Rain lashed fiercely into the pit, making it hard to even open one’s eyes properly.
They were trapped like rats in a trap anyway, and Shushu realized belatedly that he couldn’t escape using such a half-baked method.
Even so, he didn’t want to take the hand Callix was holding out.
It was a rotten rope anyway.
Grabbing onto it wouldn’t change a thing.
However, the condition of his mother—who had rolled down the stony, protruding ground to protect him—looked critical.
She had been struck across the cheek, injured while rolling, and exposed to the rain, causing her body temperature to plummet to an icy chill in an instant.
Hearing the faint sounds of breathing escaping her lips, Shushu made up his mind to keep up the charade of pretending to be the fake Damian a little longer.
“Yes, please help us.”
Callix looked at Shushu, who was shivering from the cold, and asked, “Shushu, I am going to become the Grand Duke who rules the North. Even the weeds in the North will belong to me in the future. In that sense, even you belong to me. Let’s make this crystal clear. You are mine. Do you understand?”
He kept calling him Shushu.
Although it was a common pet name used for a younger sibling, knowing that this very name would lead to his death made his spine tingle as if a sword were pressed against the back of his neck.
“……Yes.”
Terrified, Shushu barely managed to reply in a choked voice.
At that, Callix tossed a rope hanging from his horse’s saddle down into the pit.
If it were just Melissa by herself, she could have grabbed it and climbed back up, but doing so while carrying a child was too difficult.
Gracefully sliding down the slope, Callix descended into the pit.
He told Melissa—who was shivering on the muddy ground pooled with rainwater—to grab the rope and climb up first. Callix scooped Damian up into his arms.
“Hold on tight.”
Shushu wrapped his arms around Callix’s thick neck and clung to him, wrapping his legs tightly around his chest.
Waiting at the top of the rope for Callix was the sinner who had dared try to escape with a noble child, kneeling on the ground.
“I-I’m sorry, Young Duke. Please spare me.”
Soaked to the bone, her lips were tinged a pale, frightened blue.
Shushu tightened his grip around Callix’s neck and shouted, “I’m the one who ordered it! Melissa did nothing wrong.”
“Shushu, I was just about to let your nanny off. But your current words are the very things that will cause her to be punished.”
It was infuriating.
Why on earth was this guy acting up again?
With hands too small to even wrap fully around Callix’s nape, Shushu glared as if he were trying to choke the life out of him.
Receiving that absurd wave of killing intent, Callix decided to spare Damian’s weakness.
Later on, if the child ever grew up, realized he was a Gem, and tried to leave his side, he could use her as a useful leverage.
Melissa belonged to the Vesper household, and as long as she remained within his grasp, Damian could never live as another mage’s jewel.
“Melissa, your wages will be docked for a month.”
“Thank you for your merciful judgment, Young Duke.”
She pressed her forehead directly into the filthy mud, offering her gratitude.
It felt as though Shushu’s heart was crumbling to pieces.
Yet Melissa genuinely seemed to feel that Callix’s punishment was light, wearing a bright expression on her face.
“Let’s return.”
Callix placed Shushu back upon the horse and told Melissa to mount as well.
Hesitating nervously, it was only after Callix snapped at her coldly that she scrambled hastily up into the saddle in fright.
Grabbing the reins, he turned the horse around and headed back the way they came.
To escape the sudden downpour, the servants—who had been forbidden from leaving their posts under the Young Duke’s orders—were busy setting up tents.
Amidst the pouring rain, several people bustled about erecting poles, unfurling large canvas sheets, and pulling taut ropes.
Loud hammering sounds echoed repeatedly as stakes were driven firmly into the ground.
“Achoo.”
Shushu sneezed and wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand.
Spotting them soaked to the skin, attendants hurried over holding umbrellas.
“Prepare hot bathwater.”
“Yes, we will have it ready immediately.”
Considering they were out erecting tents in the driving rain, one would expect them to show some sign of difficulty at the Young Duke’s order for hot bathwater, but they didn’t show even a hint of hesitation.
Shushu once again keenly realized that in a class-based society, a noble’s word was law.
While everyone else was busy setting up tents, Shushu didn’t lift a finger, glancing sideways at Callix, who stood beneath an umbrella held by someone else.
Truly, he was a boy born to nobility.
He was so thoroughly arrogant and authoritative that it made one think: if this boy wasn’t an aristocrat, who on earth could be?
“Young Duke, the bathwater is ready.”
Since there was no river nearby, Shushu had assumed it would take a long time to prepare hot water, but the attendants quickly heated the rainwater gathered in a large cauldron using magic.
They must have anticipated the master’s orders and prepared beforehand.
“Move the bathwater inside the tent.”
Shushu naturally expected that Callix, who was also drenched in the rain, would wash first.
Instead, Callix scooped Shushu up from the horse and set him down gently on the ground.
“Shushu, go wash up quickly. If you catch a cold, your nanny will pay the price.”
Shushu hurried inside to wash.
If he washed quickly before the water cooled, Melissa would also be able to soak and warm her body.
Urging Cain—who had followed him eagerly into the tent—to wash him quickly, Shushu changed into soft, dry clothes.
“Melissa!”
Shushu called out for her the moment he stepped out of the tent.
Fortunately, a mud-covered Melissa was standing right outside.
“Go wash up. Hurry, hurry. The water’s going to get cold.”
“Thank you, Young Master.”
While Melissa washed, Shushu sheltered from the rain under the awning set up by Cain at the entrance of the tent.
The sound of water droplets pelting against the canvas continued endlessly, sounding like the steady beating of a drum.
When would this rain ever stop?
