There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 705: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 40

One of the things Joon wasn’t allowed to do was browsing the link.

He was not given a commlink--not the one he should own, nor a new one. They did not hide the intention either. The counselor told him it was to prevent any shock in his brain from the disparity between the outside world and his own. Decades of gap was not a trivial thing to face, after all.

That was also why the others had been releasing information bit by bit. They informed him about his father’s death, but Han Joon knew there was something more behind that story. In the first place, someone in his father’s position would not go inside a dungeon. Not to mention, the dungeon was owned by the military.

But he did not pry. Han Joon did not want to challenge the theory about how floods of information might make him unstable. It might be true after all, and he didn’t want his mental state to be offset.

But then again, he didn’t need to know.

What he wanted was his memory, and it couldn’t be gained from reading stuff in the link. He didn’t think there would be much information about him there anyway, much less about his relationship with Radia.

And that was all he cared about at that point, so he obediently stayed off-link.

But not this time.

He couldn’t just sit still after hearing such disturbing news. Radia kneeling in front of someone for him? What the fuck was that even mean?

But one thing he knew: there was no way he couldn’t find it on the link. Even if it was the teenage Radia who did it, the media would eat it up simply because he was from House Mallarc. But the current Radia was the next patriarch, Mortix’s chairman, and a guildmaster--the media would have a feast.

No matter how powerful House Mallarc was, they wouldn’t be able to prevent such news from spreading or erase it from the link.

With that thought, Han Joon strode toward the library without even changing his clothes. There was a multimedia corner where he could browse the link, but he knew he would be found out soon if he used it, so he had to move quickly.

He didn’t need to know much anyway. All he wanted to know was why and who. Who had dared to make his darling kneel in public?

Thankfully, there was no house staff at that moment, so he should have had enough time to browse before someone found out about it.

Quickly, he turned the screen on and typed on the virtual keyboard. As he thought, it was easy to get the result. Three wide screens in front of him were quickly filled with articles, video recordings, and social media commentaries.

He read the articles first to get the gist of it. He found out that it was during a general public auction, and it happened in the Western Republic. The auction was for a relic, and the owner had confronted Radia in the middle of the process, challenging him to kneel if he wanted the relic.

And Radia did. He knelt and begged for the relic, saying it was for his sick...husband.

Any other time, Han Joon would get elated by that word, since no one had ever outrightly mentioned it so far.

But not now.

The only thing on his mind was how someone made Radia kneel when he desperately needed something. It was unforgivable. It was even more unforgivable after he watched the recording.

A white field of snow. Like a burnt matchstick, a figure clad in black pressed his head on the ground, bleeding flame across the snow. As the figure trembled from cold and desperation, Han Joon could feel his hand trembling too. A voice, hoarse and filled with tears, was pleading.

Pleading for him.

It took Han Joon a while to move his trembling hand. He let the recording play over and over in the background while he perused what people said about it in the media. He was never one to care about that before, but he couldn’t help it. What had people said about his Radia; he needed to kno--

"There’s no need to look at these."

A hand grabbed his, slightly smaller than him. It dragged his hand off the pointer, and promptly closed the many articles and videos on the screens. A waft of clean, soft, powdery scent grazed his senses as he watched the screens gradually turn empty.

That was fast. He had only browsed around for half an hour at most, and yet the man himself was already there. It seemed like Radia truly didn’t want him to know about this.

Han Joon wondered why. Was it so he wouldn’t know the extent of his condition? If Radia went as far as doing that, he must have been very, very sick. Was he actually dying? Laurel did say he was in a coma.

Swallowing his sigh, Han Joon leaned back. As the back of his head touched Radia’s chest, he inhaled the scent he remembered and closed his eyes. It was the scent he had secretly enjoyed once Radia left his room, the scent left on his sheet and his pillowcase. Gradually, he calmed down enough that his hand was no longer trembling.

Perhaps, knowing that he was not in good condition, Radia let him stay like that, leaning his head against the warm chest.

"As you can see, it gave me a very good reputation and boosted the company’s stock price," Radia continued in a soft tone, probably trying to reassure him.

