Late in the evening, there was an untimely commotion at the Leshak military base, as everyone set out snake-catching. The soldiers climbed the mountain silently on the orders of His Majesty, the Crown Prince, but many were skeptical. Why does Prince Leshak need a snake at a time like this?
“….. say no.”
This was what Abad said after hearing about the situation from Sidris.
“Say no because it’s foolish.”
Sidris asked angrily.
“If I say no, what does that matter?”
“That’s……no. Ah, shit!”
Abadd poked his finger into his hair and scratched his scalp without mercy.
“Maybe he has a crush on that prostitute, huh?”
Karum, who was rummaging through the bushes beside him, shook his head in surprise.
“What do you mean? What did his Highness do to the prostitute?”
Sidris glanced around the dimly lit surroundings, as if keeping an eye out.
“Lower your voice. Even if it’s only us, there are ears everywhere.”
Abadd nodded and then asked, in a very low voice.
“It was you who saw them in person, right? Do you really think his Majesty likes the prostitute?”
Before answering, Sidri frowned lowly. That expression made them more anxious.
“Damn it. Don’t do that, answer me.”
“……I do not know. I think it’s because of sympathy maybe, but…… ”
“What?”
A male does not lay with another out of compassion. When the prostitute said he was hungry, Sidris said he’d bring food, that was all. He didn’t insist on asking what the little prostitute wanted to eat, nor did he insist on him eating because it’s nessarry for the little prostitute to eat, or anything else. He certainly didn’t even do anything like hugging him!
Even now, Leshak’s expression as he hugged the prostitute seemed to be clearly visible, so Sidris felt uncomfortable. Is it really possible to make such an expression out of sympathy alone? Such a hugry male-like expression.
“…… It may not be.”
“Oh, please.” Abadd sighed.
“It kind of seemed like it pity. Though it was so strange, the first time his Majesty saw him, that prostitute, what was his name, Radan? Even his name is pitiful!”
The name Radan means ‘one who knows the way’ in the language of the western part of the continent. It was not a name to be given to the blind. So it makes no sense.
“Besides, he’s pretty.” Karum spat out without thinking with a face that had grown depressed at the same time.
“What?! Be careful.”
Abadd jumped, and Sidris glared at Karum. At the strong reaction of his colleagues, Karum shrugged his thick shoulders.
“It’s true. So you’re going to say it isn’t? Even though he was like that, I say he is prettier than most women.”
“Fine……. shit, okay. I know. So calm down. If he’s pretty to a bear cub like you, what’s he like in the eyes of normal humans?”
Karum’s subsequent reply was very honest. “It must be one of the two. Either pay the pimp or beat the pimp.”
Even Abadd couldn’t deny that.
“Okay. His Highness didn’t like him pimping the little prostitute, so he cut off one of his limbs, dug out an eyeball, and boiled one ear.”
“It was just in case he might be an unknown assassin.”
Sidris added, but there was not much sympathy at this point. Abadd scratched the back of his head.
“Was that his preference from the beginning? I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but he’s still a man. Why not, damn it. Of course he’s a man! I know the size of his manhood. It is an insult to the creator if you have such an thing and have no intention of using it.”
Karum asked. “Did you see it, when?”
“At that time, was it Irun’s siege? When we had to be content with splashing in the river together, without even having time to enjoy the luxury of bathing.”
“Ah, I saw that too.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Why is it? Oh…I’m just angry. My neck and forearms are thicker, so why is that…..,”
It was at the moment, when Sidris was about to nag him to shut up if he was going to bad mouth or say something negative with regards to His Majesty, that a soldier shouted from the other side of the bush.
“Excuse me! It’s a snake! It went there!”
“Oh yeah?”
Karum fell low among the bushes. He was concentrating as though a promotion within the Guardian Knights was at stake in catching the snake today.
Abadd asked belatedly.
“By the way, if he’s looks so pretty, why does he have such an appetite? Snake meat, what kind of food is that?”
Sidris’ expression at the question was more than serious.
“So weird.”
“What?”
“Do you think there are human beings with common sense who will only eat snake meat? Look it’s so difficult to get something like this on purpose.”
