Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Junni
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Gamal gradually grew excited and tightened his arms around Doyoung. Doyoung slightly pulled his lips away and said,
"Don't get excited, I told you."
It was because if Gamal got too carried away in his excitement and hugged too tightly, for a human, it would be like risking life and death from a bear playfully swatting at him.
"Sorry…."
Gamal mumbled. Doyoung started to lean in for another kiss... but lowered his head and let out a sigh as if he had lost his country.
"Come on."
Then, without giving him a chance to grab her, she headed to the bed and lay down facing away.
"Doyoung, are you okay?"
Gamal approached from behind and asked. Somehow, Doyoung looked drained. It seemed like the most dejected state he'd seen her in since meeting her.
"I'm fine."
Doyoung answered without turning around.
Yeah. Being treated like a dead soul was one thing, and conceding a hundred times that a single guy who wasn't even married suddenly had such a big son was fine, but this reality was hard to accept.
The reality that what he could do with Gamal was so limited.
She was a man. A young and very healthy man.
On top of that, every night, faint sounds drifted from afar. That Tora guy seemed to be using a vampire's stamina in some weird way.
In fact, on this island with no dangerous beasts, there weren't many other places to use that great stamina, but it looked like he was pleasing a woman every night—recently, that Akira woman—and all Doyoung could do was lie in the same bed as Gamal while listening to those sounds....
If Doyoung became a medieval inquisitor, he would develop a torture where he had to just stare at a beautiful, lovely beauty without touching. He knew better than anyone how cruel that torture would be.
But suddenly, Gamal hugged Doyoung from behind.
"You're warm, Doyoung."
Strangely, his body, which had been tense as a taut wire, relaxed instantly. It felt like evil desires fleeing from his body at the roar of a high monk.
Doyoung changed his mind.
Yeah, thinking about it, the idea that love had to be shared physically was just a prejudice. The ultimate form of love was platonic....
Doyoung suddenly turned over to face Gamal.
"Sorry, but I'm not Johannes."
Screw noble spiritual communion—let the dogs have it.
Of course, that was fiction.
"Yeah. You're not."
Gamal took the words at face value and replied with a face that didn't understand why Doyoung was mentioning Johannes. Doyoung felt deflated, wondering what he was doing with a guy like this.
But Gamal glanced at him slyly and said,
"You're good at this stuff, Doyoung."
Wondering what that meant out of the blue, Doyoung looked at Gamal.
"Have you been with a lot of women?"
Then, before Doyoung could respond, Gamal added,
"I've been with a lot of men too."
Doyoung let out a hum.
"You?"
"I'm old."
Meaning he had that much time to meet them.
Doyoung propped his chin on his elbow against the bed and asked in an intrigued tone.
"Really? How many?"
"Too many to count."
Gamal said proudly. It wasn't really a lie. In hiding, it was the quickest and least risky way to soothe loneliness. But that wasn't why he said it was too many to count.
He truly couldn't count them. Over three thousand years, they were scattered like sparse dots on a line, and many memories had faded. Plus, that was only before coming to this island.
"I actually have a kid."
But at Doyoung's immediate follow-up, Gamal's eyes widened.
"What?"
Doyoung tilted his head slightly to the side.
"I lied once too, so we're even?"
Gamal's face soured.
"How do you know I lied?"
"So it wasn't a lie?"
Squeak.
As Doyoung pushed off the bed and sat up, the bed creaked softly. Gamal unconsciously straightened her bent legs and flinched back a bit.
Doyoung planted a hand beside her and leaned in close.
"Then that's perfect."
Under the shadow he cast, Gamal's heart pounded for some reason. The faint fire burning behind, his low breathing, the heat radiating from his approaching body.... In the secretive atmosphere like a night's whisper, heat spread from her heart.
What was it? The way Doyoung looked at her....
He seemed like the vampire.
But more than a vampire tormented by destructive blood thirst....
"Perfect?"
Gamal suddenly remembered Doyoung had said something and asked.
By then, Doyoung had wound his hair around his fingers and cupped her face with it still gripped.
A whisper approached.
"The one with more experience can teach the other."
***
"Matty."
Tora placed a hand on her shoulder. Gamal woke from her light sleep. Tora said in a sweet voice, as if addressing a lover.
"It's morning."
But Doyoung wasn't next to her. Gamal quickly pushed herself up and asked,
"Where's Doyoung?"
"He's outside. True to form as a soldier, he doesn't skip his morning workout."
Gamal blushed slightly, recalling last night. That.... Doyoung definitely had a degree in that kind of thing.
"Why are you blushing?"
Tora asked mischievously.
"It's nothing."
Gamal started to dash out like a kid on Christmas morning but turned back to Tora and asked,
"Am I pretty?"
It was the first time Gamal had asked something like that, so Tora was surprised but laughed and answered,
"You're pretty."
Then Gamal slipped out. In the village scenery washed by morning sunlight, people were here and there, and Doyoung, already done with his workout and bath, was sitting and twisting rope.
"You're up?"
Doyoung asked when he saw Gamal. She sat next to him casually and asked,
"What are you doing?"
