There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 366 - 358. Mark of Devotion (2)

Chapter 366: Chapter 358. Mark of Devotion (2)

Radia blinked his eyes open to a dim ceiling, belatedly realizing he had fallen asleep.

Well, he had been having difficulty sleeping the past few days; the last time was when he forced himself to sleep after finding out the content of the flash drive, and it wasn’t a quality one.

What time is it? He wondered as he shifted slightly. He was wearing a robe, and using a sturdy arm and shoulder as a pillow. Sighing, Radia turned his head to the side, meeting the gaze of a starry abyss.

"Shouldn’t you be sleeping in my arms?" he muttered, using a slightly grumbling tone.

"Same things," Han Joon replied casually, as usual, lowering his head to press a kiss on Radia’s forehead.

"Did you at least get some sleep?"

"I did," again, a lighthearted answer. It was accompanied by a gentle swipe across Radia’s forehead, brushing away the red hair. "I woke up twenty-seven minutes ago."

"You should’ve woken me up,"

"No, I like seeing your sleeping face."

Radia gazed upon the softened visage hovering above him. This face, this expression...it reminded him of their teenage days, when they were simply two boys in love. It was the face Han Joon only showed him; when they were alone and learned how to love sincerely; when they were talking about their promise.

"You never broke it," Radia whispered, running his fingers across the pale cheek. "Our promise."

He didn’t. Their promise to be together; he just had his own way to fulfill it. Even if it meant they had to be temporarily apart, to be at odds with each other. In the end, it was all for the sake of them to be together peacefully in the future, without a life-threatening system looming over their head.

"We didn’t say we’re just going to be together, darling," Han Joon curled his lips. "We said we’ll be together for a long time."

And that was impossible to realize if one of them ceased to exist.

On the other hand, it sounded as close as it got to a proposal, prompting Radia to purse his lips in annoyance. "I’m kind of upset; and frustrated," the crimson eyes narrowed. "But Gods...I love you so much."

The sound of soft laughter coming out of Han Joon sounded like freedom; like a dream come true. Radia pulled the man down for a kiss, on the lips this time. Soft, but also deep, containing all the longing they had for each other. Not just for the past few days, not just for the past two months. It was a longing that festered for eleven years already.

And for that, they didn’t want to get rough, they didn’t want to move quickly. They wanted to feel everything; every single touch and kiss, hear every profession of love, staring at each other’s eyes.

They treated the night like it was their first, and also their last. Savoring it, etched every sensation in their soul, drinking each other.

They whispered new promises, drawing new futures, using every second they still had left to get drunk on each other’s existence.

That night, not once did they take their eyes off each other.

* * *

Radia stared at the sunlight outside the glass wall with a somber mood. He hated this sunlight; he hated that the day still came, and he still had to let his man go. Again.

And he felt kind of sulky because Han Joon, as always, looked so calm and received everything with grace. It was how he brought up, after all.

The man looked so nonchalant, eating his big breakfast. Now that he stuffed himself, got healed, and wore new clothes that one of Radia’s staff brought for them at dawn, the soldier no longer looked like a fugitive. The only sign he wasn’t well yet was the trace of redness in his eyes from the high-level corrosion. Thankfully, he could still function perfectly, and there should be a guide in the military base to take care of him before his formal trial.

Talking about a guide...

"I wonder...if the system would flag Zein if they still operated after he became a Saint candidate," Radia muttered to distract himself from the irritation in his heart.

"Not really," Han Joon replied while putting more food on his plate. It was probably the last nice meal he would be able to have in the next few years, so he should enjoy himself thoroughly while he could. He swallowed a mouthful of food before continuing. "If he accepts the position, he will stay in Northern Alliance, so he poses no threat to them. Rejecting it, meanwhile, gave him no added authority."

"Right," Radia nodded, finally shifting his chair closer to the table and grabbing a toast. "But now that I think about it, Horin wants Zein for themselves, so they wouldn’t kill him."

Han Joon paused his hand and tilted his head, brow arched inquisitively. "I’m not privy to this."

Right. There was no way he had a leeway to find out what happened during the past month. Not many people knew anyway. But Radia took his time to explain the gist of it while eating his toast.

"I see, how convoluted," Han Joon replied briefly. With everything he had witnessed while investigating [Kronos], he wasn’t even surprised anymore.

Radia propped his cheek with the heel of his palm against the dining table, staring at the soldier amusedly. "Your timing is truly precise, perhaps we are in luck."

"Or it could be that they acted rashly by using Celestia because they were losing their source of power," he shrugged, pausing to think while savoring the food in his mouth, and continued after swallowing. "Perhaps they want to use the power that Luzein had instead."

"Might be," Radia leaned back and tapped on his armchair. "Hmm...so Bas wasn’t on the list because he was a part of Golden Viper," he concluded.

"You too," Han Joon remarked.

Radia raised his brow, waiting for more deliberation while watching Han Joon drink his fruit juice. "I don’t want to say it was a blessing in disguise, but..." the soldier put his empty glass down. "When you took over as Chairman, your threat level decreased."

Again, Radia’s brow raised slightly higher. He leaned against the table, looking at the soldier keenly as a signal to continue.

"You became a businessman, and Bassena was in Golden Viper, so the system didn’t think you were much of a threat anymore," Han Joon explained. "The order did come, however, every time Mortix managed to make technological breakthroughs."

"And when I established Trinity, it spiked again,"

"Mm," the soldier nodded. "Bassena is considered as your ’item’, so the system did not target him, but you instead."

Radia rubbed his lips, crimson eyes narrowed slightly. "...is that why you started to get in my proximity again?"

Han Joon smiled crookedly. "I realized I could no longer do it from too far away, and..." he sounded rather disappointed with himself, which was rare. "Once I breached the line to see you, I couldn’t help it."

Radia hid his smile behind his palm. So that was why this man always ended up so aggressive when they met? Well, they did spend so many years not seeing each other, probably just once or twice a year from afar.

"Just a few undetected meetings wouldn’t hurt, I thought," the soldier added, taking Radia’s hand and uncovering the smiling lips. "Although it did get harder to hold back, spending every night missing you."

Radia pressed his lips as he watched Han Joon kissing his knuckles, one by one, pressing longer at the base of his ring finger. When the man lifted his head, Radia could see the scar across that pale neck. The scar he had inflicted himself. The scar he knew Han Joon left for a reason instead of letting his brother heal it.

At first, Radia thought Han Joon kept the scar to mock him, to keep reminding him that he had done it, to make him feel guilty.

But that wasn’t it.

Joon left the scar because it would be the only thing he could bring with him to the military, that would remind him of Radia without anyone being suspicious. Because certainly, he wouldn’t be able to bring pictures, and they had no shared accessories made to remind them of each other.

Gods...Radia could only think how much he loved Joon for it.

He spent the rest of the morning watching the scar bobbing up and down as the man swallowed the food. After making sure Han Joon had done eating, Radia took the small knife from the table, and brought himself to the floor.

The black eyes followed his movement curiously, but Han Joon said nothing when Radia placed the hilt of the knife in his hand, the sharp end pointing into the summoner’s neck.

A pair of deep, gleaming crimson eyes stared at Han Joon. "Mark me," Radia said, firm voice flowing out of a pair of smiling lips. "I want you to give me the same scar I gave you."

Han Joon raised his brow slightly, but the lips beneath spread and his hand held the knife tighter.