Chapter 7

Chapter 7

‘You’re sick again.’

The tall Lisandro approached Frey, who was lying down with his messy hair splayed around his head.

Coming close at once with his long legs, he sat on the bed, which sank slightly from his weight.

Frey looked to the other side to avoid him.

Still looking at the back of his head, Lisandro reached out suddenly and held Frey’s jaw firmly, forcing the sick man to look at him.

With a scowl, Lisandro stared at the other man, then opened his lips.

‘I told you not to avoid my eyes when you’re with me.’

‘There’s no reason for me to follow what you say.’

‘I can just make a reason for it.’

Lisandro said this with a monotonous voice, as though he was talking about an everyday occurrence. Frey’s face suddenly crumpled, but he couldn’t shake off Lisandro’s hand on his chin.

‘Stop struggling. You won’t be able to escape anyway.’

‘…And if I do in the end? Will you still hold onto me then?’

Lisandro’s eerie gaze turned to Frey, who uttered a lie between his teeth. Lisandro never coveted Frey’s body even when he had him locked up and shackled.

But that patience might not last forever. The ferocious eyes that looked at Frey seemed as though they wanted to tear Frey apart.

It wasn’t the gaze of affection.

Even if the other never accepted him in the end.

Lisandro, with Frey’s jaw still clenched roughly in his hand, growled low.

‘Even if I’m threatened with death, I will never touch you. If that happens…’

As the silence grew heavy between them, Lisandro murmured.

‘Then there would be no turning back…’

In those sky blue eyes, sadness and grief flashed through.

Frey opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.

‘That again…’

It was already the third time.

He’s been having dreams of him and Lisandro as adults, being kidnapped and manipulated day by day by Lisandro.

It left him in a state of confusion every time because it felt so real.

It was hard to tell which side was a dream and which side was reality.

After every dream, uncontrollable emotions would come up.

Just as a tree had many branches growing out of its trunk, new memories that he had never experienced before would flow into his mind.

This dream was the same.

‘I will never touch you. If that happens… Then there would be no turning back.’

Bullsh*t.

At the recollection of the sorrowful, low-pitched declaration, the young Frey laughed.

It was funny how Lisandro pretended to be normal by uttering such emotional words, even as he had obviously crossed the threshold and stepped into the abyss.

Frey even got goosebumps all over his body because it felt so strange… as if he had already experienced it before.

He didn’t know why he was having these dreams.

And why he was being shown these things.

It might be because of the dreams, but his resentment for Lisandro only grew.

He never wanted to see him again.

But then just the thought of not being able to see Yurenia ever again hurt so much that it was overwhelming. He couldn’t do that.

Frey wanted to be by Yurenia’s side so much that he could endure his disgust.

Why was it that he had these feelings… Why did he want to touch her every time he saw her?

Frey didn’t know the reason.

He wondered if this desperate longing was also because of Yurenia appearing briefly in his dreams.

Others might ridicule him for feeling this way despite his age.

However, Frey’s body and mind gravitated strongly towards Yurenia to the extent that he didn’t understand.

He felt alive only around Yurenia.

It wasn’t like this before, but nowadays, it felt like Yurenia was an oasis in the desert, and she was the only one who could quench his thirst.

He was dying to reach her. Even a strand of her hair would be enough for him to have in his hands.

All kinds of thoughts tangled up in his mind, leaving him burning in solitude.

His expression twisted up, and he placed a hand over his incredibly warm forehead.

Startled by the heat, Frey threw his hand back roughly. With the sound of his hand smacking into something, Frey turned his head and looked beside him.

In his dream, the Lisandro he saw was incredibly cold.

“…!”

With his eyes wide open with astonishment and fear, Frey sat up in an instant.

“…What’re you doing suddenly? Did you have a nightmare?”

There was an afterimage hanging over the Young Lisandro’s face, but it disappeared soon as though it dispersed in the air.

Light slowly returned to Frey’s hazy golden eyes.

The child in front of him, who frowned as he touched the back of Frey’s red hand, looked both worried and annoyed.

“A nightmare? So it’s really a nightmare…?”

“What is it with you, really! Why did you hit me all of a sudden!”

“…”

Frey sighed with relief as he saw the wide gap in the behaviors of the adult Lisandro and the child Lisandro, then he laughed absurdly.

His heart had sunk so low that he could feel the tears coming, but he could feel it beating again. As the cold sweat on his back dried, he came back to his senses and he became aware of how sticky his skin was.

“…When did you get here?” Frey asked as he wiped the sweat under his chin.

Lisandro rubbed the hand and glared at Frey.

“What kind of dream did you have just now? You wouldn’t even wake up, so I just let you sleep.”

Without answering, Frey pulled on the rope next to his bed.

“I’m going to wash up.”

“Whatever.”

Leaving Lisandro, who only answered curtly, Frey left for the bathroom when the servant drew his bath.

When he submerged himself under the warm water, he could feel his headache abating a little. And after soaking in the bathtub for a while, Frey slowly rose.

The sound of dripping water echoed through the walls as he got out of the bathtub and stood in front of a mirror, wearing a bathrobe.

With his palm, he wiped off the mirror that had become foggy.

Frey, who looked young, was being reflected on the mirror. Frey himself didn’t like what he saw, even though everyone praised his looks.

He had a smaller body than his peers.

It was due to his poor health. His appearance as an adult in his dream was no different.

He had a body that made anyone want to protect him.

