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“Huu.”
Climbing the stairs one step at a time to avoid slipping, Renato exhaled a deep breath. He glanced above with an exhausted face. It had been a while since he had gone up the stairs, but he couldn’t see the end at all.
Last night, after dinner with Maryam, Renato returned to the guesthouse and fell asleep as if fainting. And as soon as he woke up in the morning, Renato had to put on his ceremonial outfit and leave for the sanctuary. It was to hold the engagement ceremony like what Khalid said to him yesterday.
The Khan Kingdom’s sanctuary was a large cave located on the mountainside not far from the palace, and since it was on a road where carriages could not enter, they had to get off and walk from the middle. When they came out of the forest road where the azure of dawn still remained, a stairway enveloped in misty clouds and fogs appeared. It was the only passageway leading to the sanctuary.
According to the kingdom’s rules, only Khalid and Renato were allowed to enter the sanctuary. Louis and Luna, who followed them to the entrance of the stairway, saw Renato off with worried faces.
‘Please take my hand. The stairs are narrow and steep, so if you fall, you will be in serious trouble.’
Standing in front of the stairway leading to the sanctuary, Khalid firmly held Renato’s hand and slowly moved. The two climbed the stairs, going through clouds and fog. The humid air fluttered along with the winds, brushing their hair and cheeks.
After walking for a long while, Renato felt out of breath. Even though it was a quite chilly day, sweat was forming on his forehead. His calves were stiff and his breathing was gradually becoming rougher.
Unlike the exhausted Renato, Khalid was fine. He was purposely going up the stairs slowly to keep up Renato’s pace.
“Huu……”
Renato glanced at Khalid’s face which didn’t have any signs of tiredness and let out another long breath. He knew he shouldn’t compare himself to a knight like Khalid, but he thought of himself as pathetic.
“Are you tired?”
“Pardon? No.”
Renato shook his head in surprise when hearing a question coming from above his head. He didn’t want to show the man how tired he was.
“Please tell me if you’re tired so that we can take a break.”
Khalid stopped walking and turned to look at Renato’s face. When he thought about it again, this must have been the first time Renato had walked this long. How many times would a Prince like him have to walk for a long time?
Khalid cursed his complacency and lightly clicked his tongue. Unsurprisingly, he could see a breath flowing out of the small lips, the chest rising and sinking, and the shaking shoulders.
“We can’t continue like this, please get on my back.”
“Excuse me……?”
Khalid quickly made a decision, turned his back to Renato, and bent his body. Startled by the sudden action, Renato stubbornly refused.
“I’m okay. If we go a little slower than now, I can still go.”
“We will have to go up as far as we just did, is that possible? It’d be difficult if you are exhausted before the engagement ceremony, so please get on my back.”
Does it mean we are only halfway there? Renato’s eyes darkened because of Khalid’s words. But he didn’t want to be carried like a child either.
“It’ll be heavy for you……”
“It won’t be heavy, so please don’t worry. If you don’t want to be carried on my back, should I hug you up like last time?”
Khalid insisted a little more strongly when Renato tried to refuse. Having known from his past experience that Khalid was someone who would do whatever he wanted, Renato gave up and entrusted his body to the man. If he continued to refuse, he could really go up in Khalid’s embrace.
“Please put your arms around my neck.”
Feeling the hands grabbing his shoulders, Khalid gave a brief warning and raised himself up. Startled when his body suddenly rose, Renato reflexively hugged the man’s neck tightly. Then, Khalid’s large hands firmly supported his hips.
“I will go a little faster.”
Khalid strode up the stairs with Renato on his back. Following his steps, the scenery around them quickly changed. Only then did Renato realize that Khalid was walking very slowly in consideration of him.
Feeling embarrassed for some reason, Renato buried his face in Khalid’s neck. As he was quickly climbing the stairs with light breathing, Khalid’s shoulders momentarily flinched when the soft hair touched his nape.
“What’s wrong? Please tell me if you are feeling uncomfortable.”
“No, I’m not feeling uncomfortable, it’s just…… Sometimes when I’m with you, I feel like I’ve become a child who can’t do anything, your highness.”
After hesitating a bit, Renato honestly expressed his feelings. These days, Khalid personally took care of everything related to Renato, including meals, clothes, and bed. It was to the extent that Louis would joke that ‘Thanks to his highness, I have nothing to do.’
