18 – Theolime

The gray stone mountain was all bumpy. Looking at the huge rocks that soared haphazardly, one feels that the folktale that it was a mountain made by gathering stones that giants held and played with has credibility. The wingless four-legged beasts cannot easily climb the rough mountain range, and shallow valley streams flow through each gap. The streams only make noise in late spring and early summer, and freeze solid from early autumn. In winter, the ice water cracks due to the harsh gale, covering everything with pure white gold. The shape of the pale ice looks like a snow mountain at first glance. Rather, the rugged rocks rooted in the mountain, with their rough and black undulations, feel like obstacles stuck in the ice mountain.

The scenery that the capital’s painters, who brought paint and small canvases, draw while suffering from frostbite on their ears and toes is so common and boring in this Levaim that it is an everyday occurrence. From any house, you can see one side of the stone mountain when you open the window. Looking at the ice that has trapped the dark rock, even healthy people suddenly become depressed.

Levaim is surrounded by such stone mountains on the east side, and stone walls exist in the other three directions. Entering through the south gate and riding away from them, you can see a stone bridge wide enough for two carriages to pass, laid over a pond. Mills, grinding shops, and private houses are sparse, but as you move towards the center of the territory, they become more complex and numerous. In the distance, a castle with a sharp peak can be seen. If you narrow your eyes and stare, you can also see the silhouette of a guard looking at a distant place from the loophole.

As you enter the market, the clever horse begins to slow down even before hearing the command. The number of people who have covered their ears, cheeks, and hands with hats and gloves is also increasing. Even on days when it is so cold that your bones are chilled to the core, and you feel like you will get frostbite on the temperature of your own bones, the market is bustling. Rather, it is a characteristic of people from Levaim to become more diligent on such days. If you stick to your house because it is cold, your body will not warm up and you will easily get cramps. To have items that can only be obtained on days when external merchants visit, you must move your whole body busily.

As I was loosely holding the reins of the horse, which was walking slowly while looking around the neighborhood, a noisy crowd caught my eye. In the center of them is a merchant shaking a glass bottle over his head. The appearance of wrapping his head several times with a thin cloth made it clear that he was an outsider.

“It’s the hair shed by an angel!”

The merchant shouted.

“Buy it for only 10 sesterces, there is no better panacea if you boil it and drink it!”

Near the man who was chattering like singing, people’s eyes were all directed upwards. The glass bottle reflected in the eyes of the child was sparkling, like a jewel rather than a bottle.

However, no one readily paid 10 sesterces. It was a natural thing. 10 sesterces was enough money to build a small hut. Half of them were suspicious and glared at the absurd price, and the other half were hopeful, thinking, “What if?”

When I lightly pulled the reins I was holding, the grumpy horse shook its head with a snort. I pushed through the crowd with my large body so that the crowd that filled my eyes would scatter like mushrooms after rain. At times like this, a woman with a child moves the fastest. She hugs the child who is absorbed in the spectacle in her skirt and quickly steps back. The huge horse with a black mane threatened everyone but did not knock anyone down. It simply separated the merchant and the onlookers.

I reached out as it was and easily snatched the glass bottle from the merchant’s hand, which had been raised straight up. Then I checked the hair in the bottle, illuminated by the pale winter sunlight.

“It’s blonde.”

I said.

The merchant, who had been humming nonsense until just now, hesitated. It was as if my words had weight, as if he had been hit on the head. I didn’t feel the need to say much. I threw the glass bottle I was holding on the stall.

“The hair of the Reincarnated Angel is chestnut brown. It’s a common color like a tree branch, and there’s nothing special about it. I’m sorry about this. A swindler like you can’t earn any money here.”

As it was, I looked around. The nobles who recognized the young master of the Duke’s family had already bowed their heads, so all I could see was the tops of their heads. At least one child who didn’t know the ways of the world made eye contact with me.

I shrugged at the little boy. To a young boy of that age, the shoulders of an adult wearing large armor must have looked very impressive.

“Everyone who lives in this land has engraved in their hearts the warning not to promote or blindly believe in superstition.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I saw two guards approaching. Soon, even the nobles who were far away stopped what they were doing and began to bow. Although I was riding on an expensive horse, I was not a nobleman who liked to be treated with respect. Especially not in the mood today. I lightly tapped the horse’s buttocks, which were more proud than its owner, and moved quickly.

Behind me, I heard the knights shouting, “Commander!” Seeing that my subordinates had already caught up with me, it seemed that their horsemanship had improved quite a bit. If not, it was either because I was distracted by the rabble and was late.

In front of the horse that was running without hesitation, the Duke’s castle gate burst open. The horse passed through the castle gate with a dizzying feeling, as if it would collide. After patting the excited horse’s neck, I jumped off the horse. I passed the groom who ran out with his arms rolled up to receive the fierce horse and entered the castle at a fast pace.

My destination was my bedroom, that was all. I had returned from a long journey, but as of today, I didn’t want to see my father or mother right away.

As soon as I ran up the steep stairs and opened the bedroom door, the stagnant cold air greeted me. A servant who was squatting in front of the window in the room that the owner had vacated and wiping off the condensation jumped up from his seat. I gestured with my chin to send the person who picked up the rag out. The servant took the cleaning tools and glanced at the fireplace that had not yet been lit and left the room.

As soon as I was alone, I tore off the medal on my chest and threw it on the floor.

‘Reincarnated Angel, my ass!’

To me, those four sacred letters are no different from the condensation that collects so much that the flooring is damaged every other day in winter. A man with wings given by the sky in a chaotic situation. One who hears the words of God, truly a ‘Reincarnated Angel’…. Rumors about him were everywhere in this land. Not only the foolish people of the capital, but also the clergy, the king, and the prince were captivated, and they even infiltrated the cold land of the north, Levaim, making the world I stood on creak.

Filled with resentment, I released the armor that surrounded my whole body as if to destroy it. The thick cloak fell like the tent of a defeated soldier, making noise. Everything that surrounded my body seemed to scratch my sharp nerves.

As soon as I moved my heavy feet and sat down on the chair in front of the table, I clenched my fist. The root of the pain that burned hotly inside my chest was anger.

It took the courage of two glasses of hot wine to take out the parchment hidden in my shirt pocket. I poured the strong wine into a glass and emptied two glasses in a row. But what was created was not courage but stubbornness. Intoxicated by stubbornness, I spread the paper I had brought on the table. Then I filled the glass with wine again. As I poured the third glass of strong wine, my throat caught fire. It felt like sparks were flying not only in my esophagus and stomach but also on the top of my head. The glass that was emptied in one breath landed on the parchment with a thud.

The letters were distorted through the bottom of the glass.

‘The new owner of Levaim will marry a person who is not a person, a man who is not a man.’

Today, the sentence that warms my chest hotly was easy to interpret. It was compared to other oracles that meant ‘my side if you hold it up and read it, the other side if you hold it upside down and read it.’ That’s why it was bad. Because I could not refuse the oracle, nor could I suggest any other interpretation.

‘The new owner of Levaim’ was me. As long as I had no intention of abandoning this land, and as long as no late-born siblings were born, the subject was clear. The problem was that the other person referred to by the oracle, a person who was not a person but was born as a person, a man who could not fulfill his role as a man, was also clear. It was the Reincarnated Angel, Haea, who scribbled the oracle.

“…….”

I poured another glass of new wine over the letters. At the same time, I thought about what I had thought about for the past three days, and thought about it again. Is there really no room for other interpretations…?

My country, the great apex of the great land, Levaim. I lived knowing that protecting this place was my destiny. The days I was born in the capital and settled in this territory were all about making me proud of my family and origin.

My father was truly a loyalist. He was the kind of person who would take out his liver, pickle it, grill it, put it between black bread, and bring it to the king if he asked for it. But if the king is foolish, the loyalist also becomes foolish. His loyalty was wasted for the sake of the survival of the corrupt religion and the weak royal family, and for the temporary pleasure of the king, whose eyes had become clouded. The root cause of my father’s life not being very honorable was all in the royal family that made his loyalty futile.

My father spent his young days wandering the battlefield to protect the country and solidify this land, so he could not be with my mother on her delivery date. All he did was send a letter containing hundreds of emotions. Finally, on the day he returned home after winning the long war, I was old enough to ride a horse.

To my father, a hero who led a strong army and returned from the field of death, the king granted a new territory. That land is Levaim.

At the time, Levaim was a much worse land than it is now. It was exactly as the name implied.

‘A place where the shadow of death is cast’.

Originally, Levaim was a hell where fallen monsters or orphaned baby beasts wandered and eventually reached, a barren land so cold and barren that not even a single buckwheat root could grow. When bestowing this land to the indomitable knight, the king wagged his tongue well. He said that he hoped that he would drive out the winter with his spirit. Even my father, who believed that the king’s words were his own, knew that it was nonsense.

All of that was the work of the Marquis, who was attached to the king’s right side and tried to manipulate him as he pleased.

The incompetent head of the Marquis family. A greedy maggot of a human being who neither aged nor died easily. The problem was that his youngest son was born with small wings and male genitalia. If you want to be precise, all the root causes were in the birth of that little boy. From the morning when the opportunist Marquis wrapped his baby in a blanket and ran to the temple, washing his face and navel with holy water and having him recognized as an angel, my father’s honor and my destiny were cut away.

While the Duke, a true friend and long-time loyalist, was laying down his life in the land where the blood wind was blowing, the man called the king was busy watching the Reincarnated Angel’s antics. It was thanks to the Reincarnated Angel’s prediction that he would win the battle, and he was moved by the Reincarnated Angel’s prayers even on the days when the knights were struggling and bleeding for years. The end of the long war was also thanks to the Reincarnated Angel. All the war victories in this land, as well as the current peace, were said to be gifts from the Reincarnated Angel.

The old saying that superstition is one with poverty was all wrong. The superstition brought by the winged child came with wealth and glory.

From the moment he entrusted his fate to the suddenly appearing angel, the king did not think. He did not worry and did not do politics. He quickly turned into an old, weak, and dependent man. Eventually, he was seized by the delusion that the Duke, a long-time friend who had returned as a war hero and a reliable pillar, would threaten his position. He was completely taken in by the Marquis, who was stirring up his insides with kindling-like words.

That was already 12 years ago. My father put my mother and me, who were sixteen years old at the time, in a carriage, and he rode a horse. For two days, moving slowly with the moving luggage from the capital, he stubbornly rode a horse. He felt with his whole body that the green leaves of the trees decreased as he moved away from the royal palace, the color of the sky became cloudy, the air froze coldly, and the cold air blew. It was a journey in which not only honor but also pride was lost.

