It Begins with Isaac Chapter 13.1

Trap and betrayal.

“I thought deeply while chasing you.”

The subject was different.

“What I wanted to do once I found you.”

That fact shattered Asil.

Asil averted his gaze from Valery, who was looking down at him. The chair he sat on was hard and cold, making his thighs and hips ache. He was currently in a torture chamber in the basement of Valery’s mansion. A torture chamber in such a luxurious mansion might seem absurd, but knowing it was Valery’s home made it immediately understandable. Was he now planning to torture him? Asil had fled with the resolve to die if caught, so it wasn’t surprising. Hadn’t Valery himself warned him? That if he was caught again, he would die.

He was exhausted. Even recalling the faces that had incessantly haunted him while being dragged here was no longer bearable. Before being captured like a beast and led out of the temple, Asil had looked back at Kana. Her eyes, staring at him while tightly holding the hand of the man who had become her groom. Standing before that face, Asil could say nothing. What could he say? What could he say to his sister, who now had to be happy, whom he had wished would be happy for a lifetime? Did you betray me? Is that why you told me not to forgive you? Did you know everything?

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

“…”

“Are you scared? Or does your heart ache? Betrayed by the sister you love?”

Valery leaned against the wall opposite where Asil sat. He was attuned to every small breath echoing in the confined space, as if he wouldn’t miss a single sound from Asil. Outside the torture chamber, Valery’s subordinates were likely stationed, and even setting that aside, it was nearly impossible for Asil to overpower Valery and escape. Asil had neither a gun, a knife, nor the will to try. In contrast, on the wooden table where Valery rested his hand, a row of menacingly gleaming blades was neatly arranged.

Asil briefly glanced at Valery, who kept his eyes fixed on him as if Asil might vanish if he looked away even for a moment.

“What… will you do now?”

Asil had wandered desperately to avoid capture. He hadn’t been unaware of the possibility of failing to escape and enduring hardship at Valery’s hands. He had imagined being publicly executed for desertion, treason, and regicide, his neck severed before a crowd, or being mercilessly beaten under Valery’s grip until he was reduced to a lump of flesh.

As Valery straightened from leaning against the wall and approached, Asil’s head tilted upward to follow him. A large hand swiftly grabbed Asil’s throat with strong force. The grip, with short nails painfully pressing into his skin, was unyielding. Valery slowly bent down, bringing his eyes close to Asil’s face, and pulled the hand gripping his throat forward.

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Each time he moved his lips, the grip on Asil’s throat tightened. The thumb pressing on his Adam’s apple crushed the protruding part. Under the suffocating pressure, Asil gasped, his mouth opening and closing frantically.

“Arrogant bastard, damn it. Who do you think you’re facing, holding out until the end!”

“Guh…!”

Valery’s features, previously cold and composed, twisted into a mess. He licked Asil’s lips, struggling to breathe, then pressed his thick lower lip harshly with the tip of his tongue. Parting the small lips, Valery thrust his entire tongue inside, ravaging Asil’s mouth as he pleased. Asil’s legs flailed under the ferocious, almost ravenous kiss.

Even when he could breathe properly, it was a kiss hard to keep up with. With his throat gripped and his mouth plundered, his vision turned red from lack of air. His head felt like it was swelling to the point of bursting. Dizziness set in from the lack of oxygen. Asil reached out to push Valery away. His trembling fingertips barely touched Valery’s wrist when Valery roughly released his throat and broke the kiss.

“Ugh, cough… Hah… Haa…”

“Still don’t get it?”

“…Hah… Guh…”

“Are you asking if I’ll kill you?”

Asil, gasping for air, couldn’t immediately respond to the interrogating words. Valery, still bent over, grabbed Asil’s coughing arm and pulled his limp body upright. Before Asil could collect himself, he was pushed back by a hand on his chest, stumbling backward. When the cold stone wall blocked any further retreat, Asil, breathing heavily, moved his lips.

“Are you planning to torture me?”

“…Torture?”

“If not, ahem… then why…”

Asil wiped his saliva-soaked lips with the back of his hand, glaring at Valery, who remained silent, merely listening. Having choked him, who knew when he might slap him next? He might beat him until he bled, and when he grew tired of it, call someone to deal with Asil’s unconscious body.

Asil’s defiant glare wavered violently, like a wooden plank shattered by a storm, when Valery reached out again and firmly grabbed his cheek.

“How long are you going to pretend you don’t know?”

“…”

“Well, to you, everything must feel like torture.”

