Chapter 12: Go Back

“…”

“…”

As expected of a dinner served to the duke, it was of high quality. Facing this sort of lavish meal that he hadn’t experienced since three months ago, Urien really couldn’t care less about the silent atmosphere enveloping the dining table.

The beef steak was incredibly tender and tasty, the veggies felt like they were melting in his mouth—he was completely occupied with his meal. However, as his stomach was filled up, he gradually turned his attention to Rodrick.

It had been a while since he faced his husband like this. But, despite being the one who invited him over, the duke didn’t say anything, just sitting there with a sullen look on his face. Near the door to the dining room, there were unfamiliar servants and butlers, either standing by or doing their work. They were probably the servants that had been devoting their lives to serving the duke for a long time.

As Urien chewed his meat, he cast another gaze at Rodrick, who was sitting at the head of the table. It seemed like during his stay in the Barca Republic, he hadn’t bothered to cut his hair—it had already grown considerably long and was tied in a bun.

Seeing how his eyes looked so tired and gloomy, it was clear that his journey home had been difficult. And seeing how he didn’t invite Urien to dinner last night, it was safe for Urien to assume that he went to visit Lady Siana instead.

When he almost emptied his plate, Urien finally spoke out.

“Thank you for your hard work in Barca.”

He didn’t find the silence uncomfortable at all, in fact he liked it. But that was also why he dared to speak out without fearing that what he had done might make the duke feel disrespected.

Immediately, the servants’ expressions tightened. Looking at their expressions, Urien guessed that perhaps, the duke abhorred the idea of talking when eating.

Then, Rodrick cast his golden eyes at him.

After a few seconds of silence, he opened his mouth.

“Has anything out of the ordinary happened in these three months?”

“Out of the ordinary, hm?”

The duke smoothly evaded the topic regarding Barca Republic that he brought up, but it was clear that he wanted to continue the conversation, hence the topic shift. Unfortunately, Urien knew nothing about the affairs in the main building, so he just replied with, “Nothing that I know of.”

To that, Rodrick replied in a low voice.

“It seems you’ve grown close to Theobald.”

“Ah…”

His concern was valid.

From his perspective, it was weird that his contract marriage partner became close to his younger brother.

Considering that said contract marriage partner was ‘Urien’, the devilish manslut, the Omega who’d seduce any men, it was even more so.

Urien bit his inner lip. He braced himself for the eventual reprimand for his audacity to seduce the duke’s younger brother. Meanwhile, the servants around him just stared at him coldly, just like Rodrick.

“I haven’t heard the details, but you’ve met Theobald, haven’t you?”

“Yes. But, if it displeases you, Lord Rodrick, I…”

Urien tried to hide his unease and came up with a safe reply.

But, he couldn’t say it.

The words refused to leave his mouth.

‘…I don’t want to lose my friend.’

Before he realized it, he had grown silent. Rodrick took a sip of wine. This time, the silence made Urien ridden with anxiety as sweat began to trickle down his back.

When he was done, Rodrick placed his wine glass on the table. And what came out of his mouth next, was something that Urien never expected, even in his wildest dreams.

“It doesn’t displease me.”

“….Huh?”

“Do whatever you like.”

Urien lifted his downcast gaze and stared at Rodrick. The duke’s gaze was no longer directed at him.

There was no sign of anger on his face. It was only when Urien took a closer look at it did he realize something that he should’ve realized from the beginning.

‘Ah, he just doesn’t care…’

Now that it was clear that it didn’t matter to him if he were to interact with Theobald, his unease ceased.

Feeling weak so suddenly, Urien cast his gaze towards the empty plate in front of him—which was carried away by the servants soon after. As he stared at the after-meal tea that the servants brought him, he…

“This is Barca’s…”

Spoke without much thought.

Rodrick tilted his glass, casting a suspicious gaze his way.

The duke wasn’t interested in him and all. Now that Urien had confirmed this, the tension that he felt naturally disappeared, together with any lingering feelings towards him.