“…… Well. That’s it.”
“Besides, it’s a snake after all. This gives me the most doubt.”
“What does that mean?”
Sidris, who was continuing his thoughts, opened his mouth with an extremely displeased expression.
“It is said that the royal prophet made a prophecy about His Majesty. I heard that it was dangerous ominous prophecy and he was immediately expelled from the kingdom.”
“Well? Did something like that happen?”
Cidris sighed as if he was pathetic to him.
“Shouldn’t the chief knight of the Guardian Knights be aware of that much?”
“The chief knight proves his use with a sword. What are you doing by looking at the royal literature?”
“That’s a crappy excuse.”
Abadd stoked Sidris’ antagonism with a brazen expression.
“What kind of prophecy?”
“It was said that His Highness would die from a snake bite.”
“…… what?”
“And indeed, snakes were found by his Majesty. It must have been an assassination attempt based on prophecy.”
But the six-year-old prince did not die. The prince found the snake and calmly pressed it to death with a pillow. It was shortly thereafter that the Prophet was cast out. Not because he made an ominous prophecy, but because the prophecy was false.
Abadd thought for a moment and shook his head.
“It must be a coincidence.”
“Is it just a coincidence?”
Sidris thought that all of this seems like a bad joke that someone painstakingly crafted. It could never have been a coincidence.
“You said it. It must have been to do with the of prophecy. I mean, what kind of a person eats snake meat? What is the probability that this is just a coincidence?”
“What? It’s just……shit, that sounds really ominous when you say it like that. Fuck it, it’s just a prophecy, who believes in such a thing?”
“I’ll leave it alone for now, until we learn more.”
Sidris’ eyes lit up.
“You must not delay the monitoring. Even if it is not a prophecy, his identity is sufficiently questionable.”
There could be no disagreement on that point.
“Well, we all agree on that. Let’s take turns watching every hour, let’s see what the prostitute is aiming for.”
Karum, who had his upper body buried among the bushes, nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, do that but,……… ah, ah! I got it!”
Then, in Karum’s hand as he leapt from the bush was a thick snake, which made it even less appetizing. In that way, Radan’s evening meal was prepared.
“Your meal.”
A steaming plate was placed in front of the Radan. The snake that Karum caught was transformed into a reasonable meal by the Crown Prince’s cook using all kinds of tricks. Sidris, who brought the meal, retreated to a corner.
Radan, who was naked and wrapped in a blanket, carefully pulled out his hand. Radan fumbled over the table to find the cup and swallowed a little milk. Perhaps because he was nervous, but even this trivial movement was difficult. Radan forced the tasteless milk down.
“Over here.”
Traces of milk were left on his upper lip. Radan turned his head, and Leshak rubbed his milky lips in a thoughtless motion.
“Ah…….”
Radan put down the cup, his expression was ambiguous. Contrary to this, the displeasure in Leshak’s expression became clear. This prostitute hated being touched. His mind has become complicated. Was it because he said he would keep him as a lover?
Having been forced by his family to work as a prostitute, it was an understandable reaction. No one would be happy to be whipped in return for money. He couldn’t even imagine that the men who bought prostitutes at a young age would have given him any proper pleasure. It would have just been violence.
It was an unpleasant situation. He never wanted, nor intended to employ a prostitute. He said he would make him his a ‘lover’ in order to keep him by his side to look after him. Leshek meant to clear up this unpleasant misunderstanding with him, but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
But first he wanted him to eat before it got cold.
“It’s here”
Leshek was sitting next to Radan, and he made a sound by tapping on the plate with his finger. Radan followed the sound and moved his hand. Of course Radan, who didn’t know anything about a knife and fork, pushed his hand into the plate. He flinched in surprise.
“Hot, hot…”
“I’m so stupid.”
Leshek grabbed Radan’s hand and shoved it into the cup of milk. Radan gave a strange expression at the feel of milk on his fingers.
“Are you okay? Isn’t it hot?”
“Yes……ok, it’s okay. Look.”
Only after hearing this did Leshek take his hand from the milk. He tried to examine the hand but it was covered in milk. Leshek clicked his tongue softly and rubbed Radan’s hand on his shirt.
