Spring, flowers and gifts

by Killokii

 

 

Premise Tags: Beastkin-ish Characters,

Avian, Reptilian, Fantasy, Nobility,

Non-linear Storytelling, Lethargic Characters,

Bickering Couple, Gift Giving,

Reminiscing, Research, Immortality.

Content Warnings: mild trickery.

 

 

 

・• ● •・

 

The seasons changed again.

 

When the birds sang, spring arrived onto the terra mater. The land was painted green once again after the hard and cold winter— this very period of the year was one that brought joy to the Avem Dukedom. It was a time where the flowers bloomed once more, after all, transforming the dull lands and cliffs of the duchy into charming hues.

 

Of course, this season brought a lot of work with it as well. The gradual bloom of nature brought with it a frenzy. As such the servants of the Avem manor prepared themselves to face this arduous task, arming themselves with appropriate ‘armor’ and ‘weapons’ for the challenge that lay ahead. Each servant at this time wore an expression of both anticipation and tiredness, putting themselves in the mindset to wipe every nook and cranny of the estate to perfection.

 

Filled with determination, these servants moved from room to room as they opened the grand windows that adorned every wall of the manor. 

 

It was about midday of the tenth day of cleaning when the servant finally arrived at the last room, one that was at the tallest yet the most remote area of the manor. The door of this room was quite imposing, it was the only door in the manor that was so large and decorated as this one. 

 

However, this imposing aspect didn’t seem to bother the servants in the least. In fact, they swung it open and entered inside quite casually, muttering in relief that it was not locked shut as they had feared.

 

What the servants met inside was a ridiculously darkened room considering the sunny weather outside, so much so that it made quite a few of the servants exasperated. Even though the light streamed through the open door, catching on the glowing bottles and reflecting on the various crystals present, the room was like a black hole that refused to accept any brightness.

 

The servants collectively rubbed their temples before they walked into the room with extremely careful steps. As if Making their way through an intense obstacle course, they gracefully slipped their feet in between the clutter of scrolls and bottles that covered the floor— some even tried to start organizing the mess but had no idea where to begin.

 

Though most servants only expressed helplessness, one of them had a very different response to this sight. That servant rushed to the window and brandished open the curtains with fury, transforming the room from black to white.

 

“My lord, it is time for you to wake!” directed the servant who committed such a drastic move, “The lady of the house hasn’t seen you in a whole nine years, I believe it’s about time you get out of your room and do something other than slumber!”

 

As this servant spoke, the feathers on her avian face puffed up agitation. Although her bird head was not incredibly expressive, it was clear as day that she was absolutely fuming.

 

Annoying sunlight and petals from the blooming trees slipped into the room, and the person, the subject of her fury who was in deep rest, furrowed his brows ever so slightly. However, a moment later, he placed a pillow over his head to block out the annoyances.

 

Of course, the bird servant was completely ignored.

 

At such blatant disregard, the bird servant's feathers puffed further in agitation. “My lord, you have been sleeping for far too long! The lady of the house at this point has taken all of your duties as Duke! Are you not ashamed, my lord? I feel apologetic for our lady for having appointed you as the Duke!”

 

“...” It seemed those words had an effect on the man. It was only a few seconds after her words that he showed movement, lightly stirring and lifting his hand in the servant's direction.

 

It was a small action, but the bird servant's eyes opened wide as they filled with excitement. She thought to herself that perhaps at last her words managed to move the Duke into doing…. ‘something’. After all, ‘something’ was the first step to becoming productive!

 

As tears of joy formed at the ends of her lashes, a small and tired voice escaped from the pillow. “I… I was in the middle…. of a nice dream….....can...can you shut.... the blinds.....”

 

The bird servant staggered, “E-Excuse me?”

 

The man didn’t bother elaborating, however, weakly dropping his hand as if that small phrase took out all the energy present in his body.

 

Watching in horror as her lord’s consciousness was slipping through her fingers, the servant quickly continued so that her words could be registered in his sleepy brain, “Lord, it is not time to continue your sleep! Please go to attend some of your matters! It has been piling up as of late into incredible amounts!”

 

The man stayed still for a second, before squeezing out words in an even more quiet and tired tone than earlier. “....mother…. will... do…. it…. better than.. me… ...any…. .wa… ys….” 

 

The bird servant's feathers puffed up even more to such a show of unwillingness to work, “You—!”

 

She chewed on the words in her beak for what seemed like forever, eventually swallowing her words with an ugly expression. Coming to the conclusion that she will not be able to move the Duke this time as well, she quickly finished her part of the cleaning before storming off.

 

The peanut gallery that took witness to this all shook their heads. This was not the first time they had seen this exchange between the two, in fact, it has become a regular occurrence in the recent springs. They all knew very well the extent of their lord's laziness, impressed that he could spend years of his life continuously in slumber. For those who had short lifespans and had to eat regularly to survive, such a feat was one to behold.

 

Of course, having their Duke be so unproductive was hardly anything good, it can be said, however, that they have gotten used to the status quo and gave up on trying to improve his work ethic.

 

That bird servant was the only one that tried, she was the only one who put effort nowadays not only to get him to work but also to make him into a proper Duke as well. She was part of a small group of servants of the current generation that rose up in order to ‘improve the Duke’ for the prosperity of the duchy.

 

But as could be seen with the conversation that just transpired, that wasn’t going incredibly well.

 

In terms of stubbornness, it was hard to trump their lord. If he wanted to be lazy, there was very little they could do to stop it.

 

But the servants did not pay much thought to this matter as they got back to work.

 

With the cleaning coming to an end, however, an unexpected person made an appearance. It was yet another servant, one that was dressed in wear that showed that she was of higher rank than the others. It was a serious-looking woman of old age, with long graying hair that was neatly tied into a ponytail. Behind her was another unexpected sight, a small child also dressed in servant clothing. She was engrossed in ogling her surroundings in nervous enthusiasm, clearly, it was her first time in this room.

 

The servant bowed dutifully in their presence. It was the only reaction they could display to their guests— that old woman was, after all, the Duke’s personal retainer who had not shown herself in this place for years as to not cause a disturbance for her lord.

 

Keeping an unhurried pace, the retainer neared the bed and kneeled in servitude towards the Duke, reaching for the pillow over his head a moment later, “my lord, it is time to wake.”

 

Unlike with the bird servants' attempts, the retainer's words made the man begrudgingly half-open his eyes. Through the slits of his eyelids, a pair of dull and empty golden irises bore into the retainer, silently questioning her as to why she dared to stir him from his slumber.

 

The retainer now proceeded to remove the sheets of the Duke as she answered his query, “My lord, it is the fourth month of 8867. As per your orders, I was asked to wake you to attend to a ‘certain’ matter.”

 

As the words ‘certain matter’ rang in his ears, the Duke slowly pushed himself up.

 

And when he got up from the bed, the one-meter seven man’s beauty was shown on full display. Adorning his head was fluffy hair the color of warm stone, its messy state bearing resemblance to a chicken nest. His long eyelashes were the same color, opening just wide enough for his unfocused jewel-like golden irises to peek through. At the moment his eyelids were hardly able to keep open as he blinked sleepily, he even raised his hand to rub them in an attempt to sober up. 

 

His face lacked any semblance of emotion, it was as if it were marble forever carved into an expression of lanquidity. The man’s skin was also pink and glossy— almost the definition of pristine— very unlike the skin of a forever sleeping shut-in that saw the sun every few months or even years. If an imperfection had to be named, it would be the horrid scar that ran on the circumstance of his neck. It was a scar that looked to be made from the man’s neck being torn off and haphazardly glued together.

