I Became a Slave to the Man I Abandoned Novel (Completed) - Chapter 99

He had to be forgiven for what he had done. No, even if he wasn’t forgiven, he had to beg for it. He didn’t know Nox was suffering so much. No, he knew but had turned a blind eye.

He thought that Nox’s pain was a way to imprint himself deeper onto him. At that, Khalid suddenly stopped.

In the end, they were all just excuses. He grimaced bitterly and clenched his fist. The Emperor replied, “…Until he wakes up, I’ll take care of him at the Imperial Palace.”

“Please do.”

“And Khalid.”

“What is it?”

The Emperor opened his lips with difficulty. “What I said last time was all a lie.”

“…From my conversation with Valtias, I had already guessed,” his voice broke. The Emperor bit his lip. What Nox had said—that the Emperor had abandoned him first—was true.

It must have been Nox, not Valtias, who had been leaking information from the Rainerio family. Even though Valtias had died, he had confessed everything before his death, so there was no reason to doubt it.

Khalid, clenching his fist, asked, “Why did you tell me such lies?”

“My, my… it was because of my foolish jealousy.”

At that, Khalid twisted his body sharply and grabbed the Emperor by the collar, slamming him against the wall. The healer nearby cried out, calling it insolence, but Khalid’s blue eyes were filled with rage. That rage was directed at the Emperor, but also at himself.

“Do you know,” his voice was choked with emotion, “what I did to him after hearing that story?”

“What did you do?”

Khalid, unable to speak, clutched the Emperor’s collar, then released his grip, pushing him away. Khalid’s mind was a mess. In truth, he himself had gone too far to blame Pheltyon here.

Look at what he had done to Nox. Now that he knew all the emotions he had felt were born from misunderstanding, what he had done to Nox was nothing more or less than bestial behavior.

Khalid quietly covered his eyes. Tears should have flowed, but his eyes were dry. If he had a sword, he wanted to stab himself. In the exact spot where Nox had been pierced when he fell. Would that at least help him understand Nox’s feelings?

‘No, I suppose not.’

Khalid inhaled sharply. But for some reason, he found it difficult to breathe. He exhaled roughly, organizing his emotions. He ruminated on how foolish he had been, how stupid, and how easily manipulated.

His shirt collar was crumpled, but the Emperor said nothing, turning his head to look down at Nox.

Disheveled, dark green hair lay scattered across Nox’s forehead. Pheltyon reached out to brush it away but then withdrew his hand. He simply couldn’t bring himself to touch Nox. Khalid might have been the one to push him into the abyss, but the Emperor himself had undoubtedly been the one to tighten the noose around his neck.

“And,”

“…What else is there?” Khalid growled, gnawing on his words.

“That day, Nox wasn’t trying to escape.”

Khalid’s teeth bared fiercely for a moment. “What do you mean by that?”

“I found out later. He wasn’t trying to escape; he was heading for the city gates to help a surviving relative get away.”

“…That means,” Khalid’s jaw trembled faintly.

“That’s right, he never tried to run.”

“Why, why didn’t you tell me…?”

“I thought you didn’t need to know. No, actually… I wanted to deceive you.”

The Emperor wore a self-deprecating smile. Khalid stood there foolishly, staring at the Emperor. All those times he had held Nox’s breath in his hand, controlling him—it was all based on his own misunderstanding? He had been fooled by a lie?

Khalid wrapped his trembling hands around his own neck. When he squeezed, his breath hitched. The breaths that Nox must have struggled to take, one by one.

Khalid finally let out a choked sob of regret. A single tear fell, a deception perhaps. How pathetic. A man who had just realized how foolish and stupid he was had no right to shed tears.

“Hah, huuh…”

Khalid let go of his own neck. He could barely breathe from just that, and he thought of what Nox must have endured. Khalid wouldn’t know what it felt like to have the whole world attack him, trying to break him.

It must have been different from when he himself, as a child, stood alone in the world. He had received someone’s touch, but Nox—Nox had nothing. Nothing. Only hands clutching and choking his neck.

Nox, without a chance for salvation, twisted and writhed in his grasp, and finally threw himself away. How could Khalid ever understand his feelings? Would a day ever come when he could? Khalid roughly wiped away his presumptuous tears.

“I will find a way, no matter what.”

“Good…”

“And,” Khalid looked fiercely at the Emperor. “…You must repay Nox for lying to me and concealing the truth.”