Valery’s fingertips tickled Asil’s cheek. He leaned down, brushing back the hair covering Asil’s forehead. Starting with a light kiss on the exposed forehead, he continued with kisses on Asil’s wary eyes, twitching nose, and anxiously pursed lips.

“My very existence must be torture to you…”

“…”

“I’ll make it as painful as you’ve braced yourself for, Asil.”

Holding Asil’s cheeks, he kissed him again. Unlike the earlier tempestuous kiss, this one was precise, as if engraving something in Asil’s mouth. He pressed Asil down onto the torture chamber floor. Asil, lying with his head on the dirty, cold floor, stared in horror at Valery climbing over him.

“What…!”

Before he could flail his limbs, Valery untied his necktie and tightly bound Asil’s wrists. Effortlessly completing the restraint, Valery flipped Asil’s body over. Asil, his forehead thudding against the ground, kicked his legs wildly, ignoring the throbbing pain.

“Damn it, just…!”

“Just what.”

Valery repeated Asil’s words with a voice tinged with a faint laugh. Though it was clearly a laugh, Asil could feel his genuine anger through his skin. Valery laughed easily—whether angry, annoyed, bored, or fed up. A chuckle, a scoff, or a light laugh… Asil still vividly remembered the expressions Valery wore while laughing each time he resisted his unwanted touch.

Being beaten would have been better. The thought of enduring such treatment from Valery again made him want to die. Yes, this was the kind of person he was. If, over the past two years, Asil had only dreamed of confronting Valery’s true nature, would he have been spared these feelings? Why, damn it, did he feel an unexpected sense of betrayal at such an obvious act?

“Obvious, isn’t it? Just kill me, or beat me.”

“Don’t… do…”

“For whose sake… Who would benefit if I killed you?”

“Don’t do it!”

“You’re the only one who’d like that?”

Asil’s stripped pants and underwear fell beside his face with a thud. His exposed lower body began to tremble noticeably in the cool air. Valery, stroking the trembling skin with his palm, gripped Asil’s hips and lifted them. Asil squeezed his eyes shut. He expected Valery to raise his hand and mercilessly strike his buttocks and thighs. Having experienced such punishment before, Asil’s body remembered it. Breathing heavily and clenching his teeth to brace for the impending pain, he shut his eyes tightly. Instead of the anticipated beating, wet, hot lips rubbed against his buttocks.

Kissing the round, pale cheeks, Valery promptly spread them apart. As the forced pressure parted his buttocks, the suddenly exposed anus twitched with tension. Staring at the narrow crevice, Valery licked the hole with his broad tongue. Like an innocent child sucking candy or a feline grooming its fur, he persistently licked Asil’s hole, then let out a short laugh, as if amused by his own actions.

“Doing this, licking your back hole…”

“No, that, I don’t want…!”

“Tch, shh… Stay still.”

Valery, warning Asil in a low voice as he writhed to escape, licked the anus again. After licking until the hole glistened with saliva, he pursed his lips and pressed them against it. Sucking as if drawing out the flesh inside, he made embarrassing noises. No matter how much Asil clenched his anus, the sucking force was relentless. When Asil finally lost the strength to resist and relaxed his sphincter, the hole gaped, opening wide and slowly contracting.

“Haa…!”

Valery didn’t miss the chance. He thrust his thick tongue into the small opening, teasing the entrance and slowly exploring. Rubbing the round anal folds, he kept pushing his tongue in until the hole widened significantly. The hole, as if welcoming the writhing tongue and rough lips, opened limitlessly.

The sensation of his anus being stretched painlessly came with a chilling shiver. Asil scratched the cold floor with his nails, sobbing softly. A hot piece of flesh was persistently tickling the most private and filthy part of his body. Imagining the hole growing wet in real-time and the person licking and sucking it like a dog filled him with shame, tightening his lower abdomen.

Slurp, smack, huff. Unable to bear the sounds echoing in the confined space, Asil covered one ear with his bound hands. This only made the sensation of being sucked below more vivid. The fingers gripping and spreading his buttocks, the lips occasionally sliding to his perineum, the nose pressing painfully on his anus—his own panting breaths and pounding heartbeat were all too clear. Unable to endure it, Asil banged his forehead on the floor, letting out a whimper.

Satisfied with his goal, Valery slowly withdrew his lips and tongue, then thrust his thumb deep into the still-gaping hole. After sucking the hole that easily accepted his finger a few more times, he unfastened his pants, playfully moving his thumb in and out.

“No, I said no! Ah…”

“You’d cry about pain if I just thrust in.”

