Rido felt like he was in an endless nightmare.

First he was being beaten by the Governess and then the unnamed torturer was added, slicing into his skin. As if this wasn’t bad enough, eventually Viscount Barrera joined them. The three continually tormented him, pain stabbing into every part of his body, dying the world in shades of black and red.

“My son, my son, I am here. Don’t be afraid, I am here.”

Someone was repeating the same gentle words into his ear, over and over again. Through the suffocating agony, his mind vaguely connected the voice to a face, and the face to a person, and the person to an event.

Mama.

That’s right. 

Mama would save him. She would never let any of those people hurt him like that.

The nightmare changed, melting away like snow in the sun.

He was a child again and his Mama was there, hugging him and whispering kind words into his ear. She was soft and warm and smelled of flowers.

Then he was a little older. Lord Curtidor was training him with a wooden sword. He saw an opening and, for the first time, he was able to land a hit on the retired knight. Lord Curtidor looked surprised and then admiring.

He’d turned ten and was in Marron County during his Jubilee. The Marron family and the townspeople were laughing and smiling, giving him gifts. Montana was complaining that he got more than she did. Rather than feeling sorry for her, he felt proud.

He was in the school room with Valor, Fijo, and Tie. Everything smells of papers and ink. It’s spring and the birds are chirping outside, a shaft of warm sunlight is casting a glow on the room. The world was calm and quiet and beautiful.

Again he’d aged, Valor was racing him on Tempest and he was on Glorious. The green field was spread out before them, seemingly vast and unending. They shouted insults at each other good-naturedly, and he won by more than a horse length.

He won?

That wasn’t right.

He’d never won a horse race against Valor. What’s more, since when had his Mama ever said a nice word to him in his life? Lord Curtidor had been proud but never admired him. And there was no way he’d get more gifts than Montana in Marron County. No matter how much they liked him, County folk always favored their own nobility. 

Perhaps the only realistic point in any of the scenarios was the school room. And even that lacked some key points. Where was the aching fingers and stiff joints, the snoring Fijo, cheating Tie, and know-it-all Valor?

The discrepancies broke the sweetness of the dreams, leaving him feeling strangely hollow.

With the interruption came a throbbing pain he couldn’t ignore.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his mind began to crawl out of the world of dreams and back into reality.

He blinked several times, trying to force his eyes open. They were dry and blurry.

Once they finally opened properly, he realized there was a strange object in front of him. It was round and white and glowed in a odd way around the edges he couldn’t quite understand.

“...moon?” He mumbled in confusion.

The ‘moon’ jumped in the air. It zoomed around, as if flustered, and then abruptly calmed down.

[What am I worried about? Of course he can’t see me, hehe… eh?] The moon noticed his blatant staring and asked nervously, [You can’t see me, can you?]

The moon and Rido stared at each other blankly for a moment.

“...it talks…”

Strange symbols shown on the moon’s face. 

[!!!!!]

[Why can you see me?!] The Moon wailed and suddenly came very close to his face. A light flashed in Rido’s eyes without warning. [Debug Program Initiated, Scanning Target…]

Rido squinted at the sudden light, but was otherwise unperturbed. Putting aside the throbbing pain, he felt no mental distress at seeing a talking moon. Rather, he thought it was amazing and wondered how a moon could talk. 

His Mother said the sun, moon, and stars were in an airless void. Talking required air… it also required a mouth. The moon had no mouth, making its ability to talk even more astonishing.

“Wow… a talking moon…”

“Rido?” 

A familiar face blocked out the moon.

“Valor?”

Valor’s worried expression softened. Rido had a distinctly doopy expression, indicating the drug’s effects hadn’t worn off completely.

“That’s right, it’s me Valor.”

Rido pointed to the floating orb.

“Moon.”

Valor obediently looked where Rido was pointing.

Obviously there was nothing there. Especially not the moon.

[Hey you, don’t point at me!] The Moon scolded worriedly. [Scanning Complete... Huh? What do you mean no bug found?! How is there no bug! This is obviously a bug!]

“Heh. The moon… it talks.”

