C49 — [2.12 – The Rose Manor]
by UntamedSJiu Shu looked at the pale face of the target in front of him, his gaze flickering over the closed door without leaving a trace, but in the end, he didn’t delve deeper.
“As long as you’re fine, you’re not looking too good today, it looks very heartbreaking.”
Jiu Shu’s beautiful azure pupils reflected the deep frown of the object of discipline.
The gloom that had originally dissipated during this period of time seemed to have returned to this young and handsome face.
“…… I’m sorry for making you worry.”
Norman looked at his worried lover in front of him, his heart softened almost instantly, and he tenderly kissed Jiu Shu’s forehead.
He held his slender lover in his arms, his pale face buried in the nest of his neck, his nose was filled with his lover’s warm and intoxicating scent, and he didn’t let go for a long time.
The previously suppressed anxiety in the pitch black pupils was drowned in the thick love.
In a spot where Jiu Shu couldn’t see, Norman looked at his forearm under his sleeve, his pale face seemed a bit dazed, and he instinctively slowly tightened his embrace.
Only feeling the warmth of his lover’s body in his arms could slightly ease his tense nerves.
In fact, he should have gone to see him long ago today, but before he left, when he inadvertently walked past the mirror, he noticed the strange scar on his arm in the mirror.
He pulled up the tightened white cuffs, revealing the pale, firm muscles of his arm, only to see a black mold-like spot covering the surface of his skin.
No amount of scrubbing could remove the ugly, dirty mold, and the slippery, slimy feel of it was even more disgusting.
He couldn’t go and see Jiu Shu with such a disgusting appearance.
At that time, Norman’s mind was filled with only this idea.
So he picked up the dagger to cut off the piece of flesh, but then what flowed out wasn’t crimson blood, but some kind of thick black liquid, exuding a salty smell like seawater.
The cut flesh would even slowly wriggle, as if these flesh tissues inside his body had begun to possess their own consciousness.
Norman cleaved these disgusting flesh and blood repeatedly, and the feeling of pain was transmitted to the depths of his brain through the peripheral nerves covered in flesh and blood.
But he didn’t seem to feel any pain at all.
It wasn’t until the sound of Jiu Shu’s voice appeared in his ears that he came back to his senses from this crazy trance.
At the call of his lover outside the door, in just half a minute, those cut wounds disappeared, leaving only pale and firm texture.
Everything was restored to its original form, as if everything before had been nothing more than an unreal nightmare.
“……”
Yes, everything just now was probably just an accident, he had just accidentally rubbed against the mold on the wall, and it would soon be back to normal.
Looking at his arm, which was now without a single wound, Norman deceived himself by repeating so, seemingly relieved.
With some reluctance, he loosened his embrace and interlocked his fingers with Jiu Shu, the soft palm of his lover’s hand mesmerized him as he held it in his hand, he was unwilling to let go.
“I’ve already arranged the carriage, will you go to the town in a while?”
Norman’s pale face eased a lot, his mood returned to the usual elegance and warmth, his eyes warmly looked at the beautiful lover in front of him.
Jiu Shu smiled as if he really hadn’t noticed Norman’s misbehavior just now, and his voice was as intimate as usual: “Yes.”
Looking at the bright smile on Jiu Shu’s face, Norman seemed yo be a bit intoxicated, he couldn’t help but gently kiss his lover’s cheek.
His movements were gentle, but vaguely revealed a certain paranoid love, as if he was afraid that his lover would leave him in the next second.
Obviously, he had already turned into his younger self, but Norman still couldn’t seem to get rid of his inner turmoil, wanting to stay with his beloved every moment….
Especially today.
Probably because of those weird blood and flesh just now, his uneasiness grew worse, and his kissing movements became more and more eager.
Jiu Shu seemed to realize what was going on, he let the object of discipline kiss his cheeks and didn’t resent the sticky kisses.
He gently looked at the head buried in the side of his neck, his long, slender fingers ran through the thick, dark strands of hair at the back of Norman’s head as if to soothe him.
It was only after ten minutes or so had passed that he rubbed the top of Norman’s hair somewhat helplessly, a smile in his warm, soft voice: “Didn’t you say we were going out to play? Aren’t we leaving yet?”
