It seemed the reason he’d asked if Beni was tired the other day was because he’d already noticed and was asking.
It felt like his inadequacy had been completely exposed. Ruan quietly looked down at Beni before placing his hand on top of his head.
“There’s no way managing such a large place alone wouldn’t be difficult. It’s not just you, Beni—anyone else would have found it hard too.”
Ruan had never once blamed Beni. Even though this was something Beni had volunteered to take on first, nowhere in any of the sentences he offered contained reproach directed at him.
“So if there’s anything difficult while you’re working, tell me right away, Beni. I also said I prefer being alone with you, didn’t I?”
The hand that had been stroking his head descended lower, caressed Beni’s earlobe, lightly tickled his chin with an index finger, then withdrew.
It tried to withdraw. If only Beni hadn’t suddenly grabbed that hand. Beni’s face was lowered, so his expression couldn’t be read.
“…Beni?”
Only after hearing the cautious call did Beni snap his head up.
“Ah!”
What did he just do? Beni hastily released the Demon King’s hand that he’d been gripping tightly and stepped back. The skin below his chin was faintly reddened.
“I-I’m sorry. From now on, if there’s anything difficult, I’ll tell you…!”
Thank you—it was a small murmur as if crawling in. He’d unconsciously wanted him to stroke his head more. …He wasn’t even a real rabbit, how embarrassing.
* * *
Before the alarm bell rang, Beni stretched and got up. It felt like he’d slept deeply for the first time in a while. As he habitually fiddled with and rolled around the doll about half the size of his palm, the bell rang.
Then he climbed one rung of the ladder, reached up to grab Ren’s leg, and shook it.
“Ren, get up. We need to wash up and go eat now. Ren.”
Perhaps because the days were getting colder, Ren would sleep rolled up in his blanket and couldn’t wake up well in the mornings. Today too, only after Beni vigorously shook his leg did Ren finally rub his eyes and wake up.
Ren, descending from the bed, grimaced slightly as he grabbed a white clump of fur rolling on the floor.
“Do you have hair loss? Why is so much of your hair falling out these days?”
Are you molting? At Ren’s playful addition, Beni flinched and looked at him. Just as he said, these days Beni was in molting season. No way… he wasn’t saying that knowingly, was he?
As Beni stared intently, Ren just yawned, retorting “What are you looking at?” It didn’t seem like he was testing him knowingly, so Beni could only laugh awkwardly.
“Ah, today’s my day off.”
Ren said as he headed toward the communal bathroom. The servants of the Demon King’s Castle had one day off per week.
“Oh! Then are you going out today?”
“Nah, I’m just going to rest in the room. But don’t you ever rest?”
“Mm, I don’t really have anything to do even if I rest, and since I haven’t been in charge of the greenhouse long, I want to work hard!”
Days off were voluntary, so one could save them up without taking them and use them later. So ordinary servants would work full weeks for two to three weeks, then save them up to take two or three days off and go back home.
Though they could use up to a week maximum, it was too long so permission wasn’t easily granted—practically four days was the maximum.
“Hey, if you save up your days off, you’ll turn into shit. Really, when it gets to midwinter, everyone everywhere says they’re going to rest, so there are cases where you can’t rest even if you have days off left.”
“Then there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Ren lightly smacked his back, playfully chiding “That’s workaholism,” but Beni just smiled as if he was really fine.
After washing up in the communal bathroom, putting on their clothes properly, and eating breakfast in the dining hall, Ren returned to the dormitory.
Left alone, Beni resolved to himself:
Today, he would definitely go to the Demon King’s bedroom.
Using the newly installed equipment from yesterday made the work much easier—it felt like working with several people rather than working alone. Especially the golem, which despite its small size, would suddenly transform into a square basket-like shape when asked to move things. If he placed items on top of it, it would efficiently take them where they needed to go, making the work much more convenient.
Thanks to that, he was still energetic even in the evening yesterday, but Ruan had told him during the meal that he had business and would be going out briefly at night. So he couldn’t go to the bedroom, which was regrettable, but today he would definitely go!
It was while Beni, who had firmly resolved this, left the dining hall and was heading toward the greenhouse with his hands stuffed in his coat pockets.
He encountered Tallos, who was walking through the corridor with his arms crossed. Beni bowed at the waist in greeting, and Tallos, who would normally have passed by, gestured and approached upon seeing Beni. Beni headed toward him too, but Tallos was faster.
“Beni. Today you have a different task instead of the greenhouse.”
“A different task?”
“That’s right. Leave the greenhouse for a bit and do this first.”
His excited mood about touching the other new machines he hadn’t properly used yesterday deflated a bit. But a servant must not refuse work! Beni put aside his regret and followed Tallos, arriving at the servants’ dormitory.
Why the servants’ dormitory…? Beni looked at Tallos’s back in bewilderment. The dormitory, with everyone gone, was quiet enough that footsteps echoed loudly.
Only after passing his and Ren’s room and reaching further inside did the steps stop. Beni looked at the door, then turned back and turned his head toward his dormitory. Though not far from his own quarters, he’d never seen anyone come out of this room or heard any sounds from it.
“This room is currently vacant. It’s been empty for a long time, so the room’s maintenance is a mess.”
As Tallos grabbed and turned the doorknob, a creaking sound of metal scraping rang out eerily. Beni squinted one eye as he focused on looking inside the room. A dim atmosphere, and a musty smell wafting out. Beni was reminded of the Count’s household.
When the door fully opened, dust floated in the air of the revealed room, and scattered items and broken furniture were strewn about here and there.
“As you can see, it’s quite dirty, right?”
Tallos asked, but Beni thought it was cleaner than expected. As he nonchalantly stepped inside, Tallos gently grabbed Beni’s shoulder and stopped him.
“Wait, let’s ventilate first. I was supposed to open it yesterday in advance but I was busy and forgot.”
“I’ll do it!”
Tallos waved his hand and went inside to throw open all the windows. One window was too stiff, so eventually Beni had to come help push it.
Sunlight entered and fresh, cold air circulated through the room.
“Should I clean this up today?”
“Ah, there’s no need to clean—as you can see, there seem to be many places that need repairs. Just write those down here and deliver it to me.”
Tallos held out a notebook and a pencil thicker than others to Beni. Beni took them and asked.
“I don’t need to clean?”
“Right, we’ll clean separately later so it’s fine. But can you examine every corner of the room as thoroughly as possible and write it down? If you need more time, you can deliver it by tomorrow, so don’t overdo it.”
It didn’t seem like a particularly difficult task, so Beni nodded. After Tallos left, Beni looked around here and there inside the dark room. For corners that were hard to see, he brought a lamp from his room to look around as thoroughly as possible. There were many broken places, so there was a lot to write down.
But even so, this wasn’t something that would take all day. It seemed like it would be finished once he just checked inside that mysterious door.
Since there wasn’t another door inside his own room, Beni couldn’t predict what that place was. In the first place, the room’s size was also larger than his own room.
There was still plenty of time until lunch, so thinking he should just check there and return to the greenhouse, Beni threw open the door.
And when he illuminated it with the lamp, what he saw was:
“…What is this?”
A round pattern was drawn on the floor. Moreover, this place was much cleaner than outside the door. It was the moment the bewildered Beni crouched down and rubbed the pattern with his fingertips.
Light flashed intensely.
