20 – Today

By the time I finished my work, it was already late at night. In contrast to the thick and stiff clothes, the weather in the capital was warm even in the deep night. By dawn, I would toss and turn in the sweltering heat. It must be this unchanging warm temperature and the clear sky without any anomalies that have ruined the people of the royal capital. At least, that’s what I think.

The past season was the busiest and warmest winter of my life. I worked every day without rest for an entire season. As I took over the regency of this vast country and was newly given the title of ‘Guardian Minister,’ I had a lot of work to do. I tried to make the necessary decisions in order, starting with the most urgent matters, but the handling of the many incidents that were rampant in the royal capital was all urgent.

The state funerals of the King and the Prince were held with the highest priority, but both of them were in terrible shape. At least the King was buried after his wide-open eyes and mouth were covered with cotton, but the Prince’s body was so terrible that it was cremated on a boat. Afterwards, the traitors were purged, and the honor of the innocent was restored. At the same time, a kind of power compromise was made with those who worshiped the Goddess. After that, it was time to repair and reinforce the damaged facilities of the royal capital. Among them, some issues could not be resolved immediately and were postponed. Even that made me feel uneasy. Even today, I have reviewed all the rejected documents and refused meetings several times.

To me, the ministers gave similar advice several times. You must take care of your body, you can postpone the answer, you need to calm down more…. It was all crazy talk. I was already calm to an excessive degree, so I was at a loss as to what to calm down, and I had never been angry or impatient.

Anyway, the nobles who have never embarked on a long expedition and have never maintained the inside and outside of the territory every season…. They are all lazy and indolent, thinking that time is forever on their side and spouting foolish words. It is ridiculous that they leave advice such as ‘prioritize saving face’ to me, the new head of state and finally the head of the Duke’s family.

Only after the accumulated work was reduced to less than half did I leave the office. As I walked across the wide corridor permeated with darkness, I unfolded my Mother’s letter in my right hand. It was a letter from Rephaim, the land of our family and the foundation of life where Father’s footsteps were engraved. The letter contained the same greetings and news as expected. It was very much like my Mother to say that she would remain by Father’s side, who was buried in the ground, and choose to protect that place.

I wanted to concentrate on chewing over the letter, but the footsteps following me were annoying. When I stopped my striding feet abruptly, the two men who had been chasing me from afar also stopped side by side.

Without looking back, I said.

“Do not follow me, that is an order.”

Then I felt a hesitant look. Even if it was the duty of the escort knights to follow and protect the Guardian Minister in any situation, they could not recklessly set foot in the inner chamber where the Reincarnated Angel stayed. I had not yet allowed them to step on the stairs leading to that place. I was sorry to say this, but I was also annoyed by the existence of the escort knights, who were slow even in their footsteps, and who were supposed to protect someone.

Leaving those who were suffering between illegality and dereliction of duty, I quickened my pace. As I ran up the spiral staircase, the end of the cloak hanging on my back dragged on the stairs and swayed. The navy blue cloak was very long and dark in color, so it bent with every step and revealed my impatience.

Large windows were attached to both sides of the corridor leading to the inner chamber. The garden where night had fallen could be seen outside the window. As I was walking steadily, looking at the strong trees that bloomed even in late winter, I noticed something strange. Five knights armed with white equipment were gathered together and were moving a wooden bathtub with a young-looking servant.

Moving my gaze, I re-examined the location of the room they had come out of. It was definitely the marital bedroom of me and my husband. Before the person who belatedly recognized the Guardian Minister could bow, I asked.

“Why do five knights follow when throwing away bathwater?”

Then the knights all slowly lowered the bathtub handles they were holding. Then they bowed so that the crown of their heads could be seen. The one standing closest to me even knelt on one knee. They were all busy pulling back the cloaks on their waists, emphasizing that they had not dared to bring weapons into the inner chamber.

According to my Mother, not only the priests who were devoted to the temple, but also the knights and servants were more arrogant than the royal family, but it was completely different in front of me. Thanks to the last oracle that Hae-ah gave being much more amazing than I had expected. Nowadays, everyone treats me as a hero of chaos appointed by the Goddess, so it is very burdensome and convenient.

“As you may know, this water is the water that the Angel has bathed in.”

The knight kneeling in the front row said quietly. The attitude was passive, but a sullen feeling came through. Another one glanced at me as if I were a strange person.

“If we had entrusted the disposal to the servants, they might have been robbed, or the servants might have secretly sold it.”

“…….”

I closed my lips and retraced the words I had heard, and everything made sense. Especially when you think about the situation of my own siblings who slandered Hae-ah and my own father who damaged his wings.

