“An insane price?”
Is it that much?
“I didn’t exactly promise anything huge.”
“Isn’t ‘I’ll do anything’ huge?”
“…order me around, or have some weird ambition to overturn the continent. I don’t want to be executed for treason. But he’s my Master, isn’t he?”
“What do you mean ‘but’?”
“First of all, my Master would never harm me…”
It felt strange for Ash to even explain this.
Tyllian must know his Master, right?
In terms of how much his Master cared for Ash, he was more than a father.
His father would just stroke Ash’s hair, saying, ‘My Ash is such a filial son,’ even when Ash pleaded, ‘Please meet my mother,’ but he never actually went to see her.
Unlike his Master.
If Ash asked for something, and it was earnest… his Master would grant anything.
— Please make Mother happy.
Even the wish his father hadn’t granted.
Thanks to his Master, Ash’s childhood wasn’t terrible.
It hurt to see his mother crying every day.
The empty hallway was cold and frightening.
Get out!
After being chased out by his mother, a maid told Ash, who was crouching in the hallway:
Young Master, the Duchess is ill right now.
She doesn’t dislike you.
Please give her some rest.
She’ll get better.
Where is she sick?
In her heart, Young Master.
A sickness of the heart is hard to cure.
Even if I call a priest?
Or a wizard?
Yes.
It doesn’t work well.
We can only give her time to recover on her own.
She hugged Ash and let him sob.
‘She was a good person.’
Ash liked the smell of her embrace.
Her low, gentle way of speaking, too.
She was busy heating tea to calm his mother and making food from his mother’s hometown.
Because of that, she couldn’t often attend to Ash.
Nevertheless, Ash liked her the most among his mother’s servants, but she soon disappeared from his sight.
— Madam, the Young Master is very lonely.
— So?
— Madam…
— What do you want me to do? I’m also having a hard time. I’m having an even harder time!
Even after being chased out by his mother, Ash didn’t immediately return to his room, often sitting in the hallway.
Perhaps his mother might change her mind and open the door.
And if Ash wasn’t waiting, she might get angry, and any affection she might have had for him would disappear.
Sometimes, he would overhear conversations between his mother and the maid.
Later, Ash learned that after that day’s conversation, his mother had sent the maid away.
The maid was sent back to her hometown and never returned.
It was his Master who cured his mother’s ‘sickness of the heart,’ which no one else could solve.
— It’s not a complete cure. Aila has a delicate personality and doesn’t easily find happiness. But sometimes, it will help.
His Master built a glass garden and filled it with his mother’s favorite flowers.
He placed a table in a sunny spot and brought his mother there.
His mother, who had been crying and blaming his Master before entering the garden, became miraculously peaceful the moment she passed through the glass door.
A flush appeared on her drawn face, and a slow smile spread across her lips.
Ash felt as if it was almost the first time his mother had looked directly at him.
— My goodness, Ash. You’re so beautiful. I can’t tell if the flowers are you or you are the flowers. And so lovely.
His mother hugged Ash.
She kissed his cheek and pressed her face against his.
Ash tightly held his mother’s unfeeling hands.
Ash was so happy.
His Master made Ash even happier than his mother did.
Ash couldn’t imagine a situation where his Master would harm him.
Tyllian closed his eyes tightly.
***
“Ash, the fact that he laid a hand on you was already harmful.”
‘What is he talking about now…’
Ash immediately thought of a rebuttal, but he wondered if he should say it.
Tyllian would probably get even angrier…
“You slept with me too.”
But he couldn’t help but state the truth.
“‘Laid a hand on me,’ what a strange expression? I’m not some object.”
“That’s right. I don’t think I did anything so bad, Tyllian’s words are excessive. Don’t I cherish Ash greatly? As Tyllian knows.”
His Master sided with Ash.
Tyllian’s arrow turned towards him.
“It’s been bothering me for a while, but what does ‘cherish’ even mean, instead of ‘care for’? Is Ash some kind of purebred dog you’re raising?”
