The black eyes looking at the night view of the capital, Muscat, showed little affection for his home country. Even the magnificent view of tens of thousands of lights looking like petals in full bloom, Ashan only looked casually without any exclamation.

Louis, who was next to Ashan, tilted the wine glass.

They were the two who finished their meal and moved to a suite prepared for Ashan as usual.

"Sometimes I don't know what's on your mind.”

Ashan's first impression was the worst. He still remembered how many of his intelligence agents were killed to capture him.

As soon as charges of treason against the captain of mercenary company Lake fell, British Secret Service MI6 was bent on catching Ashan, his closest ally.

A trap was dug, but countless lives were lost. It was unbelievable that so many people had died because of this one person even when he was taken prisoner. The hair, which was soaked in blood and tangled, was almost indistinguishable from its original color. He looked at Louis as he entered the interrogation room with a face that would kill a man just by looking at him.

I didn't say anything. And it was not until further interrogation that the British royal family ordered him to release himself. It wasn't someone they could touch from the start. He was the hidden prince of the country of Arab arrogance. I let go of the prince of a country, thinking that how he was rolling in the mercenary corps, and that life was also very dangerous. That's how I thought my relationship with him was over.

Five years ago he contacted his enemy, Louie.

Thanks to Ashan, Louis was relegated, not demoted, and had to be assigned to the head of the Muscat branch of the British Intelligence Service, Oman. Ashan persuaded British intelligence on the unconventional condition that if he were to become a sultan. The intelligence department was weighing between Mohammed and Ashan, who were Arabs to the bone, and eventually sided with him.

If it was Ashan that Louis saw, he thought he would survive even after killing my brother. The rewards he promised to British intelligence if he became a Sultan after using it at will were enormous.

"I don't think you need to know."

Come to think of it, I don't really want to know.

It was Louis who never imagined that the day would come when he smiled at the opponent he tortured. By all accounts, Ashan was an enemy he didn't want to meet.

"Be a little affectionate. I feel sorry for your country in the future, for heirs who see such a beautiful country with such cool eyes."

"Why should I look at a country that doesn't love me with such eyes?"

Feeling something irreversible in the serene voice of neither anger nor hatred, Louis rose from the wine glass.

"Then what do you see as lovely?"

"Lovely……. I felt beautiful.”

Ashan's eyes, looking at the world beyond the glass, were gently released.

A dirty camouflage cream that's so thick that you can't recognize your face.

But the sand dust that was tangled.

A breath that exhaled alive.

The black eyes staring into his abyss.

The desire to live.

The flame of life that was burning.

A noble life dedicated to others.

If you could value life, where would your life be?

Seoyun was an exotic being for him who had been thinking about such things. I felt beauty as I returned with my child through the rain of death.A rose that falls in the desert.

A red seed sticking out of the dark blue world.

That's why it stands out more.

The world beyond the glass is black, but the flaming flame is brighter than anything else.

Seoyoon was like that.

I could have reached out my hand and turned it off, but I'm the only one in the world who doesn't want to.

"Don't tell me that's the bodyguard lady out there?"

Louis also remembered Ashan's smile. It wasn't much of a story for him, but Ashan was laughing at it. Because Ashan has been regarded as a man devoid of emotion, Louis is unfamiliar with his response.

"What did I think of when I saw it?"

"What?"

"What did the tiger think in front of us?”

His fingers swept over the glass as if touching our bars.

Louis, who was watching it from the side, clicked his tongue. He seemed to be very curious about what the young girl, who had been looking at the yellow and transparent eyes of the beast all day, thought.

"Ask him yourself. Do you want me to call you?”

"That's too lame.”

Ashan replied with a smile like a child.

It seemed unbearably curious, but wouldn't ask it out. It seemed good to think comfortably and embrace the memory.

I like it, I hate it, I love it, I hate it, it hurts. Among the more emotions than that, Ashan knew few. He had no parents, no brothers, who taught him how to express.

Having had to be written off just because he was mixed, he didn't mix with either. He did not meet his mother who returned to France immediately after giving birth to him. Even though he could meet, Ashan himself refused. Since abandoning him, no one has been in his family.

Louis dared not imagine having to endure every day of the long sun being treated in a spacious and lonely palace.

"Why don't you look for a union with the Presbyterian Church? I'm sure you're tired of the Presbyterian Church.”

"This place is barren. Eighty percent of the land is useless."

Ashan's fingers passed by like a line on the window.

His hometown was barren land, where the salty sea and desert were everything.