Valor raised his eyebrows and then nodded knowingly. He remembered the medication could cause hallucinations. Rearranging his expression, he put on a tolerant smile and pretended he was talking to a small child.

“Rido… it’s in the middle of the day. How can there be a moon?”

[No… wait… maybe he doesn’t consider it a bug, but a “feature”. Let’s look at the manual. Accessing User Manual...] The moon had several straight lines, “|||||”, on its round face. 

[...I can’t believe I have to read through the manual, does he think I have the time for this kind of nonsense…] 

[Where’s the features section… ah, here it is…]

[5 Million? Hah... hahahahaha! Who does he think he’s kidding?]

[Lets search instead— what the— no search function? You mean I’ve got to go through it one by one?!] 

Rido’s eyebrows pressed together and lifted as he watched the enraged moon orbit in a tight circle while somehow also hopping midair.

“...is… is that right….???”

“That’s right, it’s definitely not the moon.”

The orb that was not-the-moon suddenly stopped.

[Calm down, calm down. As long as Fee doesn’t know, it’s fine.] It paused, apparently not convinced with it’s own assurances. [Let’s just cover our bases… mmhmm, just to be safe...]

The orb flew very close to Rido, until its round smooth face was only an inch or two away from his.

[Hey you. Don’t you dare breathe a word of this to anyone…. Uh, anyone else I mean... If anyone else asks about it later, you just act stupid, alright? Think of this whole thing as a drug induced delusion.]

“...why?”

The moon gave a bone weary sigh. [Why? Yes, I too would like to know why. Why is my life difficult? I’m not asking for much. Just for bugs to be reported as bugs and features be real features! How about having a basic search function in the manual? Ah, I could go on and on about the injustices I face...]

Valor, who couldn’t hear half the conversation, assumed he’d been asked why the hallucination wasn’t the moon. The bronze man opened his mouth to explain the moon’s orbit and placement, and then realized this was an exercise in futility. Astronomy facts were not likely going to work on Rido at the moment.

After hesitating, he picked the answer that he thought might be the simplest and easiest to understand:

“It’s too big to fit into the room.”

Meanwhile Rido felt a swell of sympathy for the orb. It seemed the-not-moon was having a hard time. Why it was having a hard time, he didn't understand. But having gone through many-a hard times himself, he could sympathize with the emotion.

“Okay.” 

[Excellent!] The orb seemed pleased. [Since you’re cooperating with me, I’ll do you a favor.]

Before Rido could ask what kind of favor, the-not-moon came close again. This time, its smooth white body touched his forehead.

Something like an electrical current seemed to pass between him and the orb. Daja vu overwhelmed him and the sense that he was forgetting something important swelled up from deep inside him.

The moment before he was about to remember that “forgotten something”, the-not-Moon spoke in a voice that reverberated into the depths of his soul:

[Sleep.]

Instantly Rido fell asleep. Unlike before, it was a deep dreamless sleep. 

Valor saw the young Heir had fallen asleep again and sighed with relief. At least for a little while longer, Rido would be ignorant of his injuries.

DARS, the moon shaped orb, also sighed. But for a very different reason.

[...I better not get in trouble for this later. If not for his lazy coding, would I have to resort to these kinds of measures? I’m keeping this whole operation together and what do I get in return? Complaints from above, below, AND sideways! Really! I’m the victim here!]

***

The next time Rido woke up, he was fully in charge of his mind. He had no recollection of waking up the first time. 

The moment he understood where he was, he felt relieved. He was in his room, at home. This meant he was safe.

The second thing he felt was a throbbing pain in his right arm, followed by a strange numbness where his hand should be. He looked at his arm to see what was wrong and was greeted with a stump.

His mind blanked at the sight. For a long time he was too shocked to react and simply stared at his stump stupidly.

Finally, the reality of his situation fully sunk in. He curled up in a tight ball, holding what was left of his arm to his chest, and trembled violently. His eyes were closed and his mouth opened, but what should have come out as an anguished scream came out as a pitiful whimper.

“Rido, are you awake? Is the moon still talking to you?”

Rido’s whole body stiffened in astonishment. There was the sound of someone moving nearby and a familiar hand touched his forehead.

