"Void!"
Right then and there, I barged into Void's room.
"Uwah! You scared me!"
Void was sitting at his desk, scribbling something.
"H-Huh?"
Void hurriedly hid his notebook. A diary…… maybe? More than that.
"Do you have a map here?"
"A map?"
"Yeah!"
"Of course I do, but……"
Void rummaged through his bookshelf and easily pulled out an estate map. Shops, convenience facilities, lodging facilities, and the like were marked all over it.
"Wow, thanks!"
"But why the map?"
"Ah, the Elder Duke asked me to go out with him tomorrow. I wanted to study it beforehand."
"Gr……andfather? You met Grandfather?"
Void turned his head like a broken machine creaking and groaning.
"Your face is pale. What's wrong?"
"Grandfather is…… a bit much……"
"What do you mean? He's a bit rough……. No, I thought he was dignified."
"……He said he'd train me and Brother Liam and took us to the northern mountain in the middle of the night……"
Aaaah. Like someone haunted by a nightmare, Void crumpled limply and collapsed over his desk.
What did they do…… on that northern mountain?
I was curious, but it seemed like a Pandora's box best left unopened…….
"Anyway, be careful."
Void offered advice with an uncharacteristically stern face.
Then he opened the books on his desk again.
"If you're going to look at the map, sit over there. I'm not done studying yet……"
"But what were you writing so diligently earlier?"
"Earlier? Ah, my diary."
Void answered seriously.
I burst out laughing. A diary! And here I thought he spent all day scheming over card games!
"A diary? I didn't know you were such an earnest type."
"……Don't even think about peeking."
It's only human nature to want to do something more when told not to.
As I slinked closer, Void hugged his diary with both arms.
"But I think I saw the name 'Ruby' written there. What did you write?"
"Ah, I said don't look!"
"Just tell me what you wrote!"
"I'm not telling you!"
"You cursed at me!"
"No! I didn't!"
"You did!"
"I didn't……. Fine, I did!"
"Wow. I'll definitely get a look at it."
We bickered.
The evening grew late.
* * *
In the end, I couldn't steal a peek at the diary.
I'll challenge it again next time…….
"Uwah, so fluffy."
Late at night.
After washing up thoroughly, I dove into bed. A clean body, clean sheets. The best!
Hazel chuckled and drew the curtains.
"You shouldn't sleep too late, should you?"
"Yeah!"
"If you need anything, pull the cord anytime."
"Got it! Good night, Hazel."
"Mmmg."
Unable to help herself, Hazel hugged me tight. Hehe. A bit awkward, but warm.
"You're going out tomorrow, yes? I should prepare some snacks."
"Thanks!"
Hazel smiled and slipped out of the bedroom.
I lay sprawled on the sun-scented blanket and examined the map.
I did so for quite some time.
The firmly closed door quietly opened.
"……What, why aren't you sleeping?"
Mister froze, stopping his sneaky, muted footsteps. He straightened his hunched back.
The scent of incense from Void's room lingered on him. It seemed he had stopped by that room first.
A father checking the children's rooms after returning at dawn. What a sight.
"Didn't you say your stomach hurt?"
"Huh?"
"I heard you holed up in your room all day."
He shut the door with a thud and walked straight over.
Ah, right. That's what I said.
"But looking at your face, it doesn't seem like it."
One side of the bed sank heavily.
"Then were you sulking?"
Mister brushed my forehead and grinned.
His loosely untucked shirt carried the cool air of the outdoors.
"Who bothered you? Tell me."
"No one bothered…… ah."
Hup.
I belatedly remembered what happened with the Elder Duke. Come to think of it…… I had just stormed out and that was the end of it, hadn't I?
Actually, what really troubled me was the news from the Demon Path Kingdom that Callid had delivered, but I could hardly tell the truth.
Instead, I brought up a decoy worry.
"Does the Elder Duke dislike me?"
"I see. So it was Father."
"What if he keeps opposing me staying here? What will I do? Will he kick me out?"
"I suppose I'll have to get rid of the passage leading to the northern annex."
"Stop joking around."
I slapped Mister's forearm with a pat-pat.
Mister pushed back the hair stuck to my forehead. A hand with rough calluses felt distinctly against my skin.
"Didn't I tell you? No one can force you to do what you don't want."
"……"
"Do what you want. If you want to stay, then stay."
It was strange. Whenever Mister said things like this, words failed me.
My toes kept twitching……. My chest itched so much I felt like I would sneeze.
I loved it whenever Mister said this to me.
Though he was taciturn and rough, his attitude toward me as if I were something precious made my heart warm.
But on the other hand…….
'Somehow, it stings.'
I was a liar.
I hadn't told Mister a single truth.
If my secret were revealed…… would Mister still be able to say this to me then?
The itching in my heart now pricked with pain.
* * *
Leviathan returned from the northern watchtower and immediately heard the servants' reports.
They were mostly about Void and Rubian.
He checked Void's sleeping face once, then headed straight for Rubian's bedroom. Leaving the castle with only that crazy old man and the two of them had weighed on his mind.
Of course, Rubian was guarded by no small number of mercenary maids, and Sir Morris, the Elder Duke's aide, was no pushover either.
Anyway.
"What, why aren't you asleep?"
He had naturally expected her to be asleep, but Rubian was tossing about in bed.
Clear eyes turned toward him.
Soon, a delighted expression spread across her face.
'She looks alright.'
He had been worried when she suddenly ran into her room and didn't come out for a while during the day.
But he couldn't let his guard down. Rubian was used to hiding her feelings.
"Does the Elder Duke dislike me? What if he keeps opposing me staying here? Will he kick me out?"
That old man, just as expected.
Leviathan clenched his fist without showing it.
He had glimpsed him during the day; the old man was already utterly smitten with Rubian. Yet he insisted on being so stubborn.
Because of that iron-willed stubbornness, he had made bad first impressions on Void and Liam too, and their relationship was still poor…….
'Not that I'm one to talk.'
Damn it. This is why upbringing is important.
Leviathan brushed Rubian's forehead as she gazed up at him. Her body temperature felt warm.
Her blue eyes wavered unsteadily. It needlessly made his insides burn.
"Didn't I tell you? No one can force you to do what you don't want. Do what you want. If you want to stay, then stay. If you want to lea……"
He closed his mouth after that. Words he had almost let slip unconsciously.
If she wanted to leave?
Then would it be okay for her to leave?
……Of course.
If that was what Rubian wanted.
"……"
But somehow, the words wouldn't come out easily.
If the downy silver hair under his fingertips were to disappear from before his eyes…….
Somehow, with a thud, it felt like his heart dropped all the way to his toes.
Whenever he looked at Rubian, he grew anxious.
It felt like seeing a mirage.
She seemed like she would suddenly abandon him and vanish somewhere.
It was strange. She was a child who had insisted on sticking close to him, even chasing him all the way to the north.
"Mister?"
Her clear voice woke him from his thoughts.
"Are you okay?"
The child was halfway raised up, looking at him with worried eyes.