Soft giggles echoed from that room. A light and excited voice whispered something and then
giggled.
Although Christoph couldn't hear clearly, he quickly recognized it as Christina's voice. He
could also hear Richard's brief replies.
When he accidentally glanced down, Christoph saw Richard sitting by the large window on
the balcony. On his lap was Christina, who was wrapping her arms tightly around Richard's
neck.
Their clothes were in disarray. Garments were scattered everywhere, with only a few pieces
loosely draped over their legs.
The girl's slender and smooth arms encircled the shoulders of a not-yet-grown man, but those
shoulders were already solid and broad. The sound of wetness mixed with their gentle
laughter.
Christoph stood frozen, looking down at them.
Every time Christina's body moved on Richard's lap, each time they kissed each other's neck,
face, shoulders, and chest, the sound of their skin colliding became more distinct.
Suddenly, Christoph felt a discomfort in his stomach.
He frowned, placed the back of his hand over his mouth, and murmured softly.
At that moment, Richard, who was licking Christina's ear, suddenly raised his head as if
sensing someone's presence.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, Richard's face showed displeasure as he saw Christoph frowning
uncomfortably at them.
But at that instant, Christina let out a soft moan and recoiled. She hugged Richard's neck
tightly and buried her face in his shoulder. Richard's gaze also left Christoph.
After that, Richard never looked up again as if he had never seen Christoph. Richard slowly
continued moving, causing Christina's body to shake.
Christoph stepped back with a look of discomfort. He had seen things he did not want to see.
As he turned away, he heard the whispers more clearly from below.
"Christina, do you like it?"The soft and gentle voice calling that name made him uncomfortable. That familiar name
made him feel discontent.
Christina responded with heavy breathing. Richard chuckled softly and then whispered in a
slightly deeper voice.
"Alright, now it's my turn to enjoy, Chris."
Then there was the sound of a light kiss.
Christoph turned pale.
Richard had never called him by a nickname. Even when he rarely called his name, it was
always the full name. So that was Christina's nickname.
Nevertheless, a shiver ran down Christoph's spine. An almost instinctual discomfort
enveloped his skin.
It was clear malice.
Even if it could be considered a gentle mockery, Christoph recognized the malice in Richard's
voice.
The sounds echoed.
Even though he had moved away from the window, the whispers that had entered his ears
could not leave.
The strange and chaotic sounds from below became more distinct.
Christina's voice from cheerful and excited, turned into embarrassed crying and begging.
Meanwhile, Richard continued to call her gently - "Chris."
Richard's provocative and perverse demands, the wet sounds, and the heavy breaths and
moans echoed as if right next to him. The sounds made Christoph suddenly cover his mouth.
He felt nauseous. The discomfort rose like ocean waves.
Losing all strength in his legs, Christoph squatted down on the spot. He dry heaved a few
times before vomiting for real.
A strange sensation crawled over his skin.
Chris suddenly recalled.
When he first tried to have intercourse with a girl, when he touched and kissed her. When his
body pressed against hers.
The feeling of someone else's skin, that warm temperature, were things he clearly knew in his
mind, but when he touched them, he felt distant.So distant it was terrifying, making his body recoil.
Christoph had never known that feeling.
The act of touching, hugging, and being hugged by someone else was too foreign to him.
Perhaps when he was very young, he had experienced that feeling, but at least from the time
he could remember, he hadn't.
Not with anyone. No one. Only himself.
So that feeling wasn't for Christoph. Even if it was something everyone else took for granted,
it wasn't his.
That feeling horrified him. All his senses stood on end. Deep in his chest, his heart felt a
vague fear.
He felt extremely uncomfortable. It was like having goosebumps all over.
Christoph vomited until there was nothing left in his stomach but continued to dry heave as if
trying to expel everything from his body.
******************
The water cut into his flesh like a knife.
Just a few hours ago, it was a scorching day, but the river water was ice-cold, chilling to the
bone.