I remember my father that day. I remember my mother, who was clenching her teeth as if she was resentful and taking in the scenery outside the window one by one. I remember her smiling magically after suppressing her anger for half a day, her voice calling my father through the carriage window, and her gesture of placing her right hand on my father’s arm and patting it.

One of the plots whispered by the Marquis was correct. Our Duke’s family is a terrible family. The men of this family do not know how to surrender, and the women of this family do not bow their heads. Embracing the cold and barren land, the abandoned castle without a single tapestry, and the poor, hungry, and frightened people, we settled in Levaim.

It was fortunate that there was the fame gained from the war, the knights who followed only my father, and their families. Without their assistance, even the Duke’s family would not have been able to make this land a place where people could live.

That’s how this land became my home. The pasture was my training ground when I was wielding a wooden sword, and I received a blessing, albeit arbitrarily, on the day I became an adult in the dilapidated temple. The distant wilderness was one of the routes that were periodically patrolled because wyverns occasionally appeared. Whenever the deep pond in the center of the village connected to the lake froze, it was always me who went out to break the ice.

As the next head of the Duke’s family and the leader of the Knights, even I reluctantly had expectations when I was summoned to the capital for the first time in nearly half a year. From the king’s point of view, it was something to praise because he had properly fulfilled the royal order, which he had used as an excuse, ‘Drive out the winter of Levaim’. However, the king had face, so he could not call the Duke, whom he had almost chased out, and praise him. So I thought that he would call his son instead. I thought that the day had finally come when my father’s loyalty and my mother’s efforts would be recognized. What I expected then was a medal.

Of course, there was a medal for me in the royal palace, which had become thousands of times more splendid in the meantime. Along with the royal order to marry the son of the Marquis, a man I could never believe in or like for the rest of my life….

I had thought that I would have a marriage that was not of my own will someday. Marriage had been a forbidden matter for me so far. A noble direct descendant who has reached adulthood is formally called by a priest. It was to visit the temple in the capital to greet the goddess and receive a proper blessing. The word ‘blessing’ is actually a coming-of-age ceremony to be treated as an adult. Becoming a lord and inheriting the family, and going on a marriage path as a man, are all possible only after going through that process. But until now, no priest had sent me an invitation.

Waiting had worn me out, and I gave up on marriage. I suspected dozens of times that the King was trying to cut off our family line.

Little did I dream that the reward for long endurance would be a political marriage with a marquis family, and even less that I would be marrying a man who was completely incapable of producing an heir.

‘Do I even have a chance to refuse this marriage?’

The night was long. All that crashed against my glass was humiliation.

In the morning, as soon as the sun rose, I went to my parents’ bedroom. I hoped that my aged Father and my affectionate Mother would tell me to give in, that there was no other way, that they would rather push me away. But, exactly as I had expected, they both shook their heads.

“Do as you wish. What does it matter if we fall out with the royal family over this? Nothing in the world is worth ruining your life.”

I gazed for a long time at their faces, which seemed somehow detached. Hearing my parents take my side changed my mind. The ground beneath my feet, which had been shaking, calmed down, and my heart, which had been boiling with anger, became gentle.

“I will marry.”

If I did, I would surely become entangled with the marquis family against my will. I might regret becoming a puppet, manipulated by their schemes for the rest of my life. There was a high possibility that people who were obsessed with oracles and prophecies would muddy the waters of Rephaim, and that our family’s honor would be completely tarnished by the marquis’s plots.

But on the other hand, the Reincarnated Angel whom the priests cherished, the treasure of the continent whom the old King loved more than his only child, the marquis’s precious youngest son, was coming to this castle. He would become a new resident of Rephaim, a member of the marquis family, and my spouse. Instead of giving away a big weakness, I would be getting on the marquis family’s line with them.

Who would fall off the line first was something no one could know before getting on.

“I will marry and bring that Angel to this castle.”

The second time, I declared as if swearing an oath, and rose from my seat. Father did not stop me. Mother said she wanted to see the paper on which the oracle was written. I handed her the parchment with the picturesque writing. And I sent a bird to the capital.

The wedding was held suddenly, on a day I had never expected. When I opened the invitation sent from the temple, I thought the summons was to greet the Goddess and receive a formal blessing. I never dreamed that the blessing, as well as the wedding, would all be taken care of on the same day, at the temple.

The sudden wedding was disconcerting, but I had no choice anyway. There was also no reason to cause trouble inside the temple, which was embraced by the walls of the royal castle. All I could do was to be humble, as I had been when I accepted the oracle.

Even if the priests respected the Reincarnated Angel, would they have accepted the oracle that I would marry a man at face value…? The doubts I had harbored implicitly were answered. The high priest, wearing a pure white uniform as white as his beard, looked at me with a very serious face and gave me his blessing himself. At the same time, he told me a story that could only be found in ancient books, saying that even the parties involved should not know the date of the marriage in order to prevent evil spirits from interfering.

As I wiped the holy water that had wet my chin with the back of my hand, the high priest sent me a blatant look. His gaze contained deep suspicion. He not only distrusted me, but also seemed a little afraid. I did not avoid his gaze and met it head-on. Rather, I frowned and stared at him very intently.

The silent staring contest ended with the high priest shaking his head. He shook the dark brown bell on the table, and the white door opened. Thanks to this, I was able to see the back of the door, which was carved with a man shooting an arrow and a doe. The bas-relief of the Goddess with her strange eyes seemed to be looking at me.

Soon, young maids rushed in and surrounded me. They were all dressed in uniforms with low collars, and their small hands were quick and diligent. They appeared with their arms full of ceremonial robes, wanting to cover up all the large and small scars on my body. Only after overcoming all the persistently clinging, ticklish touches did I finally finish changing.

There was no need to regret that my parents had not been invited. Because none of the marquis family showed up either. Not even the King could set foot in the temple today. All those surrounding me were priests, and only a very few were high-ranking wizards.

Looking around the temple, which was so noble that it was sacred, I laughed in vain.

‘A marriage between men, it’s a farce.’

I trudged along, completely wrapped in white. The beautiful ceremonial robe embroidered with gold thread was more uncomfortable than any armor I had ever worn. My chest was tight and my waist was itchy because my arms, shins, and chest were so constricted. It covered my whole body with gorgeous cloth, but that was all. If it was going to reveal the outline of my whole body like this, I thought it would be better to be naked.

At the moment I stood at the foot of the Goddess statue, in the center of the arbitrarily prepared wedding hall, where the sun was pouring in, I was seized with an unfamiliar shame. In my head, I calculated the pros and cons of the political marriage, but in my heart, I hated the reality that I had to accept a man as my spouse.

Standing blankly alone, I waited for the next part of the ceremony. Even that short time was so painful and infuriating that I suspected they were deliberately dragging their feet to look down on me and humiliate me. Only after dozens of seconds had passed did the priest ring a small bell. The heads of those who had been watching me as if I were an exhibit turned all at once. Slowly turning past the columns lined up in a row, a figure wearing a white veil appeared.

One step, two steps, the closer he came, the narrower my eyes became. I mistook him for wearing an extravagant cloak that did not suit the serious atmosphere, but it was not. It was a wing, long and boasting a rich plumage, with the ends slightly dragging on the floor. It was a dazzlingly white wing.

“……”

I stared very intently at the being who had come and stood before me. He was dressed in the same white ceremonial robe as me, and his face was covered with a thick veil, so I could not even tell if he was a person or a ghost. However, I could feel that the other person beyond the veil was also trying to look at me. I thought he was probably staring at me to judge what kind of person I was.

Throughout the blessing and the wedding ceremony, the Reincarnated Angel did not move. I also did not show any other action. He and I promised each other a lifetime in front of the benevolent Goddess statue.

A vow of kissing was unnecessary. After all, it was a marriage that took place in the presence of the priests. If I wanted to break the marriage, I would have to cut off all their heads and smear the blood on the Goddess statue.

As soon as the wedding was over, I threw off the stuffy clothes. I put on a neatly folded tunic in the dressing room that had been prepared, wore wide pants, and fastened the straps that tightened snugly around my shins. I also threw away the neat white shoes as if abandoning them. It would be difficult to take even a very short walk in the barren outskirts of Rephaim without boots made of wood, wyvern leather, and iron.

The youngest son of the marquis family, who indulged in more luxury than the marquis family, must have expected a husband wearing silk underwear and shiny stockings. But I had no intention of matching their tastes. They were rich people who did not know honor, but I was a knight before I was a nobleman.

The temple did not spare its embarrassment and offered a carriage and three horses. This was because all I had used to travel from Rephaim to the temple was my horse, a small cart to carry my luggage, and two of my men. I could not carry the Angel in a muddy cart after traveling a long distance that took half a day even when riding my famous horse, which had the nickname Arrowhead.

While the clerics were struggling to find docile and healthy horses, my husband, the Angel, stood still with his hands politely clasped. He was stubbornly wrapped in a damned white veil, a white robe that covered his whole body, and golden shoes made of thin, ornate gold cords. He had covered all his skin from the top of his head to his ankles, but it was strange that his fair feet were completely exposed.

‘Those things are called shoes….’

The shoes that covered his feet looked so weak that I felt like I could tear them into ten pieces if I grabbed them with my hands. With only straps dangling on the instep and ankles on top of a beautiful sole, they were shoes that could barely walk on a well-groomed stone floor. The rebuke of where he was going with all his fair toes exposed without a single callus pounded on the roof of my mouth.

Besides that, there was one strange thing. The wings that he had been showing off had disappeared. It was not just that he had folded them behind his back. The only gap in the clothing that covered his whole body was the vertical line of his shoulder blades, and I could see white skin inside that line. It seemed to be a kind of magic that he had completely hidden his wings, as if he had attached and detached them.

At the urging of the clerics, I got into the carriage with him. The luxurious carriage was driven by three white horses and a young coachman. My horse, with its reins held by my subordinate, snorted as if dissatisfied.

As soon as I was alone with the Reincarnated Angel inside the spacious carriage, a big sigh burst out of my mouth.

“Hah…!”

Weary, I finished loosening the straps of the tunic that constricted my chest muscles. Come to think of it, there was a gift that had been loaded onto the carriage before the people. In a jewel-encrusted box were a crystal bottle filled with holy water, a white envelope with a volume that probably contained some money, and the shoes I had just thrown away. There was no reason to hide the laughter that came out on its own. Then I leaned back deeply against the back of the chair.

The cheers of the people could be heard from afar. The carriage seemed to be moving diligently through the city of the capital.

