“Elijah, I gathered lots of wood.”
“Really? Where.”
Elijah looked outside through the small, dust-clouded window. Long tree branches needed for ceiling repair were piled up in front of the entrance. It was quite a lot.
“When did you bring all that?”
“While you were writing your letter.”
Elijah grabbed Rose’s hand. When he tried to check if he’d been scratched by any branches, Rose instead grabbed his hand and shook it.
“Is it not enough? Then I’ll bring more.”
“…”
Elijah silently gazed at him. Perhaps because puberty was coming soon, Rose’s voice had changed a little recently. It seemed there weren’t many days left to hear the sound of him laughing chirpily like a lark.
Human babies would take over 10 years to grow this much… When did he grow so big that he could gather wood by himself? Elijah felt so regretful every time he realized Rose’s moment of growth.
“Elijah?”
Rose tilted his head with a puzzled face and blinked his eyes. He was still this fairy-like and cute… Just how much more would he grow by next year?
“No, it’s fine. Why did you work so hard to bring so much?”
In fact, the amount Rose brought was far from enough to repair the ceiling. However, Elijah’s heart ached at how pitiful and admirable Rose was, struggling to gather tree branches as long as an adult’s height with these small hands that barely exceeded half the size of his own.
He’ll grow quickly anyway… Elijah wished Rose would remain a young child for a bit longer.
“Help me when you’re bigger.”
“I can help now too.”
Just hearing the words made his heart feel reassured. It gave him the motivation to immediately repair the ceiling that he’d wanted to put off because he had no energy and found it bothersome.
“…Let’s wash first. You’ve gotten too dirty.”
He’d gained motivation, but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d do it today. Elijah picked up the letter he’d written to his Master.
“I’ll be back, Igrit.”
After greeting Igrit, who was sitting obediently on the table next to the entrance, Elijah, who had put on his cloak, left the cabin first. Rose followed Elijah a step late.
The cabin’s wooden door, wide open, creaked and swayed in the wind. Dry dust rolled over Igrit’s stuffed body that had been thrown on the floor.
“Elijah, give me your hand.”
Rose, who had quickly caught up to Elijah, fumbled as if searching for the hand hidden in the long cloak. Elijah quickly took out his hand and clasped it with Rose’s.
The sky, which had been covered with a thin layer of clouds when he was writing the letter, had already cleared up beautifully. As expected, the ceiling repair work seemed fine to put off a bit.
Elijah, who had floated the letter on the river, turned to look at Rose, who had already taken off all his clothes. Come to think of it, he had no shoes.
“Have you been going around barefoot the whole time?”
“Yeah. The shoes are too small…”
Certainly until half a year ago, Rose had worn shoes bigger than his feet and kept falling over. A few weeks ago, he was happy that the size finally fit perfectly, but now they were too small.
Shoes that were too big could somehow be worn by tying them with string, but when they became too small, there was no solution.
“You’ll need to wear new shoes.”
It was truly a smart choice to have bought spare clothes and shoes in preparation for Rose’s growth. Times like this made him really proud of having visited the settlement once long ago.
“Ah!”
Before Elijah could even finish undressing, Rose pulled him into the water. His body, losing its balance, was sucked into the river with Rose with a splash. The paper boat that had been floating away swayed in the current.
He heard giggling. Elijah, who had swallowed water through his nose, swept up his wet hair and glanced at Rose.
“My clothes are all wet.”
“It’s fine. They’ll dry soon.”
Rose smiled and unbuttoned Elijah’s shirt. Elijah, who had taken off all his clothes in the water and spread them roughly on the sun-heated rocks, embraced the body that clung to him.
Rose, who had buried his lips against his shoulder out of habit, sank his fangs into the wet skin. Elijah bit his lip lightly and endured the moan. The wound that had barely healed recently was pierced through again, and a stinging pain rose.
The sucking force gradually began to strengthen. Just as his body size had grown considerably, Rose’s blood intake had also clearly changed from before.
Elijah quietly extended his arm and brought it before his eyes. He had so little interest that he didn’t remember what his body was originally like.
Somehow it seemed more gaunt than before…
Over the past three years, he had ‘physically’ fed and raised Rose. There would be no expression that more accurately described their relationship. Rose being this healthy was literally because he had taken his blood as nourishment.
‘What will happen when he gets bigger?’
Just because it had been fine until now, would it really be fine in the future too?
“Ah.”
