Epilogue.1

“From now on, you’re my slave. So, you have to do everything I tell you to. Got it?”  

Kadis said as he sat Lyle down in front of him.  

He listed off a series of traits a slave should have, along with his own demands as his master, but they were all utterly absurd.  

A slave, of all things.  

The empire didn’t even recognize slavery. Besides, the person supposedly at risk of becoming a slave was too distracted by the luxury of the Ducal Residence to fully listen to Kadis’s words.  

And so began their peculiar cohabitation.  

“Lyle! I told you to come immediately when I called!”  

“Y-yes, Sir!”  

“Where’s the thing I asked for?”  

“Here it is.”  

“What is this? This isn’t what I asked for, is it?”  

“Uh? But you definitely said before—”  

“Are you talking back to me now?”  

“Ugh. I’m sorry! I’ll bring it again!”  

“Hmph. Forget it. It’s not much different anyway.”  

“…Yes, Sir.”  

It was nothing more than one-sided harassment.  

Petty bullying dictated entirely by Kadis’s mood. But Lyle, like a dog who knew only its master, would obediently run to Kadis whenever he called.  

One day, Kadis pushed Lyle so hard that even he realized he’d gone too far.  

It was the first time they’d gone into town together, and he couldn’t stand seeing him gently smiling and chatting with a stranger.  

So, after returning to the Ducal Residence, he ignored his questions, brushed him off, and snapped at him. His troubled expression somehow gave him a twisted sense of satisfaction.  

Among all his methods, fasting was the most effective.  

“Lord Kadis, even if you don’t have an appetite, you need to eat. You’re still growing, after all.”  

He had always ordered him to stay by his side, but at some point, Lyle started disappearing whenever he looked away.  

What was he doing?  

It turned out he had been following the head butler or head maid, learning about the Ducal Residence’s operations.  

Since he wasn’t slacking off, he had no excuse to scold him, but it annoyed him that he had disobeyed his order to stay by his side.  

To set an example, he began refusing to eat.  

As a result, Lyle stayed by his side all day. Only then did he feel somewhat satisfied, but…  

“I’ll just leave this here for now.”  

What? Until yesterday, you waited for me to eat, but now you’re just going to leave?  

Kadis was taken aback by Lyle’s unexpected behavior.  

Did this mean my approach wasn’t the right one?  

“I’m not eating.”  

“…Pardon?”  

“I don’t want it. It’s filthy since you’ve touched it.”  

So, he responded even more irritably.  

Then, he heard a faint sobbing sound. Kadis froze and glanced at Lyle.  

Sure enough, Lyle had his head down, tears streaming down his face.  

“Are you crying?”  

“N-no! I’m not crying!”  

Lyle, much smaller than him, denied it firmly while rubbing his eyes roughly with the back of his hand.  

Seeing him like this, Kadis felt a sharp pang in his chest, as if he’d eaten something bad.  

“…Then I’ll ask someone else to bring new food.”  

Leaving only those words, Lyle walked away, his steps heavy.  

Before long, another servant arrived with a meal. The servant placed the food on the table and hesitated before speaking.  

“Um, young master.”  

“What?”  

“Well, it’s just that… the Earl has also been skipping meals lately.”  

“So, he doesn’t eat either, and yet he tells me to eat? Ridiculous.”  

“No, it’s the opposite! Seeing you like this weighs on his heart so much that he can’t eat…”  

What was that supposed to mean? 

It felt unpleasant. Kadis frowned.  

Yet, he couldn’t help but struggle to suppress the corners of his mouth from twitching upward.  

“…Pretending to care.”  

* * *

“Eat.”  

That evening, Kadis brought Lyle an apple pie, knowing it was his favorite. It was a special reward for the foolish dog who seemed to know only its master.  

“Huh? What’s this? Oh, right. I heard you ate properly today? That’s a relief.”  

“Forget that. Just eat this.”  

Kadis shook the plate again.  

Unlike Kadis, who had eaten earlier, Lyle hadn’t touched food all day. But hearing the rare news that Kadis had ended his fasting brought his appetite back.  

Seeing the pie on the plate, his empty stomach growled loudly, begging to be fed.  

“It’s your favorite, isn’t it?”  

“How… how did you know?”  

“Do you think there’s anything in the Ducal Residence that I don’t know?”  

Kadis asked with a smug look.  

His posture, with his chest puffed out, was so endearing that Lyle barely managed to hold back a laugh.  

“Take it. My arm’s getting tired.”  

“Oh, uh… Thank you!”  

Lyle eagerly accepted the plate.  

It had been so long since he’d tasted a sweet dessert! Smiling brightly, he stared at the pie. Then, as if realizing something, he looked at Kadis and asked,  

“Would you like to eat some too, Lord Kadis?”  

“Are you crazy? Why would I? That’s something only girls eat!”  

Kadis recoiled in disgust.  

When Lyle’s face fell, Kadis clicked his tongue and sat down at the table first.  

“I’ll at least watch you eat.”  

He tapped the table, urging him to sit quickly. Lyle beamed and sat across from him, picking up his fork.  

“Thank you for the meal!”  

“Yeah, yeah.”  

Watching Lyle nibble at the pie, Kadis grew bored and started glancing around his room. It was so small that his gaze quickly returned to him.  

“How do you even live in such a cramped place?”  

Kadis didn’t say it with the intention of mocking Lyle. Whenever he was in his own room, a sense of emptiness always lingered. Now, he thought he understood why.

His bedroom was unnecessarily large. This size felt just right for him. Somehow, it gave him a sense of comfort.

At that moment, Kadis failed to realize that this comfort came from Lyle himself.  

Without him, both the large room and this small one would feel equally desolate.  

“Cramped? It’s so spacious! It’s even bigger than the house I grew up in!”  

Lyle replied cheerfully, his mouth full of pie. Kadis was startled by his exaggerated description of the small room as spacious.  

“What? Were you some kind of beggar? You said you were from an Earl’s family, was that a lie?”

“Of course not! Besides, truly poor people would cram more than ten people into a room like this!”

“Ha. What nonsense. You really think you can fool me with such lies?”  

“It’s true!”  

Lyle, indignant, pounded his chest in frustration.  

“If you don’t believe me, why don’t you see for yourself?”  

He added, his eyes wide with determination. Wiping the pie crumbs from his lips with the back of his hand, he stood up with confidence.  

“What? Right now…?”  

“Yes! Come on!”  

And so, Kadis found himself being dragged out of the Ducal Residence by Lyle.  

***

Late at night.  

In a small, cramped room, children even younger than Kadis were huddled together, using each other’s bodies as blankets as they slept.  

Lyle had brought Kadis to an orphanage run by a convent in a corner of the village.  

“There are more than ten of them.”  

“Shh.”  

Lyle carefully closed the door and walked with Kadis to the end of the hallway.  

“They’re all children for whom you, Lord Kadis, will be responsible.”  

“Me?”  

Lyle placed a lamp on the floor and knelt in front of Kadis. Gently, he placed his hands on the young boy’s shoulders.  

“Someday, when you inherit the Ducal title, the people of the North will all be like your children.”  

Someday, when I become the Duke…  

That would mean his damned father would be dead. Kadis had always wished for his father’s death, but he’d never considered what would come after.  

“The people of the North will all be my children?”  

Young Kadis frowned.  

He didn’t even know what a parent was supposed to be.  

His mother had died giving birth to him. The only guardian he’d ever known was his worthless father. Even the servants treated him as if he were a spark that could ignite at any moment.