part of him seemed to be screaming in protest — but he couldn’t afford to move slowly.
He couldn’t immediately tell who was calling for him, but there was a high chance that keeping someone waiting, a slave as he was, would earn him a sharp scolding.
Ignoring the complaints of his muscles, he scrambled to his feet and went to the door. He shoved open the old latch and the battered wooden door swung toward him with an unpleasant creak.
Through the gap in the open door, he saw a familiar face.
“Alec.”
“Morning. Did I wake you?”
Alec gave an awkward smile at the sight of Yuri, who was obviously just barely awake.
Yuri couldn’t very well say yes, so he simply smiled back. His eyes were dry and stiff, and his muscles ached from having jolted upright so quickly — but a slave couldn’t afford to show discomfort in front of a guard of noble birth.
“No. I was about to get up anyway.”
“Good to hear.”
“Is something the matter?”
“Ah… today’s your day off, right?”
Alec got straight to the point at Yuri’s question.
Slave though he was, those belonging to the imperial palace were treated considerably better than slaves elsewhere. One reason for that was the day-off system — after every three days of work, one full day of rest was granted. Yuri had never told Alec his schedule, yet Alec had a rough sense of when his days off fell.
Alec, too, had a day off today after two consecutive nights of guard duty.
“Aren’t you hungry? If you’re alright with it, would you come to the dining hall with me?”
“In the morning…? I’m a slave — I can’t enter the mid-level dining hall.”
The dining hall for slaves and lower-ranking servants of common birth was separate from the one used by attendants, guards, and palace knights of noble origin. Setting foot in a dining hall above one’s station without permission could earn a beating.
“Ah… but in the early hours before dawn, slaves like you are allowed in too….”
A small sound of realization slipped from Yuri’s lips. He had never been to the mid-level dining hall himself, but a year of slave life had brought enough overheard conversations his way that he knew about that particular exception.
Slave rations were, at their core, pitifully meager. The lower dining hall was available to them, but only once per day — and even then, only what was left over after the low-ranking servants of common birth had eaten, which amounted to very little.
Because of that, female slaves and male slaves who were reasonably young and attractive would sometimes gain access to the mid-level dining hall in exchange for selling their bodies. They would sell themselves to those with the standing to use the mid-level dining hall, and in return, sneak in before the morning meal began.
“…I….”
“Ah — no. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that the youngest sibling I left back home is around the same age as you… you reminded me of them, that’s all.”
Alec quickly added more words, cutting off Yuri before he could finish his refusal. His decision to come find Yuri today had been entirely impulsive.
A face too fine for a life of slavery — that had been the extent of his interest at first. Yuri, who had apparently been brought in and made a slave by the emperor himself, was well known within the imperial palace. There was only one slave the emperor had personally brought in, and on top of that, his face was striking enough that it was impossible to forget — which was why.
At first, rumors had swirled: perhaps he was the emperor’s pleasure slave; perhaps an illegitimate child of the previous emperor; perhaps a prince of some minor kingdom, taken as a hostage after a betrayal. But the emperor never sent for Yuri privately. There was no special treatment, as others had expected. There had been a word from the palace steward not to touch him, but that had come only once at the very beginning and never again.
In any case, once Yuri had caught his eye, Alec kept noticing him. With looks like his, it would have been natural to try to catch the emperor’s attention, or to try to seduce a high-ranking noble into freeing him — but Yuri did none of that. He simply went about his work in silence, alone, with the face of an old man who had already seen everything the world had to offer.
In the beginning, there had been a fair bit of color and vitality to him, but as time passed, Alec could see him growing visibly thinner — and without quite meaning to, he had begun slipping him food. Yuri had refused again and again, but around the half-year mark, he had accepted something from Alec for the first time.
The small, quiet voice with which he offered thanks had stayed with him, and after that, whenever Alec was assigned to night duty and given a snack, he would set it aside to give to Yuri later.
