REFDL 141

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣ ⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠* * *

I dozed off for a moment, and when I woke up, it was evening.

I slowly sat up in bed. As I held my fingers up to the twilight casting shadows, I noticed Kaelus still lying beside me.

It looked like he’d taken a nap while holding me.

My mind was still hazy. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a nap like this.

Isn’t that world… the last time?

Then it suddenly dawned on me.

I used to call that place the “original world” and this place the “fantasy world.” But now, it was the opposite.

“……”

Maybe that’s why people say the human heart is fickle. Seeing as I now think ​visit our site​of “this side” as my world.

Even though I’d lost it completely, and even though the people I cherished and the memories I shared with them still lay dormant in that world.

“Why are you feeling down again?”

Swish.

An arm swept away the red fabric draped behind my back, and caressed my side.

The ticklish sensation made me chuckle. Just that alone made me feel better.

“Kaelus. Do you know why my name is ‘Yuram’?”

Instead of explaining the exact source of my melancholy, I changed the conversation.

“There’s a story behind it. My maternal grandfather gave me the name, but apparently, he just approved a name that one of his friends had come up with. He was my grandfather’s Go partner, and apparently, he used to read faces, tell fortunes, and sometimes even see the souls of the dead.”

The moment I mentioned “souls,” he raised his handsome eyebrows. He was clearly thinking of Vinaho. I held back a laugh. I had a pretty good idea what he was imagining, but I didn’t bother to correct him.

I was too young at the time, so my memories of him came not from my own experiences but from stories my maternal grandfather had told me. Even if only half of the stories my grandfather had repeated over and over were true, it was obvious he had been a remarkable man.

The most memorable story was about how, when he was just a little boy, he saved his family’s lives by fleeing south to escape the war… Anyway.

That day he had come over to my grandfather’s house to play a game of Go for stakes as usual. While he was there, he happened to catch sight of me, a mere week old, little more than a bundle of flesh. My grandfather told me:

“That fool doesn’t even drink, yet he walks around with his eyes wide open like he’s drunk all the time. But on rare occasions, his eyes light up with a blue glow and his face brightens.”

That was exactly the moment.

“This child has come to this land to ‘sightsee¹.’ Originally, he’s a noble being who wouldn’t even dare to look at someone like you. So raise him with the utmost care, but don’t get too attached. …And make sure to warn your daughter and her husband not to think of him as their own child.”

If it had been anyone else, they would have flipped the Go board for speaking such nonsense about a newborn.

Just as I was extraordinary, my maternal grandfather was no ordinary man either.

Grandpa slapped his knee and laughed, then started by cursing, “You damn fool. Is that any way to talk to your friend’s grandchild?” before letting loose with a whole string of expletives…

“So that means my grandchild must be the second son of the Jade Emperor himself, I suppose?”

“…That might not be entirely wrong.”

“……Really?”

My grandfather, who had almost started believing him, waved his hand dismissively.

“No. I can’t believe it. What does a quack who can’t even read one move ahead in Go know?”

“What?! You old geezer, is that all you’ve got to say?!”

“That’s right, yeah. I said exactly the right thing.”

…Crash!

…Despite that minor incident, my name became Yuram.

This child has come to this land to ‘sightsee.’

My grandfather’s friend’s advice (that if they acknowledged I come here to sightsee, it might extend my time in this land) was the deciding factor.

Incidentally, I heard that the friend passed away peacefully in his sleep a couple of months later.

“So? Interesting, right?”

“……I suppose so.”

Kaelus pressed his hand to his forehead.

“Are you saying that you’re not from this world, but from another?”

…Huh?

…Hmm?

“Did… did I not mention that?”

“…….”

“…….”

Kaelus sat up fully and looked at [stolen content]me with a serious expression. Then he pointed to the corner of the bed.

“Sit down.”

……Cold sweat began to pour down like water.

***

Fortunately, Kaelus understood.

More specifically, he believed that Yuram had simply missed the right moment to speak because various events had overlapped, and that he hadn’t intentionally concealed anything.

Yuram was still breaking out in a cold sweat.

He wanted to raise his hand to wipe his forehead but hesitated.

‘Ah. I can’t do that right now…’

The reason was simple.

His hands were tied behind his back.

“Huh…… Ngh.”

He let out a whimper and hunched his neck. Kaelus, who had been sucking on his nipple and rolling it with his tongue, lifted his shining eyes. They were the eyes of a predator pondering where to start gnawing and chewing on him.

It sent a chill down Yuram’s spine.

Just being stared at made his stomach churn, and his core melted with anticipation.

He looked back at Kaelus through misty eyes.

His fulfilled wish, his love.

“Ugh… Kael… this, this feels so weird…!”

“You have to endure it. It’s your punishment.”

“…Wait a second. This is unfair. You forgot to tell me about Odan too…!”

“……”

Kaelus hesitated for a moment but handled it with great aristocratic poise.

…Which meant he shamelessly pretended not to hear.

