The Runaway Paladin and the Half Fae Duke

Watching Sien work was like a flurry of action to Ritt. Sien had immediately located the farms to the south where the monster attacks were happening, and after crouching down to look at a few tracks and blood streaks that were left behind, he’d marched along into the woods and tracked them to their nests. The lindwurm-like monsters had their heads removed by Sien’s blade with practiced efficiency before they could even finish lunging at him, and their eggs were quickly located and ruthlessly smashed by his boots.

 

All in all, everything took less than 20 minutes, and he did all of it without ever once letting go of Ritt’s hand.

 

“Alright, then.”

 

Sien sounded bored as he peered up into the sky that was peeking out between the tops of the trees.

 

“If we hurry up and head home soon, then we should be able to make it back home in time for your lunch.”

 

Sien didn’t look or sound at all like he’d just fought with a group of fearsome and deadly monsters. Ritt, having seen first hand the horrifically strong magic that Sien possessed, was absolutely surprised and amazed by the fact that he’d dealt with the monsters using only sword fighting alone. As part of a test of his abilities while he was still being worked on in the mage tower, Ritt had been forced to fight with a number of similar wyrm-like monsters before, so he knew about how difficult it should have been to take such creatures down. Ritt’s eyes were practically sparkling with how impressed he was.

 

“Sien, that was amazing! I’ve never heard of such a quick and efficient subjugation performed before!”

 

Sien glanced over at him, his eyebrow quirking up for a moment at the tone he’d never heard from Ritt before, but soon he just lightly rolled his eyes, looking a bit wry as he began walking, pulling Ritt along after him.

 

“Was it? After doing it for so many years, they're all starting to blend together, though.”

 

Ritt stared after Sien, not sure how to reply to the unexpected response. Usually, Sien would smile mischievously or act like a proud cat when he heard anything close to praise from Ritt, but for some reason he didn’t seem like he liked this one. Feeling awkward, Ritt thought desperately for a moment, looking for anything that he could say to change the subject.

 

“Erm, so, then… I suppose we’ll be stopping by the mayor’s residence again before going back?”

 

“Huh? ...Why would we do that?”

 

Sien stopped and turned towards Ritt, looking at him like Ritt had spoken some kind of nonsense. Ritt blinked for a moment, confused at what he’d said wrong.

 

“...Don’t we have to report that the monsters have been slain, like he asked?”

 

“Huhhh? But why do I have to do that? I don’t have to report to anyone but the Emperor. They’ll figure out the monsters are gone anyways when they don’t show up anymore.”

 

Ritt’s confused blinking increased, but in the end he simply decided to just nod and accept what Sien had said. It felt wrong not to report that the task was completed, but when Sien said it like that, Ritt had no clue what to say back.

 

Sien, seeing Ritt’s quiet nodding, tilted his head for a moment childishly, but soon shrugged and began to march off into the forest, once again.

 

~~~

 

Although Ritt and Sien were usually together during lunch, it was only really Ritt who ever ate it. Sien already didn’t eat much throughout the day, a fact that Ritt, who ate far more food than was to be expected, often secretly attributed to Sien’s sleek physique. And because Sien wasn’t at all distracted by food at this time, he typically entertained himself by watching Ritt eating. It was because of this that he was able to notice the constant little peeks that Ritt was casting towards him.

 

The last time Ritt had repeatedly peeked at him like this, Sien had learned that his uncle had been whispering forked words to him while he wasn’t around. He was sure that it wouldn’t have been possible again with how vigilantly he’d been watching his uncle, but perhaps there had been some sort of oversight somewhere with the servants. Worried about what Ritt might have heard this time, Sien tensed up slightly without realizing it. Doing his best to maintain a casual facade despite how stiff he'd suddenly gotten, Sien let the words he was thinking out.

 

“What is it this time, Ritt?”

 

Ritt glanced around in surprise, feeling a bit bashful as he realized that he’d been caught. He lowered his gaze down the plate in front of him, fiddling with it with his fork. He’d been wondering about it all day, but he felt a bit ashamed that he now had to ask the question he felt he must be stupid for not understanding.

 

“...What exactly happened in the forest? How did I not know that that town was so close by? And why couldn’t I see your fortress from there?”

 

Sien paused, the words running through his head a few times as he realized what exactly Ritt was asking him about, but soon he broke out into laughter at how unexpected the question that he’d been so worried about hearing was.

 

“Hah! What, didn’t you notice that the forest was enchanted?”

 

Seeing Ritt solemnly shake his head with it still bowed, Sien covered his mouth with his hand, his body shaking as he tried to force himself to hold back some of the laughter. Still, seeing Ritt look more and more like he was drooping, Sien quickly rushed to explain himself.

 

“No no, that town is actually an hour and a half from here! And the mountain where I found you at is over three hours away! Really, I can’t believe you didn’t know by now!”

 

Sien pressed himself back against the chair, doing his best to steadily breathe and wipe at his eyes as the giggles that were coming out of him softened. Ritt watched him through his eyelashes, quietly mumbling out an embarrassed excuse.

 

“Well, I don’t know anything about the geography of this place, so it makes sense that I wouldn’t know…”

 

“Yeah yeah, I’m sorry for laughing at you Ritt. But geez! If you didn’t know what was happening, you should have just asked.”

 

Ritt closed his mouth, unable to say that that was literally what he’d just been doing. It was true that he'd waited quite a while to ask about it, though, although he still believed that he shouldn’t have just been expected to guess that the forest he’d only ever gone through once before today was magical.

 

Noticing how quiet Ritt had gotten, Sien gave a chagrined smile and got up, moving over to Ritt’s side of the table and sitting down next to him.

 

“You know, that forest was actually a gift from my father, in a way.”

 

Ritt quickly turned his head Sien’s way, forgetting all about how wronged he felt after hearing the first ever mention of his father from Sien’s lips.

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yeah. He gave it to my mother to keep her safe and keep unwanted visitors away. I modified it a bit after he took her away, though.”

 

“He… took her away?”

 

Ritt was confused. He’d been guessing that Sien’s mother had passed away at some point from the way that he’d spoken about her. He also recalled being told that she’d been taken away once before, coming back pregnant with Sien, so the fact that she’d been taken away twice was even more surprising.

 

Glancing at Ritt’s face and seeing his bewildered expression, Sien let himself lean over to slump against him, turning his gaze up to the ceiling as he talked.

 

“She was getting old, and it was gonna be her time anyways, I guess. Even though he never showed up before then, he must have been keeping tabs on us or something, because he came right when her body started failing her and took her away with him. Said something to me about how he could keep her safe if she was in his lands, since he’s a ‘Lord of the Autumn Forest’ or some big important thing like that, and then he just left. It’s been a little over 20 years since then, I think.”

 

“I…”

 

Ritt closed his mouth, unsure what to say. There were so many things to unpack from what Sien had just told him, and he didn’t know which of any of them to focus on first. Sien didn’t seem to mind his silence however, and continued talking on.

 

“Oh, well, I guess he didn’t leave right away. He took a second to teach me more about my Fae side, especially my powers, which I guess was pretty useful of him. I already knew how to use some of it, but I got a lot better with his guidance, even if he only told me a tiny bit. Guess it made up a little for how lonely things got with mom gone.”

 

Sien sounded a bit like he was just stating facts about what had happened to him, but Ritt couldn’t help but frowning, especially when he heard Sien mention about being lonely. He hesitated for a moment, but when Sien looked up questioningly at him when he noticed Ritt’s sad face, Ritt couldn’t help but blurt out what he was thinking.

 

“...Do you wish that you’d gone with them?”