CH 55

The room they had gotten at the inn was small but neat: two beds alongside a bathtub. They had said they wanted to bathe immediately, so the employees brought bathwater right away. Luisen, realizing how dirty he was as he walked around the streets of Confosse and compared himself to others, took off his clothes and went inside the bathroom to clean.

He meticulously washed away the accumulated sweat and dirt. When he thoroughly soaked himself inside the bathtub, a sigh automatically released from his throat. It finally felt like he was able to rest properly. In the mountains, sleep felt more like falling unconscious rather than resting for the night. Immersing himself until the water was up to the tip of his nose, Luisen blankly reminisced on all that had happened.

He had been attacked by monsters; Ruger was revealed as a spy. He had walked here, nonstop, with Carlton, and now he was posing as a pilgrim.

He was struck by how many things had happened–from the duchy to Confosse. It was an incredibly difficult and hectic journey.

‘I’d have had more trouble without Carlton.’

Since before regression, he had memories of wandering around the kingdom, he probably would have somehow wandered until he reached the capital. However, he was sure to have taken more time and encountered more difficulties. Even now, he would still probably be wandering around in the mountains. The feeling of being lost when he had woken from the cave was still fresh in the young lord’s mind.

Carlton was incredibly competent. As he watched the man from the side, Luisen realized how the man had overcome the limitations of his status, quickly emerged as the powerful right arm of the prince, and gained fame throughout the kingdom. Carlton was someone who, if he was dropped stark naked in enemy territory, could return in great success, draped in silk.

‘If I follow Carlton well, at least I won’t starve to death.’

The memory of Carlton bargaining during the day, cutting merchants’ prices in half and even obtaining a peach as a bonus for their purchase, made Luisen’s heart flutter. ‘Food automatically appears before talented people!’

He had thought the mercenary would be smart and strong, but who would have expected such worldly survival knowledge? What did Carlton even lack? An even temper?

‘To be fair, his temper is a problem. That temper even ruined his livelihood….’

As expected–there was no perfect person in this world, Luisen realized. Life had an element of fairness.

After thinking of this and that, Luisen finally left the bathtub because his body had gotten too warm. He wiped his body with a washcloth, but he had neglected to bring a change of clothes into the bathroom.

‘I don’t really wanna wear my used clothes…’

Though his old clothes were crafted by artisans using expensive cloth, they had already been transformed into rags. They smelled, and Luisen’s skin itched just from looking at them. It felt uncomfortable to wear these dirty things after finally managing to take a bath.

Luisen sneakily inched open the bathroom door and looked into the room. The new clothes, alongside other items they bought, laid on the table.

‘Did Carlton go somewhere?’

The mercenary wasn’t in the room.

‘How fortuitous.’

Luisen rushed into the room and grabbed his new clothes–baggy pants and a flowy, one-size-fits-all tunic.They were sewn from coarse cloth, cheap and incomparable to Luisen’s original clothes. However, the new clothes were far hardier. Furthermore, the young lord could also be more active since the clothes didn’t wrap tightly around his body.

Just as Luisen wore his new underwear and was tucking his legs into the pants, the door opened, and Carlton entered. Luisen had thought a stranger had appeared and moved to hide but was relieved when he saw the mercenary. “Did you also wash up? We should have washed together.”

“…The room next door was empty, so I used the bathroom there.” Carlton responded half a beat late, but Luisen didn’t notice any of that. The young lord’s attention was on the mercenary’s hair–Carlton’s hair color had changed to a rich, dark brown. Though the hair color had only changed slightly, the mercenary seemed to give off a softer impression.

“How did you do that to your hair?” the young lord asked.

“…I soaked it in beer.”

“Well done. The slight change of color makes you look like a completely different person.”

Carlton and Luisen’s descriptions were written on the wanted poster. Changing hair color would put them out of the direct line of suspicion-what a good idea.

Luisen also thought of dyeing his hair, but his face was more conspicuous than anything else. No matter what hair color he chose, his features looked incredibly aristocratic. It would be better to cover his face with a hood.

With a nod, Luisen finished putting on his pants. The mercenary stood there, motionless, still gazing at the young lord. No matter how dense Luisen was, the young lord couldn’t help but notice the persistent gaze.

Luisen rolled his eyes awkwardly. Because of his looks and status, he was admired by both men and women. In his experience, those who looked at him with ardent desire were hiding a black heart within that passionate gaze.

‘No way! Him? For someone like me…? There’s no chance…’

Luisen hesitated before mustering up his courage to ask, “Why…are you looking at me like that…?”

“…I chose your clothes by roughly estimating your size with my eyes, but they fit well. I was worried they’d be too large.”