“Good, no fever. It appears you’re truly on the mend.”

Rido’s eyes slowly opened.

“Valor?” He choked out in disbelief.

“Yes?”

Valor was standing next to the bed, whole and well. From his movements and posture, he looked entirely unharmed. Just like usual. It was as if he’d never been shot!

Rido’s body trembled even more violently from the surge of intense emotions.

How could Valor still be alive? He had seen him shot with his own two eyes! He reached out to touch Valor where there should be a wound, only to realize a second later that his arm was cut off and he could feel nothing. The overwhelming astonishment briefly distracted him from his grief.

Using his left hand, he felt where the injury ought to be. Even if it didn’t kill him, there should be some kind of wound. And it would take time for it to heal, putting Valor in a lot of pain. But even touching that area did nothing.

Valor chuckled slightly, “I’m really alright.”

He took Rido’s reaching hand and gave it an affectionate pat. Rido stared at Valor, open mouthed and amazed.

“You’re…. You’re alive. How can you… how can it be? I saw it... I saw the arrow pierce your heart.”

“It’s true I was hit and close to dying.”

“Then how..?”

Valor furrowed his brow and looked away for a moment. Finally he slightly shook himself, straightened his spine, and gave a wide smile at Rido.

“It was a miracle.”

“M….miracle?”

 “Mhm. I am completely healed. There’s not even a wound now. I am so thoroughly well that if you told anyone I had been shot in the heart, they would not believe you.” Valor raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea how it was done. Your Mother and Fijo found me lying in the field near the edges of the estate. By then, I was healed and only had bloody clothes to show something had been amiss.”

For a moment, Rido sat in stunned speechlessness. If he hadn’t seen the original injury and now seen Valor healthy, he would have thought Valor was lying through his teeth. But how else could it be explained? If Valor himself didn’t know how it could be done, then all that was left was a miracle...

“...you are really well?” He asked, still hesitant to accept it.

“Let me prove it.” Valor took off his vest and lifted his shirt, showing his shiny bronze chest. There was nothing but smooth skin.

Tears began to flow silently down Rido’s face. He clutched his chest, whispering over and over again: “Thank God, thank God…”

Seeing Rido crying earnestly over him, Valor felt a prickling of guilt for lying and sighed. 

He mumbled in his native language softly enough Rido could not hear him: “I am not worthy of your tears.”

The Marchioness had given up her chance to cure his hand to save Valor’s life. He didn’t understand why she could heal his life-threatening wound but not Rido’s arm, but he knew it was so. It also seemed she was aware of the sacrifice she was making, even while she did it.

He was still surprised that she’d done such a thing for him.

It’s true she treated him and his siblings extremely well. They were educated in the same way as the Heir and given sincere affection from her. Well, as much as such a harsh-tongued woman could be affectionate.

His siblings treated the Marchioness as a parental figure in return for her care. Their true family, far away from Salvias, had long since been forgotten by them. There were only vague images left of that time and their mother-tongue, which Valor insisted they practice despite having “no use” for it here.

Valor was older when they lost their parents and remembered his homeland more clearly than his siblings. No matter what the Marchioness did, she could never replace his deceased parents. And his hope had been someday to go back to his motherland to find his extended family. It made no sense to him to get overly attached to the people of this land when he knew he’d leave in the future.

Besides that, he’d always been suspicious of the Marchioness’ behavior. Knowing things she shouldn’t know and all that. Though of course that didn’t bother him now.

There was also a third factor to why he’d been unwilling to view her as family: there was a class wall between them.

After all, though she treated them well, she did not adopt them and they were expected to work to remain in the Mansion. They were only like her children, not her real children. They were clearly not on the same level as Rido in the Marchioness’ heart. 

Or so he’d thought.

Prior to her extraordinary healing, he would never have expected her to sacrifice for him. Certainly not at the expense of crippling her son. He truly thought she would put her son first.

Yet…. he lived. 

It turned out they did not need to be her “real” children to be valued. 

