CH 35

Nathan didn’t want to fall asleep when he found out that his body had moved arbitrarily for the moment when his consciousness hid below the surface. 

‘What if I fall asleep like this and do it again,’ the anxiety winds up Nathan. ‘Wouldn’t it be better to pass out?’

“Stop and go to bed.”

The sudden words bring Nathan out of disturbing thoughts. The limbs that had been cramping Nathan’s fell off. Nathan blinked quietly, and Hazard, who he thought was sleeping before, raised his upper body with one arm on the bed and looked down at Nathan.

“Stop thinking about useless things and go to sleep.”

The low-sinking horse penetrates the ear. As he faced Hazard’s slowly blinking blue eyes as if he were tired, Nathan had forgotten what he was thinking and what he was worried about until just now.

“I thought you were sleeping…”

“Do you think I can sleep when you can’t? Huh? Sir Nathan Norbert who doesn’t know what to do to me.”

The bed squeaked.

“So what kind of harm did you want to do to me?” asked Hazard playfully, pointing his hands at the sides of Nathan’s face. Nathan opened his eyes wide in surprise at the close distance and the strange atmosphere.

“There’s no such thing!”

Pfft!

Then Nathan, so surprised, kicked Hazard unconsciously. For a moment, Hazard, who was off guard, was hit in the stomach by Nathan, groaned, and collapsed on the bed. There was a pretty loud sound as if he had been hit harder than originally thought.

‘Oh, my blanket is loose.’

The act of kicking just loosened the blanket that was rolled around him. Nathan didn’t miss the opportunity and wriggled out of the blanket. However, even before leaving the bed, he was caught at his ankles and dragged back.

“Oh my god!”

“…Hey, you’re not gonna say this was a hack to get out, are you?”

Looking back, Hazard was looking at Nathan crookedly, clutching his kicked stomach with one hand. Nathan smiled vaguely at him and said,

“It was a mistake, a mistake!” 

“Oh, it’s my fault? Who said they were going to hurt the person who slept first?”

“When did I say that? I’m just worried about your identity!”

“Those who said they were worried are trying to leave first.”

Hazard said so, lifting a thin ankle in one hand. Thanks to this, the tip of the saliva covering his legs was pushed down gently, revealing his thin legs. It was embarrassing for no reason, so Nathan shook his ankle to pull it out, but the hand did not intend to fall off, but rather grabbed his ankle stronger.

“And considering my identity, this is a crime of royal assassination. Did you know that?”

Nathan’s position was that he would have nothing to say again if he said so.

“Damn status system.”

Nathan looked at Hazard with a disrespectful face, recalling the beggar-like status system. In fact, even with that thought, Nathan didn’t seriously think Hazard would really punish him. If he tried to do something by charging Nathan, he would have been beaten several times while he was already at the academy. On top of that, it was obvious that he was wiggling his lips and holding back his laughter, but he couldn’t listen to it seriously.

“So what are you going to do?”

Nathan shot back unevenly. It was funny how profane the way he spoke and his expression was, Hazard said playfully.

“But you’re my close friend, so I guess… I’ll let you slide.”

Nathan burst into laughter in an instant at the touch of tickling the exposed soles of his feet by pulling his ankle as if he were showing leniency.

“Argh! Hahaha!”

Nathan burst into laughter, struggling all over with the unbearable tickling, Nathan’s legs pounded wildly. Nathan kept shaking his legs to take out the ankle that was held in Hazard’s hand, but he didn’t think his hand would keep on his ankle as if he had put glue on it. The sheets were pushed back, and the quilt on the bed had long fallen to the floor with the struggle.

“Ha, don’t do it! I told you not to do it!”

It was too harsh to tickle Nathan, who is usually tickled by just stabbing him in the side. 

Laughing so hard that my stomach hurt and I couldn’t breathe properly. Tears naturally formed around my eyes. It didn’t take long for the laughter to turn into sobs. 

