Chapter 5: A Bitter Farewell

‘He still seems angry at me…’ Ash thought as he leaned his cheek against the door.

“Tyllian, Tyl, my hands and feet are hurting, but no one is treating me…” he whined, trying to sound pitiful.

A cold voice responded from the other side.

“Is this a joke?”

It wasn’t exactly a lie, but Ash was certainly exaggerating.

Still, he hoped to get some sympathy.

After a pause, Tyllian answered.

“I’ll treat you if you go to sleep.”

“Why? You can do it now. How would you even know if I’m asleep?” Ash replied.

“You’ll stop making noise, that’s how I’ll know,” came the calm response.

“So you think I only make noise when I’m awake?” Ash’s voice was sharp, and the irritation in it was unmistakable.

“Why is there no answer?” he muttered, slamming the door with frustration.

“You seem fine. Your hands appear to be perfectly fine.”

“No, they hurt! Ah, it hurts so much…” Ash pretended to groan loudly.

“Ha…” A sigh was heard through the door, which Ash recognized as Tyllian’s way of laughing.

He didn’t quite understand why Tyllian always sighed when he laughed, but it had become a familiar sound.

Has he cooled down a bit?

Ash wondered.

Tyllian’s shift would be over soon, and that would be his chance to escape.

But before that, he needed to come up with a way to win some sympathy.

“Tyllian, I’ve been locked up here the whole time… I couldn’t even attend my father’s funeral. Please open the door. I couldn’t even see him off properly. And my brother is stopping me from even mourning…”

Ash pretended to sniffle, hoping to tug at Tyllian’s heartstrings. To Ash, his father’s death didn’t seem like a big deal—he had lived well and passed away when the time came. But to Tyllian, who valued loyalty and filial piety, it would feel different.

“Didn’t you at least visit the columbarium?” Tyllian asked incredulously.

“I told you, I haven’t been able to leave here at all. After I was dragged away from the funeral, I’ve been stuck like this. I can’t even eat properly. My brother is treating me like this, so nothing is going down my throat…”

Please, please.

Ash thought desperately.

He moved away from the door and sat down on the floor, feeling cold and weak.

Would the door open?

Would Tyllian be persuaded?

Would he feel some compassion?

Tyllian had always been kind to the weak.

Ash, as an omega, had always been considered the weaker one in their relationship.

Tyllian had been especially gentle when Ash lost his mother, a time when Ash had been truly vulnerable.

He had relied on Tyllian a lot back then.

If Tyllian disappeared now, Ash knew he’d be left in a panic.

The death of his father didn’t hit Ash as hard.

He had grown up, and his father wasn’t like his mother.

But to Tyllian, who had seen Ash at his most fragile, it must have reminded him of the weak Ash from his childhood.

Click.

The door creaked open.

Ash almost couldn’t hide his joy but forced himself to stay calm.

He lowered his head, hoping to suppress his excitement, and Tyllian bent down to meet him.

“Why are you sitting on the floor like this? Aren’t you cold? Get up.”

“Will you take me to the columbarium?” Ash asked, staying on his knees as if refusing to get up without that promise.

“Yes, I will. So get up.”

Tyllian sighed again and reached down, slipping his hand under Ash’s arm to lift him up.

Ash tried to stand on his own, but without food, his body had no strength.

As he collapsed, Tyllian caught him effortlessly.

Ah, this feels nice.

Ash relaxed and leaned into Tyllian’s arms.

As they passed through the hallway, a few servants noticed them.

The servants stared at Ash in surprise, but when Tyllian spoke calmly, they lowered their heads.

“I am accompanying the young master to the tomb for a short while. Do not speak of this above.”

The servants trusted Tyllian’s word more than Ash’s, given the difference in their standing.

Ash found it harder to maintain his subdued expression the farther they went outside, so he buried his face in Tyllian’s chest.

Tyllian flinched slightly, as though feeling ticklish.

After a while in Tyllian’s warm embrace, Ash began to feel drowsy.

He briefly drifted off to sleep.

