No Regression for the Victor - Chapter 2
Perhaps finding some satisfaction in watching the weakened state of the one who once almost killed him, the Crown Prince secretly visited this place every month, evading the eyes of the retainers.
Recently, the prince had come of age. Despite constantly claiming that there was no need, concealing his visits, and appearing in plain attire accompanied only by a single investigator rather than guards or servants, this time might have been different. Perhaps, for some reason, he had brought an outsider along.
Now it made sense. The doctor, suddenly struck by a thought, asked,
“Could it be that one of the companions His Highness the Crown Prince brought along did something inappropriate to you? Did they dare to dishonor you…?”
When the old doctor pressed on with a seemingly angry voice, Isaac muttered weakly, looking as if he might faint.
“No, no… it’s not that…”
“Then what on earth happened?”
Seeing Isaac’s pale face, the doctor couldn’t help but let a forbidden thought cross his mind. No, it couldn’t be… But as the old man voiced the unthinkable, Isaac’s head dropped powerlessly.
“Don’t tell me… that damned Crown Prince…”
At that moment, a dark fury clouded the old man’s faded eyes.
“I, Feathert Erion, having lived nearly eighty years, have nothing left to fear! How dare he! It wasn’t enough to shatter the Transis family to pieces, but now he even dares to humiliate the young master! I will make that ruthless Crown Prince pay for his sins, even if it costs me my life!”
Isaac, startled, opened his tightly shut eyes and hurriedly stopped the old man. Making him pay for his sins? The old man, who was at an age where it wouldn’t be surprising if he collapsed while making a scene against the guards, seemed unafraid to say anything.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, so please! Please! Just keep quiet about something neither of us fully understands!”
If it had been that kind of situation, it would have been better. At least he could resent, insult, and despise the prince to his heart’s content. But unfortunately, there had been no disgraceful or violent act between Isaac and the Crown Prince.
The prince had courteously expressed his feelings for Isaac, and Isaac had tactfully explained that, as a condemned traitor doomed to die, he had no room in his life for such sentiments. Instead, he had given permission for the prince to take his body.
‘Back then, I didn’t know he was the Crown Prince.’
Misha. The gentle and affectionate Misha. The strange visitor who would bring Isaac small things to pass the time, despite being treated like a traitor by everyone else. It was obvious that Misha had been sent to spy on him, to make sure he wasn’t plotting rebellion again, but he was the only one who would talk to Isaac. After three years of such encounters, Isaac had come to live for the one day each month when Misha would visit.
“Um, I’ve just come of age. Would it be okay for me to ask for a gift from you, Sir Isaac?”
Misha had shyly asked Isaac if he could accompany him to his hometown. Isaac knew all too well that for an alpha who had just come of age, such a request was a metaphorical proposal.
Even if he was a low-ranking noble sent as a watchdog to this miserable place, Isaac couldn’t bring himself to hold back the bright future of a young alpha. So, he refused Misha’s request. Instead, he offered his own body, a body that had no issue being marked or claimed.
Isaac’s body, long unused to another’s touch, was overly sensitive, and dealing with an alpha in rut made him curl his toes in discomfort at every moment. But it wasn’t only pain. Misha’s tongue was unbelievably sweet for an alpha, and every spot his hands touched burned as if set ablaze.
“I love you, Isaac. I don’t want anyone but you.”
On the day Misha confessed his long-suppressed feelings, Isaac noticed that, unlike the young Misha he had watched over all this time, the eyes that looked at him now belonged to a stranger—an alpha.
At that moment, Isaac realized that he had lost his only friend. He could only hope that the young alpha would forget about him after a moment of passion, that one day he would look back and think of it as a reckless mistake of his youth. That’s why he allowed it.
A week later, during the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet, to which all nobles of count rank and higher were summoned to prove their loyalty, the invitation of the deposed Grand Duke of Transis was unprecedented. Everyone whispered that it must be a way for the Crown Prince to flaunt his victory over the defeated traitor.
The moment Isaac saw who was seated at the Crown Prince’s spot, he wanted to run away. The familiar face looking down at him caused him to freeze on the spot.
While Isaac was still in shock, the man looked back with a composed, almost relaxed smile, as if he had expected this reaction all along. The expression was so unfamiliar that it made Isaac feel as though he was seeing his true face for the first time.
