SIWALL Ch 36

Arzen first seated Elliot on the sofa. Then, he tossed a blanket to him as if handing it over.

“Henderson told me to give it to you.”

Elliot silently folded the blanket and placed it on his lap. His neat fingertips trembled severely. Pretending to smooth out the blanket, he tucked both hands underneath it.

At that moment, Arzen abruptly opened the topic of conversation.

“A fellow named Darlin is the culprit.”

“Pardon?”

Even the Grand Duke knows.

Honestly, when told to go to the bedroom, Elliot had assumed he would be killed secretly or moved to a torture chamber. Elliot let out a sigh of relief. The trembling of his hands also gradually subsided.

“It seems he did it out of jealousy toward you because he likes Rachel, the gardener’s daughter.”

“Rachel…?”

Suddenly, Elliot startled up from his seat.

“Is Rachel alright?”

“…Of course she’s alright.”

“Then… that’s a relief.”

If Darlin had harmed Rachel, Elliot would have been far more angry than he had been for himself. Of course, his anger wouldn’t change anything, but still. Elliot sat back down. He picked up the fallen blanket, draped it over himself, and massaged his chilled fingertips.

He could feel Arzen gazing at Elliot’s hands, but Elliot said nothing.

Only silence hung inside the room. The pressure that he needed to say something welled up, but Elliot kept his lips tightly sealed, cutting off the source of conversation.

He hated Arzen right now. Even if he habitually cursed him inside as a jerk or an asshole normally, that was closer to a reflex performed like breathing as part of his service industry job.

However, today’s Arzen had genuinely made Elliot feel hurt. Perhaps it was something that had been piling up since even before today.

Arzen declaring that Elliot wasn’t his type, Arzen saying he had no interest in whatever rumors circulated about Elliot even though he was normally so sensitive, Arzen not trusting his innocence right away and sending him to the dungeon, and then dragging him back out after an hour… Everything felt hurtful, and deeply so.

“Are you angry with me?”

“No, sir. How dare I be angry with the Grand Duke.”

Yeah, I fucking hate you.

However, Elliot answered businesslike with his head slightly bowed.

“I will apologize and offer compensation if you wish. But I hope you understand that it couldn’t be helped under those circumstances.”

Actually, Arzen’s words were rational.

If it had been a situation where he was 100 percent in the wrong, he would have apologized to Elliot without hesitation. And he might have promised compensation.

But this time, Arzen didn’t do that. Because this time, Arzen wasn’t the one who had done wrong.

Poison had been mixed into the tea Elliot had brewed himself. Arzen had nearly been poisoned. He couldn’t just brush it aside and shield the suspect on the mere word that he wasn’t the one.

Elliot knew that too. That was why he had answered that he wasn’t angry.

However, just like water gradually filling up murkily and filthily due to a broken drain, dust-like resentment and sorrow had already piled up layer upon layer in his heart.

“I will have Darlin rounded up shortly. I’ll have him punished however you wish. If you say kill him, I’ll kill him; if you say sever his limbs, I’ll sever them.”

Arzen continued. There was no inflection in his voice, and no trace of emotion could be found. He sounded simply like a robot reading a document.

“Grand Duke.”

Elliot raised his head and stared fixedly into Arzen’s face.

“I have no interest in Darlin’s punishment. I don’t think it’s something for me to get involved in. Since you almost had a terrible thing happen to you, sir, it’s only right that you handle his punishment.”

“Then—”

“However.”

Rarely, Elliot cut Arzen off.

“I have one favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“I want to take a break from work today.”

At Elliot’s request, Arzen seemed at a loss for words.

As expected, he was planning to work me to the bone today, too. He doesn’t even see me as a person.

Elliot smiled bitterly. However, Arzen seemed to be at a loss for words for the exact opposite reason.

“…Naturally, I was planning to let you rest.”

“Th… thank you.”

Having cursed first, Elliot felt awkward, offered a polite greeting, and stood up. Then, before Arzen could change his mind, he resolutely and decisively opened the bedroom door and stepped out.

He had to rest today. It was a day where he felt like he would truly collapse otherwise. Sometimes days like this happen, after all. It couldn’t always be great.

“I’ll kiss Camembert, take a hit from him, and sleep soundly…”

Elliot’s exhausted mutter echoed softly inside the hallway.