“…”

The Emperor remained silent for a long moment, then finally nodded. Khalid gazed quietly and intently at Nox, who lay pale like a corpse, then walked out of the room, leaving only the Emperor and the healer inside.

“Leave.”

At the Emperor’s single word, the healer bowed deeply and exited. The Emperor dragged a chair close to the bed and sat down. He gazed at Nox, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and inwardly called his name several times.

Perhaps it was a foolish hope that Nox would respond. But there was no such thing. And likely never would be. Nox Rainerio had given up everything and thrown himself away.

The Emperor knew that Nox had no lingering attachment to this world. But he vowed that if a reason to live was needed, he would somehow create it for Nox. He desperately hoped that when Nox opened his eyes, he wouldn’t try such a thing again.

“Aide.”

The aide, who had been waiting, responded to his call. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Find the young Rainerio child who escaped outside the city gates.”

“The runaway Rainerio child, Your Majesty?”

“The child Nox helped to escape back then.”

“Understood.”

The Emperor gave only that command, then carefully took Nox’s stark white hand. The lukewarm temperature remained. The warmth of one neither living nor dead. The Emperor drew his fingers to Nox’s knuckles and kissed them, tears forming hypocritically in his crinkling eyes.

“I didn’t know…” The Emperor’s voice was faltering. “I didn’t realize you saved me.”

As the Emperor closed his eyes, tears fell profusely.

“Since you saved me once,” a stubborn light shone in his eyes, “I will save you too.”

Even if it wasn’t what Nox wanted.

But despite his prayers, Nox did not open his eyes. Not after three days, four days, a week, or even a month.

***

It was a night of heavy rain. In the secluded village outside the capital, it was rare to see outside visitors.

But today, a tall man in a large robe entered the village. Robert, the owner of the village’s only inn, tensed up at the sight of the man, who was a head and a half taller than himself.

“W-what can I do for you?”

“A room. Bath later.”

“Yes? Y-yes, th-thank you, sir.”

The large guest tossed a gold coin and immediately took the key, heading upstairs to his room. He didn’t seem to expect change. The innkeeper, thinking the outsider didn’t know the local prices, intended to pocket the change. But the man simply went up, put down his luggage, and came right back down. Robert froze. Had he come back for the change he hadn’t given?

The large outsider approached him and opened his mouth.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I forgot the change—!”

“I hear there’s a famous herbalist here.”

“Yes, yes?”

“A famous herbalist.”

“Ah, you mean Old Woman Dota?”

“Old Woman Dota?”

“Yes, yes. She’s ninety this year, but she’s so healthy. They say it’s all from brewing and drinking herbs, so sometimes people even come from the capital to see her.”

“Guide me.”

“Ah, guide you, sir?”

“Yes.”

“B-but I have to tend to the inn.”

“Keep the change.”

“Oh, well, then I must! Please wait a moment!”

Robert hastily pulled on his rain robe and stepped outside. The outsider, Khalid, began to follow the innkeeper.

“It’s late at night, so I don’t know if she’ll be awake.”

“It’s fine.”

After walking for a long time through the village and reaching its outskirts, a small wooden house appeared in the distance. The wooden house was small but looked quite warm. Seeing the light filtering out from inside, it seemed someone was still awake.

“Well, I’ll be going now. If you visit her at night, she’ll curse and throw her shoes. Oh, wait.”

“Go.”

“Thank you, thank you. Please be careful!”

After confirming the innkeeper’s departure, Khalid approached the small wooden house and knocked on the door.

“…”

But there was no answer from within. So he knocked loudly once more. Still no answer. Khalid gripped the hilt of his sword. He intended to break the door down if he had to. But just as he was about to draw his sword,

“Who… Aah!”

Someone came out from inside. And seeing Khalid with his drawn sword, she recoiled in terror.

Crash, bang. The woman, who had stumbled over a low table, quickly tried to get back up, then rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a wide cooking utensil.

“Th-there’s a thief here! A robber!”

Khalid felt that the frantic woman’s voice and face were somehow familiar. And then, a memory flashing through his mind, he asked with a voice of disbelief, “…Maeta?”

The woman, who had been making a commotion, stopped abruptly. “…You, how do you know me?”

Khalid pulled off his hood. His platinum blonde hair, damp from the rain, and his piercing blue eyes. Despite nothing else remaining of his childhood appearance, Maeta’s eyes widened.

“…Who are you?”

Khalid sighed deeply and said, “Khalid.”

“Kh-Khalid? You? The little one?”

“Yes.”

“Y-you were alive…!”