TWELVE Ch 5

The road stretching from outside the military walls to the street lined with shops and restaurants was a dirt path. Romeo walked along that path, feeling the inside of his boots becoming soggy. After walking for a short while, he reached a wide street where people and carriages passed, and he walked in the direction of the central square.

A few streetlamps were lit here and there on the street. Around sunset, government office employees would carry ladders to light the torches in the streetlamps, but many were extinguished because of the heavy rain.

The shops had already closed for the hour, and the rainfall was growing fiercer. Romeo spotted someone running in the opposite direction on the across the street, but he could only make out a silhouette and could not distinguish whether it was a man or a woman. He could not tell what kind of clothes the person was wearing, either.

He could identify carriages by the sound of their wheels, but that was not the case for people. Often, he could not tell if a person very far away was walking toward him or going in the same direction as him.

Soon, a drapery shop appeared, marked by a sign indicating the start of Rosati Street. 1st Rosati Street began after passing that drapery shop; as one walked further inside, the road branched off to both sides. He had to turn right to get to 3rd Street, where his boarding house was located.

Romeo entered 1st Street where the drapery shop stood, holding his cane with his wet-gloved hand and sweeping the ground, when after a moment, he sensed a presence behind him. It was accompanied by the sound of shoe soles hitting the puddles.

Splosh, splosh…

Hearing that sound suddenly at some point, Romeo, who had been walking while looking down at the ground, grew alert. The footsteps walking in the same direction as him were neither slow nor fast. He could also hear the sound of rain-soaked clothes sticking to and peeling away from a body, and judging by the loudness of that sound, the person seemed to be wearing long garments.

Through the rushing sound of the rain, Romeo listened intently to the noise behind him. His gloves clung to him damply as he repeatedly adjusted his grip on the cane, maintaining a steady stride. Rainwater flowing from his wet hair annoyed the area around his eyes, and the puddles kicked up by his military boots splashed up to his ankles, drenching the heels of his shoes.

The rainwater filling his boots made a squelching sound every time he took a step, and as he corrected his gait, he felt the illusion that the footsteps behind him were quickening. It was the moment he felt an intuition that he should look back.

“Hey.”

A stranger’s voice was heard. Romeo tried to turn his head to look back at the person, but before he could even verify the face, his shoulder was shoved out of nowhere, and he lost his balance and fell.

Thud!

The cane he had been holding fell, and the sting in his jaw and cheek from hitting the bare ground hard lasted only a moment. Without hesitation, the man kicked Romeo’s cap, sending it flying far away, and then grabbed him by the hair.

“Ah, ugh…!”

Romeo’s upper body was pulled up while he was forced onto his knees on the ground. It was an event that happened so abruptly, and the grip strength of the hand clutching his hair was so fierce that he could not exercise judgment. Even if it was a late hour, this was the middle of the street. It was a path Romeo had traveled countless times over the past few years. The man suddenly approaching from behind and threatening him was exceptionally bold.

Because of the falling rain, Romeo could not open his eyes properly as he grabbed the man’s wrist. The man asked in a voice that was comically thin and high-pitched.

“Have you ever coupled with a man?”

He was deliberately using a voice different from his natural one. It was a hair-raising voice that sounded like a metal object being scraped by something sharp. The voice just a moment ago when he called out “Hey” had been deep.

“Who on earth are you—ah, ugh…!”

Romeo struggled to shake off the hand of the man who was pulling his hair roughly as if he were going to tear off his scalp. His heart began to beat fast, and goosebumps rose on the nape of his neck. Heat rose in his body as if the blood in his entire body were rushing backward, and his mouth went bone-dry.

The man had a purpose.

“I will take that as a no. Follow me. I need to have some fun.”

The man pulled and held Romeo by the hair, then shook him violently and walked toward the alley beside the drapery shop at the entrance of 1st Rosati Street. Due to his remarkably fast walking pace, Romeo’s legs touched the ground and he was dragged along before he could even struggle. Through the sound of the rain, the heels of his military boots and the tip of the sword hanging at his waist made a dragging sound against the ground.

Reaching the end of the alley, the man let go of Romeo’s hair and threw him down. Falling as if pushed onto the ground and sitting in a puddle, Romeo raised his voice as he tried to get up.

“In a street where people clearly pass, how dare you—ugh…!”

However, the man kicked him in the stomach, and his back hit the alley wall before he collapsed to the ground. The man sat with one knee on the ground and grabbed Romeo by the collar, then said in a sharp voice.

“Shut your mouth. If you scream, I will break your neck.”

Holding his breath, Romeo looked at the man while taking the rain that fell incessantly over his forehead, nose, eyelids, and cheeks. The man was wrapped in a black cloak, and his forehead and eyes were covered by the hood attached to the end of the cloak, so his face could not be seen. Because the surroundings were dark and it was raining, it was difficult to distinguish even the outlines of his nose and jaw. One thing that was clear was that he was tall. The shape of his entire body seen in the hazy darkness was large.

“If you don’t want to die, do as you are told.”

The man had a large-framed body. As the thought that he might truly die occurred to him, the thumping of his heart became heavy as if it had stopped. He felt pain every time he breathed in and out from being kicked in the stomach, but his senses throughout his body grew dull in the face of the death threat. His body, sensing danger, was sending a signal. Run away. Get out of here.

While pulling both of Romeo’s wrists with one hand, the man reached inside his cloak to find something. In that gap, Romeo shook off the man’s hand and struck his left cheek with his fist.

Thwack!

As the man’s head turned and he faltered from the blow to the cheek, Romeo moved his hand to draw the sword hanging at his waist. However, before he could even grab the hilt of the sword, he was kicked in the lower jaw by the man’s foot and knocked backward, hitting his head against the wall.

“Ugh!”

As he collapsed to the ground, a pain like his jawbone was shattering and an ache as if his head were splitting in half came over him. Feeling his vision sway dizzily, he cupped his jaw with his hand, and salty blood pooled in his mouth. As his lip tore and blood dripped onto the ground, the ground visible close before his eyes was stained reddish-brown. When he bit his lip because two bottom teeth were loose, he felt his gums swelling up. His entire lower face, including his jaw, throbbed.

“Ugh, gasp…”

His torn lip would not close properly, so the saliva and blood pooled in his mouth flowed down onto the ground.

“…Damn it.”

The man stood up, rubbed his cheek, and glared at Romeo, who was prostrate on the ground clutching his jaw. After spitting blood-mixed saliva onto the ground, he seemed to step back and take a stance, then kicked Romeo in the flank with all his might.

“Cough, hack…!”

As Romeo lost his balance and collapsed onto his side, the man approached, placed one hand against the wall, and kicked him in the stomach once more. Romeo groaned and clutched his stomach at the pain of his ribs being crushed. While he trembled, unable to open his eyes properly, the man kicked his stomach again.

Romeo, who spat out the blood pooled in his mouth, raised his hand to block the foot, but the man pushed the hand away with his foot and began to rain down kicks. A merciless beating followed, kicking and kicking and kicking again, regardless of whether it was the chest, stomach, or waist.

“Ugh, ah, ugh…!”

Romeo was pushed against the wall and groaned in agony, but the man placed both hands on the wall and, putting his weight into it, stomped and kicked Romeo without mercy. It looked like he was striking haphazardly, but in fact, he was accurately hitting several specific parts of the body in turns.

At the pain of muscles tearing and flesh being crushed, Romeo curled up on the ground, nearly folding his body in half. Rainwater and dirt mixed together entered his mouth, and his cheeks and nose were rubbed against the ground. The sword hanging at his waist clattered as it hit the ground.