But Christoph didn't care about that. The other person's arm wrapped tightly around his waist
like a water demon overwhelmed all other sensations. The discomfort mixed with anger.
"...! ...!!"
Christoph grabbed Richard's arm. Although he didn't want to touch it, he had to remove the
arm wrapped around his waist.
In the water, all movements were slow. In the engulfing darkness, only touch was reliable.
And that sensation became more distinct and uncomfortable.
When Christoph tried to twist his arm to break Richard's shoulder, Richard tightened his grip
around Christoph's waist. Richard's hand squeezed the wound on Christoph's waist, causing it
to split open.
Christoph flinched, the strength in his hands temporarily lost. He felt blood flowing from the
wound on his waist.
If there was something like a knife now, or even just a small pen, he would stab it through
Richard's hand and waist.Christoph's thoughts were quickly read by the hands fumbling all over his body.
Richard squeezed Christoph's neck. Finally, Christoph expelled the last bit of air from his
lungs.
And then Christoph realized something.
The lack of sharpness wasn't because he was underwater. It was because blood was
continuously flowing from the wound on his waist. His fingertips were already cold. The
discomfort from the wound on his waist was the only thing that reminded him he was still
alive.
In the pitch-black darkness, they began to float.
No matter what, they needed to get out of the water.
Light shone down on the water's surface like silver reflecting on Christoph's head. His body
turned pale under the dim light from the water, and thin blood trails swayed along their
journey to the surface.
When Richard pulled Christoph to the surface, Christoph swayed with the water like a
corpse. Before his head emerged from the water, he grabbed Richard's injured arm. Richard's
hand had been broken, and the joints of his fingers were already damaged from before, so the
arm was weak and not functioning normally.
Instead of the arm tightening around Christoph's waist, he grabbed the twisted, feeble arm
pushing water upward. Christoph slowly pulled, feeling every joint twisting even in the
water.
Richard frowned and gritted his teeth. He let go of Christoph's waist and gripped Chris's
neck. The large hand squeezed hard, trying to choke him, causing Christoph to exhale a few
bubbles.
Upon reaching the surface, Chris hadn't even caught his breath before being pulled
underwater again. He grabbed Richard's head and slammed it into the bridge column nearby.
Richard's head hit the column hard, and blood flowed down, spreading on the water's surface.
Only the sounds of water, heavy breathing, short curses, and the water mixed together.
They continued fighting underwater like beasts.
Although they moved slowly in the water and couldn't move normally, they still bit and tore
each other's flesh, causing blood to flow into the river, creating turbulent waves.
The underwater battle was much harder than on land, and the result quickly became clear.
From the beginning, this battle was not in Christoph's favor.
The remaining strength, the wounds on his body, and his aversion to contact. Nothing was on
his side."Christoph" - He heard as if someone was calling his name, but in a blurry state underwater,
he convinced himself it was just the sound of the water.
It felt like the water had replaced the blood in his body. His strength was gone, his body
could no longer move.
If so, let him sink.
To a place where no one could touch him, sinking deep to the riverbed, never to return.
Buried in the river mud where no one could reach.
"...No way. Do you think I'll let you be?"
The words seemed to pierce his ears.
Even though Richard was equally exhausted, he still clung to Christoph's neck, determined to
kill him with his hands rather than let him drown.
"Don't... touch... me..."
Christoph reflexively shouted as he felt the warm temperature of Richard's hand on his neck.
But the words were swallowed by the water as soon as he opened his mouth.
Richard dragged Christoph towards the shore. He stirred the water with one hand that no
longer functioned properly and legs that weren't much better. He still tried to push the water
and pull Christoph along.
It felt incredibly horrible. Even though he was suffocating from the water entering his mouth,
even though it felt like his life was slipping away due to blood loss, the most uncomfortable
thing for Christoph was the hand on his neck.