 

This lazy and messy man was the Duke of Avem, Gabriel Avem.

 

As he got up, the retainer signaled to the servants present to dress the Duke as she herself got to combing his hair with a brush the child brought out.

 

“I… can do this…. myself…” whispered the Duke in protest, though he still cooperated with the servants' movements as he said this.

 

“Time is of the essence, my lord. If the lady learns of your awakening she will surely detain you to the office. Please bear with it,” explained the retainer while picking up the thick glasses from the bedside and placing them on the Duke's nose.

 

“...” Knowing how long he took to get ready by himself, Gabriel promptly shut down any complaints. The last thing he wanted was to be caught by his mother to do work— and by extension be stopped from doing ‘that’ matter.

 

After they finished dressing the Duke, the retainer forced all the servants into silence about this matter. Doing so, she picked Gabriel into a princess carry and put a crystal flower from his bedside into his pocket.

 

She then walked out of the room as she continued. “I have already prepared your griffon, my lord. I will keep the lady at bay until you return, so do not worry about time once you arrive at your destination.”

 

As they went down the estate’s long corridor, any servant that they passed bowed deeply to express their ecstasy at the Duke’s awakening. For some, it was the first time seeing the Duke since the start of their servitude to the duchy. Of course, all these servants soon froze like deers in headlights as the retainer eyes coldly glazed over them. They knew very well that this was a silent threat commanding them to not let a peep out about this matter.

 

As they traveled down the halls, Gabriel stared through the humongous open windows, focusing his attention on the gardens below.

 

They were truly a magnificent sight: the plants and flowers all arranged to perfection by the gardeners. What was the most eye-catching in these gardens were the large flowering trees— their branches were lined with light blue flowers that seemed to glow lightly even under the cover of the sun.

 

These trees were now swaying along the currents of the winds, rustling loudly as petals shed from them like snow.

 

The Duke affixed himself on the trees outside as if hypnotized, only breaking his attention to catch a petal that flew by him in his palm.

 

Gabriel’s eyes moved their focus onto the flower shard in his palm. With such a small action, everything seemed to freeze. Even the retainer froze and came to a stop, acutely sensing her lord's change of mood.

 

“It’s….. spring….?” questioned the man with glossed-over eyes, asking almost pointlessly as he was already well aware of the answer. After all, this was the only time of year the duchy's trees would bloom so fully that the air was filled with their petals.

 

“....Indeed it is, my lord,” reaffirmed the retainer after some hesitation as melancholy filled her wrinkled face.

 

At her words, Gabriel roughly crushed the petal in his hand. His fingers harshly dug to his flesh, threatening to pierce his skin. The servants at this act rushed to loosen his hand before he hurt himself in quite the panic. And as he felt their fingers praying open his grasp with careful precision, Gabriel lightly shut his eyes.

 

‘Spring.....’ he thought as his mind drifted to nostalgia. ‘Such a detestable thing,’

 

・• ● •・

 

Feeling a light slapping on his cheek, Gabriel was forced to wake up from his sleep. Annoyed, Gabriel refused to open his eyes as he tried to get back into his slumber, clearly doing his hardest to pay no heed to the disturbance.

 

Noticing that the method wasn’t working, the disturbance changed its tactic as it pulled Gabriel’s ear and started speaking at an obnoxiously loud volume.

 

“Gaaaaaabi~” the voice hummed with glee. It was an awfully frivolous voice that belonged to a man, “Hey Gabi, get uuuuup~ I know you are awake. pretending won’t work with me, you know my dear Gabi.”

 

However, Gabriel still refused to respond, pretending he was in dreamland. He had very little sleep for the past few weeks and desperately wanted to catch up.

 

To such a bland response to his call, the other had no mercy as he spoke words that shook the Duke to his very core, “Gabi, If you don’t wake up, I’m going to go to your dear lady mother and request her to close down all your research labs and barricade the libraries. Then you can sleep all you want, no?”

 

With such a threat, Gabriel resentfully opened his eyes.

 

Staring straight ahead, the first thing he saw was a pair of fancy heeled boots that were surrounded by scattered scrolls and papers covered with diagrams and scribbles of all sorts. He also saw the bi-products of his research such as empty bottles and failed magic charms, all un-neatly laying on the floor together with the paper.

 

And yes, he was indeed lying down on the cold hard floor at the moment.

 

Adjusting the glasses that were slipping off his nose, Gabriel called out to the disturbance in his usual dull tone, “...Luciel...”

 

The man who forced him to wake up was a former retainer of his called Luciel, the only person he knew that would wear such shoes and speak in such a tone.

 

Hearing his name called, Luciel giggled slowly as he dropped down to meet with Gabriel’s stone face. He smiled, taking joy at the air of dissatisfaction that covered the other as his hand landed on his chin. “Come on, at least be a little excited, I dropped by early this time and this is what I get for a welcome? Our Gabi is a really bad host isn’t he?”

 

“.....Well…. what did you….. expect…. after..... waking… me….up… like….this….” Gabriel blinked slowly as he did his best to become more awake, gazing at Luciel as he rubbed his eyes.

 

“Fine fine, sorry for waking up our great Duke but I have some stuff I need to discuss with you,” purred Luciel with great sarcasm as he returned Gabriel’s stare.

 

The young man was now grinning even wider to the sleeping beauty, showing off his white teeth in an insolent manner. Because of the grin, his thin snake-like blue eyes were bent into crescents, watching the other in playful Schadenfreude. His skin was very pale, it was as if all his blood was drained— it was also covered with brown-ish moles that added onto his somewhat exotic appearance. His long rose-white hair was currently draping over his shoulders onto the floor, although it was clearly styled, such a small thing could not hide its unruly nature. It could also be seen that the man was quite tall. If he wasn’t squatting right now, he would have reached about a meter-nine and towered over the comparatively little Duke— not to mention he was wearing heels.

 

“But that aside, I told you not to go overboard with the research while I’m gone, Gabi. Look, no one was here to tell you off for sleeping in random places, you know very well the servants won’t do anything about it since you forbade them too,” continued Luciel as he picked up the papers, pens and other objects that were messily scattered on the floor and put them into their appropriate places. “My dear Gabi, I’m truly worried that one of these days you are going to do this outside and get kidnapped because of this.”

 

“... you... are….. back,” squeezed out Gabriel as he attempted to push himself off the ground but failed, shakily flopping back onto the floor like a dead fish. Although that attempt failed, because of it, it could at least be seen that Duke had become more awake.

 

Luciel froze for a second before laughing, “Gabi we just went over this, of course I’m back if I said I’m back. Now tell me, dear Gabi. tell me, did you miss me~”

 

Gabriel nodded slightly as his eyes blinked sleepily.

 

“Now this is a much better welcome~” smiled Luciel as if that small nod was the biggest fanfare to his arrival in the world. While beaming in joy, he lightly picked up Gabriel with one hand and leaned him on his chest, knowing too well how long it would take for Gabriel to be able to walk at a proper pace. 

 

As they left the room, Luciel waved and winked to the servants as he spoke with the man who threatened to fall asleep again in his hold. “So? Made any breakthroughs? You said that you will fix my weapons by the time I’m back but I don’t see it.”

 

Gabriel shook his head.

 

“Gabi but you promised me~” gasped Luciel with his free hand over his lips.

 

Gabriel could only give him a half-hearted shrug. “....Magic devices…. aren’t my expertise. I still don’t understand…. Why….. won’t you…... ask Maki—“

 

“Nope,” cut off Luciel, “that’s not possible. Not possible at all.”

 

“?” Gabriel tilted his head. 

