He should tell the Knight Commander about Henry and ask him to take Henry back to the central palace. That would be the greatest gift Jeri could give him.
‘If he goes back to the knight order.’
Even when the day came for the Emperor to carry out that massacre, Henry should be able to survive safely.
‘I should send him back as soon as possible, right?’
Tomorrow, he should at least feed Henry a hearty meal before sending him away.
No, wait. That wasn’t right. He also had to find the Knight Commander and clear up the misunderstanding first….
Jeri realized that he was searching for excuses to delay sending Henry back for as long as possible.
“Did he care about you?”
“…More or less.”
More or less? More or less?!
Was it really okay to send Henry back to someone who had only cared about him ‘more or less’? Even an overwhelming amount of love wouldn’t be enough for Henry.
Having naturally created yet another reason not to send Henry away, Jeri clenched his fist without realizing it.
“He was always extremely busy, so he didn’t pay all that much attention to the people beneath him.”
“Then….”
How could he ask in a way that would hurt Henry as little as possible while still finding out the name of the person who had sent him here?
“I don’t know exactly who sent me here.”
“R-really?”
As though he had read Jeri’s mind, Henry answered the very thing Jeri had been most curious about.
“When I woke up that morning, I had received orders to come here.”
“…You must have been surprised.”
“Still, since it allowed me to meet you, Lord Jeri, I consider myself fortunate.”
Henry smiled brightly as though he truly meant it, and guilt sent Jeri’s heart into turmoil.
* * *
Splash, splash.
Sitting submerged in the warm water Henry had heated for him, Jeri squeezed his eyes shut.
The biggest problem was that he didn’t know what he actually wanted.
Sometimes he wanted to send Henry back because he didn’t want him to suffer here any longer, but at the same time, he didn’t want to send him back at all.
He had plenty of reasons.
Because they had only cared about Henry ‘more or less.’
Because they had blindly believed the misunderstandings and prejudices surrounding him and cast him out….
And so on.
But buried deepest inside his heart was the thought, ‘Because I want Henry to stay by my side.’
It was unbearably selfish.
Henry thought only of him….
Yet here Jeri was, his master, the one who was supposed to look after Henry, harboring such petty feelings.
He was ashamed.
“Get a grip.”
He wanted to be a good person to Henry, not a petty one.
If he refused to let Henry go, then all his talk about caring for him would be nothing more than empty words.
After repeating that to himself again and again, Jeri stepped outside and immediately parted his lips slightly at an unexpected piece of news.
“Huh?”
“It seems to be because it has gone unmaintained for such a long time. I apologize, Lord Jeri.”
The moment Henry bowed his head deeply, Jeri quickly reached out and grabbed his hand.
This wasn’t Henry’s fault.
It was a natural disaster!
Why was he bowing his head and lowering the corners of his eyes when he hadn’t done anything wrong?
Seeing Henry look so dejected made Jeri’s heart ache.
Had the Knight Commander ever scolded him over ridiculous things like this back when Henry served under him?
Surely not.
It couldn’t be….
Could this be what Henry had meant when he said the Knight Commander only cared about him ‘more or less’?
Then again, Henry was far too kind, so there was a good chance he would describe it that way.
“It’s okay.”
An abandoned palace was bound to have broken things here and there.
It was a little unfortunate that one of those things happened to be the fireplace, but there was nothing they could do about it.
So Henry hadn’t done anything wrong.
Jeri began doing his utmost to comfort him.
“This isn’t your fault. So don’t go bowing your head over things like this. Okay?”
Watching Henry nod weakly, Jeri rose onto his heels and wrapped his arms around Henry’s shoulders.
Then he slowly patted his back.
Perhaps he had calmed down, because Henry’s voice sounded a little brighter when he spoke again.
“It seems especially cold today, Lord Jeri.”
Now that he mentioned it, it did seem that way.
“Moreover, you even went outside today, so I believe we should take even greater care of your health. Don’t you agree?”
“Mhm.”
Come to think of it, ever since waking up in this unfamiliar place, Jeri had never moved around this much before.
The extent of his usual movement had been nothing more than going between the bedroom and the kitchen.
“So I think it would be best if you slept pressed closely against me tonight.”
“T-tonight?”
“We need to share our body heat. Didn’t you say so yourself at the clothing shop?”
Of course, Henry had undoubtedly said it with nothing but innocent intentions.
But to Jeri, who had something to feel guilty about, it sounded like the whisper of a demon.
