C50 — [2.13 – The Rose Manor]

 

And Norman looked at his sleeping lover in his arms, his gaze filled with love. He carefully adjusted his posture to ensure that Jiu Shu was resting on his arm and could sleep comfortably before also falling asleep.

 

 

Until late at night, Norman was afraid of him getting hungry and ordered his servant to make a late night snack. However, Jiu Shu still looked tired, and he buried his head on Norman’s shoulder with a hoarse voice that still lingered: “Okay.”
 

After a ridiculous day, he was indeed a little hungry, but at the same time, the excessive physical pleasure also made him very sleepy, and he couldn’t open his eyes at all.

 

Norman painfully tightened his arms around Jiu Shu, kissed his young lover’s forehead, his eyes gentle: “I’ll wake you when the midnight snack arrives, continue to rest.”

 

 

The blonde youth sniffed then continue to snuggle in Norman’s arms, showing the beautiful lines of his shoulder blades, he soon breathed calmly and fell asleep again.

 

Norman looked at his quiet sleeping face, the palm of his hand gently rubbing his delicate skin, warmly looking at his loved one, for a long time, he was unable to look away.

 

 

He seemed to be intoxicated in the warmth of this love affair and couldn’t be extricated.

 

 

But the next second, when he looked down and saw his arm placed on Jiu Shu’s slender waist, his dark pupils froze, as if he saw something that originally shouldn’t exist.

 

On the pale skin, the gradually spreading black mold spot was incomparably blinding.

 

 

“……”

 

 

Norman’s breathing was disorganized for a moment, and even the shadows behind him, distorted by the dim light, became even more horrifying.

 

 

But he knew that the love in his arms was still resting, so he didn’t make any big movements, he just silently moved the arm that produced the change away from Jiu Shu, as if he was afraid of dirtying his love.

 

 

Outside the door, the maid who had already made the evening meal had once again come to the front of the guest room, carefully asking if she could send it in, she seemed to be very curious about everything inside the room, but the tightly closed door prevented her from peeking in.

 

 

One could only hear the old count’s gloomy voice coming from inside the door, “Leave it there, there is no need to come in.”

 

 

The maid somewhat regretfully placed the midnight snack on the carpet aside, the food that was still radiating heat was served in fine china and held on a tray, so she didn’t worry about it being soiled by the dust on the carpet.

 

 

With that, the maid took a step back and forth, not being able to resist sneaking around the corner of the corridor and curling up, trying to see who would come to pick up the food.

 

She hadn’t seen the beautiful boy called Angus in a long time and really missed him.

 

If she could see him, she would be happy to be chastised by the old count.

 

 

However, the one who came to fetch the food was not Angus, but the old count.

 

 

The tall man’s face was pale and his expression couldn’t be seen.

 

 

She could only see that his movements were a little strange, after opening the door to the room, he walked to the place not far from the food, lowered his head and looked at his arm under the sleeve, he didn’t move for a long time.

 

 

Looking at the old count’s strange standing profile, the maid somehow had some fear in her heart.

 

 

She leaned against the wall and peeked cautiously, suddenly realizing that the wall around her had become very wet, and the dripping droplets of water slid down her fingers holding onto the wall, almost drenching her sleeves.
 

 

The old Count, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have noticed the change in the walls, and still stood not far away.
 

 

His face as white as a corpse was drowned in the dim light of the corridor, looking a little eerie.

 

The maid at this time felt a little unsteady, an unknown fear made breathing difficult, she could only crouch and sit on the ground, she wanted to look away, but couldn’t move at all.

 

 

In her line of sight, the old count finally slowly had a movement, he seemed to be tearing something on his arm with force, his big pale hand was so hard that she could see the protruding veins.
 

The maid didn’t know what the old count was doing, she could only see some black thick liquid and blood and flesh falling on the carpet, blending with the surrounding darkness.

 

The old count’s arm was also exposed to the white bones, and she could even see the torn flesh and blood vessels that were still attached to the bones.

 

This bizarre scene looked particularly frightening in the gloomy castle corridor.

 

The maid’s eyes widened and she almost screamed out, but her remaining sanity allowed her to cover her mouth, as if she had a premonition of what would happen if she made a sound.

 

 

The result was that sanity collapsing into nothingness.

 

 

But even having stopped making as much noise as she could, her heavy panting was a little too harsh.

 

 

The old count, who had been concentrating on tearing the flesh and blood from his arm, seemed to have heard something, and he looked over in the maid’s direction.

 

 

Those eyes that were full of pain and resentment became twisted and terrifying in the darkness.

 

It was as if there was a bloated and ghastly monster clad in human skin, writhing within the old count’s pale and bloodless skin, revealing slits only from the hollows of his eyes, eerily peering at her.

 

 

To tear her, the voyeur, to pieces.