And Richard knew that. His strong hand didn't let go of Christoph, as if determined to drag
him to hell.
When they finally reached the shore, Richard was equally exhausted. His body was covered
in wounds.
When they finally touched the riverbank, Richard dragged Christoph - who occasionally
convulsed violently along the way. Reaching the shore, Richard looked like a demon. It was
hard to find any part of his body still intact.
Beside Christoph, lying motionless and pale as a corpse, Richard gasped heavily, his chest
heaving violently. He pressed his fingers into Christoph's eyelids. His eyes blinked heavily
three or four times, glinting sharply. Water flowed from his nose to his chin, but he didn't
wipe it. He didn't move for a while, lying there, it wouldn't be surprising if he collapsed on
the spot.
How ...had it been?
After a while, Richard slowly looked down at Christoph.Christoph lay motionless on the dirty ground, his body soaked in red blood oozing from the
wound on his waist. Richard stared coldly at the bloody figure.
"If you didn't bear the Tarten name, you would have been dead under this bridge."
There was no response. Christoph might have been unconscious. In fact, he should have been
unconscious a long time ago.
Richard looked down at his blood-stained clothes and then grabbed Christoph's collar. At that
moment,
As soon as Richard's hand touched Christoph's shirt, he flinched. Christoph opened his eyes
and looked at Richard with hatred.
"Don't... touch... me..."
But those words were weak and barely audible.
Richard stared at Christoph's weakly moving fingers, tugging at the wet shirt clinging to his
body.
"You hate being touched, don't you? But I don't like touching you either, Christoph 'Tarten'."
Richard was saying that if it weren't for that surname, he would have abandoned Christoph
long ago.
When Richard's hand touched the flesh under the shirt, Christoph, who had been barely able
to move like a corpse, suddenly recoiled and screamed in disgust. He struck Richard's face
with his elbow.
Richard, caught off guard, turned his head sharply due to the strong blow. It was a nearly
effortless strike. Christoph struggled to lift himself up, intending to break Richard's neck, but
could only lift his upper body.
His soaking clothes had absorbed more than half of his blood. Looking at the saturation, it
was not surprising if he fell into shock due to blood loss.
The arm supporting his body trembled uncontrollably. His heavy breathing was labored, with
short, thin breaths escaping from his lips.
Beside him, Richard, after turning his head and being silent for a moment, unexpectedly
lunged at Christoph. At the same time, he punched Christoph hard in the chin.
Richard's punch had also lost its usual strength, but it was enough to knock down Christoph,
who was struggling to stand.
"Crazy...!!"
Richard mumbled, wiping his punched face with the back of his hand.He stood up, approached Christoph, and punched him in the face again. Christoph spat a
mouthful of blood onto the ground, his neck being held tightly by Richard, while his stomach
was pressed down hard by Richard's knee. Richard's other knee pinned Christoph's hand to
the dirty ground, crushing his hand against the filthy earth.
Finally, Richard released Christoph's neck and grabbed his other free arm. He twisted
Christoph's wrist backward.
"...!!"
Christoph couldn't utter a sound. His eyes just widened slightly.
"Christoph, do you think I hate you?"
Richard sat on Christoph, pressing his knee against him and started speaking.
Christoph tried to open his eyes to look at Richard, but his vision was losing focus.
Richard's face showed no emotion. The usual smile was gone, replaced by cold eyes staring
down at Christoph.
"Yes, I hate you. I really do. You helped me understand what it feels like to hate someone. I
even find it amusing because it's the first time someone has made me hate them this much."
Richard grabbed Christoph's neck again. His hand encompassed Christoph's slender neck and
started to tighten.
"I don't care what you do to me. Even if you almost kill those around me or curse me, or even
throw a dog's corpse on Olivia's grave, it doesn't matter. You can do whatever you want.
Because it will make the value I achieve after many years of waiting even greater! But
Christoph, you ruined everything."
Richard's calm voice gradually lowered.