A Certain Winter’s Tale Chapter 2.4 - Winterfall

That laid-back temperament of Noah’s, which was one of his strengths, was on full display even with the governor from the central region. It was as clear as day that such an attitude would highly likely provoke the high-and-mighty lord.

Just as Madam Clara was fretting and contemplating whether she should stop Noah, a palm as large as a guardsman’s wooden shield was raised into the air and then came crashing down toward Noah’s face.

Thwack!

The explosive sound of a man’s hard palm colliding with a soft cheek echoed. Noah staggered, but thanks to the hand gripping his chin, he barely avoided falling.

However, his head spinning, Noah had to close his eyes for a moment to collect himself. The governor sneered down at his grimacing, pale face.

“You should just give it up when asked. What are you playing so hard to get for, you lowly brothel whores? Does acting like that make you feel like you’ve attained some respectable status? Is it so amusing to see the officials from the dominion desperate for a taste of you bitches?”

The governor released his grip. Noah, still unable to regain his composure, stumbled and collapsed to the floor. Madam Clara hurriedly bent down to help him up.

When she was a child, Noah had carried her on his back and raised her, and as she grew, the woman had cherished and cared for Noah. Noah was that significant a presence to Madam Clara. Clara was worried sick that Noah, who had looked after and experienced the women’s lives alongside them, might be seriously hurt.

But casting her worries aside, Noah, though collapsed on the floor, sneered at the man with a clear gaze.

“I simply can’t understand why you so-called distinguished gentlemen desire this vulgar body so much. Don’t you think? If you’re that desperate for a taste of this insignificant person, doesn’t that just mean your own tastes are that cheap?”

“What did you say!”

“If so, you’ve come to the wrong place. The Red House may sell companionship and smiles, but we do not sell human bodies! I don’t want to be touched by a filthy, disgusting bastard like you, not even a single hair! But what…? You want to sleep with me that badly? Dream on! I’d rather hook up with the beggar sitting and begging outside the main gate!”

With lips that were luscious and delectable but utterly vulgar, Noah dared to insult the governor from the central region. The man’s anger, in turn, flared up like an active volcano.

Even before the governor could give the order, the guardsmen all rushed toward Noah at once and began their efforts to shut his mouth. They grabbed his short hair, which gently covered his neckline, and threw him to the floor, then kicked his whole body mercilessly with their booted feet.

However, even as the bruised areas swelled and bled, Noah did not back down and instead sneered at the governor. His defiant attitude only made the kicks that rained down on him more vicious. Clara managed to block one man’s attack on Noah by pulling on the trousers of one of the guardsmen, but that was all.

Just as Noah, who was mindlessly taking kicks from all directions, curled up his body tightly.

“Enough.”

The governor finally spoke. Only then did Noah gasp for breath, his whole body trembling as he tried to endure the pain. Madam Clara, with tears welling in her eyes, examined Noah’s battered face.

Thump, thump.

The governor approached Noah, who was groaning on the floor. The governor grabbed Noah by the collar, pulled him up close, and met his eyes. Noah’s rare and utterly bewitching amethyst jewel-like eyes. The governor’s lips began to curl into a maniacal smile as he faced the deep-seated loathing in them without flinching.

“You don’t sell your body?”

“Hah, ugh…”

Noah struggled to raise his hand to loosen the collar that was now being gripped tightly, starting to choke him. But the governor ignored the movement with a look one might give a squirming worm. Then slowly, deliberately, he declared, enunciating each word.

“In that case, I am quite curious… just when that vulgar body that bewitches men will say with its own mouth that it wants to be sold.”

“What kind of bullshit is that…”

“Men, take this male prostitute, strip him naked in the center of the training grounds, and tie him up. And tell all the guardsmen to violate him as much as they please. Until this bewitching mouth starts cooing for someone to please buy him!”

“…What?”

“G-governor!”

Darkness fell over Noah’s amethyst eyes. Clara, with a horrified expression, rushed at the governor. But the governor turned away with a sneer.

“I, the governor, will confiscate all property and rights of the Red House, including this woman. Drag them away.”

“Wh-what kind of dog-like…! Let me go! You fiend who deserves the wrath of heaven and man, stop! We’ve done nothing wrong!”

“Noah…! My boy!”

The guardsmen instantly tore Noah and Madam Clara apart. As they were dragged off in different directions, the middle-aged woman and the young man wailed as if their own child was being kidnapped before their very eyes.

“Let go of me! Clara… Clara! Don’t resist too much… I’ll somehow…!”