Norman stopped moving and seemed to notice that he had been standing in the corridor for too long, and raised his head somewhat guiltily, only that his arms were still still hooped around Jiu Shu’s slim waist, like he seemingly forgot to let go.
“Sorry, I was out of line, let’s go.”
Norman said apologetically, his expression a little downcast, and Jiu Shu looked at the pitiful-looking object of discipline and leaned in close to peck him gently on the corner of his mouth.
“No need to apologize to me, I enjoy your kisses too and don’t mind.” Jiu Shu replied softly, his clear voice causing Norman to be stunned for a moment, then his expression grew more tender.
His young lover was always keenly aware of his emotions, obviously he was the one who was older, but he was always the one who was soothed.
Norman wanted to say something, but in the end all he could do was kiss Jiu Shu’s cheek again, enamored with his lover’s unique tenderness towards him.
As long as Jiu Shu still loved him, then nothing mattered.
Norman thought so, burying those insecurities in his mind completely.
The two of them dawdled around the corridor for a long time, and it wasn’t until almost noon that they finally remembered they had to go to the town, and if they were late, they wouldn’t be able to get there until afternoon.
Norman held Jiu Shu’s hand as they walked down the corridor, chatting about how they were going to the town’s circus to see a show later on, or go to the market to buy something.
There seemed to be an amusement park there as well, but Jiu Shu had an aversion for amusement parks after the last time, and decisively declined, so it was better to just walk around the streets.
He hadn’t gone out much since he came to this world, and was actually quite curious.
“Okay, we can just go anywhere.” Norman smiled as he looked at his young lover beside him, loving the way he couldn’t hide his curiosity.
Although Jiu Shu usually always looked like he was pretending to be mature, Norman still liked to spoil him as if he were a child, and he hoped that Jiu Shu would always be happy.
“Angus! You! How can you be with this old thing!”
Suddenly, a shrill, frantic voice stopped in front of the two.
Norman shielded himself in front of Jiu Shu, his expression becoming extremely cold and disgusted.
It was the candidate who had previously been grounded in the room and had somehow escaped.
The brown-haired noble youth’s face was pale as he looked at Jiu Shu, who was holding hands with the old count, his face full of unwillingness and resentment.
“He must have forced you, right!?”
The aristocratic youth screamed so, while facing this flea-like annoying skinny candidate, Norman just raised his chin slightly with some coldness.
Unlike the gentle and elegant manner when facing Jiu Shu, at this moment, Norman’s eyes were gloomy, and the aristocratic coldness and disdain in his dark pupils could almost pierce through a person’s skin.
The noble youth stiffened at such a gaze, then became irritated, “What are you looking at! It must be you who forced Angus! You old undead monster! What kind of witchcraft did you do to become young!”
“You must have made a deal with the devil!”
The noble youth shouted, and not far from him were the guards who had hurriedly arrived.
Norman had originally kept these guards in front of the door of them candidates, not allowing them to step out of the room for half a step, he didn’t want these people to disturb his peaceful life with Jiu Shu.
But he didn’t expect these guards to be so useless and still let one of them escape.
“Count!”
The guard who had just arrived looked at Norman’s icy demeanor, and instantly stood upright to apologize.
Norman frowned slightly, looking at the guards with boredom, and after they finally pinned the noble youth to the ground, he seemed to want to scold them, but suddenly realized that Jiu Shu was standing behind him.
His young lover might not be able to see the bloody scene at all.
So Norman had no choice but to withdraw the order that was on his lips and calmly said, “Lock him back up.”
The matter of cutting out his tongue could come later.
Behind him, Jiu Shu who supposedly couldn’t see blood had a calm expression, and he didn’t even look at that crazy noble youth with a single glance, but only looked at the back of the object of discipline who was obviously suppressing his anger.
Knowing that he must have started to suffer again in his heart at this moment, he pacifyingly tightened his grip on the hand that was clasped with him.
Norman’s expression did ease a bit as he felt the warmth of his hand.
“Yes!” The soldiers were relieved and hurriedly escorted the noble youth away.
And that noble youth looked at Jiu Shu that was getting farther and farther away from him, his expression became more and more maniacal, as if he was somewhat delirious from the recent confinement life, he was still clamoring loudly, “Angus! Get away from him!”
