He learned fast. Atar grinned, fangs showing.
He rolled the nub between his index and middle finger. Da-on, who had been looking up at Atar tensely, screwed his eyes shut for an instant. His ears flushed bright red, and Da-on’s face twisted.
“Please…?”
A voice so small only Atar could hear it.
Atar first asked the understanding of those he’d been talking with.
“Corax seems unwell. Sorry, but would you continue the remaining conversation among yourselves?” He hadn’t needed to ask their understanding at all. Drawing their eyes one more time like this was purely to fluster Da-on.
Sure enough, Da-on pressed tight against Atar’s chest whenever he felt eyes on him. He seemed to hate showing such a sight.
Atar lifted Da-on’s body, which clung to him like a cicada. Da-on’s body, leaving his thigh, swung around. Now Da-on and Atar faced each other.
Pulling his legs out from Atar’s thigh, the sword wound was pressed hard. The throbbing pain was nothing compared to the shame he felt.
Da-on despaired and swept his face.
Not content with sitting lightly astride his thigh, now their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces. With this posture he wouldn’t feel stray glances, but he knew the stares boring into the back of his head would grow even more blatant.
Sure enough, Atar seemed to have no thought of letting Da-on go easily.
“Changing wet clothes matters, but isn’t the liquor a waste? It’s quite expensive liquor. Perhaps even more than your own price.”
“……”
At Atar’s words, Da-on’s face twisted in distaste. He couldn’t tell what the bastard was scheming, talking such bullshit.
Atar gripped Da-on’s waist firmly. Atar’s head tilted right after.
“Nngh, Atar…!” His lips touched the poking nipple.
Thanks to the difference in their heights, Atar had to bury his head deep like a dog lapping milk. However he looked at it, it was not behavior fitting for an emperor before his subjects.
Atar set his teeth to the slightly swollen nipple. The scent of peach liquor wafted from the wet clothes.
“Ah!”
At the stinging pain, Da-on let out a sharp scream.
This wouldn’t do. If he made sounds too, they’d really look at him strangely.
“Ahh, nngh! It hu-hurts…”
Against his will, pleas slipped from his mouth. Gnawing the nub hurt more than he’d thought. Da-on whimpered and grabbed Atar’s head. The thin, long golden hair tickled his palm.
Atar chewed at the same spot again and again. It hadn’t seemed he’d set his teeth so roughly, yet blood was already seeping through his clothes in small amounts.
Tasting the metallic tang of blood, Atar took his lips away.
“Ha…”
Da-on let out a relieved sigh. His nipple still throbbed, but that Atar’s teasing was over was enough.
But Atar caught the gap in Da-on’s clothes and pulled them apart.
Quantara clothing wasn’t fastened with zippers or buttons; it was long cloth wound around to hold its shape. Thanks to that, the clothes parted easily along Atar’s hand.
When one side of the cloth was fully folded back, the swollen nipple was revealed. Seeing the small beads of blood on the skin, Atar took the nub into his mouth without hesitation.
“Hnngh…!”
Da-on’s body shuddered. The slick tongue swept gently over the raw flesh. A tingling feeling below his waist made Da-on twitch his legs.
When Atar lifted his head after sucking at the nipple for a long time, everyone was already staring at Da-on in horror.
Atar straightened his hunched torso and swept up his disheveled hair. Having sucked his fill of the breast, Atar’s own lips were red too.
Rolling his eyes slowly, he found Luca and lifted the corner of his mouth.
“Truly excellent liquor, Luca.”
“……Thank you.”
Embarrassed, Luca hurriedly bowed her head in greeting. An uncomfortable silence settled over the central garden.
Da-on leaned his body against Atar, completely out of his senses.
His head had gone blank; not a thought came. Da-on only blinked, praying for time to pass quickly.
The one who saved Da-on was an unexpected person.
“Your Majesty. Presumptuous though it is, may I borrow a moment of Corax-nim’s time?” It was Tashishi.
Atar lifted his head, one eyebrow raised.
“What business is it?”
“There is something I personally promised him. Please allow me to keep faith with Corax-nim.”
At Atar’s words — no, at Tashishi’s words — Atar’s face twisted.
All smooth talk. Whether his tongue was oiled or what, Tashishi always wriggled like this and got under people’s skin.
He didn’t like it, but there was no particular reason to refuse either.
Atar clicked his tongue and straightened Da-on’s clothes.
“Get up, Corax.”
Da-on, who had been listening to their conversation, rose without a word. His thigh throbbed from having pressed on the wound for so long.
Tashishi beckoned Da-on over.
Seeing the shameless face, Da-on’s expression soured.
He didn’t like it, but he had things to say on his side too. Da-on moved his feet, glaring at Tashishi with blazing eyes as if to devour him.
Having sent Da-on off without a word, Atar’s gaze followed the back of Da-on’s receding head for a long time.
The central garden’s well-placed trees served as a kind of wall. Thanks to the arrangement of the elaborate green walls, it looked like a maze garden at times.
Where Tashishi took Da-on was behind a green wall, out of people’s sight. Freed from the prison-like stares, his breathing seemed to ease a little.
