From the moment 13-year-old Khalid first saw 15-year-old Noel, he fell for him at first sight. Despite being two years older, Noel was weaker and smaller than Khalid, but his stubbornness made him adorable.
At first, Khalid thought it was just a friendly feeling, but the emotions he felt when seeing Noel with Tom, another servant, were possessiveness and jealousy. He was inexplicably irritated by Tom, who would pat Noel’s head.
Whenever Noel smiled at Khalid, that fellow Tom would look at Khalid with extremely unpleasant eyes.
Insolent commoner. How dare he look at a noble with such eyes.
But Khalid soon realized he was no different from Tom.
He wanted to gain Noel’s attention somehow. Since Noel treated Khalid like a younger brother, Khalid’s pride was slightly hurt. Eventually, he began playing mischievous pranks on Noel.
He wanted Noel to think of him specially, just as he thought of Noel. That sometimes manifested in mischievous behavior. Noel sometimes seemed to find Khalid annoying yet still thought of him intimately.
Khalid’s father had both a wife and a concubine, yet still touched the maids, so Khalid thought he shouldn’t become like his father. However, he wanted to keep Noel by his side, even as a concubine. But since Noel was male, he couldn’t make him a concubine, which caused him pain and suffering.
Even when he had wet dreams at a young age, soaking his bed, the subject was always Noel.
[Master Khalid. I’m a man. How can a man like another man?]
[I like women.]
Khalid was rejected before he could even confess. He tried not to go to boarding school to stay by Noel’s side, but eventually left for boarding school to forget him. Six years. He thought that would be enough time to forget his first love.
* * *
Alice was staring at the high ceiling. She wanted to soak in the warm water longer, but it would be disastrous if someone saw her n*ked. She covered her chest with the new bandage she had brought and put on the new clothes prepared by the maid.
The maid’s shocked expression upon seeing the two of them together was still vivid in her mind.
“…Heh.”
It was a bit funny. Khalid might not know, but the maid would report this to the Countess. Khalid, who had just become an adult, was still under his parents’ protection.
Alice bit her lip while putting on the new servant clothes.
‘Should I suggest returning to the mansion now?’
He called it a date, but it felt like they would stay overnight. Of course, Khalid had said he would respect Alice as much as possible, so he wouldn’t touch her if she refused.
‘But how often will I get a chance to be alone with Master Khalid? Besides, if I go back now, the Countess might sell me elsewhere.’
No parent would stand by and watch their son engage in homosexuality. Especially Khalid, who needed to continue the Count’s lineage, liking a man, and a lowly slave at that.
The br*asts hidden under the bandages symbolized that Alice was a woman, but she intended to keep that fact hidden. Being with Khalid was nice, but she knew well what happened to slaves who became concubines.
‘I’m… selfish. Master Khalid said he would respect me, but I don’t trust him.’
No, it wasn’t about being selfish. Khalid and she stood in completely different positions from the start. Alice had to think of her own safety first.
When Alice left the bath, the maid who had been waiting outside guided her to Khalid’s room.
Khalid was sitting at the table wearing only a robe over his n*ked body. On the table were two bottles of wine, dried jerky, and fruit.
Alice knew the maid left the door slightly open, but she pretended not to notice.
“…Drink this and sleep.”
“My room is…”
“There isn’t one. You’ll sleep with me.”
Would it really be okay to sleep together? Alice closed the door that wasn’t fully shut. With a thud, she could hear the breath of the maid who had been spying on them from outside.
Sitting across from Khalid, Alice’s face flushed as she saw his firm chest visible through the robe.
“…Don’t you want to sleep with me?”
When Khalid asked while handing her a wine glass, Alice shook her head.
“No, no. It’s just… I talk in my sleep a lot…”
“That’s fine.”
“I snore too… And I have bad sleeping habits.”
“I’m the same way.”
“…”
Sleep with Khalid?
‘What will be the end of this date? What will happen to me when the Countess hears about this?’
Alice wanted to get drunk quickly. Drinking the wine little by little, she accepted the jerky Khalid fed her with his hand, her eyes becoming hazy.
“You eat well.”
Khalid’s fingers entered Alice’s mouth and stirred slightly. The saliva that had pooled inside dripped onto the floor.
“Is it delicious?”
“…Yes. Hic.”
Hiccupping. Alice covered her mouth in embarrassment. Khalid chuckled.
“…Well, being a slave, you’ve probably never had wine before. Especially wine of this quality.”
Tom and other servants occasionally drank alcohol, but this was Alice’s first time. She had avoided going near alcohol because the smell was too strong. However, the wine was very sweet and fragrant.
Her eyelids kept trying to close from the intoxication, which was troublesome.
“Haah… I’m… sleepy.”
Khalid carried Alice’s limp body to the bed and laid her down.
Her small frame made her light, and her delicate ankles stirred Khalid’s heart.
Slowly lifting Alice’s pants, her slender calves appeared. Lifting further revealed her tanned thighs. While her hands and feet had calluses, her thighs were nothing but soft.
‘She might wake up if I take off her pants.’
Despite feeling disgust at the thought of touching someone with the same equipment as him, he couldn’t help wanting to touch Alice.
Khalid extended his tongue and licked her soft thigh.
“Mmph… Ah… Ah.”
Hearing her moan even in her sleep, Khalid’s lower region began to throb. He kissed her thigh with smacking sounds, leaving kiss marks. His hands were now moving over Alice’s flat chest.
“…?”
Even men should have n*pples, but they seemed to be wrapped in something and weren’t visible. With this strange thought, he was about to remove her top when he suddenly came to his senses.
‘No. I wasn’t planning to go this far…’
He might not want just friendship, but he had no real intention of sleeping with a man. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to deny the malicious rumors Blake had spread.
Looking at Alice, who was breathing heavily with a flushed face, Khalid properly put her pants back on.
“…I can’t sleep.”
Eventually, Khalid lay down on the sofa. Looking at the ceiling, he forcibly cooled his heated body.
‘It’s not because he’s a man. I like him because he’s Noel.’
But because he was a man, Noel might accept kisses but wouldn’t accept anything more.
‘Noel likes women after all.’
Khalid wished his first love would pass lightly like a cold, not too painfully.
—
T/N: Bro this is s*xual harrassment lol
Translator
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penthesulia
This whole story is giving huge Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings vibes (other than the revolting age gap) and it’s honestly really messing with me. The whole slave and master things is just disgusting and I’m both glad the author is making such a big deal out of it because the power imbalance and the uneven consequences where Alive will have her entire life completely ruined are very realistic but it’s also just revolting. I can understand as a human being having those feelings for another person but the social environment is making it an Absolutely Not situation.