Chapter 23 (1/2)

Was this really so rare that it was considered legendary? In every book’s setting, these pairs always met without fail. Rather than it being rare like in reality, it seemed nearly impossible to not meet.

Ernst absentmindedly looked down toward the man. Today might have been a warmer day since he had taken off his thick coat while he trained.

It would be nice if he really did have compatible bodily fluids with that man.

He pressed his cheek to the window. Lately, whenever he thought about that man, his body became hot. The cold stone around the window felt good.

The captain told him something, and the man vigorously pulled off his clothes.

The militia troops cheered loudly at the man’s reveal of his nude upper body, muscular and masculine. Sweat flowed down the raised muscles of his chest and over his tight and compact abdominal muscles, making them glitter in the sunlight. As if admiring him, the captain smacked the man’s abs with his fist.

When Ernst saw that sight, a dark and muddy emotion swirled deep inside his stomach.

He would bring his mouth toward that man’s chest. Touch that hard fabric with his lips. I want to touch his body, he thought, a scathing and bitter feeling rising inside him. Even though the man touched those soldiers with those hands, why did he never touch Ernst with them. For some reason, Ernst’s small body felt like it was doused with dark emotions.

“Lord Ernst?”

This man always met Ernst with an unobtrusive voice, a quiet demeanor.

Weren’t the Grudes supposed to be the kind of people who would do it immediately after they met. Ernst didn’t know since when this man had served in his bathing chamber, but the man had been able to keep himself from touching Ernst for however many years. Was he really a person of Grude, this Dunbertian.

Or did it mean that he actually, in reality, didn’t really love Ernst, after all.

“Lord Ernst…?”

At the man’s inquisitive voice, Ernst raised his head. He peered into those reddish-brown eyes, then raised his body and stuck his mouth on the man’s warm lips. When that giant body grew stiff and unmoving, Ernst let go of his mouth and looked at the man’s bewildered and masculine face from up close.

“I am a man. How can someone like you, who had only ever had women as your partners, say that you fell in love with me, a man? Are you sure that you have actually fallen in love with me?”

Ernst whispered. They were close enough to feel each other’s breath. As if trying to conceal the anxiety in his heart, Ernst tightly clutched the man’s large shoulder with this slender fingertips.

“Lord Ernst.”

Those perplexed and wavering reddish-brown eyes gazed straightforwardly at Ernst. The power of his gaze pierced through Ernst’s blue eyes.

“It has nothing to do with whether you were a man or a woman. No matter which Lord Ernst was, no matter what you looked like, I would have fallen in love with you. Lord Ernst is the first person that my heart has ever loved. And… the last person, as well.”

His muscular arms embraced Ernst, and his hot breath covered Ernst’s lips.