And the son was not any different from the mother. The boy lost his arm but still had tears of relief to shed for Valor. Perhaps it was to be expected. The mother was divine, the son must have some divinity in him as well.

With this mother and son combination, Valor felt like a small, petty person. He didn’t feel worthy of their whole-hearted endearment. Because he felt lacking, his motivation to try to make up for his shortcomings was stronger than ever before.

He put his shirt down and vest back on while thinking about these things and gave a single nod when he was done. He then did something very peculiar: he lifted up the bed covers, exposing one of Rido’s legs. The younger man was wearing underpants that went down just below his knee. Valor knelt next to the bed, clasping the edge of the thin pant material near the knee, head bowed.

Rido sniffled and was rightfully confused by this behavior.

“What are you doing?”

“Give me a moment.” 

If Valor had to explain he wanted to do an oath and what that was, he suspected he wouldn’t get the chance to do it. Rido wouldn’t understand and would likely try to stop him. After being stopped once by the Marchioness, he didn’t dare give any opportunity to be stopped a second time.

To his people, repayment for a good or bad deed was a moral obligation. Repayment was done through an oath. The kind of oath varied based on the deed done. Because Valor and his siblings had worked for their room and board from the moment they arrived at Fresa Mansion—him as a valet and they as child companions— there was no obligation to give that kind of oath as there was already a form of repayment (that being work) in place. But his life being saved, especially at the cost of someone else, was an entirely different matter. An oath needed to be made, otherwise Valor’s conscience would never let him rest!

Clearing his throat, Valor spoke in his foreign tongue again:

“An eye for an eye, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. Whether in evil or in sacrifice, there must be an equal payment. I acknowledge that my life has been saved and I owe a life debt. Therefore I, Shakti Samudr Saahas Valor, swear by the gods, by the glory of the Maharaj of Sabz, and by my Shakti ancestors that I will serve Querido Fresa as my Master. His friends are my friends. His enemies are my enemies. His land is my land. His death is my death. If I break this oath today, as the gods are my witness, may my corpse be fed to the dogs and my name blotted out from the heavens and the earth!”

When he was finished, Valor exhaled in relief and let go of the edge of Rido’s pants. 

It had barely been a two days, but not having a chance to repay his debt properly had been agonizing to him. Now he was free of that suffocating feeling and could breathe easy.  

Rido had been listening and frowned, uneasy. Though he’d never been formally taught, he did understand quite a bit of what Valor said. After all, these three siblings often spoke this language when the adults weren't around. Rido had been curious and they’d taught him a bit of it, just enough for him to have an idea what they were talking about so he didn’t feel left out.

He didn’t understand the phrase “equal payment” or the word “oath” and a few other words but it almost didn’t matter. He perfectly understood the phrases “His friends are my friends. His enemies are my enemies. His death is my death.” and that sounded… heavy. 

Gripping his bed sheets, he asked again tensely, “Valor, what did you just do?”

Valor got up and dusted off his knees. 

“I have given you a… I don’t know if there’s a formal term for it… but the literal translation would be: Oath of life and service.”

“What.. what does that mean exactly?”

“It means that my life is in your hands. If you told me to drink poison, I would. If you asked me to murder someone, I’d do it. Whatever you ask of me, to my utmost ability, I will do it.”

“Why would you do that?!” Rido blanched. “That’s no better than being a slave! Mother saved you from that life, why would you willingly walk into it again?!”

Valor answered calmly, “My life was saved to serve you.”

“That’s nonsense, didn’t you say it was a miracle?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Then how exactly do I play into it?”

“It was a miracle. But I must repay my life being saved, an oath must be made in return.”

“What the— doesn’t that mean the oath should be to God then? Giving it to me doesn’t make any sense. Go become a Priest!”

Valor shook his head. “That won’t do. It must go to you.”

“Did God tell you that?”

Valor looked thoughtful, “In a manner of speaking.”

“Then it wasn’t God, it was the Devil.” Rido sat up and grabbed Valor’s sleeve. “Valor please, take it back. You are my brother, not my slave. I don’t want or need this kind of loyalty!”