But what on earth could he do? Despair filled Noah’s eyes. He tried to tell himself that they wouldn’t treat Madam Clara, who was a woman and had value as a commodity, as harshly as they treated him for his impertinence.

Still, he couldn’t completely shake off his worry, and so Noah called her name endlessly.

“Madam! Clara…!”

“Shut up!”

Every time he shouted Clara’s name, fists and feet flew at him. His whole body ached terribly, but Noah was worried about Clara. From the time her parents, whom he didn’t even know the faces of, had abandoned her here just as she started to walk, it had always been Noah who had cared for her. She, who was like his own child, was now a middle-aged woman well over forty, and her body had weakened accordingly.

The voices of the women, who had been crying out Noah’s name as he was dragged out of the Red House’s main gate toward the governor’s office, gradually faded. And soon, he could no longer hear any cries directed at him.

Even the sound that hope was coming had, at some point, ceased to be heard.

❄️🐺❄️

Surrounded by madness, Noah felt helpless. The men dragged his body, which struggled like a deer being led to a slaughterhouse, with great ease. He shouted and screamed, struggling with all his might to break free from the hand that gripped his hair. But the difference in physical strength between a soldier and Noah was stark, not even worth comparing.

Whistles and laughter, mockery and harassment, and lewd jokes about Noah flew from all directions. A hand that suddenly shot out ripped the front of Noah’s shirt open. When the pink buds on his white skin were revealed through the torn fabric, the men’s shouts and laughter grew louder.

As he was almost dragged to the center, a hand that suddenly grabbed his buttocks kneaded him lewdly and unpleasantly, as if kneading dough.

“Khahaha! Even without breasts, this tender skin is enough to get a man hard over and over again!”

“My goodness. I guess there was a reason the women of the Red House kept him hidden so well.”

“I wonder where those whores were planning to sell off a treasure like this!”

“Whatever the case, we get to have a taste too, don’t we!”

The eyes of the men, thoroughly excited, all glinted. Regardless of their status, they were all swept up in the thrill of violating the delicate and beautiful Noah. It was a scene tinged with a madness where not a trace of humanity could be found.

When the one holding Noah finally pushed him down onto the dirt floor in the center. A path opened through the crowd, which was full of excitement and agitation, and someone slowly walked through. Noah, who was trying with all his might not to shed tears, identified the face through his blurry vision.

“You’re in a very appetizing state. Yes, can you now see the proper attitude you should take?”

A sense of humiliation washed over Noah’s flushed face. But the governor, seeing that face which held not an ounce of submission, became furious and violently pulled at his front, sliding his hand into his already tattered trousers.

“You… you crazy bastard! Let go…!”

“Let’s see if you can still be so defiant after constantly having a man’s member in you, both up and down!”

“Hah!”

The hand that started to fiercely spread his buttocks brought on a wave of nausea. The only reason Noah could hold back the vomit was his sole focus on pushing away the men who were constantly tangling with his slender body. He tensed every muscle in his body, clenched his jaw until it hurt, and fought with all his might to resist until the very end, even if it meant his last breath was cut short.

Among the men who came to buy a night at the Red House, there were quite a few crazy bastards whose sadism was awakened by the sight of a woman’s tears. Although he had never spent the night with anyone, Noah had been well-educated about the bedroom by the women of the Red House. That was why he was barely able to hold back his tears.

The faces of the people were captured in his blurry, refracted vision. An unseen place, and the lowest of the low within it. What was so enjoyable about trampling and crushing one person from that place?

But then. Beyond them, a detestable yet familiar face was caught in his sight. Noah’s eyes widened, and his vision cleared.

“Y-you!”

Pinned to the ground, he struggled to push off the governor’s body pressing down on him, but he was slowly reaching his limit. Noah squeezed his eyes shut and shouted in the middle of the training grounds, which was rife with grotesque laughter.

“H-hey! You…! Help me!”

Michaelis’s smile, who was gazing this way, bloomed. That smile, so unsuited for the situation, provoked anger rather than bewilderment. But he only smiled. When he showed no sign of taking any other action, an anxious Noah shouted in a torn and cracked voice.

“Michaelis! You said you would buy me! I-I’ll sell myself…!”

The hands that had been pressing and groping Noah’s body stopped in an instant. The governor also hesitated, seemingly perplexed. He had heard Noah say he would sell himself, just as he had wanted, but the person to whom that offer was directed was unexpected.

“…”

“Michaelis!”

As Noah cried out, half-sobbing, Michaelis approached the governor and said in a low voice.

“It seems he wants to sell himself to me. Bring him to my room.”

His voice, laced with laughter as if he found the situation amusing, was clear, yet it carried a power that could not be easily ignored.