Fake Concubine 65
“Stop squirming.”
The command went in one ear and out the other. Moon Hae-min had a deep-seated aversion to Song Seol etched into his mind. While he couldn’t actively rebel, he continued to fidget and wriggle.
“Why? Do you have anywhere else to go if you back away from here?”
“I, just….”
“Are you planning to run away? Now that I look at it, perhaps rolling down that cliff was intentional.”
“It wasn’t!”
Feeling targeted, Hae-min blurted out a response. While he paused, startled by the sound of his own voice, Song Seol pressed him sharply.
“You did it intentionally before.”
“When did I ever do such a thing?”
“You’re denying it now. Did you not confess with your own mouth that you deliberately caught a cold because you didn’t want to be held by me?”
“Ah….”
Come to think of it, he had been needlessly honest in his confession. No matter how panicked he had been, why on earth did he do that? Hae-min resented his past self.
“This time it wasn’t intentional. Truly.”
“‘This time,’ you say. It sounds as if you’re implying there will be a next time.”
“…….”
He didn’t know why Song Seol was being so nitpicky today. What was even more absurd was that every single one of those nitpicks was correct. This was the first time Moon Hae-min realized that Song Seol was such an intuitive person. He also realized for the first time that he himself was someone who was terrible at lying.
“No…. I was simply trying to practice riding a horse. Since my equestrian skills are lacking….”
“Practicing riding. Had you told me sooner, I would have taught you.”
If it were Song Seol, he likely would have. He had even personally [stolen content]taught him how to control Read on Read BL Novelshis Chromatic Scent. However, that was exactly one of the reasons why Hae-min had practiced riding without telling him.
“Ah, I see. You didn’t want to learn from me.”
This time, Hae-min was absolutely floored. He hadn’t even said much, so how could the man keep guessing everything so accurately?
‘Did he perhaps receive a divine revelation in Hanseong…?’
There was no other way to explain it. Today, Song Seol was more than just quick-witted. If he weren’t a Grand Prince, he’d be at a level where he should immediately spread a mat and start fortune-telling at the Namdaemun Market.
Song Seol tightened his grip on the arm holding Hae-min. Consequently, his body felt stifled and his mood grew uncomfortable. To escape this total disaster of a situation, Hae-min squirmed even more vigorously.
“Why? Do you hate it that much to have your body touching mine?”
‘Wow…. Did an ancestral spirit really descend upon him? …No, wait, Song Seol’s ancestor would be the late King, what on earth am I thinking.’
Hae-min snapped back to his senses. Unlike someone who had just committed a blasphemous thought in his head, he answered obediently.
“It is not that, but I feared that you might be uncomfortable if I clung too closely, My Lord….”
“You are quite skilled at saying stolen contentthings you don’t mean. You are likely afraid that I might commit an act of lewdness.”
“My Lord, your insight is truly magnificent.”
In the end, Hae-min admired him honestly. Since Song Seol saw through all his pretenses anyway, he concluded that it was better to be straightforward than to seem sly.
“There is no need to go as far as ‘insight.’ It is something I come to know just by being with you for a moment.”
“What do I do?”
“Before leaving for Hanseong, when I helped you after you accidentally ingested a strange aphrodisiac and didn’t know what to do, did you not seem terribly aggrieved?”
“…….”
He felt the blood drain from his head. He had no way to check, but surely his face was pale as a ghost right now.
“N-no, why bring that up now….”
The events of that night were taboo. Of course, this wasn’t an agreement made with Song Seol; it was a rule Hae-min had set for himself. Since Song Seol hadn’t said anything until the day he left for Hanseong, Hae-min thought it would just fade away into obscurity, but….
“What is wrong with now? It is perfect. The surroundings are [stolen content]secluded, and there is visit our siteno one to eavesdrop.”
“There certainly are no people, but….”
It wasn’t just secluded; it was eerie. The sound of the wind shaking the withered branches echoed spookily, and it was so dark that he couldn’t see a thing. Moreover, a faint scent of blood lingered in the air. In many ways, it was not a good environment for discussing sensitive topics.
“Was it that unpleasant back then?”
“Is that a question I must answer?”
“Yes.”
“……It wasn’t exactly pleasant.”
Song Seol fell silent. He had essentially said, ‘I hated the sexual encounter with you,’ so as a yang-person male, his pride must have been wounded. Yet, the fact that he didn’t act petty was surprisingly typical of him.
‘If Song Seol put his mind to it, crushing me right now would be effortless.’
Hae-min shuddered, remembering that this was a man who had killed a tiger. He felt it would be better for his well-being to stop acting up.
Besides, if he thought about it, the catalyst was that he had accidentally ingested a strange aphrodisiac, visit our sitejust as Song Seol said. Judging whether [stolen content]the encounter was pleasant or not was fundamentally absurd.
