Chapter 23: An Old Connection

In the dream, His Majesty held rites publicly to appease the angered heavens.

Privately, however, he secretly pursued the people behind the scheme.

Yet despite every investigation, he failed to find them.

This time, I would have to catch them in the act.

That was why I had recently volunteered for night duty and spent my nights in the imperial palace.

And it was also why the Devil, who had been following behind me like a dog in heat, had spent several nights in the palace as well.

“I want to do it.”

Having successfully gained my attention, the Devil turned onto his side.

His chest was exposed through the loosened ties of his robe, an unpleasant sight to behold.

His hair, smelling faintly of sweat and left loose, was tangled everywhere.

It had hardened in the direction it fell after he roughly brushed it back with his hand.

Under the lantern light, his features looked unusually serious.

“Let’s do it.”

The moment he said it aloud, he seemed to become even more eager and sat upright.

“…”

I did not need him to explain what he wanted to do.

But I could not mock him as I had before for seriously begging to have s*x.

The unfamiliar sensation that had overwhelmed me during our last encounter had been too intense.

And apparently, I was not the only one affected.

The Devil’s gaze as he begged was persistent enough to make my face burn.

Remembering how I had clung to him desperately, as though my life depended on it, under that heated gaze made my head lower on its own.

My eyes fell to his shoulder.

Behind that broad, rounded shoulder, red marks from where my nails had dragged across his back must still remain.

“…Endure it.”

“You promised you would endure until we finish this matter, and in return, I would grant you what you wanted.”

“You have endured well for several days.”

“Are you planning to quit now?”

I tried to persuade him calmly.

While I stayed awake in the palace under the excuse of night duty to find the clue behind the rebellion, we had agreed not to sleep together.

The original agreement that I would obediently spread my legs for the Devil existed only to prevent the rebellion.

If I failed to stop the rebellion, there would be no reason to have s*x with him at all.

When I explained that our agreement would no longer stand if the rebellion was not prevented, the Devil seemed to accept it.

He did not force me into bed.

Instead, he set a condition.

In exchange for enduring, I had to grant him one thing he wanted.

I did not know what grand demand he intended to make.

But whenever the Devil became impatient and tried to pounce, reminding him of that promise worked surprisingly well.

This time too, he only looked dissatisfied and did not insist further.

After sitting still like a stone statue for a long time, he suddenly asked,

“Does it hurt when you do it with me?”

Why was he asking something so obvious?

Still, I decided to use this chance to make him understand properly.

Without adding a single exaggeration, I explained.

“It hurts.”

“My stomach aches, I tear, and I bleed.”

“When that place tears, I cannot even sit properly.”

“My whole body hurts as though I have been beaten with a club and pickled in salt.”

“You may be able to finish and leave, but after we do it, I suffer like I am dying for three full days.”

“You did not bleed last time.”

“…I only did not bleed.”

“You know how big and thick you are.”

“You said you have slept with all the courtesans in the imperial capital.”

“Did they not tell you that yours is not the size of an ordinary man’s?”

“They must have cursed you inwardly too.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Are you insane?”

My whining tone instantly turned cold.

He was not ashamed of sleeping around so shamelessly, yet he dared speak nonsense about jealousy.

I could not openly say, You are filthy, you are a whore, you are worse than a whore.

So I said it indirectly.

“There is nothing to be jealous of.”

“It only damages your reputation.”

“The one who cried out in pleasure has a lively mouth.”

“What pleasure?”

“You were the one clinging to me because you liked it!”

“You fucked me until I passed out and came inside me!”

The humiliation of waking at dawn and cleaning myself out in a freezing bathhouse rose in my mind, and my voice grew louder.

He had spilled so much inside me that even after cleaning myself for a long time, thin white fluid kept flowing out.

The Devil’s expression changed as though he had been waiting for that.

His eyes, mouth, and every muscle in his face curved into a broad grin.

His eyes bent into crescents, nearly half-moons.

His lips stretched toward his ears as though they might split.

“Yes.”

“I like it.”

“I like you.”

“How many times do I have to say it?”