“Majesty, the napkins.” Sidrus said too late.
Leshak made sure he wasn’t burned, then he placed his hand over the fork.
“It’s here.
“What…… this…”
“…… what?”
It was a development Leshek had never expected.
“It’s a fork.”
“Fo……rk”
Radan followed Leshak’s words as if he were learning to speak for the first time. lt was amazing. Radan knew nothing about forks.
“Have you never used it?”
Radhan nodded.
“Why? You have a family…… shit,”
It took Leshak a moment before the realization occurred to him. He said he had been blind since birth. Teaching Radan something would have required much more time and effort than with others. Obviously Radan’s family didn’t want to bother doing that with Radan. Instead the family drove him into a brothel at a young age, it must be that they have little affection for him.
“…….”
Leshak was uncomfortable with everything about Radan. Everything about this annoyed him. The tongue that stuttered and struggled so much, that at 19 years old, he was riddled with scars all over, the past tainted by his family, and the blindness of his eyes that crossed his gaze like barbed wire. He had never been tormented like this before. He wanted to get rid of this feeling as soon as possible.
Leshak took a knife and fork and cut the snake meat marinated in the hot sauce into bite-sized pieces. Then he handed the fork to Radan.
“This is how you do it. You can dip into food with the pointed part here, okay?”
Radan, held the fork and thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Then let’s eat now.”
“Yes……….Majesty”
Radan put the tip of the fork into his mouth, then he spat it out as though he were startled. Sidris responded immediately.
“What are you doing!?”
It was rudeness he had never thought of before. Even the king of an enemy country would not dare to spit out the food bestowed by the Crown Prince.
“Ah……. ?”
Radan opened his mouth halfway, bewildered.
Leshak raised his hand and stopped Sidris from telling him to immediately pick up what he had spat out and eat it.
“Majesty!”
Leshak silently pointed to Radan’s expression. It was an expression of nothing but pure surprise, and he had that look even before Sidris screamed. The rudeness had nothing to do with the face.
“Why but?”
After hearing Sidris’ reaction, Radan seemed to realize that he had done something wrong. Embarrassment and guilt permeated his white face.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. My lord, but…….sna, snake meat…….. no way.”
“What are you talking about. The snake meat is right.”
“Oh, is n…… not.”
“Its right. I wouldn’t lie about that.”
“N,..not hard and dry…….and it d, d, doesn’t smell….”
“Smell? Is the meat you eat hard?”
“Yes…… Yes.”
Only then did Leshak look back at Sidris. Really, does he know what this means? Sidris answered with a puzzled face.
“I think it will be hard if it dries out, my lord.”
“Dried snake?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Faced with the harshly crumpled face of the Crown Prince, Sidris felt a moment of injustice, he didn’t dry the snake and feed it to him, but……
“Yeah…… It’s easy to store and convenient, so why not?”
“Just for that reason, you ate dried snakes?”
“As far as I know, dried meat is eaten for that reason.”
Leshak grabbed Radan’s chin.
“Radan, tell me, have you always eaten dried snakes?” Radan tried to shake his head, but it was difficult to move because Leshak was holding him.
“No. milk…… and water…….”
“Other than that?”
He’d only tried candy once, but that was a long time ago, and Radan knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime mistake. The sweet taste of the candy made the fishy and disgusting taste of snake meat unbearable. After eating all the candy that Laud had brought, Radan said for the first time that he didn’t like snake meat. Radan’s resistance soon reached the ears of Al-Sanu III, and within half a day he had to be kicked by an angry Laud.
– You idiot! I should have left you to eat those snakes, that are so like you! Why the hell did you say that, why? I’m the only one he got mad at, it’s because of you! Radan wept alone throughout the dawn. The place where he was hit by Laud hurt. He was so sorry that Laud was in trouble for giving him candy.
Worst of all, now Laud would never bring candy again. Even Radan, who was only six years old at the time, knew that candy was a piece of Laud’s affection for him. As Radan supposed, Laud never again gave him candy, and never showed affection again.
From then on in Radan’s mind, sweet things began to be replaced by evil.
