50 Ninety-Nine Moons {1}🔴

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Volume 3 – Ninety-Nine Moons {1}

1

Ozdin jumped up and ran to the iron lattice bars at the front of his cell.

“Radan!”

Radan groped at the bars of the grate. Ozdin struggled to push his wrist out and overlap Radan’s fingers.

“How did you get in here?”

“Ah, I was given permission.”

“Permission?!”

He realized that his tone might have sounded offensive. It was because there was only one person in Asilah Palace who could give Radan permission.

“That’s right.”

As expected, it was that person after all.

Leshak Caliph quickly grabbed Radan by the shoulders. Radan’s body was moved about two hand lengths from the bars and the fingers that Ozdin had touched fell away.

“Do not touch him with your filthy hands.”

“……You fucking begger¹!”

Ozdin openly cursed at him.

Leshak’s eyebrows twitched. It was an abusive slur that Leshak had never had slug at him and he felt dumbfounded before he felt insulted.

However, he made Ozdin feel defeated when he boastfully kissed the top of Radan’s head instead of slinging insults in return, just as a noble and elegant prince would.

“Don’t speak that way, Oz.”

Instead, it was Radan who was taken aback with indignation.

“That is too disrespectful……,”

Leshak definitely came out as the winner in that situation.

“……Oz will be punished.”

“Ah……”

In the end, he only said it out of concern for Ozdin.

Ozdin let out a long breath like he were about to sob. Radan’s small face was full of worry.

He wanted to reach out to him. He wanted to touch him.

He didn’t want him to cry, he only wished to see him safely packed off on a ship heading home to Ambioa.

“Why did you come here?”

Asked Ozdin with a sigh.

Although he was nice to look at, the distance between them without being able to touch, was unbearable.

“Are you going to ask me to take you to Amboia?”

At those words, Leshak Caliph scanned him from head to toe with a very bizarre expression. It was like he was measuring a length of a rope to hang him from a gallows.

That didn’t matter.

“If you’re not going to ask me that, then pretend you don’t know me. Act as though we never met.”

“That……”

Radan’s mouth twisted. Even still, he was both incredibly pitiable, and beautiful. It was so endearing that Ozdin felt like he was going mad.

“……Alright then, I will do it.”

Radan took a step back. Leshak wrapped his arms around Radan’s shoulders as though he’d been waiting to.

“If you’re done with your business, then let’s go. You’ve done enough.”

Ozdin clenched his teeth and turned his head.

He wondered if he had been kept alive just to see this. If that was true, then Leshak Caliph was the most cold-blooded son of a bitch on the continent.

“Oh, wait a minute.”

Radan hurriedly approached and pushed something through the bars.

Drop-

Ching-a-ling, the clear sound of a bell rang out.

“What is this?”

It was a small bell that hung from the center of a thin silk cord. No matter how one looked at it, it looked like something worn around the neck of a pet animal.

“It’s Hethel’s collar.”

“… …?”

Added Radan in the way of an explanation.

“My eldest brother has given me a cat that he has been raising. I’ll be going to the Ibeden Empire now. So that is something I feel very grateful for……,”

Radan’s face showed how hard he was struggling to express his feelings.

“I want to thank you, Ozdin……but I can’t give Hethel to you……he’s too precious to me,”

“Ah,”

Ozdin understood what he was struggling, with much difficulty, to say.

No, it actually wasn’t that difficult to understand. Looking at Leshak Caliph’s expression as he looked at the cat’s bell made it clear how precious it was to Radan.

Suddenly the cat bell held a lot of weight. As much as that huge stupid ring he once put on Radan’s finger.

“I wanted to sincerely thank you for all you did.”

Radan bowed his head and said,

“Please stay safe.”

Radan quickly flittered away.

It grieved Radan to be someone who didn’t exist to Ozdin. Radan remembered that when Ozdin heard he was an assassin, he was surprised, but told him that it didn’t matter.

He had never received such unconditional love before. Of the few that Radan had, that memory was the most precious.

“Radan,”

Leshak whispered softly as he held onto Radan.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Radan nodded, trying not to cry.

“If you want to show your appreciation, how about giving him something else? The cat bell you gave will be of no use to him.”

He said to Radan before Ozdine shouted,

“Stop trying to play tricks! “

“Ah… but……that is the best thing I have,”

With considerable effort on his part, Leshak struggled to maintain his soft tone. He was still pretending to be a generous and good person.

“Let me give you something. Since he is a merchant, wouldn’t he prefer something that’s worth money? I will order a box full of gold to be given to him.”

Radan had a conflicted look on his face.

