Time of the Blind Beast - Chapter 30

Chapter 5: If This Feeling Is Also Love

“Rose.”

“……”

“Rose.”

“……”

“Are you daydreaming right next to me?”

Ezekiel, who had been idly toying with Rose’s body while they sat in the bathtub, mischievously squeezed her breasts. The soft flesh slipped between his fingers.

Only then did Rose snap back to reality with a start.

“Ah… I must have dozed off.”

She quickly replied, trying to mask her embarrassment with a forced smile.

This was bad. Unintended lies were becoming more frequent. However, admitting that she had been lost in thought would prompt him to ask what exactly she had been pondering. Instead, Rose opted for an easier lie.

“You seemed like you were sleeping deeply without stirring. Did I wake up too early?”

He seemed to believe her excuse, and the guilt weighing on her heart grew heavier.

“I’m fine. A maid shouldn’t slack off.”

“Do you even know how to slack off with your personality?”

Ezekiel lightly laughed and tilted Rose’s head back to rest on his shoulder.

“Then get some sleep.”

“What if I fall asleep?”

It was unbecoming of a maid to borrow her master’s shoulder for rest, and if she did, he wouldn’t be able to move for twenty or thirty minutes. Curious about his intentions, she asked.

“I’ll amuse myself with your body.”

“…I don’t think I can sleep now.”

Despite his naturally cold and austere features, which would suit a strategy meeting, his hands moved slyly and suggestively.

Even that morning, she had been slightly startled. All she had done was lie beneath him, swayed by his movements, yet she had been so utterly drained that she fell asleep without realizing it, not even dreaming. Then, woken by a tingling sensation spreading through her body, she opened her eyes to find Ezekiel caressing her.

His fingers traced along the diagonal lines of her shoulder blades, drummed lightly on her prominent cervical vertebrae, and worked their way up to the nape of her neck, where fine, soft hair sprouted. There, his tongue licked firmly, and his lips applied deep pressure.

For a moment, she worried they might end up back in bed again the moment she opened her eyes. The way he handled her body was so overtly sensual.

Even now, his hand slid along the tender skin of her inner arm before gently cupping the rounded swell of her breast. The rough texture of his hands created a peculiar stimulation that disrupted her breathing.

She instinctively turned her body to the side, trying to calm her racing heart, and caught a glimpse of Ezekiel’s upper body over her shoulder. Her gaze was drawn, as if by instinct, to the dense scars that stretched from his neck downward.

Come to think of it, last night, every time he thrust forcefully into her, those scars had brushed past her face.

Rose unconsciously reached out her hand to trace the scar. Just as it was for him, after intertwining their bodies, the psychological barriers had collapsed for her as well. In the past, even while lying naked together, she had to constantly convince herself, This is for care, it’s part of the treatment. But now, there was no need for such self-deception anymore.

Every touch carried an unmistakable sexual undertone now. It made her wonder how she had managed to ignore it all this time.

“Ah… these scars.”

She remembered Madam Serva’s subtle warning: ignore the scars entirely.

Don’t react. Don’t show any surprise.

Madam Serva’s meaningful gaze had conveyed it all. Rose’s lapse made her glance nervously at Ezekiel.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched them without permission.”

Ezekiel quickly understood the reason for her discomfort.

During the war, there were women who prostituted themselves in the military encampments. Some were forced, while others did so willingly for profit. It was a bitter irony.

Within his own unit, Ezekiel could enforce strict discipline, but the rank of major wasn’t particularly high. Moreover, Ezekiel was among the youngest majors. In a fortress where more experienced commanders outranked him, and where many soldiers, regardless of rank, expected access to women, Ezekiel lacked the authority to unilaterally ban the entrance of prostitutes.

For some soldiers, boasting about how many women they had exploited was a badge of honor. Likewise, for the women, bragging about having served a famous soldier was their own source of pride.

