Time was passing slowly as Ain was sitting all alone in the Duke’s office.

After Cheleb and he had finished their estate tour, Ain was dressed meticulously by Cheleb to quote ‘impress the Master’.

Although he wanted to tell the other that such attempts were futile, in the end, he couldn’t bring it over his heart to stop Cheleb’s enthusiasm.

Once he was dressed Cheleb led Ain to the Duke’s office, where he was now sitting on a comfortable couch.

When they came Muscae had told them that the Duke was still busy somewhere else in the estate but he would hurry to meet him.

With these words, Muscae and Cheleb left him here.

Curious about the Duke’s office he let his gaze wander around the room.

All the auras and lights almost blinded Ain.

Nearly everything in close approximately was shining.

Ain got dazed.

Although he didn’t understand much about the world, one thing he had learned the hard way.

Things with aura were rare and very expensive.

And the Duke had a whole room full of them?!

Even the couch he was sitting on had a faint aura to it.

Not even his father was rich enough to own so many, he had maybe four or five in his possession!

Ain was at a loss for words at this blatant display of wealth.

But soon his sight was caught by something else.

On his left side, behind all the man-made crafts, was a gigantic aura.

It was full of life and vitality, and one thing Ain knew for sure it was very old.

He got up from the couch and started walking towards, what Ain guessed was a tree.

Since no tree would grow inside the building, the tree had to be part of the garden.

Ain wondered if he should ask the Duke if they could visit it.

Just when he had almost reached his goal, his hip bumped into something with full force and a loud crash could be heard.

He must have run into the desk, Ain thought

He turned his eyes towards the place where the sound was previously heard while holding his aching hip.

Once he understood the chaos he had caused Ain’s face lost all color.

A dark aura was spreading out all over the desk.

Ain guessed that he had made the ink bottle fall over, but since the ink was full of aura, it had to be very valuable.

His hands began to shake as he frantically tried to clean up the ink, only to notice that many pieces of paper got soiled by it.

Ain felt his heart drop to his stomach.

Just as everything was going well he had to ruin it. Like always.

What if the Duke got angry at him for ruining some important documents and most importantly his precocious ink?

No.

There was no ‘what if’. He would surely get angry once he saw this mess.

He wouldn’t lock him into a small chamber, would he?

Ain’s breathing became heavy.

He didn’t want to go there again.

Then he heard the door open.

All of Ain’s movements began to freeze.

“What are you doing at my desk, dear?”

He didn’t dare to lift his head and face the Duke, but he heard his steps getting closer.

“Has nobody taught you that you, that you are not allowed to touch what does not belong-“, he stopped speaking.

For a while everything was silent.

The silence made Ain tense up even more.

Suddenly the Duke said, “What happened here?”

His voice was devoid of any emotions and Ain did not dare to verify the Duke’s current state.

“I-Its all my fault.”, Ain stammered.

“I-I really didn’t mean to. I-I just wanted to go to the w-window to the t-tree.”

Tears began welling up in his eyes and he felt his tense body tremble when the Duke fell silent again.

All of sudden Ain felt a hand on his chin and his head was turned towards the Duke.

After a moment a finger gently wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes that were about to fall.

“It’s fine. It’s just some ink. A little bit of magic and everything will be fine.”

“But the ink…“, Ain’s voice broke in the middle of the sentence.

“The ink is just ink.”, he sighed and gently began wiping Ain’s hands with a soft cloth.

“What should we do now, dear? You look like I bullied you. We really can’t go out like this.”

Ain felt a hand being softly placed on his back.

“I’ll have Muscae deliver a tea and a few snacks that will help you calm down and once we are finished we will go out to take a look at that tree that fascinated you so much.”

While saying this he gently led Ain back to the couch and the two sat down opposite each other.

“Is it really fine?”, Ain carefully asked.

The Duke hummed in response.

“Muscae will take care of it once were are out for our walk.”

The Duke was really a good man.

. . .

After Ain had calmed down and they had finished their tea, the two went out for their promised stroll.

Ain felt his whole body become excited.

The Duke had hooked their arms before going out with the explanation ‘he didn’t want Ain to bump into anything else’.

He showed Ain around the garden and Ain was fascinated by the nature around him.

Everything felt so alive.

In his high spirits, he embarrassingly noticed that he had maybe dragged the Duke around a bit, but the other never complained, he just laughed.

Ain was stunned to realize that the garden seemed endless.

Even after walking for approximately two hours, the Duke could still show him new corners.

After walking for a bit more Ain noticed the aura of the tree he saw in the Duke’s office in the distance.

“You really like plants, my dear.”

The Duke suddenly broke the silence.

Waking up from his fascination Ain replied, “Huh? Oh yeah. Watching nature has always been my replied thing to do.”

“Only watching? No gardening? With your enthusiasm, I would have bet that you had a whole garden for your own to grow plants.”

Answering with a sad smile on his face Ain said, “I would have loved to but… I was never allowed.”

His voice trailed off.

Switching the topic the Duke said, “Look that’s the old tree you saw from my office.”

Ain looked towards the tree and he was enchanted.

Close up it was even more impressive.

It was taller than the highest point of the estate and had countless branches that were growing in all directions.

Just standing near it Ain could feel its vitality.

Truly beautiful.

“My father told me it has been around for close to a thousand years.”

Although its age surprised Ain another part caught his interest.

“Your father?”, Ain asked.

The Duke paused for a moment, then he said, “He is already dead.”

Just when Ain was about to apologize he saw delight rise in his soul.

Well, maybe they both did not have the best relationship with their fathers…

“See the birds sitting on its branches?”

Ain looked up.

Under closer inspection, he really saw a few scattered auras on the tree, almost hidden by its might.

“They are called Aatma. It’s said that whoever they give their feathers to, will be blessed with a great life. Want to try if they give you one?”

Ain listened to the Duke’s gentle voice and before he could say anything in response he already heard the Duke whistle.

Shortly after he heard the sound of flapping wings near him.

“Stretch out your arm. If it goes to you, it means it likes you.”

Doing as he was told, Ain held out his arm.

He looked at the creature that was seemingly sitting on the Duke’s arm with curiosity.

Ain had never before seen a bird, at least had nobody ever told him what he was seeing was one before.

From their aura alone the only thing he could make out was that animals have different auras than humans and plants.

Its aura was also different from the creature that had previously attacked Ain and the Duke.

If he had to pinpoint the difference then it would probably be its tameness?

But to be completely sure he would need to see more creatures to come to a concrete conclusion.

A sudden touch on his arm brought Ain back from his thoughts.

The bird was slowly making its way up Ain’s arm, very carefully, as if it didn’t want to hurt him.

Once it was near his face it gently nudged Ain’s cheek.

Excitedly and surprised Ain looked towards the Duke, who looked equally surprised at him.

Then he laughed.

“Ain.”

“Ah?”

Stunned by this sudden call, Ain let out a surprised sound.

The Duke had never called him by his name before.

But before Ain could come down from this sudden shock, the Duke gave him another surprise.

“What would you think about having a small garden for your own?”

Little Theater:

Ain: The Duke is really a good man!

Eltanin: *hurt* Did I just get friend-zoned?

Pigeon Note:

Hey guys!

I’ll be on vacation for the next few days so I won’t be able to update.

But from the 6.3 I’ll start updating regularly on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday~

See you soon!