“I can’t take it back Rido. I have already spoken it. If I tried to escape the oath now, I would bring a curse on myself.” He took Rido’s hand and forced the younger man to let go. “I knew you wouldn’t understand, this is why I didn’t tell you in advance. But you shouldn’t be upset. You have lost nothing and gained everything. This is a good thing for you.”

“It’s not about gains or losses...” Rido slumped back into bed, pressing the palm of his left hand over his eyes in despair. “We’re family, don’t you understand? We’re family...”

“I do understand.”

“Do you really though?”

Rido lowered his hand and turned onto his side, hugging his throbbing stump to his chest and feeling miserable. 

Perhaps outsiders would think he was over-reacting. 

Rido was an heir and had plenty of servants in his life. In fact, he was up to his neck in them. But as for family, friends, and equals, he had very few. His inner-circle was very small and he treasured those inside it, as if they were part of his body and soul. 

Valor had been working as his valet for years, but that was just a job. Outside of work, they treated each other as equals and friends, like siblings. It was this brotherhood that defined how they behaved around each other, not the positions they’d been given at birth.

The oath changed their relationship in a fundamental way. It made him feel like Valor had died a second time. The body was alive but the spirit between them would never be the same. He had lost something precious, like losing an arm, and it hurt.

Valor rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing at Rido’s reaction. 

This was an instance of two cultures clashing. If they could talk about it calmly and rationally, everything would be fine. But Rido was obviously not in a place emotionally to have such a conversation….

‘He just needs some time.’ The bronze man decided after a bit.

Immediately after this thought the door swung open and the Marchioness’ practically ran in, heading straight towards the young man in bed. 

Valor was startled at her sudden appearance. The Marchioness was currently swamped with paperwork, cleaning up the loose ends left from Barrera. Only Valor had been left in the room to watch over Rido. How had she known he was awake?

The moment the question rose in his mind he dismissed it.

At this point, he wouldn’t be surprised by much of anything she did…

The Marchioness placed a hand gently on Rido’s oily haired head and said in a heartbroken voice, “My son.”

Rido felt her hand and burst into sobs. She sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around his body and stroking his back comfortingly. 

“Mama, Mama…” Rido cried, his solitary left hand tightly gripping onto the cloth on her back. He wept out the injustice and grief he felt but had no words to express.

It was only after he felt he could cry no more, did he start to speak bitterly, “Look what he’s done to me, Mama. Look what he’s done to me…”

The Marchioness nodded silently, patting his head softly.

Rido didn’t expect his mother to talk. When he was being particularly vulnerable around her, she did not speak but expressed her concern like she was doing now.

“Mama, where is he? After what he’s done, he can not—”

“He is dead.”

He leaned back, loosening his hold on her and looked shocked.

“Dead?”

His Mother smiled. It was a particularly vicious smile, the kind that said the person was rejoicing in someone else’s misery.

“Of course.” She reached out and used her thumb to wipe tears from his cheek. “How could I allow such a filthy creature to exist after he has harmed what is mine?”

Rido felt a mixture of joy and frustration at the news. Joy because the nightmare was finally over, and frustration because he wasn’t able to directly get his revenge.

He licked his salty lips and asked with a nasty glint in his eye, “Were you there Mama?” When she gave a nod, he continued, “How did he die? Tell me the details. I can not rest until I know that yaldson scunner breathed his last…”

The Marchioness raised her eyebrows at his cursing but didn’t rebuke him. Instead she began to describe, in disturbing detail, how Barrera suffered during his execution. Rido, usually gentle and kind, vividly imagined how the fat old man suffered with relish and would even chuckle cruelly at the parts he especially enjoyed.

After she was finished, the Marchioness smoothed his bangs to the side of his forehead. Her expression was one part doting and one part anxious.

“My son, if I could have killed him with my own hands, I would have done so. He has killed and stolen from me one too many times. But such is the burden of nobility. Justice comes before revenge, otherwise I am no better than that piggish man.” 

Growing up, she’d taught, both in theory and by example, how a noble ought to rule. Before it had been easy to agree with her methods and reasoning. Now….

Rido clenched and unclenched his remaining hand.

“It is unfair.” 

“I know.”

