Chapter 332 - Comforting hug

Chapter 332: Chapter 332 - Comforting hug

The closed doors swung open slightly.

Through the narrow gap, Dican could still hear Bian struggling against the guards as they dragged him down the corridor.

"LET GO OF ME! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME!"

His voice was shrill, nothing like the gentle, affectionate tone Dican had grown accustomed to hearing over the past five years.

"I’m Prince Dican’s mate! You have no right to treat me like this! Let me go!"

Dican remained seated on the edge of his bed, staring blankly through the opening.

Bian’s beautiful golden robes had become disheveled from his struggles, and his carefully arranged hair was falling loose around his face. He twisted violently between the two soldiers, trying to break free, his tear-streaked face contorted with rage.

"DICAN! TELL THEM TO RELEASE ME!"

When no answer came, Bian’s expression changed.

"You can’t do this to me! You’re mine! Do you hear me? YOU BELONG TO ME!"

The soldiers continued pulling him away.

Bian dug his heels against the floor, screaming so loudly that his voice echoed throughout the corridor.

"I’m your rightful mate! I should have everything! I spent five years with you! FIVE YEARS! You can’t just throw me away!"

Dican’s fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the mattress.

Five years.

Bian kept shouting about those five years as though they were something he’d earned, something Dican owed him for.

But what about Dican?

What about the five years he couldn’t remember?

The years he’d spent loving someone because his mind had been filled with poison?

Bian’s screams gradually became more distant.

Even then, Dican could hear him threatening the guards, demanding that they summon the Emperor and insisting that everything belonged to him.

Dican didn’t move until the corridor finally fell silent.

He sat there for a long time, staring at the empty doorway. His jaw still ached from Jian’s punch, but the pain barely registered anymore.

Eventually, he rubbed both hands over his face and forced himself to stand.

There was still something he needed to do.

Nansich had been imprisoned because of Bian’s lies, and Dican had allowed it to happen. He couldn’t leave him there another moment.

After securing the poisoned cup and the small container for examination, Dican instructed his guards to keep Bian isolated until the Emperor could be informed. Then he left for the detention wing.

By the time he arrived, Bian had already been placed in a separate chamber farther down the corridor. Unfortunately, the distance had done very little to silence him.

Even from Nansich’s cell, his furious shouting could occasionally be heard.

Nansich was sitting on his silk-covered bed, looking thoroughly irritated.

"Can someone tell that fucking lunatic to shut up?" he complained to the soldier outside. "I’ve been listening to him scream for the past ten minutes."

The guard looked helpless.

"Lord Nansich, we’re trying."

"Try harder. Some of us are attempting to enjoy our imprisonment."

He reached for another piece of fruit just as footsteps approached.

Nansich looked up.

Dican stood outside the bars.

"Oh, look. The other lunatic."

Normally, Dican would have responded with a smile or some shameless remark. Instead, he simply approached the cell and entered the release command.

The transparent barrier dissolved with a faint hum.

Nansich raised an eyebrow.

"What? Finally decided I’m not a dangerous criminal?"

Dican stepped aside and gestured toward the corridor.

"You’re free to go."

Nansich stared at him for a moment before getting up. He stretched lazily, adjusted his clothes and swaggered out of the cell.

"Well, that’s disappointing. I was starting to enjoy the royal hospitality. Your guards even promised me something special for dinner." He glanced toward the fruit platter. "Can I take that with me? Consider it compensation for being falsely accused by your psychotic husband."

Dican didn’t answer.

Nansich turned toward him, preparing another cutting remark, but stopped when he noticed the slight trembling of Dican’s shoulders.

At first, he thought the prince was laughing.

"Hey, what’s so funny?"

Dican lowered his head.

Nansich frowned and stepped closer.

Then he saw his face.

Tears were silently streaming down Dican’s cheeks.

Nansich froze.

The man wasn’t laughing.

He was crying.

"Shit..."

Nansich’s irritation disappeared almost immediately.

"Hey. What’s wrong?"

Dican tried to wipe his face, but more tears followed. His lips trembled slightly, and he looked away as though embarrassed to be seen like this.

Nansich suddenly felt terribly awkward.

He had dealt with angry people, violent people and people who threatened to kill him. But a tall, powerful alien prince silently crying in front of him was something he had absolutely no experience handling.

"Hey, come on. Don’t cry." He glanced around helplessly before looking back at Dican. "I’m not even complaining about being thrown in prison anymore. Seriously, I was having a grand old time. The food was good, the bed was comfortable, and nobody bothered me except your husband."

Dican gave a shaky breath.

Nansich continued desperately, "See? I’m fine. Even I’m not crying, and I’m the one who got arrested. So you really don’t have to feel that bad about it."

He lifted a hand, hesitated, then awkwardly lowered it again.

Should he pat Dican’s shoulder?

His head?

Would that make things worse?

Before he could decide, Dican suddenly stepped forward and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Nansich stiffened.

"Whoa—"

Dican buried his face against his shoulder.

His arms tightened around Nansich’s back, holding him with such desperation that Nansich swallowed the complaint already forming on his tongue.

"I lost five years."

The words were muffled against his shoulder.

Nansich went still.

"What?"

"Five years of my life." Dican’s voice cracked. "He controlled me for five years, Nansich. Like a puppet. Everything I did, everything I felt... I don’t even know how much of it was mine."

Nansich’s expression slowly changed.

He looked toward the corridor where Bian’s distant screams could still be heard.

"You mean that poison..."

Dican nodded against him.

"It was Bian. I caught him putting it into my drink."

"Fuck..."

Nansich’s hands, which had been hovering uncertainly beside Dican, slowly settled against his back.

Dican’s breathing grew uneven.

"I married him. I defended him. I hurt people because of him. And I don’t remember most of it." His fingers tightened in Nansich’s clothes. "I don’t know what kind of person I was during those years. I don’t even know if I was happy."

Nansich remained silent for a moment.

Then he asked quietly, "Didn’t anyone notice? Even your father?"

Dican shook his head.

"Father has never been the same since we lost Mother. He spent so many years grieving her." His voice weakened. "I don’t blame them. But I had no one, Nansich. No one who noticed how much I’d changed."

Nansich felt something unpleasant twist in his chest.

He’d spent days thinking Dican was an irritating, shameless prince who couldn’t understand the word no. He hadn’t imagined that the man had been living under someone else’s control for years.

Five years.

That was a terrifying amount of time to lose.

Nansich tightened his arms around him.

"Hey," he murmured awkwardly. "You’re here now, aren’t you?"

Dican didn’t answer.

"And you caught that bastard. So he can’t keep doing it."

Dican’s shoulders trembled again.

Nansich sighed and gently rubbed his back.

"Fuck, I’m terrible at this comforting thing," he muttered. "But you can cry if you want. I’m not going anywhere right now."

Dican held him even tighter.

For once, Nansich didn’t complain about the embrace or threaten to punch him.

He simply stood there, allowing the prince to cry against his shoulder while the guards quietly turned away to give them privacy.

And when Dican finally whispered, "I don’t want to lose any more of my life," Nansich’s hand moved to the back of his head.

"Then don’t," he said softly. "You’ve got it back now. Start living it."