"Stop…please…I beg you," the man sobbed, his voice completely stripped of its former arrogance.
He was the youngest son of a third-rank noble family who had never known a day of sweat, let alone the agonizing pain of a horsewhip.
But Yase remained terrifyingly neutral, showing him no mercy. His arm moved almost mechanically, flaying the man left and right.
With every thwack of the horsewhip, the assassin wailed, his body curling into a fetal position in pain. The skin on his back was no longer skin, but a broken mess of raw, weeping wounds.
"I will confess, please stop!" the man finally yielded.
Yase lowered the whip, the tip of the leather dripping hot red blood into the muddy earth. He didn't care for the confession yet. His mind drifted back to the temple, anchored to the sound of Lord Yue chewing his food aggressively, with an energy that almost looked like hope for new life.
Even though he had his eyes closed, he knew that his Lord was content with the food and lay in the coffin, looking out at the moon and sinking into whatever thoughts he held. This was supposed to be their first night of the final journey.
After years of the world crowding and draining his lord's life, he had finally secured a moment of solitude for him. But then some pampered nuisance from a noble family decided to disturb them.
The more he thought about his lord's sullen figure, the more irritated he became. His grip unconsciously tightened around the horsewhip.
"I don't care who sent you, but tell him," Yase said, wiping the fleck of blood from his cheek with the back of his hand, his eyes never leaving the trembling nobleman's son.
"My Lord is beginning a journey that requires peace. And if anyone tries to shatter it…" he paused.
"I will bury them before I dig a grave for my lord. Understood?"
The man quickly nodded and scrambled back.
Yase looked at him with disgust. Every second he spent here was a second away from his lord's side and he felt a profound sense of waste.
"Now scram"
The man gathered himself. Every push and pull of his open wounds made him wince in pain, but with the gravekeeper looking at him like a hawk, he didn't dare to let out even the smallest sound.
He quickly turned back and limped away from the ruined temple.
Yase didn't waste another second and made his way back to the temple where his lord resided.
His pace quickened as the temple ruins loomed ahead. The thick scent of blood clung to his clothes, and he cursed himself for the mess. With isolated temples and ruins around, he found no water source to clean himself.
He sighed.
When he stepped into the cooling air of the temple, his breath hitched.
Lord Yue was out of his coffin. Standing by the window, he clasped his hands behind him, his gaze fixed on the star constellation in the night sky.
Yase silently watched the solitary figure for a moment before his eyes dropped to the ground. He didn't speak, and his footsteps were light, afraid to break whatever fragile tranquility his lord had found.
He quietly retreated to the broken pillar, two rows back from where he had sat earlier. Slumping against it, he reached for the liquor gourd. Finding it empty, he set it aside and simply watched the Lord's celestial silhouette.
The silence broke with a sudden question from the window.
"What does the benefactor think about the stars?"
Yase's body jerked at the sudden question, his eyes widening as the Lord's hoarse voice reached his ears. For a moment, he didn't believe it was real, but when Lord Yue tilted his head slightly in question, he knew it was.
His Lord… he was speaking to him voluntarily.
Yase smiled lightly and answered without hesitation. "Dust, my Lord."
Lord Yue arched his brows. "And why is that?" His voice carried a note of amusement.
"The sky is beautiful, my Lord," Yase said, his voice steady. "People are blinded by the glitter, forgetting the darkness that allows a tiny speck of dust to glow and appear magnificent in everyone's eyes."
"Without the dark that holds them, a star is nothing."
Lord Yue hummed, his voice vibrating with newfound curiosity. "So you prefer the void that makes the light possible over the light itself."
"The darkness doesn't ask for anything, my Lord. It simply stays and carries the stars, whether they choose to shine or not."
Lord Yue nodded. After a brief pause, he asked,
"Then… what am I in your eyes?"