Should I sarcastically say I was honored?

For some reason, though, the words would not leave my mouth.

I should have cursed that huge, violent man for revealing his feelings so foolishly.

But seeing the Devil look so openly happy, almost childlike, I could not say anything cruel.

A fierce and cruel face could change so much through expression alone.

With his whole face softened by happiness, the Devil surprisingly looked like a handsome young man.

When I noticed his eyes gleaming beneath the lantern light, my lips parted slightly.

But the admiration lasted only a moment.

“Out of all the courtesans, you are the tightest.”

The moment I heard that, my blood turned cold.

Of course.

That bastard only thought about such things.

What nonsense was I thinking, calling him pure?

As I ground my teeth inwardly, calling myself crazy for being briefly captivated by his smile, a polite voice came from beyond the door.

“Is someone inside?”

The owner of the voice seemed certain someone was in the duty room.

Before I could stop him, the door opened.

I was about to scold whoever had entered without permission.

Then I recognized the young man who came in.

He had a strong build, long hair neatly combed and tied into a single braid, and a light step that made no sound.

When he saw me, he approached warmly.

“Brother.”

“Geol.”

I called his name in surprise.

Geol approached with a gentle smile in his curved eyes.

Then he noticed the Devil sitting on the bed behind me.

He appeared briefly surprised, but quickly smiled again.

“Grand General, you are here as well.”

I stood and welcomed Geol.

I thought he had already left the imperial capital, so seeing him in the palace left me confused.

“I heard you were returning to your hometown.”

“Have you not left yet?”

“And how did you enter the palace?”

“There was something I had to finish before leaving for my hometown, so I entered the palace.”

“I have completed all preparations to leave at dawn today.”

“I felt that if I did not come now, I would lose the chance.”

“That is why I had no choice but to enter the palace despite the late hour.”

Geol had served as a Nangjung official in the Ministry of Personnel before resigning several months ago.

His family name was Jegal.

He was the only son of the current head of the Jegal Clan and had been chosen as the next family head.

To inherit the position, he needed to undergo several years of training at the family’s main estate.

That was why Geol resigned from his official post and prepared to return home.

We addressed each other as brothers.

On the day he resigned, we drank together to ease the sadness of parting and promised to meet again.

I thought our reunion would take years.

Seeing him again after only a few months was unexpected.

Perhaps Geol also felt awkward about our early reunion.

After briefly catching up with me, he turned toward the Devil.

The Devil, who had somehow become displeased again, sat crookedly with the eyes of an angry wildcat.

“Grand General, it has been a long time.”

“Yes.”

“I requested to see you before returning home, but I received no reply.”

“I thought I would have to leave without seeing you.”

“I am glad to meet you like this.”

“…”

Geol was warm, but the Devil looked indifferent and did not even answer.

I felt embarrassed just watching it, so I stepped in.

“Hey.”

“When someone speaks to you, should you not answer?”

As the Devil picked at his ear with his little finger, Geol, a generous and dignified man, defended him instead.

“It is all right.”

“The debt I owe the Grand General is as deep as the sea.”

“This much does not bother me.”

“And is this not simply how the Grand General has always been?”

“He treats everyone equally.”

“I should not become an exception and tarnish his reputation.”

That was true.

If one had to find a virtue in that Devil, whose social skills were below the ground and nearly nonexistent, it was that he was consistently rude.

No one could match him in insolence.

But because he was equally rude to everyone, people did not feel personally slighted.

That quality was likely the reason the Devil lived in the imperial capital of the Hyeop Empire without enemies.

Geol, who had been smiling playfully, finally gave the real reason.

“The Grand General saved me during the war.”

It was the first I had heard of it, but I understood quickly.

Geol had said that he wandered battlefields as a war orphan when he was young.

The Devil had lived as a mercenary across battlefields.

It seemed they had crossed paths by chance during those years.

“General Jeok brought me to the Jegal Clan.”

“Because of him, I was able to become an adopted son.”

“At the time, the General settled a nearby conflict in exchange for the Jegal Clan taking me in.”

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