But it wasn’t an empty statement. Even though he hadn’t seen much of them, Joon did see more positive reactions. Of course, some people mocked him for it, but most found Radia’s action endearing. It seemed like the general public found him relatable, the way he was willing to do anything for the one he loved.

It also helped that Radia still gave away the nine artifacts and his family’s relic even after kneeling, not to mention refunding the participants’ travel and accommodation costs as an apology.

Perhaps because he did it without hesitation, people could see that he was sincere, and the public loved him for it. The sales of Mortix’s products were increasing, which then translated to their stock price. Truly--there was no negative aspect coming out of it, surprisingly so.

But Han Joon did not care about all of that. He only cared that Radia had to be subjected to such humiliation because of him.

"Why did you do that?" he asked in a low, quiet voice. "Why did you go that far?"

"You would do the same."

Han Joon opened his eyes, staring at Radia’s reflection on the now-empty screen. "Would I?"

"No," Radia sighed and straightened his back, causing Han Joon to lose his chest as a headrest. He looked down at the cold-looking face that Han Joon sported all the time in the past. "You already did the same."

"And you’ll never tell me," Han Joon hardened his gaze through the screen reflection.

His frustration with the boundary Radia made was wearing him down after reading those articles and watching those recordings.

"...you’ll probably remember it anyway," Radia said while stepping away, and Han Joon swiveled the chair to chase the figure.

"You don’t seem to want me to remember."

Radia sighed. It was truly...complicated. He was impatient for Joon to quickly gained those memories they had built together, but he also dreaded the next step in Joon’s recovery, the step where he found out about that damned operation.

As much as it frustrated Joon, it also frustrated Radia to no end. His selfish desire and his wish for Joon’s well-being were clashing with each other, and it was as hard as waking up in the morning without Joon softly kissing him awake.

"Anyway, you don’t need to concern yourself about this," Radia waved his hand dismissively and turned around to leave the library. Or to not look at Joon’s cold face. "It’s not like I’m at a disadvantage."

Han Joon watched the retreating back with a strange feeling bubbling inside his heart. Something that burned and hardened his inside at the same time, like flowing lava.

With a coldness he didn’t know he had, Han Joon asked sharply. "What about him?"

Radia paused and turned his head. "What about it?"

"You’re not going to take care of that person?"

That person...Radia glanced at the empty screen. Well, there was only one person Han Joon referred to at this point.

Haa...Radia held himself from groaning. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to deal with that prick, but if he did something so soon, people would be suspicious of him. He had decided to wait, as long as his patience allowed. He could just pop up and end that man if he wanted anyway. After all, the family relic he gave away held a token for Nyx’s portal.

But he didn’t want Han Joon to be burdened by this. Not when he was still in ’recovery’, so to speak.

"You don’t need to think about it," Radia shook his head and was about to turn away again when he was shocked by a cold, furious shout. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

"He desires you!"

Radia blinked and widened his eyes at this response. It was his first time, ever, hearing Joon using that tone. The black eyes were glaring, and the thin lips were trembling within the hardened jaw. It was a raw emotion that reminded Radia of the time Joon could no longer perceive red and smash the window.

It wasn’t jealousy, because there was no need for him to feel jealous. It was fury. It was possessiveness. It was an obsession. One that drove him to destroy a massive Operation by himself.

"Is that how you looked at me when I was still fooling around in the academy?" Radia found himself asking, more curious than anything.

"I don’t know."

He did not carry a mirror when he looked at Radia from the shadow. He did not dare to.

For the first time since the hospital, Radia showed him an open, lighthearted laugh. "Don’t worry," he said, a smile playing on his lips. "When the time comes, I’ll let you know and vent it all you want."

And then he left, leaving Han Joon blinking and digesting his emotions in silence. He left quickly; the moment he was no longer in the library, his quick stride searched for the nearest empty room. Closing the door of the room hastily, Radia slid down against the frame with a stuttered breath.

That was dangerous.

He clasped his trembling mouth, preventing a soft moan from escaping. Be it his lips or his hands, they were trembling. They were red, just like his face, his ears, his neck...

That was truly, truly dangerous.