In the fork road of negotiation or escape, the Marquis’s heir chose to escape. There was no other way because he had killed the Prince, the only negotiating card left to him, in a fit of anger. He escaped outside the royal capital, but he was soon caught by the people. Immediately after the wanted posters were distributed, everyone in this land recognized the face of the person who had slandered the Angel, and they immediately rushed at him with their nails raised. When the knights who heard the news found him late, almost nothing remained of his shape. A broom was needed to collect the remains rather than a basket. It was useless to try to arrest those who had carried out the unofficial execution. There was no room in the prison to accommodate hundreds of criminals.

His father, the Marquis, was brighter than his son. He walked into the dark solitary confinement himself without any resistance and made only one condition. Please execute him in a reasonable manner, according to the principles. There were many voices against it, but I decided to grant his request. As a result, I don’t know when he will be taken out of the dark space. The High Priest and dozens of priests and Royal Wizards gathered in one place to determine the sentence, but their meeting was not over.

The Marquis feared the people of the capital so much that he endured the ordeal of going blind in the darkness. Standing in a row outside the royal capital, they had been shouting for months, praising the Reincarnated Angel and singing for him. They were truly crazy believers. It would not be strange if they risked their lives to break into the royal capital and rob the bathwater that the Angel had bathed in.

“Go.”

With a wave of my hand, the white-clad knights scurried to gather the bathtub. Trying not to spill the sloshing water, they trudged down the hallway.

Approaching the steamy inner chamber, I carefully pushed the door open. Peeking inside, I saw Hae-ah surrounded by five servants. His body, draped in a thin gown, was seated on a chair, his two wings resting on separate stands. He looked like a taxidermied bird.

What seemed bizarrely strange to me was quite ordinary for Hae-ah. Without a thought or complaint, he had his eyes closed and was dozing off. In contrast, the servants surrounding him were bustling about, handling him like a doll. The freckled female servant seemed to be the highest in rank. She was absorbed in brushing Hae-ah’s hair, while the four other servants were busy wiping the moisture from his wet wings and preening his feathers. This elaborate and time-consuming grooming was Hae-ah’s daily routine, morning and evening. Since the badly damaged wings were slow to heal, he couldn’t wash himself alone.

Soon, Hae-ah’s head drooped, and he remained motionless. It seemed he had succumbed to sleep. Stealing glances at his sleeping cheeks, I took off my shoes at the doorway. I pushed the two pairs of heavy-heeled shoes onto the carpet and quietly walked inside, muffling my footsteps. One of the servants looked up. Before receiving an unnecessary bow that involved hitting the floor with their head, I raised a finger to my lips. I lightly gestured with my chin, indicating they should move aside.

Understanding the signal, the servant nudged the one next to them, who in turn nudged the one next to them. Finally, all five of them shuffled to the side and scurried out of the bedroom. They always glanced at me with obvious sidelong glances.

Still, Hae-ah didn’t raise his head or open his eyes. He seemed exhausted from the long bath. He looked so weary that I felt a little sorry for him.

As I slowly approached him from behind, I saw the waist tie of his gown, which was tied behind him. It was put on backward to accommodate his spread wings. Through the loosely fastened and opened flaps, I could see his pure white back and thin wing bones. His skin was as clear as white snow, looking like it would squeak if pressed. The long scar etched along his spine was now much fainter. However, it hadn’t completely disappeared, reminding me of his bleeding past.

Silently, I picked up the fine-toothed comb that the servant had left behind. As I slowly combed through his damp brown hair, a faint sigh escaped him. He raised his shoulders as if ticklish, then let them droop again, reminding me of a young master. It was the first time I had ever found a grown man cute. Each small inhale and exhale was filled with sleepiness.

The person who puzzled me the most, yet filled me with certainty, had surprisingly soft hair. After combing the hair covering the back of his head into a round, boyish style, I picked up a jar of ointment. I scooped up a generous amount of the thick, transparent ointment with two fingers and applied it along the scar on his spine. Hae-ah remained docile as I slowly massaged it in circles and traced the scar line with my fingertips. He was a man accustomed to entrusting his hair, wings, and even his skin to others.

How many hands had washed, touched, and caressed him until now? I sighed involuntarily, and Hae-ah’s neck twitched slightly.

“…”

Staring intently at the round back of his head, I placed my hands on his thin shoulders. I slowly gripped his shoulders, causing the thin gown to wrinkle, and gently massaged them. Each time, he stiffened his shoulders, then seemed to consciously relax and let them droop.

