Chapter 13: “Hey, Wait. Where Are You Going?”

Rodrick’s eyes widened in surprise. Meanwhile, Urien approached, staring at the door with a curious look.

“Amazing. I could still hear the sound of its wings buzzing through this door… Must’ve been a really big bee.”

“Y-Yeah…”

Caught off guard by his calm muttering, Rodrick nodded obediently.

Urien then turned to look at Rodrick’s face directly before opening his mouth.

“So, what do you want to do? With that bee, I meant.”

“…What do you mean?”

“We can’t just leave it there, no?”

“…”

“Want me to go in and take a look?”

“Why?”

“Any lamps?”

Urien couldn’t help but wonder what was behind the door. In fact, he asked that question without looking at his husband, only focusing his gaze on the door. But, his husband didn’t respond.

So, he looked up at his face and repeated his question.

“Any light source?”

“…Yeah.”

Surprised by his insistence, Rodrick finally nodded and handed him a lamp.

Urien took the lamp he handed over with a “Thank you,” and immediately grabbed the doorknob to the study. However, just before he could twist it to open the door, Rodrick got back to his senses and quickly grabbed his wrist, prompting him to yelp out a “Woah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Why do you want to go in?”

“Just want to have a look.”

Rodrick threw him a skeptical gaze, clearly not convinced by that answer. His golden eyes glinted sharply, as if intimidating him.

Unexpectedly, Duke Rodrick Edel, who was known to be a monster who was feared in the battlefield, had a phobia towards bees. “Stop. You’ll get stung. Don’t act recklessly.” He said with a glare that felt like it was filled with killing intent, but Urien knew that it stemmed from his fear. For a moment there, he hesitated, but eventually, he let out a sigh.

“You’re afraid of—no, you aren’t fond of bees are you, Lord Rodrick? I’m gonna take care of it in your stead, no need to worry.”

He said in a gentle, caring tone as he looked up at Rodrick.

When their eyes met, Rodrick’s cheeks visibly twitched. He grimaced, but Urien could feel his grip on his wrist loosened.

Of course, Urien didn’t miss this opportunity. He quickly shook his hand off, opened the door and slid inside. A “Hey!” sound entered his ear from behind, but he pretended to not hear that and pressed on.

The study was pitch dark. There was a single window where light might come from, but it was draped behind a curtain. In here, the bee was flying around freely, unable to go outside since both the window and the door were closed.

On the table was the ‘list’ that Rodrick mentioned before. Urien placed the lamp on the table and quickly stepped away. While checking on the list, he observed the bee’s movements as it was flying towards the light.

“Woah… Not bad at all.”

He let out a gasp of admiration as he checked on the names of the herbs listed on the list. Then, he raised his head and looked around the ceiling. He picked up a thick book from the bookshelf, went back to the table, and smacked the bee down with it.

Eating that clean smack, the bee fell lifelessly to the table and Urien quickly scooped its dead body up. Then, he headed to the door, leaving the lamp on the table.

At that moment, Rodrick opened the door from his side. Seeing Urien’s face right in front of him the moment he opened the door made his eyes widened, but then his gaze fell towards the bee’s dead body on the other guy’s palm. Unable to turn his gaze away from the dead bee, he asked in disbelief.

“Did you kill it?”

“I did.”

Urien walked past him and closed the door. Seeing this, Rodrick shouted at him, “That was dangerous!”

“Its stinger was dangerous. What if it stung you?”

“It didn’t have any.”

“What?”

“It was a male.”

Urien replied while taking a closer look at the bee. At this, Rodrick frowned.

“A male? Do male bees…not have stingers?”

“Obviously they don’t.”

Rodrick’s frown grew deeper as he muttered, “Obviously?” His tone showed his confusion. A moment later, he snapped out of it and started lecturing Urien with, “Bees are dangerous. You didn’t even know if it was a male or female when you came in.”

“Yeah, I didn’t.”

“What if it stung you—wait, what are you doing? Why are you putting it in your pocket?”

“Is there a problem? Do you want it? I can give it to you if you do.”

