I Became a Slave to the Man I Abandoned Novel (Completed) - Chapter 103

A scream of resentment and fury for the one who had broken him and then brought him back to life.

At that scream, the Emperor and his attendants, who had been waiting outside, rushed in.

Nox screamed like a madman, scratching his own cheeks. The tips of his fingernails, grown long from lying down, tore at his flesh. Khalid gripped Nox’s wrists, desperately calling his name to calm him.

“Nox!”

“Don’t call my name!” Nox shrieked. His eyes were black, and tears of resentment streamed from them. Nox pulled back, trying to free his arms, but Khalid held onto him like a drowning man clutching a rope. Khalid stared with trembling eyes at the blood smeared on Nox’s cheek.

“Calm down!”

“Let go.” Nox snarled. With black eyes streaming tears, Nox looked at Khalid and spoke, “Why did you save me?”

“…I…”

“I’ve repaid everything, haven’t I?”

“Nox, please.”

“It was the end I chose.”

“Nox Rainerio!”

“Yes!” Nox suddenly pushed with great force, flinging Khalid’s hands away. He stumbled back a few steps. His wide-open eyes showed no light whatsoever. The window was visible behind him.

Nox stumbled backward, getting closer and closer to the window.

Khalid’s heart began to pound wildly. His entire body was filled with dread. What if he tries to die again?

“I could have died as a Rainerio.”

“How could I, how could I let you die?”

“So, I was supposed to keep living as your puppet?”

“Just once, just one more chance, please.”

“What chance?”

Nox took a few more steps back. The window touched his back. Khalid felt a sudden surge of anxiety rush up to his throat. Khalid immediately dropped to his knees.

“I’ll do anything.”

“What can you do for me?” The words were bitten out, clear. What, exactly, can you do for me, now?

“There’s only one thing you can do for me now.” Nox’s black eyes held no flicker of hesitation. “I’ll jump from here, and you’ll pretend not to know.”

Khalid, still on his knees before him, could not tear his bloodshot eyes away from Nox. Every sense in his body sharpened at the thought that Nox might jump again.

“Why didn’t you just let me die?”

“I couldn’t.”

“Trying to take even my death is too much.”

“…I’ll save you no matter how many times it takes.”

What filled Nox’s eyes was despair. Ah, my body, my death, is ultimately decided by him again. Nox looked at Khalid, then bent at the waist. He covered his face with his palms, but the overflowing tears still fell to the floor.

Khalid, still on his knees, could only stare at the tears wetting the floor. In his selfish mind, he wasn’t the one who could comfort the despairing Nox. No, perhaps there was no one in this world who could comfort him. He had no right to offer a hand to the one who had been left utterly alone. His face twisted uncontrollably.

“I can’t let you die…”

I, I have things to repay you for. Khalid couldn’t even finish that sentence. Nox, hearing his words, raised his head. His eyes briefly blurred. His gaze seemed to be fixed on something distant, and he soon let out a low sound.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, Nox’s expression changed. His dark, scarred eyes were still there, but his surprised, widened eyes once again…

“Your expression, why is your expression like that, Khalid?”

It was the Young Master’s expression from long ago.

Khalid held his breath for a moment. As he remained speechless, Nox, who had walked over from the window, gently stroked Khalid’s cheek while he was kneeling, asking with a worried expression, “You, why… No. What did I just say? Why that expression?”

Khalid’s lips parted, but his jaw trembled uncontrollably. He knelt before Nox, unable to say a word. He realized then that Nox’s mind was not sound. Nox’s confused gaze shifted from side to side.

“What did I just say to you?”

Nox began to retrace his memories to find the answer himself. Khalid realized he shouldn’t let him. As Nox recalled what he had said, he suddenly clutched his head. And then, a short cry of “Ah, aaah—!” erupted.

Nox’s scream burst forth again. He hunched over, clutching his head in agony as if mad. Memories collided. Why did you save me? How did Khalid treat me? What have I endured until now?

In an instant, the memory of the Khalid he loved became vivid. And the memory of Khalid loving him also became vivid. Even the scene where he abandoned the child was painfully clear.

All those memories tangled together, tormenting him. It was like someone had plunged a hand into his head and was stirring it. That agonizing, forcibly manipulated sensation.

“Aargh—!”

A scream, then another scream. Nox’s nails now raked his own neck. Khalid pulled Nox into an embrace to prevent him from harming himself. Nox struggled, as if in agony.