The next morning, Elliot woke up with a fairly decent mood. Sleeping in a plush, wide bed made yesterday’s events feel like a distant past. At his feet, Camembert was curled up into a warm little ball and sleeping, and even though he woke up in the morning, work didn’t start until 7:00 PM, leaving him with plenty of leisure.

“Why on earth don’t I want to get up, though…”

A cracked voice leaked out just as he had woken up. Lying flat on his back, he blinked his eyes.

Right now… am I experiencing something like burnout?

Me, who used to run two part-time jobs seven days a week and survive just fine on three or four hours of sleep?

Even though his work start time had been pushed back to the evening, Elliot hadn’t spent his days idly playing around.

He read books in his spare time to hone his writing skills, practiced writing love letters, and occasionally helped out with Benny’s chores.

Even Benny’s work mostly involved dealing with people, so Elliot had wandered all over the mansion chatting with servants and passing along errands. Stable boy Bill and the head chef were also people he had grown close to back then.

However, today he really didn’t want to do anything. He lacked the energy to get out of bed.

“Should I just sleep all day…”

Just as Elliot was making a momentous life decision:

Knock, knock. The sound of a knock was heard.

“Ha… who is it this time?”

He had no idea why people kept seeking him out like this. He reached out, found his glasses on the bedside table, and put them on.

“Yes, coming out.”

And the person standing right outside the door he opened was the last person he wanted to see right now.

“Elliot Brown.”

“Grand Duke…?”

The face of a boss before working hours, no less.

What a breathtaking start to the day.

Arzen’s eyes were more bloodshot than usual. Though it was said he had survived all sorts of battlefields, his white, clean skin looked slightly rougher than usual, and his lips lacked color.

“Are you… sick, Grand Duke?”

Elliot asked with a bewildered expression, examining Arzen’s face. Arzen half-covered his face with his large hand and mumbled something.

“I’m… not.”

“Pardon? Could you say that once more?”

“I… cannot sleep.”

At those words, Elliot checked the wall clock. It was just a little past ten in the morning; he simply couldn’t believe that Arzen had sought him out because he couldn’t sleep.

This guy, didn’t he originally survive just fine even without sleeping for a week?

Arzen also seemed quite embarrassed to have sought Elliot out. Without even looking straight at Elliot, yet still issuing orders with aristocratic elegance, he said:

“Night sleep is out of the question, so I must take a nap. Put me to sleep.”

Ha…

This fucking bastard doesn’t even give you a gap to get burned out.

Elliot could not understand the current situation at all. Right now, he was walking along Pentus Shopping Street alongside Arzen.

“Grand Duke, I heard you needed to sleep.”

Elliot said somewhat stiffly.

“Henderson threw out all the tea. He said he didn’t know where the poison might have been mixed in, so he’d replace it entirely from scratch.”

“So Butler Henderson told you, Grand Duke, to go buy tea?”

“…Yes.”

“That’s fascinating. The butler making the Grand Duke run errands and all.”

“Originally… Henderson is that kind of butler.”

“Ah, right, yes.”

My foot.

There wasn’t a single servant who didn’t know how devotedly Henderson served Arzen. Resorting to lies just to drag him out, seriously…

Why lie, though?

Elliot stopped walking mid-stride and stared intently up at Arzen.

From the current Arzen, who was wearing a mask and had his hair dyed black, no threatening aura could be sensed. However, there was no knowing. Elliot knew what terrifying power Arzen was hiding.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“If by any chance you’re planning to dispose of me, please tell me in advance.”

So I can run away.

Swallowing the latter half of his sentence, Elliot looked around. On the bustling Pentus Street, nobles dressed up like peacocks were wandering here and there, trailing maids and knights behind them.

Are we heading off toward Hemp Street instead of here?

As Elliot mapped out his predicted route of death in his head, Arzen responded as if it were absurd.

“Why would you think I’m going to dispose of you?”

“Well… because you’re lying to me.”

At Elliot’s words, Arzen flinched and looked down at Elliot.

“Was it… obvious?”

“Yes, yes, it was obvious.”

At that, Arzen let out a short sigh and boldly spoke the truth.

“I figured you wouldn’t come out if I just asked you to. Though it’s true I didn’t sleep yesterday.”

“Then what on earth is the real reason you brought me out here?”

At that question, Arzen gestured with his chin toward the shop right in front of them.

“Gack! Cough, cough!”

In an instant, Elliot was startled enough to choke on nothing. His eyes widened as if they were going to pop out.

There stood Cafe Seiren.