Red Tape

“Excuse me.”

Liam quickly put the coat from his uniform on Erwin’s head. As he pulls the black coat over his head, the white fluttering hem and the platinum-shining hair are all hidden as if they are part of the night.

Meanwhile, the light in the room next to Eloise is turned on; it seems she is calling someone. It is the room where her maid lived.

There is no more time to delay. Liam picks up Erwin as if he is a child and starts running away from the mansion.

When Erwin arrives at his cabin, he falls asleep.

Liam holds Erwin’s neck tightly with his large hands from the nape of his neck to the back of his head so that his neck will not break, and carefully places him on his bed.

Erwin’s hem, scattered across the unbleached, grayish-brown quilt, is so white it is almost bluish. I feel guilty for bringing him to such a shabby place.

Liam moved his body busily. He filled the fireplace with firewood and hung a kettle on the connected burner to heat water.

After that, he wiped Erwin’s feet with a wet towel. He has done it so often that it has become a habit.

He carefully grabbed one ankle, wiped the entire foot, and thoroughly cleaned between the toes.

Erwin’s ankle is so thin that Liam can wrap his hand around it and still have his knuckle left, and the skin that touched his palm is eerily soft. And there is a small scar on his right ankle.

Liam presses that part with his thumb out of habit and then pulls it away. As if he has some kind of magic that could remove scars.

As he holds the clean cloth and repeats the process on the other foot, Erwin’s foot slips from his grasp.

Erwin took his foot away and curled up.

Is the water that soaked the cloth too cold?

“Was it cold? I’m sorry.”

He gently grabs his ankle as if trying to soothe a child who is sulking, but it is immediately snatched away again.

Liam finally raises his head and meets Erwin’s eyes, who is looking at him with a confused face.

“Master…?”

His confused eyes turned to Liam and then scanned the cabin.

“Why am I…why am I here… .”

Erwin is startled awake when he realizes he is being held by his ankle in the servant’s shabby cabin.

Liam started making excuses in a hurry.

“Well, how did this happen?”

“Was it the first time?”

Erwin asked, cutting off Liam’s words. Then, recalling his skill at wiping his feet, he found the answer himself before even hearing it.

“No, it’s the first time.”

“….”

“No…  ”

Erwin collapsed and buried his face between his knees.

“I thought it wouldn’t be like that if I came here.

Liam read a strange sense of discomfort in those words.

“Have you ever been like this before?”

A humming voice came out from Erwin, who buried his face in his knees that he was hugging.

“Why do you think I left Saint-Bernoulli?”

The first symptoms began not long after witnessing Francis’s death.

The duke constantly sent people to ask about Prince Felix’s recent situation. Did he take the tea leaves he had sent him? Did the prince get into any trouble because of them?

It was a petty plan to smear Felix with a similar or even dirtier and more sordid stain, as the scandal had recently arisen when it was discovered that the duke’s nephew and first in line for the throne, Archibald, had an illegitimate child.

Whether it was because of his guilt over Francis’ death or because the duke was pressuring him to fabricate a story about Prince Felix, Erwin’s stress reached its peak.

He was discovered wandering around the campus barefoot and naked by the knights guarding Prince Felix.

He was caught in his own weakness by the very person he was supposed to exploit. The symptoms are called dream wandering, and some call it ghost possession.

However, Prince Felix quietly called Erwin and suggested that he drop out of his studies and return to the empire.

He said that on this battlefield, where nobles from various countries had gathered, he could not allow his own people to be the subject of unpleasant issues that others would discuss.

He even stationed one of his guards at Erwin’s door for a few days while Erwin was going through withdrawal and preparing to return home.

If the prince had known what he had done so far and why he had come here in the first place.

Would he have been able to do such a favor if he had known he was reporting to the Duke about who he hung out with, what he talked about, and even what his favorite foods were?

Erwin had never experienced greater shame and self-loathing in his life.

If there is good and evil, he never doubted throughout his life that he is on the good side.

He dropped coins to the beggar he met on the street, didn’t abuse the servants, and smiled kindly and elegantly to those around him. He was a little confident that he was not a bad person even though He was in a somewhat complicated and oppressed situation.

However, at some point, that firm belief began to waver. Perhaps the symptoms began at the time.

He thought the symptoms would disappear once he returned to his hometown. However, it seemed that it was all his delusion.

“But why did you bring me here?”

“The lights were turned on in the countess’s and maid’s rooms. I think they saw something… .”

As Liam spoke, he suddenly remembered what Eloise had said at dinner last night. That the servants were talking about ghosts.