The white ghost in front of me was still motionless. Looking at him, who had covered even his fingertips with white gloves, I could not help but laugh in absurdity.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

At my words, the white veil moved weakly. But that was all. He did not take off his gloves or show his face, nor did he even answer. Silence fell again in the carriage.

Just as I was thinking that he was as arrogant as I had expected, he finally opened his mouth.

“My clothes….”

Then he was silent again. It was because his throat had become hoarse from keeping his mouth shut for so long. He made a very small sound of swallowing, and then he said again.

“I cannot put on or take off my clothes with my own hands.”

“Why?”

I immediately asked back. He was the one who had said something ridiculous first, but he seemed embarrassed by my irreverent attitude. I could not see his expression or complexion, but I could see his fingers twitching slightly on his lap.

“……”

“……”

Again, an oppressive silence fell. This damned silence would probably be with me for a long time to come.

If he did not speak, I would not speak either. But I had no interest in that kind of prideful silence contest.

“Is it because the Angel, whose nobility pierces the sky, cannot bother with such things?”

It was a thousand times better to ask an impolite question that no one had ever asked him before and embarrass the hateful Reincarnated Angel.

Adjusting my posture, I continued.

“In Rephaim, no one makes a living out of taking off other people’s clothes. It would be a waste of manpower to give you special treatment, so you had better adapt as soon as possible. Don’t resent me. It was you who made the oracle that you would live in my land as my spouse.”

“I do not resent you.”

Unexpectedly, the answer came back quickly. At the same time, he slowly took off the gloves that covered his hands and wrists. His hands, which were finally revealed, were as white as the white cloth of the gloves. There was no difference at all, which was boring.

Soon, he raised both hands and removed the veil that covered his head. The thick cloth slowly rose like the curtain of a theater. Following a subtle chin that was neither an adult’s nor a child’s, slightly parted lips were revealed. The center of the plump upper lip was convex like a young bird’s beak. And a faint philtrum, a nose with a clear shadow, and reddish cheeks were visible. Soon, the eyelashes of his half-lowered eyes were visible, as well as his neat eyebrows, round forehead, and disheveled hair.

With his gaze on the floor to the left, he lightly shook his head. The dark brown hair that had been pressed down by the veil shook from side to side and regained its place. His eyes also naturally looked straight ahead.

“……”

In fact, the time it took for him to lift the veil was very short. It was only the time it took to exhale and then inhale again.

I looked at the face that had been revealed in front of me once again. Even so, I could not find a single flaw. The light brown eyes sparkled softly in a way I had never seen in any jewel. His high nose had a white sheen. Even his lips, which were slowly closing as if he was nervous, were plump and reddish.

It was an appearance that made me revise my assessment of the marquis. If the face of his winged son was like that, the marquis did not need to put in any effort to succeed. He might not be as smart as I thought. It would not matter if he was a son who was born without wings, normally. Just that much, he had an angelic face.

What confused me even more was his gaze. His light brown eyes, which seemed to be tinged with a clear vermilion color in the sunlight, were unusual. It was a soft eye that was completely opposite to what I had imagined and guessed, with no wavering at all, and even kind.

I threw my gaze out the window. I was suddenly bothered by my thick legs, which were spread out carelessly, and my feet, which were stretched out wearing rough shoes. If I had a bow in my hand, I would have drawn the string towards the heads of the painters who had painted the Angel’s portraits.

Looking at the innocent scenery outside the car window, I tried to sort out my thoughts. As if he had misunderstood my silence, he said.

“I know it must be difficult to decide to marry a man, even if it is the word of God. So you can resent me as much as you want. I understand that it is something you can do.”

What was that surprisingly kind way of speaking? It was the first time in my life that I had met a man who exuded such a good aura. No, it was the first time, regardless of gender.

Soon, a new suspicion sprouted. Had the temple poisoned my food? But I had not eaten anything special except for a sip of water that I had gotten from the maids who were sipping it. Perhaps the high-ranking wizards had cast a spell on my eyes? No. There was no way I would not have noticed them chanting spells and using magic.

If that was not the case, then the only conclusion was that my eyes had broken down on their own. My eyes, which saw people, had broken down. Otherwise, how could I feel beauty in the youngest son of the marquis?

‘That’s right. This guy is the son of that snake-like bastard. The treasure that the King cherishes madly, a swindler who makes false prophecies…. The bastard who has already executed two of his family’s arch-enemies under the pretext of an oracle.’

Now I began to stare at his face very intently. He also seemed to look at my face for a moment, but he could not last long. Instead, he threw his gaze out the window, just as I had done. It became much easier to observe him when he turned away from me.

The gently curved eyebrows, the round eyes with dense eyelashes forming a small thicket, the reddish eyes and the bridge of the nose connected by a thin line, the adorable nostrils that seemed to have not grown at all since childhood, and the lips that felt like they were exposing their flesh because they were red, plump, and soft… I tried to find his flaws. I tried to read the marquis’s hateful bloodline from him. I devised ways to create more reasons to hate him.

But nothing changed. He even seemed more beautiful the more I looked at him. Moreover, he even seemed nervous and embarrassed by my gaze. He twitched the corners of his lips and glanced at me, and every time he confirmed that I was still looking at him, he repeatedly shrugged his shoulders and was surprised.

Could all of this be a staged play? No matter what trick one might use, that face was Hae-ah himself, born with it, impossible to create with magic. And what about those herbivore-like gestures? I had seen countless people scheming and plotting in front of me my whole life, but none of them were as natural as he was. Those unpretentious, natural gestures were definitely not acting.

Lost in confusion, my face hardened even more. Then, I was surprised. Suddenly, I turned my head at the sound of something tapping, and snowflakes hitting the carriage window came into view. Already more than half a day had passed, and we had reached a point where rugged rocky mountains could be seen in the distance.

‘I’ve been staring at this man’s face for half a day?’

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even laugh. Stroking my stiff jaw with my hand, I leaned back against the carriage seat. And I completely gave up on finding flaws in that glossy face.

‘What does appearance matter anyway? How foolish…’

After taking a breather while looking out the windows on opposite sides, the carriage came to a halt. A subordinate, leading the horse, knocked on the carriage window twice. When I opened the window for him, a chill pierced through the carriage.

With a visibly troubled expression, the subordinate said,

“The road is blocked by a moving ancient tree. It seems we’ll have to wait for it to pass completely.”

“Has the season already changed that much?”

“No. It’s unusually early this time. It seems this winter will be colder than last year.”

When I leaned my head out the window, the scene was exactly as I had expected. A huge tree root blocked the narrow mountain pass, and the shadow of the thick, sturdy tree trunk covered the entire carriage. As a result, it suddenly felt like evening outside.

Ancient trees that walked using their roots as feet, possessing a faint consciousness, were remnants of an old war. The further one got from the capital, the more monsters like these, created and then forgotten by humans for their own convenience, were abundant. The giant tree, or Trent, weakened to the point where only its size remained, was among the more docile ones. It didn’t become aggressive unless its branches were set on fire, and all it did was move to avoid the heat and cold, occasionally blocking the road.

Some interpreted the Trent’s habit of constantly moving differently. They said it was to find and kill the magician who had cast a spell on it. Most spells were only broken when the magician died. If the giant tree, withering alive, wanted eternal rest, that was a reasonable story as well.

After visually confirming the unremarkable reason for the stop, I became indifferent. I closed the carriage window again and sat with my arms crossed.

However, the outside air that had already entered through the window refused to leave. Once the temperature had dropped, it didn’t rise easily. Furthermore, because of the shade created by the ancient tree, sunlight didn’t reach the area around the carriage, and the amount of chill seeping in gradually increased.

This level of cold was like spring weather in Rephaim. The problem wasn’t me, who had grown up there. It was my husband, sitting there in his formal attire that was only fancy and had no practicality whatsoever.

“……”

With a blank face, he kept glancing out the carriage window. No matter how much he looked from the direction he was sitting, he couldn’t see even a single branch of the ancient tree. He seemed to be trying to understand the situation for a moment, then he shivered slightly. He seemed very cold.

I watched him quietly for a while since he didn’t say anything first. As soon as he picked up the gloves he had taken off and put them back on his hands, I became irritated. What good would those thin silk gloves do to keep his hands from freezing? When a cold wave came, thin clothes would get frost between the fibers and freeze into brittle chunks of ice. Those gloves, embroidered with gold thread and studded with jewels, would become nothing more than trash, only taking up space in the closet as soon as we arrived in Rephaim.

The same went for his shoes, which were fancy but had no practicality. Even for a Reincarnated Angel who had only received respect and love, this was too much. I wondered who the idiot was who had put those shoes on him. Shoes were said to represent the life given to the wearer, so if they were going to put those shoes on him, they should have been prepared to carry him on their back, hold him, and embrace him for the rest of his life.

Unable to bear the sight of his toes turning red from the cold, I opened the box under the seat. All I could find was a thick, stiff blanket. I took out the brown blanket and handed it to him as if throwing it, and he nodded twice and received it with both hands. The way he covered his knees with the drab blanket and tucked his hands and feet inside was still prim and proper. The sound of his breath, trembling in the cold, tickled my ears.

After a long time, he changed his posture. He pulled the blanket up over his body and covered himself up to his shoulders like a quilt. Even then, he couldn’t stand the cold and his cheeks trembled.

Cracks slowly appeared on his white cheeks. On closer inspection, they weren’t cracks, but blue and red blood vessels that had become prominent.

I opened the window again and shouted.

“How much longer do we have to wait?”

At the sudden urging, one of the subordinates frowned and approached. He seemed to be looking at me, still in my tunic, then he observed the Reincarnated Angel sitting on the opposite side. Then, he gaped as if flustered. He seemed amazed that a man was shivering from the cold, which wasn’t even enough to ruffle a feather.

Soon, he muttered an excuse.

“What can we do about that slow-moving ancient tree?”

I sighed deeply and asked back.

“Is there enough space for the carriage to pass?”

“If you’re in a hurry… one wheel will be caught on the end of the root, but we can pass.”

“An old tree like that won’t even feel a tickle from that. Let’s go.”

I closed the window and drew the curtain. Soon, the carriage began to shake slowly. My gaze was fixed on the man sitting in front of me. He seemed nervous and hunched his shoulders, then gasped as the carriage tilted to one side and shook violently. The wheel that had been caught on the end of the living tree root fell back onto the stone ground with a ‘thud’. He gripped the chair he was sitting on with both hands. His feet, clad in Golden Sandals, lifted off the ground for a moment and then landed again.

“…Hoo…”

He sighed in a small voice, barely audible.