 

“Ah— you wouldn’t have heard because you were probably locked in your lab or room the entire time,” said Luciel as he scrunched up his face in thought, “Maki —that bastard— how can I say this….. he’s a little cross with me? The whole story is a bit of a mess but in conclusion, our recent mission ended up with me pretending to throw his precious and favorite sword off a cliff. Now he’s so mad that he won’t let me near him nor his smithy… that’s why I asked you to fix my weapons instead.”

 

“...You threw it….. for real….. didn’t you.”

 

Luciel didn’t even try to deny it as he grinned, “You bet I did, you should have seen his face. I had the best laugh I had in years!”

 

Gabriel pursed his lips in disappointment, “It seems I missed something fun,”

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take you next time I can. This time it was some top secret stuff again so we couldn’t just take the grand Duke of the Avem Dukedom with us,” giggled Luciel as he winked at Gabriel.

 

With his words, gloom disappeared off Gabriel’s face as he made a victory sign with his fingers, “but since you threw it off and he lost his cool, it’s our win again. Maki has nothing on us.”

 

In response to his cute statement, a boisterous laugh rang out from Luciel as it slowly died into a low-energy chuckle. “Yes….. there is a little problem though.” 

 

“Hmmmmm?”

 

Luciel licked his lips playfully as he dropped a bomb, “I was going to go down and retrieve the sword and play the whole thing off for laughs but— it wasn’t there when I went down. Gabi……. I lost it.”

 

Gabriel gazed toward Luciel with his mouth slightly agape.

 

“Yes Gabriel, this is not a joke. I lost his precious baby. And I mean like REALLY lost it.” 

 

“....” Gabriel recovered as the look in his eyes turned complicated, forming the most coherent sentence so far in their conversation “Lulu, aren’t you extremely fucked then?”

 

Luciel shrugged with a sour smile. “It seems like it.”

 

“For now, elaborate.”

 

Nodding, Luciel dramatically placed his hand over his forehead as he got into the mood for the retelling of his sob story, “Ah it is fresh on my mind, that fateful day. It was so foggy that afternoon, you couldn’t see more than twenty meters in front of you. As usual, I and that bitch were going through our back and forth when he said something that reeeeeaally irked me— like super irked. Because of my big brain, I figured that the best solution to this would be to assert my dominance over him to win the argument, which I did by pretending to throw his sword off a cliff. Ah, and As you already know, in the end, I actually throw it as I felt it would be more impactful~”

 

Gabriel nodded, “I figured as much, go on.”

 

“Well, before we do continue, guess what was at the bottom of the cliff.” 

 

Gabriel thought for a second, “A river?” 

 

This was the only reason he would have thought the other lost it.

 

“Ding~! Right on the money as always my dear Gabi,” giggled Luciel as he snapped his fingers, “There was indeed a river at the bottom of the cliff, one that just happened to flow into the ocean. Thus, in an absolutely tragic course of events, the sword was lost to the bowels of Poseidon’s bathtub after my little show.”

 

Gabriel sighed lightly. “How are you still alive?”

 

“Ah there is a simple reason,” hummed Luciel, “Just like you, when this happened Maki also assumed that I was joking and was mad at me ‘keeping’ his favorite sword and only forbade me to come within his line of sight. However — and this is the reason I came back so soon — a few days ago Maki discovered that I did indeed lose the sword, and has pledged to have my head go on a pike.”

 

“..I see…...” Gabriel patted Luciel’s shoulder in pity after a moment of silence, “...Worry not….. I will build you a nice grave…. and make sure to offer alcohol every time I’m free.”

 

To that unexpected response, Luciel’s face went blank.

 

“If our all-powerful Maki….. wants you dead….. this poor mage can do nothing but wish…. for your passing to be painless,” explained Gabriel as he put his hands together in prayer, treating Luciel as if he was already dead. 

 

Luciel’s expression continued to be lost before his brows twisted mournfully as if he made up his mind to do something incredibly difficult. “Gabi... if that is the case I have no other choice…..”

 

“Oh my, it’s going to be hard for me but— I’m afraid I will have to take you down to the grave with me,” sniffed Luciel as he wiped his non-existent tears with the same determination that would be used by father who killed himself to atone for killing his sinful son. “This is tragic, and it will truly break my heart to do this but I cannot bear to leave you alone in this world without my incredibly charismatic and handsome self. You will suffer too much without my awesome presence. Ah and don’t worry, I will get our graves done beforehand, it will be hard but I can also arrange for your mother to bring us offerings of sweets and alcohol to the afterlife as well.”

 

Gabriel gazed at Luciel who was fake-crying as the gears in his little head turned to overdrive.

 

Eventually, he opened his mouth.

 

“... If that is the case, come hide at my place….. I recently made some upgrades on our hideout….He won’t find you there…..meanwhile I’ll look for the sword. Even if Maki tries anything on me…. I can run away faster than he can chase,” said the deadpan Gabriel with a thumbs up who was now singing a completely different tune.

 

Luciel made a moved expression as if he did not threaten to kill the other just moments ago, “really?”

 

Gabriel nodded.

 

“!!!” Luciel put a hand over his mouth before rubbing his cheek in Gabriel’s fluffy hair. “I can always count on you Gabi~”

 

After completely turning the others' hair into a chaotic mess, Luciel changed topics.

 

“But my dear Gabi, you really have nothing to show me?” He complained as his expression returned back into a snake-like grin, “too bad then, I had a surprise prepared for you but since you have nothing for me, I have no reason to give it to you. I’m a firm believer in equivalent exchange, you know~“

 

Gabriel raised his eyes in interest as he fixed his hair. “What is the value of the surprise?” 

 

Luciel looked at him in a provocative manner with narrowed eyes. “The value of it is in your soul.”

 

“ I have to guess…” murmured Gabriel as he saw the intent of the other.

 

“Up to you.” Shrugged Luciel.

 

Gabriel helplessly exhaled through his nose as he leaned back in thought.

 

What Luciel was asking him to do was to basically gamble. You see, his gifts could usually be put into two categories: utterly useless garbage or an amazing treasure. He would then ask for a trade no matter its quality. The problem is if he didn’t like what was presented he would switch out the gift to a shitty one if it was indeed good. Of course, he doesn’t do it always but ever since he did it once on a whim, about half of his gifts were presented in this manner. In a way, it was a little game created in between them— he did it to Luciel sometimes too.

 

Gabriel looked at the smiling snake of a man, but his face gave away nothing. With a small internal click of the tongue, Gabriel’s curiosity won over as he took out a thin palm-long bottle of glowing rainbow liquid and shook it in front of the others face, “this mana potion... Exchange for the gift.”

 

“?!?!?” Audibly gasping, Luciel gawked at the potion as his curved eyes sparkled with the same light one would use if they met their true love. ”Ahh, Gabi you really know what I like don’t you? Oh my, I can smell the mana quality from here. What did you use to make it?”

 

“....Ground unicorn horn.” Spoke Gabriel with some sadness as he played with the bottle. This was one of the more valuable mana potions he had and it took him forever to make, thus he was hesitant to give it away. But his curiosity for Luciel’s gift trumped his hesitation, he was afraid if he was stingy Luciel would keep the gift and give him something trashy instead.

 

With the source known, Luciel became even more intoxicated as he cupped his flushing red cheek. “A mana potion made from a higher being! Oh my, no wonder it smells so delectable, Gabi, you truly spoil me! Can I look at it?”

 

As Gabriel nodded, Luciel swiped the potion from his hand without missing a beat, “what is the surprise then?”

 

“Hmm?” Luciel raised his brow, “you're agreeing to trade this then?”

 

Gabriel nodded.

 

“I see, the deal is done then~! The surprise is in my pocket.” Beamed Luciel as all his attention was focused on the potion.

