A Rat’s note:

This is an edited and revised short from the BL Palace’s spring anthology collection which features my babies uwu. Before you read, go check it out! The lovely lads and lasses are holding one this fall too so do check it out as well.

k bai.

 

Spring. flowers. Gifts. I

・• ● •・

The seasons changed again.

The calls of the birds started crying out, making the arrival of spring on the Terra Mater. With it, the land was painted green after the hard and cold winter— a period of the year that brought joy to the Avem Dukedom. The frigid cold in these high lands was nothing to scoff at, with the dukedoms' famous cliffs becoming icy tombs.

Other than the ending of winter, the spring also brought in another joyful aspect. 

The flowers.

At this time of year, the cliffs turned into fields of petals, the blooming plants shedding petals that transformed the dull landscapes of the duchy into Charming hues.

Of course, this wasn’t without its drawbacks. This lovely season brought a lot of work with it as well.

You see, the gradual bloom of nature brought with it quite a frenzy.

As such the servants of the Avem manor prepared themselves to face this arduous task with vigor, 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 exasperation, putting themselves in the mindset to wipe every nook and cranny of the estate into perfection.

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

It was about midday on 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 mansion. The door of this room was quite imposing— it was the only door that was as large and decorated as the one before them.

Clearly, the resident inside was not of low status.

However, despite this, the servants entered with ease. They swung it open and entered inside in the same casualty as one would use to sneak into the house of an unsuspecting friend, muttering in relief that it was not locked shut as they had feared.

What the servants met inside was a ridiculously darkened room— especially so when one considered the rays of the sun that blasted outside that were somehow completely masked by thin curtains. And even with the new light coming from the open door and the luminescent objects scattered intermittently around, the room was like a black hole that refused to accept any brightness.

The servants collectively rubbed their temples. This was not unusual but made the servant want to sigh every time they witnessed it.

But they couldn’t stand there shaking their heads at this the whole day, they had to do their jobs after all.

As if making their way through an intense obstacle course, they gracefully slipped their feet in between the clutter of scrolls and bottles that littered the floor with ease— some even trying to start organizing the mess with differing success.

Though most servants only expressed helplessness, one of them had a very different response to this sight as she momentarily froze in anger at the frame of the door. Huffing, that servant almost imploded before she rushed to the windows and brandished open the curtains.

Light blasted in immediately, blinding some poor unsuspecting servants who had just gotten used to the darkness.

“My lord, it is time for you to wake!” shouted the servant who committed such a bold 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 in agitation. Although her bird-head was not incredibly expressive, it was clear as day that she was fuming.

With annoying sunlight and petals slipping into his once safely sealed room, the subject of her fury furrowed his brows ever so slightly. However, a moment later, he placed a pillow over his head to block out anything that might disturb his rest and embraced father sleep once more.

Of course, the bird servant was completely ignored.

At such blatant disregard, the bird servant's feathers puffed further in agitation— at this point, her head lost its shape and turned into a ball. “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!”

The man just shifted into a more comfortable position.

“….” The servant breathed in as she spoke in a softer tone, “you have to get yourself together my lord. Is it not embarrassing for you?… And I’m worried for you… you can’t just waste away here forever.”

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 servants' 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 attend to 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 servants' feathers puffed up even more to such a show of unwillingness to work and to change himself at all, “You—!”

She chewed on the words in her beak for what seemed like forever, eventually swallowing her words with an ugly expression. Concluding 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 and determination to do utterly nothing, almost 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.

Maybe if they did not age, they would laze away like that too— it’s like he said, he did not have to do anything anyway, his mother and servants did it all for him.

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 practically the only one that tried to change things.

She put in more effort than anyone to not only 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 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 with nervous enthusiasm, it was her first time in this room.

The servants 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. This was no small position as she was tasked with the direct care of the Duke. Though at this time, she mainly did things behind the scenes, doing her best not to disturb her master.

So swing her coming here directly— especially with someone— meet that something had happened.

Keeping an unhurried pace, the retainer neared the bed and lowered herself in servitude, 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 time. 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 liquidity. 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 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, his golden bell earring gave a small jingle. at the same time, the retainer signaled to the servants present to dress the duke as she got to combing his long 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 your 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 brooch 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 filled with the melody of wind chimes striking one another, 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—the first time in their life.

Of course, all these excited servants soon froze like deers in headlights as the retainer's 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 were all arranged to perfection by the gardeners to fully show the wonders of spring. What was 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.

Blue flowers were pretty much the symbol of the duchy at this point, growing in every corner of the mansion as they infested the entire Territory like beautiful weeds.

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

The Duke affixed himself to them as if hypnotized, only barely spreading his attention to catch a petal that flew by him in his hand.

Gabriel’s eyes moved their focus to 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, melancholy twisting her wrinkled face.

With that affirmation, Gabriel roughly crushed the petal in his hand with no warning. 

His fingers harshly dug into 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 pry open his grasp with careful precision, Gabriel lightly shut his eyes.

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

・•・•・•・•・