“Please rest.”
“Mhm.”
The muscles in Henry’s back bulged as he wiped the remaining moisture from the dishes with a dishcloth.
‘Just look at those back muscles.’
His muscles were practically asserting themselves through the shirt that was far too thin to wear in winter. Jeri was impressed, but at the same time, he felt miserable. What kind of useless master couldn’t even provide his one and only manservant with a proper winter shirt? Jeri sighed inwardly.
‘If he goes back to where he used to be, Henry should be able to live well again, right?’
…Without me?
The thought that he would no longer be by Henry’s side made him feel just a little depressed. They hadn’t even known each other for long…. Why did he keep thinking things like this? He had thought something similar during the day, too. Jeri clenched his fist tightly.
It was a feeling he needed to shake off. Henry was someone who would shine far more brightly somewhere else than he ever could here. So when the time came, of course Jeri had to let him go. That place would probably be cool in summer and warm in winter. A place where he would never have to go hungry….
‘What kind of crime did Henry commit?’
A fundamental question suddenly occurred to him.
At first, Jeri had assumed that perhaps Henry had been tactless and gotten on the wrong side of someone above him. But the more he thought about it, the harder it was to believe that someone would cast out such a kind person for something that simple.
Just looking at him made Jeri smile like this, didn’t it? On top of that, every little thing Henry did was adorable.
‘…Could someone have framed him?’
Henry was the kind of person who handed over his wages without even a hint of reluctance for a master who didn’t have a single coin to his name. Framing someone like him must have been easy.
No, it must have been as easy as turning over one’s palm!
The moment Jeri reached that conclusion in his head, an uncontrollable blaze flared up inside his chest.
‘To someone that kind and gentle! People are seriously too much.’
He couldn’t understand the person who had framed Henry just because they disliked him, but he also couldn’t understand the people who had blindly believed the accusation, misunderstood Henry, persecuted him, and driven him out to this place.
‘What do I do?’
His heart sank at the thought that by running away, he might hurt Henry all over again after Henry had already been hurt by other people.
And if Henry really had been framed and banished here… then there was a high chance Henry would be punished because Jeri escaped.
If they were willing to invent crimes that didn’t even exist and pin them on him, then blaming him for something that had actually happened would be even easier.
What do I do? What am I supposed to do?
But that didn’t mean he could simply choose not to run away.
“Um, Henry.”
“Yes.”
Jeri watched Henry shake the remaining water from his hands, then bit his lip.
Something he couldn’t tell whether it was guilt or another emotion pressed heavily against his chest.
‘…I should only think about myself. Just myself.’
If he stayed in the palace like this, the end awaiting Jeri was death.
He would probably be recorded as one of the eighty people who had died in the Emperor’s one-sided massacre.
Although he had transmigrated into a novel with neither dreams nor hope, he still intended to struggle with everything he had to escape his fate. Death was drawing closer with every passing moment. He couldn’t simply sit still and wait for it.
That was right.
That was the right thing to do.
So why did his heart hurt so much?
“We’ll be able to sleep warmly tonight, right?”
Jeri swallowed his tears as naturally as he had grown accustomed to doing and spoke.
They could chop firewood now, and they could light the fireplace, so from now on, they would be able to sleep warmly even at night.
“…That is a relief.”
“Right!”
Walking side by side with Henry, Jeri continued chattering away.
“I was thinking we could have soup tomorrow morning. What do you think?”
“That sounds good.”
“You’re supposed to eat something warm on cold days. If the weather is nice, should we eat outside?”
“If that is what you want.”
“Is there anything you can’t eat, Henry?”
“I eat everything.”
Conversation with Henry seemed to continue, yet at the same time, it didn’t.
It felt as though Henry had spent his entire life only answering whatever questions other people asked him.
“But Henry.”
“Yes.”
“How old are you?”
“…….”
“I’m….”
Wait.
Jeri pressed his lips tightly together.
He couldn’t quite remember how old Jedrier had been in the novel.
What kind of noble didn’t even know his own age…?
There couldn’t possibly be one.
‘What do I do?’
Should I change the subject now?
No. No, that would be even more suspicious.
Jeri cautiously raised his head and glanced at Henry.
Henry’s eyes, gleaming in the light, were clearly waiting for an answer.
“I am listening, Lord Jeri.”
“I-I’m….”
Whatever.
“I’m twenty-three.”
Jeri gave the age he had been before transmigrating into this place.
“…I see. You are exactly five years younger than His Majesty the Emperor.”
“O-oh. I see.”
“I am twenty-eight.”
“Then you’re the same age as His Majesty!”
Damn it.