“I d, did…….without.”
Radan hid his old sins from Leshak. He was uncomfortable. There was so much to hide in front of him.
Prince Leshak was kind and warm. His body temperature was like candy to Radan. ‘You can’t eat it’. Radan repeated the same thought over and over again. ‘You can’t eat that’. Then he wouldn’t be able to eat snake meat again. Leshak, who was silent for a moment, asked again.
“Radan, why do you say you should only eat snake meat?”
“Different…… It’s not good for the body, it’s not…….”
Radan answered, shrugging his shoulders to get away from Leshak, who was too close.
“Did your family say that?”
“Yes.”
“Did your family only eat snake meat?”
That wasn’t it. Radan, who was born as a basilisk, was the only one eating snake meat.
“No……….Sir”
“……..”
Leshak put down his fork and knife.
“It’s cold, so I’ll tell them to do it again. Wait a moment.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Leshak’s hand touched his cheek, partly covered by the blindfold. Radan knew that Leshak was touching his face with his large, warm hand.
“It takes a long time to dry the meat. Me and my men are at war, so I cant afford to have the time to trim the meat like that. You will have to eat grilled meat instead of dried meat in the future. This is an order.”
“… ….”
Radan didnt know what to say, so he just kept his mouth shut. When he said a command, it meant that he must obey it unconditionally. Radan was shy, but not foolish. He was not in a position to demand that Prince Leshak feed him the dried snake meat as he had always eaten. He didn’t know the difference between dried and roasted meat. If you bake it, it will be as hot as it was just before?
“Did you understand?”
Resigned, Radan nodded his head impatiently.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Great. Sidris, clear the plate. Make a new one and bring it.”
At Leshak’s words, Sidris approached the table. Leshak picked up the plate himself and presented it to Sidris.
“……?”
However, even though Sidris accepted the plate, Leshak did not let it go.
When Sidris looked at him, Leshak spoke only with the shape of his lips. ‘Bring something else’. Sidris knew what that meant. It meant preparing meat other than snakes. It also meant that Leshak was going to lie to the little prostitute.
Late in the evening, there was an untimely commotion at the Leshak military base, as everyone set out snake-catching. The soldiers climbed the mountain silently on the orders of His Majesty, the Crown Prince, but many were skeptical. Why does Prince Leshak need a snake at a time like this?
“….. say no.”
This was what Abad said after hearing about the situation from Sidris.
“Say no because it’s foolish.”
Sidris asked angrily.
“If I say no, what does that matter?”
“That’s……no. Ah, shit!”
Abadd poked his finger into his hair and scratched his scalp without mercy.
“Maybe he has a crush on that prostitute, huh?”
Karum, who was rummaging through the bushes beside him, shook his head in surprise.
“What do you mean? What did his Highness do to the prostitute?”
Sidris glanced around the dimly lit surroundings, as if keeping an eye out.
“Lower your voice. Even if it’s only us, there are ears everywhere.”
Abadd nodded and then asked, in a very low voice.
“It was you who saw them in person, right? Do you really think his Majesty likes the prostitute?”
Before answering, Sidri frowned lowly. That expression made them more anxious.
“Damn it. Don’t do that, answer me.”
“……I do not know. I think it’s because of sympathy maybe, but…… ”
“What?”
A male does not lay with another out of compassion. When the prostitute said he was hungry, Sidris said he’d bring food, that was all. He didn’t insist on asking what the little prostitute wanted to eat, nor did he insist on him eating because it’s nessarry for the little prostitute to eat, or anything else. He certainly didn’t even do anything like hugging him!
Even now, Leshak’s expression as he hugged the prostitute seemed to be clearly visible, so Sidris felt uncomfortable. Is it really possible to make such an expression out of sympathy alone? Such a hugry male-like expression.
“…… It may not be.”
“Oh, please.” Abadd sighed.
“It kind of seemed like it pity. Though it was so strange, the first time his Majesty saw him, that prostitute, what was his name, Radan? Even his name is pitiful!”
The name Radan means ‘one who knows the way’ in the language of the western part of the continent. It was not a name to be given to the blind. So it makes no sense.
