Captured by the Desert Tyrant (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 14
Early dawn. The morning of the last day at the border had broken. Though it was still a time when soldiers would be asleep, Hades and Manut had already ridden out early to inspect the barracks for any irregularities and were now returning.
“It’s truly fortunate that she said she wouldn’t go, isn’t it?”
“Has that woman caused you any harm?”
“Haven’t we already got one? That bracelet.”
Manut grumbled, casting a sidelong glance at Hades’s wrist.
“If you carelessly dispose of a gift bestowed by the Sultan, you’ll be punished. And it’s not just any bracelet—it’s the Ignite’s bracelet, isn’t it?”
“It’s still just a bracelet.”
“If the Sultan finds out, I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
“Even if he finds out, what can he possibly do to me, Manut? Chop off my head?”
Hades chuckled softly and mimed slicing his own throat.
“Still, it’s fortunate you changed your mind quickly. It’s obvious what people would gossip about if you took an imperial woman to the Grand Bazaar.”
“It wasn’t that I changed my mind—she rejected me outright.”
“What? That woman refused the General? Is she blind? Or—did you threaten her with your sword?”
“I had my sword drawn, but I didn’t threaten her.”
“……”
“It was a joke, meant to make you laugh.”
“The problem is, General, when you say it, it doesn’t sound like a joke at all.”
“Forcing a mule that refuses to drink to the riverbank is pointless. Don’t worry yourself—just focus on your own duties.”
“Yes, General.”
Hades clicked his tongue briefly and turned his horse. The direction he headed toward was the temporary tent where Latifa had been staying. That tent was scheduled to be packed up today as well.
Thinking it was still early and she’d likely be asleep, he circled the area—but feeling an odd chill, he dismounted and stepped inside the tent.
The tent was completely empty. All the furniture had been neatly arranged, as if untouched since the previous night.
“……She’s already gone. Did she leave right after last evening?”
Glancing around, he plopped down onto the cot Latifa had used and ran his fingers regretfully over the blanket she’d slept under.
The scent of the medicine Hades had given her was deeply soaked into the fabric. He slowly inhaled it.
“Now that I think of it, I never even got to ask her about that cheap jasmine fragrance.”
– Jingle.
The golden bracelets on Hades’s wrist clinked together as he brushed the blanket, making a soft jingling sound. Hades looked at them and smiled bitterly.
“It’ll serve a more useful purpose than merely binding the arm of a mad dog.”
The light of dawn was spilling into the tent. It was time to return to the Grand Bazaar—the desert people’s homeland, their heart, and their sanctuary.
**
The scorching sun. Endless hills of ochre sand stretched beyond the horizon, and across the desert, where an unpleasant hot wind blew incessantly, a long column of soldiers marched on.
With large cargo-laden carts, the men walked in step, their boots whispering against the sand—so desolate was the landscape that the soft swish of sand could be heard clearly.
Land of death. A barren wasteland. In the sky, vultures watched keenly for a chance to tear flesh; on the ground, venomous scorpions swarmed everywhere. This was precisely the desert the imperial people always warned was dangerous.
Yet the soldiers’ expressions weren’t grim at all—after all, this desolate sea of sand was where they’d been born and raised.
To them, the sun-baked sand beneath the blazing sun was perfectly comfortable, and the stifling heat far preferable to the cold, damp air of the Empire.
And above all, they were returning home after a great victory in war—nothing could be more joyful than that.
“You’re asking how bad General Hades’s temper is?”
Manut glanced at the subordinates riding camels beside him.
“Yes.”
Several young officers brightened their eyes, waiting eagerly for Manut to speak.
“Since you’re General Hades’s right-hand man, you must know him well, don’t you?”
“We’ve only seen him in battle—we heard he often indulges in eccentric behavior.”
It wasn’t surprising that these young men were curious about Hades.
Hades was a man who had even received from the Sultan the highest honor possible—the title of Ignite.
Despite his eccentricities, shadow plays depicting his heroic exploits dominated the Grand Bazaar, and any woman who had so much as glimpsed him rushed to praise his appearance.
Hades was a man blessed with both wealth and honor—a man among men, a flame among flames.
“I heard that whenever something displeases him, he draws his sword without hesitation.”
At the young man’s words, Manut stroked his chin and nodded in agreement.
“Well, that sort of thing does happen quite often.”
“They say he once pitted prisoners against each other and freed whoever won.”
“Well, that did happen too.”
“There’s also talk that he disguised himself as a beggar on the streets, and when someone helped him, he gave them a hundred gold coins—but anyone who treated him poorly was thrown straight into prison.”
“Oh, right. That happened too. The Grand Bazaar was in an uproar for a while because of it.”
“Still, becoming his right-hand man must be a truly splendid honor. After all, General Hades is the greatest leader.”
Hearing the rookies’ words, Manut’s face instantly hardened.
“Call it an honor if you will… Even the great Sultan can’t rein him in—only Prince Luhan can manage him, and all it does is wreck my stomach!”
“Prince Luhan may seem gentle, but the fact that he can control General Hades so well really shows how extraordinary he is.”
It was said that “desert folk instinctively seek strength,” and indeed, the people of the Grand Bazaar unconditionally revered the strong.
Thus, even though Prince Luhan—the legitimate heir born of the queen—was wise, intelligent, and beloved by the people, there were still many who supported the second prince, Tarek, as the next Sultan, due to his larger build and superior swordsmanship.
