Side Story 2
The Hour of Awakening
Part 1
1
The duration of the red moon was always too brief.
Radan leaned into the remnants of the fading red light streaming in through the window and studied the outline of Leshak’s figure.
Regardless of how long he looked at it, or regardless of how much of it he could memorize, it would never be enough.
For him, Leshak was an endless journey. Regardless of how hard he ran, breathlessly down his paths, he would never reach its end and be fully satiated.
“……Radan?”
He wondered as he stared so desperately, if his gaze would become too obsessive.
Leshak felt a tickling on his cheek and opened his eyes.
As soon as he heard the sound of frantic rustling, he saw Radan with a blindfold in his hand.
He fumbled to get the blindfold on as he squeezed his eyes shut.
He was still too afraid of his own eyes. Even on the days of the Bloody Moon, he checked several times to make sure the blindfold was within reach.
The scene still stirred up conflicting emotions in him as always.
Being both madly in love and cursed with this fate, the two things combined and culminated in an insatiable hunger.
“Radan.”
Leshak sat his upper body up.
The crumpled edges of the sheet slid down over his naked body.
“Are you awake?”
Leshak stretched out his arm and curled it around the back of Radan’s neck.
With a plop, Radan’s forehead touched Leshak’s chest. Leshak leaned down and pressed his lips to the crown of his head.
“Your Majesty……?”
Radan panicked and grabbed his arm. But he didn’t struggle or lift his head.
Radan never asked for reasons behind his actions anymore. Sometimes he wondered if he’d forgotten how to say no altogether.
They stayed like that for a while, letting the surging emotions melt away.
Well, that’s how it is with him.
Leshak gently lifted Radan up to kiss him.
Because there was nothing he didn’t like when it came to him.
His lips, which he had been sucking furiously before Radan could even blink, felt incredible again.
Leshak’s fingers entangled themselves in Radan’s hair. His head tilted, and he leaned back.
The reason why the precariously positioned couple didn’t seem the least bit unsteady was because there was nothing they didn’t like about each other.
He slipped his tongue inside his lips and licked thoroughly before finally releasing him.
Radan drew in all the breath he’d been holding in. Leshak thought his flushed cheeks looked particularly erotic.
“Why are you awake? I told you to get some sleep.”
It was only just before dawn.
The last thing Leshak remembered was Radan saying “yes” to his request for a kiss and then nodding off.
The difference in their stamina was, arguably, his only grievance. Ultimately, Radan closed his eyes, and Leshak watched him fall asleep, letting his frustration dissipate.
Radan fiddled with the blindfold for a moment.
“Your Majesty.”
Leshak knew that this was when there was something he needed to communicate to him.
“Alright, say it.”
“I have a request…….”
Leshak laughed in spite of himself.
“That sounds great. What is it?”
The anticipation brought a smile to his face.
If there was one thing about Radan that bothered him, and it was that Radan asked for too little.
It was quite simple to make Radan happy. All he had to do was make a treat that the surly cat might be interested in, and Radan would be happy as though he had the world at his feet.
His sweet happiness was beautiful to watch, but it also made Leshak uncomfortable.
He wanted Radan to be happy by his side, but Radan could be happy with just the Crown Prince’s chef.
That was a problem.
He ruffled Radan’s hair, feeling it glide smoothly between his fingers.
He licked his lips and tried to guess what Radan wanted.
Ask for something I can do for you.
Something only I can give to you.
“Is that…….”
Radan’s request took a moment.
Radan reached out his hand first, looking embarrassed. His fingers brushed against Leshak’s forearm.
He ran his fingers over Leshak’s skin with the same careful gesture he’d used when they’d first run into each other in the alleyways of the drifting city of Merv when they didn’t know each other.
“What is it?”
“It’s just that…….”
After a few tentative pauses, Radan let the words come out of his mouth.
“I’m saying that in the future, we shouldn’t…… have sex.”
“……What,”
For a moment, Leshak thought his ears were playing tricks on him.
“What?!”
Because there was no way Radan would say that.
He remembered the red moon bathing his white naked skin in bright crimson.
Radan sprawled face down on the tangled sheets moaning until his throat was hoarse. The uncharacteristically husky low sounds were so stimulating and impossible to ignore.
With his entrance slightly swollen from the constant friction, and the pink creases glistening with his fluid. Whether it was his fingers or his erection, if he pushed it in, he would devour it all in one go.
