Six Days Until Goodbye

The next day, as soon as Eren opened his eyes and recalled the previous day’s memories, he shot up in bed. But the space beside him was empty, as if it were only natural. He wondered if it had all been a dream. If not for the pain he still felt below, he might have truly thought so.

It seemed Kazen hadn’t slept here. That fact felt strangely disappointing. Eren traced his hazy final memories. He was sure Kazen had stroked his hair, and he had held Kazen’s hand.

Having been so exhausted, it was difficult to tell whether that had actually happened or was simply a dream. Though perhaps recalling the string of events before that made a dream more likely.

Pulling himself up gloomily, Eren bit his lip hard at the pain still radiating from his lower body. For that moment, he couldn’t help but resent Kazen. Because he hadn’t warned him it would hurt this much.

“Wait, the time….”

Belatedly lifting his head to check the clock, Eren’s eyes widened. 9 a.m. Three hours past the time he should have woken up.

Eren hurried to the bathroom to wash himself clean. He hadn’t noticed the night before, but there was a little blood, as if he had been torn.

Every time he felt the lingering pain, the memories of the night kept surfacing. It felt as if Kazen’s dark voice was tickling his ears, and he had the illusion that his moist skin was still touching his own.

‘Don’t think about it.’

Eren shook his head, trying to shake off the distracting thoughts that kept tormenting him, and quickly went to find Kazen’s bedroom. He didn’t even have the leisure to worry about how to face him.

But when he carefully knocked and opened the door, the room was as empty as his own. Kazen had already left.

Checking his schedule book just in case, fortunately, there were no urgent appointments. Nevertheless, just imagining how annoyed Kazen must have been knowing he had overslept made Eren dizzy. He should be grateful Kazen hadn’t come after him to unleash his anger.

He needed to find Kazen quickly and apologize. Not knowing where he was, Eren first hurried down to the dining room.

“Not here either?”

Judging by the lack of any trace of food being touched, it seemed he hadn’t eaten breakfast either. He always ate breakfast, no matter what….

“Mr. Eren, are you looking for His Grace?”

Just then, Millie suddenly appeared behind him and spoke, startling him so much his heart nearly dropped.

“Yo-you scared me…. Do you know where he is now?”

“Yes, he’s in the morning room right now. He’s probably drinking coffee.”

The morning room was where the morning sun streamed in beautifully, a place Kazen often read the newspaper.

“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

Eren thanked Millie and followed her information to the morning room. As Eren had expected, Kazen was reading the newspaper while drinking coffee.

Having been flustered ever since waking up, the moment Eren saw him, he stopped in his tracks and held his breath. He no longer knew how to act around him.

Should he pretend nothing had happened? But nothing hadn’t happened…. On the other hand, he didn’t want to be the one to bring up the events of last night.

Unable to speak due to his tangled thoughts, he stood there blankly until Kazen, turning a page of his newspaper, spotted him first.

“You’re late.”

Was he about to be scolded? Fidgeting nervously with his sleeve, Eren approached him and bowed.

“I’m sorry. I overslept.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting Kazen’s harsh scolding to fall, but an unexpected reply came back.

“Don’t just stand there fidgeting. Sit down. The coffee hasn’t gotten cold yet.”

“Ah, yes.”

Eren watched Kazen pour a cup of coffee and push it to the seat beside him, then slowly sat down. To have overslept and be given warm coffee instead of a scolding….

“…Thank you.”

Without paying Eren any attention, Kazen fixed his gaze back on the newspaper. The large headline on the back of the page he had opened caught Eren’s eye.

[Declaration of War from the Kingdom of Felosia… Rising Risk of War]

“Is war breaking out?”

Eren’s eyes widened as he asked, without meaning to. Still looking at the article, Kazen answered leisurely.

“It seems so. His Majesty has decided not to grant their demands.”

The Kingdom of Felosia’s demands were outrageous. They demanded tariff exemptions and increased mage-stone trade. In other words, when the Espel Empire imported goods from Felosia, they were to waive tariffs, and when exporting mage-stones, they were to bear the heavy taxes imposed by Felosia while increasing shipment volumes.