I grasped his neck with my left hand and gently stroked it, then lightly massaged both shoulders, using my thumbs to press on his wing bones. Then, I slowly pulled down the thin gown. I traced the exposed shoulder line, leaving a mark as if drawing a line, and stroked his firm, lean arms.

And then, I kissed his reddened ear.

“You seem to react to every touch, even from the servants.”

Knowing it wasn’t true, I said,

“No, not that…”

As expected, a shy reply came back.

“Then why were you pretending to sleep?”

At my teasing words, Hae-ah’s face flushed. He showed me only the back of his head, his forehead red. His round head, reddened ears, and the slightly visible outline of his cheeks looked very naive. And his upper lip was pouting as if dissatisfied.

Soon, a grumbling voice leaked out.

“I was just waiting to see which ill-mannered servant was daring to grope me.”

“Haha…”

This was a problem. I loved hearing his voice as he told an obvious lie and made a petulant expression, and I loved looking at his face. The Hae-ah who had lines of tears on his nose and suffered in silence was gone. Perhaps I wanted to keep confirming that fact. Hae-ah, with a haughty expression, stretched out his arms into the air and said,

“Please carry me to the bed.”

Even his request was welcome.

As he wished, I quickly went in front of him and bent down. Hae-ah wrapped his arms around my neck. I supported his waist with my left hand and his buttocks with my right arm, and as I lifted him, his wings, which had been resting on the stands, naturally fell and dragged on the floor. For someone so shy and reserved, Hae-ah was quite used to being carried by others. Whether I lifted him high enough for his feet to dangle in the air, or gently adjusted his position while swaying slightly, he would relax his entire body and hang on quietly.

‘Well… with wings this heavy, it’s no wonder.’

I regretted killing the fleeing high-ranking wizard. The problem was his words at the moment of crisis, emphasizing his necessity and saying that I should spare him. He babbled that he was essential to making the Reincarnated Angel function as a person, which made me angry and I punched him. I thought he would just faint from one punch, but I didn’t know he would smash his head against the marble and die. How could I have known that he had so much gold hidden in his robes that he couldn’t even move his body properly?

Because of that, Hae-ah’s life became more uncomfortable for another season. Since he had to keep his injured wings exposed, he hadn’t even been able to take a proper walk since coming to the royal palace. I apologized several times, but he just smiled and brushed it off, which only made me feel worse.

I held him very firmly and strode towards the bed. As I laid him down on the soft, huge mattress, Hae-ah slowly unwrapped his arms from around me.

While he was awkwardly adjusting his position, I straightened out his folded wings. There was some satisfaction in exploiting the royal mages to the fullest. Unlike before, his wings moved slightly in response to my touch.

After arranging his wings and plopping down on the edge of the bed, Hae-ah reached out his right hand and stroked my thigh, back, shoulders. As if silently expressing his gratitude, his passive display of affection made my chest feel hot all over.

With a hint of excitement, I joked,

“Don’t provoke the servant. Do you want to stay up all night?”

“…”

Then his white hand fell from my body without a word. I ruffled the hair of my winged husband, who was looking around with a flustered expression.

And then, an unexpected whisper reached my ear.

“What if I wanted that? What if I… liked spending the night with you?”

I was dumbfounded by the words I had never expected in my dreams. I couldn’t understand what I had heard.

“What?”

As I asked back in a daze,

“I was just wondering if you would… do that for me…”

A small whisper immediately returned.

While my mind was in turmoil, the thing between my legs was saying something different. The thing trapped in my pants was heating up, making my thighs hot. My gaze naturally clung to Hae-ah’s body. He was practically naked, with only a thin gown covering him like a towel. His calves, covered in soft downy hair, were defenselessly stretched out.

Trying to remain calm, I forced myself to speak casually.

“…Before, you said you didn’t like it because it hurt.”

“I never said that. I just said I didn’t like it.”

When you look at it, Hae-ah is really good with words. Shame floats on his pretty face, but his answers are always quick.

“You lied?”

“Yes…”

Being quick to admit it was also one of his many strengths. There would never be another person as honest as him in my life.

To digest the sudden, overwhelming stimulation like an adult, I silently took a deep breath. With one hand on my waist, I cooled the heat gathering in my groin. Unable to bear the short silence, Hae-ah continued to chatter.

“It wasn’t because I didn’t like it, but because I did… I was just too ashamed. It didn’t hurt. I’m not good at feeling pain…”

“I know. You can’t feel it.”

There was only one thing I didn’t want to hear, even if it came from his beautiful voice. The problem that no one could solve, even when I lined up the royal mages to try to fix it, was that Hae-ah couldn’t feel pain well.

