"How long are you going to be like this...?"
The woman asked, catching her ragged breathe.
He looked down at the woman.
I get nervous even at this distance.
It was partly an instinctive wariness against intruders, but there was another reason as well.
Is the man uncomfortable?
A reaction that seems as if no one's hand has touched it.
That's funny.
The woman who had been insisting so earnestly softened up when he came within her reach.
No, this isn't about it loosening up. It's more like her body isn't moving because of the tension.
Behidat looked down for a moment to closely examine the woman's condition, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
Ashina felt nervous when she saw that smile.
Behidat's smile grew wider at the sight.
"Is the harem comfortable?"
"..."
Ashina was silent for a moment at the unexpected question.
What kind of answer do you want, you idiot?
My head is getting complicated.
I usually just say whatever comes to mind, but for some reason this man's question made me think deeply about something.
If I say it's comfortable, you'll want me to live here again.
If I say it's uncomfortable... I don't know how to react to that.
This was the first time I had encountered a human being who was so incomprehensible.
"Why did you come?"
Behidat just smiled at the obvious response that I wanted him to stop beating around the bush and answer my question.
At first, she was just a suspicious person, but as the conversation continued, he found this woman to be fascinating.
There was no sense of falsehood in what she said.
There was no trace of hypocrisy in the words she lashed out at him as if she were being unfairly treated.
Except for one thing...
"Because you miss me?"
Ashina's face immediately crumpled.
Looking at that, Behidat let out a low laugh.
Ashina's expression became even more distorted. The funny thing was that even though she was making such a serious face, she still attracted attention.
It's not boring if he watches it...
That was the conclusion he came to after examining this woman so far.
At first, her identity and actions were very suspicious. He still couldn't figure out how this woman got out of Jehenem.
That part didn't make any sense.
But now something else was more suspicious.
A woman traveling alone in the desert? And a woman from the North Continent at that?
"What did you say to Nasir?"
"You must have heard. Didn't you go up and see it?"
Ashina asked back as if she knew everything.
At her attitude of looking away coldly, Behidat naturally pulled Ashina's waist closer.
It's too small.
If he pulled her like this and held her in his arms, it felt like she would be hugged tightly under his chin.
Of course, it wasn't because of the thoroughly vigilant gaze.
Like a cat with its claws out, Ashina watched his every move.
"That's strange."
"What is it?"
Ashina, who was almost suffocated by the tension, swallowed dry saliva and asked.
The red gaze that scanned Ashina met her brown eyes straight in.
"You's strangely quiet."
Rotten, don't come near me.
Ashina clenched her fists with the urge to push away for a moment.
My arms were already held, but I was struggling to move them.
At the same time, I had mixed emotions that I didn't know what to do with.
It was confusing.
No, but why does this guy keep irritating me?
I didn't even like that strangely smiling gaze, which seemed to be mocking or something.
The gaze narrows as if searching.
I tried to suppress her discontent and not show it as much as possible.
Believe it or not, this man is the master of this country.
It was a country I would never return to anyway, but I didn't want to get caught here and become wanted for no reason.
The warrant was issued by my mother alone.
No, where in the world would there be a mother who would put out an arrest warrant for her daughter who went on a trip and offer a reward to the person who brought her back?
Oh, that was my mom.
Well, I should have known from the time she put me in prison that I wouldn't be able to get out.
I was already used to being targeted by those in power because I conflicted with my mother.
So I didn't like it anymore.
"Stop staring. I'm fully aware now that I'm suspicious."
"Now?"
Although the tone was mocking, I didn't feel bad.
I just bit my lip in response to the question,
"Did you really just find out about that now?"
Okay, now I know, what do I do?
It's weird.
Oddly kind.
Just yesterday, there was a sharpness to it that made me feel like he was going to grab me and throw me somewhere and rip me apart with his claws, but not anymore.
It appears that I wasn't the only one who decided to change routes.
No, I wish you would just do what you were doing.
I took a step back from this suffocating street.
"First of all, yes, I'm sorry. I didn't know that Kracha and Pesian were enemies."
A strange color appeared in Behidat's red eyes.
