Chapter 14: Urien’s One and Only Dream

Rodrick stared at the bottle in Urien’s hand for a good while before eventually saying, “I won’t trouble you any more than this. I’ll take care of that.” Though he said that, the fear in his eyes was apparent.

At that, Urien answered in a calm tone, “No, I’ll take care of this,” prompting Rodrick to shake his head.

“You’ve done plenty.”

“No, um…”

‘I’m not doing this for you, these things are gonna be Marx’ food.’

Of course, Urien couldn’t just say that, so he only kept his lips shut. He was lucky enough to get plenty of food without using pesticides. Though these bees were smaller than regular bees, their numbers made up for it. As long as he removed their stingers beforehand, Marx would be delighted to eat them.

Urien opened his lips slightly.

“I’ll take care of them.”

“But…”

“These things haven’t died yet. They’re gonna wake up eventually.”

“R-Really?”

“My plan was to move the queen bee away from the study. That way, they won’t go near it again even if they wake up, Lord Rodrick. You’re afraid of them, don’t you?”

Perhaps realizing that he couldn’t deny his words, Rodrick let out a weak sigh and trudged over to the sofa before sitting down.

He stretched out his long legs and leaned his weight against the backrest. Urien walked up to him and glanced at his tired profile.

Then, in a low, reluctant tone, Rodrick started to speak.

“In the past. I was stung.”

“I see.”

Rodrick shifted his gaze to his thick arm. His brows furrowed, as if he was remembering that bitter past.

In general, getting stung by a bee once would make one’s body produce antibodies to combat the bee’s venom. But, if one were to get stung twice, those same antibodies could overwork themselves, sending the host into an anaphylactic shock that would lead them to death.

Even if one hadn’t been hit before, a bee’s venom could cause considerable damage to one’s body, so it was only right to be cautious. “It was ten years ago,” Rodrick continued, still in a tired voice.

“Back then, the venom made it hard for me to breathe, walk, and eventually made me collapse. If, that were to happen in the middle of a battlefield…”

Ten years ago meant that it happened back when he was 17. He had been joining various battlefields at that age, so it really was fortunate that he didn’t experience that in the middle of one of them.

“Were you stung in this estate?”

“Yes. At the back of the garden. A bee suddenly popped out of the ground.”

Ground-nesting bees were especially combative, aggressive, large, had more potent venom, and overall more dangerous than normal bees. If by the back of the garden he meant near the forest, that meant Urien had to keep his guard up while roaming around. “That’s a terrifying experience indeed,” he said as he made a mental note to himself to carefully check out the place.

“I was told that getting stung again could pose a danger to my life.”

“Correct. But, hasn’t it been ten years already?”

“Yes.”

“Then, the risk of death should’ve been much lower now.”

“Really?”

Rodrick, who had been leaning against the backrest of the sofa, immediately raised his upper torso. His eyes brightened up as he asked Urien, “Will it be safe after ten years have passed?”

“I won’t say it will be safe, the danger still persists, it’s just, the strong reaction towards the bee’s venom that would lead to one’s death only happens in the first two years. Naturally, the risk of death is lessened after ten years.”

“I see…”

Rodrick nodded in a daze. He then rested his elbows on his knees. Despite his large stature, his current pose made him look small.

‘…If he was that traumatized by bees, why did he follow me inside then?’

Considering his past, it was only natural that he grew fearful of the bees, and it was reckless of him to come to a place where there were bees around. There was also what happened the first time Urien entered the study—when he was about to leave, it was Rodrick who opened the door to study first. It seemed like in the few minutes of Urien finding out that the bee was a male, noticed the presence of the hive in the ceiling, and killed the male bee, Rodrick had been contemplating to come in, and in the end, he decided to come in.

It was quite a funny scene to imagine, but Urien didn’t laugh at it.

“Sorry for the trouble. I’ll have someone check the ceiling tomorrow.”

Rodrick said, looking up.

Urien nodded at him while hiding the bottle behind his back, hiding it from his view—his way of showing consideration to the other man.

“Yes.”

“Anyway, you. I didn’t expect you to have such a personality with such an appearance.”

“Yes—Huh…?”

Urien nodded along at first, but then he realized what Rodrick was trying to say and furrowed his brows. ‘Is it so surprising that a manipulative man-slut could kill a bee? I mean, if he could treat people like toys, he shouldn’t have any problems with bees, no?’ Urien tilted his head, asking that question in his head. Rodrick continued with an exhausted expression.

“Sorry for making you do everything all by yourself.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“…I’m so pathetic.”

Rodrick muttered as he swiped his bangs. Hearing this, Urien was surprised. He didn’t expect that the man in front of him would openly show such a side to him.

But then again, he didn’t know Rodrick well, so he didn’t know how he usually acted. So, he just told him…

“You aren’t. Anyone who got stung by a bee once will naturally grow wary of them, it’s normal.”

“…”

At that, Rodrick gave him a quiet glance. Urien understood his fear of bees, but he didn’t have even an idea of what this glance meant.

In any case, the bees might wake up if he were to dawdle around like this. Before going back, he had to ask Ella to prepare some ice to prevent them from moving around too. With that in mind, he…

“I’ll be excusing myself then.”

“Yes.”

Rodrick nodded, but a beat later, he immediately added a “Wait,” in an urgent tone.

“Yes?”

“Is there anything that you need?”

He assumed that the question was related to the bees, so Urien just shook his head.

“There isn’t. You should take some rest, Lord Rodrick.”

“I see.”

“Excuse me.”

Urien told him that and this time, he quickly left Rodrick’s room.

He walked down the hallway without looking back. Meanwhile, the bees inside the bottle were still sleeping. When he returned to his shed, Ella was there, so he asked her to bring some ice.

The combination of being weakened by the herb and the chill of the ice made the bees die one by one. Urien kept at it through the night and before he realized it, the sun already started to rise.

Even back when he was still living in Martritz Barony, him staying up till the morning like this was pretty much a daily occurrence. Oftentimes, he just couldn’t fall asleep at night, so he just read some books or concocted some medicines to pass time.

At night, the forest was deathly quiet, save for faint growls of night creatures. But as the sun rose up, the voices of various animals and birds echoed through the air. Urien was sitting on the chair, gazing through the window. Marx, who had woken up, nudged his finger with his mouth.

Holding Marx in his palm, Urien then walked outside the shed. Night dew glistened on the grass, a fly caught on a spider’s thread. As he blankly gazed at the river, Urien muttered to himself.

“Later, let’s go somewhere warmer, okay?”

Marx looked up at Urien with his wide eyes.

Urien smiled at him in return.

“We’ll go to a town near the sea and live together there.”

Living with Marx in a warm, peaceful place.

That was Urien’s one and only dream.

—The same day, at noon, Tet visited the shed.

But, unlike usual, he didn’t come as ‘Tet’, but rather Rodrick’s younger brother, Theobald. The first thing he told Urien was…

“You’ll need to move back to the main building. Right now.”