Chapter 2 [Part 1]

Realizing he’d lost the warmth he’d held in his arms, Kainer woke up in a foul mood. The moment he opened his eyes, a familiar headache hit him. Pressing his throbbing head with one head, he suppressed his anger. How many times had that little woman tried to run away? He was getting angry now.

Kainer got up from his bed, thinking he’d have to kill the one who let Saye out the door in the middle of the night in the deep darkness. Midnight in the desert was very cold. Even on a soft, warm bed covered with fox fur, he quickly lost the warmth he just had.

“Anyone there?”

The moment he called a servant on standby outside the door, Saye, who was crouched at the foot of the bed, raised her head to look at him. He stared at her wondering what was going on. She lowered her head and murmured an answer before shutting her lips.

“Please come closer.”

Saye lifted her head with an embarrassed look and hesitantly looked at him.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

Kainer asked if the wound that he wrapped a little while ago had opened.

“No.”

She stepped barefoot on the softly carpeted floor. Why was she sitting on the floor instead of the bed at night when the temperature had dropped? When asked this question, Saye sat back down.

“I need to check it with my own eyes.”

Once again, Kainer knelt in front of Saye.

“S-Sultan, how can-? In front of a woman like me…”

The fact that he was kneeling in front of her didn’t make sense. She bit her lips and tried to retreat again, but the frame of the bed kept her in place.

A growling sound pierced the air.

He thought the wound was too painful for her to move, but he didn’t think that was it. His stomach was fine, so it must be hers that wasn’t.

“…Are you hungry?”

“I was afraid I’ll wake Sultan up…”

She couldn’t sleep because she was famished. She was afraid that her stomach’s growling sound would wake up Kainer, that’s why she moved under the bed. She couldn’t even remember how long it’s been since she last ate.

“Ha!”

Kainer laughed, struck dumbfounded.

“No one gave you food?”

“No, it’s not like that. I – I’m just…”

“You haven’t eaten for more than 3 days so you must be starving. Anyone there!”

As if they were waiting for Kainers’s command, the servant opened the door and came inside.

“Prepare our meal. We’ll eat in the garden. And bring anything that’s easily prepared first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As the crowd left the room, only the two of them remained. He touched Saye’s head, who had it lowered in embarrassment, with his palm.

“Why are you so stiff in front of me?”

How could she not? Depending on his mood, he could kill people or save them.

Kainer looked at Saye’s lowered head with unsatisfied eyes before he lifted her up in a flash.

“Please put me down.”

“This is because you wouldn’t look at me.”

Again.

Again, that voice with a trace of faint laughter. Saye squeezed Kainer’s hem unconsciously.

Kainer took Saye to the garden of the Harem. As he hugged Saye and sat down on a chair, the servants started serving food on the table. Most were ready to eat foods like honey-dipped fruits or freshly baked bread.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

She couldn’t eat while sitting on his lap. She saw a honey-dipped plum, but couldn’t reach it. She could feel his firm thighs on her butt.

“Do you want me to feed you?”

“No, you don’t need to!”

After she denied his offer twice, he looked at her with sharp eyes which prompted her to pick up a plum. She took out the seed and put the dried plum in her mouth. Looking at Saye from the corner of his eyes, Kainer put his chin on his hand and smiled.

“Are you going to keep that one in your mouth all day long?”

Maybe she thought he was scolding her, that’s why she jammed olives in her mouth. Looking at her thin figure, Kainer slightly clicked his tongue and swept Saye’s cheeks with his finger. When Saye froze, Kainer held back a laugh.

“What did I do that scared you? You think I’m gonna eat you?”

“….No.”

“What do you mean by no? Is that all you can say?”

“Your Majesty….”

Why are you doing this to me? That’s what she wanted to ask.

“Tell me a story.”

“What story?”

“A story from a book you read recently.”

He hugged Saye’s waist with one hand and said politely with one hand, still holding her chin.

“It was an adventure story about crossing the desert and the sea.”

She still vividly remembered how impatient she was to read the next book. She hadn’t read it yet, but she was curious about what happened next. She didn’t know why he was asking her to tell him about that all of a sudden, but Kainer, in silence, expressed that he was listening to her.

