TYND 88

“You’re right, Theon. I need to eat lots and grow up quickly.”

“That’s an excellent idea.”

Rothy began eating with renewed determination. Theon could hear the people who’d been anxiously listening outside the bedroom door breathe sighs of relief and scatter. Among them was Naran Daisy, who’d recently become an official guard mage.

Theon pushed a plate of food closer to Rothy. His appetite had grown significantly compared to before. Even knowing his growth would be slow because of the magic stone, he ate with all his might, perhaps with the thought that good nutrition might speed it up even a little. To make up for the lunch he had skipped, he ate more than usual for dinner. Afterwards, Theon postponed his evening duties and went for a walk with Rothy in the estate’s garden. 

“Ugh… I’m so stuffed…”

Rothy waddled along, rubbing his belly and sounding exactly like Chungnip. Theon laughed silently and wrapped an arm around Rothy from behind, who immediately relaxed and leaned back against him. 

“Theon, look. The spring flowers are so beautiful.”

“They are.”

“The butterflies are so colourful.”

“Shall I catch one for you?”

He’d blurted it out without much thought but regretted it the moment he saw Rothy’s face. 

“No… I like watching them fly around freely…”

“Alright…”

Rothy stopped in front of a flower bed. 

It was early April now. In the North, spring flowers would need at least another month before blooming fully. Even so, some early bloomers were shyly peeking through, making the stroll enjoyable. 

“Look at this. Some are still buds but some are already blooming. They’re from the same stem but growing at such different speeds…”

“Indeed.”

“Growth isn’t something that just happens. You’ve to seize it…”

“……”

He had no idea how Rothy had reached that conclusion from looking at the flowers, but he wore the face of someone deep in serious thought. Watching him, Theon felt an unpleasant premonition stir his gut. Sure enough, that foreboding proved accurate once their walk came to an end.

“Theon, sit here for a moment. I need to tell you something.”

Rothy pointed to a nearby bench. 

Scree?

Chi-chi cocked its head, then scurried down to claim the spot. Rothy scooped the weasel up and hugged it close while saying ‘Not you, I mean Theon’, and looked at him. 

Theon sat down, his heart racing. Wondering what Rothy was about to do, he watched as the boy knelt on one knee before him with a look of determination on his face.

Gasp, Oh my goodness, Gosh… Ultje, Chungnip, Naran Daisy, and the rest of the guards who’d been shadowing them let out a series of stunned murmurs. 

But it was Theon who was the most shocked. 

“Rothy, what’re you doing?”

“Just sit still…”

Still on his knees, Rothy tried to grasp Theon’s hand. Kneeling on one knee and taking someone’s hand was something Theon often did. Rothy was trying to mimic Theon, but the difference in their builds made the effort awkward. Pouting in frustration, Rothy gave up and sat beside Theon again. When he reached out again, Theon instinctively gave him his hand. Rothy then enclosed Theon’s hands with both of his own, just as Theon often did to him. 

“Theon, listen well.”

“……”

“What I‘m about to say might sound sudden, but it’s for the sake of our happiness. So I hope you won’t feel hurt and just accept that this is something that’s necessary.”

What on earth was he trying to say? A cold tension shot down Theon’s spine. 

“From now on, I’m going to bed before ten.”

“What?”

“I won’t wait for Your Grace at night anymore. I’ll sleep in my own bedroom…”

“……”

“Theon, you want me to hurry and become an adult as well, right…? So please understand, alright?”

“……”

That meant when he returned from his duties in the future, there wouldn’t be a Rothy in pyjamas to greet him with a bashful smile? He wouldn’t get to sleep holding his soft and pliant body tucked against him? He wouldn’t be able to hear Rothy’s breathing slowing down as he drifted off to sleep? He wouldn’t be able to touch those rosy cheeks, and he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep while caressing those dimples anymore?

It felt like the sky was collapsing on him. But Rothy was right, and he did want Rothy to grow up quickly as well. If anything, he probably wanted it even more desperately than Rothy did.

“Very well. But we need to adjust the number of days. It can’t be every night.”

Rothy nodded like he’d expected the pushback. 

“I’ll sleep alone five days a week.”

“Four.”

“Five.”

“Is that the best you can offer?”

