Chapter Six

I ate my bread as slowly as possible while I thought things through. The Royal Academy Jeffery attended schooled all young nobles and even royals. Jeffery was treated like a prince here in Broschte, but he would have been seen as little more than a pebble under their feet at the Academy. So, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that he’d gotten into some sort of trouble and had to come home early, but . . .

I looked up to glance at the man sitting at the head of the table. The same brown hair and eyes as my mother. The stubborn-looking man I called Father. If Jeffery had gotten in trouble at the Academy, there was no way my father would have allowed him to come home so easily. On the contrary, my father would have beaten Jeffery to a pulp and given him up as an offering to whomever he had offended.

Still, there Jeffery was, as pompous and pretentious as ever, and my father also seemed at ease.

Then what was it, really?

“You eat so slowly, Arwen.” My mother’s disapproving voice brought me back to reality.

That was when I realized that these three had already emptied their plates. I sighed to myself. What was the point of spending money on expensive cutlery like all “nobles” if mealtimes barely lasted ten minutes?

“I’m sorry,” I said.

My father clicked his tongue in disapproval. Standing up rather dignifiedly, he wiped his lips with his napkin and glanced at me. Then, he promptly left the dining room.

“Loser,” Jeffery snickered as I put on my sad face.

Mother reprimanded him, gently reminding him to “not use such bad words.” Twelve-year-old Jeffery was the reason I disliked children. He had been bothering me ever since I could remember. Children are usually naive in their cruelty, but as soon as he realized that our mother and father didn’t care for me, he became as vicious as he’d once been innocent.

He pulled many pranks on me that could never be considered actual pranks. Our parents let him do whatever he wished as long as he didn’t leave lasting scars. His bullying eased once he enrolled at the Academy when he turned ten, but he had stuffed me inside a closet so often that I still recoiled at the smell of mothballs.

I feared my father, but he hardly ever raised his hand to me. Though my mother often vented her hysteric episodes on me, she was aware of her status as a noble and often acted calmly.

It was laughable that my most shameful moments came at a twelve-year-old boy’s hands.

Jeffery laughed arrogantly and stomped out of the dining room, with my mother hurrying after him.

The only other person left in the room was a maid glaring at me. I still had some food on my plate, but I had to leave the dining room. This was my mother’s precaution in case I ate the leftovers. Shuell was all alone in my room, so I had to hurry back anyway.

I left the dining room and swiftly made my way to my room. Soon, I could see the door. Ten more steps to go, maybe five if I rushed. With my room in such proximity, I came face to face with the one person I didn’t want to see.

“Hey!”

Brown hair approaching from a distance, flashy tassels, and a rude greeting. Jeffery.

Damn it. I sighed imperceptibly.

Jeffery liked to shove bugs or dead birds in my face to see my reaction. I wasn’t actually scared of those things, but I had to scream patiently and cry to play along. I really didn’t want to face him today, but it couldn’t be helped.

Ah, yes. You’re here now, and now we start again.

Jeffery was coming closer and closer. I could distinguish the arrogance in his face, as well as the green thing he was holding in his hand. And when there were only three steps between us . . .

I took a deep breath and screamed with all my might. My screaming acted as a catalyst for Jeffery to walk faster toward me. His face glowed in childish elation.

“Loser! You’re scared of this?”

He was much too close now and shoved whatever he was holding toward me, laughing maniacally. I squinted at his hand. Oh, it was a little tree frog about a quarter of the size of his hand. Its tiny round eyes and its sounds were adorable.

I hoped Jeffery would set it free after this. I clenched my fists, my face full of fear.

“I-I’m scared, brother. P-please get it away!”

“Hahaha! You idiot. You’re scared of a frog?”

This was something Jeffery had done since we were younger. Thanks to him, I had become accustomed to most bugs. If he really wanted to see me freak out, he would need to bring at least a centipede or spider the size of his palm. Frogs were cute, especially when compared to the person holding them.

“You scared of this?”

Jeffery extended his frog-holding hand toward me and cackled as I screamed a couple more times. Then, the little frog dangling from his hand leaped free and landed on my cheek. I saw its round eyes right before me, and it cried out.