“Khalid, Khalid!”

“Nox. Calm down, calm down. Please…!”

“I abandoned you.”

“Nox, forget it, just forget it.”

“You did that to me because I abandoned you?” Nox raised his head while still in Khalid’s embrace, looking at him. “Which one is real? Which one is true? Tell me, Khalid.”

Khalid’s lips parted, but he couldn’t utter a single word. Coward. Craven. Khalid, the man, truly was the worst.

“Which one…! H-huh.”

Nox’s breathing began to quicken. Feltion, who had been watching the situation with wide, startled eyes, shouted at the healer, “Quickly, find a way to calm him down!”

“We’ll have to force him to sleep.”

Khalid, panting, lifted the struggling Nox and sat him on the bed. Then he knelt on one knee before him. Still caught in his confusion, Nox kept scratching his own cheeks and neck.

Blood welled from beneath his nails, staining his shirt collar. Khalid again firmly grasped Nox’s hands, pulling them down. Both Nox’s restrained arms and Khalid’s gripping arms trembled terribly. Nox spoke,

“What did you do to me?”

“…Things I shouldn’t have.”

Nox wished he could simply faint. Fragmented memories seemed to pierce his brain, then suddenly slip away. His memories were tangled. I loved you and you hated me and abandoned me and choked me and then…

Nox shook off Khalid’s hands and clutched his head, which felt like it would split open.

His long nails scratched his scalp. Blood oozed out. After a long time, hunched over like that, Nox suddenly lifted his head as if he’d found the answer to a thought that had struck him. His pupils were widely dilated.

“Khalid.” His voice suddenly became bright. If only it had been calm, it would have been less frightening. Khalid’s face hardened at the bright voice. Nox took Khalid’s hand, which he had just shaken off.

“Kill me.”

“…”

“Khalid, Khalid. No.” Nox laughed. “Master.”

Khalid’s jaw trembled uncontrollably. Nox’s eyes were wide open, uttering those words without a hint of hesitation. Nox knelt on the bed.

“Please kill me. If my life is yours, then you can end it, can’t you?” Nox spoke like someone clinging to a cliff. “You’ve played with me enough.”

His hands, clasped as if begging, grabbed Khalid by the collar, pulling him closer.

“I’ve repaid everything, haven’t I?”

Nox bit his lip, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes. Khalid couldn’t bring himself to shake off his hands.

“Please.” Nox spoke in a voice that seemed squeezed out of him. “Just kill me. Please, Master, please, please…” Nox lowered his head. Khalid remained still, unable to even answer his plea.

The Emperor could only watch this desolate scene. There was no room to intervene, nor did he want to. Even if he was one of the people who had brought Nox to this state, he couldn’t bring himself to stand in that suffocating space.

“…A solution?” When Feltion finally managed to utter a question, the healer replied in a small voice.

“At this point, the only way is to forcibly sedate him.”

“…Yes.”

The healer approached Nox from behind, who was still bowing his head. He gently placed a hand on the back of Nox’s neck and murmured something. Nox instantly slumped onto the bed as if all strength had drained from him.

As soon as Nox collapsed, Khalid gasped for air. He belatedly realized he hadn’t been breathing. He panted, looking down at the fallen Nox. Feltion’s voice came from behind him.

“What exactly is his condition?”

“His memory seems to be incomplete. His present and past memories are mixed.”

“The treatment method?”

“In such cases, only time can tell.”

“…”

Khalid looked down at Nox, who had unwillingly collapsed and fallen asleep again, then gently laid him flat on the bed. The Emperor looked down at Nox with a complex expression, biting his lip hard.

“…Bring him back, no matter what.”

“Understood.”

The two men exchanged no words. Words weren’t needed. Their actions had come back to haunt them like this. Even regretting it now, there was no way to turn back time. A faint trickle of blood appeared on the Emperor’s lips. Khalid, lost in thought, gazed endlessly at Nox’s face.

Meanwhile, Nox merely slept on, his face peaceful once more.

***

CRASH—!

“Nox, Lord Nox!” The maid’s urgent voice was heard. In Nox’s hand was a piece of a shattered flowerpot. The maid screamed, but Nox was only interested in tearing at his own wrist. Blood streamed from his wrist. The copious amount of blood poured out, soaking the carpet, showing how deeply he had cut himself.