Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 14

Anger laced with scorn dug softly into his ear.

It seemed he thought Yuri was putting on airs because he had someone to rely on. Yuri didn’t answer, silently rubbing his bruised face. Ling Xinlu, who had struck him hard enough to match a sturdy man, staggered back a step, seemingly dizzy, and muttered curses to himself. Turning around, he limped towards the built-in wardrobe and took out a jacket hanging inside. Yuri, still rubbing his face, quietly asked, “Where are you going?”

No answer came. Ling Xinlu didn’t even look at him.

“Whether you go to Serengeti or return to China, it’s no use leaving now. No more planes are taking off today.”

Ling Xinlu, just about to put on his jacket, paused at those words. He glared at Yuri with a strange expression, then finally walked to the window. The night view from the special suite, which offered a better view than most hotels, illuminated a well-ordered city night. This was not the Serengeti, which grew dark at night, nor Dar es Salaam, where only scattered yellow streetlights flickered in the quiet city.

Ling Xinlu, who had been mostly unconscious since leaving Serengeti, glared at the night view below. Yuri rose from his chair and approached him. He stood a couple of steps away, looking out the window just like Ling Xinlu.

“Is this your first time in Berlin?”

Berlin. At that word, Ling Xinlu gritted his teeth.

He was too far from the person whose flesh he wanted to tear to pieces right then and there. His anger boiled, making his vision red, as if his own heart would turn to charcoal any moment. If he didn’t rip that person apart immediately, he felt he would die from the horrific rage himself, but that person was too far away.

“Why…”

“Why did you bring me here?” Those words didn’t fully leave his mouth. His trembling lips blurred his speech.

His reflection, glaring out the window, appeared in the dark glass. He, who had been frozen, not even blinking, moved when Yuri spoke.

“Ling?”

“………”

But the moment Yuri opened his mouth, Ling Xinlu turned around, strode towards Yuri in one swift motion, and grabbed him by the collar. He pushed him against the wall as if to crush him. Yuri hit the wall so hard he thought his spine might break, and he let out a choked gasp.

“From the start.”

A sharp voice spat out words in a low tone between his teeth.

“From the very beginning, I didn’t like you, you bastard. Yes, ever since you shot me. Your useless habit of reading others’ expressions, your insolent tongue—there wasn’t a single thing I liked about you. I should have known you’d meddle presumptuously. If I had, I would have gotten rid of you long ago.”

The hand gripping his collar truly tightened around Yuri’s neck as if to choke him right there. Cough, Yuri gasped for air again, his face flushed from lack of oxygen, but before his breathing completely gave out, Ling Xinlu, still holding his collar, slammed Yuri against the wall again. His spine ached as if it would crack, but his breathing returned.

Ling Xinlu, who had thrown Yuri, still coughing and bent over, glared at him fiercely, then turned away as if he couldn’t stand to be there any longer. His limping but unhesitating steps headed for the door.

Before his ragged breath could settle, Yuri quickly rushed forward and blocked the door. Ling Xinlu, who was about to grab the doorknob but was blocked by Yuri, finally looked up, clearly enraged this time. Yuri lowered the hand that had been rubbing his neck and said flatly,

“I received a call from Mr. Ling Tangyun. He asked me to take good care of Mr. Ling Xinlu for about a week, until he can send a suitable person to look after you faithfully.”

Ling Xinlu stared at Yuri with a livid expression for a few seconds, then snorted, “Ha,” as if dumbfounded.

“So, from being the Riegrow family’s dog, you’ve become my brother’s dog now, have you?”

Yuri didn’t answer. Ling Xinlu also seemed to have no intention of exchanging more words and pushed Yuri. No, he tried to push him, but Yuri stood firm in front of the door and didn’t budge. Meanwhile, Yuri thought to himself, Even with a body that can’t balance properly due to his condition, he has this much strength. What am I going to do when he gets a little better? He’ll be hard to handle. A contradictory wish arose simultaneously: a desire for him to recover quickly, and a desire for his condition to remain poor for at least another week.

Ling Xinlu, who had tried to push Yuri, gave him an even fiercer look when he stood his ground.

“Move.”

At the low command, Yuri silently shook his head. Ling Xinlu glared at Yuri for a moment, then snorted again, “Ha.”

“I thought you were quick-witted and perceptive. I hate trying to persuade an idiot, but for my elder brother’s sake, I’ll tell you just once. Even if I kill you here, no one will say anything to me. It’s no different from killing a bug. And I’m not just threatening you right now.”

“Even if you kill me.”

Yuri suddenly answered as soon as Ling Xinlu finished speaking. He paused for a moment after saying that, but his mind didn’t change.

“Of course, you could kill me. Even if you don’t do it right now, falling out of your favor and incurring your father’s wrath is a serious concern. After all, I have to make a living, and cutting off my livelihood would be nothing to you. …But.”

Yuri paused again. He knew that if he continued, this man would surely become even more enraged. He sighed.

“If you leave here and go find Riegrow, you’ll undoubtedly die this time. And I’m more worried about my own conscience, which will whisper in my head until I die, telling me I let you go knowing that would happen, than I am about you or your father.”