The sudden apology was an apology, but the content of the apology was so unexpected.
You didn't know that Kracha and Pesian were enemies?
He wants to look inside this woman's head.
I bit my lip as my gaze sank down as if trying to confirm whether it was true.
No, why is this guy so quiet? Am I the only one who finds this silence burdensome?
Oh, I don't know.
"If I had known. I wouldn't have asked. If I had known you were a Ra Kun in the first place!"
"But I would have caught you and thrown you in jail."
"..."
My momentum subsided at the prompt response.
Ra Kun, who had naturally dragged me into the room, sat me down on the bed.
He let go of my wrist, but he didn't let go of me.
I looked up at the man who was holding me captive with his entire body, and unconsciously took a step back.
"What I'm curious about is how you escaped Jehenem. How did you escape?"
"The door."
"If you're going to say it's open, you better be prepared to say it."
"..."
Is this another threat?
I didn't feel any positive energy at all from the word 'resolve'.
I kept my mouth shut.
What should I do?
Should I just blow it?
I suddenly felt like telling the truth and saying that I opened the door and came out because I was annoyed by everything.
A strong instinct whispered to me that I absolutely must not do that, but I wanted to tell him everything, even if it meant being bothered by this persistent and relentless interrogation.
If only my real identity hadn't been an issue, it would have all been revealed.
Fortunately, the interrogation didn't take too long. Behidat didn't expect her to open up easily anyway.
Behidat's gaze moved from Ashina's eyes to her ears, from the nape of her neck to her shoulders, and then down her arms to her hands.
He tried catching it during the day, but her white hands were too delicate.
"What was your name?"
You bastard, did you forget about the food you ate during the day?
I frowned for a moment, then straightened it again.
Yeah, I didn't think you'd remember.
Somehow, I thought that if I talked to this man, I would have to endure it hundreds of times more.
"I know you."
The man asks again, lazily as if he didn't hear.
"What?"
"Do you know?"
"I can't hear you."
Can I hit you once?
I felt that urge for a moment, but it was genuine.
I gritted my teeth without realizing it.
"Ashina."
Hey, you little brat!
I promised myself that if he asked me one more time I would scream for real, but surprisingly, the reaction I got from Kun was different.
A small smile spread across his face as he reached out his hand towards me.
A hand so languid that it's almost slow.
But somehow Ashina couldn't avoid that hand.
"Do you know?"
Was my name ever this sweet?
Ashina swallowed dry saliva.
I thought he had a good voice, to begin with, but this was beyond my imagination. I thought I was going to melt.
"Do you know?"
I felt like everything was being taken away by the voice calling me as if to confirm. Behidat smiled with satisfaction as he watched my wavering gaze.
"That's a good name."
Gulp.
My mouth is watering.
I felt like I could hear my heartbeat without even putting my ear to it.
My whole body was already tense.
"Of course, it's a good name. It's a name my father decided on through a family vote that took three whole months."
Behidat asked with his gaze as if to ask if that was true.
As my gaze narrowed again, I regretted opening her mouth in vain.
Fortunately, this silence did not last long.
"You don't support me at all."
"What will you give me if I give you something?"
"I wonder?"
I was surprised by the innocent response.
He took the hand he was holding at the startled reaction.
Behidat touched his lips to the small, softback of my hand.
I swallowed a groan at the hot presence pressing down on the back of my hand. More than anything, I thought I was going crazy because of the red eyes that caught my gaze and wouldn't let go.
Clearly, I won't live long because of this man.
I was certain that even if the man had not tried to kill me, my life would have been shortened.
"When are you going to let me go?"
I asked, not avoiding the red eyes that were twitching as if they were going to devour me.
A spark flashed in his red eyes.
"If you prove it."
I'm going to get eaten, for sure.
Like a herbivore that has encountered a beast for the first time. I trembled.
"I'm saying that when you are truly innocent."
***
There were two men in the audience room where the cool air lingered.
Behidat, sitting at the head of the table, looked down at the middle-aged man who had come to see him.
Gedik Rock Ahmed.
He was the grand vizier in charge of one axis of Pesian and the former chieftain of the Garilla clan and was the highest-ranking man in Pesian aside from Ra Kun.