***

When Ash opened his eyes, it was after Tyllian had stopped walking.

“Have we arrived?”

Ash lifted his head from Tyllian’s chest.

As he slowly blinked, he saw a dark staircase ahead.

“Yes. From here, it would be better to walk down.”

“Okay.”

Ash stepped out of Tyllian’s arms.

When someone of noble rank dies, there is a custom of building a room in the basement for them.

This room is meant to allow the deceased to continue living in a similar manner to how they did above ground, decorated with items they cherished in life.

In the past, servants and lovers of the deceased were buried together, but that custom was long abandoned, and Ash was grateful for that.

‘If it hadn’t been abandoned, my father’s lovers would have been buried here… at least a hundred of them.’

Ash stifled a yawn and thought.

His father had always been one to “love” deeply.

It was a shame that all that abundant love never seemed to be directed toward his mother.

His mother, a traditional Omega, had spent her days in tears, waiting for a husband who would wander around, never returning home.

As they descended the stairs, Tyllian opened the door.

The lavishly decorated room, which had been his father’s space, was much smaller than the room his father had lived in, but it was still luxurious.

Ash noticed that Tyllian didn’t close the exit door after entering the tomb.

As Ash approached his father’s tomb, Tyllian lit the surrounding candles. Ash gazed at the portrait of his father.

‘After all, I must take after my mother.’

He looked nothing like his father.

People often gossiped that Ash’s reckless behavior was a trait inherited from his father, but they were completely wrong.

Ash had liked the people he met, but he had never loved them.

He believed his mother had loved his father.

After all, one could not write poetry every day, embroider, and wait endlessly for someone without truly loving them.

His father had loved his lovers too, no doubt.

He had even run away from home in his youth for the sake of love.

But Ash never would have done something so foolish.

That could only be love.

He wasn’t sure if the lovers his father had after were loved as much, but… if they were willing to meet with him even when his wife was dying, then surely there must have been love involved.


Ash couldn’t understand what love was.

He glanced at Tyllian, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and began to pray.

‘Dear father, why did you leave the family to someone like Owen? Did you want me to starve to death? You didn’t expect Owen to take care of me, did you? If you did, that would have been a huge mistake. You should have listened to me. Why didn’t you spend time with me during all those hours you were out meeting lovers? I never knew you were sick because I never saw you. I thought you were having a good time with your lover. Why did you die? If you had died peacefully, it would have been fine.’

After saying everything, Ash tried to recall his memories with his father.

He remembered when he had gotten into a fight with some Alpha, and his father had said,

“Well, our Ash is healthy, but don’t fight with Alphas. They seem fierce.”

‘Well, that’s enough.’

He remembered the time he tried to send Owen away by fasting.

When Ash had insisted, “I have to inherit the family,” his father had said, “Our Ash has big ambitions. How cute. But the family must be inherited by an Alpha.”

‘Is that all?’

No, there were good memories too.

He remembered the time he had gotten praise from his teacher and rushed to his father to brag, only for his father to embrace him and kiss him, saying, “Ash will make a good hostess, won’t you?”

‘Ah, that’s… well.’

Anyway, his father had loved Ash.

Even when Ash had enjoyed free love, his father had said, “Everyone goes through that phase when they’re young. Just let him be.”

That had made it so that no one could stop Ash.

In fact, Ash had hoped his father would scold him harshly and ask him, “Why are you doing this?”

He had hoped his father would show some interest in him…

His father had passed away, and here they were.

‘Poor father. Owen probably didn’t shed a single tear. I’ll shed some for you.’

Ash sniffled.

When the only sound in the quiet room was his sobbing, Tyllian took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Ash.

Then, with proper courtesy, Tyllian turned his head and closed his eyes.

He didn’t want to see the emotional display from the person he was serving.

He was a noble knight.

‘Alright. Let’s leave it at that.’

Ash kept sniffing and quietly took a step back.

Back… back…

And when he reached the stairs…

“What are you doing?”

Tyllian stared at Ash in disbelief.

Ash’s shoulders jolted up in surprise.