Teasing the hole with his thumb, he then slid three fingers together, piercing through in one go. Though wet and not too painful, the sudden intrusion into his rectum was unavoidably uncomfortable. Asil, unaware of the rough floor scraping his skin, crawled forward on his knees. Feeling the fingers slide out of his hole sent another shiver through him, as if he’d birthed something living from his anus.

“Where…!”

“Argh! Haa…!”

Valery grabbed Asil’s retreating ankle and yanked him back. The recoil drove the fingers back inside with a thud. Asil, feeling the sharp scrape in his hole, stammered and looked down. Behind his limp penis, a thick forearm with bulging veins moved rhythmically.

“When I thrust here like this, you loved it, didn’t you?”

“Hng, ugh… Ah, ah!”

“You’d make a mess below, going wild. Don’t you remember?”

“Argh, uaa…!”

How could he forget? It was a memory he couldn’t shake. When Valery pierced him at a terrifying speed, applying force with his fingertips and stirring, Asil’s waist, hips, and thighs would tremble uncontrollably. After relentless thrusting, Valery, complaining of a sore arm, would pull out his deeply embedded fingers in one go, and Asil would release a stream of milky fluid from his penis. Intending to wring Asil out again, Valery moved his wrist so roughly that his hand slapped against the perineum, making wet sounds. He deliberately rubbed the rectal walls, curling his fingers as if to pull something out. When he pulled his fingers out freely, the anal folds stung as if they might tear.

“Ugh… Ah, ah…”

Noticing his lower body responding with increasing intensity, Asil looked back at Valery with eyes rigid with excitement and fear. While fingering Asil’s hole with one hand, Valery, half-undressed with his suit pants crumpled below his thighs, was masturbating, gripping his penis and making slapping sounds.

“Want to… hff… see?”

“Hng…! Stop, stop!”

“Or are you eager to be penetrated quickly…”

Valery, rubbing his red, leaking shaft with his palm, looked into Asil’s wet eyes and laughed softly.

“Don’t cry.”

“Hng, haa… No, wait, just…”

“You’re even more enticing when you cry.”

You never listen. Murmuring in a voice laced with laughter, Valery pulled his fingers out. Shaking off his wet, fluid-covered hand carelessly, he leaned over Asil’s back. The glans, softly rubbing the gaping hole, pushed inside. Overwhelmed by an indescribable fullness, Asil grew increasingly terrified. His insides felt bloated, as if he’d eaten a large meal. The hole stretched so tightly it wouldn’t be surprising if it tore, and Valery, having thrust his glans to the deepest part of the rectum, whispered affectionately in Asil’s ear.

“Haha… Asil. You came again.”

He brought his hand forward, roughly handling Asil’s lower parts. Struggling to breathe with the penis lodged inside, Asil looked at his own penis, crumpled in Valery’s hand. Suspicious droplets dripped between the long, thick fingers. Valery gripped and squeezed the shaft and testicles painfully, but the fluid kept flowing.

“…Hff, feels good?”

“Haaa… Argh, ahn!”

“Feels good, huh!”

Asil, lying flat on the floor, took Valery’s thrusts. He entered roughly and quickly withdrew. The glans popped out of the hole. Tapping it against Asil’s buttocks a few times, Valery spread the entrance again and thrust inside.

“Argh, hng!”

Pinned under a thick, solid body, his hole stretched to its limit and relentlessly penetrated, Asil could neither escape nor avoid the overwhelming pleasure. All he could do was open his mouth wide to pant, let out shrill moans while sobbing, or beg Valery to kill him.

“Why would I kill you, huh?”

“Ah, hah, hng!”

Each time Valery pounded below, Asil’s calves flailed weakly. Valery pressed down on Asil’s hands, scratching the floor, and interlocked their fingers to stop the scratching. Mercilessly thrusting, he moved his hips as if to bruise the quivering insides.

“Hng, hah, aaa… Haa!”

Even as he intensified the thrusts, Valery listened to Asil’s gasping breaths. When he pressed the insides forcefully, Asil let out moans as if his breath would stop. Only hearing those sounds could quench the thirst within Valery. He lowered his head, sinking his teeth into the white nape. Leaving bite marks on the particularly delicate area around Asil’s neck, Valery smiled faintly.

“How much…”

Now, Asil, devoid of strength to resist or scream, lay like a corpse, swaying as Valery thrust. His legs, pressed under Valery’s thighs, paled, with only the toes twitching intermittently. Instinctively, Asil gripped the fingers covering his hand. Even a slight movement caused the necktie to dig painfully into his wrists. Asil wanted to rest. In that moment, Valery was neither someone he hated nor feared but an absolute being who could save or destroy him. Like a devout believer begging forgiveness from a god, Asil clung to Valery’s fingers as a lifeline, pleading.