Just as Yuram, choked with emotion, was about to say something else.

Clink!

Using small pieces of flesh not originally intended for such a purpose, which he had sucked and teased until they were fully swollen, he slipped small ring-like objects onto both sides and tightened them.

“……!”

As the base tightened, Yuram’s nipples jutted out like barley seeds. To his eyes, they no longer looked like nipples. His face felt like it was about to burst with embarrassment. In his shock, he could only pout his lips. He wanted to pull them off, but his hands were tied.

After admiring his handiwork, Kaelus studied his reaction, then pressed the tips of his index fingers and thumbs together to form a circle. He brought it close to Yuram’s plump, swollen nipples.

He snapped his fingers.

“……!”

Yuram’s nipples, like red water balloons, bounced up and down. His toes dug into the sheets as his hips bucked.

“Haaah. Haa. Ah, it hurts……”

“It’s not just painful, am I wrong?”

“No. No…… It really hurts……”

He sniffled. Kaelus said, “I see.”

“If it hurts, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Yuram felt relieved. He assumed Kaelus would let him go.

……He didn’t.

He took his sensitized nipple into his mouth again. Then, he roughly thrust his cock into Yuram’s hole, which he had already loosened once.

There was a wet, squelching sound.

Yuram’s moans sounded like screams. Just hearing those sounds made him feel ashamed; he couldn’t believe they had actually come from his own mouth.

“Huh. Ah! Ahh… Uh. Slow… Slow down… Ugh! It’s too, too fast. It’s too… Uh. It’s too fast…!”

He begged him, but that bastard Kael didn’t listen. He pretended to listen by slowing his pace, only to drive him on again with a calm demeanor.

All Yuram could do was cry and beg, wriggle his legs to heighten his excitement, clench his buttocks, writhe in pleasure, writhe, and writhe again.

“Waaah! Ahh! It feels so, so good… This. I don’t like this. Sniff. Stop. Don’t touch it. Waaah! Don’t touch it… Ah. Waaah! Ah! Ahh! D-don’t rub the tip…!”

There was nothing he could do.

‘…Just wait until later…!’

All he could do was mutter lines like a third-rate villain (and even then, only to himself) while outwardly clinging to Kaelus.

Like a red-hot hunk of iron, a mass that seemed to embody heat itself was poking and prodding his sensitive inner walls.

It sliced through his soft insides and slammed its blunt tip into the deepest part of him.

Kaelus’s caressing hands and kisses were soft, yet the cock tearing through his insides showed no mercy.

Yuram’s vision flickered. His head grew hazy, yet his senses heightened.

It felt as if a storm had settled inside his belly.

The reality wasn’t much different.

Faced with a disaster that turned the waters upside down and reshaped the coastline, all he could do was get swept away.

The only comfort was that the disaster loved him.

……If he really said “I don’t want this,” Kaelus would immediately shed his storm’s mask and become a spring breeze. And he would prostrate himself at his feet and beg for mercy.

“Haa. Kael… Mmm. It’s okay now. More… do it more. Deeper inside… nghh!”

Strangely, he kept thinking about Minamao and Anuahan.

Am I committing some lowly act by finding comfort in the misfortune of others?

For a moment, that doubt crossed his mind, but he soon realized it wasn’t true.

Merely feeling sorry for someone is just pity.

He wished with all his heart that the Star of Foolish Wishes would never appear in the sky again.

Holding his wish close, he thought that.

“Kael. Uh… Kael… It feels so good. Ugh. It feels so damn good…!”

“Haa. That’s… exactly what I was going to say. What the hell is going on inside you… Haa. I’m not usually… this lacking in self-control…!”

His words trailed off. The thrusts grew more intense. Then they stopped. Something hot spurted out onto something even hotter.

It filled him up.

Inside, traces of the storm remained.

Yuram wished they would be etched there. Like an aftereffect.

He wanted to linger on this sensation for a long time.

“I like you.”

Without weighing him down. Kaelus, who had thrown himself on top of him, nibbled his earlobe and whispered.

“I like you, Yuram.”

Those were the words he wanted to say.

***

The wind blew.

Beneath my feet, the Sea of Trees stretched.

High enough to see a green horizon if the weather was clear, or fluffy blanket-like clouds if it wasn’t.

I flew with Kaelus on my back.

He stared at the compass with a troubled expression.

He was probably thinking something like “Maybe we should have brought Nitan or Odan after all.” And I could clearly see him thinking, “No, this is fine,” and that he actually preferred a trip just the two of us.

To me, he was no longer a mystery. Just by looking into his eyes, his true feelings were obvious; they were conveyed without him even having to speak.

Love.

“……Is this the right direction?”

[So what if it isn’t? Isn’t that what an unplanned trip is all about?]

Kya!

[We’ll arrive together, no matter where we go.]

“……”

[Then anywhere will be fine.]

Kaelus quietly put away the compass. I smiled again and spread my wings even wider.

Beyond the vast Sea of Trees.

A new destination awaited us.

End