Tashishi lowered his head to Da-on politely. A manner as though addressing a superior.
“It is an honor to speak with you alone like this.”
Tashishi’s gestures and speech were flawless. Who knew he had a talent for acting.
Da-on found such a Tashishi only irritating. Should I say it or not. Da-on lifted his eyes and growled.
“It’s no fun. How long do you intend to keep up this goddess’s gift game?” “Please don’t say such things. Corax-nim is undoubtedly the gift of the goddess Anais.”
“Ha.”
Da-on snorted.
Anyone who didn’t know would think Tashishi truly cherished Da-on. If he knew what Da-on had suffered last night in Atar’s room, could he still bring out the word “gift”?
Well. He was the sort who watched his breast being sucked and still came out this brazen.
Da-on opened his mouth with a thoroughly fed-up expression.
“I’m not a person of this world. I was born and raised in a world where countries like Quantara or Aruna don’t exist. This is my first time hearing of a god named Anais. Do I still look like the gift of a god whose name I didn’t even know?”
At the irritated question, Tashishi smiled benignly.
“I believe Corax-nim’s words. That you crossed over from such a world — truly a mysterious thing. I too would dearly like to know why the goddess sent you to this world.” The conversation wasn’t working at all. Da-on pressed his throbbing forehead.
‘This bastard, does he really think I’m the goddess’s gift?’ From his speech alone, it really seemed so. Da-on burst out in indignation.
“Do you even know what I suffered in that lunatic’s room?!” “……”
Tashishi’s eyes rolled. The murky gray eyes gazed at the yellow necklace glowing in the sunlight.
Heliodor.
A jewel belonging to the beryl family. The deeper the golden color, the clearer and less cloudy the interior, the higher its worth leapt. The heliodor hanging at Corax’s neck was unprecedentedly clear and deep in color.
‘Its price would be beyond reckoning.’ The wrinkles at the corners of Tashishi’s eyes deepened.
In Quantara, especially in the palace, was there anyone who didn’t know what a heliodor necklace meant?
Jewels beyond price overflowed the palace. That of all things he gifted heliodor — the intent was all too plain.
What did he suffer, indeed. He clearly didn’t even know what hung at his own neck.
Tashishi swallowed a groan inwardly and tilted his head.
“I neither know nor should know of matters inside the Sun Palace.”
“I, for two days, how much I…!”
About to snap, Da-on stopped mid-sentence and shut his mouth. Am I crazy. How far was I going to talk. Da-on cupped his flushed cheeks and calmed his boiling insides.
“…So. What is your business?”
After clearing his throat a few times, Tashishi stretched his neck long and looked around. Confirming no one was about, Tashishi opened his mouth in a small voice.
“Do you remember the promise I gave you.”
“Do I remember.”
Da-on spoke each word clearly, looking Tashishi straight in the eye.
“Get me out of the palace. Guarantee a place to stay after leaving this place and a minimum standard of living.”
“Eek! Lower your voice!” Tashishi jumped and brought a finger to his lips.
Tashishi’s expression looked as though it said, ah, right. There was such a promise. At the attitude that seemed to have forgotten everything he’d demanded, fury boiled up.
Reading Da-on’s expression, Tashishi hurriedly waved both hands. He rolled his eyes, slyly scanning the surroundings, then broached the matter secretively.
“First, hear me out. I’ve found Corax-nim’s family.”
“……Yes?”
Da-on’s face twisted strangely. Da-on’s words caught in his throat, and he stupidly stared at Tashishi, forgetting even to answer.
Family. Da-on had no family.
There might be blood kin sharing his genes living somewhere. But even that would be a matter of finding them on Earth. By what means could Tashishi have found a younger sister Da-on himself didn’t know?
Laughing hollowly, Da-on opened his mouth.
“If it’s a joke, it’s not funny.”
Crossing the desert, he’d talked about family with the delegation quite often. There wasn’t a member of the principality’s delegation who didn’t know Da-on had nowhere to return to.
When his head cooled, the situation roughly sorted itself.
‘With no family, he must have thought that would be a weakness?’ Tashishi was already the bastard who’d sold Da-on. There was no need to be swayed by such a bastard’s words.
As Da-on’s face gradually turned cold, Tashishi hastily stepped forward.
“It’s no joke! This is family found by searching through the nights for two days, starting from where Corax-nim was discovered. There was definitely a relative.”
“Ha.”
If it was acting, he’d feel like applauding. Tashishi’s face looked quite earnest, as if begging to be believed.
Da-on shook his head and opened his mouth. It wasn’t his intent, but the words came out sounding thoroughly fed up.
“Say. Didn’t you just say you believe my words?”
“Of course. That Corax crossed over from another world must be the undoubted truth.” And yet lies about having family come out?
“It’s not a lie!”
Tashishi waved both hands and shouted. He hurriedly searched his robes and pulled out a photograph.
Let’s see how far this goes. Languidly, he took the offered photograph. Da-on’s expression hardened as he examined the photo closely.
Leave a Reply