“Besides, he’s pretty.” Karum spat out without thinking with a face that had grown depressed at the same time.
“What?! Be careful.”
Abadd jumped, and Sidris glared at Karum. At the strong reaction of his colleagues, Karum shrugged his thick shoulders.
“It’s true. So you’re going to say it isn’t? Even though he was like that, I say he is prettier than most women.”
“Fine……. shit, okay. I know. So calm down. If he’s pretty to a bear cub like you, what’s he like in the eyes of normal humans?”
Karum’s subsequent reply was very honest. “It must be one of the two. Either pay the pimp or beat the pimp.”
Even Abadd couldn’t deny that.
“Okay. His Highness didn’t like him pimping the little prostitute, so he cut off one of his limbs, dug out an eyeball, and boiled one ear.”
“It was just in case he might be an unknown assassin.”
Sidris added, but there was not much sympathy at this point. Abadd scratched the back of his head.
“Was that his preference from the beginning? I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but he’s still a man. Why not, damn it. Of course he’s a man! I know the size of his manhood. It is an insult to the creator if you have such an thing and have no intention of using it.”
Karum asked. “Did you see it, when?”
“At that time, was it Irun’s siege? When we had to be content with splashing in the river together, without even having time to enjoy the luxury of bathing.”
“Ah, I saw that too.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Why is it? Oh…I’m just angry. My neck and forearms are thicker, so why is that…..,”
It was at the moment, when Sidris was about to nag him to shut up if he was going to bad mouth or say something negative with regards to His Majesty, that a soldier shouted from the other side of the bush.
“Excuse me! It’s a snake! It went there!”
“Oh yeah?”
Karum fell low among the bushes. He was concentrating as though a promotion within the Guardian Knights was at stake in catching the snake today.
Abadd asked belatedly.
“By the way, if he’s looks so pretty, why does he have such an appetite? Snake meat, what kind of food is that?”
Sidris’ expression at the question was more than serious.
“So weird.”
“What?”
“Do you think there are human beings with common sense who will only eat snake meat? Look it’s so difficult to get something like this on purpose.”
“…… Well. That’s it.”
“Besides, it’s a snake after all. This gives me the most doubt.”
“What does that mean?”
Sidris, who was continuing his thoughts, opened his mouth with an extremely displeased expression.
“It is said that the royal prophet made a prophecy about His Majesty. I heard that it was dangerous ominous prophecy and he was immediately expelled from the kingdom.”
“Well? Did something like that happen?”
Cidris sighed as if he was pathetic to him.
“Shouldn’t the chief knight of the Guardian Knights be aware of that much?”
“The chief knight proves his use with a sword. What are you doing by looking at the royal literature?”
“That’s a crappy excuse.”
Abadd stoked Sidris’ antagonism with a brazen expression.
“What kind of prophecy?”
“It was said that His Highness would die from a snake bite.”
“…… what?”
“And indeed, snakes were found by his Majesty. It must have been an assassination attempt based on prophecy.”
But the six-year-old prince did not die. The prince found the snake and calmly pressed it to death with a pillow. It was shortly thereafter that the Prophet was cast out. Not because he made an ominous prophecy, but because the prophecy was false.
Abadd thought for a moment and shook his head.
“It must be a coincidence.”
“Is it just a coincidence?”
Sidris thought that all of this seems like a bad joke that someone painstakingly crafted. It could never have been a coincidence.
“You said it. It must have been to do with the of prophecy. I mean, what kind of a person eats snake meat? What is the probability that this is just a coincidence?”
“What? It’s just……shit, that sounds really ominous when you say it like that. Fuck it, it’s just a prophecy, who believes in such a thing?”
“I’ll leave it alone for now, until we learn more.”
Sidris’ eyes lit up.
“You must not delay the monitoring. Even if it is not a prophecy, his identity is sufficiently questionable.”
There could be no disagreement on that point.
“Well, we all agree on that. Let’s take turns watching every hour, let’s see what the prostitute is aiming for.”
Karum, who had his upper body buried among the bushes, nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, do that but,……… ah, ah! I got it!”
