While the party was in full swing, Khalid brought Alice up to the third floor. They climbed the old staircase used only by employees, so no one saw them.
Alice tried to bring a broom and mop, but Khalid wouldn’t let go of her wrist.
“Master Khalid! I need to bring cleaning supplies…!”
“…It doesn’t matter if you come without them.”
“?”
Khalid wasn’t the type to make a mess, and he was always neat, so there wasn’t much to clean anyway. Alice, who had been Khalid’s playmate since childhood, knew this well.
Click. After pushing Alice into the room, Khalid locked the door behind them.
Alice tilted her head in confusion.
“Master Khalid?”
“Noel… I have something to ask you.”
‘What could he want to ask that requires locking the door?’
Alice looked at Khalid with a curious expression. Khalid had grown so handsome that he was almost too dazzling to look at directly. Though he was younger than her, Alice tried not to appear nervous.
“Ask me anything.”
“Well…”
Khalid started to speak but blushed. Alice’s lips curled up at his innocence.
‘He may look like an adult, but Master Khalid is still…’
Khalid, who had just become an adult, still seemed childishly pure. Though his appearance suggested otherwise.
“…Noel. Have you ever liked a man?”
“…What?”
Khalid looked at Alice with a serious expression.
“I think I might like men.”
“…What did you say?”
Alice was shocked. It was a great surprise to hear that Khalid, who was the perfect man by anyone’s standards, liked the same s*x.
When Khalid approached, Alice unconsciously stepped back. Soon her back touched the wooden wardrobe. Khalid trapped her within his arms and looked down at her.
“You’re a man too, Noel.”
“…Me? Well, yes… that’s right.”
Alice almost said she wasn’t a man.
“Help me.”
“…Pardon?”
Khalid traced Alice’s lips. His index finger slipped into her slightly dry, chapped lips. He touched her tongue and carefully explored the roof of her mouth. Alice was in pain because she couldn’t swallow her saliva.
“Mmph…!”
She wanted to remove his finger, but Alice had no strength. When she looked up, Khalid appeared very pleased.
“I want you to be with me… I want to do various things with you.”
Alice shook her head in surprise. Khalid’s finger had already left her mouth and was now caressing her ear.
“…I want to know if I really like men.”
“Ah… I! I don’t think I can do that!”
‘Of course not, I’m not a man but a woman…!’
If she helped him with that, she would be discovered immediately. No, more than that, Alice was extremely confused.
Khalid’s finger caressed her earlobe.
“…I really want it to be you.”
Alice trembled as she met his eyes, with nowhere left to escape.
She had hidden her gender to avoid becoming the old Count’s concubine or being dragged to a brothel. However, she couldn’t tell Khalid this truth. Above all, a burning sensation bloomed where Khalid touched her.
Alice’s heart pounded loudly.
This kind of physical contact should be avoided, but honestly, she was happy. There was a time when Khalid’s attention had been burdensome, but not anymore.
‘What should I say? If I agree to such a request, I’ll be discovered right away. If that happens…!’
[“…You should know your place. Just because you command servants, you think you’re not a slave? I wonder what mother is doing, allowing a slave to wander around here so brazenly.”]
Khalid’s perception of his father’s concubines and slaves wasn’t good. He always looked at them with contemptuous eyes. Alice was determined never to reveal that she was a woman.
“Ho-how about Tom?”
‘Tom, I’m sorry…’
But since doing such things would quickly expose her, she suggested Tom instead.
Khalid’s eyes widened, then he smiled slightly.
“Tom…?”
“Yes…”
‘Anyway, Tom is a man, so wouldn’t he be better than me? But wait, does Master Khalid really like men?’
Now that she had realized her feelings for Khalid, her heart ached. She had been happy a moment ago, but her mood sank instantly. Khalid shook his head.
“Tom is too big. I think I prefer men with smaller builds. Cute men like you, Noel.”
“…Master Khalid.”
“Cooperate with me. I’m asking because I’m curious too… Until I get married.”
Khalid caressed Alice’s hand. Then he softly kissed the back of her hand.
“Please.”
Until Khalid’s marriage. Being the heir to the Walsh Count family, Khalid would have to make a political marriage with a noble lady.
Alice’s body crumbled, and she sank to the floor. Khalid’s lips still lingered on the back of her hand. The light in her eyes gradually faded.
‘Until marriage…’
She knew Khalid would marry when he became an adult, but Alice felt like crying.
“All… right.”
Alice answered in resignation.
