One minute before the morning bell rang, Beni’s eyes snapped open as if someone had pressed a power button. And he immediately checked whether the rabbit doll he’d placed beside his pillow was still there.
The small, fluffy thing that fit in one hand. When Beni relaxed his grip and squeezed it, peace of mind came to him. Then when the bell rang, Beni reluctantly got down from the bed.
This was Beni’s morning routine that had developed since getting the doll back.
“Ren……”
Looking at the first-floor bed, it was already empty. Thinking he’d left first, he noticed a torn piece of paper placed beside the nightstand.
I’m in charge of morning meal distribution, so I’m going first. Don’t dawdle in the shower room, wash up quickly and come out.
The handwriting was hastily written, but Ren actually had quite good penmanship. He’d thought everyone working in the castle was like that, but after working for a few days, he learned that the majority of servants couldn’t even read.
Ren was a curious friend in many ways.
Beni washed alone in the bathhouse for the first time. A few servants seemed to be staring at him, but fortunately nothing happened.
After changing clothes completely, Beni hurried toward the servant dining hall. Since the other day when the quality of the servant dining hall food had suddenly improved—and it wasn’t a one-time thing but continued—the building had more energy than before.
Beni saw Ren doing the last meal distribution and got in line. As the line gradually shortened and Beni was lost in other thoughts, his eyes narrowed.
The servants were leaving without getting the last distribution. Specifically, the spot where Ren was standing. Why are they acting like that? Beni was watching with eyes that showed he didn’t understand at all, and meanwhile only Pepe stood in front of Ren again, shoving his tray forward as if demanding food.
Since Pepe was getting some too, he thought maybe they just didn’t want to eat—it was that moment. The servant in front of Beni spat out a curse irritably.
“Ugh, they should remove something like that from distribution. Kills the appetite.”
The guy’s gaze was directed at Ren with clear hostility. Since he’d never been separated from Ren while being in the same space with him until now, he hadn’t noticed the hatred toward him was this severe.
Pepe and a few guys had picked fights with Ren, but he’d just thought it was because they were bad.
But now that he looked…… most of the servants were avoiding Ren’s distribution.
The servant who’d just cursed at Ren turned his face toward the burning gaze he felt from the side and flinched.
Since the servant also belonged to Niar Palace, he’d heard through the grapevine that Beni was close with Ren. There was no way not to know. In Niar Palace, that chimera was someone everyone avoided. So even if he’d heard what he said, the servant had absolutely no intention of apologizing or making excuses. The servant grabbed his tray and glared back at Beni.
“Did I say anything wrong? Everyone doesn’t want to eat food that thing touched. I’m right, aren’t I!”
He even raised his voice, so Ren ended up looking this way too. Beni’s pupils shook finely, worried that Ren might have heard this.
Even after being kicked dozens of times, bruises kept forming and the pain didn’t disappear. Wounds from words were the same.
“Don’t talk like that……”
“You’re even weirder for hanging around together. You know? Oh, come to think of it, you’re not in your right mind either, right?”
“What are you saying, I’m……!”
“You’ve already caught the disease too. Shouldn’t you guys be quarantined? Ugh, disgusting.”
Cutting off Beni’s words, the servant now even started mocking. Beni’s face hardened, and it was the moment when Tallos, who’d belatedly heard the commotion and come over, was about to approach them.
“To be working in the Demon King’s Castle with such a lowly thing……!”
Clang! The tray struck the servant’s face head-on and a clear sound rang out. Beni, his face flushed bright red, huffed and then shouted furiously,
“Shut your mouth, you idiot!”
As the tray fell, the servant who’d gushed a nosebleed collapsed backward. Tallos let out a cry of alarm and Ren hung his head low, his shoulders shaking.
“Beni!”
At Tallos’s shocked cry, Beni snapped back to his senses and was shocked at what he’d just done.
Just because he was angry, to hit someone. The image of the Count and Countess rose vividly in Beni’s mind.
* * *
The morning commotion had been settled with Tallos’s intervention, but Beni’s mood didn’t improve easily. Even though it was afternoon, the gloom clung to him, and even now in front of a table full of delicacies, his lips showed no signs of lifting at all.