Ozdin finally couldn’t stand it and shouted,

“Stop making a fool of yourself!”

“Oh my God, My Lord!”

“Kiik, Kiik!~”

Vendel and Zorg erupted in panic. Even if they got away with it once, they wouldn’t twice. There were probably more than a few guards waiting outside the dungeon entrance, and it was only a matter of time before their heads were cut off.

“For heaven’s sake! If only a little! Even after being locked up here like this whole time, can’t you see it?! My Lord, all your luck had disappeared!”

“Riiitt Kiik, Kiik!~”

Abadd entered the prison as though he were alarmed by all the commotion.

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

There had been a great deal of trouble lately.

Leshak said in a cool, subdued voice.

“Take Radan with you. I’ll continue discussing Ozdin’s gifts and rewards.”

“Did you say, gifts?”

Abadd asked what this was about all of sudden, but Leshak was pouring the last of his patience out on Radan.

“Can you go back alone?”

“Yes, Your Highness, but Mr. Oz said,”

“Don’t worry. I won’t get angry just because he says some things I don’t like.”

Radan let out a small breath as though he were relieved.

“Yes, Your Highness. And……thank you for generously forgiving Mr. Oz.”

After those words, Leshek showed signs that his patience was inevitably wearing thin.

“That’s nothing you should have to be appreciative of Radan.”

The sudden stern attitude of Crown Prince Leshak made Radan feel uneasy. Leshak was unable to pretend he didn’t see it and added quickly.

“However, if you want to thank me, do so.

“Yes……Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Words are useless. Do it like an apology.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Leshak lowered his head slightly. In the meantime, Radan, who was groping his body to find the location of his face, readily lifted his heel and kissed Leshak on the lips.

“… …!”

Ozdin was speechless and Abadd pretended not to see anything.

Leshak, who felt disappointed by the chased peek, grabbed Radan’s head and kissed him again.

The kiss that followed Radan’s was so deep and dangerous that it could only be called shocking.

At that moment Ozdin wondered as to whether or not he was in hell.

“Surely,”

Leshak licked the traces left on Radan’s lips.

Radan’s face turned red. He didn’t care about his own kiss, but what Leshak did seemed different than that.

“Go ahead now and wait for me.”

“……Yes, Your Majesty.”

Abadd took the lead.

“This way, Lord Radan. I will make noises, so please slowly follow me.”

“Alright.”

Radan and Abadd faded away.

Leshak turned toward Ozdin with a countenance that had changed dramatically.

“Give it to me!”

Ozdin smirked and shook his head.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Your Highness. There is no way.”

“Didn’t you say he would become a stranger to you?”

“Ah, that was my resolution……”

Ozdin’s expression contorted.

“……but I just now realized it’s useless.”

Ozdin looked Leshak in the eyes thinking that he would run mad with rage.

However, conversely, the composure that he’d lost, returned.

He waited seven years to meet his destiny.

There was no need to wait another seven years.

Life in the Imperial Palace was as short as it was fierce.

Radan would return.

“I will wait for him to return to me.”

However, Leshak was in no hurry to vent his rage. Instead, he said,

“All you know how to do is bark like a bitch who doesn’t understand what’s going on,

He cursed.²

“……What?”

Instead, it was Ozdin who wanted to go wild.

Leshak looked at Ozdin with his usual sharp attitude, his countenance was so sharp that Ozdin felt strange in comparison.

“Wait for the rest of your life if you want. Someday, even with that useless head, the day will come when you see how fucking stupid you were.”

“What did you say?”

Ozdin grabbed the bars and spat out curses.

Leshak shouted back like a noble prince.

“Bring the key!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

One of the Guardian Knights brought the key to open the latch that barred the grate.

The key was pushed into the lock.

“Open that door and bring Radan’s cat’s bell back.”

As Ozdin watched the scene he turned pale.

He grabbed the bell.

“No, you will never take it!”

Ozdin gulped it down. He laughed as stuck out his long tongue and showed the inside of his empty mouth.

“I’d rather eat it than have you steal it. If you want to take it, Your Highness. You’ll have to cut my belly open and take it out!”

“Oh my God,! My Lord!”

“Keeik!~”

Vendel and Zorg groaned.

Instead of demonstrating his annoyance, Leshak laughed instead.

After a while, he realized he was being ridiculous, too.

“……That’s fine. It’s hard to be so obsessed with someone that you would cling to a cat’s object in place of that person.”

Leshak expressed his sympathy sincerely, although Ozdin couldn’t tell if he was truly sincere or not.

“I will allow it. Even though you swallowed it there is no way you can digest it, so cherish it until the day you die.”

