Donghae´s pov

“At your service, Lord Donghae.”

He bowed and then looked up at me. Shivers ran down my spine, as always when I see his face. He´s my most loyal servant, actually my very first bodyguard that I acquired when we were about nine years old. Yet, I keep him at an arm length. Rather than acting as my bodyguard, he goes out on secret missions and he´s never failed a single one, no matter how dangerous or gruesome they might have been. Taking into consideration this fact, it´s no wonder that most people have fearful respect for my most loyal man. But you have to understand this, I don´t like him for another reason. His face. He´s handsome, that´s something even I acknowledge, but his face is blank and completely emotionless. His lips are always tightly closed and there isn´t a single emotion mirrored in his dark eyes. That´s why nobody, not even me, calls him by his name. Everyone just calls him Dead Soul.

February this year is strangely warm and also tricky. Rather than freezing cold, the temperature keeps skipping up and down and so it sometimes snows, but mostly it rains. I´ve caught a few cherry trees being confused and blooming secretly in the corner of the garden. I watched the frozen petals fall off the trees the next day. Walking in thick clothes, I was getting ready for a short journey to a shrine. It has just stopped raining but due to the reckless weather, most of my had fallen sick. Men that usually didn´t work as my would have to go.

„Don´t stop, we need to move fast,“ I overheard Dead Souls´ quiet voice from my sedan, „the terrain might be disrupted by the last night heavy rain.“ I had no idea, he was also a part of today’s . Well, at least I had my best man with me in case something actually did happen.

It began drizzling throughout the way and the sedan was unusually unsteady. I guessed that there was a lot of mud on the road. The air was fresh and cold, I cuddled into my clothes. In the sedan I was hidden from everybody and didn´t have to act distinguished. As the lord of these lands, I had barely any chance to enjoy the perks of the rich household. My life in general was uneventful when it came to personal happenings. The wife they picked for me was dull, no concubine ever piqued my interest. No wonder I was focused on my work rather than women. This proactivity also made me a target for occasional conflicts and troubles, but I had very good bodyguards and didn´t have to worry about my safety.

„On the right!“ A yell completely crashed the calm thoughts I was just having. The sedan stopped moving and there was an uproar on the outside.

„I told you not to stop!“ I´ve never heard Dead Soul raise his voice before and it frightened me. The usually stone calm man was distressed. The land began shaking and there was a loud noise, similar to a landslide. Which I thought was the issue. This is bad, what bodyguard could fight rolling mud?

„Forgive me,“ I opened my eyes with sheer surprise when Dead Soul suddenly jumped into the sedan and protectively leaned over me before everything began spinning.

For a few moments, that felt like eternity, we were sliding and sometimes turning on the way down the hill. My bodyguard was pressed to me, making sure I wouldn´t hit my head. Even so I ended up bumping here and there, I couldn´t believe what was happening. When the sedan finally stopped falling, there was dirt all over and the entrance was blocked by boulders and wood. I was shocked that I was alive and that the sedan didn´t completely dismantle, only was slightly flattened and lying on the side.

„I´m sorry,“ Dead Soul once again apologised, perhaps for his compromising position over my body.

„It´s alright,“ I answered and he quietly exhaled.

„Are you injured? Can you move your arms and legs?“ He kept inquiring and it was a strange feeling because he was still stuck to me and so his voice was coming  from the crook of my neck. It wasn´t the usual cold voice I was used to, though. I was slightly worried that he might be the one injured, he was shielding me the whole time, after all.

„I´m not hurt, don´t worry,“ I answered in equally low tone and this suddenly triggered and unexpected reaction from Dead Soul. He shivered and tried to move away from me. Straightening his arms on each side of my head, he raised himself up and ended up facing me.

“Huh?” I could only blink when I saw his face. Dead Soul was blushing from ear to ear, he was biting nervously his lower lip and his eyes kept darting around. That face was far from emotionless. Dead Soul was shy. It made me immediately grin at him widely, I felt mischievous even in the awful situation.

“No wonder you are my best bodyguard, jumping right into my sedan in the face of danger,” I said, trying to t