Then, in Karum’s hand as he leapt from the bush was a thick snake, which made it even less appetizing. In that way, Radan’s evening meal was prepared.
“Your meal.”
A steaming plate was placed in front of the Radan. The snake that Karum caught was transformed into a reasonable meal by the Crown Prince’s cook using all kinds of tricks. Sidris, who brought the meal, retreated to a corner.
Radan, who was naked and wrapped in a blanket, carefully pulled out his hand. Radan fumbled over the table to find the cup and swallowed a little milk. Perhaps because he was nervous, but even this trivial movement was difficult. Radan forced the tasteless milk down.
“Over here.”
Traces of milk were left on his upper lip. Radan turned his head, and Leshak rubbed his milky lips in a thoughtless motion.
“Ah…….”
Radan put down the cup, his expression was ambiguous. Contrary to this, the displeasure in Leshak’s expression became clear. This prostitute hated being touched. His mind has become complicated. Was it because he said he would keep him as a lover?
Having been forced by his family to work as a prostitute, it was an understandable reaction. No one would be happy to be whipped in return for money. He couldn’t even imagine that the men who bought prostitutes at a young age would have given him any proper pleasure. It would have just been violence.
It was an unpleasant situation. He never wanted, nor intended to employ a prostitute. He said he would make him his a ‘lover’ in order to keep him by his side to look after him. Leshek meant to clear up this unpleasant misunderstanding with him, but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
But first he wanted him to eat before it got cold.
“It’s here”
Leshek was sitting next to Radan, and he made a sound by tapping on the plate with his finger. Radan followed the sound and moved his hand. Of course Radan, who didn’t know anything about a knife and fork, pushed his hand into the plate. He flinched in surprise.
“Hot, hot…”
“I’m so stupid.”
Leshek grabbed Radan’s hand and shoved it into the cup of milk. Radan gave a strange expression at the feel of milk on his fingers.
“Are you okay? Isn’t it hot?”
“Yes……ok, it’s okay. Look.”
Only after hearing this did Leshek take his hand from the milk. He tried to examine the hand but it was covered in milk. Leshek clicked his tongue softly and rubbed Radan’s hand on his shirt.
“Majesty, the napkins.” Sidrus said too late.
Leshak made sure he wasn’t burned, then he placed his hand over the fork.
“It’s here.
“What…… this…”
“…… what?”
It was a development Leshek had never expected.
“It’s a fork.”
“Fo……rk”
Radan followed Leshak’s words as if he were learning to speak for the first time. lt was amazing. Radan knew nothing about forks.
“Have you never used it?”
Radhan nodded.
“Why? You have a family…… shit,”
It took Leshak a moment before the realization occurred to him. He said he had been blind since birth. Teaching Radan something would have required much more time and effort than with others. Obviously Radan’s family didn’t want to bother doing that with Radan. Instead the family drove him into a brothel at a young age, it must be that they have little affection for him.
“…….”
Leshak was uncomfortable with everything about Radan. Everything about this annoyed him. The tongue that stuttered and struggled so much, that at 19 years old, he was riddled with scars all over, the past tainted by his family, and the blindness of his eyes that crossed his gaze like barbed wire. He had never been tormented like this before. He wanted to get rid of this feeling as soon as possible.
Leshak took a knife and fork and cut the snake meat marinated in the hot sauce into bite-sized pieces. Then he handed the fork to Radan.
“This is how you do it. You can dip into food with the pointed part here, okay?”
Radan, held the fork and thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Then let’s eat now.”
“Yes……….Majesty”
Radan put the tip of the fork into his mouth, then he spat it out as though he were startled. Sidris responded immediately.
“What are you doing!?”
It was rudeness he had never thought of before. Even the king of an enemy country would not dare to spit out the food bestowed by the Crown Prince.
“Ah……. ?”
Radan opened his mouth halfway, bewildered.
Leshak raised his hand and stopped Sidris from telling him to immediately pick up what he had spat out and eat it.
“Majesty!”
Leshak silently pointed to Radan’s expression. It was an expression of nothing but pure surprise, and he had that look even before Sidris screamed. The rudeness had nothing to do with the face.
“Why but?”
