NOVEL NEXT #19
#19
“Come to me, and then?”
The voice of Jersian, the youngest son of the Gerold Marquis family, with jet-black hair and red eyes, made Nathan, who was standing at the door, snap to attention and salute.
“Y-young master. It’s an honor to meet you.”
A bit late but finally coming to his senses, Nathan followed the Gerold Knights’ protocol. Immediately, Jersian’s sharp gaze turned to Nathan. Jersian’s scarlet eyes, uncommon on the continent, always emitted a chilling coldness that gave one goosebumps.
“What’s so complicated? You two were having an interesting conversation?”
“…Well.”
The burly knight stammered and hesitated to answer Jersian’s question.
It was unclear whether he didn’t understand the question or was just pretending not to know.
After a very brief moment, Jersian concluded that his knight was simply an idiot.
Jersian ordered his knight, who was standing with his chest puffed out proudly while trying to hide the cold sweat on his forehead.
“Open the door.”
He was taking pity on him since his arm was already broken.
Anyway, Jersian’s business was with the elf inside.
“What? Yes!”
Nathan took out the key hanging on his waist with his uninjured arm and unlocked the door with a click. Until now, Jersian had never ordered him to unlock that door. He would have only placed meal trays within arm’s reach through a small opening next to the door.
Jersian stood a step back, waiting for his knight to open the door.
Creeeeak- The massive door that hadn’t been opened for days finally opened.
“Jersian.”
Immediately, the platinum-haired elf standing right in front came into view. The elf’s emerald eyes directed at Jersian seemed to sparkle and shine.
Nathan, right behind, grimaced with a “huh.” He was shocked to see the elf, who had always been emotionless and cold when talking through the door, melt at the sight of his master Jersian.
Jersian, who had momentarily paused upon seeing Kain Starchis’s beautiful face, resumed walking into the room.
Then, as if to prevent anyone from seeing, he slammed the door shut with a bang.
A yelp of surprise could be heard from Nathan, who had been standing near the door.
Stride, stride.
Jersian walked into the room without hesitation, reaching the large window on the wall. Being on the 5th floor, the view outside the window was dizzyingly high, as if atop a cliff.
He had never allowed the door to be opened.
…So you jumped down from here to come to me.
Well, well. A look of disbelief swirled in Jersian’s red eyes.
He placed his hand on the windowsill and turned his head back.
Kain Starchis was still standing still in the room, staring at him. Due to his tall stature, his head almost touched the already low ceiling of the guest room. He was a white man who didn’t match at all with the purple carpet, white bed, and other furnishings.
“First, change that way of addressing me. There are very few people in this mansion who can call me by my name like that.”
“Then?”
Kain pondered for a very brief moment before speaking. He recalled how others addressed Jersian.
“Should I call you ‘young master’ too?”
“…When you say it, it somehow sounds sarcastic. Anyway, you’re not my servant, so just ‘Lord Jersian’ is enough.”
“I see, Lord Jersian. I have a question.”
“What.”
“How many years have you been alive?”
What a way to ask about age. The sharpness in Jersian’s eyes completely faded. But Kain Starchis was waiting for an answer with a genuinely curious expression.
Jersian Gerold had always been a topic of conversation since his birth. Therefore, it was extremely rare for him to introduce himself to others or, especially, to reveal his age. This was because everyone living on the continent already knew his age. Jersian told Kain his age with a peculiar expression.
“…Fifteen years as of this year.”
“What? Fif… fifteen years?”
Kain Starchis was shocked. Such an age was unheard of in the Fiokhim Mountains.
“That’s all?”
Only fifteen! In the Fiokhim Mountains where elves lived, it was rare to even experience the birth of another elf. The idea that his destined partner was only 15 years old was unthinkable. Jersian’s somewhat willful behavior and lack of patience now made sense.
…It seems I’ll have to wait several years to truly receive Lady Galia’s revelation. Kain scratched the side of his jaw.
“…”
“So that’s why you’re so short.”
Twitch, Jersian’s eyebrow twitched.
My height isn’t short, it’s just… Jersian was about to refute Kain’s words but stopped.
It was already annoying enough that he had to look up at the elf due to being shorter, but that surprised expression felt like a final blow.
Jersian leaned against the window with his arms crossed.
“Is this really so surprising? How old are you then?”
“Hmm.”
After pondering for a moment at Jersian’s question, Kain answered.
“I stopped counting after 300 years because it became bothersome.”
“…”
What?
Jersian’s gaze, which had been looking elsewhere with an annoyed expression while leaning on the window, shifted abruptly.
“…You’re joking, right?”
He then questioned Kain, who was standing still in the center of the room. But Kain Starchis just looked at Jersian with wide eyes.
“About what?”
“…”
Jokes don’t suit elves. Jersian only believed Kain’s age after recalling how Peter had told him multiple times that elves couldn’t lie.
Jersian remained silent for a moment before changing the subject.
“So what were you talking about with the knight outside? I didn’t know you two had become so close.”
“What, oh.”
Kain slightly opened his mouth at those words. Thanks to Jersian actually coming to this room, he had completely forgotten something important. Jersian, leaning on the window, gestured with his chin as if to say ‘speak up quickly.’
“It’s about the woman who brought food to my room today. That woman, she was blatantly lying to the knight in front. She already knew that your guest was in this room and came to check. She doesn’t know my full identity, but she knows quite a lot of details.”
“…I thought I had sufficiently silenced everyone.”
The annex is large and spacious. It was common for people of the Gerold Marquis family to lend rooms in the annex to outsiders. This meant that the main house wouldn’t pay much attention just because one room was occupied.
In the end, more attention was drawn to the fact that Jersian Gerold had brought someone to a room without the Marquis’s knowledge, rather than to the guest in the room.
Someone who knew about that night’s events must have spoken.
On that night when only a very small number of people had gathered.
Jersian’s expression turned cold.
He frowned and tilted his head. There’s a rat inside, even within the knight order he trusted. An intimidating aura, rarely seen elsewhere, emanated from the young boy.
Kain asked the frowning Jersian:
“Will it cause you harm if it becomes known that I’m here?”
“For just having you here? Of course not.”
Jersian sneered with a “hmph,” as if it was a ridiculous question.
He had only confined Kain here for a very short time before deciding what to do with him. Although several days had passed, Jersian still hadn’t decided what to do with the elf. Not because he believed in the superstition of destined partners, but because the fact that he was an elf itself was beneficial to Jersian.
‘But I need to catch the rat inside.’
Jersian moved away from the window and strode towards the door. Then he knocked on the door with his fist, thump thump. Immediately, a voice was heard from outside the room.
“Yes, young master. I’m standing by outside.”
It was the voice of Knight Nathan waiting outside the door.
Jersian, maintaining eye contact with Kain Starchis inside the room, spoke to Nathan outside.
“Bring here the maid who you said visited earlier.”
If I pull on the string connected to the rat, it should naturally come out.
Jersian ordered in a calm voice. Nathan outside the door seemed flustered and was silent for a moment before answering weakly.
“…Yes, understood.”
Hoping that Helen hadn’t made a mistake too big for her to handle on her own.