 

Seeing as Luciel was too preoccupied to give it to him, Gabriel investigated the pocket himself and fished out a small box. He brought it up to his eyes, turning it from side to side inquisitively as Luciel did with the potion. The box was made of beautiful decorated wood and gold. Giving off both a rustic and elegant atmosphere.

 

“....?” Intently staring at the small box, his tone heightened in anticipation “This is?” 

 

Sadly, as Luciel had found a new ‘lover’, he had no attention to spare towards Gabriel. The Duke decided not to pay heed to his annoying antics as he opened the lid of the case himself to see what was inside.

 

And the content was—

 

A seed?

 

“?????????” Gabriel’s brain went into a state of anarchy as he couldn’t comprehend this development.

 

After the shock, disappointment, and anger flooded in as the realization of the type of gift he got set in. Turning to Luciel, Gabriel opened his mouth to try to talk his way into getting the potion back into his grasp only to be hit with another shocking event— one that was miles much more shocking than the first.

 

You see, the potion he was hoping to retrieve was stuck upside down in between Luciel’s teeth. The timing of Gabriel’s gaze came just in time to see the last drops of the colorful potion flow into the other's mouth and disappear forever in his gullet.

 

Sensing the eyes filled with horror piercing his skin, Luciel shot the other a grin with the empty bottle still in his teeth. That very punchable pleased expression told Gabriel that the other already anticipated his response to the gift.

 

“....” 

 

Not paying heed to the deadpan Duke's little breakdown, Luciel wiped his mouth as he put the empty bottle in his clothes. “Waaaahh…. that was wonderful~ I haven’t had mana of that quality in ages. And you made it black avarice flavored as well, Gabi thanks~”

 

Gabriel took a breath to regain his calm, “A seed?”

 

“Yes.” Snickered Luciel with curved eyes.

 

Gabriel leaned his temple on the tips of his fingers, “type?”

 

“Apple.”

 

“..... is there anything else for this surprise?” Don’t tell him that he wasted such a spectacular mana potion on an apple seed.

 

Luci stroked his chin as if he remembered something important. “Well, there are some cakes and sweets baked in the finest of bakeries in the empire.”

 

Gabriel immediately regained vigor, “Really? Where are they?”

 

“The journey was long so I ate them.” 

 

“......” Gabriel took another deep breath to avoid falling into utter depression. “What about... equivalent exchange?”

 

“What a stupid question,” smirked Luciel, “I only use it when it benefits me, of course.” 

 

“.....................................”

 

Watching the stone-faced man deflate at a visible rate, Luciel couldn’t hold back the explosive laughter that was collecting at the back of his throat for the entire exchange. At one point, his laugh increased to such hysteria that he forgot to pay attention to his steps, tripping over his own feet and forcing the two of them to splat onto the floor without a single iota of warning.

 

Flopping on the floor, Luciel made a stupidly stunned expression before breaking out into an even more roaring laugh, wiping the tears that formed from his outburst.

 

Meanwhile, the other who got unfairly dumped onto the ground surprisingly regained some vigor. Because of the sudden movement, his glasses fell off his nose and now his naked eyes were staring at the seed with slight rapacity.

 

Without his glasses, although the world was now an indistinguishable blur, he was able to see the mana flowing all around him.

 

And the seed— it was overflowing with mana that was incredibly pure. It was like the testa of the seeds was an almost bursting dam for the mana.

 

“.... This is not an apple seed,” sighed a relieved Gabriel as he felt around for his glasses.

 

“Obviously,” nodded Luciel, frowning slightly as he rubbed his jaw that was now aching from laughing too much. “You really thought I would make such a commotion for an apple seed?”

 

“....” Gabriel moved his blinded eyes in the direction of Luciel, his judging gaze giving the other all the answers he needed.

 

“You can at least deny it, you know.” Tsked Luciel as he helped Gabriel locate his glasses and handed them to him.

 

“You’ve made bigger deals… out of a lot smaller things.” Said Gabriel as he put them on, “So... what is it?”

 

Making a small hum, Luciel rolled onto his back as he casually and smirked, “This? Oh, nothing much……. it’s just an unknown seed— the only thing that can be considered special about is that it was watered a bit in the diluted sap of the fountain of youth?”

 

“!!!” Gabriel became visibly shaken as his forever half-closed eyes widened, “As in the Yggdrasil’s fountain of youth? The Holy Mother Tree Yggdrasil, Godly Tree of Elderwood and the parent of all nature?”

 

This wasn’t a joking matter. Anything from the Yggdrasil was absolutely priceless— and that was in the context of things such as flakes of its bark or bits of its leaves. But the fountain of youth— it was like the Yggdrasil’s heart! Forget priceless, this was something that was nigh impossible to get!

 

“Why are you so surprised? It’s only a seed, no need to be dramatic,” lampooned Luciel as he reached out for the case Gabriel was holding in fingers that shook like autumn leaves, “since you don’t like it, I’ll look for something else that meets our great Duke's standards.”

 

Gabriel hid the seed behind himself in a panic, “you’re being serious?”

 

“Hmm?” Luciel stroked his chin, “it might be a bit hard but I think I have something—“

 

“I’m talking about the seed.” snapped Gabriel.

 

Gabriel was in quite a state of agitation, but Luciel shut up at this exact moment, taking his sweet time to answer his query.

 

He got up slowly, stretching his back as he ran his hand through his long hair to get it into some order. Only when he felt Gabriel was about to jump up and strangle him by the neck did he open his mouth, “Not a word of falsehood, my dear Gabi. We had a mission in Elderwood this time and I found this while having some fun in their black market. I smelled how good the mana quality was on it and thought I would bring a nice souvenir for the cute Duke at home. Ah, and before you ask— I did get it appraised. It’s indisputably been in contact with the fountain of youth, I can even show you a certificate if you want.”

 

Once the confirmation came through, Gabriel choked on his spit and started coughing. When he regained some stability, he breathed out as he tried to wrap his head completely around what he had received. “H-holy shit…. I-I’ve been negotiating with them for years... they never even let me... bring up the fountain of youth in conversation. H-how?”

 

“Well there is a simple answer,” purred Luciel with a finger placed over his curved lips, “Unlike you who sits on your ass the whole day, I - an incredibly handsome and competent socialite - actually have some good connections, my dear. And of course, you are not going to be able to make any headway by going through those dumb as logs Elderwood royals, that was incredibly stupid from your side. You have to think outside the box a bit Gabi, the only way to get these types of things is by going through the underbelly.”

 

Gabriel nodded seriously at the advice and he buried his chin in his fingers for a moment. Making up his mind, Gabriel snapped his fingers.

 

This was not a communicative gesture as one would expect though, as after the snap, a mountain of glowing potions ended up in Gabriel’s arms. Not a moment later, he shoved that little mountain into Luciel’s arms as thanks before turning on his heel and bolting before the other could process what is going on.

 

“Eh?” With a couple of the potions awkwardly falling through his grasp, Luciel stupidly stared ahead as he could not believe his eyes.

 

He oogled the man who sprinted down the hall— the man who hardly ever moved as he usually defaulted to being carried like a child because he couldn’t be bothered to move on his own. Luciel doubted he even remembers if he had ever seen the Duke go any faster than a casual walk.

 

“What the f—“ curbing his shock Luciel carefully placed the rest of the potions on the floor and asked the servants to keep them for him before running too.

 

“Oi Gabi! Gabi, I swear to the moon dame, you better not be going to research it right now! Gabi— hey Gabriel Avem, that can wait a day can’t it! Gabi, you have to find the sword for me! Masahiko will really kill me if we don't find it!”

