The maid could feel all the eyes of the others in the room digging into her like needles, prodding her to continue pulling up more information for them. Her cheeks were beginning to flush in excitement, and she had to try desperately to control them so that Ritt wouldn’t notice anything strange. Luckily for her, this was the precise moment that the clothing they’d been waiting on had finally arrived, so she was able to take a moment to calm down and refocus herself while helping Ritt to get dressed. And when she felt that she was finally in control of herself enough, she continued the questioning.

 

It was time to see if her theories about their relationship could possibly be correct.

 

“Sir Ritt, did Lord Tavril give you permission to call him by his name?”

 

The maid was sure that this was a natural enough question to ask. She hoped that she would be seen as a kind older sister, trying to warn him against poor behavior in front of a noble. At the very least, if she was asked about it, then she could explain it away as such, anyway.

 

Ritt gave a confused look towards the maid.

 

“Lord Tavril…?”

 

“...Yes? Our Lord, one of the Dukes of our nation...?”

 

When Ritt still continued to look at her as if he didn’t understand who she was talking about, the maid felt strange, and couldn’t quite believe that he didn't know.

 

“Our Lord, Duke Sien Tavril, the one who brought you in earlier…?”

 

“Oh, so you meant Sien! So he was a Duke, how fitting…”

 

The maid couldn’t help but scrunch her eyebrows at the way Ritt was repeatedly nodding his understanding. Did this man truly not know the status of their famously murderous Duke? But such a thing would be bordering on impossible. Did their Lord find this man under a rock somewhere? Or perhaps this ‘Ritt’ had been knocked around by their overly violent Lord and had forgotten all of his memories except for his name?

 

“I… will take that to be a yes? Could I possibly ask what the relationship between the two of you could be, then? You see, our Lord is-”

 

Before she could continue her words, the room was filled with a loud 'shiing'ing sound of a sword being unsheathed and swung, along with a chorus of gasps. There was a coldness touching against her neck, accompanied by the stinging feeling of it lightly slicing her flesh.

 

“Go on. I’m what?”

 

The room was immediately in a panic. The surrounding servants did their best to fade into the background, or some closer to the door tried to desperately leave. The maid trembled, knowing that there would be no help offered to her.

 

“I… My Lord, I was just… just trying to converse lightly with Sir Ritt-”

 

When Ritt’s name escaped her lips, Sien’s jaw tightened and the blade cut into the maids neck just a tiny bit more, causing her to squeak in pain and fear. The smile that formed on Sien’s face afterwards was purely and plainly sadistic, if not bordering on crazy.

 

“Yeah I heard all of your little ‘conversation’ with him. You idiots make it too obvious that you’re digging for information behind my back!”

 

Tears began to fall from the maid’s eyes. She tried to shake her head, despite how it made the blade cut her even more.

 

“N-no, I-I was, I was just… Just…”

 

“Just just just, huh? I guess they aren't very picky about how his spies are trained these days, huh? I must’ve been running through all of you too fast for them to keep up!”

 

Sien’s smile grew a bit wider as if he were having fun, looking youthful and cheerful while also coming off as somehow disturbing.

 

“Well good then! Guess that means I better keep it up!”

 

Before the maid could even manage to make a sound, her neck was completely cut through in one smooth motion. Her head toppled down onto the floor, shortly followed by her now limp body. Her blood not only decorated Sien’s sword, but had also managed to splatter onto his hand and sleeve.

 

With a satisfied look, Sien turned his smiling face towards Ritt.

 

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go eat! I bet you’re starving by now, aren’t you, Ritt?”

 

Ritt blinked for a moment at the maid’s crumpled body and then turned his head towards Sien, who had his slightly bloodied hand offered out towards him. He felt a bit bad for the maid who so desperately denied it, but now that it had been pointed out, Ritt was sure that Sien was right about her asking a few too many questions. It would be obvious to suspect her as a spy, and if Sien was a Duke, then it was all the more important to keep his information safe from prying eyes. After all, Ritt had learned time and time again during his time after being released from the tower that there were plenty of things that people in power couldn’t and shouldn’t let leak out about them. He’d never been ashamed of his origins or the gruesome way he’d become the Paladin, but it was certainly true for him as well that if the maid had dug up too much about him, he might have been put into an uncomfortable and dangerous spot.

