Damn! Damn! Chapter 39

I didn’t think his tastes would be ordinary, but once again, the man lightly surpassed his expectations.

…Fuck.

As a scene he didn’t want to imagine drew itself in his mind, Achim squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head back and forth.

“Yvonne?”

Only then did Achim shake off his stray thoughts after unintentionally reviewing a scene he hadn’t wanted to recall.

He was about to force the corners of his lips up when, suddenly, Nils’s gaze shifted behind him.

The moment Achim tried to turn around after noticing Nils’s face grow subtly rigid—unlike just a moment ago—something softly landed on his right shoulder along with a familiar, sweet scent.

“I found you.”

“…!”

Achim whipped his head up at the low voice that followed.

“What were you doing here?”

He definitely hadn’t been here when Achim glanced around earlier. There was no telling where on earth he had popped out from. Is this bastard really a ghost? Achim even had such an absurd thought at his sudden appearance.

While Achim stammered in shock, the man’s gaze slid over and landed on Nils.

“Ah, h-hello, sir.”

Only after making eye contact did Nils belatedly bow deeply from his waist. As he straightened his waist and made eye contact with Michael again, Nils involuntarily lowered his eyes. For some reason, the face of Michael staring intently at him without a word felt different than usual.

Because the man, who wasn’t accepting his greeting or wearing a gentle smile like usual, felt endlessly foreign, Nils subtly checked his demeanor.

“Nils Koch.”

“Yes, Mr. Michael.”

It was right when the lips of Michael, who was staring fixedly at Nils, were about to part again.

“The scarf.”

“…”

“…”

Achim, who hadn’t taken his eyes off him the entire time, threw the words out as if stealing his turn. At that, two pairs of gazes shifted toward Achim. The scarf? Both Michael and Nils seemed to ask.

Achim, who had just recklessly thrown words out as they came to mind, broke into a sweat at the suddenly focused attention, before placing more words on top of it.

“Uh… everyone was curious about it, maybe because it looks expensive.”

“I was telling him the brand.” As Achim added the words, the faces of the two men changed differently.

Nils knitted his brows as if asking why he was making up stories out of nowhere, while Michael curved the corners of his eyes as if intrigued.

It was a relief he had exchanged words with Anna Börner the day before. It was a mystery whether a guy who was already full of suspicion would believe his words at face value, but for now, this was his best bet.

If he had told the truth—that the person who mentioned the pheromone shower last night was a guard he saw for the first time, and that Nils was just worrying about him—he had a strong premonition that something bad might happen for some reason.

The fact that the man knew Nils’s name out of hundreds of servants was proof of that. A guy who didn’t even know the name of a kid hired through a special scout from a facility he ran, knew a guard’s name? It was truly nothing short of suspicious.

Hoping that Nils wouldn’t add any unnecessary words, Achim did his best to control his expression.

“Yvonne.”

Nils rubbed the back of his head, looked back and forth between Michael and Achim once, and parted his lips.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not curious about the scarf.”

At those words, Achim slowly lifted his wide-open eyes.

Nils made eye contact with Achim, before shifting his gaze next to him as he added, “I was asking because I was worried about Yvonne’s health.”

“…”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

At the question asked while looking back at him, Achim actually felt murderous intent toward Nils, whose safety he had been worrying about until just a second ago.

Fuck, Nils…

Achim pressed a hand to his forehead inwardly out of complicated feelings. He had done his best to save him, but he didn’t expect the mate to throw away his own lifeline with his own hands. Resentment and worry toward Nils instantly jumbled together in his mind.

“Hmm…”

Michael let out a low hum. At that, Achim naturally couldn’t help but tense up. He felt like he could tell his mood just by hearing his breathing now.

Damn it. Achim swore inwardly. Following a low sigh, the hand resting on his shoulder slithered down and swept near his collarbone. It was precisely around the area where his bite mark would remain.