"Tora showed me how."
Then Doyoung glanced at Gamal before looking back at the rope he was working on and said,
"Get that sleep crust out of your eye."
Gamal startled and touched her eye, realizing he wasn't joking, and glared at Tora.
"Tora."
Tora burst out laughing and went somewhere else. Doyoung watched them before saying to Gamal, who had just finished picking out the crust,
"You and Clientes get along well."
"We do, right?"
Gamal asked back as if it was obvious. Doyoung peeled bark for twisting the rope and said,
"Well, some Clientes even marry their Patronesses."
"I raised Tora and Rato. From when they were five."
"What about their parents?"
"Tora and Rato's Matty abandoned them. In the forest."
Doyoung paused and looked at Gamal. But she spoke calmly, without any special expression.
"Twins are ominous."
Many primitive tribes considered twins bad omens, and Satadi seemed to be one. But....
'Twins...?'
Something felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, but just then Tora called from under a pavilion in the distance.
"Come eat."
Doyoung turned, tidied his spot, and stood.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
Gamal followed happily. On the way, Doyoung glanced at her and asked,
"But aren't you gonna wash up?"
"I'll eat first then wash."
"You're dirty."
Gamal gasped as if hearing the most shocking thing in the world.
"I'm not dirty!"
Then she ran to the well. Doyoung went ahead and sat down. As Tora was setting out the food, he asked,
"Tawa, are you going to keep wearing that?"
Doyoung was still in his military uniform.
"I told you not to call me Tawa. And this is my last shred of pride as a civilized man."
"It'll soon be all torn up and unwearable."
"Leave it be."
Tora licked sauce off his thumb and said,
"It's symbolic. When your last shred of civilized pride tears away and you finally shed it, you'll gain a new identity as a tribesman."
Doyoung gave a wry smile.
"You're unnecessarily poetic."
Tora, dressed in what would be excessively revealing by outside standards, held a wooden bowl and smiled.
"My house has a lot of books, so if you want, I can bring some. I've been steadily collecting them."
Just then, Doyoung accidentally saw something because Tora was sitting with his legs spread.
"Isn't what you're wearing under that cloth around your waist just underwear?"
Indeed. Under the cloth piece around Tora's waist were black drawers. Come to think of it, in the heat of battle, he hadn't noticed, but even when kicking, nothing unseemly had peeked through.
Tora said nonchalantly,
"Outside folks make panties that are insanely clingy. Once you put them on, you can't take them off."
"Then why are you dressed like that?"
Truly exasperated, Doyoung asked, and Tora winked.
"It's expressing my identity."
Doyoung rolled his eyes. This guy had a clear streak of madness, no wonder he was Gamal's Cliente.
Then Gamal came and sat next to Doyoung. Tora handed her a bowl and said mischievously,
"Matty doesn't even sit next to me anymore."
"Huh?"
Gamal looked back and forth between them, then scooted her butt over to sit between Doyoung and Tora.
"In the middle. Right in the middle."
Tora burst out laughing.
"Ah, isn't our Matty too adorable?"
Gamal's face soured.
"Don't tease me."
Doyoung had met many vampires, but this Patroness-Cliente relationship was a first.
For reference, 'Patroness' meant the vampire who gave blood.
Patronesses and Clientes were inseparably close, but since they weren't true blood kin, they often developed into lovers. But here, since Gamal had actually raised Tora—and the twin—it felt like real family.
In any case, if Tora had even a sliver of romantic feelings for Gamal, it would show in his words. But Tora treated her like a mix of mother and little sister.
That much was clear: if anyone harmed Gamal, Tora would never forgive them. And from what Doyoung had seen, he had the ability.
"Did Matty get upset? Here, take this to cheer up."
Tora offered some unidentified green vegetable to Gamal while speaking. She shook her head.
"I hate this."
Tora grinned mischievously.
"I know. That's why I'm giving it."
"You're mean, Tora."
As Gamal recoiled, Tora laughed heartily.
Doyoung couldn't quite grasp the root of the deep-seated loneliness and fear Gamal harbored, even with people like this around.
Then Gamal pointed at Doyoung and said,
"Give it to Doyoung."
Doyoung was exasperated.
"Why give me something you hate?"
Still, he took the vegetable from Tora and ate it. Thanks to his sturdy stomach that could handle even mild poison, as long as it wasn't outright toxic, he didn't fuss over food.
Tora said as if realizing something.
"Ah, so that's why."
"Why what?"
Doyoung asked.
"Why Matty fell for you, Major. Looks mean but actually sweet. You have a hidden devilish charm."
"I'm starting to dislike you."
Doyoung recoiled, but Tora smiled brightly.
"No way. No one dislikes me."
Doyoung rolled his eyes. He thought the guy was weird, but honestly, Doyoung didn't truly dislike Tora either. He was strangely hard to hate.
Gamal chimed in.
"Yeah. Everyone likes Tora."
"I like Matty too."
The two looked at each other and laughed. Doyoung's head started to hurt.
"Now you're showing off? Cut it out."