“Mister? Please wake up. You have arrived at the estate.”, stated a calm voice.

Another voice cautiously started to speak. 

“Wow. He is fast asleep, huh. The journey must have been taxing.”

Suddenly the second voice changed from curios to anxious. 

“What are we going to do if the Mister gets angry at us for letting him sleep outside or what if he gets angry at us for waking him up? ”

“Yeah he will get very angry and if you don’t shut up he will eat you in one bite!”

“Noooo!”, the second voice wailed.

Unable to sleep any longer because of the noise Ain reluctantly opened his eyes.

He still felt the cushions from the carriage next to him, which meant he was still inside it.

Reminding himself to stay calm he slowly let his sight wander over the surroundings to understand the current situation.

Although he couldn’t see the Duke, Ain was able to sense his presence in the vicinity. 

After making sure he was not abandoned somewhere, he began to focus on the two people in front of him.

“Are you awake, Mister? Wonderful. Allow me to help you out of the carriage first.”

The first person sounded courteous but Ain noticed a hint of displeasedness in his soul. 

Speaking of his soul, it was a vibrant purple with a hint of blue. 

The sharp edges made Ain realize that even though he appeared very attentive he was rather wary and discontented with him.

Ain extended his hand, which the man took. With his help, Ain was able to leave the carriage very easily.

After he got out, his sight fell on the other person, who was standing far away from the carriage.

For a moment Ain questioned if he had done something wrong or looked especially horrific, because the second person showed fear, no, even terror towards him, as if Ain had hurt him before.

This puzzled Ain greatly.

In an attempt to pacify the other's fear, he tried to give the other a gentle smile.

Although this small gesture wasn’t able to eliminate the fear completely, it at least made it possible for Ain to see the true nature of his soul.

What he saw was a vibrant green color.

Pure like the soul of a baby.

Really beautiful.

“Ahem!”

A sound pulled Ain back to the present moment.

“Allow me to introduce the two of us. My name is Muscae. I’m the personal assistant of the Duke and at the same time the head butler of the estate, responsible for all the servants. So if you have any problems or wishes in the future please seek me out.” 

After finishing the first half of his speech he bowed towards Ain.

Then he continued talking.

“This is Cheleb. He will be your personal attendant. Since he hasn’t been working for long, please go easy on him.”

“Nice to meet you!”, whispered Cheleb with a trembling voice.

His voice sounded rather immature. Ain guessed he was probably still a teen.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Ain. I will be in your care.” Ain bowed slightly.

He was positively surprised by this considerate treatment from the Duke.

This was going to be the first time that he had a personal attendant. 

But this also meant that there was always someone around him, which would make it harder to keep his secret.

After noticing the silence that appeared after his last words, Ain wondered if he had said anything wrong.

Ain tilted his head slightly and looked at the two people in front of him.

“Well- Let’s get going.” 

Upon Muscae’s words the three of them started walking towards the estate.

Ain followed the footsteps of the two attendants in front of him slowly.

With every slow step he took, he sensed that Muscae became increasingly impatient, yet he said nothing.

Internally Ain was apologizing for his snail-like pace, but it was not like he wanted to walk so slowly. It was just that this was an unfamiliar place and he didn’t want to risk falling.

After going up several steps and walking for a while longer, the group came to a halt. 

Ain felt like he arrived at a labyrinth. He was sure that he would never find his way around in this house without someone guiding him.

“We have arrived at your room Mister.”, Muscae said.

“The Master instructed us to give you your own room.”

Ain was moved.

The Duke was truly a kind and considerate man. Maybe marrying him was not so bad after all.

Muscae opened a door to the room and they stepped inside.

“I hope this room is to your taste, Mister. Sadly we had no time to redecorate the room after we got the Master's instructions.”

Muscae apologized and then continued, “This room was decorated according to the former bride’s wishes but we can change it in the future if you like.”

Huh? Former bride?

Does that mean he was not the first choice?

Suddenly the words he heard days before the wedding were starting to make sense. 

Everybody was always telling him to be grateful to his father that he got the opportunity to marry such a good man like the Duke.

That he had to be grateful for this good match.

Others were telling him that he should be thankful that his father was able to snatch away such a good man for him.

It seems that these words were to be taken literally.

Suddenly Ain had a very bad promotion.

What if he destroyed the relationship between a loving couple? Was the Duke going to ask him for divorce?

Ain stopped himself from thinking any further.

But in the end that still couldn’t explain why they wouldn’t allow the Duke to marry his love?

Ain had always known that his father wasn't a man full of love, but that he would go so far just to destroy a loving couple…

Mmm, that seemed rather unlikely.

In the end no matter how hard he thought about the reason no answer appeared.

It seemed that he had to stop thinking about this topic.

Muscae’s voice put an end to Ain’s wild thoughts.

“You can rest for a while now. Cheleb will help you settle in and bring you lunch later.” 

Ain heard steps that were heading for the door again.

“I will now excuse myself. We will see each other at dinner again.” 

With that, the door was closed.

Now only Ain and Cheleb remained in the room.

. . .

After leaving the room of the human Muscae started walking towards the Master's office.

Although he felt uneasy leaving the kid and that human alone, it had to be done as it was the best way to test his personality.

To be honest he was a little surprised by the human’s attitude towards them. 

It doesn’t happen that often that you meet a human who doesn’t show disgust upon seeing a Mythic. 

But let alone disgust, there wasn’t even a hint of dislike in his eyes, not even a feeling of superiority.

Muscae tsked.

Well, humans are also very good actors, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the human was only putting up an act.

Now it was the kid’s job to figure out the true personality of this human.

Although the kid was an idiot sometimes, when it came to sensing others true characters there was no one better than Cheleb.

So now they could only wait for his evaluation.

Muscae arrived at an elaborately decorated door.

He knocked and waited for permission to enter.

Once he entered the office, he saw a handsome man with blonde hair sitting at a desk by the window.

The man’s ruby eyes were looking at him, motioning Muscae to speak.

“Master”, he bowed towards the man.

“We brought him to his room.”

The Duke hummed. “And what do you think?”

“No ability to attack, the pace of a snail and-” 

Muscae heard the Duke laugh at his description.

“As of now, he doesn’t seem to have any dislike towards Mythics.”

The Duke nodded in response.

“But I would advise against trusting a human, Master. Having him here could pose a threat to our plans.”

“Haaa…”, the Duke sighed.

“I know you would say that. But wouldn’t it be nice to have such a beautiful creature around you?”

Muscae looked at the Duke in disbelief.

Then he remembered the eyes of this human.

Objectively it had to be said they could easily pull you in, but that was a human!

He rubbed his forehead in desperation.

“Please Master, don’t let your obsession with gold cloud your judgment.”

“What do you think of me, my dear friend!” The Duke put his hand on his chest to underline his played disappointment.

“I would never.”, he continued.

“We will wait for the results of the observation. After that, we can decide how we will handle my little bride.”

“Understood Master. I will keep my eyes on him.” With this, Muscae bowed and excused himself.

 

Little Theater:

Eltanin: Gold!

Muscae: No! Bad Master! Let it go!