He moaned briefly and trembled. The lips that had been stuck to his nape made a wet sound as they pulled away.
“Does it hurt?”
“…I’m fine.”
The extremities of his body, now cold, tingled. The shoulder area where blood had been sucked throbbed. The pain he thought he’d gotten used to grew worse day by day.
Elijah had a low pain threshold and was particularly weak to pain. The only pain he could endure was when his flesh was pierced by Rose. If he couldn’t endure it, Rose would starve to death, so it was something he had to bear somehow.
But when Rose couldn’t restrain himself like now, there inevitably came moments when he felt a little afraid.
“Mm…, Elijah.”
Rose raised his head. A faint trace of blood showed along the border of his parted lips. A red tongue stuck out and licked his lips.
He came into Elijah’s embrace, wrapping his arms around his neck. The wet lips pressed down on Elijah’s lips. The surface of their touching lips seemed to melt with lukewarm warmth.
“You’re not doing more?”
Rose, who had shaken his head at Elijah’s question, rested his cheek on his shoulder. He traced Elijah’s shoulder and the protruding collarbone area with his fingertips.
“Elijah is too thin because of me.”
When the wet hand passed over the wound, Elijah frowned faintly. Apparently Rose had similar worries to his own.
“What happens if I don’t stop and keep going?”
“…Hm?”
“Then will Elijah die?”
It was a question Elijah didn’t know the answer to either. It was natural logic that as the body grew, eating would also gradually increase, but the child was so pretty that he hadn’t thought about such consequences.
But, would it really go as far as death?
Though Rose wasn’t an ordinary human, he himself wasn’t either. Having lived over 200 years with infinite magical power, if he was going to die from having some blood sucked, he would have died already. That much, Rose’s good appetite wasn’t a matter of just a day or two.
“I probably won’t die.”
It was true that it was a bit burdensome, but what could be done? Since Rose seemed to be trying to restrain himself in his own way, as the adult he had no choice but to endure.
Rose came into his embrace again and gently bumped his lips.
“Elijah…, eat a lot. That’s how you’ll gain weight.”
“…”
Elijah was slightly flustered for a moment. No matter how much it was Rose, those words just now were a bit chilling.
No, reflecting on his habit of obtaining nourishment from him, it was a very eerie thing to say. Wasn’t it something a predator would say, waiting without eating until its prey had fattened up sufficiently?
He would give, and Rose would take it.
Apart from being young and kind, as long as Rose was a vampire, it was an unavoidable natural order.
“Hm?”
When Elijah didn’t answer, Rose tilted his head and blinked. It was a clear, innocent face where not a strand of malice could be found.
“…Okay, I’ll eat a lot.”
A bright smile spread across his white face. Rose, wrapping his arms around Elijah’s neck, kissed his lips with a smack.
“Mine.”
He captured his heart like this at every moment. With eyes so cute and harmless they made his heightened fear seem ridiculous in an instant.
“Elijah is mine, right? Only I can have you, right?”
“Yes. Only you can have me.”
For Elijah, there was no way not to cherish him.
‘It’s fine because he’s still small.’
There was no need to be afraid in advance. Rose was such a kind-hearted child that he would be even more careful as he grew.
Elijah changed his mind like that and poured water over Rose’s head. The dust that had been clinging to his silver-white hair washed away and sparkled in its original color.
“Let’s wash quickly and get out. You’ll catch a cold if you stay in the water too long.”
“Okay.”
Rose, who was actually answering, had never caught a cold even once. It was always Elijah who lay sick with minor illnesses, but still, Elijah always treated Rose as if he were a fragile glass doll.
He carefully rubbed every nook and cranny of Rose’s body, then grabbed his ankle. Elijah, who had placed the small foot that matched exactly the length of his hand on his palm, suddenly became curious.
How could he walk around barefoot yet be this clean without a single scratch?
Come to think of it, Rose was like that from head to toe. It was like looking at smooth milky-white porcelain without a single bubble. How could everything from head to toe be so pretty? How could he be so clean, beautiful without a single flaw…
“Ah.”
Elijah frowned. The water touching the pierced skin stung.
“Does it hurt?”
As if to erase the wound, Rose touched it with his moist fingertips.
“No. It’s fine.”
Elijah pulled Rose into his arms and led him to the riverbank. It was time to get out and dry off. When he shook off the moisture from Rose’s hair, his silver-white hair disheveled dazzlingly.