 

・• ● •・

 

“Sera darling, can you pour me some more?” Hummed Luciel as he raised his glass in the air with a modest swirl.

 

At his command, a servant opened up a bottle of pink champagne and dutifully followed his command. With his drink replenished, Luciel brought the glass gracefully to his lips— savagely chugging the entire thing in one big gulp the whole thing a moment later. This process went on a couple times, only halting when eventually the bottle dried up and was placed onto the small hill of other such specimens.

 

Getting bored of drinking, the somehow still sober Luciel put his glass away as he leaned into the heavy fluff behind him, similarly to the passed-out man next to him. Currently, the two of them were both leaning on a fluffy creature that was licking its paws— a brown griffin that somehow managed to remain dignified even though it was reduced to a mere pillow by the two.

 

Laying on the creature, the two enjoyed the fresh air and sunlight from under a large tree.

 

While the sun hit his face, amidst fanning himself Luciel ordered yet another champagne bottle to be opened under the feed-up and concerned gaze of the servants. As for the other, his state was not very hard to predict— Gabriel completely left this plane of existence and was happily in dreamland, completely draped on the creature like a rag.

 

Soon finishing that bottle, Luciel turned his body as he fully threw himself into the griffon, rubbing his head against the brown feathery-furry fluff. “Ahhh… Mattress is as fluffy as ever~ but I’m so happy, I haven’t seen you two in forever and a half. This mission was so long this time that I even considered quitting. Not that I can quit with my head on my shoulders haha.”

 

Of course, Gabriel didn’t respond— he was too busy being dead to the world.

 

Clicking his tongue at the silence, Luciel grumpily pinched the others cheek, “Oi, sleep later. I have an important topic to address, a very very important one. I can’t have you sleeping right now.”

 

In response to the annoyance, Gabriel opened his eyes groggily as massaged his aching cheek. There was a silent questioning in his half-lidded eyes which made Luciel grin.

 

“Look Gabi, isn’t it charming? The flower I mean, not me.” Said Luciel as he leaned forward to poke the little sapling in front of them, “it finally sprouted after so long, this event is so joyous that even my icy cold heart was moved… I think I will shed a tear.”

 

Gabriel rolled his eyes to the object of Luciel's praise. It was a flower that was blooming at the top of a small sampling that appeared to be weak enough to break even with the smallest of sighs.

 

But while the sapling looked pathetic, it was still growing strong. Bright green leaves healthily lined its branches, and although thin, it appeared to be very flexible. The most striking thing on this plant was definitely its flower Luciel praised, however. It was an odd thing and was surprisingly big for this small plant.

 

It was about the size of a palm, its color a teal white that was visible bioluminescent under the shade of the tree. Its petals were covered with an odd pattern, the tips of them all having folding hairs that made the flower appear very strange.

 

Gabriel never has seen such a flower, this was not surprising— this specimen was definitely the first of its kind. It was an experimental work using the sap of the tree grown from the seed Luciel gave him many years ago, he was trying to replicate it as that tree didn’t show any sort of means of reproduction.

 

This seed right here was a failed attempt though, it didn’t have anywhere near the mana content of the original. The only noteworthy thing about it was probably its looks.

 

After admiring the flower— and by extension his work— a bit longer, Gabriel turned his head to Luciel. He nodded in agreement to Luciel's statement about its beauty before tilting his head in confusion, “I don’t…. get the importance of that... though”

 

Luciel's eyes widened when he heard him, shifting a moment later into slits as a complacent grin stretched itself on his lips. “You don’t know?”

 

Gabriel blinked sleepily in response.

 

“Pff, you forgot? Gabi dear, you lost.” Giggled Luciel with his teeth showing in Schadenfreude.

 

“???” Gabriel was still groggy after waking up so he didn’t quite follow, however, the word ‘lost’ rubbed him the wrong way so he pushed himself up with a displeased atmosphere. 

 

As he was processing what was going on, Luciel took the liberty of kindly explaining, “you lost the bet, you know…. the one proposed by you, grand Duke.”

 

Gabriel tilted his head, “....no?”

 

“What do you mean no?” Luciel's eyes rounded into circles for a moment, then flattened back again because of his furrowed brows. “We— and more specifically you— bet that if this sapling flowers in 5 years, you would owe me a biiiiiig favor and if it doesn’t then visé versa. And lo and behold, this little sweetheart has bloomed in just about two years. And this means that— you. Lost. Dear... Very badly at that.

 

Gabriel immediately sobered. 

 

Gazing at the expressionless man who was now in a state of shock, Luciel grinned as he rubbed the salt into the others wound in glee, “I won~ you lost~ now I’m two wins ahead of you as well as having a favor from our great Duke~”

 

Discontent at the other's attitude, Gabriel waved his hand in the direction of the servant. Without missing a beat, the servant opened another bottle and handed Gabriel a glass while he was inspecting the sapling.

 

Something seemed off—no something was definitely off. It also wasn’t supposed to grow so soon. The seed he used for this experiment was one that took long to grow without alterations, and according to his hypothesis, the addition of the sap from the gift tree was supposed to slow down the growth further. Not to mention, he even went to such lengths of planting this sapling under a tree to inhibit its growth to guarantee his win.

 

So why did it grow?

 

Is it possible he miscalculated? Although it was unpleasant to admit, he did not have that much information about this plant so he was predicting its growth time solely by estimation. It is possible for factors he was unaware of to create deviations in his predictions.

 

With an unhappy air around him, Gabriel was just about to admit his loss this time before he heard a muffled snicker from the guy beside him. Gabriel snapped his head at him but as soon as Gabriel looked, Luciel regained a serene smile once more, fanning himself causally.

 

This small action…… it gave him a huge feeling of suspicion.

 

Following up on his hunch, Gabriel took off his glasses as he used his now clouded eyes to squint at the sapling. His eyes seemed to linger on the plant for what felt like forever, but once he moved his gaze away, confidence seeped out of his pores, “No.”

 

Luciel, who was now shoving black-colored berries into his mouth under the servants' concerned gaze, almost choked on them as a look of incredulity replaced his smile.

 

“No again, Gabriel? Are you mad?” Snarled Luciel as he turned his index finger on next to his temple in a circular motion, “did you sleep so much that you damaged your precious brain? It has clearly blossomed, I don’t think this is something debatable.”

 

Gabriel did a little smug scoff as he crossed his fingers together over his laps, “You cheated.”

 

“Hmm?” Luciel raised a brow, “that’s ludicrous. What cheating? Gabriel, this is a plant. Please do tell, how the hell does one cheat when growing plants.”

 

Gabriel narrowed his eyes, “supplements. You clearly gave it mana supplements, potent mana ones at that.”

 

To such assumptions, Luciel gave a heartbroken gasp.

 

“Gabi… I thought we were closer than this…” Luciel wept with a face of a man who was betrayed by his closest confidant, “Accusing me of such a thing, how heartless. You know very well I’m not good at those types of things.”

 

Gabriel placed his glasses back onto his nose as he continued his assertion, “I saw it. The mana content of this plant isn’t the level it was before. It’s much higher.”

 

“What?” Luciel's expression turned almost disgusted, “you don’t know anything about this plant, so how is this related to me? Maybe the little thing is a late bloomer.”

 

“Ah yes, because late bloomers would have the same type of mana I used in the fertilizer for the gift.” Stated Gabriel without an expression.

 

“........... I’m innocent though… Maybe it was one of your servants trying to grow this plant? Or maybe it was transferred from the main tree onto this one and is only showing now. There is no reason to blame me on mere speculation,” murmured Luciel with a dejected expression. “It’s not always my fault…”

 

Hearing his words, Gabriel lightly exiled from his nose as he snapped his fingers, Making a small crystal appear in his hand. “Are you sure?”