After hearing Sidris’ reaction, Radan seemed to realize that he had done something wrong. Embarrassment and guilt permeated his white face.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. My lord, but…….sna, snake meat…….. no way.”
“What are you talking about. The snake meat is right.”
“Oh, is n…… not.”
“Its right. I wouldn’t lie about that.”
“N,..not hard and dry…….and it d, d, doesn’t smell….”
“Smell? Is the meat you eat hard?”
“Yes…… Yes.”
Only then did Leshak look back at Sidris. Really, does he know what this means? Sidris answered with a puzzled face.
“I think it will be hard if it dries out, my lord.”
“Dried snake?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Faced with the harshly crumpled face of the Crown Prince, Sidris felt a moment of injustice, he didn’t dry the snake and feed it to him, but……
“Yeah…… It’s easy to store and convenient, so why not?”
“Just for that reason, you ate dried snakes?”
“As far as I know, dried meat is eaten for that reason.”
Leshak grabbed Radan’s chin.
“Radan, tell me, have you always eaten dried snakes?” Radan tried to shake his head, but it was difficult to move because Leshak was holding him.
“No. milk…… and water…….”
“Other than that?”
He’d only tried candy once, but that was a long time ago, and Radan knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime mistake. The sweet taste of the candy made the fishy and disgusting taste of snake meat unbearable. After eating all the candy that Laud had brought, Radan said for the first time that he didn’t like snake meat. Radan’s resistance soon reached the ears of Al-Sanu III, and within half a day he had to be kicked by an angry Laud.
– You idiot! I should have left you to eat those snakes, that are so like you! Why the hell did you say that, why? I’m the only one he got mad at, it’s because of you! Radan wept alone throughout the dawn. The place where he was hit by Laud hurt. He was so sorry that Laud was in trouble for giving him candy.
Worst of all, now Laud would never bring candy again. Even Radan, who was only six years old at the time, knew that candy was a piece of Laud’s affection for him. As Radan supposed, Laud never again gave him candy, and never showed affection again.
From then on in Radan’s mind, sweet things began to be replaced by evil.
“I d, did…….without.”
Radan hid his old sins from Leshak. He was uncomfortable. There was so much to hide in front of him.
Prince Leshak was kind and warm. His body temperature was like candy to Radan. ‘You can’t eat it’. Radan repeated the same thought over and over again. ‘You can’t eat that’. Then he wouldn’t be able to eat snake meat again. Leshak, who was silent for a moment, asked again.
“Radan, why do you say you should only eat snake meat?”
“Different…… It’s not good for the body, it’s not…….”
Radan answered, shrugging his shoulders to get away from Leshak, who was too close.
“Did your family say that?”
“Yes.”
“Did your family only eat snake meat?”
That wasn’t it. Radan, who was born as a basilisk, was the only one eating snake meat.
“No……….Sir”
“……..”
Leshak put down his fork and knife.
“It’s cold, so I’ll tell them to do it again. Wait a moment.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Leshak’s hand touched his cheek, partly covered by the blindfold. Radan knew that Leshak was touching his face with his large, warm hand.
“It takes a long time to dry the meat. Me and my men are at war, so I cant afford to have the time to trim the meat like that. You will have to eat grilled meat instead of dried meat in the future. This is an order.”
“… ….”
Radan didnt know what to say, so he just kept his mouth shut. When he said a command, it meant that he must obey it unconditionally. Radan was shy, but not foolish. He was not in a position to demand that Prince Leshak feed him the dried snake meat as he had always eaten. He didn’t know the difference between dried and roasted meat. If you bake it, it will be as hot as it was just before?
“Did you understand?”
Resigned, Radan nodded his head impatiently.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Great. Sidris, clear the plate. Make a new one and bring it.”
At Leshak’s words, Sidris approached the table. Leshak picked up the plate himself and presented it to Sidris.
“……?”
However, even though Sidris accepted the plate, Leshak did not let it go.
When Sidris looked at him, Leshak spoke only with the shape of his lips. ‘Bring something else’. Sidris knew what that meant. It meant preparing meat other than snakes. It also meant that Leshak was going to lie to the little prostitute.
