After watching sleeping Rue for a while, Ylre quietly disappeared from the room. Practically since they entered this tea house, he was filled with the feeling that something was wrong with it. So he took the opportunity to explore the lower parts of this place where he smelled blood upon entering. He didn't think he'd be wrong, as he had this kind of smell etched in his memory really precisely.

After descending the stairs, he looked around the dark entrance room and immediately headed behind the reception desk, to the area behind it. He reached the warehouse, where the smell of blood was interrupted by the teas, but Ylre's nose was not fooled. He slowly made his way to the back and stopped at one of the shelves from which the smell was emanating.

At times like this, Ylre was grateful for the training that he had received as every middle-class Infey to ensure that no danger would get through to his supreme Infey. 

 He fumbled around the edges of the shelves for a while, trying to see if he could find any opening devices, before he realized it was a simple disguised door and opened it a little. He smiled softly and entered the underground, the air of which seeped with blood even more intensely than the rest of the tea house.

When he reached the end of the corridor, he stopped in a relatively well-equipped room, which at first glance really looked like a warehouse. He slowly walked over to the bags in front of him and after looking through them for a while he peered into one. As he scraped off the top layer of tea, his gaze ended on the bloody body of a guy who clearly hadn't been here the first day. He slowly closed the bag and opened the one next to it. Although it still contained teas, Ylre was able to find another guy underneath.

He saw only a half of the bodies, but even from that he could tell that they didn't end up in the most pleasant way. Numerous cuts and blunt injuries with other signs of torture indicated that they had been interrogated by someone who knew what he was doing well enough.

Ylre looked through a few more bags and found that there were more people than he thought, all with the similar look. That only confirmed to Ylre that it was one group of people...as well that this tea house belonged to someone who was catching them.

Be that as it may, he wasn't going to leave Rue in a similar establishment any longer than necessary...and that was tonight. 

A loud slam of the door forced Ylre to turn back. His gaze stopped at the door through which he entered and he raised his eyebrows in surprise as someone had just closed it. He heard the sound of the keys, which made it clear that someone had locked it on purpose.

"You shouldn't have come here," Ylre heard a grunt from the other side, "your bad luck." he didn't sound enthusiastic.

Ylre took a moment to absorb the situation, looked around where there were no windows or other doors and laughed softly. He walked slowly to the door and simply reached behind his back where he could feel his precious sword. He quickly pulled it out, cut through the metal door and hid it back, since it wasn't in his best interest to take it out for any length of time...at least not yet...at least while there was a threat of Rue seeing him.

The door fell to the ground with a crash, and the guy who didn't have time to go far just stared at him in shock. Ylre looked at him amused and walked towards him with a dark smile on his face. The guy remained frozen for a moment before running towards the second door. However, Ylre didn't let him go far.

Before he could get out from behind the shelves into the storeroom, he pulled him back by his clothes. The guy fell to the ground and Ylre bowed to him. Even in the gloom, his red hair seemed to give a danger shine, reminding the man of a demon rather than a human being. 

"W-Who are you?" The terror filled himas he tried to back down on the ground.

"Me? A traveler," Ylre laughed and took a step towards him, "the better question is who are you, don't you think? I said I smell blood here...who are those people in the back? Other travelers? I don't think so."

"Wh-why would you ask? It's not your business, " the guy doesn't want to say. 

"Actually, I'm not interested...as long as it doesn't concern me, I don't care," Ylre said.

"Then...what did you come here for?"

"Someone sent us here...suspicious, isn't it?" He smiled darkly, ,,If I was alone, I wouldn't care, but today I'm not alone," he slowly bent down to the guy on the ground, "so you see, it's not about me. Say, who sent us here? I know it wasn't the idea of that jerk with the carriage," he continued.  

"I don't know what you're talking about..." the guy lied.

Ylre let out a deep sigh and straightened up, grabbing the guy by the collar. He began to drag him back to the room with the bags, where he also saw some nice tools, "Don't worry, you'll remember."

***

When Rue woke up, a familiar scented candle was waiting for him on the nightstand. He stretched contentedly and looked at the ground where he expected to see Ylre, but there was no sign of him. 

At that moment, however, the door opened and a red-haired young man walked in, "Good morning, did you sleep well?" Ylre smiled.

"Very well," Rue nodded smiling, "what are those clothes?" he sat down.

"You tore them yesterday, I sewed them up for you." Ylre handed Rue his outer robe and sat next to him on the bed.

"You sewed it?" Rue blinked in surprise and looked at the nicely sewn piece of cloth, which had almost no trace of being cut yesterday, "When did you manage to do it?"