“Ah! Of course. The clothes.”

That was that. His companion wasn’t an ordinary person–he was Carlton. Not long ago, he had been beset by the man’s aggression and war tactics. ‘I’ve never heard of Carlton being interested in another man.’ Luisen quickly threw away his momentary suspicion.

‘How could a man like Carlton be interested in someone like me, just because I had cleaned up and recovered my looks? I was overconfident.’ Feeling embarrassed, Luisen quickly donned his tunic. How could he have had such an insane misunderstanding about such a decent person?

The young lord suddenly noticed Carlton was holding something. “What is in your hand?”

“…Scissors. I borrowed them from the innkeeper. I thought it would be good to trim your hair.”

That didn’t matter too much since Luisen was going to cover himself with the hood. However, Luisen felt like he needed to accept the mercenary’s sincerity–after all, the man already had the scissors in hand. He nodded. He pulled the table’s chair closer and sat down.

Carlton stood behind Luisen. Preparations for the trim–wrapping cloth around Luisen’s neck and taking the scissors out of its sheath–followed. Night had fallen, so they lit a candle. Because of the dim light, Carlton stepped closer to the young lord.

“I’ll go ahead and cut it.” Carlton swept back Luisen’s hair with his large hands and began to cut–bit by bit–from the bottom. It was quite repetitive, grabbing a section of the hair and snipping. Carlton was so focused, silently touching the young lord’s hair.

Since others have always cut his hair, Luisen was used to this sort of situation. He felt nervous for some reason, though. Was it because of Carlton? Was it because Carlton was standing behind him with scissors?

It was a bit hard to pinpoint where Carlton’s hands were touching. The hand holding his hair was light and unnecessarily stroked at his golden strands. Everytime Carlton did so, the young lord’s scalp tickled; Luisen could help but wriggle his hands and feet.

Luisen’s gaze wandered here and there before finally looking at the window. Carlton, as seen through the reflection in the glass, directed his serious, grave expression to the young lord.

Luisen’s ears flushed red. Carlton, in one fell swoop, brushed Luisen’s side hairs. As the mercenary did so, his fingertips idolently brushed past Luisen’s earlobe.

“Nngh!” Startled, the young lord looked behind him. He met Carlton’s indifferent gaze. It didn’t seem like Carlton was acting in his own self-interest–perhaps he had been too sensitive, yet again. Luisen smiled awkwardly and turned around. Once more, Carlton resumed his strokes.

‘He should just roughly cut the hair. Nobody is going see me anyway…’

Luisen felt that it was weird to use so much effort for something trivial.

He still vividly remembered the time he had crawled between Carlton’s legs. The tingling atmosphere that made the young lord’s hair stand on end; the mercenary’s hot gaze looking down at him. Those memories made it harder for the young lord to sit still. Luisen swallowed dry saliva and moistened his lips with his tongue.

He tried to look blank and thoughtless in his efforts to not seem weird.

Snip Snip.

The sounds of scissors cutting filled the room. In between each snip, Luisen could hear Carlton’s breaths. Outside the window, people laughed and chattered, but none of that entered Luisen’s ears.The rest of the world sounded so distant–like echoes from a different realm. In this room, the sounds of the mercenary–the mercenary’s breaths and the sounds of scissors—was everything.

‘Let’s not misunderstand anything. This is Carlton. Carlton.’

Luisen wished he could be broad-minded and confident, but once he started to be conspicuous of the other’s touch, his attention couldn’t help but focus on these instances. Warmth spread from his ear, and now his face felt like it was burning up. Luisen kept his mouth shut from embarrassment and bashfulness.

It was obvious to Carlton that the young lord’s neck was becoming more and more tense and that his ears were turning red. Of course he noticed these changes–the man had all his focus directed onto the young lord.

Snip.

As the long, protruding strands were cut, the back of Luisen’s pale neck became visible. The white nape was pitifully thin and long. While the mercenary felt regretful at the site of the pronounced neck bone, the desire to place his mouth there also grew.

Lowering his gaze down the lord’s neck, Carlton could see delicate body lines exposed through the loose tunic. Luisen’s naked body–which he had seen earlier when he had come into the room–came to mind.

Luisen wasn’t as muscular as Carlton. However, he still had the urge to lightly touch the pale skin that had reddened after the bath–just like the desire to poke a ripe peach.

He wanted to place his fingers in Luisen’s soft hair and just run his hands through it. He wanted to tickle those blushing ears. For some reason, he wanted to see the young lord’s waistline, covered by the loose tunic, one more time.

‘…Am I sexually frustrated?’