 

Luciel looked at the crystal in curiosity, “Hmm? What’s that?”

 

“It’s a recording crystal,” Gabriel taunted with narrowed eyes, “One that was stationed at my lab.”

 

Luciel’s eyes grew alarmed for a fraction of a second, however, this did not escape Gabriel as he curled his eyebrows gleefully in response to catching the rat in the act, “so, are you still ‘innocent’?”

 

Luciel was about to nod and plead his case again, however, Gabriel raised his chin, “if you lie to me, I won’t give you any mana potion for the next decade. Choose your words wisely.”

 

“!!!” Luciel quickly swallowed the words he had in his mouth.

 

He then remained quiet for a while longer— opting to then shrug his shoulders in surrender. He couldn’t lie here if there was evidence as much as he wanted to, and the consequences of being found out were extremely dire, “alright fine, I admit it. I went to your lab and stole your magical fertilizer as I saw it worked on the other plant, okay? Happy now?”

 

“Very happy.” Said Gabriel smugly as he ‘laughed’ (exhaled lightly from his nose).

 

“But I’m surprised you have footage, since when do you have magical recorders in your lab? Since it is hidden and all, didn’t you say not long ago that you couldn’t be bothered to install them? Why did you do it now?” Wondered Luciel as he stroked his chin.

 

“I didn’t.” Hummed Gabriel as he threw the crystal to Luciel with something that was almost a chuckle.

 

Catching the gem, Luciel's face went blank as he inspected the gem thoroughly. Confirming that it was not a recording crystal, Luciel hardly glared at Gabriel. “you…. you played me? This is just a normal raw mana crystal you little shit.”

 

Gabriel raised his brow, “perhaps I indeed should put in recording crystals in my labs….. This is not the first time you stole something….. right? What else did you steal? I did find that some mana stones….. and potions were missing, I thought I was going crazy but it was you… right?”

 

“......” Luciel nervously looked to the side as he put the crystal in his mouth and ate it, Making the servant in the back open their eyes widely.

 

“...” Gabriel was speechless for a while, “I never said you can eat it, that was a pretty powerful mana crystal....”

 

Luciel showed him his middle finger, sticking out his tongue to show that the crystal had gone into his gullet. It was a small petty action, one that showed Gabriel that he was cornered yet still wanted to make a show of superiority— a show that didn’t seem very convincing to the other.

 

At Luciel's peeved behavior, Gabriel flopped back into the griffon fluff in a good mood, “Have you…. turned into Maki? What’s with that attitude? … Oh? Is it because you were so... easily fooled by me? Tell me, o mighty self-proclaimed…. master of deception.”

 

Luciel crossed his arms as he refused to comment, clearly extremely annoyed as he clicked his tongue.

 

“Don’t tsk…. Instead congratulate me.” Hummed Gabriel as he made his fingers into a victory sign, “I won.”

 

“........” Luciel pushed his head into his neck. “Excuse me but what?”

 

Gabriel kindly clarified, “You cheated, lost by default.” 

 

The sulking Luciel narrowed his eyes, “Ehhh, don't be so sure Gabi.”

 

Gabriel raised a brow.

 

“Dearest Gabi, we never mentioned we can’t cheat, did we? Thus, this is fair game. All is fair in war, no?” Gloated Luciel as he opened his arms wide with newfound vigor, his words overflowing with superiority “I still win regardless of if you discovered my cheating~”

 

Digesting his words for a second, the unfazed Gabriel leaned forward and gave a counter of his own— ripping off the flower of the sapling. “Ok then, Look... It didn’t bloom now.”

 

Luciel’s face rapidly turned from glee to shit, his expressions feeding more joy to Gabriel.

 

“I won. I think the word you used is ‘undebatable’?” Said Gabriel with no expression as he put the fingers in a victory sign on his cheek and pushed up the tips of his lips to make it look like he was smiling. “It can't bloom now so let’s cut to the chase….. You owe me a favor. That was the agreement.”

 

“................. you do realize you did that right in front of my face?” Grumbled Luciel with fingers rubbing his temple.

 

Gabriel didn’t even take a moment to deny it shamelessly, “No such thing. It never grew” 

 

“Gabi, although you may be blind without your glasses, I’m not. You ripped it off just now.” Snorted Luciel.

 

“Even if I did so. It’s still gone so I still win.”

 

“No Gabriel, with this move you just played yourself, not me. if you ripped it off then you cheated. By your rules that means you lost, otherwise, if you change this rule, I win.”

 

“I think you are mistaken about something.” Harrumphed Gabriel as he raised his chin, “We never specified that ripping the flower counts as cheating.”

 

Luciel’s face turned ugly.

 

“All is fair in war.” Said Gabriel expressionlessly to rub the salt in the wound, sticking out his tongue in a cheeky manner as he did so.

 

Luciel sulked for a while longer before bursting at the mistreatment.

 

“Waaaaaah! I’m going to cry, Gabi is such a trickster. Deceiving a poor innocent soul such I….” Cried Luciel as he threw himself into the griffon like Gabriel, “Such a scum man, taking advantage of a handsome and beautiful being such as me. Truly a sinful act~”

 

Gabriel shrugged as he ignored his theatrics, “Well, you cheated first.”

 

Luciel’s tearful expression disappeared away as he scoffed. “Hah, it seems that we both ended up cheating in the end.”

 

“A tie.” Said Gabriel as he tilted his head.

 

“Indeed.” 

 

At that, the dialogue finally died down.

 

The two remained silent as if they had spent all their energy on that long exchange. Quietly, Luciel ate the berries that were sitting in the bowl next to him, lavishing in their taste to try to fill this silence. As he did so, his eyes curved at their delicious taste— they were his favorite fruit that grew the most this time of year, Black Avarice.

 

In a good mood, Luciel moved a fist full of these berries in front of Gabriel, kindly offering them to him. “Want?”

 

Waking up at Luciel’s light call, Gabriel groggily shook his head, “...I already drank…... alcohol, if I eat these….. raw, I….. will be poisoned.”

 

Poisonous. Yes, these berries were indeed poisonous if eaten raw, hence why the servants were in shock that Luciel was eating them like candy. However this poisonous aspect came somewhat from the fruits mana properties which Luciel had no problem digesting, he even welcomed it, unlike most other people.

 

Mana was an incredibly delicious thing for him after all.

 

Eating his fill, Luciel turned to Gabriel as boredom started to drift in again. He reached for the flower in his hand and tucked it behind his ear on a whim, waking Gabriel up again in the process, “So what do we do about this conundrum? Our usual?” 

 

Blinking to gain some soberness, Gabriel stroked his chin and then nodded, “Poker this time.”

 

“Poker?” Without missing a beat, Luciel straightened up as he dug a deck of cards out of his clothes, “How brave my Gabriel, you want to settle it this way? You know you as good as lost when you picked this game, my dear Duke?”

 

“Not necessarily.” Murmured Gabriel with a determined face, he was preparing tactics and strategies to try to beat Luciel at least once in poker and he felt that it was time to put it into practice. But that was easier said than done, the other was a master of this game after all. But he had to test if what he was working on was a viable strategy. “You can’t win forever.”

 

“Hoh? Okay then, rules?” Purred Luciel.

 

“Best of three, law, tie break.” Spoke Gabriel as he brought up three fingers in front of his face.

 

“Okay~” hummed Luciel as he shuffled the cards.