“… …”

Ozdin was speechless.

Leshak stretched his fingers out like he would to a pet animal.

“What are you doing? If you received a gift, you should be polite.”

“……FU”

Fuck, fuck! I will not.

Ozdin probably meant to say that.

Vendel, who knew Ozdin’s personality better than anyone else, showed his wit.

He threw himself onto the ground with Zorg.

“Thank you, Your Highness, Crown Prince! Our Incessant Lord seems to have lost his mind for a moment, so I will show our courtesy instead. We are thankful to His Majesty and will be indebted to him for a hundred thousand years. I will remember your grace until the day I die. Long live His Highness the Crown Prince. May you live forever.”

“Waakk Kiik, Kiik Kiik.~”

Every time Ozdin opened his mouth to swear at Leshak, Vendel praised the Crown Prince’s grace that was as ‘wide as the sea’ in a louder voice.

If he stopped, they might be made to pay for all the transgressions.

Leshak turned his back and left the prison without regret.

Ozdin, who belatedly came to his senses, screamed.

“Do not be ridiculous! Radan will be back! I’ll get him back! How happy do you think Radan can be in your feculent Imperial Palace? Do you think Radan will still be by your side on the day that you bring home your breeding mare? Don’t make me laugh! Then I will definitely get Radan back! I swear by the God of the Sea! I will get him back!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Incessant Lord! Please shut your fucking stupid little snout!”

“Aaiikk, Aaiiik! Uyiikkk!”

Fortunately, his words did not reach Leshak as he was leaving because Vendel and Zorg, who were more desperate, feeling that their lives were more in danger than his, screamed even louder than Ozdine could.

Even if he had heard of it, Leshak wouldn’t have paid much attention. Compared to the business of Hedel’s bell, his words were insignificant.

Because the life in the Imperial Palace that Ozdin Gett imagined would never exist for Radan.

However, some of his words were heard, so Leshak directed further papers to be sent to the Gett Merchants requesting that the war reparations should be doubled.

If you’re reading this anywhere other than FoolishtranslationsS.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.

2

And that night,

After confirming that Radan was asleep, Leshak once again visited the subterranean dungeon of Asilah Palace.

This time the person he found was the Prophet Hadir.

“I have been waiting for you.”

Hadir sat upright and greeted Leshak.

He knew beforehand that Leshak would come to find him.

And Leshak had guessed that too.

“Then you know why I’m here.”

“Of course.”

Leshak asked in the pitch-black darkness devoid of a single light.

“What did you see?”

Hadir let out a sigh without making a sound.

His sighs were as invisible to Leshak as his vision in the darkness.

“I saw the Spirit of Fire.”

“… …?”

“Through you, I saw the past and I mistook it for a prophecy.”

Hadir exhaled a long breath and began to tell the story told by the Spirit of Fire from long ago.

The story was as long as the Ebébu River and preceded even the history of the Ibeden Empire, and it was a tale of sorrow.

“Until the curse disappeared……how many times did it repeat?”

“It is still repeating.”

Bang!-

The iron bars shook. Hadir heard the sound of the Crown Prince lashing out in silence, unable to suppress his inner rage.

“Next time……will we have to go through all this again?”

“Very likely.”

Hadir’s simple answer became despair.

Leshak closed his eyes tightly. Blood flowed from his hand that had struck the cage.

Having to go through all this again…\wasn’t just about the risk of being cursed.

Radan would have to live a similar life in his next lifetime.

Having to endure all that suffering and abuse, he would come to hate the Caliph bloodline who caused it all.

That was the thing he couldn’t tolerate.

In order for Radan not to kill him, he would have to repeat the painful life he has already repeated many times over, and again in the future.

“Is there……any other way?”

“The Basilisk can kill the Caliph’s lineage and finally be done.”

“Is that the only way?”

Hadir lifted his missing eyes.

“If it is not the only way……then would you listen to me if I told you another?”

“I will listen.”

“At any cost?”

Leshak sank down, sitting in the darkness. He straightened his back and lowered his head to eye level with Hadir.

“Tell me. I will do it.”

“It won’t be easy to hear.”

After that, Hadir was silent for a long time.

As he sat incarcerated in the underground dungeon, every night, over again he watched as the Fire Spirit desired to take revenge on the Caliph bloodline.

He could not distinguish whether what he saw was a prophet’s dream or a hallucination shown by the Spirit of Fire who wanted to use him for revenge.

To all of these confessions, Leshak said the same thing.

“Tell me.”

Hadir broke his silence. Instead, he sighed.

“If there is a price you must pay, would you still do it?

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