Red Tape

“….Yes?”

Liam blinked repeatedly.

As a servant, it is never a good idea to ask a question back and have the master repeat the same thing. However, he can’t help but ask.

“I don’t understand what you just said…?”

“I told you to sleep here with me.”

Erwin calmly turned around, walked into the room, and sat on the edge of the bed.

Liam still looked dumbfounded.

“I mean, every night in the Saint-Bernoulli dormitory, I slept with a desk or a chest of drawers in front of the door.” But I guess I pushed it away anyway.”

“Ah… .”

“You’re seriously ill. Isn’t that right?”

How much pain must he have felt every night before going to bed, blocking the door with his own hand? Liam’s expression is filled with deep compassion.

“Stay by my side and keep me from leaving this room. You can use force or hit me too.”

“….Yes.”

After a moment of thought, Liam answered.

I will never use force against the young master, but I am going to follow his words even if it means staying up all night.

Liam’s determined expression, like a knight who has been given a mission, is both cute and reassuring.

Erwin, who secretly laughed, pulled back the blanket and got inside to lie down. He then looks quietly at Liam, who is standing guard, and motions with his index finger for him to come closer.

My neck aches when I look up at a tall man like you. Erwin spoke in a languid tone typical of someone lying down.

“Sit down, My neck hurts.”

Liam sits on the floor next to Erwin’s bed.

“Tell me about yourself.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Where and how you lived, and stuff like that.”

Liam took a moment to reflect on the life he had lived. It wasn’t all that glamorous or beautiful.

“Why would someone like me… . ”

“I can’t sleep. What kind of person was your mother?”

Liam could still vividly remember his mother.

“My mother’s name is Lily Jenners. It’s an Asterian name, but she’s never been there. My grandfather came to the Empire to make money, got married here, and had her.”

Erwin glanced at Liam with his clear eyes. His blue eyes sparkled with curiosity rather than sleep.

“My mother said that she met my father when she was fifteen while working at a nobleman’s townhouse in the capital. She fell in love at first sight.”

“What does your father do?”

“I don’t know. Actually, I’ve never seen my father. My mother’s friends told me this story when they were drunk that my father abandoned my pregnant mother.”

“This… .”

“But my mother said that wasn’t the case. My father didn’t abandon us. She left on her own to protect my father’s honor.”

Isn’t letting your pregnant woman go away like abandoning her?

The story that his mother’s friends told him is probably true. His mother must have tried to soothe her child’s feelings so that he wouldn’t get hurt.

Erwin, who had a habit of thinking pessimistically first about everything, thought so.

“When I was seven, my mother had a serious fever. After that, she developed asthma and could not live in colder climates, so we moved to the south.”

“South?”

Erwin showed interest.

“The first place we went was Beaufort.”

Beaufort was a large port city that Erwin was familiar with. It was an industrial city with large trading ships coming and going, and it was a place that appeared in many of the travelogues he had read.

“How is it? Is it beautiful?”

“Hmm…. No. What I remember is that there was a lot of filth in the streets and the stench was terrible.”

The book Erwin read did not include such sensory information. It feels like the illusion he had about a vibrant and beautiful trading city is crumbling.

“Really? Does it smell so bad?”

“It’s not a tourist city anyway, and the port people are loud and don’t care about what other people think. The horses pulling the carriages don’t even clean up the poop, and the sailors take off their pants and urinate anywhere.”

“Oh my god… .”

Erwin furrowed his brow with surprise and absurdity. It was the moment when two lines were drawn over ‘Beauport’ on the list of places he had wanted to visit.

“But after living there for a few months, my nose got numb and I didn’t care. Other than that, it was a pretty good place. If the  People came back with a full boat of fish and were happy, they would share their fish. When something happened to a house, the entire neighborhood would come to help.”

Even though the night sky is getting darker, Erwin still seems to be having trouble thinking. The questions continued endlessly.

“Where did you go next?”

“Have you ever swum in the ocean?”

“How’s the food there? Do you really eat raw fish?”

Liam answered Erwin’s questions one by one with sincerity.

Erwin is drowsy but happy, like a kid listening to a bedtime story.

“Tell me about Senain.”

“It was… a really beautiful place. There was a beach with pink sand that looked purple or violet when it met the seawater.”

Erwin closed his eyes gently. It seemed like he could see the ocean Liam had described before his eyes.

“More….Tell me more.”

“There is a flower called *“lubeulina”. It is a flower that blooms on trees, so common that you can see it anywhere in Senaine. It has white petals with yellow inside. It looks a little like a daffodil. But it is completely different from the weak daffodils. It is said to be the strongest flower in the world that can withstand salt the best.”