“Beni, why are you so down?”
Ruan carefully offered finely cut melon, as if gauging Beni’s reaction. Beni felt that gesture and raised his head, then immediately lowered his gaze again. He’d glanced at the Demon King, but in the end his mouth didn’t open. The moment he talked about this morning’s incident, he could picture all too clearly how Ruan’s expression would change.
Violence was…… a very bad act that hurt others. Beni knew this fact better than anyone. That’s why it was even harder to speak. Admitting wrongdoing and facing disappointment were completely different matters. Beni’s fingertips fidgeted meaninglessly on the table, revealing his hesitation.
Watching this, Ruan didn’t press any further. Instead, he picked up the melon with a fork and gently placed it in Beni’s hand.
“If it’s hard to talk about, you can tell me later, so eat something first. You didn’t eat anything this morning either.”
As those words fell, Beni’s eyes widened at once. Surprise showed plainly on his face, and his gaze reflexively turned toward the Demon King. His already pale face became even paler, looking like freshly fallen snowflakes.
“H-how did you know I didn’t eat breakfast……?”
Ah. Ruan’s eyelids trembled very faintly. It was enough to feel his breath freeze momentarily. Facing the fear seeping into Beni’s yellow eyes, a chilling sensation ran down Ruan’s spine.
He needed to fix this quickly. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be misunderstood as a perverted stalker.
Ruan hurriedly composed his expression. To avoid being caught flustered, he deliberately continued in a more relaxed tone than usual.
“I met Tallos earlier. I found out while talking with him briefly. Since Tallos said he’s on friendly terms with you.”
However, that explanation, far from reassuring Beni, seemed to draw out even deeper anxiety. Beni’s face darkened instantly and his eyes wavered subtly. At that change, Ruan could no longer maintain his pretense of composure.
“Then you already know about it…… right?”
“Be, Beni. I keep boundaries, okay?”
A brief silence descended over the table. They were looking at each other, but their gazes seemed to be circling around misaligned points.
The one who spoke first was Ruan.
“What do you think I know about?”
Beni, who’d briefly averted his gaze, hesitated before finally gripping his clothes tightly. His fingertips were so tense they turned white.
“This morning in the dining hall…… I struck a servant whose name I don’t even know in the face with a tray…… That servant even got a nosebleed……”
Only after pausing as if to catch his breath did Beni finally raise his head. Anxiety still remained in his eyes.
“Ah, that.”
Ruan actually hadn’t seen Tallos today. The reason he could immediately understand what Beni was talking about anyway was because he’d checked with the recording orb.
He’d placed a safety spell on Beni to prepare for any possible situation, so he could notice if his physical reactions showed changes drastically different from usual.
This wasn’t ulterior motives. It was a measure purely for Beni’s safety. Really.
Ruan, who’d watched Beni through the recording orb earlier, had been greatly impressed. As expected, my rabbit doesn’t hold back and responds immediately.
Since his nature was so gentle, he’d been worried, but the rabbit who’d torn apart a snake monster hadn’t gone anywhere.
Ruan thought Beni had done nothing wrong and had actually done well, but the person in question seemed to think differently.
On Beni’s face there was no pride whatsoever, not even satisfaction. Beyond being intimidated, he seemed to faintly reveal even self-loathing.
“……That servant did speak badly about my friend first, but still, using violence wasn’t right…… I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I behaved in a way unbecoming of a servant of the Demon King’s Castle……”
He’d even told him to shut up and cursed at him, calling him an idiot. Seeing himself overlap with Trellou made Beni’s heart even more distressed.
He too ultimately had Ravencoat blood flowing through him. Was becoming like them an unavoidable principle?
Beni had lived his whole life turning away from the fact that he was the Count’s child. But today he felt like he’d faced that fact head-on.
Ruan gazed intently at Beni, whose head was bowing down as if to touch the table, with his chin propped up.
“A while ago, I issued a Tax Cap Decree to the former lords of the Demon Realm.”
It was a beginning that didn’t match the current conversation at all.
