* * *
Compared to when he first arrived at the castle a few months ago, he had grown quite a bit.
Still, he was a slender child, darting through the garden as if it were his own playground.
Sia was once a reckless young noble who only came to his senses after his entire family perished.
Now, he was the cherished ward of Duke Vivisian.
Everyone in the castle knew about the precious child who ran barefoot—or rather, in just his socks—through the gardens.
So when people saw a child with light pink hair rolling across the grass, no one was particularly surprised.
Sia paid no mind to the onlookers.
He was too busy climbing a tree, agile as ever.
Perched on a branch, his socks already dirtied beyond recognition, he swung his legs idly and watched people passing below.
Then, much like a well-fed cat, he sprawled out along the thick branch, stretching lazily.
“Haahm.”
Yawning widely, he closed his eyes, completely unbothered by the risk of falling.
He lay there for a while, but soon, the sound of approaching footsteps made his delicate eyebrows twitch.
This wasn’t just someone passing by.
The footsteps were heading directly toward his tree.
Knowing that Sia disliked people, Vivisian had assigned only a few trusted individuals to stay by his side—his personal guards and a handful of servants.
That meant this unfamiliar presence was neither a guard nor a servant.
Realizing this, Sia tilted his head slightly and opened his eyes.
As expected, there was an unfamiliar man standing below.
While Sia lazily studied the stranger with vacant eyes, the man stared right back at him.
Then, curling his lips into an eerie smile, he spoke.
“Hello.”
A shiver ran down Sia’s spine.
He had seen people wear that kind of expression before.
A certain someone had once worn that same unsettling smile—someone who had become a doctor, supposedly to save lives, yet ended up murdering his parents and selling him off to a slave trader.
His face hardened as he glared down at the man below.
For a brief moment, the stranger seemed caught off guard by his sudden shift in demeanor.
But he quickly regained his composure and, with an overly friendly tone, continued.
“Haha… You’re quite shy, aren’t you?”
“……”
“I came because I was worried about you. You seem to know very little about the Duke. Right now, he may seem generous, but don’t be fooled. He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child like you. That’s why I had to use a holy relic just to have this conversation with you. Do you know what a holy relic is? It’s very expensive, you know. That’s how much I care about you.”
‘Using a holy relic just to do what? What a joke. And this guy can’t even string his words together properly.’
Sia sneered inwardly as he slowly sat up.
Vivisian’s men usually drove away anyone who approached him, but this time, they had done nothing.
That could only mean one thing—the holy relic had been used on them as well.
Sia knew what a holy relic was.
It was an object imbued with divine power, allowing even non-apostles to harness its energy.
Simply put, it was incredibly, ridiculously expensive.
And right now, the delicate gold bracelet jingling around his wrist was also a holy relic—one that Vivisian had given him out of concern.
Sia glanced down at the bracelet before shifting his gaze back to the man.
He was not the type to engage in conversation easily.
To put it bluntly, he had no interest in speaking to someone so suspicious-looking and clearly up to no good.
But… he was curious about what the man had to say about Vivisian.
Sensing his hesitation, the man’s face brightened with satisfaction.
Lately, he had fallen out of favor with Haen for siding with Baron Nabidin in a recent meeting.
Since the collateral branch hadn’t come forward as quickly as expected, Haen had grown even more irritable, making his next move unpredictable.
Fearing retaliation, the man had spent a fortune on a holy relic that could erase his presence.
Now, he just needed to drive a wedge between Sia and Vivisian.
“You do want to know, don’t you? It’s important for you to understand how dangerous the Duke really is.”
His voice was filled with feigned concern, but Sia only frowned.
The way he spoke of Vivisian—as if he were some ruthless beast who had killed countless people—was irritating.
At the word serve, Sia snorted, barely holding back a laugh.
“Serve him? You’ve got it all wrong.”
He exhaled sharply, his tone laced with amusement.
“It’s not me serving Vivi. It’s Vivi who serves me.”
Muttering in a voice full of disdain, Sia tilted his chin up with an arrogant expression.
It was an unspoken challenge—go ahead and try explaining.
The elder, internally recoiling at the slave’s attitude that mirrored his master’s, did his best to speak calmly.
However, his words were so disorganized that it took quite a while to piece them together.