“Stop, argh, hng! Haa, I want to stop… Hng…”

“Hff…”

“Argh, I’m sorry, I was wrong, ah…”

Asil turned his head to look at Valery, who dominated him. Was it the tears blurring his vision? He couldn’t see Valery’s face clearly or discern his expression. If he was human, wouldn’t he pity me? If I begged forgiveness, wouldn’t he stop? Asil thought dazedly.

His lower body felt like it had malfunctioned, utterly unraveled. The aggressive pleasure, as if eager to kill him, was exhausting. When Valery pounded the swollen prostate, fluid gushed from the penis crushed against the floor. His urethra stung, and his insides ached.

Everything was heavy and overwhelming. Feeling the deep, warm sensation of his rectum filling, Asil slowly closed his eyes. Soon, the weight on his back lightened. Asil felt a large, warm hand endlessly stroking his face, carefully lifting him, and tightly embracing him, before gradually losing consciousness.

Asil had never been to the imperial palace, but he thought no room could be more splendid than this one.

“Hng…”

The room, seemingly larger than the hall of an average mansion, was filled with opulent furniture. A glossy large wooden table, spotless glass windows, and cream-colored velvet curtains, difficult to maintain, partially covered the windows. Each time a cool breeze blew through the slightly open window, the cream curtains, embroidered with luxurious gold thread, swayed softly. The dark green couch was the size of a small bed, and the tea table in the corner looked like a delicate glass sculpture. Even the rack displaying sealed bottles of liquor was extraordinary. The room vividly showcased its owner’s prestige.

“Hah, ugh…!”

If asked to name the finest piece of furniture in the room, Asil would choose the bed he lay on. So soft that lying on it felt like sinking into water, Asil, lying there, stared at the brightly shining chandelier, swaying incessantly.

“Hng, hah! Ugh… Haaa!”

No matter how comfortable, if not used for sleep, the bed was no better than the torture chamber’s floor. Asil shakily raised his hands to grip the sheets. Perhaps because he’d been lying flat, his lower back ached unbearably. As he slightly arched his back to adjust, Valery pinned Asil’s arms above his head, immobilizing him.

“Why… What, hff, do you need?”

“Hng, ugh, my back… My back hurts too much! Ah!”

Before finishing his mumbled response, Valery thrust deep into the inner walls with force. Perhaps misaimed, the insertion was so violent that the thin skin of Asil’s abdomen visibly bulged. Logically, a penis couldn’t pierce organs—just cause a dull pain inside the peritoneum—but Asil wasn’t in a state to think rationally. A penis as thick as a forearm was savagely pounding his insides. Imagining the fist-sized glans piercing through his navel, Asil trembled with irrational fear.

Shuddering at the sensation of his insides being stirred, he half-sobbed, half-pleaded. Each time he moved his lips, “Please, plea…” spilled out in a pitiful voice.

“It’s hard… Ugh, hah… Argh!”

“Endure it.”

Covering Asil’s mouth with his hand, Valery lifted his hips, thrusting so forcefully that their skin slapped loudly. He drove in fiercely, scraping the inner walls, and pulled out rapidly without restraint. As he intensified the thrusts, sticky semen spilled from the junction. Having ejaculated deep inside multiple times, the semen flowed out along the penis’s surface, and Valery wiped it with his fingers, smearing it roughly on Asil’s chest.

“Your back hole’s loose again, hff…”

“Mm, hng, ugh, hng!”

“Gotta put in real effort…! Hurry, hah… Cum!”

“Mm, ghh!”

“That way this nonsense ends quickly…”

When Valery removed his hand, Asil’s wrists and mouth were instantly free. Suppressed moans burst out, and Asil reached out, tightly embracing Valery’s shoulders. As Valery said, he strained to clench below. A praising pat landed on his spasming hips.

“More.”

Commanding in a low growl, Valery prompted Asil to clench harder. Numb and barely registering sensation, Asil wasn’t sure if he was tightening properly. Blinking dazedly, he reached down, fumbling with his lower parts. A hot, thick column of flesh was lodged inside him. Rubbing around the hole with his fingers, the penis was fully embedded, leaving no gaps. What did he mean by loose…? It was gripping tightly.

“More, hng… More?”

“Yes, more.”