At that moment, I was overwhelmed with a fiery emotion. Suddenly, everything felt irritating. Not only this fair-skinned man, who was skinny and had weak hands, who looked like he had never held a sword in his life, and who was going to live in Rephaim, but also the black, cold, and frigid temperature of Rephaim, in contrast to him. And because I felt like a worn-out wretch myself, sick of all of it…

“Did you set out to marry me without even anticipating this level of cold? The nonsensical oracles you spout and real life are quite different. Life in Rephaim is reality.”

I spoke, filled with frustration. Then, he made a strange expression. He widened his eyes as if surprised, let out a shallow groan, ‘Ah,’ and then closed his mouth. I was dumbfounded that he acted as if I had spat on him instead of scolding him.

“Yes. Reality… That’s right.”

Then he let out a small murmur, his voice dejected.

That was all. I closed my mouth, following his lead.

‘Damn it!’

I don’t know how to treat this man at all. I had never had this kind of worry when I accepted the marriage with him. I thought I could just hate him without reservation. That was because I thought he was just a fake Angel, just enough to be hated.

But this reaction, that expression, his utterly dejected attitude, threw me into disarray. All the judgments I had made before seeing his face, hearing his voice, and meeting his eyes felt like wrong answers.

It was as if I was…

‘It’s like I’ve become the perpetrator.’

The hatred that fills me is greater and more diverse than love. I hate the corrupt royal palace, I dislike the scenery of the capital, which is only decorated on the surface, and I despise the clergy who fill their own pockets while proclaiming oracles. Because there are many things I hate and the reasons are diverse, perhaps my hatred has been distorted. Bent and twisted recklessly, I may be wrongly hating this young man who is easy to label as the culprit of everything, this difficult person whose identity is unknown, whether he is the one born into the world with the grace of God, this naive person who lived in a golden cage…

And all those assumptions made me angry.

The Reincarnated Angel arrived in Rephaim. However, there were no noticeable actions afterward. It was because he was suffering from a severe cold and high fever, unable to move a finger.

As Mother suggested, I moved him to a new room, a bedroom for the young married couple that had never been used before. I carried him down from the carriage myself, lifted him in my arms, and climbed the stairs. All the while, it felt like I was carrying a doll, not a person. That was how I felt, and the perceived weight was exactly like that.

Before night fell, Father stopped by our bedroom once. He looked at his face as he slept defenselessly, and for a moment he seemed expressionless. He smiled very faintly and said,

“He’s really grown a lot since I last saw him. He was just a very young child…”

Then he told the butler to order several extra sets of winter clothes, as he wouldn’t have any that fit, and left the room.

Mother stayed even longer than that. She brought syrup medicine and poured it into the sleeping man’s mouth, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. She had a servant prepare a bowl of cold ice and a towel, and made a wet towel to put on his forehead.

No matter what the circumstances, Hae-ah was going to be a member of this family, a member of the household, and her son-in-law, according to Mother’s claim. There weren’t many ways to stop Mother, who moved according to her generous nature. Unable to bear the sight of her personally taking care of the youngest son of the Marquis, I volunteered to be the nurse.

“I’ll stay here, so please stop and rest.”

Then my beloved Mother filled her eyes with disbelief. Her eyes widened in shock, and my indifferent face was reflected in them.

“…Take care of someone else? You? You’ve never even caught a cold since you were a child.”

“Do you have to be sick to be a nurse? I’ve sewn up flesh and set bones, so what’s a cold… I’ll take care of it. Please go to your room and rest.”

Only then did Mother rise from the stool. Straightening her back, she looked down at the sleeping man’s face for a moment. The youngest son of the Marquis, who had suddenly entered the castle that guarded the center of Rephaim, our family’s residence… The way Mother looked at him was neither entirely gentle nor cold.

“Take good care of him.”

She only left a word of nagging and left the room. Suddenly, a question arose, and I stopped Mother, who had turned around, wiping her hands on her skirt.

“Why aren’t you angry?”

Then Mother’s gaze reached Hae-ah again. This time, she acted like someone who was worried that he would wake up. As if she was worried that he would wake up and overhear our conversation and be hurt…

That made me feel suffocated.

“Why are you trying to take care of the Marquis’s son? Why aren’t you angry? Don’t make excuses that you have to because he’s a sacred person. I know you’re the one who said that my will is more important than oracles.”

“Theo.”

Mother was always the one who stopped me with a few words. She would call me by my childhood nickname and harden her kind face.

And she said.

“You may not remember, but we met that child when you were very young. During the height of the war, that child came to our old castle with the people from the temple. He said he would give blessings and prayers.”

Whispering like that, Mother gestured with her hand across her waist, even lower than that. It was a gesture to explain how small he was at that time.

“But his skills were completely clumsy. The magicians gave the blessings, and the priests gave the prayers. Do you know what the five-year-old child did next to them?”

Frowning, I shook my head. Mother, as if she knew I would, told me the answer without any hesitation.

“He watched you. As if he really wanted to play with you.”

Following Mother, who had turned around again, the servants left the room. Only the flames of the fireplace, crackling and burning, spoke to me.

Whether I liked it or not, I had to keep the words I had spoken. To replace Mother, I grabbed the back of the single-person sofa placed by the fireplace with one hand. Even when I put it down next to the bed with a thud, the sleeping man didn’t wake up. I sat down on the sofa with a thud and crossed my arms. I stared at his feverish face and fell into a doze.

I had to wake up several times around dawn. It was because the sleeping man was groaning and moaning. The first two times, I cooled the hot towel and put it back on him. When I woke up for the third time, I decided to take off his clothes.

He was wearing uncomfortable clothes soaked in sweat, so his skin was cold, his body temperature wouldn’t go down, and he must have been having trouble breathing. Getting up from my seat, I began to unbutton the sleeping man’s formal attire. It was so elaborate, fancy, complicated, and uncomfortable that it felt like a wrapping paper covering a sacred object rather than clothes worn by a person.

Once I had stripped off only his top, he looked even more like a doll. I tried not to look directly at his white chest, slender waist, and pink nipples, and moved my arms quickly. I was going to wipe his sweaty body quickly and cover him with a blanket.

But a strange mark caught my eye. On his side, where the outline of his ribs was very faintly prominent, there was a bluish stain. Even when I tried to wipe it off with a wet towel, it wouldn’t come off, so I pressed it lightly, and it seemed that only the area where I applied pressure lost its color and then turned bluish again. It was a bruised mark.

Even to my eyes, which had suffered countless injuries and inflicted even greater injuries on others, the shape of the bruise was unfamiliar. It seemed like a physical blow had been inflicted, but there was also an unsettling feeling. It was the first time I had seen a bruise that covered a large area the size of an adult’s palm, with the color evenly applied without any separately discolored areas.

I didn’t hesitate for long. On the way back to Rephaim, we had met an ancient tree and crossed the tree root with the carriage wheels, hadn’t we? Even a young knight who wasn’t used to marching could easily get a bruise like this. There were many cases where their buttocks and thighs turned completely purple. Thinking that way, I covered his body with a blanket.

It was a good thing I had taken off his clothes. He no longer breathed heavily and didn’t wake me up with his coughs. Even when I went out and came back, he slept in the same position, and even when I brought him food and set it up, he didn’t move and slept. I thought that was strange and tried to wake him up by force, but it didn’t work. He acted as if he couldn’t even feel my touch shaking his body. All the strength in his body was unpleasantly loose, and when I shook him, his head dangled as a whole, and when I laid him down again, he fell limply onto the sheet.

He slept like that for two days straight without waking up. Two doctors came to check on him every morning and evening, but even they couldn’t wake the sleeping man. They only left the words that he was recovering from accumulated fatigue and should be left alone.

I asked the old man, who was familiar to me, among them.

“How does he look?”

Then the old man closed the bag containing the medicine and made a croaking sound. He seemed to be contemplating for a moment, then gave a futile reply.

“I don’t know why his personal physician didn’t come with him when he’s so weak.”

At that, my brow furrowed. Filled with frustration, I asked again.

“That’s not what I mean, what does this guy’s appearance look like? What about his eyes, what about his nose, and what about his mouth? I need to know if I’m seeing people properly.”

“Um…”

Taken aback, he made a humming sound again and stared intently at the face of the unconscious man lying in bed. He also looked at my face a couple of times. Soon, he seemed to realize that my question was sincere. Scratching the back of his head, which had turned white with age, he said what he saw as it was.

“His eyes… I don’t know because he doesn’t open them, but he looks like a young boy. His nose… his bridge is very high.”

“And?”

“And… your lips aren’t very manly. Not that they’re womanly either…. And your skin is so fair, like a baby’s. You look like you’ve never felt cold air in your life.”

“So?”

“I’d say you’re quite the beauty.”

“Yes. You are.”

Only then was I relieved. Seeing that he was a stunning beauty not just in my eyes meant that I hadn’t been bewitched or tricked in some peculiar way. I had been tormented by an inexplicable unease for two days. Finally, I could look at Hae-ah’s face without worry, and he was beautiful even in his sleep. I had thought people were pretty before, but this was the first time I felt someone was beautiful.

What pulled me from my unfamiliar musings was the old Doctor’s voice again.

“Um, but….”

My eyebrows twitched at the difficultly uttered topic. Thinking he had found some other peculiarity, I looked at him, and he glanced at the one lying on the sickbed, indicating him with his eyes, and asked.

“Why doesn’t he have wings? Rumor has it he has very large, white wings….”

“…You may return now.”

Then the Doctor packed his bag with a disgruntled look. Even as he slowly organized the medicine bottles with his sluggish hands, his gaze never left Hae-ah’s shoulders. The way he was stealing glances at the unconscious man was not at all pleasing. When I cleared my throat, the Doctor finally bowed and left.

In the bedroom filled with deep darkness, I alone remained beside the sleeping Angel.

“It seems like you’re getting better, why don’t you wake up?”

The dissatisfied grumble escaped my lips, bounced off the blocked ears of the sleeping man, and was deflected back.

The heavy, labored breathing had become calm as of today. The fever had also subsided a lot, and the amount of sweat he was producing had noticeably decreased. The redness that remained on his face, which had been as red as a blood clot, was now at a pleasant level.

Now that his health seemed to have recovered to some extent, I wondered if I should have the servants take care of nursing him. But I immediately dismissed the thought. The con man I had seen in the market the other day was still fresh in my mind. The hair that the scoundrel had said he would sell for a high price was also vivid in my mind.

‘10 Cesil….’

That was the price attached to the fake hair, which had no credibility whatsoever. Hair plucked directly from the Angel who had arrived at the Duke’s estate would be sold for a much higher price. Secretly cutting off his fingernails and toenails to sell would be even better. If I took the plunge and pulled them out whole to sell on the black market, I might earn enough money to buy a mansion.