The silhouette of his naked body, though a bit thin, was well-proportioned and a temptation in and of itself.
And as Radan bit his lip lightly as Leshak obsessively traced his lips on top of the old whip scars. When Radan asked him why he kept doing such a thing, he replied that it was to help him hold back his ejaculation. Then Leshak spread his thin, quivering thighs apart and teased his genitals with his tongue as his penis swelled in anticipation of ejaculation.
He remembered the expression Radan was wearing.
He recalled that Radan looked as though he would explode with the slightest touch. It was incredibly tantalizing and seductive. He thought nothing in the world could be more erotic.
And now, what?
He doesn’t want to do what?
It was too bad Radan couldn’t see Leshak’s expression, it was quiet but dangerously twisted.
“……Why?”
Leshak marveled at his own patience for not blocking his lips with his mouth to stop him from saying such outlandish things.
“Because I want to see you longer.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with not having sex.”
“It does.”
For Radan, who said there was nothing he didn’t like, there were some things he couldn’t concede to.
Radan nodded, speaking cautiously but firmly.
“That’s what I’d like to do in the future, Your Majesty.”
“…….”
Leshak’s face grew stiff as the words spilled from his red, swollen lips.
It was clear to him that Radan couldn’t possibly understand half of what he was saying.
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
“‘Damn it.”
“…….”
Leshak’s sudden outburst made the Guardians Knights around him flinch, and drop their shoulders.
They exchanged quick glances with each other behind his back.
Finally, Sidris stepped forward.
“Is something the matter, Your Majesty?”
Leshak sat in the throne room with three of his Guardian Knights.
An envoy had been sent from the Kingdom of Heder.
After their defeat in the Seven Years’ War, the Kingdom of Heder ceded their mining rights to the Emewan Mines over to the Empire as a token of surrender, but less than a year later a new ore vein was discovered.
Heder’s envoys were on their way there to negotiate the terms of the mining rights.
It was a lucrative mining claim, but it was not a vital part of the Empire’s livelihood, and it was a verbal negotiation, not one in which the defeated nation had a strong voice over within the Empire.
So the reason for the Imperial Crown Prince’s unhappiness had nothing to do with the Emewan mining rights.
“Have you been losing sleep?”
By losing sleep, he was implying a quarrel with the Duke of Elkiana.
Sidris didn’t really need to ask, as there was nothing else that held the power to irritate the Crown Prince’s thoughts these days.
Sidris merely hoped he could be of some minor support.
That was the nature of love affairs. It was not uncommon for one or both of the parties to wake up and be oblivious even to someone who had died, even if it was something everybody else knew.
“…….A little.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Leshak began to speak.
It was unbecoming of a man to discuss his problems with his lover and himself with others, but last night’s problems were serious enough to disregard such considerations.
And the Guardian Knights had sensed it.
They could tell by the way his brow furrowed. There were now three lines showing.
Usually, the Crown Prince’s state of mind could be gauged by the lines on his brow. On the day of the previous Bloody Moon, when the Duke of Elkiana had suddenly vanished from the Crown Prince’s bedchamber while he slept, there had only been two lines.
The Duke was found in the garden. The Duke said he was worried about the silver foxes.
However, the silver foxes were always well so there was no reason for him to be worried about them, he obviously just missed them and snuck out before the moon disappeared.
The Guardian Knights, who were awakened in the middle of the night and forced to ransack the Crown Prince’s palace, had been blindsided, but no one blamed Duke Elkiana.
They wished him well.
The Bloody Moon was the only day the Duke of Elkiana was allowed to remove his blindfold.
The Duke must have wanted to see all sorts of things, but the Crown Prince had reserved all the time for himself.
They all struggled to hold back the words, “That’s too much,” from slipping past their lips.
But that was just with two lines of wrinkles.
Today there were three lines.
The fact that they hadn’t been summoned out in the middle of the night meant that the Duke of Elkiana hadn’t suddenly disappeared, which was both worrisome and terrifying, because what could be more serious than that?
Leshak rubbed a finger across his brow.
“I know that he likes it, but……,”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“What could possibly be the reason for him to refuse me?”
“Refuse, Your Majesty, what do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Leshak made more of a frown.
He didn’t like the thought of saying it.
“……in bed.”