Jeri wanted to scoop the words he had just blurted out right back into his mouth.
Or, failing that, slap himself hard across the face.
No matter how comfortable he felt around Henry, how could he casually throw around such a dangerous kind of remark?
“Ha, ha.”
For now, pretend nothing happened.
Jeri gave an awkward laugh and quickly walked ahead.
His eyelids trembled from tension.
He would think of some way to deal with this after he got out of here.
“I-I think I left something in the kitchen…. Henry, you go ahead and get ready for bed. I’ll be right back.”
And before Henry could even answer, Jeri started moving.
‘I’m crazy. I’m crazy!’
All kinds of thoughts flooded his head.
Why in the world had he said, ‘Then you’re the same age as His Majesty’?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand his own words or behavior.
Suppressing the urge to tear at his hair, Jeri stepped down the stairs.
The claim that he had left something in the kitchen was a lie.
He had only needed an excuse to leave for a moment.
‘I’ll just pretend nothing—’
His foot slipped sideways on the step.
By the time he realized he had stepped wrong, he was already falling.
Jeri imagined the pain that was about to come.
He knew perfectly well that the palace was old and poorly maintained, so he had always been careful whenever he went up or down the stairs….
It seemed the mistake he had made just moments ago had distracted him.
‘It’s going to hurt horribly, isn’t it? I hope it’s not bad enough that they have to call a doctor.’
But no pain came.
Something firm pressed against his back.
Henry had caught him….
Feeling Henry’s breath tickling the back of his neck, Jeri squeezed his eyes shut.
He truly was an embarrassingly clumsy and troublesome master.
“Lord Jeri.”
Warmth spread from the hand gripping his waist and soon wrapped around his entire body.
His chest felt itchy.
Heat kept rising to his face, too.
Henry had merely caught his incompetent master before he could tumble pathetically down the stairs.
So why was Jeri this nervous?
His Adam’s apple bobbed heavily.
“Are you all right?”
“Mhm.”
Henry himself was perfectly calm, so Jeri had no idea why his own heart alone was pounding so violently.
“You need to be careful.”
It was fortunate Henry couldn’t hear the sound of his heartbeat.
His face burning hot, Jeri tried to straighten himself.
“Mhm. Sorry.”
“I will escort you downstairs.”
“Huh?”
Jeri’s eyes rolled around as he watched Henry carry him in his arms and descend the old staircase as though Jeri weighed nothing at all.
“I-I’m fine, though.”
“No.”
“…I’m heavy, right?”
As though the question wasn’t even worth answering, Henry didn’t respond at all.
Jeri tried what could only generously be called resistance when Henry insisted he would carry him back upstairs as well, but naturally, it had absolutely no effect.
Jeri blankly rested against Henry’s chest.
It felt solid.
Reliable.
‘He really must have been framed.’
The longer he lived with Henry, the more convinced Jeri became of that theory.
If Henry had merely been misunderstood because of his cold appearance, then his genuinely gentle behavior didn’t make any sense with the image people must have had of him.
In that case, as long as the person who had framed him still existed, Henry probably had no chance of returning to where he had originally been.
Jeri let out a tiny sigh.
In his entire life, he had never seen anyone as capable, kind, and gentle as Henry.
‘What if I clear Henry of the false accusation?’
Wouldn’t he be able to return to where he belonged?
Surely people had judged him too easily based only on his appearance. They simply hadn’t bothered to look at him properly.
Henry might look like a cold-blooded man without so much as a drop of blood or a single tear in him, but if people realized that he was actually someone with such a warm heart, everything could be set right.
Jeri believed that.
“Hey, Henry.”
“Yes.”
Jeri looked at Henry as he carefully lowered him onto the bed.
“Where were you before you came here?”
He had tossed out a heavy question as lightly as possible, but….
Henry’s expression darkened for an instant.
Had he asked too soon after all?
Should he have waited a little longer before bringing it up?
All sorts of negative thoughts flashed through Jeri’s mind.
“…I served under the Knight Commander.”
Do Knight Commanders have attendants too…?
Well, they probably do.
So that was why Henry’s muscles looked as impressive as a knight’s.
Jeri finally felt as though one of his questions had been answered.
“Then was he the one who sent you to me?”
“Have you suddenly become curious about me?”
Henry knelt on one knee beside the bed and carefully took Jeri’s ankle, placing it on top of his own thigh.
It was the ankle Jeri had twisted on the stairs earlier.
Henry’s callused hand began gently massaging it.
“Yeah. I’m curious.”
“If you ask me directly, I will answer everything.”
Feeling Henry’s hands on him, Jeri made a decision.
He was going to meet the Knight Commander.