According to him, he only couldn’t feel light pain, but the pain from the past wounds that tore the skin on his spine and caused blood to flow profusely could never have been light. Until I met him, the numerous scars etched on his body remained as numbness instead of scars.

When I told the royal wizard about the symptoms, excluding Hae-ah’s name, I had to hear even more difficult words. The sensory loss caused by healing magic was so minimal that it was difficult not to feel ordinary pain unless the same magic was cast a hundred or a thousand times. So it wasn’t long ago that I kicked out a wizard who confidently asserted that the person who said that was a fraud. The fact that he had been in so much pain that he needed the power of magic a hundred or a thousand times remained in me, even when I tried to chase it away.

As if interpreting the meaning of my silence differently, Hae-ah hesitated. His complexion seemed to darken rapidly, and the ends of his eyebrows turned downward. Gathering the blanket and covering his legs, he apologized.

“I’m sorry. I said something unnecessary… Please forget it.”

Instead of answering, I slowly pulled on the blanket that was tightly held in his hand. After seeming to resist for a moment, Hae-ah reluctantly let go. When I completely removed the blanket and even took off the loosely draped gown, his flawless body was fully revealed.

It was a body so beautiful that it felt strange. When I was on top of that body, my hands felt like mud-covered rocks.

Following that, I slowly climbed onto the bed and nestled between his legs. Hae-ah hesitated but made room for me. Looking at his flushed ears and cheeks, and his eyes wet with an emotion that I couldn’t tell was anticipation or nervousness, I gripped his knees. And I spread them apart and settled in even closer.

As I ran my fingertips over his warm thighs, I could feel his leg muscles contracting as if he was ticklish. As I approached the sensitive area inside his groin, Hae-ah’s breathing became rougher. The more he flinched and showed signs of nervousness, the more intimate my touch became. I grabbed and stroked his pinkish genitals, enjoying the soft, squishy sensation, and caressed the straight line below his testicles.

I had never examined even my own body so closely. The faint mark left on Hae-ah’s body was even more secretive. A faint line connected his genitals to the tightly closed hole between his buttocks. My finger slowly moved along that line, finally arriving at the tightly closed hole. As I stroked, pressed, and poked the particularly soft flesh, a hot breath escaped.

As Hae-ah opened his mouth as if to complain, I asked the question first.

“Did it feel good when I stuck it in here?”

Then Hae-ah’s parted lips moved silently. His cheeks seemed to catch fire, and his eyes turned down. Then he muttered like someone confessing a sin.

“…Yes.”

His attitude and answer made me laugh.

“You can feel good feelings very well?”

“…Yes…”

He was really cute.

I carefully caressed the surface of the hole with its fine wrinkles. Since he had just finished bathing, his rear was particularly soft and dry, and I almost felt sorry for even touching it with my fingertips. Greedily, I slipped my middle finger in, and the narrow hole twitched and swallowed the tip of my finger.

I already felt like my penis was about to explode. Knowing how enjoyable it was to be inside there, my thing was even more impatient.

“Hoo…”

Exhaling a long, excited breath, I lowered my head. Then I put my lips on Hae-ah’s lips. My husband was even more surprised by the small kiss than by the finger poking into his ass. He seemed to close his mouth tightly, but soon complied and opened his lips. I lightly swept the soft space between his lips with the tip of my tongue, and bit and sucked on his lower lip as if to devour it.

At the same time, I unbuckled my belt and pulled down my pants, and my tactless penis popped out and landed on Hae-ah’s groin.

“…”

Even with his cheeks flushed red, he couldn’t take his eyes off my penis. With my thing enlarged with desire exposed, I reached out to the side with my right hand and opened the bedside table drawer. A bottle of oil that I had prepared rattled in my hand. Without hesitation, I opened the lid and poured a generous amount of the contents onto my hand. As I clenched and unclenched my fist, soaking even the joints of my fingers, a fragrant scent that hadn’t been there before filled the bed. A few drops of oil that had flowed out between my fingers fell on Hae-ah’s stomach.

As it was, I grabbed my penis with my oily hand and stroked it up and down. After caressing the throbbing flesh enough to make it slippery, I rubbed the remaining oil on Hae-ah’s rear. Hae-ah widened his eyes as if surprised by the smooth sensation, but obediently accepted the touch.

In moments like these, I don’t know how fortunate it is that I am the man he chose. Not only for me but also for Hae-ah himself. If a nasty guy had taken advantage of his kind nature, which readily accepts anything being put on his body, he would have given up his heart and lungs.