* * *
Having become an adult, Khalid was so attractive that many people sent party invitations to the Walsh Count family. Particularly looking at the invitation from Bianca, Duke Evans’s daughter, Countess Vanessa, smiled with satisfaction.
“It seems Bianca has feelings for you, Khalid.”
Khalid sat on the sofa drinking tea, appearing uninterested. His mind was already complicated with thoughts of what to do with Noel.
He had already obtained permission, but…
‘To think I asked permission from a mere slave…’
Khalid felt somewhat pathetic. However, he didn’t want to force anything on Noel.
“Khalid?”
“Starting with a kiss…”
“Khalid…?”
Khalid snapped back to reality at his mother’s voice. Vanessa covered her mouth and laughed as she heard Khalid’s words.
“Are you saying you want to kiss Bianca? Hoho. But you must restrain yourself. It’s not good for a man and woman to do such things before marriage. Moreover, Bianca is the daughter of a Duke’s family.”
“…Yes.”
Only then did Khalid realize that he and Noel could never be together.
Noel was sold as a slave at 15, and since he wasn’t a woman but a man, he couldn’t even be taken as a concubine.
He had despised his father every time he took young women as concubines, but ironically, he now wanted to do the same.
‘I want to hold Noel…’
Khalid had never even experienced a kiss. He hadn’t thought of anyone else this way. From the moment he first saw Noel, he wanted to do everything with him. From kissing to s*x.
‘But s*x would be difficult.’
How wonderful it would be if Noel were a woman! He wouldn’t have to worry about any of this and could have taken him as a concubine.
Khalid didn’t like men. He simply liked Noel. He desperately wished Noel were a woman.
Vanessa discovered an unfamiliar letter while looking through the invitations and gave it to Khalid.
“Blake Hill? Could he be the son of the Marquis Hill family?”
The Marquis Hill family was powerful enough to rival the Duke Evans family. The two pillars, Duke Evans and Marquis Hill, maintained a friendly relationship. Considering this, there was a possibility that Bianca and Blake might end up married.
Khalid frowned as he opened the envelope and took out the letter.
“Yes, he’s the son of the Marquis Hill family… Though we don’t quite get along.”
“But if he sent you a letter, doesn’t that mean you’re friends?”
Having good relations with the two pillar families would raise the status of the Walsh Count family.
Vanessa’s nose lifted slightly. She thought she had made the right decision sending Khalid to the private school filled with nobles.
Khalid’s expression gradually darkened as he read the letter.
“What kind of letter is it?”
Vanessa asked curiously. Khalid crumpled the letter and sighed deeply.
“It’s nothing.”
“…?”
Khalid stood up abruptly and returned to his room. He unfolded the crumpled letter.
<Dear Friend,
The Hill family has recently purchased 20 female slaves. What use could slaves have? I’ve decided to keep them locked up in a villa and only go there when I want to enjoy myself.
Khalid, I want to show them to you too. Surely you’re not still a virgin? With that face… I honestly can’t believe it. What do you say? Come here and prove you’re not a virgin and get rid of that nasty rumor about you. Of course, I’m the source of that rumor. Hahaha.>
‘Nasty rumor.’
Throughout his school life, strange rumors circulated about Khalid, who showed no interest in women. The malicious rumor that he liked men because he didn’t enjoy Blake’s parties. It was Blake who had spread it.
“Not funny at all.”
Blake always enjoyed making the proper Khalid angry. Those who didn’t want to get on the bad side of the future Marquis followed Blake, but Khalid kept his distance.
‘Poor Bianca.’
It seemed that Bianca’s father intended to marry her to Blake. A Marquis family and a Duke family. It made sense for families of matching rank to be joined.
Khalid threw the letter into the fireplace. The letter and envelope turned to ashes, emitting black smoke.
‘What is Noel doing now…?’
Khalid had no interest in politics anyway. So he didn’t want to become friends with Blake. He wanted to live peacefully with Noel, managing a small estate.
‘If I could just be with Noel, I don’t need anything else.’
In his younger days, he spent more time with Noel than anyone else. Even if this feeling wasn’t love, he wanted to experiment.
‘But since Noel is a man, he’ll eventually marry some woman, and I too…’
If Noel were a woman, he would have made him his concubine somehow, but Noel was a man. However, even if his head understood this, his heart did not.
Khalid pulled the bell rope to call a maid.
“Master Khalid. Did you call?”
“Bring Noel to my room.”
“Yes.”
The maid left the room.
Translator
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sahari
Que bueno que suplantó su identidad, con “los chicos enamorados de ella” que no hacen nada para que sea libre, a Alice realmente le conviene ser Noel.