“He must be a devil! He compelled you!”
“The devil! You won’t get away with it, sooner or later you’ll reveal your true colors! You will definitely go to hell!”
The noble youth ended up cursing loudly at Norman, who was not far away, and although his mouth was covered by the soldiers in fear, he still revealed spiteful eyes, wanting to curse the old count who had taken away the love of his heart.
No one could imagine the feeling of being locked up in a room for almost half a month, only to come out and find that the youth he had always adored had been taken by someone else.
Especially by the old count that he had always despised!
The curses from the noble youth’s mouth became more and more vicious, and even when his mouth was covered, he could still vaguely hear those vicious sentences.
The old count who was normally calm seemed to be a little angry because of these curses, he twisted his head to look at the noble youth, his dark pupils were filled with a horrifyingly fierce color.
The moment the noble youth met the old Count’s line of sight, for some reason his eyes suddenly widened.
A twisted, hideous and ghastly shadow was reflected in the dilated pupils, exuding a sea-water-like dampness.
That huge, bloated, monster-like shadow was enough to shock any human’s mind.
The noble youth who was still struggling turned pale and could no longer speak.
The soldiers around him who were struggling to drag him looked back at him curiously, only to realize that he seemed to have fainted from fear.
No one knew exactly what he saw, and no one noticed that on the walls on both sides of the corridor, those inconspicuous mold spots seemed to be growing.
On the other hand, after getting rid of the aristocratic youth, Norman continued to lead Jiu Shu forward.
His lover didn’t seem to care about what the nobleman said just now, and still snuggled closely beside him, their fingers tightly clasped together.
Norman gripped Jiu Shu’s hand tightly and fell into silence.
Although he kept telling himself that Jiu Shu wouldn’t take the words of the candidate just now to heart, the uneasiness in his heart still intensified.
After becoming young, Norman didn’t seem to be as fulfilled as he once thought, but instead became more and more afflicted.
Perhaps because the means of restoring this youthful appearance wasn’t considered decent, he would sit in front of the mirror every day and scrutinize his face, as if fearing that one day he would change back to his old self.
Especially after the days of establishing a clear and honest relationship with his lover, he could no longer imagine himself returning to his original state.
Loss after gain would only cause more pain.
The words of that noble youth just now tore off the calm surface of his disguise, and those so-called words that he would eventually reveal his true colors completely exposed the uneasiness in his heart.
Norman remembered those writhing bizarre flesh and blood just now, his fingers twitched somewhat nervously, and he subconsciously pursed his lips, his face pale.
“……”
Jiu Shu suddenly stopped in his tracks, his blue eyes looking at the object of discipline at his side: “What are you thinking about?”
Norman snapped back from his chaotic thoughts and looked at Jiu Shu’s clear azure pupils, he was stunned for a moment before revealing a gentle smile, “Nothing, I was just thinking about why that person just now had such great malice towards me.”
“…… Don’t take it to heart, that’s just some crazy talk.”
To Jiu Shu, that noble youth was simply irrelevant, the only one he cared about was the object of discipline, so he didn’t care about those curses at all just now, but now it seemed that the effect on the object of discipline seemed to be quite large.
Jiu Shu looked at the object of discipline who didn’t tell the truth, thought for a moment, and softly said, “Or are you jealous?”
Jealous? Norman lowered his dark eyes to acquiesce to this answer.
Of course he was jealous.
After becoming younger, Norman’s possessiveness became much stronger in addition to the uneasiness he gradually hid.
Compared to his inferior and cowardly self when he looked older, Norman now became more and more greedy.
Although the love that Jiu Shu had given Norman had always been warm and fulfilled all his excessive demands, whether it was staying together the whole day or those intimate behaviors on top of the bed, Jiu Shu had never refused him.
Norman knew that this was the most perfect love, to be able to love his beloved should have satisfied him.
After all, this was the best ending he could have ever imagined.
But people were like this, greed could never be satisfied.
Obviously in the beginning, he just wanted to become younger, to walk in the sun with his beloved love, no longer caring about other people’s eyes and comments.
But now, Norman found himself wanting more and more, he wanted his lover’s eyes to always be on his, his more and more paranoid love made him not want his love to come in contact with outsiders.