My gaze reached his hand, which was stretched out from under the blanket. As the old Doctor had said, he was not manly. But he didn’t remind me of a woman either. His face and hands were just like a child’s. Everything was neat and without distortion, and only fair without any blemishes. It was as if he had never done any hard work.

Looking at him, someone living with a wicked heart would think like this. Since he’s unconscious, what if I secretly cut off his fingers and sold them? It wouldn’t affect his life at all…

It was obvious. When I was very young, I heard a similar story from Mother when I lived in the capital. One day, the temple was heavily robbed, but the silverware and gold statues were all safe. What the perpetrators, who had taken advantage of a rare opportunity to break into the temple, had taken was a handful of feathers from the wings of the Angel who had gone to bed. It wasn’t strange news. It was just that they were the ones who succeeded in the theft, and there were quite a few perpetrators who were plotting and carrying out similar crimes around that time.

As a result, the King took the initiative to put the thieves on the wanted list. They were all caught, their hands and feet were cut off, and they were treated with care. Then they cut off the remaining limbs and treated them again with care. After that, those who were left with only their torso and head were hung in front of the castle walls until they died.

The gruesome appearance of the corpses displayed as if to show off spoke volumes. A warning not to target the royal family’s treasures again.

‘Even so, feathers and even the sheets were sold on the black market….’

I heard that the sheets stained with the blood that the Angel had shed when his feathers were plucked were traded at a high price. There was also a ridiculous rumor that a foreign royal family dreaming of immortality had drunk water boiled with it.

When my thoughts reached that point, the nonsensical words that the old man had left behind came back to me. It was indeed strange that there was not a single Doctor sent along with the Angel, who was so sickly, didn’t even know to pack extra clothes in preparation for the cold, and had perpetrators all over the world targeting his body.

A guard knight with a sword could not be sent easily because we could take issue with it, but even if a young servant who had not come of age, an attending physician, or a clergyman who worshiped the Angel had come along, would we have chased them out of the castle gates? There were old temples even in Rephaim. There were also many people who believed in God and believed in Angels. So, if necessary, we could have given them permanent residency separately and provided them with a place to live in the temple. But it was suspicious that only the Reincarnated Angel was sent, only in ceremonial attire.

“Hey.”

Glaring at the side of the face of the one with his eyes closed, I leaned forward. When I reached out my right hand and grabbed his chin, both cheeks were pressed down by my thumb and four fingers, respectively. His pink, glossy cheeks were warm with traces of fever. When I shook him lightly to the left and right, his innocent face, which moved quickly, just looked like a victim. He was a man whose breathing even reminded me of a pure child. He was an adult, but he was a suspiciously beautiful man without even a trace of a beard.

I let go of his chin. I also closed his lips, which were blankly open, with my fingertips. And I said to myself.

“What are you up to? You’re not thinking of lying sick and dying like this, and turning this land upside down, are you….”

Then all I could do was scratch my head. Rubbing my forehead, which was feverish as if I had caught a cold, and rummaging through my rough hair, I pondered. I wanted to know what he, Hae-ah, was thinking, not anyone else.

“What on earth were you thinking when you gave such a Divine Revelation?”

A long sigh escaped from my nose. It was as if I was going to expel all the breath in my chest. Buried in thought until the blood vessels in my neck rose, I took a deep breath.

“…Why did you choose me of all people?”

There was no answer.

After wasting four days lying sick as he pleased, he made a foolish sound as soon as he woke up and regained consciousness. After looking up at me for a long time with eyes that were swollen and had become darker than before he was sick, he asked me to have conjugal relations.

“The fever is all gone… I can do it now.”

I could even feel a sense of determination in the expression with which he said that.

“Ha!”

I scoffed in front of him.

It was a common custom to complete a marriage through a proper first night. Generally speaking, the definite completion of the marriage procedure was to have physical relations and become neither a virgin nor chaste with each other.

But those were just common sayings, and they were not suitable for cases like him and me, who had a political marriage between men.

“You want to have sex with me. Is that what you’re saying?”

However, I was curious about his intentions. I had only repeated what he had said verbatim, but I was curious about him, who shut his mouth tightly and turned red from his neck to his forehead.

‘Why is he going this far?’

It was a marriage and conjugal relationship made according to the Divine Revelation he had written. Wasn’t there a reason why he would go so far as to mix bodies in bed? I wouldn’t be able to get a proper answer by asking him in words. I could already tell just by looking at the way his tightly closed mouth was pursed.

On second thought, I would rather have a conversation with my body. Even if he was reborn hundreds of times, he would not be able to beat me by clashing with his body.

Finishing my thoughts, I loosened the belt that tightened my pants.

“Okay… let’s do that. You happen to be in bed, and I’m about to go to bed.”

“…Right now?”

“Is there any reason why not? I’ll keep you up all night tonight, as you wish.”

He hesitated, sitting halfway on the bed. Did he think that if I spent the first night with a man, I would vomit and run away? I have no interest in sleeping with men at all, but it’s a different story with a man like him. Even imagining holding him doesn’t make me sick, and imagining him crying is tempting. I had already seen his snow-white upper body, and I was just wondering what his lower body would look like.

As I loosened my leather belt and lowered it, I strode up to him and stood there. Due to the difference in height, his head came close to my crotch. Even when I stood threateningly close and threw the belt on the floor, he didn’t show any movement. He just sat there with his hands clasped on his knees and looked up at me.

“Why? Can’t you take off your clothes yourself this time? Your Highness, the noble Angel.”

I asked, and

“Hae-ah.”

He spat out an absurd word.

“I wish you would call me Hae-ah… by my name.”

“……”

What would change if I did? Whether I called him the youngest son of the Marquis, the Reincarnated Angel from Heaven, or praised him as the torch of the gods, as the priests did…. Just, Hae-ah. Would the one in front of me change much if he was called by that short name?

Reluctantly silent, I continued to move the hand I had placed on my waist. I unbuttoned my pants and took off my pants and underwear at the same time. His gaze reached my lower body, which was exposed. He seemed surprised to see my large genitals, but he didn’t seem flustered.

That was a bit strange. Even the men in the Knights would often be horrified when they saw my thing when they washed in the stream. But for someone who had been cherished in the temple all his life and had no time to touch his genitals, let alone see someone else’s genitals, to not be flustered even after seeing mine. It was as if he had seen such a big thing before.

“Are you sure your back passage is tight?”

I asked, raising one eyebrow, and

“What does that mean?”

Hae-ah only gave me a futile question in return.

“No, it’s nothing.”

In front of me, who was embarrassed and stroking my chin, he began to take off his clothes. As he threw off the top he was wearing, wrapped in thick pajamas, it was as if the spirits of fire had attached themselves to his skin. Otherwise, there was no way he could shine so brightly even in the darkness.

I didn’t have time to see the strange lump last night because I was too busy. Today, as I looked at his white and perfect body with my throbbing genitals exposed, I even wondered if this man was really an Angel.

However, my faith, which had briefly sprouted, disappeared the moment I looked at his crotch. His manhood was firmly attached to his two testicles in a very explicit shape. Strangely enough, it was half-erect. Seeing his bloodshot genitals, I finally felt like he was human.

“Are you already excited?”

My situation was worse when it came to having my cock standing up, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. This was because the Angel, whose whole body was shining white, was a different being from a guy like me, who had led the Knights on expeditions, chewed on dirt-covered bread, slept on rocks, and lived a rough life. He seemed to know that too, and he only blushed at my words, but he couldn’t point out my attitude.

Striding forward, I knelt on the bed. He gave way as if he was trying to avoid me. Then he suddenly started acting aggressively. After hesitating for a moment, he immediately came to me and narrowed the distance again. While I was rolling up my tunic and completely undressing, he grabbed my thing with both hands. Then he started moving his hands. It was a rhythm that made me think that tearing off leaves and rubbing them would be more erotic.

“……”

A small chuckle leaked out of my nostrils. It was a clear sneer, even though there was no sound of laughter. He twitched his eyebrows as if he felt a small breeze.

“Why… why are you laughing?”

He asked. I wiped away the laughter with the back of my hand and said.

“I just realized you’re a virgin.”

With a flick, I reached out and pushed him back. I was just trying to lay him down on the bed, but he flew halfway and fell flat on the mattress. I grabbed the crotch of the man, who had rabbit eyes as if he was surprised, with both hands and spread it open, then I burrowed into his arms. And I grabbed his reddish genitals.

I would be the first man to hold these genitals in my hand like this and masturbate him recklessly. Even the thief bastards would never have dreamed of messing with his genitals. When I thought about that, I was twice as tempted. It was even more so because his thighs, which were hanging on my side, moved up and down, giving an unintentional stimulation to his soft skin.

I grabbed his right thigh tightly with my remaining hand. When I spread it open horizontally like that, the Angel’s appearance became quite filthy. To have his legs forcibly spread wide, to have a man in his crotch, and to have his genitals entrusted to someone else’s hands. I started stroking his thing.

The flesh, which was tightly gripped in my rough hands, was surprisingly soft.

“Ah, wa, wait… just a moment. I, I’m….”

Every time I moved my hand up and down, I could feel his genitals throbbing with excitement. The soft flesh gradually hardened, and clear liquid flowed from the tip of his reddish glans. A large amount of precum, enough to make me think it was semen, soaked my palm. I was speechless when I saw the clear liquid seeping out between my fingers. He had never had the chance to use this well-built man properly before, and he wouldn’t have the chance in the future either, but I thought he was preheating uselessly, as if he was a man too.

As the sound of skin rubbing against skin and the sound of water wetting friction lingered, he became more human. His gentle face was instantly covered with fever, and his affectionate expression was a mess of shock, a little fear, and excitement.

“Ugh…, heuk, ah, ah…!”

The sound he made every time I moved my arm up and down was cut off in small pieces. It sounded almost like a moan to my ears.

Soon, his two arms touched my chest. As if trying to push me away with force, he whined for a few seconds with a reddened face. Then, failing, he grabbed my wrist, which was holding his thing, this time.

“Le, let… let go.”

He seemed to be struggling with all his might, but my body didn’t shake or budge.

“Hoo….”

Licking my hot lips with my tongue, I became insolent. Ignoring the Saint’s request, I repeatedly moved my hand quickly. When I even rubbed the tip of my thumb against the tip of his reddened glans, his mouth opened wide. The bright red and small urethral hole was rubbed against my palm lines.

“Heok, heuek!”

The Angel’s whole body was quickly soaked with sweat. His thigh, which was held in my left hand, twitched finely and became stiff.