"They are not afraid of losing their place to me. I'm afraid of the astronomical amount of inheritance I'll inherit as a Sultan.”

Money moves anything in the world.

Black oil pouring endlessly out of this barren land was originally their only capital. He knew all too well that it was not the Sultan's seat that could not be taken away by Ashan, who was not pure blood, but the money in the end.

"There is no negotiation until I die.”

"What if you survive to the end?”

Ashan's eyes glowed bleakly at the words.

"I'll regret not taking my life until I die."

Louis' spine was chilling to think about what happened after a man who had no heart in his country climbed to the Sultan's seat. It occurred to me that maybe there is a future dictator standing in front of him now.

Louis couldn't say anything more because he was convinced that those who couldn't take Ashan's life would regret it until they were "on the verge of death," not "lifetime."

"I'm coming in."

A quiet voice was heard from outside. Louis laughed unconsciously at the straight personality felt in his voice.

Ashan, who glanced at Louis' face, replied.

"Come on in."

Seoyoon came in with a first aid kit for dressing."Shall we do it here?”

Without an answer, Ashan took off his top.

"Come to think of it, you were hurt, weren't you?”

Seoyun naturally knelt down in front of Ashan as he lay slanted on a couch on one side and rested his chin. The wine in the glass in one hand circled at his touch.

Ashan did not reply to Louis, but looked at Seo Yoon-man. From the moment Seo-yoon entered, his eyes remained on her. On the other hand, Louis, who found Seo-yoon's calm eyes looking at Ashan, once again laughed.

"He cut the steak perfectly, so I forgot he was hurt."

Louis, who approached as if he was looking, stood next to Ashan and looked at the wound.

"Ha! Are you making a fuss?"

Looking at the wounds left by the clean bullet, Ashan did not reply. Already Ashan didn't care about him. Realizing that, Louis touched the red side of his finger.

"Don't touch me."

It was Seoyun who restrained him.

"He's not the one who's gonna die with this."

"I know."

Obviously torture at MI6 headquarters was much worse than this. The wounds at that time were still faintly visible throughout the undressed upper body.

"It's a crybaby anyway.”

Louis grinned as he wanted to ask if he liked the woman in front of him so badly.

"If you get hurt, it's my responsibility, so don't touch it."

Seoyoon said with a serious face whether Louis laughed or not.

"Don't touch me."

Ashan looked up at Louis as if to see it and opened his mouth. All three were saying things that went against the pint, but they were strangely hit.

Seo-yoon stayed near Ashan's chest for a while to bandage him again. Ashan's face reminded me of the quiet, short-term regret. The expression could only be seen by Louis standing behind her back.

Louis wasn't already in his world.

It was a subtle difference that no one else could notice. It was only after six years with him that Louis could see it.

For a moment, he stares at the earlobe grazing the tip of his chin, next to it, and when Seo-yoon slowly takes off his body, his eyes slowly fade away.

"Even if you hide it in secret, can't you help but look at it?"

"You shut up.”

"Yes, prince. It's a wine that came as a present, but it's a precious thing that you can't taste. Why don't you join me for a drink?"

"I'm on duty."

Seoyun politely declined Louis' offer, saying.

"Drink it."

Ashan handed over the wine glass in one hand.

"It's a breach of contract. I don't drink."

Falling down.

When Seo-yoon refused at once, the wine glass was emptied cleanly on the carpet. The navy stain remained so round that the edge of the carpet containing the fallen wine could not be erased.

As soon as Ashan reached out the wine glass to Louis again, Louis filled the red liquid with a bottle of wine over it.

"Drink it."

Seoyun sighed knowingly, knowing that she was an employer who would do this time and again until she drank.

If it's a precious wine, it'll cost you a fortune.

I wondered if he was really throwing a tantrum as Asuka said.

John, a drinker, would have quickly taken it, saying it was expensive wine that he would never know if it was a soloist or not, but Seo-yoon was not John.As he leaned the wine glass sideways again and tried to pour it down the carpet, Seoyoon's hand grabbed Ashan's wrist. And I poured all the wine I deserved into my mouth.

Bowing.

Instead of bowing down instead of talking, she strode to the door.

"Stop it."

The sound of Louis drying from behind was also briefly blocked by Ashan's hand as soon as the door was about to open.

Like this.

Seoyoon frowned at the door that was closed again.

The wine he recommended would have been sweet if he had enjoyed it properly, but there was no bird to taste the mouth-watering situation now. I was just desperate to spit it out.

He turned around and looked at his solid body and his sculptural face looking down at him alternately.