With his noble lineage, youth, wealth, good looks, and renowned military achievements, Ezekiel was a prime catch that piqued the interest of the prostitutes. When word spread that the commander of the “King’s Army,” known for being rarely seen due to his constant presence on the most dangerous battlefields, was staying in the camp, the prostitutes began casting glances toward his tent.

It was late in the evening, and Ezekiel was changing out of his sweat-soaked uniform. Without so much as asking for permission, a black-haired woman abruptly opened the door to his tent.

“Who are you?”

“Are you Major Valdemaira?”

Unlike ordinary women, her lack of fear toward entering a soldier’s tent immediately clued Ezekiel into her profession. The prostitute, striding confidently across the tent with a bright demeanor, looked up at him with an enraptured expression.

“Just from seeing your face, I can tell you’re the man everyone’s been talking about. Please, call me Iris. I’ve come to offer the esteemed Major Valdemaira a delightful evening of rest.”

The prostitute whispered as her fingers trailed down the scars marring his bare chest.

“These must all be marks of your brave battles. A badge of your wild strength. It seems a name like yours is never spoken in vain. Truly, you’re remarkable.”

The prostitute, accustomed to dealing with men, behaved without hesitation even toward someone she had just met. It was easy to see why a significant amount of military secrets leaked through prostitutes—and were also acquired through them. Ezekiel frowned sharply.

“Get out. I consider anyone of unclear status, regardless of gender, who approaches me to be a spy attempting to steal military secrets, and I execute them on the spot.”

“A spy? Look at me. Do I seem capable of something like that? Why would an honorable soldier—moreover, a man who understands the dignity of a gentleman—say something so frightening?”

“Do you even know what makes an honorable soldier?”

“…Of course. Isn’t someone like Major Valdemaira what people call an honorable soldier?”

“An honorable soldier is someone who’s slaughtered many enemies. All of us here are surviving murderers. It’s naive to expect the dignity of a gentleman from someone standing among killers.”

At his threatening words, the prostitute’s expression finally twisted with fear. She fled from the tent with a gait completely different from when she had entered. Whatever rumors spread among the prostitutes after that, none dared to approach his tent uninvited again after that night.

But later, when he had fled blind to Derosa, a servant sent to help him change reacted quite differently. The moment she saw his scars, she screamed in shock at the grotesqueness.

“Completely monstrous, I tell you.”

The scars, once called the wild badges of honor when he was celebrated as a war hero, had now fallen to the status of hideous deformities after he became blind.

If only it had ended there. The servant had the audacity to gossip about Ezekiel to her colleagues, clearly underestimating the finely tuned hearing of a soldier who had honed his senses to detect even the faintest enemy movements.

“I was so startled. His body’s all battered and scarred, and his face—well, it might look fine, but he’s blind. There’s not a single part of him intact. He’ll never function properly again. On top of that, he’s been cast out by that illustrious House of Valdemaira. That’s why you should never stand out too much. You never know when or where you’ll be brought down. Who would’ve imagined someone like him, with such a brilliant life, would fall so hard overnight? To stay alive, he’ll have to keep his head down and live under his family’s scrutiny for the rest of his life. All his past glory—completely meaningless.”

Naturally, the servant was harshly punished for her loose tongue and promptly dismissed from the estate. Having been a strict commander with his subordinates during his service, Ezekiel had no intention of being a lenient master to his employees. From then on, Madam Serva constantly emphasized caution to the servants: to watch their eyes, ears, and mouths at all times.

“I don’t like to mention it.”

“Ah…”

Rose flinched and attempted to withdraw her hand, but Ezekiel’s was faster. He placed his hand over hers, guiding her fingers to trace his chest.

“But I don’t dislike you touching me.”

“Ah…?”

“If another man were to toy with your chest like this, would you stay still?”

“No.”

“But you let me touch you without protest.”

“Well, that’s because it’s you, Major.”

“Exactly.”

The implication between his words was clear. Exception. Rose had become an exception to him.