"Your Majesty. I am sorry that I have been so busy that I have come to see you only now. Please understand."
"I understand that it must have been difficult for the Grand Chancellor to take care of Pesian alone while I was away."
If things had gone as planned, he would have come on the day he entered the palace.
Although Behidat was tolerant in words, his gaze was never kind.
Gedik must have noticed that too, as he responded calmly with a sly smile.
The first person to come to see Behidat was Zaid.
It was no coincidence that Jalil, Gedik's nephew, happened to come to the capital that day.
"Since His Majesty has returned, I will hold a banquet. Originally, we were supposed to start the banquet today, but since His Majesty has postponed it, we will hold it in three days."
The schedule for a trip to the Holy Land is always unstable.
Behidat doesn't know when he'll leave and he doesn't know when he'll come back.
Every few years, whenever the Ra Kun left the place, the people would fast in the hope that their God would return.
Even though it was fasting. It wasn't much different. Because they just didn't eat meat and just kept a low profile.
After the Ra Kun returned safely, a week-long festival was held to celebrate it.
That is also what the Grand Chancellor recommends.
"Do I really have to open it?"
"You have returned from a pilgrimage to Ashura, which is said to be filled with suffering. Of course, it must be opened."
"Is there any other reason?"
The Grand Chancellor shut his mouth as if his liver and kidneys were chilled by the cold gaze that was falling on him.
Behidat watched every single one of them without fail.
The silence did not last long.
Behidat didn't think that the old man would just do whatever he wanted.
"Let's listen to it. I'm looking forward to it."
When the words of permission were given, the Grand Chancellor felt relieved.
It seemed as if his heart was being squeezed. He twisted his lips into a laugh at the sight.
The festival that Kun was against was not allowed to be held because it was considered unclean.
Although its meaning has faded now, Kun's permission was quite important.
"Then I will take care of the banquet."
"So be it."
He thinks he's seen everything by now.
But the Grand Chancellor showed no signs of getting up easily.
The Prime Minister took a sip of the tea he had been given and smiled as if he had just remembered something.
"Oh, my Lord."
"Is there anything else you would like to say?"
The Grand Chancellor smiled faintly at the permission to speak if he wanted to.
Behidat's gaze narrowed.
"The people below are talking about Sihad bringing a strange woman into his harem, Is that true?"
"Strange?"
How dare you say such things when you are safe?
Behidat did not hide his anger.
"I wonder who those bastards are who are making such a fuss. I guess we should catch and kill them all."
"I'm sorry."
Gedik quickly bowed his head.
He's been so docile these past few years that he forgot, but Behidat a Ra Kun.
The one who organized Pesian, who had reached the peak of chaos, and who alone inherited Kun's name.
Although the knife he had carefully placed in his pocket had never been taken out again, Gedik knew how ruthless his master was.
No unnecessary blood is shed, but if necessary... It is cut.
The number of clansmen and warriors who died like that was eight thousand.
"But it's surprising that you would ask such a thing. Surely, if you were the Grand Chancellor, you would have heard the report that I didn't come out of the harem until late in the morning?"
"..."
The Grand Chancellor was speechless. That was true.
He had already heard that the one who had taken up residence in the harem was a brown-haired northern woman and that the room she was staying in was a room only Kun's mothers stayed in.
That's why he went to the harem.
Although his goal was to find out where information was leaking out, spreading rumors was not far removed from his purpose.
Behidat smiled involuntarily as he thought of the cat that had been keeping a watchful eye on him all night.
The Grand Chancellor frowned in confusion.
"Is that true?"
"Then?"
In the meantime, the harem was empty.
No one dared to go there, as Ra Kun had decreed that no woman could ever enter there again.
It's not that Kun hates women.
It's not that he avoids women in particular.
No woman in particular was particularly close to him. That point has always been a question among the chieftains.
No matter which woman they sent, none of them made it to the harem.
"Then may I offer my daughter to Sihad? For a while you refused, saying you were not interested in women, but now it seems you have changed your mind."
"No."
The tone of rejection was firm.
The frost is cold.
"I won't let anyone into my harem, Gedik."
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