He was expressing very blatantly, with his entire body, that his mood was foul. Because of that, Achim had to make a quick judgment.

I have to get him far away from Nils.

With that thought alone dominating his mind, Achim grabbed a tight hold of the hem of Michael’s suit jacket.

“…”

“…”

“…”

He had grabbed it out of sheer urgency, but he didn’t know what to say. On top of that, as their gazes gathered on him, it felt like sweat was pouring down.

With his head slightly lowered and his eyes rolling around, Achim subtly tugged at the suit jacket held in his fingertips.

“…You said you were looking for me.”

Achim spat the words out in a whisper, before cautiously lifting his eyes as if begging for permission.

“Can’t we… go?”

Somehow, it ended up sounding like a whine. Not wanting to imagine what he looked like, Achim covered his eyes inwardly.

Right now, he felt like he wanted to just pass out, exactly like a few days ago. Damn it. Damn it. Achim shuddered at the image of himself that came to mind while dropping his head again.

“…”

“…”

Surprisingly, however, Michael’s movements came to a dead halt.

Achim slowly raised his head. Don’t tell me he’s going to hit me.

As Achim made a plausible guess and cautiously made eye contact again, Michael rubbed his mouth with his large hand as if covering it.

He peered closer, wondering if the man was gagging, but the corners of Michael’s eyes were long and curved as if he was smiling brightly. Moreover, the gaze looking down at him was quite deeply affectionate, making him feel strange.

“…”

…This actually works?

His unique taste seemed to stand out regardless of the field. Of course, it was something to be grateful for, but at this point, it was starting to get a bit scary.

Does this bastard really like Yvonne that much?

He wanted to tell him that they were in a relationship that could never be, but it was an impossible task. The reality of Yvonne was that he was a man, and a thief whose sole purpose was to complete the mission and escape this place safely.

Well, it was a bit pitiful for a guy who would lose Yvonne someday, but what could he do? Wishing for him to pull his feelings together well when that time came was the maximum amount of comfort he could offer.

Though either way, it had nothing to do with him.

Contrary to his inner thoughts, Achim tugged at Michael’s suit once more.

“Let’s go, Miha—”

At that moment, Achim’s body violently tilted.

Achim leaned his body against him to support his instantly tilting frame. At the same time, a fragrant body scent rushed in as if pouncing, and separate from being flustered, Achim took a deep breath out of habit.

Michael buried his lips against the shell of Achim’s ear while practically embracing him, and whispered, “Alright.”

“Let’s go.” Because a light breeze slipped into his ear as a result of the man letting out a laugh at the end of his words, Achim’s shoulders shuddered. Then, after chewing him out inwardly as if pretending he hadn’t secretly inhaled his scent just now, he let go of the hem of the suit jacket he had been holding like a hostage.

The face of Nils that he saw again after tidying up his outfit looked like a face that had chewed through all the worries of the world.

Looking at that face, a scene suddenly crossed his mind.

…Come to think of it, that mate had shown interest in Yvonne too.

He had completely forgotten about it because his mind had been consumed by Michael all this time. Only then did Achim realize the reason why Nils had spat out unnecessary words without knowing how precious his life was.

It was something to be grateful for that he worried about his health, but…

Should I tell him that I’m dating this guy? Right around when Achim was pondering if that would be less bothersome—

As long, straight fingers gently swept his neck as if shaking off his stray thoughts, Achim flinched and lifted his head.

“Ah, and this…”

The face of Michael looking down from a diagonal angle wore an extremely amused expression. At that, it was a natural process for anxiety to sprout inside Achim as well.

As he stared at the face that looked elaborately sculpted, the lips that had been briefly closed parted.

“It won’t hurt.”

“Right?” Michael asked tenderly, as if shifting his gaze away from Nils. And the face smiling brightly seemed to force agreement. The probability of that was extremely high. Didn’t that shameless face look no different from a gangster demanding money with a gun…?