“Pl, please, ah, ah… please, ah…!”

Even a fourteen-year-old boy who was masturbating for the first time would not make such a sound. Groaning as if he was about to pass out, he squeezed his eyes shut. Tears could be seen peeking through the gaps in his eyelashes.

Bending down, I brought my face in front of his face. I observed his expression, hot breath, and tears very closely. At the same time, I didn’t forget to shake my hand even faster. Then Hae-ah’s mouth opened and closed. His bright red lower lip was glistening with saliva.

“Ah, sob, sob… heueuk…!”

A single tear that had been peeking out flowed down his nose. At the same time, a white liquid suddenly spurted out. The semen, which was ejected in two bursts with a throbbing sensation, was smeared on his chest, chin, and lips.

“…Sob, …hiccup.”

With his face dirtied by the semen he had produced, he didn’t know how to open his tightly closed eyes. The strength in his stiff waist gradually loosened, and his chest rose and fell with rough breathing. The white semen stood out even more because of the color of his red face. He didn’t even seem to know that semen had splattered on his face, and he seemed to be in shock.

“Ha….”

Lowering my head, I slowly spread out my hand, which had been giving strength. The softened genitals rolled out of my palm as if they were falling, and a strong scent of another person remained on my palm lines. If I lowered my head, I could see my thing, which had risen up to touch my stomach. My bloodshot cock was about to burst.

“……”

I was sorry to the surprised Angel, but I had no time. After taking a long, hot breath and sweeping back his disheveled hair for a moment, I corrected his sprawled posture. Even while I was gathering his legs, which I had been grabbing, and turning both legs to one side at the same time, he was just sobbing and hadn’t opened his eyes yet. His upper body was still the same, but only his lower body was lying on its side. Then his buttocks were clearly exposed.

His small, firm, upturned buttocks betrayed his young age. I gripped his upper buttocks with my hand, lightly applying pressure to part his butthole. A shrill moan erupted like a scream.

“Ah…!”

I spat, deliberately making a sound, at the butthole of the terrified one. With his buttocks exposed before my face, saliva smeared on his hole, he was at a loss. He was a clueless man who, after just one climax, had lost the confidence to even look me in the eye.

In contrast, I knew exactly what to do. I shoved my index finger into his forcibly opened red hole.

“Huk…, hfft.”

A faint vein appeared on Hae-ah’s neck as he exhaled hot breaths. He seemed to scrub away the tears and precum smeared on his face, then stopped, covering his face with both hands. He didn’t seem to realize that the more passive he was, the more unrestrained my actions became.

His butthole, having swallowed one long finger, was very tight and hot. Frowning, I moved the finger I had shoved into the clogged hole deeper, then pulled it out. Then I put it back in.

“…Ugh!”

He hunched his shoulders sharply. I could see the strength returning to his softened thighs. The muscles of his butthole also contracted more tightly due to the tension.

‘Damn it. How do you stick a dick in here?’

Judging by the fact that there were some guys who did anal, they must feel something through this hole. But the young man before me only seemed to be in pain and showed no other reaction. In the first place, a man’s butthole was different from a proper vagina. Far from sucking in foreign objects, it was busy pushing them out, and since no fluid came out, it quickly became dry. As the saliva quickly dried, the movement of my finger became rough in an instant.

Again, I spat at his butthole. I almost touched it with my lips and even let saliva drip into it. The moment the tip of my tongue brushed against the dense wrinkles, the red hole twitched and contracted sharply.

My throat was parched.

“…Try to relax a little.”

“Ugh, ugh…, yes. Yes.”

“Are you tightening up more?”

“…Huu, ugh….”

I increased it to two fingers. I moved them in and out for a long time, but he only seemed to be in pain and didn’t seem to enjoy it at all. His disproportionately large penis was also lying horizontally, limp, with no sign of an erection.

“I’m, not very good…, I can’t….”

He made excuses, his face flushed red with shame. Frankly, he didn’t need to make any excuses to me. Because just as he was a man who didn’t know how to receive a man, I was a man who had never fucked a man.

So there was no way our relationship could proceed smoothly. It felt like I was a dog in heat, not even able to tell the difference between male and female, wasting my efforts.

‘What confidence did I have to suggest spending the first night together….’

Sighing, I moved the two fingers I had inserted into the hole, stirring them around. Then, something blunt and very small, neither flesh nor lump, touched my fingertip.

‘…What is this?’

I touched an unexpected area with my fingertip, having to bend my finger completely to reach it, and then pressed down on it. At the same time, Hae-ah stretched one leg out long. A gasp also escaped his lips.

“…Ah, uh….”

He turned to look at me with surprised eyes. His gaze seemed to ask what I had done.

“……”

Constantly wetting his dry lips with his tongue, I grabbed his pelvis firmly with one hand. Then I pressed down as if trying to anchor him in place. Whether he felt an instinctive revulsion or something else, his two hands moved as if trying to break free from my grasp.

At the same time, I pressed down on the spot I had found a moment ago again. I repeatedly poked and prodded it more strongly, deeply, and quickly.

“Ah!”

It felt like I was thrusting with my hand.

“Ah, ah…? Just, wait a minute… Huk, ah…hic!”

I could feel the muscles in my forearm standing out and my fingers stiffening. An inexplicable heat rose to my neck. I grabbed his buttocks, which had been holding his pelvis, and even slapped them.

“Ah, aah!”

Startled, he huddled his neatly gathered legs even closer. As is, I grabbed his flushed buttocks. When I pulled them apart outward, the red hole was clearly visible. His buttocks and butthole were so small that my thick fingers stuck inside almost looked like a penis.

“Ha….”

Swallowing a vulgar curse he couldn’t even imagine, I pulled my two fingers back. After glancing at the hole that was shrinking quickly, I gathered three fingers together as if drawing the shape of a penis and quickly shoved them in. As I bent the fingers I had inserted into the narrow space and repeatedly shook my arm, he burst into tears like a child.

“Ah… ah! Ahhic, huuehk…!”

Twisting his waist and tilting his head, he opened his mouth mindlessly.

“I don’t… want to…, I don’t want to! Th, this, ah, I don’t want to, stop, stop….”

I left a handprint on his buttocks again. The lightly swung palm made a ‘slap’ sound and stuck to his buttocks. Startled, he sobbed and huddled his whole body tightly. The face of the saint, which had been aloof and noble, was no more. He was only making meaningless struggles to pull out the fingers that had been shoved into his butthole.

“Huu…euk, please….”

“……”

“…Please, I’m, I’m sorry….”

The plea he had worked so hard to produce gave me a small realization. His every action—struggling painfully with just a couple of my fingers, being tormented until his narrow butthole swelled up, and clutching his penis and begging not to climax while intoxicated with sensation—excited me. I liked that he was in pain. I was pleased with the sight of him crying and begging. The satisfaction I gained from tormenting him was, after all, nothing more than vicarious satisfaction.

“I’m sorry….”

Hae-ah apologized.

“Please….”

Mixing in unnecessary pleas,

“…I can’t, can’t do it anymore, ugh, I’m sorry. I’m, I’m wrong….”

He squeezed his eyes shut again.

Slowly, I released his buttocks. I also pulled my red-hot fingers out of his butthole. Then I quietly watched what he did.

“…Hic, hic….”

He only swallowed the sobs that belatedly rushed in, and showed no other action. He didn’t release his penis, which looked painfully taut, nor did he run away from me, who had tormented him. His two legs were huddled in exactly the same position as before, and his buttocks and hole, which were no different from weaknesses, were still exposed. He was clutching the sheet with his left hand, but that was all. His tightly closed eyes didn’t seem to want to open.

Stopping my quiet observation, I slowly reached out my hand. When my fingertip touched one of his reddened buttocks, he twitched sensitively all over. My palm print was very deeply imprinted on his fair skin.

“I’m sorry.”

I said, swallowing a long sigh.

“I… got too excited. I got excited and pushed you too hard.”

Then the low breathing I heard became thick, taking on a material quality. I couldn’t see his face because he had buried his face in the sheet, but I could see his Adam’s apple moving as if he was constantly swallowing saliva. After a long time of panting, he said.

“…I was, too… surprised.”

“…Hmm.”

“I’m sorry. It’s probably supposed to be done that way…. I didn’t know… what this kind of thing, this feeling, would be like…. I really didn’t know…. I’m sorry….”

Listening to those words made me feel like trash. I was not only a shameless person who recklessly vented my anger on an innocent person, but also a guy who got an erection while sticking his fingers into the butthole of a pure person who had never even kissed, let alone had sex.

“Shall we stop?”

Finally, a long sigh escaped my lips. Covering his erect penis roughly with a thin blanket, I stepped back from him. I was about to have a servant bring in a tub and hot water.

“No, let’s do it.”

But suddenly, a soft hand grabbed my forearm. Hae-ah said, pulling me, who was trying to get out of bed, back into the inner seat.

“…Let’s do it. I can do it. I have to do it.”

“Is sex that important?”

“Yes. It’s that… important. We’re married.”

Listening to his argument, I even thought that I didn’t care anymore. The heavy guilt that had filled my chest flew away along with my conscience. This man, who was crying and sniveling because he didn’t want to cum, was saying that he would have sex, that he could and had to do it, so how could I refuse?

Again, I laid down Hae-ah, who seemed to have somehow gained courage, and matched my body between his legs. When I lifted his two white legs high and placed them on my shoulders, he hesitated and tried to pull back the legs he had raised.

“Stay still. It’s not heavy at all.”

“…Yes.”

His awkwardly tense legs rested on my body. Only then could I clearly see the hole that had swollen up in the short time. As soon as I placed my glans on it and tried to match it, I frowned involuntarily. Even though it seemed like it had been stretched for a long time, his hole was very small and narrow. It felt like I was rubbing my urethra on the surface, not even getting the tip to catch. It didn’t seem like a penis could fit into this tiny hole at all. His lean and slender body also seemed too delicate to accept me.

“Huu….”

Exhaling hot breaths, I grabbed my taut penis and stroked it. The only fortunate thing was that the precum that had already leaked out was abundant, so there was no need to spit or look for oil. I checked the location of the hole and brought the tip of my penis to it. I slowly pressed my body forward as is. The gaping hole seemed to swallow the tip of my glans, but suddenly my penis slid up onto his groin.

My dangling penis rested on his abdomen.

“……”

“……”

I met his surprised eyes. Both he and I blushed at the neck, without knowing who did it first. I wondered how I could say in sophisticated vocabulary that the problem wasn’t you, but that my dick was too big.