“Ugh, hah, argh… More?”

“Fff… Damn!”

Valery, suddenly cursing, wrapped his arm around Asil’s waist, ensuring his penis was fully engulfed. Lifting and shaking Asil’s limp body with arm strength alone, he savored every inch of the loosened hole, from the depths to the outer rim.

Each time the glans rolled, scraping the rectal walls, the arms around Valery’s shoulders tightened. He liked the object weakly scratching his back. The soft whimpers, occasional curses, and pleas for uncommitted sins were pleasing. Valery gripped Asil’s waist tightly and thrust one final time with a thud! With a piercing moan, Valery’s abdomen grew wet where Asil’s penis had been relentlessly crushed.

“Uaaa!”

Collapsing onto the bed like a marionette with cut strings, Asil panted heavily, curling his toes tightly. The lingering sensation from the penis slowly rubbing inside kept the arousal from subsiding. Only after Asil whimpered and thrashed did the heavy penis slowly withdraw.

The hefty penis, drooping then slowly regaining rigidity, grew larger again in Valery’s grip. Asil, shaking his head frantically, wept openly. He felt like he was going insane. Valery showed no signs of stopping, and Asil’s body was nearly a rag.

When he regained consciousness after fainting in the torture chamber, Asil was gently laid on the bed. His knees and palms, scraped from the rough stone floor, were bandaged, and he was dressed in clean loungewear. But from the moment Valery entered with a transparent water bottle, Asil was swept into the same acts as before, only in a different setting. When Asil resisted fiercely or regained clarity and thrashed, Valery tilted the bottle, forcing him to drink. Whatever drug it was, a few sips blurred his thoughts and easily aroused his body.

Now, Valery picked up a glass from the table, gulped it down, and smiled with wet lips. Asil wasn’t the only one taking the drug. Valery’s pupils were dilated, intoxicated. Spreading an almost ticklishly tender smile, he lightly choked Asil’s throat, forcing his mouth open.

“Ghh, hah… Guh!”

Asil thrashed while forcibly swallowing the water. He was out of his mind. They’d been at it for a full day. He hadn’t eaten properly or slept. Valery wouldn’t let him go, refusing to release him. As if only satisfied by constantly holding some part of him, Valery now stroked Asil’s cheek, gripped his wrist, or clutched his hair, kissing his neck.

“No… Stop, please!”

Barely rousing his fading consciousness, Asil jolted upright as hands spread his hips. He wanted it to end. He wanted to collapse into sleep. All he desired was to tend to his body, utterly exhausted from relentless intercourse.

Kneeling on the bed, facing Valery, Asil reached out and tightly embraced his neck. Valery liked it when Asil, weakened and sobbing, clung to him or acted spoiled. Even when thrusting aggressively, if Asil hugged his back and rubbed his forehead on his shoulder, Valery’s movements softened. Realizing this after repeated intercourse, Asil fiddled with Valery’s hair, sniffling.

“It’s too… hard… Colonel…”

“…”

“Valery, Lord Valery. Stop, please stop for today.”

“…Tomorrow?”

“…What?”

“Will you stay here obediently tomorrow?”

Burying his face in Valery’s shoulder, Asil couldn’t see his expression as he asked. Hearing the whispered voice teasing his earlobe, Asil wondered if the person he was embracing was truly Valery. He lifted his head, pulling away from their close contact.

“Uh…”

“Hm?”

Tilting his head and asking again, it was unmistakably Valery—his face, his voice. His dark blonde hair, disheveled from intercourse, his bright eyes never straying from Asil, his subtly flushed cheeks—but that expression…

“…Yes.”

Hearing Asil’s reply, Valery, with drug-hazed eyes, smiled broadly. Asil saw the pretty lips curve upward, dimpling his cheeks, revealing gleaming white teeth, raised cheekbones, and joyfully squinted eyes.

Asil quickly averted his gaze. This didn’t seem like the Valery he’d known for years. Valery’s smiles were more habitual than emotional, but he had never smiled so happily and contentedly.

He couldn’t leave anyway. There was no escape. He wasn’t prepared to flee again. Asil’s response was little more than resignation to the situation. Valery should know that, yet he wore an expression as if Asil had chosen to stay of his own will. Staring blankly at Valery, Asil opened his mouth slightly. I’m not staying because I like this lavish room or want to be with you. I’m just too exhausted to run again, to live in fear of being chased and caught.

“Alright, Asil.”