Ashan's fingers poked Seoyoon's cheek, which seemed to burst.

"Poot!"

Like a fountain, a rising red stream flowed through Ashan's angular breastbone.

"How dare you spray secretions on me?"

I wanted to say no, but I couldn't open my mouth. If swallowed, you really drink on duty and violate your contract, and if you spit it out in front of you, you are guilty of promising the royal family. Even so, Seo-yoon would not blow his neck, but the best way to do it was not to swallow or spit it out in front of his eyes.

Ashan stood still, ignoring Seo-yoon, who told her with her eyes to remove her hand from the door, and suddenly closed her mouth tightly with her eyes.

Gulp.

Unable to withstand the pressure, wine crawled down the esophagus. The sound was so loud that Louis, who was ten steps away, could be heard.

Ashan took off his hand that covered Seo-yoon's mouth with a face that it was nothing.

Red wine stains appeared on his palm and all over Seoyoon's mouth. Ashan, who looked at his palm once, swept Seo-yoon's lips to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

Suddenly, when Seoyun was defenseless, this man came up one step at a time like this.

A bodyguard being crushed by an employer. I knew the difference in power, but when it happened so easily, I was almost skeptical about what I was doing. Perhaps that's why Ashan's fingers scouring his lips were not the problem now.

It was a matter of self-respect. Stopped at the thought of doing more physical training, Ashan slowly licked her mouth-cleaning fingers.

The red tongue licked through his fingers to the palm of his mouth.

Now, cursing reflexively popped out of Seo-yoon's mouth, who realized what he was doing in front of his eyes one step later.

"Shit……."

What was interesting was that if you stay in a foreign country and use English from waking up to closing your eyes, you can speak English to yourself. It was like that's how it is.

The words "Shit" that she unwittingly said went straight to Ashan's ear.

"What did you just say?"

Wouldn't it have been better if I swore in Korean?

But the man in front of me seemed to understand d*mn well. He was a man who seemed to understand swearing all over the world.

"No, I'm talking to myself."

Ashan grinned as if he was going to fall for it. And said Seo-yoon, disheveling her hair with five fingers."Don't mess with me."

Seo-yoon replied, "Yes," in a small voice, to the unrivaled tone that neither one nor the other is acceptable.

She turned her back and glared as hard as she could at the back of Ashan's head back to the table. Also, it was only visible to Louis.

***

Ashan came out of the suite before sunrise in the morning. It was a little past 5 a.m. Maybe he was trying to move before dawn. Seoyoon quickly stood next to him.

"You stay here.”

When the elevator door opened, Ashan climbed into it and said, leaving Seoyoon alone. John hurried up beside him at his glance.

"What?"

"Your brother is my guest because he ate with me. I told the manager to move my guest's luggage here when it's completely bright.”

"What is that……….”

Seoyoon's forehead narrowed down because he wondered what else he was trying to make. Every time he opened his mouth, I felt like my whole mind was focused. If you don't concentrate like that, you can't figure out what it means.

"Keep safe until my guest leaves Oman."

It was not the first time Ashan's "guest" visited Oman.

Only once in a blue moon did it happen. A man had visited Ashan from England. Ashan did not meet him, but treated him as a 'guest' and gave up his bodyguard on the promise that there would be no difficulties or risks while he was in Oman. Seoyoon recalled the memory of Kei's job.

"Haeyoon is not your guest."

"Everyone in this hotel thinks she's my guest, and you're the only one who denies it?"

As he said, the Arab world considered the hospitality of guests very important. Even in a house that is desperately poor, if customers come, the owner does not let them starve even if they starve.

Seoyoon suddenly tapped his throbbing head.

Her hand was still holding the elevator door. Whatever the circumstances, Ashan was right and wrong. In the first place, he wasn't a man who cared about the outside eye.

"Not like this."

"I don't think it's your way. Are you going to keep me up like this?"

Ashan winked at the elevator door she was holding.

"John, get rid of it."

When Seo-yoon refused to back down, Ashan said coldly.

"Sorry, Hani."

John said, dropping Seo-yoon's hand with power. Looking at the closing elevator door on the spot, she smiled despondently.

When he found out that Hae-yoon was coming, he had a headache about how to split the time, but Ashan simply made it a waste of time.

"She's a child, isn't she?"

Louis, who has yet to leave behind Seo-yoon, asked.

Seoyoon did not answer the question and stood still with his back turned. Behind Louis' back, he heard steps closing the distance a little closer, but he didn't move because he didn't want to show his bewildered expression.