To summarize, Vivisian was a son of a bitch.
Sia mulled over the conclusion, briefly wondering if he had simplified it too much, but ultimately decided it wasn’t incorrect.
“Vivi is a son of a bitch? That’s a new one.”
“Huh?”
Lost in thought, the boy was pulled back to reality by the dumbfounded sigh from below.
Like everyone else who had heard of Vivisian’s crimes, the elder had expected Sia to tremble in fear, to be terrified of the man.
But instead, Sia looked down at him with eyes full of pity and let out a sigh.
“What, you’re still here? You’re done talking, aren’t you? Get lost.”
Sia grumbled, annoyed that he had wasted his time listening to something so pointless.
With a light hop, he jumped down from the tree, landing softly with a muffled sound.
Without so much as a backward glance, he ran off, his steps light and quick.
The elder, left standing alone beneath the tree, barely had time to register the knights approaching before he scurried away in a hurry.
✽ ✽ ✽
Pausing mid-signature on a document awaiting approval, I looked up.
From beyond the door, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the hallway.
I turned my gaze to the Master, who was also looking toward the door, as if we were thinking the same thing.
“Sounds like Sia’s coming, doesn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
The Master nodded at my question, his voice carrying a faint trace of amusement.
He had that oddly resigned expression on his face, like he was bracing himself.
Just as he opened his mouth to say something to me—
The door burst open.
There had been a knock, but it had come at the exact same time as the door swinging wide, rendering it useless.
The Master pressed his fingers to his forehead like he had a headache, while I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Sha. What did I tell you about opening the door before coming in?”
“I knocked.”
Sia’s face was full of indignation, but as I silently stared at him, his tail was quick to drop.
His face, flushed red from sprinting here, disappeared behind the door for a moment.
Knock, knock—
A second knock followed, more deliberate this time.
I let out a small laugh and shook my head.
“Come in.”
No sooner had the words left my mouth than the door swung open with force.
Sia slipped inside, his lips pursed in a sulky pout as he grumbled,
“You let me in so easily, so why do you make such a big deal out of it every time?”
“And yet, knowing that, you never knock properly.”
At my calm remark, Sia jutted his lips out further but strutted into the room barefoot, completely unconcerned.
His mud-streaked feet left dirty prints all over the floor.
The Master, who had long given up, merely watched the scene unfold with weary eyes.
“…Shoot.”
“What? Did you just curse at me?”
“I did not.”
“You totally said ‘shit’ just now!”
“I said ‘shoot’!”
“No way! You definitely said ‘shit’!”
“I didn’t!”
The Master looked like he was about to lose his mind.
Watching Sia persistently nag him with suspicion, I finally decided to step in.
Rising from my seat, I walked over and effortlessly picked up the boy, lifting him into the air.
He flailed, limbs flapping.
“I told you not to pick me up like a cat!”
“Stop pestering Asis, Sia. You know full well he didn’t curse.”
“But he totally said ‘shit’…”
“And slipping in the words you want to say under the guise of someone else saying them is also not allowed.”
I murmured softly, poking his round, slightly chubby cheek.
Sia stiffened as if I had dumped a bucket of cold water over him, his ears practically twitching.
His reaction was so familiar to me now that I couldn’t help but grin.
I tickled his chin.
“So, what happened today that made my little cat’s temper even worse?”
“He’s always had a rotten temper, Lord Vivisian.”
“Shut up!”
Sia flailed wildly, ready to claw the Master’s hair out.
Unfortunately, I was the one closest to him, so I ended up taking the brunt of his tantrum instead.
Dirt from his clothes smeared onto my once-clean outfit, but I was so used to it by now that I didn’t even bat an eye.
Effortlessly restraining him, I held him against my side.
For all his short temper, Sia cooled down just as quickly.
Sure enough, after a brief struggle, he went completely limp, resting his head against my shoulder.
“Feeling better?”
“…Hmph.”
I lifted the pudding-like boy and sat him down on my desk.
His dirty hands left smudges on the surface, but I didn’t bother telling him to stop.
The documents he had already touched were a lost cause anyway.
Gathering the still-clean papers into a neat pile, I passed them to the Master.
He took them with an air of resignation, staring blankly at the stamped handprints before letting out a sigh and returning to his desk.
* * *