“…”

“Asil…”

Asil closed his eyes tightly, refusing to look at Valery, who pulled him close and kissed him. In the end, Asil couldn’t voice the words he’d muttered inwardly. It wasn’t fear of Valery. That made him feel strangely about himself.

Barely having fallen asleep, Asil was roused by an uncomfortable sensation breaking his deep slumber. Unable to immediately pinpoint the discomfort, he tapped the pillow futilely. Soon, he sensed Valery, asleep with his arms around Asil’s waist and face buried in his back, and slowly turned around. The heavy weight of the arm pressing on him was an issue, but the hot breath tickling his back was also subtly irritating. Twisting his hips to shake Valery off, Asil let out a low groan, “Ugh!” and furrowed his brow.

“What…”

A sharp pain shot through his lower body, and the stretched hole twitched. Pale-faced, Asil reached down. Parting his buttocks, he felt the base of a penis firmly lodged in his hole. Valery was asleep with his penis, except for the testicles and root, stuffed inside Asil’s hole.

Damn… Asil muttered a curse under his breath, pushing Valery’s thigh outward. Pulling his hips forward to extract the penis, the flesh caught in the hole made squelching sounds. Semen pooled in his rectum flowed out, wetting his perineum. As the penis fully withdrew and fell onto the sheets, a gush of white semen poured from the gaping hole.

“Damn, ugh… Really.”

Clearing his dry throat, Asil sighed. Worried something might be broken, he gingerly touched below. Though swollen, the hole was slowly closing.

Rubbing his throat, he shakily got out of bed. He feared Valery, awakening, would resume intercourse. Muffling his footsteps, Asil headed to the attached bathroom. Each step caused semen to leak out, an unbearable sensation. Even slightly relaxing his anus felt like urinating from it. Continuing to sleep in this state would be impossible.

As Asil approached the sink and looked into the mirror, the bathroom door slammed open with a bang! Startled by the sudden noise, Asil whipped around.

“…Colonel?”

Meeting Valery’s eyes as he gripped the doorframe, Asil called out dazedly. His face, languid as if just woken, still scanned Asil’s body sharply.

“What are you doing here?”

“What else do you do in a bathroom?”

“…”

“I was going to wash up.”

“At this hour?”

“It’s sticky… Should I not wash?”

Asil glanced at the semen trailing down his inner thigh to his ankle, then asked Valery. Though his tone sounded polite, Asil was being sarcastic. Valery stared for a long time, assessing if Asil was lying or up to something, before realizing he was truly just there to wash. Turning away, his face briefly looked sheepish. Thinking he’d misseen, Asil filled the bathtub.

Bang! The door opened again.

“Let’s wash together.”

As if he’d never been sheepish, Valery approached with his usual sly smile. Glancing at his already erect penis, Asil regretted leaving the bed, even if it meant sleeping with Valery’s penis inside him until morning.

The intercourse continued countless times. Eventually, it became impossible to track how many times or days. The long hours of physical intimacy melded like kneaded dough, indistinguishable. His body was exhausted, and his memories were fragmented, as if chunks had been carved out—likely a side effect of the drugs Valery intermittently fed him. There were moments of clarity, but in retrospect, everything was hazy. Yet, Valery’s final words, even now with full lucidity, remained vivid.

‘Do what you’ve always done. What you’re good at… Staying by my side, pleasing me.’

After wasting days like this, Asil realized why Valery had drugged him. While rolling in bed with him, Asil missed the chance to escape. He couldn’t secretly meet Kana to plan a getaway or understand what had happened. He was merely swayed helplessly, his budding resolve crushed repeatedly by words akin to brainwashing. Having learned resignation again, Asil thought everything was futile.

Blinking sleepily, Asil stared at the ceiling. Raising his trembling arm to cover his eyes, the bright, sunlit room darkened instantly. He took a deep breath. Inhaling deeply and exhaling thinly calmed his anxious heart slightly.

What now? Valery hadn’t killed him and didn’t seem to intend to. Would Asil have to stay by his side like this? He suddenly recalled advice Kaine had given.

‘Only about six months until Lord Valery graduates. Don’t ruin yourself resisting pointlessly—just endure for six months. He’s not someone who fixates on one thing for long anyway…’

Asil had taken comfort in those words. At most a few months, he’d reassured himself. Once Valery graduated and left for the frontier or elsewhere to live his life, everything would return to normal. He’d even been grateful to Kaine for saying it.

Now, there was no such timeline. Two years ago, he’d hoped Valery’s graduation would free him, but now… Would he let Asil go? If so, when? This was a man who’d chased him relentlessly for two years. Using the media for a ridiculous ruse and luring Asil to the capital—it was all Valery. Asil grew more curious about whether Valery even intended to let him go than when he might, and why he wouldn’t.