“Of course not.”

Rodrick gave him a look as if he was insane. Meanwhile, Urien just ignored him and turned his gaze towards the door again.

Perhaps sensing something in his movement, Rodrick pressed on with his question, “What are you planning to do with that bee?” His voice sounded uneasy. Urien thought to himself, ‘So annoying,’ but it wasn’t like he could tell him what he was planning to do with it, so he…

“There are more of them inside.”

“What?”

Shocked by his words, Rodrick covered his mouth with a hand. Urien stared at him, wondering, ‘Did he get stung by a bee before? Is that why he’s like this?’ and took out the list he found earlier.

In any case, the fact that there were more bees around was something that Urien noticed when he entered the study, as he heard faint buzzing noises coming from the ceiling too. A queen bee probably found its way to Rodrick’s study while he was away and made a hive there. The building was quite old, so it wasn’t out of a possibility that there was a hole or two that made it possible for the bee to enter the study. Since it was relatively new, it shouldn’t be a big hive, but if they didn’t remove it quickly, it’d grow in size and quickly become a hassle.

Urien picked the bee’s dead body again, brought it closer to his eye and spoke.

“These species of bees would occasionally get into houses and build their hives in the attics and such. They aren’t venomous, but they’re dangerous if left alone.”

“…I see.”

“By the way, this list. Do you have any leaves of this particular plant?”

The sudden change of topic surprised Rodrick, prompting him to ask, “Did you find the list?” When he looked over the name that Urien pointed to, he nodded slightly. The goods from Barca were placed at the end of the room, so Rodrick made his way there while Urien was following behind.

“Should be in one of the bottles inside these boxes.”

“Specifically, which one?”

“This one.”

Inside the box, tea, seeds, leaves and medicinal herbs were neatly packed into various bottles. Urien picked up the bottle containing the thing he was looking for and opened its lid.

Immediately, a bitter scent wafted from the mouth of the bottle, prompting Rodrick to frown. Urien closed the lid, rubbed his eyes with his fingers and walked towards the study again.

“Hey, wait. Where are you going?”

“The study.”

“I know that. What are you planning to do?”

Urien shook his head, saying, “Getting rid of the bees, of course…”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. Just wait for a moment.”

“No. I’ll go with you.”

“Haa…”

‘Whatever, if he wants to come then, I’ll just let him.’

“No need to force yourself if you’re scared.” Urien said as he opened the door. He was facing forward, so he didn’t know what kind of face Rodrick made after hearing that.

Inside, Urien took some leaves from the bottle to make some room and then scooped some fire from the lamp into the bottle. Then, he quickly sealed the bottle letting the remaining leaves being burned by the fire as smoke swirled inside.

Afterward, he grabbed a chair and dragged it right under the entrance to the ceiling. With a grunt, he climbed the chair, opened the entrance, placed the bottle filled with smoke inside the ceiling after removing its lid, then closed the entrance again.

At that moment, Rodrick, who had been standing beside him, asked him, “Was that insecticide?”

“Of course not. That’d be a waste.”

“What?”

“It’s a sleeping drug. That particular herb could turn into a strong sleeping drug when burned.”

After a while, the buzzing noises from the ceiling subsided and silence descended.

Urien opened the entrance above his head again, but this time, he entered the ceiling proper with a lamp in hand. He retrieved the bottle that still contained the remains of the burning leaves before walking through the smoke-filled ceiling, where he found a beehive the size of two fists. 

He then collected the fallen bees and the ones inside the hive, stuffed them into the bottle and sealed it. When he came back down, he was greeted by Rodrick’s surprised stare when he noticed the number of the bees inside the bottle.

“Are they…dead? Or just sleeping?”

“Sleeping.”

“…”

Both of them then tidied up the chair and left the study.

With this, the nest had been completely disposed of. Urien’s jaw relaxed as he stared at the bees inside the bottle.

‘…Yes!’

‘I got plenty of food for Marx!’

“Sorry for leaving all the hard work to you.”

Rodrick said in a tired voice.