At least Ren was always by his side outside of work hours, so no one approached him.
“Hey, Beni.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not cute.”
Beni’s eyes widened as he gripped the doorknob.
“So even if someone says you’re cute, just ignore them.”
Until a decent guy appeared in this castle, he had to protect this naive kid. Without realizing it, in Ren’s mind, whoever had called Beni cute was transforming into a disgusting, vile figure.
“Yeah, I know, so it’s okay. Ren, thanks for looking out for me.”
Beni smiled faintly and opened the door to enter. Ren thought “oops,” but in moments like these, he didn’t know what to say. Beni didn’t think much of Ren’s words that he wasn’t cute. Rather, he thought it was just like Ren not to be sarcastic, as Trellou had said.
Ruan too… surely he’d just been teasing. Better not to dwell on it.
* * *
Bang! Count Ravencoat slammed his fist down on the desk. His face hideously contorted, he grabbed the teacup he was holding and hurled it at the butler.
The cup narrowly missed the butler and hit the wall with a sharp sound, shattering into pieces.
“Still no reply!”
This was already the tenth time he’d submitted a request for an audience with the Demon King at the Demon King’s Castle. Yet not once had the castle sent back a response. The first couple of times, he thought the letters hadn’t arrived properly. Sometimes that did happen, after all.
But as it repeated over and over, he couldn’t help but realize. The fact that the Demon King was deliberately ignoring his letters.
According to what he’d heard in social circles, the current Demon King was so arrogant beyond measure that he was ignoring the visits of most nobles.
“Damn bastard! There’s a limit to ignoring someone!”
It had already been over a month since the previous Demon King was murdered and the current Demon King had emptied out all of Niar Palace.
It happened to be the day after he’d sent Beni, so the Count household still hadn’t received any compensation for sending him as a concubine.
What made it even more infuriating was that the rabbit brat who should have come back if he’d been kicked out had no news from anywhere. There were no traces to suggest he’d fled after being expelled from the castle.
That left two possibilities. Either he was still remaining in the castle, or he’d already died without anyone knowing.
The Count thought the latter was far more likely, but he couldn’t ignore the former either.
If so, he needed to confirm with his own two eyes that Beni was in the castle, but the Demon King’s Castle was a difficult place to infiltrate secretly.
Moreover, security had been strengthened even more recently so that even monsters couldn’t get in, leaving the Count so frustrated he was on the verge of having a fit every night.
If he couldn’t get the money, he needed to at least bring that beastkin back. Now that capturing beastkin from the Surface had been prohibited, the price for beastkin had skyrocketed. Just because the Demon King had forbidden it didn’t mean the demons who’d already gotten a taste for beastkin’s usefulness would give up.
Even now, he’d heard there were merchant groups that very secretly crossed over to the Surface to capture beastkin. It was just that the information was kept extremely confidential, making it difficult to find out.
Beastkin hybrids would fetch relatively less money, but Beni’s appearance itself resembled beastkin more than demons.
If his beastkin blood was this strong, he could sell him elsewhere and get quite a price.
“I have to drag him out somehow…”
He had to receive compensation for twenty years of keeping him alive. He’d even given that lowborn not a beast pen but at least a warehouse in the estate.
The Count’s green eyes gleamed ominously.
* * *
Haaaam. His face covered in dirt, Beni crouched on the greenhouse floor and yawned lazily. Ruan hadn’t been able to come for lunch today.
Even so, the servants brought food and set only his portion on the table. It felt like eating a meal without its owner, so Beni had no appetite and only ate the easily-spoiled Surface fruits before stopping.
“So considerate too…”
Muttering quietly, Beni sprang up from his spot. There was no time for this.
To organize all the flower beds in this vast greenhouse, he had to move even more busily. Beni sighed deeply seeing the areas he hadn’t even touched yet, but this was work he’d chosen himself.
Beni fiddled with the brooch attached to his apron, then picked up the shovel again and started digging out the rotten soil.
And so Beni spent the whole day moving here and there, shoveling and loading the contaminated soil onto a cart to take outside.
As evening gradually approached, Beni stopped what he was doing and caught his breath for a moment. He sniffed at himself and a rather unpleasant smell wafted up.
The fortunate thing was that there was a built-in air purifier in the greenhouse itself, so the greenhouse itself didn’t have too severe a stench. He’d have to keep the air purifier running for a while.
But going to the dining hall in this state would be inconsiderate. If he wanted to wash before going to the dining hall, he should go now, but his legs had given out.
Beni eventually sat leaning against a pillar on the second-floor stairs, stretching out his body. He seemed to need to rest for a bit. Staring blankly at the greenhouse, he rummaged in his pants pocket.
A crumpled folded paper came out, and when he unfolded it, a crude map of the greenhouse interior was drawn.
“Now here, and here…, here, here…”
Beni pointed his finger at various spots on the map. These were still areas where he needed to change the soil and dispose of dead plants.
“Am I being too greedy after all…”
Beni let out a heavy sigh and stared blankly into space. His eyelids slowly lowered.
Ren will be waiting…, I should go…
Contrary to his thoughts, Beni fell asleep while leaning against the pillar.
The sound of peaceful sleeping echoed softly in the greenhouse, and not long after, the door quietly opened. It was Ruan. Without making a sound with his footsteps, he slowly approached Beni.
Hmm.
Kneeling down, Ruan carefully brushed Beni’s cheek with his thumb. It was filthy, covered in dirt and dust.
Beni furrowed his brow but didn’t wake up. He must be quite exhausted.
Ruan pressed Beni’s cheek repeatedly with his index finger, muttering.
“I didn’t assign you greenhouse management to make you suffer this much.”
He’d finally fattened him up, and now he was losing weight again these past few days. And yet, this guy who tried not to show how hard it was in front of him, always just smiling brightly whenever they met—Beni was a little hurtful.
Even if he honestly said it was hard, he wouldn’t be disappointed or stop him from working in the greenhouse.
“You really don’t understand my heart.”
Ruan swept aside the white hair that had stuck slightly to his forehead with sweat.
The setting sun brushed across his face and pooled at the tips of his neatly lowered eyelashes. Below that, his gaze naturally went to the gap between his slightly parted lips.
A large hand slowly cupped Beni’s cheek. Fine-textured hair brushed between his fingers, and cutting through the silence, the sound of swallowing echoed.
Finely trembling breath touched against the tender skin. At a precarious distance where they might touch at any moment, Ruan stopped.
Dropping the hand that had been against Beni’s face, Ruan stood up from his spot and covered his eyes with his hand. Exhaling a long breath heated with warmth, Ruan lifted Beni carefully so as not to wake him. As he was about to move to his bedroom, the paper on the floor caught his eye.
The Demon King silently looked down at the crooked, messy scribble-like drawing. Here and there in childlike handwriting were simple words noting where he’d finished organizing when, and what plants should be planted.
A laugh like a sigh escaped from Ruan.
With this much passion overflowing, if he secretly removed even one stone from the greenhouse, it seemed he’d be caught.
* * *
The silence of deep night filled the room. Beni stared at the ceiling with open eyes, recalling the promise he’d put off for several days. It had already been several days since he hadn’t gone to the Demon King’s bedroom.
Haaah. Beni let a drawn-out breath escape through his lips.
“I have no energy when I can’t see the rabbit. So if you have time, could you come to my bedroom? Day or night, it doesn’t matter.”
Ruan’s complexion hadn’t looked particularly bad, but the image of him suddenly collapsing a while ago still left a vivid afterimage in Beni’s mind. Perhaps he was just hiding the signs of his strength failing.