Though he had no particular conscious attachment to life, he wasn’t entirely without the desire to live a long life. How wonderful it would be to grow old peacefully, then in his twilight years, take a small boat out to the distant sea, swim in the middle of the ocean, and be buried in the sea. He harbored such a shy hope. (And if that didn’t seem possible, he thought it might be good to catch a large tuna and share it with a shark until only bones were left, then return to his body.) But at least, he didn’t want to become an old man whose life was stained with regret and guilt. Yuri was at such a crossroads now.

However, before Yuri could even close his mouth after finishing his words, a fist instantly flew. With the door behind him, there was no room to retreat, so the already aching punch struck even harder.

Yuri’s short groan was, however, buried by Ling Xinlu’s sharp shout.

“Undoubtedly die? By his hand?!”

“……….”

Yuri rubbed his face with the back of his hand. Had his lip torn at some point? Blood stained his hand. But before he could rub his face again at the sight of the blood, another fist flew. The rough, agitated breathing was not Yuri’s, but Ling Xinlu’s, trembling with uncontrollable rage.

He had guessed that these words would deeply offend him.

You can’t defeat that man—he knew those words would tear his already tattered pride to shreds.

His mouth tasted terribly bitter.

“You couldn’t defeat him even when you were perfectly fine, and you think you can defeat him with your eyes, arm, and leg injured? If you absolutely must go, then at least after your eyes heal—”

The calm retort, which had leaked out like a helpless sigh, stopped midway. The hand that had been sighing and rubbing his brow also paused.

“…After your eyes heal, then go. I’ll let you go once they’re healed enough to look normal.”

Yuri barely managed to say that much before falling silent. It was then that he realized something he hadn’t perceived until now.

His throat tightened painfully.

Come to think of it, that’s right. He won’t be able to see with that eye again for the rest of his life, but he doesn’t know it yet. He doesn’t know how serious his injury is. He’s just furious that he’s injured.

Yuri unconsciously lowered his gaze. For a moment, he couldn’t face Ling Xinlu. He had thought he was good at hiding his true feelings with a poker face, even though he didn’t lie, but at that moment, he couldn’t do it well. Ah, it’s hard with someone who has emotions, he realized for the first time.

He looked down at his show tips for a moment, and when he felt his emotions were somewhat under control, he raised his head. Then he paused. Ling Xinlu was looking at Yuri. Without taking his eyes off him, with a peculiar expression as if he had frozen, he stared at every part of Yuri’s face for a long time.

“………?”

Puzzled, Yuri subtly tilted his indifferent face. Seeing Yuri like that, Ling Xinlu blinked once, then slowly opened his mouth.

“My eye.”

Yuri fell silent. He didn’t know if Ling Xinlu noticed his trembling lips. But his gaze seemed to briefly trace Yuri’s mouth.

A quiet, slower voice whispered distinctly, lowly.

“It’s not going to heal, is it?”

With half certainty and half doubt, Ling Xinlu quietly pressed Yuri for an answer.

Seeing his expressionless face, devoid of anger or resentment for a moment, Yuri couldn’t answer for a while.

It wasn’t wise to lie about something that couldn’t be hidden forever. Yuri had seen many people who had lost limbs or suffered other fatal and permanent injuries. He had seen the explosive despair and rage they displayed when they truly ‘understood’ what it meant for their lives, even if their minds initially grasped what had happened to them but their bodies and emotions hadn’t accepted it.

And now, before him stood a young man with a pale, expressionless face, who would never again be able to see the world in the same way.

“…That’s not true.”

Yuri, choosing silence over a lie, could only murmur that. No, it wasn’t a lie. Dr. Bayern hadn’t said it was ‘completely useless.’ I still don’t know. Maybe it can heal. He tried to convince himself.

Ling Xinlu silently watched Yuri. His eyes gradually became even darker and more lustrous.

Finally.

—BANG!!

A terrifyingly loud sound, like something exploding, echoed right next to Yuri’s ear. The violent vibration, strong enough to make his eardrums ring for a moment, wasn’t just a sound. A fist that grazed his ear—so close it barely touched his skin—was pounding on the door Yuri had blocked. The fist, swung with such immense force that it left a dent in the steel door, would have disfigured Yuri’s face if he hadn’t instinctively dodged his head to the side.

“Looking at me like you’re about to cry?”

Ling Xinlu tilted his head and brought his face close to Yuri’s. His low, whispering voice was so soft it almost sounded gentle. But the face, pressed uncomfortably close, was chillingly frozen.

“Oh? You won’t see again? So I’ll have to live as a cyclops for the rest of my life? Every time I look in the mirror, every time I realize one eye can’t see, I’ll remember who did this to my eye? …Aha.”

He seemed to smile a little. Stroking the bandage covering one eye, he smiled with the other, then in the very next moment, his smile vanished. The fist still pressing against the steel door now gripped Yuri’s neck, which had been resting next to it.

An immense grip, strong enough to snap his neck, dug into Yuri’s throat. The hand, relentlessly choking him without an inch of mercy, seemed intent on killing Yuri.

No, it was trying to kill him.