 

As Luciel did this, Gabriel quietly turned his face to stare at the smiling Luciel, unknowingly his heart speeding slightly. It was just such a beautiful sight, the man’s white hair flowed under the sun as his eyes curved into bewitching arcs. A usual smile trailed on his lips, showing off his teeth in a manner that Gabriel found both irritating and utterly delightful.

 

Staring at the other unblinkingly, unknowingly Gabriel's ears have painted a shade of red.

 

Not only was the others' appearance captivating, but his presence was absolutely soothing to Gabriel. Although they bickered to high heaven, whenever they were together Gabriel felt his entire soul being wrapped in a warmth he could not describe, an intoxicating warmth which he could stay in for forever. He could not imagine being completely without it, it was a presence that accompanied him for years on end after all, ever since he was young.

 

It was one of the only familiar presences that still existed in his long long life, and it was the only one that gave him the only thing he could classify as yearning.

 

Thinking so far, Gabriel dragged his fingers across his smooth and unblemished neck, swallowing the words he had at the back of his throat. Actually, he had been hoping to gain Luciel's favor with this bet and ask for the other to take a holiday so they could go on an extended vacation together. Luciel has been extremely busy lately and he has not been able to participate in his work due to his status as a Duke, thus it was upsetting to him that they did not hang out as much as they used to anymore.

 

This time, he was hoping to climb the highest mountain in the empire together, watching the sea of stars above the clouds. Gabriel thought that perhaps that would have been a good scene…. a good scene to confess.

 

To confess that he loved Luciel.

 

Of course, this was just wishful thinking, he knew very well that once they went, in the end, Gabriel would not say anything. This was not the first time he had gone on vacation with such a plan. After all, how do you say such things? Not to mention he is painfully aware that his social skills are somewhere close to zero, thus the chances of him doing something to ruin it were incredibly high.

 

As such thoughts consumed his mind, Gabriel unconsciously moved his hand to Luciel's face that was fully enthralled in setting up the game— the other was so into it that he even let out a light hum.

 

Just as the tips of his fingers were about to make contact with the others cheek, however, Gabriel switched his target to the flower behind his ear. This action greatly confused Luciel as he stopped his card shuffling and turned his attention to Gabriel, “Hmm? May I ask what you are doing Duke Avem? Why are you staring at me as if I were an exotic animal?”

 

“...” Gabriel froze at being called out as he awkwardly rolled his eyes down at the flower he stole back, shifting it in his palm nervously.

 

“Hah? Nothing to say for yourself, Gabi? Let me guess, I am just too beautiful and handsome to describe in words. Must be too captivating for a short and ugly someone like yourself, you must be jealous, Huh....” Giggled Luciel as he picked up some cards and used them to fan himself. Obviously, he sensed the nervousness of the other but he attributed it to him being caught in the act of doing something mischievous.

 

These words made Gabriel’s nervousness and heart flutters disappear in a second.

 

“Delusional as usual. I’m better looking than you.” Gabriel said with a tilted chin.

 

To that, Luciel snorted as if his words were the greatest bit of idiocy he ever heard. “Pff, look, this shortie wants to argue about looks? How pitiful dear, I truly feel bad that you think you have a stake in this argument. You have to accept that a mongrel can’t compare to a purebred wolf.”

 

Gabriel shook his head with a sigh at those words as he picked up his cards, gazing at Luciel down his nose with contempt.

 

“—eek! Don’t glare at me like that. I’ll have a heart attack, Gabi.” Squealed Luciel as he put his spare hand over his chest in panic.

 

The other didn’t react to his outburst, “Then have a heart attack. It’s your loss for delusion.”

 

What came after was a huge bout of laughter Luciel was holding back this conversation, almost dropping his cards as tears formed in his eyes. Gabriel ignored this as he gazed lightly towards the flower, “really, this flower is truly—”

 

 

・• ● •・

 

“— beautiful…..”

 

With the foreign voice interrupting his recollections, Gabriel cruelly snapped back to reality. Upset at the sudden half of his train of thought, Gabriel slowly creaked his head towards the source of the noise like a broken puppet.

 

The source was something he did not expect. It was the child that was accompanying his retainer, the child he did not bother registering the presence of until this very moment. The child was a small girl that looked to be about the age of ten, with red hair that was made out of thin and long feathers. She was currently looking up at Gabriel with large glassy brown eyes, anxiety forming on her face due to the other's emotionless stare.

 

However, she was not the only one in discomfort— Gabriel himself had a terrible premonition as he moved his head to his retainer.

 

“She means the flower in your hand is beautiful.” Soothed the retainer softly.

 

At her words, Gabriel moved his gaze to his hand once more. On his palm lay a blue-tinted crystallized flower, one that was slightly bioluminescent. It was a strange-looking flower with hairs on the edge of its petals— a preserved flower from a certain day eons ago.

 

It seems that while he was deep in thought, he had unknowingly taken it out. 

 

Giving a helpless exhale, Gabriel placed it back into his clothes as his eyes glazed over again. Nowadays, this flower was one of the only things that could soothe him. Not by much though.

 

Closing his eyes, he was about to command the retainer to continue moving towards the stables before a child's nervous hiccup interrupted this.

 

Gabriel’s attention shifted again, “Who is this?” 

 

The servant frowned as she heard the clear discontent in his flat words. After hesitating for a second, her wrinkled eyes lowered as she answered. “This…. This is my protege my lord.”

 

Gabriel’s brows visibly lowered by a centimeter. Such a radical change made the servant cringe, she knew how unsettling these words were to the other. However, since she started this line of conversation, she gritted her teeth as she continued.

 

She patted the anxious child's back to calm her down, doing her best to make her words as soft as possible. “My lord, please put such an expression away, I am not worth such luxuries. This is inevitable, I’m not getting any younger nor are you getting any older, my lord. My time has come to be replaced like the many before me.”

 

Gabriel now frowned.

 

“My lord…” The servant forced a smile on her wrinkled lips, “I am aware that you are not fond of this, however, you must learn to accept such things and let things go. Partings are painful, but for long-lived beings like yourself, it is a part of life. But please my lord, this is something you have to make peace with— for the sake of your happiness.”

 

“Happiness…..” murmured Gabriel.

 

A moment later, he shifted slightly as he indicated he wanted to get out of the hold. Putting him down, the retainer bowed deeply as regret painted her face— she didn’t anticipate that her words would disturb her words to such an extent.

 

Gabriel didn’t say anything more, however, only looking at the small servant who would be his new retainer in the near future with a complicated gaze.

 

Sensing his intent, the retainer recovered as she pushed the little servant forward, patting her head in reassurance and ushering her to introduce herself.

 

Gulping loudly, the child bowed with vigor, “G-Greetings to m-my grand lord… this h-humble servants name is d-d-d-dahlia…. it’s the ultimate pleasure t-to be able to be in your p-presence, my lord.”

 

The child’s eyes glowed in admiration as she spoke, seemingly using all her willpower to maintain her eye contact with the Duke— it was her little show of resolution. However, to her awe, she received the cold shoulder. 

 

Gabriel wordlessly turned around and started walking to his destination, not caring that the child’s eyes dimmed as he did so.

 

He walked quickly through the halls, ‘Change… acceptance…’ 

 

‘I…. I will never bow to those things.’ Thought the Duke as he bit his fingernails.

 

He thought of his current retainer, it is still fresh on his mind when it was her who was brought as a child to him, introducing herself as a protege. Endlessly, he had retainers serve him and die like flies, it had always been a part of his life. A part of life that was sad, but it was always bearable.

 

However now, one of the only person's presence who remained stagnant all these years— the most important one— was gone. Alone, he had to face this harsh reality by himself without any semblance of comfort.

 

He hated it.