‘Wow! Henry definitely knows! He knows you slept rubbing your face against his chest like some kind of pervert!’
‘Kind Henry is just saying it indirectly. He’s telling you he’ll let it slide even if you act disgracefully like that ‘again.’’
“…Okay.”
Get a grip.
He absolutely could not disgrace himself like that again.
With a determined expression, Jeri nodded.
He had thought he wasn’t tired at all, but apparently his body disagreed.
He remembered lying down on the bed and patting the space beside him, telling Henry to hurry up and lie down….
After that, there was simply nothing.
He must have passed out the moment his head touched the pillow that was practically no pillow at all.
And when he opened his eyes again, the sun was already high in the sky.
The torn curtains couldn’t block the pouring sunlight, so he was normally forced awake the moment the sun came up.
But not today.
His body felt light, as though he had slept deeply and well.
Jeri stretched at length, then found himself meeting Henry’s eyes.
Henry was lying diagonally across the bed.
Sunlight poured across his broad back.
“Huh?”
Jeri watched almost in slow motion as Henry’s blue eyes curved into crescents.
It was because of the shadow cast by Henry’s body that Jeri had been able to sleep this late.
Before he could even rub his sleepy eyes, Jeri’s lips parted slightly.
But even when he blinked, the sight before him didn’t change.
If anything, it only became clearer.
“Henryyy?”
“You’re awake?”
Jeri’s mouth went dry, and his heart began pounding rapidly.
It wasn’t the first time he had seen Henry in bed, so why was his heart reacting like this?
He wanted to press a hand firmly against his chest and calm it down, but if he did that, he felt like Henry would notice just how fast his heart was beating.
“…Did you sleep well, Henry?”
“Yes. I slept very well.”
Had he behaved disgracefully in his sleep today?
What if he had rubbed his face against Henry’s chest again, just like last night?
Because he had woken up much later than Henry, there was no way to guess what had happened.
That was terrifying.
Jeri blinked and met Henry’s gaze as Henry looked at him.
“Thanks for blocking the sunlight.”
“It is only natural that I should.”
Would it be okay to ask whether he had slept peacefully?
But what if Henry answered, No, you didn’t?
‘Henry isn’t saying anything….’
Then it was probably fine.
He shouldn’t ask.
Rather than digging it up and exposing the truth for no reason, it seemed better to leave it buried.
Jeri realized that this was a little cowardly of him, but he couldn’t help it.
The mere thought that he might have spent the night rubbing his face against Henry’s chest like a pervert again, and that Henry might have caught him doing it, made him want to close his eyes and never open them for the rest of his life.
“When did you wake up?”
“Not long ago.”
The longer Jeri looked at the gentle way Henry was gazing at him, the drier his mouth became.
If he stayed still any longer, his face felt like it would go from pink to completely red, so he abruptly sprang out of bed.
His heart pounded rapidly.
Without a mirror, he had no idea what kind of expression he was making.
Jeri quickly spun around and turned his back to Henry.
Henry disappeared from his sight, but his wildly beating heart remained exactly the same, as did his burning cheeks.
“For breakfast today….”
Wait, it wasn’t breakfast.
It was already daytime.
And not just barely daytime, either. The sun was already high in the sky!
“How about tomato soup for lunch?”
“That sounds good.”
Jeri hurried down toward the kitchen in small, quick steps.
He could feel Henry following behind him.
He wanted to turn around, but if he did, Henry would see his flushed face, so he forced himself not to.
Fortunately, because they had bought plenty of vegetables yesterday, Jeri was able to make something that looked reasonably like a proper meal.
He stirred the pot as it bubbled away.
He added tomatoes, and for the sake of their health, he also put in the spinach and cabbage that had already been there.
Then half a carrot.
He considered adding meat, but decided it would probably taste better grilled than thrown into the soup.
He added salt, then finished it off with herbs.
“It smells delicious.”
Henry’s voice suddenly sounded right beside his ear, making Jeri jump.
His eyes darted sideways.
Henry was standing extremely close, his body almost pressed against Jeri’s back.
Jeri knew there was absolutely no ulterior motive behind the gesture, but he still had no idea why it made him so nervous.
His Adam’s apple bobbed sharply.
The sound of him swallowing had seemed awfully loud….
Had Henry heard it?
“I think it turned out well.”
He kept becoming painfully aware of Henry.
His mouth went drier and drier with some emotion he couldn’t tell was nervousness or something else.