Chapter 10: Rodrick’s Return

Though Urien loved to read books about plants and animals, he’d occasionally read novels or picture books. In all those books, the protagonist would always have a friend or two with them.

The heroes would always have friends accompanying their journeys, the adventurers would bring a friend or two from their hometown, the prince would have a trusted childhood friend and so on. Among those books, the one story that he liked in particular was about a tale of a magical world under the sea that was inhabited by mermaids.

In fact, the name ‘Yuri’ came from the book’s protagonist that he admired—a mermaid. He already had a good friend in Marx, but he wished that he had another like Yuri—someone he could talk to and confide in.

Right now, Tet was flashing him a bright, beaming smile.

“Alright, bring me your finest tea.”

“Mm.”

Urien quickly prepared the teapot and the boiled water. Said tea was his own brew—a special black tea that was made from the dried berries he gathered in the forest.

The table near the window had two chairs for people to sit on, but no one had ever sat on the other seat until now, with Tet sitting on it, waiting for Urien to finish brewing the tea. As Urien was preparing the tea, his heart fluttered with this novel sense of elation.

Apparently, Tet was one of the servants who often went outside the estate, and he had plenty of interesting stories to tell Urien. Hearing his story about the outside world that he had only ever read in newspapers and books only made Urien’s anticipation about his freedom in two years grow stronger.

After he finished the tea, Tet returned to the main building with a “I’ll stop by again later,” but Urien was too enveloped in loneliness to muster up a response.

He couldn’t be sure if the man would come back here or not, after all, as he could only wait for him to stop by here in this place. It wasn’t like he was banned from entering the main building, it was just, if he were to pay him a visit, he’d know that he was Rodrick’s consort.

It didn’t need a genius to know that they wouldn’t be able to have an equal relationship if that was revealed.

And that was the last thing Urien wanted.

But, contrary to all his worries, Tet did come to visit him the next day.

And the next day, the day after and so on. Each time, Urien would serve him a new brew of tea and share some berries and nuts that he gathered in the forest.

Tet also brought some sweets with him when he visited. The first time he visited, he obeyed Urien well and wore a long sleeve shirt and long trousers, but being the worrywart he was, Urien still applied some bug repellant on the man before he left. He even gave him some ointment that he asked Ella to fetch.

Benno also came to visit him once in a while, but when he asked him about Tet, he said that he didn’t know who he was, which was understandable considering the vast number of servants in the estate—it’d be too much to expect the old man to remember everyone. Ella might know who he was, but he refrained from asking her since the man himself proclaimed, “I’m ditching my work,” and he didn’t want any troubles to come to the man.

“—Ah, right, it’s about time for the duke to return.”

“Huh?”

Two months after knowing Tet.

He suddenly said such words with a smile before continuing with, “He went to Barca with the knight order, remember?”

Urien stared at him wide-eyed, muttering to himself.

“The duke…”

The duke. In other words, Rodrick.

More than three months had passed since that husband of his left for Barca Republic.

Before he realized it such a long time had passed ever since he first met Tet.

Three months ago, Rodrick had told him, “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” but it seemed that his return was near. Now that he was confronted with Rodrick’s existence that he had forgotten, Urien could feel his heart racing. He wondered what was going to happen to his life in this small shed when his husband returned.

If Rodrick knew that he had been living in this shed, would he drag him to the main building and make him live there? Or would he support the head maid and let him live here?

At that moment, Tet said with a frown, “So, I might not be able to come here often anymore.”

‘If Rodrick returns, Tet won’t come to visit often anymore…?’

“B-But, why?”

“Because my workload’s gonna pile up.”

Tet stared in the distance, his lips curved into a half-smile of resignation.

“I’m gonna be really, really busy soon…”

“I see. Any details on when the duke is going to arrive?”

“Yep. Heard the news about it three days ago. Fall’s gonna deepen, right? It seems like he wants to be back before winter comes.”

“I…see. Sounds like a lot of hassle, huh?”

“That guy is a hassle, yes.”

Tet’s tone was filled with annoyance as he said that, but there was a hint of familiarity in it. ‘Calling him ‘that guy’, isn’t that a little disrespectful?’ Urien asked in his mind, but he didn’t say it out loud.

‘In any case. He’s returning, huh?’ There were various things he wanted to ask about, but Urien was afraid that the conversation would reach the topic of Rodrick’s ‘consort’, so he refrained himself and changed the topic instead. “Fall, huh?” Luckily for him, Tet didn’t seem to feel comfortable talking about the duke either, so he gave him a proper follow-up.

“The air’s getting chillier. Feels like rain’s gonna come soon.”

Tet let out a sigh frowning. It seemed like he didn’t fancy the rain very much.

In Lustrand Kingdom’s southern region, rains tended to fall during summer through fall. That was how it was in Martritz Barony, but from what he heard, the rain would be on a heavier side in Edel Duchy.

“I hope the rain won’t affect the crops too much.”

“Me too. By the way, is Marx going to be fine with the rain?”

Tet asked as he directed his gaze to the edge of the room.

Two months ago, Tet found out about Marx. It was a month after he and Urien first met, he stopped by the shed when Urien was out. Since there was nothing to do, he approached the box and peeked inside.

At that point, Urien hadn’t told Tet about Marx since he thought that because Tet didn’t fancy snakes, he’d share the same feelings about lizards too. He trusted Tet enough to let him know about Marx, he just didn’t tell him anything out of consideration.

Unlike what he had thought though, Tet was a grown-up who wouldn’t be afraid of the cute little Marx. When Urien returned to the shed, he showed Marx to Urien, exclaiming, “I found this cutie inside!”

Ever since then, he’d occasionally check up on Marx whenever he stopped by. Although like Ella, he couldn’t stand seeing the little guy eat.

Urien shook his head slightly, his answer trailed off.

“He doesn’t mind the rain. The winter though…he’s going to have to hibernate when the winter comes…”

That was one thing that would sadden him the most.

Urien directed his gaze towards the windows. The sky was clear, with only a thin layer of white cloud hanging on it.

With the realization that another winter would come soon, he wondered what he would do when Marx was hibernating.

He had been spending his previous winters in a daze, so he only had blurry memories of them. Staring at the sky, he wondered if this winter would be the same and that thought made his heart sink.

Not to mention that Rodrick would also be there this winter.

So far, he barely interacted with that husband of his who had left for the Barca Republic, let alone acting like a proper married couple with him. The contract stated that they weren’t to interfere with each others’ lives, but no one could know what would happen.

‘Right, now that I think about it, his brother is the one taking care of the estate while he’s away, no?’ According to what Ella and the other maids said, Rodrick’s brother seemed to be an extremely attractive man. In Ella’s words, “He’s 22 years old now, and a bit of a heavy smoker. He isn’t as strict as Lord Rodrick, but he’s still strict—especially towards men.” She also added that just like Rodrick, he barely showed his expressions.

“Hibernate, huh? It’s going to be lonely then…”

Tet furrowed his brows in a genuine disappointment, making a rather cute look.

At that, Urien nodded slightly.

“It is…”