“Your Grace… this hurts me too. But becoming an adult requires sacrifice…”

Rothy patted the back of Theon’s rough hand to comfort him, the corners of his eyebrows drooping in a show of sympathy. It was an agonising compromise, but Theon accepted it. 

Rothy’s absence began that same night, and although he looked incredibly soft and frail, he was a mage with firm resolve, and even after a day had passed, then a second, he didn’t come knocking on Theon’s bedroom door. 

But a problem came up that sheer willpower couldn’t fix, and before five days were up, they’d to share a bed again. The problem was the fever from the magic stone. Theon placed a wet cloth on Rothy’s forehead as he took quick, shallow breaths. He touched the back of his hand to the boy’s flushed cheek and found it burning hot.

“His young body can endure for another three or four years. But after that, the heat generated by the living magic stone will intensify… and in such a young state, it could be genuinely dangerous. If his physical body were to mature, he might develop the strength to withstand the high fever, but…”

Three years was the limit, and before that time arrived, Rothy’s body had to grow, but no method had been found, even though Chungnip kept searching through magical texts from every possible angle and PLEIN continued working to decode the research logs in pursuit of any lead, yet nothing had been uncovered.

Only the future dream will solve this.

But even that had produced no progress, and while Theon was sitting there thinking, Rothy’s eyelashes gave a faint tremble before his eyelids slowly opened and his emerald-green eyes, damp with heat, turned to look at him.

“Did I wake you? Go back to sleep. I won’t bother you.”

Rothy blinked weakly at Theon and said in a small voice.

“You know… have I told you this before…?”

“Told me about what?”

“I was really happy back then. When you said you actually liked that I transformed into my master… When you said it made me more lovable.”

“That’s good to hear…”

“When you said that, a heavy rock in my heart crumbled away like sand. Just dissolved away… It was such a huge rock, but it just vanished like it had never been there…”

When Rothy got feverish and delirious like this, he sometimes became painfully honest. Each time, Theon felt his heart being torn apart. Rothy slowly raised his hand. When he brought his face closer, Rothy touched his finger to the space between his brows.

“But what heavy, huge rock do you have that makes you frown like this…?”

“……”

“I want to make that rock disappear for you too… To make it crumble away like it was never there…”

“If you sleep properly and your fever goes down, this rock will disappear on its own.”

“Really…?”

“I promised.”

“Very well… I’ll sleep properly… and get better soon. So don’t be upset… Promise?”

“I promise.”

Theon stroked Rothy’s hand until Rothy’s eyelids closed again and his hand went limp. He kissed the slack fingers before tucking them under the blanket, then changed the wet cloth and left the bedroom, heading straight for the chapel.

“Welcome Your Grace. You always come at night.”

The priest on night duty greeted him with a gentle smile. 

Since he always visited at night, Theon had never seen the daytime chapel priest except during banquets or ceremonies, but he’d become familiar with the night duty priest.

“Is anyone inside?”

“A few are praying, but there are rooms available.”

Zelbert guided Theon to an inner prayer room. 

“May your dreams be blessed.”

After the priest left, Theon washed his hands with holy water. Since it couldn’t be taken outside the chapel or the temple, he’d to visit here regularly to have that dream. In the small prayer room, Theon brought his hands together. He could just go through the motions, but not even that was necessary since no one was watching. 

However, standing in front of the statue of Seará, his hands naturally came together. That was because he now had a wish he wanted to pray for.

`O Seará.

He didn’t close his eyes and simply stared straight into Seará’s eyes on the statue and wished. 

Please protect Rothy.

Theon was certain that Seará was with Rothy. It’d been six years, no, seven years now since Yolone Sirin found Rothy. And it’d also been seven years since Theon received the watch. He was convinced that Seará had seen that ruthless Yolone Sirin picking up Rothy, foreseen the hardships the boy would face, and so had the watch taken from that Fallen thief and given it to him. It was to make him bring Rothy to the North and to provide a clue to help Rothy grow.

Theon was sure of it. 

The tremuhle was his, but Seará’s purpose in giving it to him wasn’t for his sake. 

It was for Rothy’s. 

Seará was watching over Rothy.

Repeating the thought to himself made his fear disappear, replaced by a sacred sense of relief. It happened even to him, a man who wasn’t deeply religious…