It was only when Nathan fell on the bed and gasped that Hazard felt sorry and let go of his ankle.

. . . 

Slap. Slap.

“Uhhhhh…”

The distant sound of the waves barely opened Nathan’s eyes. ‘I don’t think I slept very long, but the room was already bright.’

His eyes were dry, so Nathan put the back of his hand on his eyelids and stayed still for a while.

Last night. No, this morning. The two played around on the wide bed at dawn when everyone was asleep, and eventually, Nathan, tired of himself, fell off first before he could fall asleep. Yesterday was the first time Nathan actually experienced the feeling of “Laughing so hard I can’t breathe” in his life. 

I couldn’t breathe properly because I laughed so hard, and I even felt a real stomachache. Thanks to that, tears burst out. When I remembered it again, I wondered if it was child’s play that definitely didn’t fit my age, so now I was embarrassed belatedly.

Nathan threw himself up slowly after tossing and turning, with his face buried in his palms and screaming in silence. 

“Oh my!”

Nathan burst out laughing when he saw the heavy arm around his waist. As he moved his eyes along his arms, Azar stretched out his arms and legs on Nathan’s body. Looking now, Nathan was sleeping close to the edge of the bed, and Hazard was sleeping in the middle, leaving a large space. There is no way to prevent your eyes from getting crooked when you see them sleeping with a peaceful face.

So Nathan first threw away the arm around his waist. ‘Next, my legs.’ While removing Hazard’s leg, which was weighing on him, he took off his hand in surprise when he stabbed his thigh. He shook his hand in the air, swearing at the touch that made him run away from sleep at once.

“Oh, I’ve been touching something weird since this morning.”

He kicked his tongue and removed Hazard’s leg. Only after finding his glasses on the bedside table and wearing them did Nathan wriggle out of the bed. 

When I stood on the floor with two feet, one ankle was sore for a moment. Now I see a purple bruise on my ankle. 

Well, I thought I was strong enough for playing around, but… I got a bruise on my frail body.

“… dirty strength…”

Nathan rubbed his ankle a few times and completely got out of bed.

I had bruises, but it wasn’t enough to not walk. 

Stretching, Nathan walked softly to the slightly open balcony. Somehow he kept hearing the sound of the waves, and while he was sleeping. Hazard must have left the window open. The weather was not hot, but the slightly warm air felt like early summer. A cool sea breeze blew through the opening of the window.

“I don’t get hot at all, so I don’t mind this heat, but Hazard… Did he get hot?”

Two summers have already passed, but I have never felt the heat. I didn’t even sweat on a summer day. His body temperature was always cool, and his palms were not sticky with sweat, so he always remained dry. So even if you wear long clothes that cover your arms and legs throughout the season, you’re just looking at people I didn’t have much trouble staying only with gold bars.

On the contrary, it was rat poison in the cold. The bones were cold, so no matter how many layers of clothes I wore, the cold didn’t go away. There were many times when I almost lost my mind due to the cold and I almost got frostbite on my fingertips and toes. 

In addition, his natural constitution was so weak that he didn’t get better for a month if he caught a cold.

“It’s not that hot here compared to where I used to live, so I wish I didn’t get cold.”

When I think about the cold that will come after summer, I feel like my bones are already cold. Nathan opened the slightly open window wide. Then the cool sea breeze blew strongly, and the tip of his saliva fluttered naturally, and his hair fluttered lightly. From this balcony, I could see the sea and the sandy beach at a glance.

The open blue sea drew attention to itself. So Nathan noticed a little later the gaze that was looking at him just below. There was a girl standing on the white stairs that stretched out to the sandy beach.

“Hello.”

“Oh. Hi…”

Scarlet hair, burning like a flame, fluttered in the wind. At first glance, the blue eyes that looked like Hazard stared at Nathan. The girl looked around the sea behind her back and turned around without regret. The distance between the two grew shorter. Of course, Nathan was on the second floor, and the girl was actually on the first floor, so he couldn’t say he was too close…