With his eyes closed, exhaling, Asil heard the door open cautiously. It wasn’t Valery. He’d barge in loudly, disturbing Asil’s rest. Lowering his arm and opening his eyes slightly, Asil saw a figure in a dress heading toward the tea table in the corner. Long blonde hair swayed with each step of the slender body. She handled the tea set, brewing tea slowly. Her movements were natural. Perhaps the claim of being a lady sponsored by Valery wasn’t a lie—she moved as if accustomed to the room. Kana.

“Why… are you here?”

Clearing his hoarse throat and asking abruptly, the figure brewing tea froze. Thinking Asil was asleep, she’d moved quietly, but her hands now clinked as she lifted a teacup.

“Why are you here?”

“…I thought we should talk.”

“Now?”

Kana, carrying the teacup toward Asil’s bed, hesitated. Asil had never spoken so coldly. To Kana, he’d always been gentle and kind. Even when their father turned the household upside down with outrageous actions, Asil had raised his voice in anger but never spoken in such a small, frigid tone.

“Did you know?”

“…”

Kana blankly faced Asil, who sat upright. The blanket covering his chest slid to his hips. His pale skin was covered in bite marks, too stark to look at calmly, and his chest was scratched as if clawed. Kana quickly turned her head, avoiding Asil. Her trembling hands couldn’t hold the teacup steady.

“I’m asking if you knew.”

“…”

“What… Why did you…”

Though it was a matter undertaken with full knowledge and resolve, the sight of his own flesh and blood, witnessed with his own eyes, was far more broken than anything Kana had imagined. Kana placed the cold teacup on the bedside table and cautiously touched Asil’s shoulder as he sat with his head bowed. She expected him to shrug off her gentle touch, but Asil remained still, his face buried in his hands, even as Kana, unable to hold back, tightly embraced him.

It wasn’t that Kana wanted to betray Asil. Everything had started by chance. After being shot and carried on horseback, wandering an unknown path, she lost consciousness. When she came to, Kana found herself in a shabby cabin. The person who saved her was a young man living alone in the cabin, who introduced himself as Lexian. Stripped of his noble status, Lexian’s family had been scattered. Kana, too, had been abruptly separated from her family overnight. In that small room, with a kind person who saved her life and a shared plight, it was perhaps inevitable that the two fell in love. Up to this point, it was undoubtedly chance.

Kana and Lexian wanted to build a new family. They dreamed of moving forward together, free from the past. They promised to marry, but the old, cramped cabin seemed unsuitable for starting a household. Lexian wanted respectable work, and for that, he said they needed to head to the capital, Marknae. Kana agreed with the proposal. Going to Marknae would make it easier to find news of Asil and locate other family members.

The empire, fresh from war, was in disarray, and the densely populated capital was even more chaotic and unstable. Despite the circumstances, Lexian found work and went out steadily, while Kana searched tirelessly for her family. She even visited the military academy to inquire about Asil’s whereabouts, but the responses were vague. The only certainty was that Asil was not in the capital.

Where, then, had he gone? Kana had a feeling he might have taken care of the remaining family and settled somewhere new. It was a kind of premonition, a spiritual signal shared among blood kin.

…No. In truth, Kana wanted to let it all go. She wanted to be free from the Richard name. She gave up searching for Asil easily. She could have tried harder. Not just for Asil, but for her father and younger siblings, she could have run around more. But Kana no longer wanted to do anything for the Richards. She didn’t want to live bound to that name anymore.

She didn’t want to live tending to her increasingly deranged father and siblings who stayed in the mansion, always looking to her, unable to leave like Asil. Asil had lived to one day escape the mansion, but Kana had never held any options other than staying. She had never even been given a chance.

There were many orphans. It was a sad reality, but one to overcome. Hadn’t she already met someone to form a new family with? She wasn’t young enough to collapse easily. Kana gradually stabilized, finding work like Lexian and engaging in society. Meeting people, talking, and laughing made thoughts of her family fade. Yes, they must be doing well somewhere. Sometimes, when she rationalized like this, she was astonished by her own hypocrisy, but nothing changed. Up to this point, it was still chance.

But the day Valery visited the small bakery where Kana worked… From then on, everything became inevitable.

“Do you remember me?”

How could she forget?

“Have you found your family?”

“…Pardon?”

“Asil. I’m asking if you’ve found Asil.”