Thinking that way, I became twisted. I don’t understand why he is so kind, even though he has lived a life of hardship. Still, I could shove my slippery fingers into his ass.

“Ah…”

Like a heart-wrenching child, Hae-ah fidgeted. All he did was scratch and grip the sheets in place.

It wasn’t just the insertion and removal of fingers that had become easier. I already knew where he felt it, and I had learned the Art of the bedchamber that dealt with the acts between men in advance. Immediately, I bent my finger forward and pressed near the bottom of his lower abdomen, and Hae-ah’s back arched upward.

“Ah!”

A groan like an exclamation immediately popped out. It was as if a red light was blooming in front of my eyes. Exhaling an excited breath, I increased the number of fingers to two. Boldly spreading his narrow hole, I forced the slippery two fingers in like a penis.

“Ah, heuk!”

Hae-ah arched his back high again. He twisted his body as if wanting to run away, but that was all, and his upper body didn’t even budge from its place based on his waist. It was because his heavy two wings were spread out wide like anchors.

He seemed to realize that fact belatedly. He looked around to his left and right with surprised eyes, and his rabbit-like eyes captured me. I lifted my body forward and clung close to his groin. Kneeling in front of him, who kept fidgeting, I put my left leg under his waist and supported him.

With his lower abdomen, as well as his buttocks and both legs, floating in the air, Hae-ah shook his head slightly. Taking the pleading gesture as a signal, I increased the number of fingers to three. Then I immediately stabbed deep inside.

“Ah… ah, ah…!”

When I bunched the three fingers together, the tightness of the hole became noticeably overwhelming. The narrow thing only contracted and puckered, and it was frustrating that it didn’t open easily. I repeatedly thrust my fingers deep in and pulled them out, concentrating. I grabbed and hugged one of Hae-ah’s legs, which was moving roughly, with my remaining hand, and stabbed wildly at his exposed weakness.

“Theo, The…o! Ah, wa, wait, aheuk, ah, heueuk…”

Hae-ah’s face flushed red in an instant, and a suggestive sheen appeared on his skin. His sweat-soaked thighs slipped in my arms. The movements of his hole, which had been tightening around my fingers, also changed subtly. The tightness that had made me think I would break something if I forced my manhood in, now felt more like a suction, pulling me in with little pecks.

“Haa…”

Pressing, pressing… I greedily thrust my fingers in two more times, and Hae-ah opened his mouth and tilted his head back. His shoulders and waist trembled, and his thighs tensed. One more time, I pressed down long and hard with a lingering feeling, and this time a deathly moan escaped his lips.

“Heuek, heuk, heueueuk…”

I wanted to swing my arm all night long, but I didn’t want him to be exhausted before I even put my own inside him, so I had to stop. As I pulled out the fingers I had thrust in, I rubbed my lips against Hae-ah’s calf. Twitch, twitch… He narrowed his hole as if to confirm the disappearance of the foreign object, and he wriggled slightly. His white toes curled tightly inward. Every little gesture made my desire soar.

Once again, I put Hae-ah’s legs around my waist and finally brought my manhood, dripping with fluids mixed with oil, to his hole. I gripped his slippery buttocks tightly and aligned my thing with the red hole that was spread open. Then, without hesitation, I thrust it in. I had only intended to push in the tip of my glans with force, but because it was so slippery, it went past the bulging glans and all the way to the base of my shaft in one go.

“Ack…!”

Screaming, Hae-ah jerked his whole body. Gasping at the sudden stimulation, I put strength into my manhood. Unlike me, who gritted my teeth to avoid ejaculating, Hae-ah’s reaction was violent. His knees contracted inward as if trying to push me away, then relaxed and opened wide again as if all the strength had left him. His lower abdomen, bulging with the shape of my manhood thrust inside, twitched and tightened on its own. His thing, red with heat, seemed to move on its own for a moment, then ejaculated.

“Ha… heuek, heuek…, heuek…!”

Shaking his body in tremors several times, Hae-ah came for a long time. The opaque white semen was repeatedly sprayed over his red body, and there was an unbelievable amount of it. Just having my manhood thrust inside him had stained his chest and chin in blotches. A strong odor wafted over me, seeming to scratch my cheek, and I felt my manhood being sucked into his tightly closed hole.

“Heok…! Heueueuk…”

I held my breath for a moment, feeling a sensation that seemed to boil my head.

Only then did I slowly take off my sweat-soaked top. The undershirt clinging to my bulging muscles was almost torn off. I felt relieved to have my upper body naked, except for the pants caught on my knees.

“Haa…, Hae-ah.”