If not that, they demanded the return of the Orlando region, an occupied territory of the Espel Empire that had once belonged to Felosia. Naturally, the Espel Empire had no reason to grant any of these demands. Felosia knew this as well; they were merely fabricating a justification for war.

“It’ll be noisy for a few days. I need to go to the Imperial Palace a bit later.”

As a mine owner and a war hero who had contributed greatly to the occupation of the Orlando region, it was only natural that Kazen would be summoned. His voice would carry some weight.

Yet despite such complicated international tensions, Kazen appeared completely unperturbed. Even the incident with Eren the previous night seemed, to him, not to have happened.

It seemed Kazen intended to pretend last night hadn’t occurred. In truth, it was likely just a trivial incident not worth concerning himself over.

Rather, Eren was relieved he hadn’t brought it up. As long as he himself didn’t dwell on it, it could truly become as if it never happened.

“I’ll go to Westernhouse Parliament first, then spend the rest of the time at the Imperial Palace. So, cancel all my appointments.”

Saying this, Kazen rose from his seat. Eren, clutching his warm mug, awkwardly stood up as well.

“If you need anything….”

“I don’t. Don’t follow me. Eat your breakfast. I’ll be checking.”

“Yes, I’ll make sure to eat without skipping.”

Just as he was about to leave the morning room, Kazen glanced back at Eren and added one more thing.

“I might be out late, so don’t wait up. Go to bed when you’re finished with your work.”

“I’ll do that. Please take care, Your Grace.”

Eren bowed his head, but Kazen left the morning room without even looking at him. Eren, clutching the mug still radiating warmth, stared blankly at the door where Kazen had disappeared.

As expected, the stroking of his hair had been a dream. There was no way he would act that gently.

‘Let’s get to work.’

Six days remained until Eren left. He needed to finish everything important by then.

* * * *

Since sitting was agonizing, Eren had to read documents standing up all day. Still, by evening, his condition had improved somewhat, and by bath time, the pain had largely subsided.

Sitting in the tub, Eren pondered the night spent with Kazen over and over. His large hands, his lips exhaling hot breath—all of it came vividly to mind even with his eyes closed.

‘What did it mean?’

No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t understand why Kazen had done that with him. Simply because he had pent-up desire? If so, couldn’t he have relieved it with someone more on his level?

‘Why don’t you allow anyone else to attend to your bath or your clothes?’

Eren had asked Kazen when he had first started his duties as aide.

On the surface, Kazen acted capriciously, and one might think he enjoyed a promiscuous private life, but in reality, that wasn’t the case at all. In his own words: “The thought of someone beneath my level touching my body disgusts me.”

So Eren had been curious why Kazen allowed him to touch his body.

‘The thought of anyone but you touching my body is horrifying.’

‘Why is it alright for me to touch you, then?’

When Eren had asked, Kazen hadn’t been able to answer easily. He had snatched Eren’s hand, which had been fidgeting with his tie, pulled him closer, and spoken quietly.

‘You’re so small and frail, you’re not a threat.’

‘I-is that so?’

‘And your hands look like they’ve never been dirtied, so I don’t feel disgusted.’

Recalling that conversation, Eren looked down at his pale hands. His fingertips had grown wrinkled from being in the warm water for so long.

Now that he had touched Kazen’s member, had his hands become dirtied? Would Kazen then come to find him disgusting?

‘So what? I’m leaving soon.’

Eren let out a long breath and slowly rose. He lightly dried his skin and put on his robe. Perhaps from lack of sleep, his body felt limp as a wet towel. There were still a few documents to read, so before sitting at his desk, he headed to the window.

Slowly drifting clouds revealed a full moon of magnificent size. Gazing blankly at the sky, he suddenly saw the Ducal carriage entering the garden. Though it was still a bit early to sleep, he felt he might have to face Kazen if he stayed awake.

After a moment’s hesitation, Eren quickly turned off the lights and hid in bed. Kazen had told him to sleep first, so if the lights were off, surely he wouldn’t come in. He planned to wait for Kazen to go to his own room and fall asleep before getting up again to review the documents.

But not long after, he heard the door to his room open. Recognizing Kazen’s footsteps, Eren squeezed his eyes shut, afraid of being caught.