In this regard, Hades was an extremely important figure in solidifying Prince Luhan’s support base—Luhan’s charisma shone simply because he could control Hades.
“Prince Luhan is strong in his own right. He’ll become a magnificent Sultan someday.”
Manut stated flatly, driving the point home.
Having won the war against the Empire, all that remained now was to strengthen Prince Luhan’s position.
Just then, a sentry came running to report to Manut.
“General Manut! You need to come quickly!”
What the sentry presented along with his report was a golden bracelet.
It bore an exquisitely geometric pattern—the very bracelet the Sultan had personally granted to the Ignite.
“Ugh.”
The moment he saw it, Manut’s stomach began throbbing again.
**
A group of soldiers marching in formation had gathered in a dark, murmuring cluster.
“Isn’t that woman the one the General used to take around?”
“Yeah, I recognize her. She’s the symbol of good luck, right?”
“Symbol of good luck?”
“I don’t know. They say if you see a woman with silver hair, you’ll have good fortune—didn’t you tell me that?”
“Was it good fortune? Or that she prevents you from falling off your horse? Anyway, why is she here?”
“I don’t know. She just suddenly appeared.”
Thud-thud. Manut arrived on his large camel and shouted to the soldiers.
“Make way! Step aside!”
A straight path instantly opened through the murmuring crowd, and Manut hurried toward the source of the commotion.
There, sprawled beside a large cargo cart, were two women—pale-skinned imperial women.
The brown-haired woman was chattering in incomprehensible imperial speech, while the silver-haired one lay unconscious. Manut recognized both of them.
“This—what in the world is this?!”
Manut grabbed his subordinate in panic, but the man was just as clueless.
“This cart was used for rations and hadn’t been opened for days—but when we opened it today, two imperial women popped out!”
“You didn’t inspect it?!”
“These carts were all inspected thoroughly on the final day! No one but the sentries has approached them for a week—so I have no idea how this happened!”
“If you don’t know, will everything magically get resolved?!”
“I’m sorry, General!”
Manut quickly dismounted and first checked on the unconscious Latifa. Her breathing was faint, her face sunken and parched—it was clear at a glance that she wasn’t well.
Meanwhile, the brown-haired woman beside her looked quite plump, as if she’d been living comfortably these past few days.
“General, isn’t this the woman General Hades used to carry around?”
“Is she really the symbol of good luck?”
“Shouldn’t we report this to General Hades?”
“General, this absolutely isn’t our fault! We inspected everything thoroughly, I swear!”
Overwhelmed by the overlapping chatter from all sides and the brown-haired woman’s loud imperial babbling, Manut snapped.
“Agh! Everyone, quiet down!”
The area fell silent instantly. Manut swiftly scooped up the unconscious Latifa and issued calm orders.
“You, go fetch the army medic first. You, bring an interpreter to ask that woman what happened. Everyone else, stop gawking—get back in formation and resume marching! No dawdling!”
**
At the very front of the long column, Hades studied the setting sun’s direction and his map before halting his camel. The sun would soon set—they needed to light a fire here and spend the night.
Day and night in the sandy desert were vastly different. By day, the scorching sun threatened to burn skin off; by night, freezing sandstorms cut like knives.
“We stop here for today.”
Hades raised his right hand, signaling his men behind him. They moved in perfect unison to relay his orders. While his subordinates prepared for the night, he stared blankly up at the sky.
For a brief moment, the desert’s cloudless, beautiful violet twilight lingered. Then night fell—the once-scalding sand cooled just enough to soothe weary feet after a long day’s march.
A dazzling sea of stars shimmered overhead, and beside them hung a large full moon, casting its bright light upon the earth.
“Is today the full moon?”
It had been a week since they’d left the Empire. Gazing at the silver moon and stars adorning the desert sky, Hades smiled faintly.
“The moonlight is unusually bright tonight.”
Though overly bright moonlight drowned out the guiding stars, making navigation difficult, Hades merely gave a quiet chuckle and headed toward the temporary tent his men had set up.
“Hmm?”
But today, Manut stood before the tent, staring at him with a blank expression.
“You should be in the rear—why are you here?”
“……Was this part of your plan, General?”
“What plan?”
“Don’t play innocent. You knew I’d loudly object, so you pulled this trick, didn’t you?”
“You must be heatstruck if you’re talking nonsense like that. Go back and rest quickly.”
“They say a quiet cat climbs onto the hearth first—but I never expected General Hades to do something like this.”
Hades leapt off his camel, looking bewildered at Manut’s cryptic words. At that moment, a medic standing beside Manut bowed his head and followed Hades.
“It’s a difficult situation, but since she’s General Hades’s woman, I’ll do my utmost.”
“Have you all been moonstruck as a group? What nonsense. Everyone’s discipline has slipped—that’s all. When did we ever—”
As Hades lifted the leather flap to enter the tent, he froze at the sight of a brilliant silver cascade shimmering on his own cot.
“……Latifa?”
With a stiff expression, Hades slowly approached the cot. The closer he got, the clearer he saw her silver hair, pale face, and slender white arms.
She shouldn’t be here at all. His dark pupils trembled as if voicing that very thought.
He knelt beside her, eyes closed as if in death, and gently brushed the tip of her nose. A faint breath escaped, tickling his fingertips.
“……Even I have been moonstruck.”
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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