It had only been one of those usual days — and yet, strangely, Yuri’s expression from the night before had stuck in his mind. Yuri’s face had kept surfacing throughout his entire shift, and the moment his watch ended, he had come here on an impulse.
“……”
Even after adding that explanation to head off any misunderstanding, Yuri stood in silence without a word. Alec continued, almost as if making excuses.
“I mean it. I had no such intention. You’ve been getting thinner and thinner… I was just worried, that’s all. If it makes you uncomfortable….”
“No. I’m sorry for misunderstanding, Alec.”
Yuri’s face flushed faintly with embarrassment as he looked up at Alec, who was watching him with cautious eyes.
A simple, genuine man who worries about me. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had received someone’s wholehearted concern and care. Even back in Korea, before possessing this body…. Those were eyes carrying the kind of affection and worry he had never once received — not even from family.
Realizing that, something stirred in his chest. Yuri smiled at Alec, who was standing there reading his expression even though Yuri was only a slave.
“I’ve never been to the mid-level dining hall before. Thank you.”
The words came out sounding like an acceptance, and Alec’s face broke into a wide smile. He had apparently been tense without realizing it, afraid of being turned down.
Seeing him beam so openly, with the pure, uncomplicated joy of a child, Yuri felt a small pang of guilt. What was I thinking? If he had gotten angry and demanded to know what kind of proposition that was, it would have been terribly awkward.
“Shall we go right now, then?”
The light outside had grown considerably brighter. If they didn’t go now, using the mid-level dining hall today might not be possible. Yuri nodded, and Alec reached out and took hold of his wrist.
Alec paused briefly at the feel of the wrist in his hand — so slight it disappeared in his grip — but he didn’t let go.
He led the way with Yuri’s wrist in his hold, as though guiding a small child who might get lost if released. Contrary to what Yuri had expected, Alec walked at an unhurried pace, as if making sure not to rush him. The mid-level dining hall, quite a distance from the slave quarters, looked different from the lower one even from the outside.
Once inside, the spacious dining hall held people who appeared, like Yuri, to be slaves — eating their meals. Unlike the servants, they wore worn clothing, which made them easy enough to identify as slaves. Just as Alec had come in holding Yuri’s wrist, each slave had someone beside them who appeared to be a servant or a guard.
When Yuri and Alec entered, a few people looked up and glanced their way. Some of them stared at Yuri rather openly.
The looks directed at Yuri were blatant. Gazes that clung to him like something sticky, sizing up his body with open sexual intent — Yuri flinched. It was unpleasant, as though he had been stripped bare before them.
“Eyes off, unless you want trouble.”
Feeling Yuri flinch, Alec narrowed his eyes and growled. In all the time they had been exchanging greetings over the past six months or more, Yuri had never seen this side of him. Startled by the unfamiliar expression, Yuri looked at Alec. Is this going to start a fight because of me? But it seemed the worry was unfounded.
Whether Alec outranked the others in the mid-level dining hall, the lewd stares that had been crawling over Yuri vanished in an instant. There were still a few glances stolen here and there with an air of reluctance, but none who openly displayed their desire the way they had before.
“Sorry. Did that startle you? If I don’t do that, it’s obvious they’d just keep looking at you like that….”
Alec wore a sheepish expression, as if he couldn’t believe he had just acted so fiercely. He was back to his usual straightforward manner of speaking, his face as open and unassuming as ever. Alec settled Yuri into a seat first, then went to get food. At the sight of a plate piled generously with food, Yuri’s appetite stirred.
How long had it been since he’d seen real food? It was the first proper meal he had laid eyes on since being seized by Avelos, who had come for him out of nowhere after ten years. Without even thinking to mind appearances, Yuri ate quickly.
Once he had put enough away to feel full, embarrassment caught up with him belatedly. When he raised his head from where he had been bent over his food, Alec was watching him with a quietly contented expression.