“I should have been there.”

“Mmm.”

“I should have killed him with my own hands…” He gave a bitter laugh as he looked at his stump, “...hand.”

His Mother furrowed her brow and said slowly, “In a way…. This method of death is also good. Did he not trample on the commoners and view them as chaff? But in the end, it was the chaff that tore him to pieces.”

Rido didn’t comment, only continued to stare at his injury. There was some truth to her words, but it still didn’t satisfy the deep resentment, anger, and hopelessness he was feeling. 

She reached out and held his ruined arm. Her grip was loose, clearly avoiding putting too much pressure on the remaining part of the arm lest she cause him pain.

“My son.”

“Hm?”

“I have saved you.”

He looked up, frowning. 

“I know.”

She shook her head slightly, “No, that is… I have saved you… you must… must be… erm… grateful to me.”

Usually he was good at interpreting her words but just then he did not have the mental or emotional energy for it.

He stared at her blankly and said, “Thank you?”

The Marchioness sighed deeply and grimaced.

“Listen, I have saved you. You are still Heir to Fresa March and Mora County. This has not changed. A child of mine will not be weak, will not succumb to despair, but will cling fast to their family’s honor, to my honor. This will be enough for them.”

Rido vaguely understood what she was getting at but was in no mood for it.

“What good is being an Heir and family honor when I’ve become a cripple?” He moved his stump away from her grip and held it, face twisted. “Though that pig is dead, my being crippled by him remains. When people think of me, this is what they will first remember. No matter how good I am at other things…” He suddenly laughed. “If I can be good at other things now.”

“A child of mine will always be excellent.”

Rido glanced at her and saw her expression was sincere and felt relieved and annoyed at the same time.

“I can no longer use a bow and arrow or a sword… as for guns…”

“What, do you plan on being a foot soldier?” She rolled her eyes and snorted. “It’s not as though you must do the Games again. And as for hunting, it’s not as though you much enjoyed that nobleman’s leisure. You now have a very good excuse for avoiding it.”

“Writing will be a problem.”

“You will simply have to relearn with your left hand.”

“And how long will that take?” 

“Since you are my son, not very long, perhaps a month or two.”

“Horse riding—”

She snorted. “Lord Curtidor can ride and his problem is worse than yours for riding. Are you saying he, a commoner, can do it but you, a product of years of fine breeding, can’t?”

He made a face at her, displeased that she was cutting off his avenues of self pity. Bringing up Lord Curtidor in particular was a low blow. There was no way he could feel sorry for himself when his own teacher was in a similar predicament and still persevered. 

He felt it wasn’t a fair comparison either. Firstly, Lord Curtidor was a knight. They’re mentally prepared to lose their lives, much less limbs. In fact, just surviving several wars in a row is considered doing well for oneself. Secondly, Lord Curtidor was old. Did anyone care if an old knight lost a limb? No one cared! But he was young, people would pity him, which he despised, and girls would definitely— 

When he thought of the female half of mankind, he felt like he had a justifiable reason to be upset. One that his Mother couldn’t just brush off.

“No girl will want to be with me.”

While it was more typically of young girls to obsess over who they were going to marry and boys to treat it as a second or third priority in life, it didn’t mean boys weren’t concerned about it. Who they married determined their influence and power politically and socially. And wives ran the home, maintained interpersonal relationships, and had absolute control over the children. The woman of the house made life worth living or they made life miserable. Naturally every boy wanted a happy, influential life and would therefore put some thought towards who might be their future partner. 

Rido was no exception to this. Though he differed from his peers in that he didn’t flirt, nor did he find it interesting to do so, and a girl’s attractiveness played no role in his thoughts about her as a potential wife. Rather he was more concerned about how to increase his family’s influence and who would be a good mother to his children. 

Fijo often said he was cold blooded for being so ambivalent about the opposite sex, but Rido didn’t take the critizism to heart. It’s not like Fijo’s marriage was going to make or break two fiefs and everyone living in them, so of course he could flirt with impunity and not think deeply on the matter. Rido, however, felt the weight of his responsibility and took it seriously.