Sometimes he even had the idea of imprisoning his beloved by his side forever, so that they could live happily together forever.
As an older man, Norman knew that this kind of thought was incredibly ugly; he had no right to imprison a free soul, and true love should never be this kind of morbid possession.
But there was no hiding what was in his heart, and even with all the grandeur on the surface, Norman could still feel the deepening void within himself, the unfulfilled desire to love.
All he could do was hide it in his heart, while on the outside he acted ever more gentle.
He knew it was the only way to keep his lover.
And Jiu Shu seemed to see through all the sins in Norman’s heart. He smiled, kissed the cheek of the object of punishment, wrapped his arms around his neck, and leaned against Norman’s sturdy and broad embrace.
Close as Siamese twins, it was the position that best filled the hole in Norman’s heart.
“You’re the only one I’m in love with, don’t care about anyone else.”
“I’ll never leave you.” Jiu Shu uttered the promise that Norman wanted to hear the most.
Although Jiu Shu had said similar promises to Norman countless times, every time he heard it, Norman still couldn’t help the fluttering of his heart, and it was as if his heart was filled with some kind of warmth as he embraced Jiu Shu anew.
It was only at times like this that the affliction and morbid possessiveness that had never dissipated in his heart could be slightly satisfied.
After a long embrace, it was almost noon outside, and Norman indistinctly wanted to let go of the embrace and continue to the promised town for a stroll.
Jiu Shu, however, declined the offer.
“Never mind, maybe today isn’t the day, let’s go some other time.”
Jiu Shu leaned lazily in Norman’s arms and said so as he looked at the walls of the nearby corridors that were becoming more and more humid and seemed to be undergoing some kind of ominous change.
“But ……”
Norman remembered his lover, who had been so full of anticipation just moments ago, and wondered why he had suddenly changed his mind; he was a little afraid it was because of him.
He didn’t want Jiu Shu to be upset in any way because of him.
Maybe those actions just now were too out of character, and it was his silence and bad mood just now that affected Jiu Shu.
Norman opened his mouth to say he shouldn’t mind him, but in the next moment, Jiu Shu’s fingertips blocked his lips.
“Don’t think too much, I just suddenly don’t want to go out anymore, maybe we can go to our room and rest ……”
Jiu Shu moved closer to Norman, his rose petal like lips right at his pale face, the slightly cool exhale seemed to be like a fire coloring Norman’s face scarlet.
He knew that Jiu Shu must have felt his mind, perhaps it was felt because the clothes he wore today were too thin.
Norman looked at his lover in his arms, the dark pupils reflected the beautiful face of his lover, he was somewhat fascinated for a long time, and finally didn’t say anything else.
His ears reddened as he hugged Jiu Shu tightly, his breathing was a little unsteady, and the steadiness that originally belonged to the older man seemed to have dissipated at this moment.
Under the gaze of his lover’s smile, the two entered a vacant guest room nearby.
Click-click – the locked door of the room cut off all the noise of the outside world, and also locked in the searing air of the room.
There seemed to be the faint sound of limbs entwining together, and it all came down to an ambiguous sound of water.
It wasn’t until late afternoon that the room returned to its original calm, with Jiu Shu’s sweat-dampened hair plastered to his curved jaw, and what appeared to be a thin, unabated blush on his cheeks.
He laid sprawled out on the dark sheets, revealing a smooth spine beyond the sheets. Under the bright and dark tones, his lips and teeth looked even more red and white.
Opening his eyes, his gaze swept over the walls on all sides of the room, giving a slight lurch as he noticed the traces of growing dampness for a moment before retracting his gaze.
It seemed that the more emotional he was, the more pronounced the changes would be, both positive and negative emotions alike.
With a silent sigh, Jiu Shu turned and ducked into the sturdy chest of the target, his gaze sweeping over the distorted shadow of the man reflected on the walls, he closed his eyes again, not bothering to think about them anymore.
TN:
See ya Monday ✌️
Thank you for the update~
I love it. Thanks for the update 😊
Bros accepted that his lover is an eldrich horror and honestly if thats not true love idk what is
idk i feel bro’s got one (1) type and it’s a loving yandere eldritch horror with very low self-esteem, and i cannot help but respect him for that