The One and Only Sami Chapter 44

“Haah…”

Sami exhaled a long sigh, burying his face deep into the thick, fluffy mane of Akum, the white lion. As his breath tickled the fur, the ears of Ratun, the black leopard sitting regally in front of him, gave a sharp twitch.

“No, no. Ratun. It’s nothing.”

Sami spoke in a soothing tone, gently stroking the leopard’s ears. The low, rumbling purr of the great beast gradually subsided.

To think that leaning against a lion’s mane and petting a leopard’s face with both hands would become his daily routine… it was something he never would have imagined, not even in his wildest dreams.

“I really didn’t think we’d become such good mates.”

Not long ago, he had been trembling in terror at the mere sight of these predators. But after being pushed onto their backs by Razard’s antics and having his face thoroughly licked, he’d shed every ounce of fear he had. Now, they were on completely comfortable terms.

‘Your master is truly a piece of work.’

Since Razard rarely gave him the chance to speak with other people, Sami had taken to using these two beasts as his confidants. He’d grown quite used to this habit of talking to himself, often muttering under his breath while looking the lion and leopard straight in the eye.

As this became a pattern, affection began to seep in. The fact that Ratun and Akum were so devoted to Sami only accelerated the bond. Whether it was a case of one “pet” recognizing another, he couldn’t say…

Regardless, even if they were tamed, these haughty predators were supposed to submit only to Harut. Yet, in front of Sami, they rubbed their cheeks against him like well-behaved house cats.

Was it because they spent so much time together that Razard’s scent had rubbed off on him? Sami pulled his sleeve to his nose and took a sniff.

The simple, humble scent he once had was gone. Instead, he first caught the aroma of the expensive oils applied to his skin, followed by the sweet fragrance that constantly wafted through the bedroom.

If he concentrated on the scent, he could detect a crisp yet heavy aroma that reminded him of Razard.

Crisp yet heavy. It was a strange contradiction, but that was exactly how it felt.

“Hmm…”

As he pressed his nose to the back of his hand and inhaled, a tingle shot down the back of his neck. Lately, he’d been feeling a bit dazed, as if he were wrapped in a thick fog. Every time he woke up, his head felt dull and his limbs often felt prickly.

The other day, his chest had throbbed so sharply that he’d let out a strange groan just from the fabric of his shirt brushing against him.

When he’d pulled back his collar, his nipples had been strangely flushed and erect. He had tried to soothe them by blowing cool air on his chest, but his body had only bucked at the sensation. It was incredibly embarrassing and foolish.

He was truly, deeply glad that Razard hadn’t caught him in that moment.

“Haah…”

Lately, it felt as though his very skin was buzzing. He wasn’t exactly sweating, but he felt somewhat… sticky, and everything felt different than before. Perhaps as his constitution changed, the scents clinging to his skin had become even more complex and intertwined.

“…There are too many smells mixed together; I can’t tell.”

Are you guys okay with a big lump of perfume like me? Sami whispered, burying himself once more into Akum’s mane and upper body. He liked the silky texture of the well-groomed beast’s fur.

“…”

For once, the bedroom was very quiet.

The bed, already vast, felt even larger without Razard in it. Sitting as if reclining on the mattress—which easily accommodated two giant beasts—he gazed at the view outside the bedroom window.

The rounded mosque domes glittered, soaking up the sunlight. Beyond the towers, flat, square houses peeked out.

Until just a month ago, Sami had been someone who walked the streets filled with houses like those.

If he closed his eyes and stayed still, he could almost hear the bustling noise of the streets. Every morning, he still felt as though he should be picking up a broom to sweep the front door or heading out to the marketplace on an errand for the head servant.

‘You have to watch long enough for the stories to stick to your tongue.’

That’s right. He had promised to tell Hibi all about the banquet. In the end, he hadn’t been able to leave the palace since that night.

“I wonder if everyone is doing well…”

Ah, he should have kept that thought to himself. Since he’d gotten so used to talking out loud, the words had slipped out before he realized it.