"I don't think he's slow-witted."

Louis' hand was placed on Seoyoon's shoulder. It was as if the hand was trying to comfort him.

"You know that Ashan likes you, right?”

Seoyoon, who was opening his mouth, flinched. Louis waited for her answer, feeling a little happy as his shoulders hardened."……I'm not an idiot, I know."

It wasn't that I didn't I? I couldn't help but notice.

Not only Seoyoon, but also John, Kay, Salmon, and even Ashan's lawyer.

"Oh, but you pretend you don't know?"

"I can't accept it, and I don't want to pretend to know."

"It's a little too extreme to conclude...….”

Since childhood, Seo-yoon has strangely belonged to the side with no facial expressions. When she answered rigidly, she was so expressionless that everyone would be angry that they would think she was angry. So using it as a weapon, she remained expressionless and indifferent in her troubles.

"You are my servant."

"No dating with your employer?"

It was quite different to think and to say it out loud.

Seoyoon was also confused. However, Ashan certainly had a different 'comfort' to her than to treat others. I couldn't confirm whether Louis's extreme "likes" feeling was right, but I knew it.

And now, the 'care' that Ashan gave her for the first time since she came here has convinced her of that.

"It's not someone I can handle."

It was literally like that. Seoyoon couldn't handle Ashan. And I never imagined being in a relationship with him.

"So I'll do my best to ignore it."

Ashan did not speak directly to himself. As long as he didn't face it directly, Seoyoon was going to pretend that he didn't know the feelings.

Her employer was a dangerous man. I didn't want to get involved with dangerous people around him, or even myself. Seoyoon wasn't stupid enough to throw himself on that fine line. And above all, Ashan, the party involved, doesn't really reach out.

That was enough.

"That's a little sad."

"I can't help it."

I'd give my life for him, but it was as a bodyguard.

Looking straight at Seoyun, Louis clicked his tongue into his mouth. I once went to a bamboo forest in Japan. He thought she looked just like the bamboo then. A straight personality may break, but it doesn't bend. It's straight even when you're reeling from the wind.

"Then make use of it. He's a man who moves everything in the world."

As a joke, Louis said with a smile.

"So I don't want to use it."

Seoyoon cut the words.

"Why?"

Louis asked out of pure curiosity.

"My father told me that the person who takes advantage of it, the heart of a man, is the most cowardly person. Under no circumstances will I take advantage of it."

A smile disappeared from Louis' face when he heard the answer.

"I hope Han Seo-yoon will continue to be next to Ashan. Apparently, you signed a life contract."

As Seoyoon slowly turned back, Louis pulled his hand off her shoulder. The eyes of two people, who were not funny, bumped into each other in Ho Gong.

"I don't think it has anything to do with Louis."

The answer narrowed his brow, which he thought would soon disappear the woman in front of him.

It occurred to me that such an honest woman might be able to change Ashan. I wondered if Ashan was attracted to her because she didn't use people's hearts. She was also a woman who would benefit and be a loss to Ashan at the same time.

"Well, let's call it a day."

Louis stepped back.

Seoyoon pressed the elevator button for him.

The brief conversation ended, as she gave a slight nod.It was not until Louis was sent down that he was completely alone. After standing there for a while, Seo-yoon opened the door of the suite with a exhausted face.

From the front window in front of me, I could see Muscat's downtown at a glance. Slowly moving forward, Seo-yoon leaned his forehead against the window where Ashan was standing. I could see the sea neither far nor near. Fully dawned, light poured into the suite.

The complicated head didn't seem to sink easily. It seemed to have been quite a blow to hear Ashan's mind directly from others, who had only been guessing alone. A quiet sigh came out. There was a blur of breath where her sigh had passed.

It hasn't been long since I realized that Ashan considers himself more special than others.

The cigarettes he burned side by side at that dawn seemed to still remain in his mouth.

Everyone was aware, but none of my colleagues opened their mouths for Seo-yoon or because they knew that it would become a fait accompli. I kept my mouth shut as if I had promised.

And Seoyoon himself denied it.

"Oh, I thought nobody was here."

Seo-yoon's eyes turned to the sound of the door opening. Maid was seen coming in with cleaning equipment and sheets.

"That's all right. Don't mind me and work."

Seoyun, who said so, caught a stain on the carpet in her eyes.

"Not even a child."

Seoyoon murmured low while looking at it.

If it was the reason why you wanted to feed him delicious wine, one day your fist would surely fly over his face. When I thought about it, I burst into laughter.