It didn’t mean that he looked too skinny. He grew up to be tall and muscular to some extent.

However, he looked a lot shorter than Lisandro, who was exceptionally tall with a more reliable-looking body frame.

Even if it was only a dream, Frey didn’t want to lose to that. That’s why he took up swordsmanship recently.

He had a sickly body, but he wanted to start training so that his body would become sturdier. He didn’t want to become that slender man in his dream.

Frey clenched his fist and went out of the bathroom.

He changed his clothes and his bedsheets, then climbed back up on the bed, the soft scent of fresh sunlight in the air.

He was hoping that Lisandro would leave already, but when Lisandro saw Frey lean back on his bed, Lisandro took some things out of his bag and placed them on the bed.

“…What’s that?”

“A gift for our dear sick child. This is a book that Noonim read before, a fountain pen she used for writing…”

Frey smiled furtively as he looked at the endless supply of Yurenia’s things.

From the moment Yurenia was mentioned, he already felt so much better than before.

He took the fountain pen and fiddled with it.

On the lid, the name ‘Yurenia’ was engraved with a gold, elegant script.

Frey opened his lips slightly as he traced over her name for no reason.

“Are you allowed to just bring all these here?”

“Noonim gave me permission.”

Liar.

Frey’s eyes accused the other boy, but he didn’t have to say it aloud.

After looking at Yurenia’s things one by one, he turned his gaze to the door.

“Noona didn’t come?”

The question made Lisandro’s mood plummet at once.

“I warned you. Don’t pay special attention to my Noonim.”

Frey continued to look at Lisandro without breaking his smile.

He couldn’t imagine this guy as the man in his dream who was so obsessed with him.

Frey was really happy about that.

It was different from the dream. It was a dream that could be dismissed as just nonsense.

But even so… he still felt a little nervous.

In his dreams and now, Lisandro liked him.

But unlike his dream, Lisandro right now was a child. In front of Yurenia, he acted like a gentle sheep, like a child who knew nothing about the world, but reality was different.

Contrary to what Yurenia saw, Lisandro was a creepy person, even as a child.

He usually had an emotionless face, and he didn’t talk to anyone at all, hating almost everyone.

He was not like the child who would cry in Yurenia’s arms, but a child who, at first glance, was obviously cruel. And it was like there’s something off with him.

He would turn one-eighty degrees in front of Yurenia.

Every time Frey saw that, he would always be amazed. Only Yurenia didn’t know the harsh side of Lisandro.

Frey touched the fountain pen again and asked him.

“How long are you going to pretend to be so gentle in front of Noona? She doesn’t know what you’re really like.”

“For the rest of my life.”

Without hesitation, his answer came out immediately.

Lisandro would live his entire life like this. Only as a person that Yurenia wanted to see.

“Because the real me is in front of you.”

At that, Frey stared at him for a moment before he opened his lips.

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t waste your breath.”

Refusing coldly even before Frey could ask him, Lisandro stared at Frey in silence.

Frey’s red lips opened, his eyes meeting Lisandro’s without fear.

“That’s mean. Don’t you like me?”

“…Not anymore. Just a friend now.”

Frey’s pupils dilated at his response.

Throughout the turmoil swirling through his mind, at the disgustingly intense resentment he felt for Lisandro, who dared to call him a ‘friend’, Yurenia’s bright face surfaced.

At the same time, those intense emotions subsided in an instant.

Just one image of Yurenia made Lisandro’s words sound like they’re pleasant words.

Even with that smile on his face.

Frey put on a thick smile.

Friends.

As the turbulent feelings subsided, Lisandro looked pleased with Frey. But Frey still felt a little unbalanced because he remembered how Lisandro had imprisoned him in his dream.

Frey deliberately lowered his eyes, an exaggeratedly disappointed expression on his face.

“So I’m just a scapegoat for your hunger for attention?”

“You’re good at talking to Noonim, so you’re a worthy scapegoat.”

Lisandro laughed at Frey for this. But as Frey looked at Lisandro, his eyes glistened.

“How surprised would she be to see how different you are with other people?”

Yurenia’s clear laughter echoed behind Frey’s ears as he remembered how she patted him pleasantly.

The word ‘friend’ that Lisandro uttered sounded too sweet.

In Frey’s head, scenes of his dreams slowly shattered to pieces.

And they crumbled down without anything left behind.

“Noonim loves me so much that she won’t care. I have nothing to worry about.”

Lisandro said this as he placed the empty bag on the table.

“In front of Noonim, I’ll remain as an innocent child for the rest of my life. I’ll be a lovely baby brother who’ll be protected by my older sister.”

A gentle smile graced Lisandro’s lips.

Frey fiddled with Yurenia’s things one by one.

“So Noona really isn’t here with you?”

Frey asked Lisandro one more time persistently, and the latter frowned.

Even with such little contact between them, Lisandro found it strange that Frey was so fond of his sister already, to the point that he was being obvious about it.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Frey was smiling, but his golden eyes were slightly subdued. Not avoiding that gaze, Lisandro answered clearly.

“I don’t have to tell you why. Don’t look at Yuni for no reason. Just keep these.”

“…”

“All you can have are Noonim’s things here.”

Frey looked silently at Lisandro, who was handing over a pair of red gloves.”

The affectionate sky blue eyes that faced him seemed to have completely lost their light for him starting today.

It was a surprising change within just a short period of time.

All this was possible only because of Yurenia, and both Frey and Lisandro knew this.