Struggle Chapter 44

Taerok spoke as if nothing had happened at all. Nanyoung nodded his head weakly. Judging by his tone, his anger had subsided and it seemed it was truly about to end now. Just as relief was about to set in… Taerok’s hand approached. It was not the hand that had been touching Nanyoung’s member, but his dry hand. It covered Nanyoung’s forehead, damp with sweat, generously enough to blindfold his eyes.

“Uncle…?”

His vision blocked, Nanyoung called out to Taerok in an uneasy voice.

Taerok used his remaining hand to loosen his waist ties. He took hold of his undergarment inside the waistband, which he had unfastened with the hand still stained with Nanyoung’s seed. He grabbed his own length roughly and stroked it carelessly.

“U-Uncle….”

With his eyes covered, Nanyoung’s hearing had become more sensitive than usual—so much so that he could even hear the sound of his own heart pounding. But the sounds that pierced Nanyoung more than that were the sounds—tup, tuk—and the quickening breath.

Taerok was… masturbating, leaving him out of it.

Having just undergone one experience, Nanyoung’s knowledge had become far more detailed and dense than before. Though there were still many gaps to fill, he could at least tell that the sounds were the same as those made by Taerok’s hand between his own legs.

He is looking at me.

Even though he could not see, he could feel it completely. A gaze was thoroughly groping every inch of him.

“Haah, ha….”

Nanyoung’s breath began to grow ragged again.

Taerok watched Nanyoung, whose nose tip and lips were barely visible, and gripped his own member even harder. Nanyoung had a narrow pelvis and a frame that was very small compared to his own. He gauged with his eyes how deep it would go if he inserted himself. Then, as if unable to endure that fleeting downward glance, he raised his eyes again and stared at Nanyoung’s parted lips, breathing in shallow, shrill gasps—se-aek, se-aek.

“U-Uncle….”

Nanyoung’s voice was more lewd than when he himself had touched him. Was he growing excited in turn by the fact that his uncle was aroused, masturbating while watching him? This… innocently lascivious. Taerok gave a sneer.

But even when Nanyoung called for him, Taerok gave no reply whatsoever. He was making him feel as if he were a stranger. More unfamiliar than ever, so that he would realize he was an entirely different being. Yet so that he could feel that this was more like the true Lee Taerok than any other side he had ever seen.

Taerok’s hand grew faster and faster, and the strength of his grip grew stronger. It was to the point of being somewhat painful. He begrudged even the time it took to close his eyes, watching Nanyoung tenaciously. He had never experienced this kind of excitement before. It was purely rational and intensely carnal. Even beasts do not mate with their own blood. Their own blood—they had not mated yet. How many vile things were there in the world, that merely entwining tongues should cause such a fuss? Along with sophistry, Taerok was reaching his climax.

“Hu… mm….”

Taerok, who had only been letting out quiet, ragged breaths, let out a low moan. No, it was less a moan than something expelled, something snarled.

Taerok ejaculated between Nanyoung’s spread thighs. Even as he came, mingling Nanyoung’s seed with his own and staining the shaft a cloudy white, he continued to stroke. Every time the seed, thicker in consistency and greater in volume than Nanyoung’s, dripped down—thuk, thuk—Nanyoung flinched and trembled. As if it were the hot oil from the lamp falling upon him.

“…”

Nanyoung was holding his breath. Even as his chest rose and fell rapidly.

After finishing his lengthy ejaculation, Taerok tidied his trouser fastenings with his soiled hand. He tucked his still-hard cock away and loosely tied the strings. Only then did he remove the hand covering Nanyoung’s face.

“…”

Nanyoung, half of his face flushed, was looking at him with damp eyes. Taerok remained just as he was, kneeling between Nanyoung’s legs, and Nanyoung showed no sign of getting up.

Say something… Uncle.

The child who had been loved urged him with his eyes. Taerok scoffed at that gaze which demanded so naturally. But it did not displease him.

“Once day breaks, I will send someone to the Commander-General’s villa.”