Then, Hae-ah moved his hand. He stretched his arms back and grabbed his buttocks, spreading them to the left and right. He was directly showing his hole. For a few seconds, I pretended not to understand the meaning. I wanted to watch the man who was a Reincarnated Angel, arching his thin waist and spreading his reddened buttocks with both hands, for a little longer.

“…Th, th….”

He moved his lips as if he was impatient with shame. There was only one thing I had to do. As if I had been waiting for it, I matched my penis to the end of the forcefully opened hole and shoved it in.

The narrow hole swallowed my glans with difficulty.

“…Huk, …huu.”

Biting back a short moan, I exhaled a long breath and constantly watched his expression. He was also frowning with all sorts of expressions, as if he was flustered by the volume, which was quite different from before. I heard the sound of flesh rubbing against his buttocks. It was the friction sound made by the fingers holding and spreading his buttocks as they slid.

I knew what to do to not break him again. I couldn’t eliminate the pain, but I could give him an even greater pleasure. All I had to do was shove the rest of my penis in as quickly as possible. After passing the bumpy glans, it was easier to insert the smooth shaft. If it weren’t for the hot sensation given by the tightly constricting muscles, that is.

“Haa….”

I felt like my vision was flickering and darkening. My mind went blank at the sensation given by the muscles that seemed to be sucking and pulling my penis. I had never imagined that the pleasure of fucking a man would be this great. Not just any man, but Hae-ah. I was even more pleased because it was him, his face flushed red, twitching the muscles in his stomach to try to relax.

At the moment I was intoxicated with a sensation that was so satisfying that it was almost painful, I acted in the opposite way to him. I shook my waist back and forth more finely towards the hole that seemed to be sucking in my thing, and crammed my penis in more and more.

‘More… a little more.’

Even so, I was dazed. It was because of Hae-ah’s gaze, who was watching me, his muscles tense all over, sweating, shaking my waist. His tear-soaked, glistening eyes sparkled with dilated pupils. It was the gaze of someone who wanted me. It was the gesture of someone who had fallen in love. His intoxicated, languid expression and his efforts to accept me with his whole body confused me and, at the same time, pleased me.

“Ugh….”

Letting out a short moan, I pushed my waist forward violently. Hae-ah’s waist moved greatly as we collided roughly enough to make a dull impact sound. His head was slammed backwards into the sheet, and his abdomen bulged forward.

I quickly grabbed his waist with both hands. As is, I made the buttocks with my penis stuck in them lift high.

“Heok, heok… hfft.”

While I gritted my teeth and groaned, Hae-ah made a small hic… sound that resonated in his throat, with his head completely raised. Hearing the sound of him swallowing a scream, hic, ugh…, I squeezed my eyes shut. Frankly, I was so happy that I would have been happy even if I died right now.

All that was left was exercise. With his waist pulled close to my groin, I moved my waist while shaking my forearm. Hae-ah moaned mindlessly as he was repeatedly pulled down towards me and pushed up again. His legs, which had been hanging on my shoulders, spread to the left and right and hung on my forearms. His flushed knees were tightly pressed together. As is, his legs seemed to twitch, and thin precum flowed from the tip of his red penis.

‘Ha….’

I repeatedly poked and prodded him, who was intoxicated with temporary and addictive pleasure.

“Ah, aah, aah!”

“Heok, heok…!”

As I crammed my thing into his butthole, he couldn’t cum properly and dribbled out fluid little by little. Because his waist was grabbed by my hand and lifted up, the precum that leaked out of his penis flowed backwards over his stomach. Every time I shook my waist and slammed my thing in hard enough to make a slapping sound, the whitish liquid dirtied his pink body.

“Ah… ah….”

Even the tone of his voice, which had suddenly become sweet, didn’t reach my ears properly. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I shook him wildly and slammed my groin against his buttocks. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed constantly, and each time, hot breaths and moans flowed out.

“Ah, aah, ah…, huuehk, hic….”

Just before I was about to suffocate from the gradually increasing pleasure as I repeated the same motion, I crammed my penis into the deepest part of his skin and climaxed. The moans I spat out without holding back were mixed together, and everything sounded unclear.

“Huk, heok….”

As I exhaled rough breaths, the drops of sweat that fell down my chin wet his skin. Only then did I discover Hae-ah, who was covering his face with both forearms. The butthole that was twitching and contracting following my penis, which had reduced in volume, and the one who was covering his face, both cheeks flushed red with shame, felt completely independent, which felt strange.

I grabbed both of his wrists with one hand. As I slowly pressed down on them, he was helplessly controlled by me, dropping his fingers.

The face I faced directly was covered in tears.

“Why are you crying?”

I asked. It was practically a soliloquy. It was because I didn’t expect an answer at all. I thought he had lost his way on the road of his sobbing face, but on the other hand, I felt like he was a child who had burst into tears of relief at finding his home.

As is, I placed my right palm on his left chest. Even an actor who puts on a fake expression, lies, and controls his breathing can’t do anything about his heart. The same was true of the man named Hae-ah. The pounding of his heart, which felt like it would burst out of his shallow chest at any moment, pounded on my palm.

“Hae-ah.”

I called him by his name, as he had requested. I slowly lowered his two legs to either side of my waist and placed a cushion under his uncomfortable back. Then I teased him mischievously. As I lightly moved my waist and poked his insides finely with my penis, he hiccupped in surprise.

Then the sound of his crying became even more intense.

“Why are you crying?”

I asked, half embarrassed and half amused.

Perhaps there was no particularly unusual intention in his words, expressions, and actions. Even knowing the possibility was very low, I thought so for a moment. Otherwise, there was no reason for the Angel who received the love of everyone in this vast land, the most noble man in the world, to be pinned beneath me, shedding tears.

I wanted to think so.

“Theo.”

And something strange happened. With both cheeks, the bridge of his nose, and temples soaked with tears, Hae-ah called me. That pet name that my Mother had briefly used when I was very young, came from the lips of a strange man.

“Theo….”

But I wasn’t displeased.

“…Why do you, look at me…”

…like that?

The question wasn’t fully conveyed. It was because he stretched his parched neck and pressed his lips to mine. It was a passive kiss that couldn’t even be called a kiss.

Our first kiss was salty. It was because of the tears that welled up between his lips. I licked the lips of the crying man until the taste disappeared.

The weather was clear for the first time in a while. A blue sky, rare in Rephaim, hung over the rocky mountains. And the order to march out was given.

The order to form a knight order and march out was very simple and straightforward, as invaders had crossed the border and attacked a small village. Staring blankly at the order with the King’s seal, I folded it and placed it on the table. And I let out a hollow laugh. The one being driven to the battlefield by the order wasn’t my Father, the head of the Duke’s family, nor was it me, the captain of the knight order. It was none other than Hae-ah.

Everyone knew, not just me, that guarding the border was originally the duty of the Marquis family. Now, everyone also knew that the entire Duke’s family, including me, was responsible for their family’s duties. As the man married to Hae-ah, as the son-in-law of the Marquis family, I had to take up the sword in place of my husband.

As written in the order, I couldn’t simply send the man called the Reincarnated Angel to the battlefield. That would be killing Hae-ah, tarnishing my honor, and, if things went wrong, it would be blasphemy that could wipe out the entire Duke’s family.

I chose the easiest and clearest path: to march out in place of my husband. As a result, the knights under my command became busy and confused. While preparing horses, weapons, and armor, their gestures showed that they were not confident about this expedition.

The horses, hastily equipped, were all agitated. Horses are intelligent animals. They easily empathize with and are swayed by the emotions of the knight who handles them. After scanning the faces of the frightened beasts, I put my hands behind my back. And I shouted loudly.

“Don’t waver, and prepare! If we don’t drive them out, the invaders will soon reach Rephaim. In the end, this is an expedition to protect our land. Is there any reason to hesitate?”

Only then did the dissatisfied expressions of my subordinates harden. Some of them still took my side, saying ‘Why is the Captain…’ and siding with me for replacing the Marquis family’s son, but right now, there was no point in dividing into my side and your side. After confirming that my subordinates had started to move quickly, I also put on leather clothes over my black tunic.

Only then did the servants rush over to help me put on my armor. After wearing all the accessories, my weight felt heavier than before.

At this early hour, closer to dawn than morning, I wasn’t given time to hesitate or the leisure to greet my parents. It was a time when there were more monsters that hadn’t yet hibernated. To prepare for a sudden invasion and not allow for variables, we had to move even more busily and quickly.

“…….”

Stroking the mane of the black horse wearing silver protective gear, I took a moment to catch my breath.

In truth, even I wasn’t sure. I knew in my head that it was something that should be done. It was an expedition that couldn’t be postponed, nor should it be. I had been prepared for this much trouble, using the arranged marriage as an excuse.

But still, for some reason, without even knowing why, my heart was uneasy. The unease made me even busier. I reorganized the knight order two more times, and meticulously conveyed even unnecessary warnings. I also confirmed the number of reliable guard knights who would protect the Duke’s castle. Finally, I jumped onto the horse and aligned the ranks of my subordinates.

Today, the armor felt even heavier. The accessories were nothing but cumbersome. Even the cloak seemed to be holding me back, pulling me back as if telling me to stay in the Duke’s castle instead of leaving. The harmony of everything I had naturally felt was mine, like fingernails or toenails, was shattered.

‘…Damn it.’

As I was caught in deep anguish, unable to do anything, I suddenly felt a gaze. I raised my head and looked up at the castle walls, and saw a window located high up. And in front of that window, I saw a man standing close. The window was the window of our bedroom, and the man was none other than Hae-ah.

It seemed he liked the winter clothes that had arrived just in time. Hae-ah was dressed in thick white robes. Holding the fourth-floor window frame with his hands, he was looking down at the ground. To be exact, he was looking at me.

Even from a distance, I could tell that his gaze and mine had met.

‘If only I could get some clue….’

Suddenly, I had such a wish. It was a moment when I needed assurance that all of this wasn’t a scheme by the vile King or the Marquis. Right now, even I needed a plausible divine revelation.

Hae-ah didn’t move for a long time. Holding the reins in my hand, I waited quietly. Soon, he nodded deeply once. With that one signal from him, the conflict weighing down on my shoulders was resolved.

I lightly kicked the horse’s hindquarters. It was time to leave the Duke’s castle, leading the knight order that protected Rephaim.

‘Something’s strange.’

Fiddling with the sword pouch at my waist, I scanned the yellow rocks and the grooves carved on them like lightning strikes. At my feet were scattered enemy maps and equipment.

It had already been fifteen days since I had reached the border with my subordinates and horses. One day on an expedition always feels as long as two days, but this expedition felt even more so.