Valery, suddenly appearing and inquiring about Asil’s whereabouts, looked extremely agitated. When Kana, flustered, couldn’t respond immediately and only moved her lips, he furrowed his brow fiercely and asked again. The tension in his jaw was evident with each word, and Kana, stammering, had no choice but to spill everything she knew.

“I don’t know. I tried to find him, but… Do you, by any chance, know anything about my brother?”

Upon hearing her response, Valery let out a suppressed sigh, like someone trying to swallow a hard, unyielding lump that choked him, and pressed his temple. As if suffering a throbbing headache, he pressed his head firmly, then looked at Kana with narrowed eyes. He scanned her face, her clothes, and Lexian, who had arrived at the bakery earlier than usual to pick her up, before letting out an ambiguous “Hmm.”

With that, Valery turned without lingering and left the bakery. Kana saw him again less than a month later.

“Please, help us. I know it’s shameless, but I have no one else to turn to. Lexian isn’t that kind of person.”

Lexian had been arrested. His family’s past had suddenly become an issue. Kana couldn’t understand why a punishment—stripping his title and confiscating his estate and mansion—was being revisited over a decade later. It wasn’t even Lexian’s crime. Why were they holding her lover accountable for his grandfather’s sins?

To escape what was essentially an unjust imprisonment, they needed an exceptional lawyer, strong backing, and a lot of money. Kana had none of these. The only people she knew in the capital were her bakery colleagues, all of whom lived day to day. There wasn’t time to seek help from her uncle in Nian. According to Lexian’s letter, the punishment being discussed was beyond imagination. Though unlikely, if Lexian faced execution… Kana wanted to get him out of the filthy, crude prison as soon as possible.

Valery had a history of helping her family. Though no one had told her, Kana had figured out who had settled their family’s debts overnight. He had cleared a substantial debt without asking for anything in return. Moreover, since he was still searching for Asil, showing care for her kin, couldn’t she ask for this much help? He was a powerful figure in the empire. If Valery said a single word, Lexian could be released unharmed.

“Hey.”

“Yes, yes.”

“If I help you… how will you help me?”

Valery slowly bent down toward Kana, who was kneeling at his feet, pleading. Kana nodded repeatedly, shouting that she’d do anything if he helped. Even if it meant repaying a loan over years or being used like a servant during that time, Kana was confident she could do it. Valery stared intently at her desperate nodding, let out a scoff, and whispered quietly.

“What do you think I’ll ask of you?”

“…Pardon?”

“If I told you to betray your brother, could you do it?”

“…What are you saying…”

“I’m telling you to choose. Between your lover and your kin.”

It was the first choice Kana had made for herself in her life. And Valery was excessively pleased to hear her choose to forsake her kin. Facing his satisfied smile, Kana became certain. The arrest of Lexian, Asil’s departure from the military academy—all of it stemmed from Valery. At the same time, a question arose. Why was he going to such lengths to find Asil?

“…You’re not planning to kill him, are you?”

Muttering unwittingly as her face paled, Kana prompted another chuckle from Valery.

“Why, would that change anything?”

“…”

“Don’t worry. Asil…”

At that point, Valery lifted his gaze from Kana to stare blankly out the window. After a long pause, he murmured something in a voice so soft it was barely audible unless one strained to hear.

“I won’t ever kill him.”

It was a kind of vow. A resolve uttered after repeated agonizing, weighing, calculating, and deliberating.

Having finished her explanation, Kana tightly embraced Asil’s bare back before slowly pulling away. She didn’t seek his understanding or beg for forgiveness. As if bidding a final farewell, she stroked Asil’s hair once and remained silent for a while. Then she turned and walked toward the door. She sobbed softly but never looked back.

“It’s okay.”

Asil finally murmured toward Kana. In truth, it wasn’t okay at all. Betrayal left his heart cold. He wanted to unleash his surging emotions, to cry out how she could do this, but Asil pressed his lips together and murmured again, “It’s okay.”

What could he demand from a sister who now wanted to find happiness? She had endured as much as he had while growing up. When Asil took on burdens and left, Kana stayed behind, tending to the ruins. Neither could claim a more unhappy life. If someone could find happiness, they should pursue it. There was no need to cling to each other, sharing misery and acting pitifully forever. Kana had found her answer, and all she needed was to break free from what bound her.

When Kana had completely left the room, Asil realized he had been abandoned once again. Clutching the blanket tightly and biting his lip, he couldn’t ignore the cruel intent behind Valery’s act of bringing Kana here to confront him. Valery still knew all too well how to make Asil submit.