I Became a Slave to the Man I Abandoned Novel (Completed) - Chapter 140

Blood flowed onto the carpet. An eye, disfigured, oozed from the shattered head. Khalid looked down at it expressionlessly.

This was a comrade, a fellow soldier. Though not close, they had trusted each other enough to rely on each other’s backs. And now, he had murdered him. Khalid couldn’t tell if what filled his hand was rainwater or cold sweat.

Only one thing was clear:

Nox Rainerio’s single word of approval weighed more heavily on him than the pain of betrayal or the guilt of killing a comrade. Khalid couldn’t bring himself to smile. The reward gained from this act of betrayal was too sweet.

Shhhhaa-.

The rain continued to pour relentlessly. Khalid exited through the terrace, just as he had entered. As he landed in the garden and scaled the wall, evading the guards’ eyes, screams pierced through the sound of the rain.

Khalid pulled his hood further down and ran through the rain-soaked streets. The drumming rain lashed his cheeks, constricting his breath and making it ragged. Despite the lower temperature brought by the rain, his heart pounded, radiating heat.

“Haah, hah…”

Khalid came to his senses. He had run for a long time, lost in thought, and belatedly realized where he stood.

He looked up at the mansion.

It wasn’t the Via mansion, but the Rainerio mansion. Khalid stood panting, foolishly, in front of the estate. He could feel the strong rain making the guard under the roof look at him.

Khalid quickly snapped back to reality and moved. If anyone saw him here, Nox could be in trouble. He walked along the wall and stopped in front of the beautifully curved iron bars. The inside of the mansion was visible. Khalid suddenly recalled the past.

It was the place where he had seen Nox by chance after being abandoned as a child. It was the very spot where he had cursed and resented Nox, seeing him smile at other servants, wondering if he was truly worth so little.

Khalid tried to move to shake off that memory. No, he tried to move. If he hadn’t seen Nox through the window, beyond the iron bars. Khalid felt his throat tighten.

Esterion Launder took Nox’s damp robe. Nox, with hair slightly wet at the ends, spoke to Esterion, who nodded lightly in response. When Nox gestured, Esterion leaned in to listen closely. As their ears and mouths drew near, Nox whispered something, gently stroking Esterion’s shoulder. Khalid didn’t want to see any of it. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Whatever the sight, it was still Nox.

Offering himself to Nox had been his own will. He had vowed not to try to be anything more than Nox’s pawn. It was his last shred of conscience for the Nox he had damaged and broken.

It’s okay if I can’t kiss him.

Khalid repeated it to himself, biting his lower lip hard. A faint trace of blood mingled with the rainwater. Nox gestured to Esterion, as if to dismiss him. Khalid struggled to capture even a little more of Nox’s image, visible beneath his pulled-down hood.

Just a little more, just a little more before Nox disappears from the window.

Creak-.

The window opened, as if someone had heard Khalid’s wish. Nox stood at the rainy window, opening it and looking out. For a moment, Khalid stood transfixed, rooted to the spot.

Nox’s eyes were looking directly at him. Unlike that other time. At him, not someone else. Nox bent down, resting his elbows on the windowsill, and whispered to him.

Khalid read every tiny movement of his lips.

‘Come here.’

Khalid thought he was experiencing a brief hallucination. But Nox still leaned against the windowsill, waiting for him, looking directly at him.

Khalid gripped the elegantly curved, ornamental iron bars tightly. And looking only at Nox, he leapt over them. Nox clucked his tongue. What couldn’t someone of Khalid’s determination leap over, after all?

Khalid set foot in the Rainerio garden. Nox gestured to him, as if he knew he would come. Khalid hesitated, like a devotee daring not to approach a deity.

“How long are you going to make me wait?”

Nox’s voice was clear, undiminished by the sound of the rain. Khalid tensed his thighs, trying not to falter. And then he stood directly in front of the window. The mansion’s floor was a little higher, so Nox’s eye level was slightly above his.

“Did you do well?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Something I didn’t get to ask you last time,” Nox asked with a soft smile. “How does it feel to be a traitor?”

“…”

“How does it feel to be broken?”

“I…”

Khalid raised his unfocused blue eyes to meet Nox’s. Though blurred, the blue gleam was eerie. Nox looked into those eyes and reached out. Nox’s fingers lightly brushed beneath Khalid’s chin. Khalid replied with a sigh at his touch, “It’s… pleasing.”

“Ah, haha.”

Nox let out an involuntary laugh. Then he covered his mouth, his eyes curving. Khalid couldn’t tear his gaze away from that face. Nox slowly lowered his head. Khalid was frozen.