For an enemy that had boldly crossed this country’s border to invade, they were dragging out time with strange tactics. But until now, I hadn’t thought that their tactics or behavior were strange. That’s because most battles are generally like this. The actual battlefield isn’t as interesting as a bard’s song or chatter. Fighting by rushing in as if on fire rarely happens. In most battles, the winner is determined by the side that endures the weather, disease, and hunger for longer.

The problem was that even considering those points, these guys’ behavior was very suspicious. If we drew our swords and tried to ambush them first, they would abandon their garrison base with all their equipment and run far away. Each time, we succeeded in capturing some of them. Eight were beheaded and two were kept alive, but both refused to confess their tactics and committed suicide.

For fifteen days, the same battle was repeated two more times. But the result was the same. At this rate, they were just dragging out time, and there was no chance of winning for them.

‘…Dragging out time?’

In an instant, my mind went blank. Turning my head, I saw the path I had come from, the orange wasteland stretching out. My home, Rephaim, was very far away.

I hadn’t clearly read their intentions. However, instinct made me feel cold and made me act.

“Withdraw the camp and gather your weapons! We’re returning to Rephaim. Immediately!”

As soon as I hurriedly grabbed my horse and climbed on, a bird flew over my head. The bird, which was so large with long wings and brown feathers that it could be mistaken for a wyvern at first glance, immediately rushed towards me. I raised my arm wearing armor high. Then, a huge eagle landed on my wrist. It was the bird that my Father had raised with care.

After landing with a strong gesture that made a clang sound from the armor, it blinked its eyes rapidly. It’s wrong to say that beasts have no expression. I could feel the lingering shock in the bird’s eyes. It seemed to have been attacked on the way. I could see a faint bloodstain on the chest of the large, loyal creature. A note was tied to its long legs.

When I untied and unfolded it, familiar yet unfamiliar handwriting greeted me. It was written in a rushed script that conveyed the urgency. Some letters were unrecognizable.

‘The King has been killed. The young Prince has been captured as a puppet by the Marquis. Never trust the Angel.’

My subordinates didn’t make any fuss as I immediately started riding my horse. They only tried their best to catch up with me.

Ignoring the wildly beating heart, the urgent feelings, and the trembling hands and feet, time passed quickly. The half-day it took to return to Rephaim was enough to drive me crazy. I desperately broke through the very long distance that would have taken a day and three or four hours more if I had kept pace with my subordinates.

After running non-stop, cutting through the wind, my horse and I were in similar condition. I had to pant roughly every time I inhaled and exhaled, and coughing and nausea kept rising up. But the feeling of collapsing disappeared as soon as I saw the rocky mountains spread out.

Only fifteen days had passed since I left, but the valley water of the rocky mountains had all frozen and turned white.

I no longer pulled the reins. I didn’t kick the horse’s hindquarters either. The clever black horse knew where it was going. It knew where its home was. Carrying me, who wasn’t giving any orders, it crossed the bridge over the pond and reached the market.

There wasn’t a single person going back and forth in the market. Not even a single store was open, and not even a single carriage was to be seen.

Suddenly, I heard crying from a house over there. I stopped the horse for a moment and listened, and the crying wasn’t coming from one person. Many people were wailing out loud.

As if feeling uneasy, the horse carrying me quickly started running. By then, my heart was about to burst. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump… Without even calming my throbbing chest, I passed through the castle gates. I immediately jumped off the horse. The sharp clang sound from my armor hitting the ground echoed. As soon as I returned to the Duke’s castle, I was going to look for my parents right away. But there was no need to do so.

A coffin was lying right in front of the castle gate. It was neither brought further inside nor taken outside, but simply placed right in front of the gate, as if someone had abandoned it there. It was a cold coffin made of cheap wood, with no arrangements made. The size of the coffin was quite large. It was large enough to fit a tall war hero.

Slowly, I stretched out my foot. Servants, including the butler, were almost collapsed around the rectangular coffin. Some had fainted, and the rest were sobbing with their faces covered in tears. But none of them dared to move the coffin or close its lid.

No one stopped me as I approached the center of the formation, one step at a time. I looked down at the coffin, which was placed alone in the center of the crowd. And I felt a strong pain as if my heart had stopped. I had to fight the urge to immediately take my eyes off it. My Father was in such a miserable state.

Even someone who knew nothing about medicine would know that he had been poisoned. His skin color had completely changed due to the contaminated blood. His wide-open eyes and mouth revealed that he had died in agony.

Slowly, I knelt down in front of him. I reached out and touched my Father inside the coffin. Before I could even feel the cold temperature, a subordinate who had stayed in the castle to stand guard ran to me. And he tried to pull me away from my Father.

Crying out as if wailing, he said.

“Don’t touch him. You mustn’t touch him.”

“Why?”

My voice was excessively cold. It immediately echoed and returned to my ears.

‘Why?’

Even if I moved my hand to close his eyes, Father couldn’t close his eyes. Even if I tried to close his open jaw, his jaw wouldn’t close. He had been dead for a long time. Too much time had passed to arrange his body, and now his eyelids and jaw had hardened.

“Why… was the coffin left outside the gate?”

“It’s the King’s order.”

“The King’s order?”

There was no need to hear any more stories. I raised my hand in front of the subordinate who was moving his lips. I gestured for him not to say anything, and I became as cold as my Father’s body temperature. Leaving the body as it was, without arranging it, without closing the coffin lid, without burying it or cremating it, just abandoning it in that spot… That was how traitors were treated.

I staggered to my feet. The fire filling my heart was burning hot. There had been countless political maneuvers and schemes, but Father had endured them all. Even after the Duke’s family’s reputation had faded and they had moved their residence to this distant land as if being chased away, he saw the sun in the morning and filled his day under the moonlight at night.

I respected such a Father. I loved him.

“Mother.”

That word was spat out of my mouth as if vomiting. Like someone possessed, I became a madman and ran. I rushed into the castle and moved around like a four-legged beast. The interior, which had been turned into a mess as if a search party had been through it, didn’t even properly enter my eyes. Stepping on the stairs and running up, I looked for my parents’ bedroom.

Bursting open the door, I saw my Mother’s body lying on the bed. And in front of her face, I saw the back of a young man. The wrist below his elbow wasn’t clearly visible. It was moving. As if trying to put something on my sleeping Mother’s face….

In an instant, the note that the eagle had brought flashed through my mind. Without even thinking, I quickly ran and pushed him away. By the strength of my grip, the youngest son of the Marquis was immediately thrown to the floor. The man who had fallen pathetically was no longer an Angel. He was a fraud among frauds, unqualified to become a proper saint.

“Why?”

I asked.

“Why did you send me far away? Was it all for this?”

He staggered to his feet. Hugging his forearm that had hit the floor, his face, looking at me in surprise, seemed very upset, shocked, and flustered. Even he was beautiful in my eyes.

“Not in that sense, that’s not why.”

He said. His voice was still pleasant to listen to….

I was completely shattered by disbelief. I was confused about who or what I had to fight. The top and bottom of the world were turned upside down, and the left and right were twisted, as if peeling off my skin and tearing my limbs apart.

All of this tragedy was my fault for agreeing to the marriage with him. It was my fault for being arrogant, thinking that I could meet tomorrow in some way by making him my husband and face the things that came head-on.

And it was the fault of the false saint who lured me and sent me to a distant land. The root of my bitterness was ultimately Hae-ah, it was stuck in him.

“Not for that reason? If not for that reason, then what is it?”

Consumed by resentment, I lost my reason. The tip of my hand, which immediately went down to my waist, touched the hilt of the sword. I drew the sword as it was. At the same time, Hae-ah, startled, stepped back towards the corner of the room. Following him as he retreated one step, two steps, I also walked.

I pointed the blade at Hae-ah, who wasn’t wearing any armor at all, but only a white tunic and pants that were tightly tied around his shins just like mine, and rough leather shoes.

“Why did you choose me? Answer me.”

“…Theo….”

“Do you really listen to the words of God? Did God really tell you to marry me?”

At the crucial moment, Hae-ah hesitated with the terrace behind him. Hesitating, he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth. Because those lips were about to call my name carelessly, I raised the sword high as if about to strike at any moment. And I shouted.

“Answer me!”

And my vision brightened. I immediately dropped the sword I was holding to the floor.

The sight of those two wings, unfolded splendidly… shining brightly with the color of innocence, felt like fire was igniting behind my eyeballs.

“Yes…, you’ve achieved everything you wanted now.”

Hae-ah, only widening his eyes and shrinking his shoulders, didn’t answer with his two wings spread out. I repeatedly said, as if mocking him.

“I might as well fly away to where you were. Don’t you think? I wouldn’t need to stay in this cold territory, nor would I have any reason to pretend to be a nice man by your side.”

Haha… A laugh that felt like someone else’s escaped through my teeth. I felt the blood in my whole body growing cold and my joints stiffening. Those damnably beautiful Angel wings….

“Why don’t you just go back to the sky altogether?”

He was driving me crazy.

“Calm down, please…. I’ll tell you everything, the truth.”

He looked up at me and pleaded, he put his hands together and begged to persuade me, he confessed with sad eyes in his beautiful face, with an innocent-sounding voice….

“Me…, the reason I married you… it’s true that it was a fake oracle I made up.”

The moment I heard those words, I pushed him away hard. There was no room for further thought. He fell over the terrace railing along with his large wings.

I immediately turned around and ran towards the bed. I hurriedly removed the wet bundle of cloth that had fallen next to Mother’s face.

But what was on the cloth that Hae-ah had dropped a moment ago was not poison or anything like that. It was just soaked with cool water.

“……”

Blinking blankly, I looked out over the terrace. The clear sky, which did not suit any of the Rephaim, was flawlessly beautiful. There was no one and nothing floating above it.

Just then, someone screamed. Taking that noise as a signal, I slowly took a step. One step, two steps… With each step I took towards the terrace, my whole body seemed to sink heavily. It felt like someone was grabbing my ankles and pulling me to enter the path of fate.

I, too, am just one of the blind humans who cannot see tomorrow. Just one of the ordinary humans who inevitably feel fear when the unknown approaches….

My waist collided with the terrace railing with a dull thud. Forced to stop, I looked down. Along with the withered bushes and the coldly chilled branches, there was an Angel there. Hae-ah, who had fallen straight down after being pushed by my two hands, was unconscious. Something about the man, who had fainted with his eyes open, was strange. Tears he had shed trickled down the bridge of his nose, belatedly forming a small puddle.

“Why…?”

For the third time today, I was engulfed in doubt and muttered to myself.

The two wings of the man called Angel were bent in an abnormal direction. Like a bird whose nerves and joints had been cut off long ago….