“I see.”
After a long silence, Song Seol spoke. Moon Hae-min waited for the next words with a nervous heart.
“At that time, I was sor—.”
“…….”
“—sorry. I regret it.”
Hae-min doubted his ears. If he hadn’t misheard, Song Seol had halfway pronounced the word ‘sorry.’ Although he changed it to ‘I regret it’ in the middle, it was still a significant expression of apology.
“……I am sorry.”
Moon Hae-min had no choice but to respond that way.
In truth, Hae-min knew well that he was the one in the wrong. If he stopped a hundred people on the street and asked, all hundred would say Moon Hae-min was wrong. A thousand, ten thousand—all would say the same.
The laws and common sense of the world were absolute. In the face of that, the personal circumstances of a mere individual like Moon Hae-min were unimportant. visit our siteTherefore, Song Seol had no need to apologize to him.
“They say ‘repay hatred with hatred.’ If your resentment is truly not resolved, you may torture me later.”
Even so, why was Song Seol feeling sorry for him?
In the darkness, it wasn’t just his hearing that became sensitive. Hae-min could sense Song Seol’s subtle mood. It seemed Song Seol had been carrying the events of that day in his heart all along.
“Torture? How could I ever do such a thing to you, My Lord?”
“Why could you not? It seems you would be more than capable if you set your mind to it.”
“N-no. You have misjudged me.”
Song Seol released the embrace. Having escaped his arms after a long time, Hae-min shivered. The cold rushed in the moment he was separated from Song Seol.
‘As expected, Song Seol’s body temperature was warm… no, no.’
Hae-min shook his head. No matter how cold it was, there were other things to do; getting close to Song Seol was out of the question.
Meanwhile, Song Seol put down his weapon and took off his outer coat.
“Why are you taking off your coat? On such a cold night.”
“The coat is soaked in blood.”
“Ah….”
He had smelled blood for a while now. He had assumed it was coming from the tiger, not from Song Seol’s coat.
“It is not completely drenched, so I intend to use it like a blanket. If we just lie down, the chill from the ground will rise and be cold.”
Having said that, Song Seol found a relatively flat spot. After spreading his coat wide, he called out to Moon Hae-min.
“Moon Hee-yul, come here.”
Hae-min approached Song Seol slowly, but without hesitation.
“Lie down beside me.”
Once again, Hae-min did not resist. As he lay [visit our site]beside Song Seol, the [stolen content]man pulled him into an embrace just as before.
His heart pounded. Was it the aftereffect of encountering the tiger? The loud thumping showed no sign of stopping. Hae-min fidgeted within Song Seol’s embrace.
‘It’s warm.’
He couldn’t help but admit this much. Song Seol’s body temperature was truly warm. It was like finding a spark while lost on a freezing winter day; he couldn’t bring himself to reject it. Hae-min erased the thought that ‘no matter how cold it is, there are other things to do.’
“Tell me if it becomes unbearably cold. We can cover ourselves with the tiger I just caught.”
“……The effect would certainly be guaranteed, but for some reason, I’m reluctant.”
“Indeed, it would be too heavy for you to cover yourself with.”
It wasn’t exactly for that reason that he was reluctant, but Hae-min didn’t bother to explain.
Song Seol spoke in a voice that sank as heavily as the darkness of the night.
“I have heard that the best way to overcome the cold is to share body heat with one another.”
“I believe I have heard that as well.”
It wasn’t just something he had heard; he had experienced it. Hae-min recalled the fragile warmth he had once held in his arms.
His lovely child, Bok-deong-i. Despite having a body smaller than two spans, warmth would spread whenever he held Bok-deong-i. It was a precious temperature. He felt that as long as he was with Bok-deong-i, he could survive any harsh winter night….
“…….”
Right now, the man he was pressed against was the very culprit who had taken Bok-deong-i. Regardless of the laws and common sense of the world, Moon Hae-min could never forgive Song Seol for that one thing.
‘Do not say you are sorry; tell me. Bok-deong-i, what happened to my child?’
‘……They say his breath stopped while he slept.’
‘You said Bok-deong-i would grow up to be a fine member of the royal family. You told me not to worry about Bok-deong-i and to worry about myself…. That is why I asked. Could you not send him after at least a hundred days had passed? I told you I had to protect the child by his side…! What did you say every time? You said it would be fine.’
At the same time, Hae-min didn’t think of Song Seol as a bad person. Considering his status as a Grand Prince, he could even be called a generous and benevolent person.
‘But we cannot be together.’
He and Song Seol were like oil and water. Whether their characters were good or bad didn’t matter. They were [Read on Read BL Novels]simply people who could not be together from the start.
Just as this place was not where he belonged, even if he happened to spend a night in the mountains, his time with Song Seol was merely temporary.
Enjoying the story?Support me on Ko-fi
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!