Once again, he was reminded that their relationship was something that was born out of a two-years contract. He didn’t need to be liked by him—not that he wanted that in the first place—and even if he disliked him, so what? Urien would never break the contract as he’d have to pay a fine if he did, so it’d be Rodrick who’d have to break it and pay the fine—which would be the best case scenario since he’d get both his money and his freedom quicker than planned. Overall, it’d be a convenient outcome for him.

With that in mind, all his nervousness was gone. In fact, he felt more nervous talking to Ella and Tet than to the man in front of him.

After all, he genuinely wanted to get along with those two, but that wasn’t the case with him.

Ironically, this made it easier for him to be more blunt with him.

“Don’t drink Barca’s tea too much.”

“…Why is that?”

Rodrick’s already scary face became even more menacing.

But Urien dismissed that, continued what he wanted to say, not out of kindness though, as it sounded like he was muttering to himself.

“Barca’s teas are prepared with the herbs that are native to Barca, but most of those herbs have addictive properties. With them being under a dictatorship, few foreigners could speak their language fluently and they don’t trade with foreign countries much. Hence why, teas that would normally be strictly regulated here are more popular there.”

“…”

“What I’m trying to say is that, their tea is closer to a drug than a proper tea.”

“How do you know that?”

Rodrick never addressed Urien properly, not even once, but that didn’t bother him at all at this point.

“I read about it in a book. It covered the plants that were native to Barca and honestly, it surprised me quite a bit when I read it. The herbs they used to make their tea were similar to the ones that were used to make drugs in our kingdom.”

“You could read Barca?”

“Yes.”

“…What’s the name of those herbs?”

“If you want to, I can list them all later.”

Rodrick thought about it for a few seconds before nodding with a “Sure.”

This surprised Urien a little. He never expected that Rodrick would ever listen to what he was saying.

If the Lustrand Kingdom were to deepen their relationship with Barca, inevitably, more goods would be traded between the two countries. The reason why Urien decided to bring this matter up was to prevent the tea from Barca from entering the kingdom’s soil, since importing drugs wasn’t something that the kingdom would want to do, no matter how mild the addictive properties the tea had. Barca wouldn’t have any ill intentions trading such goods, so he wanted to prevent any misunderstandings from the kingdom’s side.

In any case, what he had done meant that he was touching the scope of Rodrick’s work.

He was talking about things that no one asked him about, things that people didn’t want to hear his opinion of.

But, even if Rodrick himself thought that he was being rude, he didn’t care. He mentioned it out of pity for the people of Barca, nothing more, nothing less.

Contrary to what he thought, Rodrick didn’t seem to be offended.

In other words, he was so disinterested in Urien that such a thing didn’t make him angry at all—which was good for Urien. After that, he just waited for the meal time to end.

After they finished their meals, Rodrick invited him to his room. The duke asked him to list off the dangerous herbs from the list of goods that they had imported from Barca. Meanwhile, Urien was relieved that he asked him to do this now instead of after he returned to his shed. After all, there was a chance that he’d be wandering around the forest instead of staying put in his shed.

They walked through a long hallway and reached his room. Apparently, his room was divided into several rooms, and Urien was currently in his waiting room as Rodrick told him to wait here. Rodrick himself went to his study, which probably also functioned as his work room.

A moment after he entered his study…

“I changed my mind. Go back.”

“Yes?”

Rodrick came back out and said such words.

He immediately slammed the door behind his back shut after saying it, leaving Urien to freeze in an awkward position as his butt was still hanging in the air, about to touch the sofa below it.

‘Go back? Didn’t he just tell me to wait here?’

Rodrick never wore a particularly good expression on his face, but now he had turned pale. ‘What happened? Did he find a ghost in his study or what?’ Urien thought, bewildered. But soon, he straightened his back and calmly asked.

“Is something the matter?”

“I’ll give you the list later. Go back to your chamber now.”

Rodrick’s tone was harsher and more tense than before, which was odd, at least in Urien’s eyes.

The duke’s expression was calm, but it was clear that something was off. Urien thought of ghosts as a joke, but it was clear that whatever did the duke see in his room, it was probably something just as shocking. In any case, now that he was told to ‘go back,’ he became unsure of what to do. But then, he heard ‘that’.

“…Was that a bee sound I heard?”

A particularly loud buzzing sound came from the study.