Nox Rainerio knew that when he came closer, he could do nothing. Nox’s lips met his, mingling with rainwater and blood.

Where had the heat from his recent run gone? Nox’s lips were so hot. Nox’s warm tongue licked his wounded lip, and Khalid parted his lips. Nox’s tongue invaded Khalid’s mouth, lightly touching the tip of his tongue. And that was when Khalid lost his reason.

Khalid reached out for Nox. He cupped Nox’s head in his hands, twisted his head, and pushed his tongue deep into Nox’s mouth. He brushed the roof of his mouth, rubbed the concave center of his tongue, and swallowed the saliva that flowed to him.

Haa, a brief gasp escaped between their lips. Khalid pressed their lips together again, as if even that gap was precious. Nox soon bit Khalid’s tongue lightly. Ah, the allotted time was up. Khalid keenly noticed this and pulled his lips away. Nox, with lips wet from saliva, looked down at him.

“There.” Nox looked at him as if to dominate him. “I have a reason to kiss you now.”

Khalid’s breath caught. And he experienced breathing from somewhere other than his nose and mouth, like a fish in water. Nox lightly lifted his wet robe.

“So, you’d better keep doing well so you don’t lose that chance.”

Khalid nodded urgently. Nox pulled his robe further down over him, then slowly closed the window. It was so easy for Nox to turn his back on him, but Khalid still stood beneath that window for a long time, as if reluctant to leave.

Nox vanished when the rain had weakened just a little, disappearing as silently as if he had never been there.

From his room on the upper floor, Nox watched Khalid’s departure. Esterion, no longer confident in serving the right tea, had brought out alcohol instead.

“Have you given up on tea?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“That’s quite bold.”

“Honestly, I’m not confident I can get it right.”

Nox lightly tilted the glass of whiskey with ice. It wasn’t quite the drink for a rainy day. But without a word, Nox lightly drank the alcohol, his eyes gazing at the rain-soaked capital with a sunken expression.

“Come to think of it, was the rainy season supposed to start around now?”

Nox looked down at his empty glass. Esterion, seeing him drink the strong liquor straight, deliberately didn’t refill the glass.

For a while, things would go his way. Khalid Via would not be suspected, and all eyes of suspicion would fall upon him.

The Emperor suspects him.

He is wary of him.

The more they drew a line between “you and me,” the more useful Nox’s pawn became.

The sword that will pierce your heart is in your own embrace. Nox handed the glass to Esterion and headed for bed.

The next morning, news of Kylon’s death spread throughout the capital. The nobles couldn’t hide their shock.

Following the tragedy at the hunting festival, another assassination had struck a noble of the Emperor’s faction. This was no coincidence. It couldn’t be.

People turned their gaze. Towards whom?

Towards Nox Rainerio. The man who was now, at last, the formally established pillar of the aristocratic faction. The man who harbored resentment towards the Emperor and Khalid Via. The man who hated and loathed them more than anyone.

But Nox Rainerio showed no flicker of emotion. Even under the scrutiny of others, he acted as if he knew nothing of the Empire’s affairs.

Someone at the banquet, mustering their courage, approached Nox Rainerio.

“Now that Marquess Kylon Benedict has passed away, do you plan to attend the funeral?”

“Oh, dear.” Nox replied languidly. “That’s news to me.”

“…Yes, for such things to happen consecutively… the capital is in an uproar.”

The noble suspected Nox’s demeanor was a lie, yet found his composure utterly perplexing. He looked truly ignorant, like someone without a shred of interest. But precisely because of this, suspicion grew. He seemed too calm even for such startling news.

“He was a fine man, gone too soon.”

“…Indeed.”

“A funeral, you say.” Nox cast his gaze into the distance for a moment. “I suppose I should pay a visit.”

With that, Nox left the banquet. And as the noble had suggested, he headed straight for Kylon Benedict’s funeral.

Thud-.

As the Rainerio carriage, emblazoned with its crest, entered the Benedict Marquess’s estate, people began to murmur. When they finally saw Nox step out of the carriage, the commotion grew louder.

Nox walked straight ahead. A gaze more blatant than when he walked as a slave once followed his back.

Everyone suspected Nox Rainerio. Nox strolled leisurely towards the coffin. And then he met him.

“…Duke Rainerio.”

“To meet you in such a place, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor, Feltion.

For the first time in a long while, Nox could smile at him. The twisted, wide-open eyes of Feltion were utterly delightful.