 

 

The maid pressed herself against the wall, her gaze trembling as she looked into the old count’s dark, grim eyes, the damp smell lingering in her nostrils intensifying her fear to the point of almost fainting.

 

“Norman?”

 

Just as the maid’s mind went blank as she watched the terrifying old count raise his foot, a sudden call came from the guest room.

 

 

The slightly hoarse voice was as sheepish as a lamb, and with it came the sound of someone’s bare feet on the carpet with a light rustle.

 

 

Just hearing it made one imagine the gentle demeanor of that person.

 

 

The voice that called out was even full of attachment, making anyone who heard it unable to help their ears going soft.

 

After hearing the voice, the old count seemed to have a moment of panic.

 

 

He retracted his footsteps towards the corner where the maid was, and hurriedly brought his arm back behind his back, but the maid could still see the writhing black flesh twisting and growing on the bones of his small white arm.

 

 

Monster-like.

 

The maid’s face went white, and she didn’t have time to be thankful that she had escaped before she saw the man in the guest room reveal half of his side.

 

On the snow-white face were a pair of clear blue eyes that looked incredibly warm in the warm light of the room.

 

It was the Angus she had longed for.

 

 

“Norman, you’re so slow, I’m hungry.”

 

 

Angus’ azure pupils were unspeakably beautiful under the interplay of lights and shadows, cleaner and more beautiful than the bluest skies the maid could remember.

 

 

He only wore a loose white long shirt with a loose collar revealing his bare white shoulders, and seemed to not even notice the old earl’s horror as he reached out and wrapped his arms around his neck.

 

 

He snuggled in the tall man’s arms, his beautiful face was pressed against the man’s chest, and his narrowed eyes seemed to carry some cat-like lethargy.

 

 

Watching this scene, the maid opened her eyes wide with some disbelief.

 

 

She never imagined that the beautiful young man who was rumored by outsiders to have been forced by the old count would be this full of attachment in private.

 

 

It was as if he and the old count were in love.

 

 

But how could this be?

 

 

The maid never seemed to want to admit this fact in front of her, and she thought with a pale face that it was probably her own illusion.

 

 

“I’m sorry, I was too slow, are you very hungry?”

 

 

The old earl’s voice with guilt was soft as if it was sweet to the point of honey water, a far cry from the pale monster that had revealed gloomy and appalling eyes just a moment ago.

 

 

“Not really, just missed you-”

Angus smiled and kissed the old Count’s face, soft and full of fondness, “I don’t want to be separated from you at all, so don’t be too far away from me.”

 

 

The old Count’s gloomy brows instantly softened, and a smile was added to his pale and bloodless face, as if he was incredibly happy because of his lover’s words.

 

 

The handsome features finally gave some sense of reality, rather than being masked by those ghastly emotions that made it impossible to see the beauty or ugliness of the features.

 

 

From a distance, the two who were stuck together looked like an extremely compatible pair of mates.

 

 

Only the maid knew how terrifying that tall man embraced by Angus was.

 

 

The arm that had been behind his back was covered in writhing, disgusting flesh and blood.

 

Monster, the old count was a monster.

 

 

It must have been the old count, a monster, that compelled Angus.

 

 

Otherwise how could Angus be with someone as horrible as the old count, even though he had regained his youthful appearance, the old count was still the same man with a weird personality, there was no way anyone could fall in love with him.

 

The maid murmured so.

 

 

She wanted to tell Angus to run away quickly and not to get close to the old count again, or else who knew which day this monster would completely reveal his nature and hurt Angus.

 

 

But she was already so frightened that she couldn’t speak at all.

 

 

All that could be done was to try to reach out her hand, and her arm, soaked by the wall, seemed to be stained with black mold, looking dark and eerie in the light.

 

 

And with her best efforts she could do no more than leave a minuscule scratch on the wall, drawing little attention at all as the maid gave a look of despair.

 

 

In her field of vision, Angus was embraced tightly in the old Count’s arms, as if he were a pure lamb abducted by the devil, innocent to the core.

 

 

Angus, who was kept in the dark, did not know what terrible things would happen to him in the following night.

 

 

However, in the next second, the maid with a face full of despair locked eyes with Angus.

 

 

Those blue eyes seemed to be calmer and flatter than she had imagined.

 

 

The maid’s pupils widened slightly as she wondered if she had been seen, and if so, why was Angus’ expression was so calm?

 

 

Why didn’t he quickly break free from the old monster’s shackles and escape from this horrible place as she had expected.

 

Was it because he hadn’t seen the old Count’s true face?

 

 

The maid endeavored to probe her hand and pointed in the direction behind the old count towards Angus, and she saw that Angus seemed to glance in the direction she guided him and saw the old monster’s hideous and horrible arms.

 

 

All that disgusting black gore.

 

 

Angus had finally discovered the true face hidden behind the old Count’s false mask.