He tried not to think about it consciously. But when he sat idly like this, the memories just surfaced.

He remembered the time he was prepping ingredients for the soup in the kitchen and started the fire wrong, ending up with his face covered in soot. He could still clearly hear the scolding of the head servant, Harna, who always warned him whenever he climbed up on a high windowsill to look at the view.

“…”

He even missed the sound of Kamil’s snoring from the room next door.

He could clearly picture the room of his young master, Antar, which stayed lit long into the night at the Salif estate, even behind his closed eyelids.

He was always such a kind man. Sami wondered if he was doing alright.

And he wanted to tell his own story. He wanted to let him know that even though he was caught up in Razard’s whims, he was being treated well—far better than he deserved.

But that was nothing more than a wish.

‘Put aside your longing for your old master for the time being. I’m a very jealous man.’

Ever since Razard had said that on the night of the banquet, Sami hadn’t asked about Antar even once.

If he had known that parting would be their last, he would have at least said a proper goodbye.

“Haah…”

Thinking about it more would only make his heart race and sway.

Sami slowly lifted the eyelids he’d been keeping shut. Everything was silent except for the rhythmic rising and falling of the beasts’ chests. The sky, visible through the arched window, was perfectly clear.

The bedroom was so quiet without Razard.

I have some business to attend to. His smiling face had looked no different than usual. Razard, ending his sentence in a tone that was actually more matter-of-fact than usual, had left Sami in this bedroom and vanished.

This was the time when Razard’s hands, which were always stuck to him and fiddling with him, were finally gone. It was a bit of “me-time” for Sami that happened about once every three days.

Sure, in front of Sami, he wasn’t a Djinn or a Mage, just a slightly strange, messy, and wicked playboy. But he was the undisputed ruler of this country and the master of every oasis in the desert.

As the great Harut, a man with a keen eye for people, he knew how to grind talent into the right places at the right time, and he was the type who would listen to the screams of those ground into dust. To put it simply, while he might live a life of indulgence, he never missed a word of his subordinates’ loyal advice.

Right now, he was off to listen to the voices of his “pulverized” subordinates. Only during those times did he leave Sami alone in this room. He’d told him he’d be back soon and to stay put. It was obviously a joke. Where could Sami possibly go without Razard?

“You have your own work to do, and yet you’ve taken mine away.”

Sami rubbed the fur of Ratun’s mane between his thumb and forefinger before biting his lip.

“A truly greedy master, isn’t he?”

Sami sat bolt upright on the extravagant bed, where shimmering gold tassels hung densely around the mattress cover.

“But this time, I actually have something to do.”

Previously, he’d spent his time quietly and out of boredom, but Harut’s pet human was, unfortunately, the type who got restless if he wasn’t doing something.

You’d think that having become the favorite pet of the ruler, he’d be happy to just eat what he was given, drink what he was given, and lounge around doing nothing. But such luxurious idleness didn’t suit Sami’s personality at all.

For a workaholic who only felt at peace when he was scrubbing the floor with a rag, lying around passing the time was more like torture.

Above all, his body felt stiff. When he sat idly, his hand would instinctively drift toward his chest, which always left him feeling mortified.

Lately, that sense of wrongness had become too strong to ignore. Recently, if he let his mind wander for even a second, he’d find himself lifting his index finger to absentmindedly rub his own chest.

“Ugh…”

Even now, just thinking about it made his chest feel tingly.

If this kept up, he’d end up spending all his time in the bedroom just fiddling with himself while Razard was gone.

It was a horrifying thought. His attempt to refresh his mind with a different task was also an effort to distract himself from his strangely altered body.

Sami hopped off the bed and pulled out the cleaning kit Razard had provided.

He opened the magnificent porcelain box and took out a duster made of precious bird feathers woven with gold, and a rag embroidered with double-layered arabesque patterns. Every single item was so beautiful, intricate, and decadent that he wondered if it was even okay to call them “cleaning tools.”

The impression Sami had when he first received them wasn’t much different from what anyone else would have thought.

‘He’s making fun of me, isn’t he?’