 

Just like this spring bringing change to the blossoms….. he absolutely hated it.

 

He just couldn’t understand— he couldn’t understand why things had to change.

 

・• ● •・

 

Landing on the ground, Gabriel got off his white barn-owl griffon and petted it lightly on its head. After it cutely rubbed its fluff in his palm, Gabriel solemnly turned on his heel and walked into a clearing in the forest they came to.

 

Once there, he snapped his fingers, Making an arch of paper charms appear in the air that created a gate to what seemed to be a different place. Walking inside this space, what met him was almost the exact same clearing— the only different thing was the temple standing in the middle.

 

It was a small temple introduced by half-broken winged statues, and although it was not very big— this little building had a certain grandeur to it. You see, this was an old chapel he and Luciel found as kids and used as their hideout— however now, it has become his main laboratory.

 

He walked in, going down the seemingly endless flights of stairs deep into the ground until meeting a huge door. 

 

Staring at the door for a minute, Gabriel finally put his palm on it. As soon as he did so, a magical circle appeared on the door as the grand gate moved on its own, it was as if it was pulled by invisible strings.

 

What was inside took Gabriel’s breath away as usual.

 

Inside was a humongous chamber with black and glossy marble floors that were almost mirror-like. Surrounding this black were beige arches that held up the crystal ceiling- arches that were reflected on the floor.

 

Strangely, the end of this chamber was a magnificent garden introduced by a flight of stairs, one that somehow managed to grow underground with much vitality. It was a very unusual garden, however by far the most prominent thing there was a white-barked tree with glowing blue flowers, one which’s trunk was laced with teal patterns that were almost vein-like. 

 

From the flowers of this tree, small bioluminescent particles of pollen hang in the air, creating an even more mystifying atmosphere in the area.

 

Beside the tree, there were also some other types of plants, the most regular being meter-high bushes that were home to lots of black-colored berries.

 

But none of these things gave Gabriel that crushing feeling of breathlessness.

 

Balling his hands into fists, Gabriel steeled himself as he forced himself forward. Each step created a hollow thunk on the marble below that echoed in the empty hall, reverberating in his soul as a cold chill slowly spread through his body. This cold spread from his heart to his fingers, each sound Making it harder to move.

 

As he reached the top of the stairway, Gabriel nearly collapsed— it took him way too much willpower to climb these stairs.

 

And he felt cold. 

 

Absolutely freezing.

 

And all this was because of the central piece of this garden, one that was placed at the very front of it to force whoever came inside here to stare at it in horror—

 

A coffin.

 

This coffin was one that stood upright, with many wires protruding from the back and snaking through the garden like yarn. The coffin itself was made of translucent glass-like material with a matte patterned back, showing the thing inside in full view— a man.

 

He was floating in pearlike liquid, that white-haired man, and his pale skin now basically white. His expression was rather serene as he floated in the coffin, as if he was merely sleeping— the only thing that gave away the fact that this was a corpse was a gruesome hole at his heart. It was an extremely horrific wound, one that looked like it was caused by one's rough hand. The crudely warped skin around the wound alluded to that, as well as the rips that were broken unnaturally outwards. These rips showed off the black and crushed flesh inside— flesh that clearly did not contain a heart.

 

This horridly injured man, no— this corpse... It was undoubtedly,

 

Luciel.

 

Doing his best to steady his shaking body, Gabriel dragged himself to the coffin, standing in front of it blankly as if he were a lost puppy.

 

He took a deep breath after stabilizing, walking to the side, and tapping a wall to open up a shelf hidden inside. This shelf was full of bottles, each one different from the next, all clearly something precious.

 

It was Luciel's collection, Luciel's favorite liquors.

 

Taking a bottle of vodka out of the collection, Gabriel turned back to the coffin in shaky steps. As his fingers quivered, Gabriel in frustration tried to open this bottle but failed again and again. It was his fifth try when the cap was finally forced off by him, and not a moment later this bottle ended up forcefully between his lips as he took a large swig to calm himself.

 

As the warming sensation of the alcohol spread through his frozen body, Gabriel poured the remainder of the vodka into the garden—  especially pouring it onto the berry bushes next to the coffin.

 

As the contents of the bottle were dripping out in droves, Gabriel ripped his gaze from the corpse and looked at the garden, “I have a surprise for you.”

 

Yes, a surprise—these berry bushes to be more specific, he was growing these for Luciel. These little mana berries were his favorite after all, the berry called Black Avarice. He still remembered when the two of them went out to gather them in the forests at night and used them to make a lot of good treats. They’ve made everything from wine to cakes, you name it…. Though their cooking never turned out anywhere near edible.

 

Yes… he remembered it very well. 

 

Painfully well.

 

“...” Gabriel forced his gaze back, “I have a gift, but it’s not for free….. As payment... you have to wake up.”

 

Of course, there was no response to his words.

 

“I’m waiting for you…. So please….”

 

The man’s brows raised as his expression became torn, “please wake up.”

 

“I’m sorry…” squeezed out Gabriel as he placed his hand over the glass— right over the place Luciel’s heart was missing, “you are probably still mad at me, but please wake up.”

 

The hand then tightened as Gabriel put more force into it, “I…. I beg you. Luciel… the goddess… please… anyone…. please make him wake up…..”

 

As the last words left his mouth, Gabriel’s knees finally gave out as he collapsed onto the floor.

 

Holding the base of the coffin, he went eerily quiet. He didn’t sob. He didn’t shout. He didn’t even weep. He just lifelessly remained in the same position on the ground, as if he was a puppet with cut strings.

 

The only sound that came from this man now was a small laugh, followed by minuscule raspy words, “Luciel— I…. I’m so…. lonely….. what should I do?”

 

It was a hollow type of chuckle, one that sounded unnatural for a person like him who usually won’t go past having a shallow exhale through his nose as a laugh. 

 

In his stupor, Gabriel reached out and touched his neck as if to remind himself of something. But to his horror, even that was not like he remembered— it was no longer unblemished like many years ago. No…. it was now lined with that thick and ugly scar.

 

It was different— Yes, it changed.

 

He changed as well.

 

It all had changed.

 

Gabriel’s laugh increased in volume slightly. Although he would never bow down to change, such a will was utterly useless in the grand scheme of things. Regardless of what he wanted, time will still go on— in the end, no matter how he struggled, the goddess will make him bend at his knees and force him to prostrate before change.

 

As he prostrated before the goddess’s will, he had to watch as this change took away all that was precious to him, all that mattered to him.

 

His servants, his friends, his happiness...

 

—His love.

 

“.....”

 

After that outburst, Gabriel calmly got up like nothing ever happened, his expression returning back into a frozen lanquidity. There was only one thing that could be noted as a difference— his eyes which were hollow and dull were now sharpened like blades with the light of determination.

 

It was a type of desperate determination, one that bordered on insanity.

 

He walked unphased away from the coffin, as if the shaking man from before was an entirely different being. His unhesitating steps took him through the garden to a room that lay in an obscure corner of the chamber. It was his lab— one filled with numerous magical technologies and diagrams that were stabled on every wall. Giant tubes were also scattered around the lab, each containing a corpse of a creature he was testing his magic on.

 

Gabriel took a lab coat from the side as well as a notepad, getting ready to work.

 

“Yes….” murmured Gabriel as he lowered his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “Dear goddess, you have it all wrong. I don’t have to bow, I don’t have to beg nor do I need to weep— no....... I will never do those things. Never. You see, there is no reason for me to accept any of this.”

 

“I have no need for you. Because— I will make him wake up myself.”

 

And get it all back to how it used to be.

 

 

・•・•・•・•・

 

 

 

Author's Account:

Killokii (SH).