His Mother was also aware of how his injury was already making a complicated matter even more complex. She froze and a flash of discomfort flittered across her face.

“Who will want to marry me now?” Rido continued mopily, taking perverse pleasure in his own situation. “Before I was young and had potential, even if the fief was a wreck and our reputation was poor I was at least handsome enough to be attractive on some level. But now? Not to mention girls, what noblewoman would marry her daughter off to me?”

His Mother pursed her lips for a moment in thought. Finally, she stuck her nose in the air and announced snobbishly, “If they are scared off by such a small thing as a missing limb, I dare say I don’t want them as in-laws. In fact, it has saved me a lot of future work. Anyone like that is clearly not worthy of being related to me.”

“Are you really going to say my crippling is a small thing?” He snapped back in annoyance.

She choked slightly and cleared her throat. “Don’t nitpick! Of course it’s unfortunate, but you’re alive aren’t you?”

“That’s easy for you to say, you’ve got two hands!”

“Lord Curtidor has only one foot and look how well he’s doing!”

“Oh, you mean how he lost his knighthood, lived in poverty,  and is still single despite practically being an doddering old man?!”

“Doddering—” The Marchioness glared at him, “Boy, he is ten years younger than me! How is he old?! If he’s old what does that make me!?”

“Who cares if you’re old too! That’s not the thing to be focusing on!”

“Of course it’s the thing to be focusing on! I’m still young! I’m the picture of youth!”

“Mama, focus, please!”

“I’m quite focused! It’s you who’s not focusing!”

“How am I not focusing?!”

“You are insisting on being negative! Yes, it’s most unfortunate you lost your arm! But you are alive, without fever or serious illness! What’s more, that pig Barrera is gone, which means you no longer need to hide your skills! Which you still have even without your right hand!” She pointed her finger at him angrily. “The future is bright for you, but only if you’re willing to look past your hardship! And I am not old!”

“You’re practically a grandma!”

The Marchioness almost turned purple from his insult.

“Stop focusing on yourself, Mama! This is my life that’s been ruined! And I am angry! ANGRY!” Rido slammed his fist on the bed, eyes tearing up again. “Am I not allowed to be angry? To be bitter? To resent that I’m a crippled?! Am I not allowed!?”

“Of course you’re allowed to be angry, but not unreasonable!”

He suddenly fell back into his bed, unwilling to look at her and instead looking up at the ceiling, acting like a dead man. His entire expression was one of stubborn resentment. The perfect picture of someone being unreasonable.

As always, when his Mother was angry, she didn’t speak but found some other way to safely express herself. In this instance she stood up, frustrated at his rebelliousness, and stomped around in a tight circle next to his bed. She would occasionally cast him a glare and make “harumph” sounds. 

They were both like this for several minutes.

Valor was standing by the door and struggling to keep a straight face. 

He was relieved to see them behaving this way. They were both being childish but that was better than Rido holding in his resentment, frustration, and anger until it caused his soul to rot. It was better than the Marchioness moping around, like she had since Rido’s surgery, looking like the world had lost its color. 

Yes, it was good for both of them to be ridiculous.

Finally, the Marchioness stopped pacing and scratched her nose awkwardly. Having calmed down, she looked ready to talk. However, before she could, there was a hurried knock on the door.

Valor opened it and Tie’s head popped in.

She glanced anxiously into the room before saying, “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s a small army at the gates flying the Marron banner.”

“Ah, yes, they’ve come… good, good... ” The Marchioness sighed in relief and then glanced at Rido. “It may be Count Marron or Heir Serio who has arrived, are you willing to see them?”

He simply lay there like a log, silently protesting everything.

She snorted, peeved at his childishness.

“Fine, just act the dead man. Harumph!”

With that, she marched out of the room to leave Rido behind.

When she was gone, Valor walked over and stared down at him. Rido’s eyes flickered toward him for a moment and then he frowned, remembering their earlier argument. With a “harumph” that sounded very like his mother’s, he turned his back to Valor angrily.

Valor put his hands on his side and raised an eyebrow.

“Be angry all you like, but it won’t change anything.” 

When he got no response, he sighed.