“The merchant who wrote the book met a bandit across the desert on his way to the sea. The shopkeeper was leading a large tower of more than a hundred people, and he thought he was going to die…”

Saye’s face blushed. It was endearing that she would be so excited about the book but on the other hand, he also found it funny.

“I’ve read the part where the merchant was about to be shot by an arrow so I’m so curious about what happens next.”

Saye said while she kept eating dried fruits. Kainer looked at Saye’s red lips, which were shiny with honey from the fruits.

“Your Majesty?”

“Kainer. That’s my name.”

Why did he tell me his name?

As he tilted his head, he took one of her fingers to his mouth and sucked the honey left on it. Her eyes which were drawn the smooth corners of his mouth were soon struck with astonishment.

She could feel the smooth texture of his tongue as he kept looking at her eyes while doing it. Saye swallowed dryly. She wanted to it to stop but she couldn’t move.

“Ha – ah…”

Saye sighed as his face came closer. With one hand wrapped around her waist and another holding her nape, he was close enough she could feel his breath. Saye’s silver eyes were shaking in front of his beastly black eyes.

“You have something here also.”

She saw the end of his mouth rise in a smile as he devoured her lips.

“Mmph!”

Kainer’s hands around Saye tightened, keeping her in place. Saye’s hands had nowhere to go except his shoulders. She couldn’t bring herself to fully grasp it so she only held the hems.

The heat she felt from her fingers was now felt on her mouth. His tongue entered her mouth without hesitation and tangled with hers. The more she struggled to escape, the more aggressive he became. He even lapped the saliva which ran under her chin.

When the kiss ended, she leaned on his shoulders and took a deep breath. With his hand still on her waist, Saye was strangely relieved. She felt she could rest because she was under his protection. She looked at the Harem behind him.

10 years had passed. No one had protected her except for a young servant who was driven out by the Sultan’s women for doing so. Saye had never seen her after that.

That was the only favor she’d received in the Harem. Under the fear of their master, everyone pretended Saye didn’t exist. In the Harem, Saye was a nobody.

“Your Majesty…”

Saye, who was still leaning on his shoulder, initiated the conversation for the first time.

“Speak,” said Kainer as he looked down at the silver hair tickling his neck. He was satisfied after tasting honey from Saye’s lips.

From the tone of her voice, he noticed that she wanted something.

He was looking forward to it. If it’s her wish, he thought he’d give it all to her. If she wished for this desert empire or even the world, he would offer it at her feet.

“I wish to leave this place when the morning comes.”

She wanted to get out of the place that served as her prison. Since he also released the other women, she thought he’d free her too. At that moment, she couldn’t see his face which was why she was able to say that.

“Really? If you wish, you can do that.”

That was easy. One word from him and she’d be a free soul tomorrow. She couldn’t believe how simple it was to leave the Harem.

However, the feeling that rose from the bottom of her heart was not joy. She belatedly realized that she was hurt by his careless reply. Saye swallowed the hot lump that formed in her throat.

Kainer, who didn’t try to hold her back, wrapped her tightly and kissed her forehead without looking at her. His lips gradually moved to Saye’s ears.

“Everyone that you meet after you leave will die. If you look at someone else, I will kill him. If you go out and touch someone, I will kill him. If you touch the cheeks of the passing kid because you thought they’re cute, I will also cut them.”

A soft voice crept into her ears. The sweetness of the tone, as if secretly whispering love, deceived her. She stopped breathing after she realized the meaning of what he said.

“There will be blood dripping on the path you walk. So Saye, go. Try and leave me.”

Kainer, who tenderly called her name like a lover, laughed sweetly.

The table was served with fresh bread, meat, and other rare dishes that she couldn’t eat before, but now she couldn’t lift a finger to even try them.

“Why are you not eating it?”

He gently turned Saye’s attention back to the table as if nothing had happened.

“Ah. I- It’s okay.”

“If you don’t eat, you’d have to spend the rest of the night with me.”

It wasn’t clear whether he was joking or not. He continued playing with her silver hair. Saye picked up a slice of bread with a trembling hand.

Avoiding Kainer’s gaze, Saye put the slice of bread in her mouth. Her thoughts were a mess.

“You must be really hungry.”

Was she hungry?

Saye, who had forgotten that fact, kept eating till her stomach almost burst.

***