Heuek, heuek… Hae-ah twisted his waist, making a gurgling sound in his throat. Silently, I watched his meaningless movements. His insides, wrapped around my painfully swollen manhood, were narrow and hot. I lowered my gaze and exhaled a long breath. Then I grabbed his hips with both hands.

As if suddenly coming to his senses, Hae-ah’s tear-filled eyes reflected me. I smiled and moved my waist.

“Ah, ack!”

The scream he let out in surprise soon turned sweet. I was not such an inadequate husband as to hammer my body into him mindlessly like before. I repeated the movement of pulling my waist back slightly and thrusting forward very finely, and his panting breath flowed through his teeth.

“Ah, ah… ah, euut…”

As I moved with a creaking sound, I could see Hae-ah’s waist loosening. He seemed surprised, shocked, in a different way than before. I had learned the Art of the bedchamber because I didn’t want to torment him even if he couldn’t feel pain, but now I realized it was also excellent in other ways. To be able to see such a pure face of pleasure.

“Ah, haa… heuek! Eung…”

“Heok…, heok, Hae-ah.”

Soon, I leaned over and hugged him tightly. Avoiding his sweat-soaked shoulder blades, I pulled his upper body close to my chest and moved my lower body back and forth repeatedly. I lifted my waist up as if doing a half push-up to pull my manhood out, then lowered it down and thrust it in hard. Each time, the tip of my manhood tingled, and Hae-ah made a sobbing sound. The sobs soon turned into moans.

“…Theo, eung! Euut, Theo…”

He moaned, embracing my shoulders. He gripped me tightly with trembling hands, but I didn’t feel any pain, but rather sadness.

“Yes, yes…. I’m here.”

Answering his calls every time, I buried my hot breath in his earlobe. I kissed his ear frantically, held his head in my palm, and stroked it. I busily searched for his parted lips and left smacking sounds, and frantically grabbed, stroked, and scratched his dry waist, bulging lower abdomen, and chest.

“Ah, aheueuk, heuk…! Theo…”

Soon, the strength that had been supporting my whole body drained away. My body collapsed, and Hae-ah made a sound like air escaping. He was instantly flattened under me, and I ejaculated with my manhood thrust into him, unable to go any deeper.

“Heok, keuek…”

The overwhelming pleasure was almost painful. It felt like light was flashing in my head. I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached, and I convulsed slightly with my cheek pressed tightly against Hae-ah’s cheek. I could feel him trembling along with me.

“Haa…. Haa…”

Closing my eyes, I rubbed my face frantically against his soft cheek. I smeared my sticky, dirty body all over him, rubbing and chafing my skin against his, from his belly and chest to his arms and thighs. Hae-ah’s skin was surprisingly soft and firm, and just rubbing my body against him a few times made the afterglow of ejaculation tingle through me.

“Heueok…!”

With my cheek pressed tightly against his cheek, I ejaculated once more. At the moment when the remaining desire was quenched, I couldn’t come to my senses from the overwhelming pleasure.

“Haa…, Hae-ah. Hae-ah…”

I picked up his thighs with both arms and pressed them tightly against my waist. Then, as I shook my whole body up and down, I could fully enjoy Hae-ah’s soft thigh flesh, his delicate body, his soft cheeks, and even the twitching, contracting hole inside. After a long time of pouring out everything inside him, I belatedly came to my senses.

“Heok…”

Startled, I lifted my head and saw Hae-ah crushed under my weight. His face, half buried in the mattress, as well as the skin of his entire white body, was red because it had been rubbed against my rough muscles. His eyes were hazy and his temples were wet with tears.

Embarrassed, I withdrew my hands, and Hae-ah’s legs fell onto the sheet with a thud. As I tried to separate our joined bodies, Hae-ah unexpectedly grabbed me. He flusteredly raised both arms and hugged my neck, pulling me down toward him. But it was impossible to move me. Rather, his upper body was lifted halfway up following me.

“Hold me. Just a little longer…”

Hae-ah said pleadingly. I chuckled. He was beautiful, asking me pitifully for something that I would naturally do, something I couldn’t help but do, whether he ordered or whined. And it was sad.

“Don’t say it like that.”

This time, the plea came from my mouth.

“Don’t ask me sadly. Please.”

After blurting out the seemingly ridiculous words, I hugged him and lay down again. I strongly embraced the man with the heavy wings and the limbs hanging limply, and purely felt his heart beating. I didn’t know if he understood the meaning of my words. I probably assumed he did. He had met and known even the me that I didn’t know.