 

Besides, when it really comes down to it, it wasn’t shocking for him at all to see Sien deliver such quick violence.

Hadn’t he already witnessed it thoroughly before, when he’d died?

Hadn’t he been expecting much worse when he’d first gotten here?

 

If it hadn’t dissuaded him from coming here hopefully in the first place, then it wasn’t going to dissuade him now, when he saw it up close. These were Sien’s lands, and Ritt would be forever too weak to challenge how such a strong person acted. Furthermore, as a runaway desperately begging him for asylum, he truly had no right to interfere with him, either. And there was also the odd fact that Ritt felt a little more put at ease by such actions; It was comforting seeing Sien act the crazy way that he’d expected. At least then he could guess what was coming. Violence was much more predictable for Ritt than the kindness that Sien had been showing him, after all.

 

With a nod of understanding and resolution, Ritt stepped forward, taking Sien’s hand.

 

***

 

Everything about Ritt was just so odd. From the moment Sien first saw him stuffing leaves down his throat like someone who’d never eaten before, he truly didn’t know what to think. Ritt didn’t cower in front of him like he was used to everyone doing, not even with his blade against the man’s neck. He wasn’t just putting on a brave front either; Ritt truly wasn’t afraid of him. And the sudden declaration he made of wanting to be together… Not a single thing he’d said had been a lie. Sien’s Fae heritage left a little sensor in his mind, and he’d rarely ever failed to detect a lie being told to his face. Unlike all those stupid calculating ladies that had tried to fling themselves at him for power, he could tell that Ritt truly, truly wanted to be with him.

 

It made no sense! It made zero sense! Not a single bit of sense at all! Sien couldn’t understand it!

 

Perhaps he was swayed by how abnormal and interesting this new person in front of him was. It certainly couldn’t have been because Ritt’s earnest confession had moved his lonely heart! Sien would never agree to that! Surely it was all because Ritt hadn't yet been caught lying to him! Yes, it was only because this person was interesting and suspicious that he decided to humor him. He would keep watching this man called Ritt, and if he proceeded to be too suspicious or proved to ever be lying, then he would immediately get rid of him!

 

Throughout his many years he’d learned to be deeply distrusting.

He was sure that this human would prove to be no different than all the others.

 

However, things were progressing quite differently than Sien had expected. Even when surrounded by other humans, Ritt never told a lie, and still continued to say he wanted to be there. The thought that Ritt might have just been another one of the Emperor’s or Duke's spies like all the other humans who were sent here had definitely crossed Sien’s mind before, but from what he could see, none of the others seemed to recognize Ritt, and were clearly probing him for information.

 

And the way that Ritt calmly spoke his name every time made Sien’s heart feel strangely hot…

 

The stuffy feeling in Sien’s heart cooled off quickly however when he heard that Ritt didn’t know who he was. The possibility that Ritt actually didn’t know who he was was becoming more and more likely, making Sien doubt Ritt’s words of wanting to be with him more and more. The idea put Sien in an increasingly foul mood, one that he decided to take out on the uncareful maid. If Ritt didn’t know who he was, then Sien would show him exactly who he was, and then Ritt was sure to finally fear him, just like everyone else always did!

 

Except things completely didn’t go in the way that Sien had planned.

 

He showed cruelty and murder right in front of Ritt, and yet Ritt only took a few seconds before he calmly accepted his bloodied hand and willingly came along with him, as if nothing were wrong. It didn’t make sense! Why hadn’t his plan worked? Why hadn’t Ritt been scared?! And what’s more, Sien hadn’t actually thought that Ritt would take his hand at all, so he was also confused by the fact that they were holding hands while walking down the hall!

 

He just couldn’t wrap his head around why Ritt was so different!