“Well, come on. I’m tired.” After everything that had happened that day, I was exhausted. I patted the spot next to me again.

Damian hesitated, but then he carefully lay down next to me.

“Okay, let’s go to sleep now.” I tugged the blanket up to his neck and closed my eyes.

A delicate fragrance emanated from Damian after his bath. What’s that smell? Even though I often used the director’s bathroom, I’d never smelled anything like it before. I sniffed at him without realizing what I was doing. Damian curled in on himself, his ears turning bright red. Now I felt like a pervert. I cleared my throat and turned my face back toward the ceiling.

Damian seemed to run warm. So warm... I felt like I was melting. “Good night, Damian.”

Silence.

“You’re not going to tell me good night?”

“Oh, um... Good night,” he clumsily said.

It was oddly cute. I huffed out a laugh, but soon my exhaustion lulled me to sleep.

* * *

Damian quietly looked toward the source of the steady breathing. Even though Ellie had wished him good night, he couldn’t fall asleep so easily. He wasn’t used to beds, as he’d never had one. All he had ever been given was a cold floor and a rag for a blanket.

Besides... He slowly lifted his head. The moonlight was casting a faint glow on Ellie’s face. He didn’t understand her. He’d heard what she had said when the director first introduced him to the others.

“It’s just, he looks weak.”

Hearing those familiar words, he’d looked to see where the voice had come from. Standing there was a girl with hair as golden as if she’d stolen the sunlight. Her green eyes trembled at his gaze as if she regretted what she’d just said, but it hadn’t particularly bothered Damian, since he was used to hearing things like that.

Is that why she’s being nice to me? Out of guilt? But she really doesn’t have to. No one ever wanted to come close to him. He was a slave, filthy and insignificant. And yet the girl had told him…

“No, they’re not coming back. Even if they do, they’ll be gone soon.”

“I swear. I swear it on my life.”

“You’re not gross.”

Does she really think so? She hadn’t looked away when she saw him, and now she was sleeping with her arms around him... No. That’s not possible, he thought sadly.

Then Ellie sighed softly in her sleep and held him even closer to her body.

Oh! His face felt hot again. He kept blushing. He couldn’t help it. Before today, he had never looked straight at anyone. That was why he turned red when his eyes met Ellie’s. Her eyes were clear and beautiful, reminding him of a ray of sunlight that had once found its way into his dark pen.

He carefully put a hand on his chest. He’d never thought of his heart as alive, but now it was beating hard and fast. He closed his eyes, hoping to calm the strange feeling.

Now all he could see was darkness. He fixed his grip on the wooden sword in his hands at the sound of a familiar growl. He focused, letting his instincts take over. The monster could pounce on him from anywhere.

He could hear people laughing. He couldn’t see them, but they could see him. Their sharp gazes felt like knives in his back.

The nobles loved gambling on fights between slaves and monsters. The more monsters a slave triumphed against, the prouder his owner became. "Do you know how far I’ve had to go to secure your victory?" he remembered his master once asking him. Standing behind him had been an illicit manufacturer who’d been friends with his master.

But something strange was happening. The two were surely human, but their forms began to overlap with those of the monsters in his eyes. His hand tightened around his sword. The men’s voices faded away, replaced by the growling of beasts.

He closed his eyes. I have to get a hold of myself. If I don’t... If I don’t...

“...mian...”

“No...”

“Damian!”

His eyes flew open with a gasp. Warm sunlight was pouring down on his face. The terrifying sight of his master’s face was nowhere to be found. Still, he couldn’t calm down.

Then he heard a familiar voice call, “Damian.” He lifted his trembling eyelids.

“Are you all right?” a blonde girl asked him. It wasn’t his master. “What is it? Did you have a nightmare? Or are you feeling sick?”

She stretched her hand out to him, but to him, it looked like his master’s hand approaching to strike him. He shut his eyes tightly. He waited expectantly, but the pain never came. He slowly opened his eyes again.

The world was fuzzy, and then it came into focus. Ellie was staring at him with a grave expression. The sight of a worried face aimed at him was so unfamiliar that Damian just stared blankly back at her. “Did he catch a cold or something?” she muttered to herself as she reached out to Damian. Her cold hand landed on his forehead. His chilling fear and burning rage immediately vanished, as if purified by her touch.

Damian blinked vacantly. He didn’t even notice his face was turning red again. Slowly, his breath regained its usual rhythm. Ellie gently brushed his hair away from his forehead and checked his temperature. “Well, you don’t have a fever. You must have had a nightmare. Oh my, you’re drenched in sweat!” She softly ruffled his damp hair as if to cool him off.

Damian couldn’t find even a glimpse of displeasure or disgust in the girl’s eyes. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

But his silence only worried her even more. “You’re really not sick? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Okay? He’d never asked himself if he was okay. No one ever checked how he was doing, not even himself. He didn’t know what to say at the unfamiliar question, so he remained silent.

Ellie got up. “I’ll go get some cool water and a towel. We need to lower your temperature.”

His eyes widened at this. He grabbed her hand instinctively, surprising himself more than her. He quickly let go. “I-I’m okay,” he said, trying to explain himself. “I’m okay. I’m… not sick.” All he could do was repeat what he’d said a moment before. He felt like an idiot. He looked down, embarrassed.

“You must have been scared.” Her kind words made him look up at her in spite of himself. Ellie’s hand softly stroked his hair.

It’s strange. It was so strange. Her touch was somehow undoing the tight knots within him and filling him with a warm and fluttering sensation. I feel like I’ve swallowed the sun. And there was more. His face felt hot. He couldn’t tell if he was ashamed or embarrassed. He dropped his head slowly.

Then the cool hand left his forehead. He immediately looked up.

“I’m glad you don’t have a fever.”

He didn’t know what to say.

“I was worried that you might be sick. It’s good that you aren’t,” Ellie said, smiling faintly.

Maybe I should have said I’m sick... Damian wasn’t even sure what he was thinking.

The wake-up bell rang out and the children started to stir, moaning and groaning.

“Noooo...” The girl in the next bed mumbled in protest.

Ellie grinned and gave her a pat. “Betty, you need to get up.”

“But I want to sleep more, with you...” The little girl, Betty, hid herself in Ellie’s arms. She seemed quite used to it. The scene gave Damian a strange feeling. He lifted a hand to scratch at his chest. It was something similar to what he’d felt last night, but a bit different. What’s happening to me? he wondered.

Bang!

The door slammed open and Carsen came in, huffing and puffing. The room immediately fell silent.

“You!” He scowled the moment he saw Damian and approached him, but Damian wasn’t afraid. He just found Carsen a bit annoying.

“You’re a bit late,” Ellie interjected as she calmly stood up and smiled.

“You, you did that on purpose, didn’t you? He wasn’t at the warehouse!”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes! Instead of finding him there, we got caught! Do you know what we had to go through after that?” Carsen and his gang all started yelling madly.

Ellie wasn’t bothered. She looked out the window. The room had a great view of the clock tower. They’ll be coming up soon.

She turned back to Carsen and asked, “But how is that Damian’s fault?”

“What?”

She smiled sweetly. “You’re the idiot for falling for it.”