Even another me from a day that no longer existed would have said the same thing. Don’t act like a loser in front of me. Please don’t torment the person I love. Don’t blame yourself, don’t abuse yourself…

Soon, Hae-ah’s hand touched my cheek. I knew that his touch lingered on the short scar. I just quietly accepted the stroking touch, which felt good, and didn’t say anything. I had been asked more than ten times about how I got the scar, including yesterday, but I had no intention of answering.

I had no way of saying that on the day I pushed you away and caused you to fall, I was so surprised by what I had done that I jumped over the railing, that it was a pathetic scar caused by being scratched by a branch while falling from a tree. That day, your back was completely torn and ruined, but how could I say that I only got a scratch less than two finger joints long?

Instead of rambling on with a messy story, I kissed Hae-ah’s forehead. His round forehead was cool from the evaporated sweat. Then Hae-ah hesitated and stretched out his head. It was to return the kiss to my forehead.

Smack.

That small gesture set my chest on fire. My skin heated up in an instant, and it felt like I could hear the sound of burning from my ribs. I had no choice but to hug him once more to put out the fire.

The relationship barely ended after Hae-ah could no longer moan and his whole body was so dirty that he needed a new bath. He trembled, sprawled out as if he were about to faint at any moment. It seemed like the afterglow of the orgasm was returning like a wave. Watching him, I left teeth marks on his shallow chest. Even a small tickle seemed to return as a great stimulus, and Hae-ah, who shuddered and whined, was cute.

Only then could I get out of bed. Completely naked, having taken off my semen-soaked pants and underwear, I walked around the wide inner room. It was because I wanted to dress my fragile husband in case he caught a cold.

It was faster to look through the scattered pieces of paper near the table than to prepare the pajamas, which were arranged in the order of wearing, from underwear to pants to a long top. Most of them were drawings, and the rest were pages that had fallen out of a book that had been worn out from being read so many times. The book was actually just a genealogy of famous families. There were several pieces of memo paper on top of the writing that had no fun, no emotion, and no story. The portraits drawn with paint on thick paper each contained different subjects, and they were very realistic and had no embellishment at all. Some of the landscape paintings were also far from famous attractions and did not express any colorful seasonal feelings or light and shade.

Hae-ah is more greedy than me. The only bloodline of the royal family in this country was a newborn baby who was not even a month old. I was going to be regent until that child became an adult. But Hae-ah, the very person who put me in this position, seemed determined to serve me as king forever. So he not only took care of the newborn baby and the maid who gave birth to the baby very carefully, but also memorized the faces of all the nobles and ministers and prayed to find out their movements, listened carefully, and pondered to see the future.

But he didn’t give me any information that was worth mentioning. Fortunately or unfortunately, Hae-ah could no longer see the future.

“Did you have any dreams today?”

When I asked, Hae-ah’s face became very gloomy. I immediately regretted asking the question, which I had asked to check on his health and mood. Seeing him drooping his shoulders and eyebrows like a wet puppy, fiddling with the wet bedding, I felt like a criminal. He had done so much for me, more than enough, but he was still anxious to prove his worth.

After a long silence, Hae-ah muttered. I could hear his voice, which had subsided after moaning and crying for a long time.

“No. Not yet…. But I’m trying. I’ll try harder.”

“You don’t have to try harder.”

As soon as he finished speaking, I opened my mouth as if I had been waiting. And I said something that probably no one had ever said to him.

“I… Hae-ah, I don’t think your ability is precognition. I think it was just your instinct.”

“…Instinct?”

“Yes, the instinct to survive. You always saw only the tomorrow that led to tragedy.”

Then his small head seemed to sink down with worry, but then he turned to me like someone who had realized something. Just by widening his eyes and lips and brightening his complexion, he was like a fully bloomed flower. His cheeks were flushed red, making him look even more so. The expressions he showed these days were so diverse that they made me feel love for him as a new person every moment.

While admiring Hae-ah’s beauty, I was sure that he had never seen the present, today, this moment in his dreams. It was because today for him and me would not lead to tragedy.

“Hae-ah. The reason you don’t dream anymore is because you don’t need to. There are no more demons to scare you. No more hardships to hurt you. So don’t dream anymore. Just live today.”

“Theo…. But…”

He repeatedly trailed off, and he opened his mouth. But there were no more words. He just rolled his anxious brown eyes from side to side. The eyelashes, clumped together with tears, created a dark shadow.