 

 

However, before the maid could rejoice over this, Angus retracted his gaze again, his expression still unchanged, as if he hadn’t seen anything.

 

 

He just rubbed against the old Count’s chest a little sleepily, urging him to hurry up and retrieve the food, he wanted to rest.

 

 

The old count still had his hands behind his back, nodded with a gentle expression, he said, “Okay, go back first, it’s cold outside, I’ll take the food back in a while.”

 

 

Angus nodded obediently and turned around to go back into the room, the maid saw that in her last glimpses of his eyes, there was a blandness that was extremely disproportionate to his beautiful and fragile appearance.

 

 

It was as if he had known the truth for a long time, but still chose to accept the terrible monster that was the old count.

 

“……”

 

 

The maid’s eyes widened, unable to comprehend, or perhaps just unwilling to believe that Angus would actually fall in love with the old count, and collapsed to the ground trembling.

 

Finally unable to bear what she had encountered tonight any longer, she fainted.

Not far away.

 

 

Norman looked at his arm that was gradually restored to its original state, the dark pupils of his eyes were uncertain, and his trembling palms revealed the complex and painful emotions in his heart at this moment.

 

 

These reappearance of strange flesh and blood tore apart his short-lived illusion of happiness, and also dragged him from the warmth of love with his lover back to the cold reality.

 

The torn wounds were healing, but the hideous writhing flesh and blood could still be seen underneath them, as if he was just a monster in human skin.

 

 

A monster who deluded himself into thinking that he would be with his lover for a long time would probably only end up with the most unpleasant end in the end.

 

 

Norman’s dark pupils looked a little hollow, suppressing an almost sad reluctance and resentment towards these ugly flesh and blood, until a few moments later he barely stabilized his emotions.

 

 

Picking up the tray on the carpet, Norman turned and returned to his room.

 

 

His lover was still waiting and couldn’t be delayed for too long, and as for that prying sight just now, it wasn’t too late to deal with it later.

 

 

Inside the room, Jiu Shu was sitting on the edge of the bed looking up boredly at the deepening damp marks on the walls, knowing that the peeping maid was only going to be mentally ill for a while after tonight.

 

 

The object of the punishment was becoming more and more mentally unstable, and even as a result, had some sort of uncanny influence on everything around him.

 

 

A mentally fragile person who probed too much about the object of discipline would only result in a mental breakdown.

 

“Come and eat, I’m sorry I took too long just now ……” Norman placed the late night snack at the table as if he wanted to explain something, but didn’t know where to start.

 

The muscles in his small arms tucked at his side were slightly tense, tense and uneasy, as if he was becoming agitated at having to lie to his lover.

 

 

Jiu Shu sighed silently, knowing that now wasn’t the time to pierce the window, and that once the truth was revealed and the object of the discipline’s mental state deteriorated further, things would be a bit out of control.

 

And all he could do was to pacify as much as possible, the daytime incident had already irritated him once, it would be best not to have too much mental fluctuation again in a short period of time.

 

 

So Jiu Shu just wrapped his arms around his neck and rubbed against his pale face affectionately, interrupting his explanation, “It’s okay, I’m sleepy and hungry right now, let’s dine quickly, and remember not to leave me for so long next time.”

 

 

“I’m already on the verge of not being able to leave you.”

 

Jiu Shu’s blue eyes looked at Norman without blinking, the tone full of love and attachment made Norman stunned, and his gloomy eyebrows became gentle and loving.

 

 

Apparently, his young lover’s attachment to him made him, who had been restless, very satisfied.

 

 

That expanding paranoid possessiveness in his heart also stopped expanding, and the corners of his mouth hooked up uncontrollably, and even the composure of an older man couldn’t hide the joy that radiated from the bottom of his heart.

 

“Okay, never again, we’ll always be together, this time it’s all my fault.”

 

 

Norman said with a smile as he kissed Jiu Shu’s cheek, mesmerized, eager not to let go.

 

 

But he remembered that Jiu Shu was hungry, and thoughtfully refrained from continuing, instead picking up the bowls and plates on a side tray and setting them on the small table.

 

 

The midnight snack was a simple meat porridge, as all Jiu Shu wanted at night was some hot porridge.

 

 

“Feed me.”

 

 

Jiu Shu suddenly stuck behind Norman who was arranging the dishes, and kissed the tip of Norman’s ear with an intimate movement.

 

 

Norman reddened, he was a little embarrassed because just now when he was arranging the tableware he was filled with the idea of wanting to feed Jiu Shu, and now that his dream suddenly came true, it made him a little embarrassed instead.

 

 

With careful movements, he picked up the spoon and gently blew on it to cool it a bit before moving it closer to him.

“Ah…” Jiu Shu curled his pretty blue eyes and slightly opened his rosy lips, which became more and more crystalline and full as he swallowed the food from his spoon.