Hey, that’s pretty cute. I screamed one more time and dropped to the floor. Oh, I should probably cry about now.

“P-please . . . get it off . . .” I scrunched my face as if to yawn, and tears came to my eyes immediately. This made Jeffery laugh harder.

“I’m leaving, loser. You take care of it. I’ll kill you if you get help!” he yelled arrogantly.

He turned around without a second glance. I screamed one last time, glad that this was coming to an end.

“J-Jeffrey! Don’t go! Get th-this—”

Just then, the third room closest to the stairs opened. I was so disconcerted that I forgot to scream.

Wasn’t that my room?

Maids came and went to clean, of course, so it wasn’t odd for my room door to open like that. Not odd at all if I were to ignore that the person who came out of my room was much too short and had too much platinum blond.

Shuell?

He hesitated for a moment but then swung the door open and ran toward me. Stupefied, I couldn’t do or say anything as Shuell removed the frog from my face with unsteady hands.

“Why are you—”

“What’s this?” Jeffery said, venom in his voice.

He had returned without me noticing and was now glaring at Shuell for ruining his prank. My blood ran cold. Shuell’s identity had to remain a secret. However, if I were to introduce him as a servant, would he live to see tomorrow?

“Jeffrey, he’s—”

“You shut up.” Jeffery stepped closer to us, his anger plain on his face. Shuell stood in front of me right away.

“D-don’t.”

That made Jeffery even angrier, but he didn’t resort to violence immediately. Platinum-blond hair was not common among peasants. Jeffery seemed confused, probably wondering if Shuell was the son of a noble who had come to meet me.

“Who are you?” he asked, sounding less combative than he had.

Shuell fidgeted for a moment before answering. “I-I’m a servant.”

“Servant?” Jeffery’s eyes changed immediately. “A mere servant dares to get in my way?”

Smack!

A sharp sound rang through the hall. It happened so quickly I didn’t have time to stop it. Shuell dropped to the floor, trembling as he held a hand to his stinging cheek. Jeffery grabbed him by the collar, forcing him upright, and scrutinized his face. After a long moment, Jeffery spoke up.

“Looks like that Severilous kid.” His voice dropped dangerously low.

Should I tell him the truth? He had an inferiority complex toward high nobility. It wasn’t hard to imagine the fate that would befall a servant who resembled the Severilous heir when put in Jeffery’s hands.

No. I couldn’t do that.

I stood up on shaky legs. The floor where my room was located didn’t have many windows, which meant that there were many candles. Jeffery was standing right next to one. I wobbled in his direction before suddenly dropping to the floor as if losing my footing, falling just right to knock a candle over toward him. It fell on Jeffery’s large silk sleeves, which promptly caught fire.

“Whoa, what the—” Shock had fully replaced arrogance. He tossed Shuell aside and rolled to the floor to put the fire out. The small ember started on his sleeve disappeared, leaving a black mark.

“Y-you . . .” His face was beet red. He glanced over at his sleeve, to me, and to Shuell before finally deciding to kick me. “I’m going to kill you!”

I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped my lips at being kicked at full force. Jeffery huffed and puffed but soon turned away and went downstairs. Normally, he would have kicked me a couple more times, but he hadn’t. This struck me as odd, but I didn’t have the energy to ponder over it.

“Shu!” I rushed over to Shuell immediately.

He was slumped on the floor, limp as a ragdoll. The sight made me tear up. I should have shielded him. I shouldn’t have just sat there and done nothing. Sure, Jeffery might have tried even harder to break him if he realized that Shuell meant something to me, but still. Maybe there could have been a way to prevent Jeffery from hitting Shuell without directly shielding him.

In the end, I’d put my safety above all else. Guilt rushed over me, but that wasn’t the main issue now.

“Are you all right? Raise your head. Let me see how bad it is. Please?”

Shuell slowly raised his head. He must not have had enough time to let the color-changing potion absorb into his eyes. They were now a spotty, murky ashen pink. His sensitive skin had already started to redden, and his eyes were full of tears.

Why did he, a seven-year-old child, think to step in front of Jeffery like that? All to protect me. I pressed my lips together, unable to say anything. Shuell smiled brightly despite his swelling cheek.

“The frog is gone now!”