For a moment, I felt sad. Hae-ah was happy every time he heard my well-founded assurances, but at the same time, he doubted and refuted them in order to find a piece of unhappiness. It was always the same way. He always tried to find his own faults, confessed his shortcomings, and wanted to ask me for forgiveness. That Hae-ah made me sad. He was a man who had always lived with guilt. Because he had survived that way for so long, he seemed to have forgotten how to let go of that heavy feeling. He was afraid of happiness and thought a light heart was abnormal, so in happy moments he would somehow find a way to ruin his mood and hurt himself.

But it’s okay. Even if I feel sad dozens of times a day, it’s okay. Because I can just tell him every time.

“Look at me.”

My hands clung to Hae-ah’s cheeks, who was blankly gaping. The breath that escaped from his nose was faint and warm. I lowered my head deeply to smell the scent of his breath.

“Live today with me.”

And I pressed my lips against his. They were lips that I had touched, tasted, bitten, and sucked on several times. But every time I kissed them, it felt like the first time. Hae-ah’s reaction, surprised and slowly stiffening, was the same, but I was so immersed in his touch that I was surprised and trembling.

I rubbed my lips against his soft lips and pushed the tip of my tongue through his delicate teeth. I tasted his sweet saliva and smeared my breath on his philtrum. I could only exhale a long, excited breath, but I couldn’t recklessly devour the man with broken wings. As I was caught in a conscientious dilemma, Hae-ah asked me a thunderbolt-like question.

“Do you… do you love me?”

How could he have such doubts? It was impossible that such a capable and beautiful being, who had brought me such a miraculous reality, was craving love. No one in this world can hate him today. It’s impossible not to love him.

“Hae-ah. You said you saw me in the future before you met me, right?”

I asked, bringing my forehead to his forehead. When I pressed our faces together so that there was a small thud, he tried to pull his head back. But all that happened was that the cheeks held in my palms were pressed down a little more, and the lips that maintained a narrow distance as if they were about to touch bulged out.

My palms were warm because his face was flushed. He answered briefly in a voice that seemed to be steaming.

“Yes.”

I immediately cultivated a new question.

“What was it like? The me in your dreams…. Am I, the me now, a much more likable man than that guy?”

“…When I look at you, Theo, you sometimes say stupid things.”

My husband was very generous to think that I only did that sometimes. Next to him, I felt like a curious civilian, so I spouted new nonsense and absurd questions every day.

Hae-ah’s eyes were always gentle when he looked at me like that. With only me in his clear eyes, he gently gave me the answer I wanted to hear the most.

“You’re always the same…. You’re always the person I wanted.”

Then he smiles. His smiling face is so bright. I was completely fascinated by his brown eyes, and I even forgot to blink my own eyes. I couldn’t even manage to give an answer that matched the good things he had said.

After being silent for a few seconds and falling into his eyes, Hae-ah let out a small laugh. Then he opened his mouth.

“In my dream, we would kiss after this…”

Unable to bear the brief pause, I pressed my lips against his once more. Swallowing Hae-ah’s mouth, already parted from speaking, was an easier task. The moment he inhaled in surprise, I forcefully sucked on his tongue, ravenously meeting his and intertwining them as if measuring our depths. I retreated, chasing the fleeing red flesh, exploring the tender flesh within his mouth, tasting the white teeth, and sweeping the tip of my tongue across the bumpy roof of his mouth.

After such a commotion, my handprints remained on Hae-ah’s cheeks, and his hands were busy scratching and gripping my forearms. With his white wings disheveled, he collapsed completely onto the bed, panting heavily.

Now, I had to answer his question. Did I love him? Perhaps I did. If this wasn’t love, then what was? Holding this man, who had completely changed the pages of my life, in my arms every night, rubbing my lips against his forehead, and exploring his tongue countless times, I didn’t miss anything I had left behind or buried in that distant land. Rather, I realized that obtaining an honorable title, protecting this country, and occupying the deepest part of the King’s castle was the life I had always wanted. Laying a winged man on a large bed and warming my body with his heat all night long was surprisingly enjoyable. So, if you asked if I loved him, my answer would be unequivocally affirmative.

However, I am by no means a skilled strategist. I can only stiffen my face with tension, force a clumsy smile, and mumble a strand of my desires. Even so, I can only hope that this person, infinitely close to a god and more human than anyone else, will understand my true feelings.

“When spring comes, I want to see you flying in the sky.”

Hae-ah smiles at my awkwardly conveyed sincerity. Smiling so deeply that his dimples deepen, he raises both arms and gently reaches out towards me. Since he, with his wings as anchors, was already lying in our bed, I didn’t need to move him anywhere else. I simply pulled him into my arms and conveyed the sound of my heart.

My savior, who had traveled a long way to find me, had the face of an Angel.