(T/N: I tried to search for an English name, but I can not find any flower with the same characteristic; anyway, here is a raw 루브리나. If any of you find it, please let me know.)

The Calliwell family’s heraldry is the daffodil. Liam continued talking, not knowing that he had just insulted the heraldry of his family and Erwin didn’t care at all.

“It is a flower that has the strongest fragrance at night, and the women there even make perfume with Lubrina.”

Erwin, who was listening to the low, resonant voice, fell asleep while picturing the scenery of a foreign country he had never visited.

Liam, who had been talking for a while without realizing it, realized that Erwin had fallen asleep while talking about the tastes of people who liked spicy food.

“Good night, my lord.”

Liam turned slightly and leaned back on the bed, tilting his head back to admire the painting on the concave ceiling. It was a painting of a woman wrapped in a thin sheet holding a baby angel.

He said he lost his mother when he was born, but isn’t it a bit harsh to have to look at a painting like that every time he sleeps?

He thought that but quickly shook it off. The painting must have been there hundreds of years before the young master was born.

Crackle, crackle.

The only sounds in the quiet space are Erwin’s regular breathing and the sound of the firewood burning quietly in the fireplace. He feels his mind calming down on its own.

Suddenly, a feeling of anxiety crossed Liam’s mind sharply.

What if he accidentally falls asleep while sitting in such a comfortable and warm place? If he falls into such a deep sleep that he doesn’t even notice the young master getting up and going outside…..

Liam, who is worried, gets up from his seat and walks around Erwin’s room. His eyes caught sight of Erwin’s desk.

Erwin had already been handling a lot of the estate-related work that he had received from the Duke, and many documents were lying around as proof.

And on one side of the desk is a red string used to tie up documents to be sent to the government office. It is something he had diligently bought at Brody’s General Store.

“Ah… .”

An idea occurred to Liam.

Liam brought a long string and tied one end tightly around his wrist. Then he carefully approaches Erwin, who is sleeping, holding the other end.

He lifted the blanket slightly and wrapped the red string around his exposed ankle.

Liam, who worked as a boat manager in Senain, is an expert at tying knots. He knew all sorts of knotting techniques, and he could tie unique knots that others could never easily untie, but he could loosen them with just a few manipulations.

The red string wrapped around his pale white skin evoked a strange feeling in itself.

Liam pulled the string once to check if the knot is tight, and felt the scar next to the red string.

How did this scar come about? Thinking that he will ask later if he has the chance, Liam sits on the floor next to the bed, where a dog should have been guarding its owner.

And then, before he knew it, he fell into a deep sleep.

Rustle, Rustle.

Liam opened his eyes wide at the feeling of his wrist being pulled.

How pathetic that he fell asleep so soon.

Chewing his self-loathing, he turned his head to see Erwin sitting on the bed, squirming.

He looked far away beyond the bed as if he wanted to go somewhere.

After a while, Erwin realizes that one of his feet isn’t moving properly, so he looks at his ankle tied with a rope with resentful eyes. And without even thinking about untying the knot, he started pulling it without thinking.

This knot, which Liam had tied in a special way, would never come off in this kind of forced way.

There are nail marks on his white ankle and red marks from scratches from the tough leather.

Liam didn’t hesitate any longer and climbed and put both knees on the bed.

“Forgive me.”

Then he holds Erwin’s two arms tightly next to his torso and hugs him tightly as if tying him up. The strength that made Erwin’s body unable to move is like a coiled snake. Liam’s chin pressed down on Erwin’s shoulder.

Erwin, who had been struggling in his arms as if trying to escape and whose face was red, became quiet at some point.

As Liam carefully relaxed his arms, Erwin’s body, deeply asleep, slid down.

Liam lay Erwin gently on the bed, covered him with the blanket, and lowered him back down to the bed and got off from the bed.

The next morning, Erwin wakes up and finds the string tied to his ankle.

His blue eyes, resembling the sea, followed the red string on the white sheets. The other end of the string is the strong wrist of the servant who is curled up next to the bed and sleeping.

For a long time, Erwin can not take his eyes off Liam.

More than 30 minutes after waking up, Erwin tapped Liam’s shoulder with his toes. Liam, who opened his eyes at the slightest touch, quickly turned his head to Erwin’s side, as if to confirm.

“Untie this.”

Liam quickly reached out and grabbed Erwin’s ankle.

Erwin bit his lower lip as if thinking about something before letting it go. Then he continued.

“From today on, just come up and sleep.”