 

 

“It’s delicious.” Jiu Shu watched the object of discipline stare at his lips and smiled, simply sitting down in his arms and picking up a spoon to feed him as well.

 

 

Norman hugged the warm and soft body in his arms, his pale face slightly red, his low mood slightly faded, the two of them fed each other until the two bowls of porridge finished.

 

 

They went to the washroom together to wash up then laid on the bed again.

 

 

Jiu Shu glanced at the fading traces of dampness on the walls and kissed Norman’s pale face with gentle eyes.

 

 

He hoped the object of discipline would get better soon, it hurt him to watch him suffer so much.

 

 

Still, there was no hurry.

 

 

Jiu Shu hid the helplessness in his eyes and could only press himself into the his arms as a means of calming the ever-unsettled lover.

 

 

Norman wrapped his arms around the suddenly clingy Jiu Shu, feeling only softness in his heart at the fact that he was clinging to his love, a fact that made him feel immensely content.

 

 

Satisfied to the point where he seemed to forget the fear and resentment he had felt earlier when he saw all that filthy flesh and blood.

 

 

Maybe all that twisted and writhing flesh and blood was just an accident.

 

 

He’d just cut it off after it appeared, so his lover wouldn’t find out.

 

 

And then they’d stay this happy, for sure.

 

 

Norman wrapped his arms tightly around the man in his arms, his pale palms tensed slightly, as if that would completely bury those spreading insecurities and fears in his heart.

 

 

Early the next morning, someone in the manor found the maid who fainted in the corner.

 

 

 

No one knew what had happened, only that she had become panicked, and seemed to have seen something incomparably terrifying, shouting incoherently about monsters and the like, but not being able to say what she had seen at all.

 

 

This made the manor become fearful, due to the old count’s suppression, it was no longer mentioned, but the atmosphere in the manor became more and more depressing.

 

 

But it didn’t matter, after all, this Manor belonged to the old count, in fact, what happened wasn’t surprising, before rumors of many paranormal events were rampant, but it was always left unsettled.

 

 

This incident might be the same, after a few weeks it would be forgotten by the forgetful people.

 

 

The butler walked down the damp-smelling corridor, his pale face was without a trace of blood, his eyelids drooped over his eyes, as if even opening them was an extremely laborious task.

 

 

Suddenly, he saw that on the distant corridor, the old count and that beautiful young man named Angus were standing there.

 

 

The old count who had returned to his youth was wearing a smile, his dark pupils were filled with a thick love that had never existed before, and the smile on his pale face was filled with a morbid infatuation with the love of his life in front of him.

 

 

The old count seemed to have changed a lot.

 

The butler watched the scene in a bit of a trance, almost unable to recall the old Count’s appearance in the past, with that gloomy and somber expression on his face.

 

 

Ever since falling in love with Angus, the old count had become more and more terrifying, his love for Angus making him more and more insane.

 

 

Thinking about the changes in the old count during this recent period, the butler couldn’t help but feel a chill in the bottom of his heart.

 

 

On the opposite side of the old count, the beautiful and slender youth was smiling and kissing his cheek, sticking together like a normal couple.

 

 

This seemed to be a very normal picture.

 

 

But the butler looked at this scene and revealed an expression of fear to the extreme.

 

 

He trembled and withdrew his gaze, walking quickly in the opposite direction.

 

 

Not only because of the old Count’s shadow that was getting more and more distorted under the sunlight, but also because of the beautiful to almost illusory smile on Angus’ snow-white cheeks.

 

Though there had been rumors circulating around the estate that the old count had forced himself on Angus, lately, the butler had always been under the illusion.

 

 

An illusion that Angus might not have been forced, but instead was enjoying himself.

 

 

Just like now, the butler actually had an inexplicable feeling in his heart.

 

 

It felt that Angus might have long seen the old Count’s bloated and horrible shadow, but he didn’t seem to care, still leaning warmly with the old count.

 

 

Compared to the old count who had an horrifying appearance, this young man with a beautiful appearance, who was calm to the point of being eerie in the face of the horrifying truth, made the butler shudder even more.

 

 

He didn’t know if he had gone crazy, the butler actually felt in this moment that they might actually be compatible.

 

 

A monster and the human who loved the monster.

 

 

---

TN:

I’m Aliveeeeee!!!!

 

It’s a long story why I didn’t post, but I’ll try to keep it short.

 

Went on vacation with my mum without my laptop, phone fell into the pool, black screen of death, couldn’t do anything, mum said i had to enjoy vacation without a phone, came home today feeling crazy, but felt bad about no update, so I updated!!!

T’was still long 🙄, I missed 3 posts for the week, it’ll be posted tomorrow, see ya then ✌️.

 

As for my phone, I have to get the screen replaced on Monday, I just realized that I’M A PHONE [Internet] ADDICT. 🥺