Though he had not yet even wiped away the seed that had fallen on Nanyoung’s groin and stomach, though his clothes were still unfastened, Taerok spoke as if nothing had happened at all.

“I must also call a physician to see to your wrist, and since a fever seems likely to rise soon, you will rest here. There is no need to go to the Commander-General’s villa. Your luggage and your eunuchs will be brought here, so…”

“Uncle.”

“All you need to do, dear nephew, is rest here without going out.”

“Uncle…!”

“Lee Nanyoung.”

Taerok looked down at Nanyoung with a domineering posture. Nanyoung bit down hard on his lip. He propped himself up on his elbow with the arm that was not injured and raised his upper body obliquely. Just that alone made his whole body tremble. He was beginning to hurt. A familiar sensation of heat was rising.

“Listen to your uncle.”

“…”

“If you did such a thing with the Commander-General’s son and got caught by me, then you should have been prepared for this.”

“Prepared for this?”

Even in the midst of his exhaustion and deterioration, Nanyoung asked back.

“What kind of preparation? Preparation to be confined to your villa, Uncle? Or… or…”

Though he had begun the words spiritedly, seeing him unable to finish them, Taerok smiled crookedly.

“Or else, preparation to entwine tongues with your uncle, and to spill your seed under your uncle’s caressing touch?”

“…”

“If you lack the courage even to speak of it, you shouldn’t have started in the first place. You still do not know how to fight, dear nephew. And I even sent you books on military strategy.”

Even as he said this, Taerok adjusted Nanyoung’s clothing so that his sweat-dampened body would not grow cold. As if that were not enough, he even covered him with his own outer robe.

“Get some sleep. I will call for a physician.”

Taerok, heartlessly, rose from his place just like that. Now, fever was beginning to rise in Nanyoung’s body as well. His head was spinning, and the world seemed to fold and unfold repeatedly. At the sound of the sliding door opening and closing, Nanyoung lay back as if collapsing deep down.

In his slumber, he felt his body being moved this way and that. He did not want to wake, and he was too exhausted to do so. His body was being wiped, and a familiar scent was felt. It was a fragrance similar to the one emanating from his own body. If it was this strong, Suhwan must have noticed something strange too… Or perhaps he had been so shocked that he couldn’t smell it, and merely thought Nanyoung was being dragged away to be punished by his uncle.

“Stop speaking the name of that Commander-General’s whelp.”

He was being scolded even in his sleep. When had he ever called Suhwan’s name? The name he always wanted to call was just one…

A rustling sound was heard. His arm was lifted and then lowered. It seemed clothes were being put on him. Accustomed to the touch of others’ hands, Nanyoung fell back into sleep just like that. His wrist hurt. His wrist hurt and his whole body was hot, so Nanyoung quietly wept.

∞ ∞ ∞

The one who could not sleep was not Nanyoung. In the end, it was Suhwan who, come dawn, heard the crowing of roosters and the chirping of birds.

Suhwan stayed up the entire night without even removing the cheollik he had worn outside. He recalled the moment he had kissed Nanyoung and the yaksha-like glare in Taerok’s eyes as he watched it. That glare sent shivers down his spine, so there was no way he could sleep. Even if he had somehow managed to close his eyes, he would have woken before even dreaming.

The next thing that circled in his head—no, in his body—and kept him awake the whole time was the scent that came from Taerok.

It was definitely the same scent as Nanyoung’s… An uncle gifting precious fragrance to his nephew—that in itself might not be so strange. Especially if they were known to be a pair where the uncle usually doted on him. However, for nearly the past five years, Nanyoung had hardly met Taerok, and the rumors had long since changed to say that the relationship between the two had become somewhat distant, as often happens with grown nephews. If so, did that mean Nanyoung had been longing for that scent all this time, constantly fumigating his clothes and enjoying scented baths?

It was a plausible hypothesis. In his head, he knew this made the most sense. Yet the lingering unease that hovered about him kept Suhwan from falling easily asleep.

That was precisely why Suhwan, barely touching his breakfast, headed to Min’s villa where Taerok was staying.

“Well, this is rather awkward. He is not here with the grand prince, yet how should I announce it…”