“……?”
The words were obvious, and no one misunderstood what they meant.
The Crown Prince’s love for the Duke of Elkiana was immense and fiercely persistent, and the servants were very busy on the days of the Bloody Moon.
There were plenty of sheets ready to be soiled and plenty of sweets prepared for the whole night. It was a violation of at least a dozen Imperial rules of etiquette to lock the bedroom door before the evening was over, but he did it anyway.
The next day, the Duke of Elkiana greeted his visitors to the audience chamber while dozing off, and the Chamberlain of the Crown Prince’s Palace decided that the day after the Bloody Moon, the Elk Palace’s audience chamber would not be allowed visits at all.
Actually, the real problem was not the dozing off, but the Duke of Elkiana.
There were no amount of blindfolds, high collars, and tights that could hide the evidence of their lovemaking, which could be observed everywhere from the nape of his neck to the inside of his wrists to behind his ears.
Although Duke Elkiana was out of the public eye, it wasn’t difficult for those who encountered him to see that he was tired and emanating a strange particular libidinous aura.
His fair skin, gentle and innocent expression, and straightforward manner of speaking were still pure and pristine, but the incongruity of seeing such a person with a bouquet of love marks blooming on both sides of his neck was so stark that people could only think that it looked even more erotic.
In other words, they were already too passionate to even speak of, but at the time of the Bloody Moon, they were a couple of people whose passion was so hot they could make everyone feel very uncomfortable.
Leshak pursed his lips in annoyance at the Guardian Knights’ reaction.
“You heard me!”
Yes, they heard.
As much as they wanted to deny it.
It was indeed a problem worthy of three wrinkles.
“Are you saying that His Grace Elkiana is…… hence refusing to have sex with you?”
Leshak’s fingers brushed roughly across his chin.
The answer was yes, no matter how you looked at it.
The Guardian Knights’ expressions changed.
Sidris grew cautious, Abadd shook his head, and Karum’s mouth hung open.
However, there was a universal reaction.
It was one of disbelief.
It was hard to imagine that something could be wrong with two people who were so passionate and affectionate, and they wondered if they could handle the Crown Prince’s frustration at having to accept something so unbelievable.
After a moment’s thought, Sidris spoke with difficulty.
“Perhaps he’s been unwell for a while…… or in a bad mood. Ibeden has a much different climate than Kemened, Your Majesty.”
It had been nearly two years since Duke Elkiana had lived in Crateas Palace.
There was no way he hadn’t adjusted to the climate by now, and if he had adjusted, then there was a different problem.
“What if this is how it’s always going to be?”
“…….”
This time, there was no point in asking.
If a lover with no apparent ailments and nothing wrong with his body refused to have sex, there was only one reason.
It meant that Prince Leshak had done something wrong, something so wrong that Radan simply would not bear it.
Karum raised his voice, his face a mask of frustration.
“What on earth did Your Majesty do, and how did you do it?!”
“…….”
Leshak’s eyes moved silently to meet Karum’s.
If looks could kill, they would have cut Karum’s throat in an instant, however, Karum did not flinch.
“What have you done to deserve the wrath of His Grace, Elkiana?”
“…….”
Now it wouldn’t just be one neck that would be cut.
There was a look in his eyes that said he would not be content with less than four heads.
“If such a forgiving and caring person would say such a thing, Your Majesty would have to…… Ugh, Ris, why are you stepping on my feet all of a sudden?”
Karum stopped talking and glared at Sidris.
Sidris swallowed back a sigh.
Shut up, you Bear!
No, a Bear would have been preferable. At least a Bear would be grateful to be spared.
Sidris gestured to Abadd. Say something, anything, to help save this Bear.
“Hmph, hmmm. Your Majesty.”
Sidris’s glare was too intense for Abadd to ignore.
“With all due respect, unless you’ve done something wrong, I’m afraid that His Grace, Elkiana has been dissatisfied with the way things have unfolded with your relationship…… Oh, no. Please pretend you didn’t hear that……Hmm. Well, then why do you think His Grace, is not satisfied…… No, I’m not suggesting that, why do I keep saying things?”
“…….”
Two men in one day…
Sidris cut off Abadd’s words, which he would rather not have done.
“Whenever there has been trouble between the two of you, the blame can always be laid on you, Your Majesty, and this time it will be no different.”
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.