Renato was embarrassed and ashamed because of Khalid’s actions, but he also secretly relied on the man. Strangely, he didn’t dislike the man taking care of him. At the same time, he was worried if this was okay. He thought that if he got used to Khalid’s kindness like this, a huge aftereffect would remain for him after three years.
So he was afraid. Renato sometimes became anxious, despite knowing that there was nothing more foolish than worrying about a future yet to come. Because he no longer wanted to suffer the pain of loss, be it an object, a person, or an emotion.
Unaware of Renato’s restlessness, Khalid wanted Renato to lean on him more than now. And he often expressed that feeling. Just like now.
“You can be more childlike. I think you need to trust and depend on other people a little more, Your Imperial Highness. And you’re five years younger than me, so it’s true that you’re still a child.”
“……We are only five years apart.”
“Only? I think a five-year gap is big, though? Don’t you remember at yesterday’s dinner, Her Majesty called me a thief? Everyone I meet sees me as a jerk who seduced the innocent Prince, so I am being treated like a thief these days.”
“But you aren’t a thief……”
Hearing Khalid’s words, Renato mumbled in a weak voice. Both Maryam and Trudy said so, but he still couldn’t understand why people kept talking about Khalid that way.
Was it because Khalid was known to have courted him passionately?
Renato suddenly felt apologetic toward the man. He was the one who proposed first, while Khalid only agreed to it out of goodwill and accepted his request which was close to coercion.
“I’m sorry.”
“Uhm? Why are you suddenly apologizing to me?”
“I think you keep hearing bad things because of me……”
His voice became smaller and smaller. He felt guilty because while he set up a smokescreen to avoid Marquis Medus’ suspicion and proceed with the marriage without people’s objections, it seemed that Khalid had heard things he didn’t need to.
“Haha, I already told you, right? Please don’t feel sorry about that. They aren’t being serious, they are just making fun of me because it’s amusing. When else would they be able to make fun of me if not for this?”
“But……”
“Well, I also agree with that to some extent.”
Khalid said with a wry smile. He thought he couldn’t help but hear people say that he was a thief. Renato’s world, where he grew up without proper interaction with people, was so small that Khalid sometimes felt as if he was with an innocent and pure child.
In particular, whenever he had physical contact with Renato, that feeling became stronger. Facing the reddened eyes because of only brief touches, the lips that still couldn’t breathe properly when kissing, the gaze that showed clear emotions, and the body that trembled in response to his every touch, it felt as if he was dirtying a blank paper sheet as clean as pure white snow of his own accord. Whenever that happened, he felt a strange sense of guilt and bizarre ecstasy at the same time.
“You also agree? Why?”
“Uhm, maybe it’s because of the remaining conscience in me, I think. Here, we have arrived.”
Khalid vaguely answered with a soft laugh, then stopped his steps and carefully put Renato down. Renato couldn’t ask anymore and awkwardly set his feet on the ground.
“Welcome, your highness and Your Imperial Highness. I have been waiting for you.”
Having been waiting in advance after receiving the contact, the priest calmly welcomed the two even after seeing Renato carried by Khalid. The two straightened their clothes disheveled while going up the stairs, then followed the priest to the inside of the cave where the altar was.
“Wow……”
Going inside holding Khalid’s hand, Renato inadvertently exclaimed at the mysterious sight unfolding in front of his eyes. Contrary to his expectations that it would be dark and gloomy, the cave was shining like a blue lake.
“It’s thanks to the luminescent moss. It is a plant that glows in the dark. It acts as a torch.”
“It feels like the middle of the sea, or a night sky……”
“It seems like everyone has similar impressions. Please watch your steps in case you might fall.”
Khalid carefully led Renato while talking about the plant emitting blue lights. Standing in front of the altar where the tablets of successive Kings and Queens were arranged, the two solemnly paid silent tribute while listening to the priest’s prayers and recited the engagement vows memorized in advance. Then, they received the priest’s blessing and drank the holy water given to them. With that, the engagement ceremony was over.
“It ended so quickly……”
Coming out of the cave, Renato muttered in a dazed voice. He came up with so much hardship, but it was over in less than an hour, so he felt a little empty.
“It’s not over yet. The engagement celebration banquet will be held as soon as we return to the royal palace. In the kingdom, the engagement ceremony is an appetizer, while the celebration banquet that lasts all night is the main dish.”