“I don’t raise dogs. Animals shed hair and are troublesome.”
Ash was once again impressed by his Master, who spoke so nonchalantly to Tyllian’s menacing face.
Though he wasn’t exactly respectful.
“Ash also sheds hair. And he’s more troublesome to look after all day than a dog.”
Then Tyllian insulted Ash.
“But he’s cute, isn’t he?”
His Master defended.
‘Is that really a defense?’
Ash was confused.
“Ash is my only joy these days. Please don’t keep trying to take him away; it makes me sad. It feels like just yesterday Tyllian was a cute child too. He gradually became less interesting and turned into a scary adult. Humans easily lose their cuteness like that, you see. But Ash isn’t like that, is he? He’s rare and precious.”
“Don’t treat Ash like a child.”
Tyllian growled.
His Master blinked.
“Oh…? I wouldn’t do such things with a child. That’s a crime.”
“Sleeping with your disciple is also a crime!”
Tyllian finally exploded.
Ash somehow knew that would happen.
His Master had a strange way of irritating people…
‘But is that true?’
Was there such a law?
Ash didn’t want to put his Master in jail.
His Master was also surprised.
“Really? When was that made into law?”
“It’s a crime by social convention, I mean!”
“Ah…? To what extent is it a crime? Is it a crime that would ruin Ash’s life?”
His Master asked blankly.
‘Is he seriously asking that?’
“No, my life won’t be ruined no matter who I sleep with. And there’s something I’ve wanted to say for a while now…”
Ash cut in before Tyllian could punch his Master. Tyllian, realizing this, frowned.
“What is it?”
“Aren’t we about to fall?”
Tyllian, who had been focused on the argument, realized it belatedly.
Their bodies, which had been shooting through the air, gradually slowed down and were now floating.
They hung in the sky as if suspended by strings… then began to plummet. At an incredible speed, as if weights were tied to their feet.
Tyllian immediately pulled Ash into his arms.
CRASH!
With a sound that shattered the ground, they hit the earth.
Ash, protected by the knight’s body, felt no impact whatsoever.
His Master, who had transformed into a bird at some point, gently alighted on Ash’s head.
[Oh… as expected of Tyllian. It seems no one was hurt.]
“You startled me! What kind of escape magic is this?!”
Ash grumbled.
Did he not control his magic properly because he was escaping in a hurry?
Unlike last time, it was an incredible fall.
Ash coughed, brushing away dust.
“So, where are we now?”
[It says Bayzehall.]
His Master replied.
Once the dust cleared, they confirmed that they had fallen at a three-way intersection.
One way led back to the duchy, the direction they came from, and the other two led to a large city.
Among them, Bayzehall was indeed a place governed by a ducal vassal, and its lord was a Count who had shown much interest in Ash previously.
“I think we’re already screwed,” Ash declared.
[Hmm?]
“If even Baron Manor knows that Tyllian ran away with me, is there anyone among the ducal vassals who doesn’t know? Owen must have sent all the magic carrier pigeons out into the market. He never does anything in moderation!”
It was the same when they got into a fight in an alley as children.
After roughing up the thugs just enough, Ash tried to bolt.
Even when he pulled Owen’s sleeve, urging him to go, Owen didn’t listen.
Ash was sick of it, watching him stomp on the thugs until they couldn’t lift their heads again.
And inevitably, if someone beat people up that badly, a report would be filed.
Ash felt truly wronged back then.
He was confident that if he had been alone, he wouldn’t have been reported.
Owen was that kind of guy. He held grudges and was even cunning.
You could tell from the way he handled things, dumping all the blame on Ash.
Ash had to admit that he had underestimated Owen.
He made a decision.
“Let’s go to Bayzehall. He’ll cling to me.”
“But Ash, the Count will demand a price. And I don’t think he’ll have the justification you want.”
Tyllian said with a grim face.
“It’s fine. At least he won’t just drag soldiers to try and imprison us, right?”