"I wake up early," Ylre said, "I'll sew up that one later." he looked at Rue's torn clothes he slept in.

"Thank you," Rue said with a grateful smile and stood up, "sometimes I will repay your kindness, I promise." he stated.

"There is no need," Ylre argued, "There will never be any debts between us, take it for granted." he said.

"We just met," Rue laughed and gently tossed the robe over himself.

"I feel like I've known you all my life," Ylre remarked, plopping down on the bed contentedly.

"Sometimes Luck brings two people together... when you feel like you've known someone all your life, it means that luck has always planned it for you, " he said. 

Ylre laughed softly: "Really? I think there is another option."

"What kind?" he didn't understand.

Ylre laughed softly: "You had to answer that yourself. I can't tell you now," he pointed out.

Rue blinked slightly, but after a while he also smiled and said: "Should I guess?"

"You can." Ylre nodded

"Hm," Rue thought, but came up with nothing, "I can't think of anything...when you feel like you know someone...it's because of luck," he said, "ah, I know! I know," he cheered, "or because you understand each other enough to see yourself in him...so you feel like you've known him all your life," deduced, "Is that right, Ylre?"

"It is, but that's not my case with you," Ylre said, "it's nothing but a little ridle. What would you say if we talk on the way? I bought breakfast...it's time to go." he smiled and when Rue nodded, they walked out of the room.

,,Where are we going?" Rue didn't know amd followed him.

They slowly walked through the empty tea house and went out when Rue asked, "I wanted to thank the owner, where did he go?" 

"I greeted him for both of us, you don't have to worry," he said, handing Rue a cloth-wrapped pastry with fruit in the middle, "enjoy your meal." 

The unsuspecting Rue didn't see anything strange about the situation, so he thanked and took a bite of the cake enthusiastically before heading out of the village with Ylre, "Shall we go by carriage?"

"No need, it's not far, we'll walk," Ylre said.

"Nothing is too far for us to walk," he smiled, "should I keep guessing?" Rue asked, but Ylre only laughed softly. 

"Anytime, but before that I wanted to give you something," he said, stopping as he suddenly remembered what he wanted.

Rue stared at him before Ylre held out his hand with the two dice they had been playing with yesterday, "Would you like to keep one?" he asked in a way that sounded both more serious than usual and tender, as if he was giving something close to his heart.

"Me?" he didn't understand, "Why?"

"You liked the game...yesterday," he said, ,,you liked them."

"I liked them, but they're not mine," he objected. 

"If you want, they will be, just say," Ylre nodded. 

Since Ylre sounded unusually serious, Rue didn't know how to answer, so he gently extended his fingers to the dice, "Once I take one, you won't have anyone to play with anymore," he said. 

"I'll have you," Ylre's blue eyes were looking tenderly to his golden, "I wouldn't play with anyone else anyway." he pointed out.

"Don't talk nonsense," Rue smiled at the unusually nice things Ylre was saying today and after thinking for a moment he asked, "do you really want me to have one?"

"I wouldn't offer them to you if I didn't want to," Ylre said, "So, what do you say? Gold, black? Which one do you like better?"

"Gold," Rue said after a moment and when Ylre handed it to him, he looked at it with a pure happiness, "Thank you."

Dim memories of a very similar situation flashed through Ylre's head, to which he only smiled gently, "Take care of it...it's our first thing we share, " he pointed out.

"True," Rue nodded, tucking it into his inner pocket, "You're my first friend I've made here. No matter how long we've known each other...I appreciate every single thing you'll share with me." he said happily.

Ylre stared at him silently for a moment before suppressing the many internal urges he felt compelled to do at that moment that came right to him and finally just smiled softly.

"I will share with you whatever you wish, Rue," he said his name in a way that would perhaps have surprised Rue how much tenderness he put into him, if he had not been interested in something else.

"Ylre, is that blood?" he looked at the young man's collar, the fabric of which was red, but in one place he thought he saw more burgundy spots.  

Ylre looked at his clothes and blinked in surprise, "Yes...I don't know when it got there.

"When we find some herbs and a lake along the way, I'll wash it for you, what do you say?" Rue suggested and continued the walk.

Ylre stepped behind him and nodded, "I don't think we will arrive anywhere today, it will be best if we spend the night somewhere by the lake, so there will be an opportunity," he said. 

"Are we spending the night outside?" he was surprised.

"You wanted to try it, didn't you?" Ylre smiled. 

"I still do, I haven't slept under the stars in a long time," he cheered.

Ylre nodded, contentedly looking at his happy smile. As soon as he turned to the part that should be used to get out of the village without being noticed by the guards, who gave him a lot of trouble before he figured out how to unnoticed disappear through them, he said,"Me neither."