He was anxious at the thought that it might have been his story. He doesn’t know if Eloise has already noticed something and is trying to find out.

“What on earth is she trying to do…. What am I going to do… .”

Erwin buried his head deeper and grabbed his hair. Liam can do nothing in the face of his agony.

Erwin raises his head and looks out the window. It is still pitch black outside, but the pale dawn will soon arrive, and there will be nowhere to hide.

“Clothes…. I need clothes.”

He can’t go back into the mansion in just pajamas. Liam quickly steps forward in front of Erwin, who is struggling.

“I’ll go and get them. You have to just pretend to go for an early morning walk.

“No. Someone will see.”

Eloise and her men would be on high alert inside the mansion, and perhaps they had planted someone in the hallway near my room.

“Maybe it’s better….Maybe… .”

As Liam looked at the suffering Erwin, the face of someone who was smaller than Erwin but of similar build and who liked to get clothes tailored at a nobleman’s clothing shop flashed through his mind.

“Master. “I will bring you some clothes to wear.”

“What? Where?”

“There’s a way. So don’t worry and just rest for a moment.”

Liam reassured Erwin and went out of the cabin.

As he dragged his bike out, he looked at his cabin window once more. Behind the drawn curtains, he could see Erwin inside a cabin and a soft light.

The master is waiting for me in my personal space.

Feeling a strange sense of elation, Liam left the cabin and got on his bike, and started pedaling hard.

About 30 minutes later, a loud knocking sound echoed through the dark Bartholomew Avenue. The lights on the second floor of the butcher shop across the street turned on. Then, with a creaking sound, the window opened and curses flew over.

“You again? You’re acting like a jerk! Do you know what time it is? Why don’t you shut up and go away?”

But Liam kept knocking on the door.

“Luca! Luca Jones! Luca!”

***

Late at night, Liam is watching some people play cards in the servants’ hall.

In noble houses, servants are sometimes paid with tea, beer, sugar, and other items as a bonus in addition to their salary.

After finishing their day’s work, the servants gather in the servants’ hall. Some drank beer, some drank sweet tea, some played cards, knitted, and chatted, and spent their leisure time enjoying themselves in their own way.

Jingle!

But there is a moment when even that leisure has to stop. It is when the call bell connected to each room rang.

On one wall of the servant’s hall hung a picture frame-like board with countless papers attached under each of the bells and connected by a string with the name of the room written on it.

There is the Viscountess’s room, which rang every hour to send soda, wet towels, and wine, while there was also a room where it was hard to see the bell ringing. That is Erwin’s room on the east side of the fourth floor.

“This is from the young master’s room.”

Ralph put down the card he was holding and prepared to get up from his seat. Liam stood up first, holding his shoulder gently.

“Rest a bit. I’ll go.”

“Will you?”

It seemed like only yesterday when he first came here and didn’t even know basic manners and was causing trouble, but now Liam had become a full-fledged member of the dukedom.

Ralph nodded, lowering his body back to the chair after feeling relieved.

Liam left the servants’ hall and quickly climbed the stairs, recalling the events of the previous morning.

Liam dressed Erwin in the clothes he had borrowed from Luca.

Luca and Erwin are only about 3 inches apart in height, but their limbs are quite different in length. The sleeves of his shirt are quite short, so he had to roll them up a couple of times to make it look like they were rolled up.

It is expensive for a commoner’s clothes, but the material is still rough. Erwin, who had only ever worn clothes made of the most luxurious and soft fabrics since birth, frowned for a moment at the rough texture of the clothes on his body.

Still, after putting on his vest and boots and taking a book from Liam’s bookshelf in his hand, he looked exactly like a noble young man who had just come out of the mountain to buy books early in the morning.

Liam hid in a corner of the mansion, watched Erwin enter the mansion, and calmly greeted the servants who were starting their morning routine.

The reason he called me now is probably to return the clothes he had borrowed.

Knock.

When I knocked on the door, it opened right away as if he was expecting me and the refreshing smell of soap wafted out.

Erwin is dressed in a tunic as if he was well prepared. He looks somewhat relieved when he sees Liam standing in front of the door.

“I don’t have to worry about it. I was thinking about calling you over if someone else came.”

Liam is simply delighted to be needed by him. He can’t control the corners of his lips that are twitching and swept his mouth with his rough palm.

“If you need anything… .”

Liam stepped inside and gently closed the door after receiving a light gesture to do so.

Erwin said.

“Come sleep with me.”