Luman was left speechless.

In the current situation, where Ren had essentially been dragged here against his will, they had not even been able to explain the circumstances to him.

The things they had meant to tell him slowly had become even harder to bring up after Ren collapsed. In the end, they had arrived at the royal castle without telling him anything or asking him anything.

They could say it could not be helped, but what had brought them to this point was ultimately their responsibility.

“I’m sor......”

“Go on already.”

Without even giving him a chance to apologize, Ren left Luman behind and walked ahead. Luman stared after the boy’s back for a long time.

***

The Heroes followed the king to his office, and Ren was shown to his room by a servant. Jepeto was assigned the room right next to Ren’s.

“Ren. Would you like to eat right away?”

Ever since Ren had collapsed at the lord’s castle that day, Jepeto had become even more cautious around him.

His attitude was like someone handling a delicate work of art. It was obvious he cared for Ren, but that very attitude only made Ren more sensitive.

“I’m fine. I want to rest a little.”

“Of course. You should rest. Ren, if you need anything, come to me at any time.”

After he finished speaking, Jepeto hesitated as if there was something more he wanted to say.

Ren, who had been about to enter his room, stopped and looked back at him.

“......If, by any chance, you want to leave, please tell me first. I’ll help you, so I would rather you didn’t leave alone like last time.”

It seemed Ren sneaking away from the inn in Tempesto still weighed on Jepeto’s mind.

The serious look on his face, and the courage he had forced out to say he would help, reached Ren.

“Fine! I get it. So you don’t have to worry about that.”

When Ren shouted curtly, almost as if he were whining, color returned to Jepeto’s face.

Watching him, Ren was momentarily dumbfounded.

Come on, what am I supposed to do if he likes it when I get annoyed? If my personality gets worse, Jepeto is definitely a little responsible for it!

“Yes, good! Ren, rest well!”

Jepeto turned away with the brightest face he had worn in recent days. He looked relieved, as if an indigestion that had been sitting in his chest for days had finally gone down.

Ren bit his lip.

Separate from how uncomfortable his own heart felt, he had no intention of troubling other people. He had only just realized that he had been causing them trouble without meaning to.

As Ren stood there, frustrated, and only let out a sigh, the servant checked his complexion.

“Are you feeling unwell? I will call a physician.”

“No. I’m fine.”

Ren shook his head and stepped into the room.

“Wow.......”

The admiration slipped out reflexively.

It could not even be compared to the shack, or a good inn, or the room he had been shown at the lord’s castle.

A spacious room, soft carpet that seemed to swallow his feet. A luxurious chandelier casting gentle light, and a large room decorated with expensive wood. The framed paintings hanging here and there, and every large and small thing adorning the room, all looked extremely costly.

A bed wide enough for three people to lie down on, a table, a cozy-looking rocking chair, and books packed densely enough to fill an entire wall. Books that would have been difficult to obtain in the countryside were so plentiful here they were practically underfoot.

The space seemed to overwhelm Ren.

So this was what the royal castle was like.......

‘So what am I supposed to do about it!’

Ren moved his hesitant feet and flopped carelessly onto the bed.

“I will bring you something light to eat. Are there any foods you cannot eat?”

“.......”

He could not afford to be picky about foods he could not eat.

Because he had gone without eating when there was nothing.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Ren’s expression changed subtly.

“Yes. If you wait just a moment, I will bring it right away.”

“Ah, wait!”

Ren hurriedly caught the servant, who had been about to leave, and raised himself from the bed. The servant’s face flushed for an instant as he faced those beautiful green eyes, drained of strength, and that disheveled blond hair. Ren did not notice his bewilderment and continued.

“Can I get my luggage?”

The servant, who had paused, nodded.

“Yes. I will ask and bring it to you.”

“......So even bringing me my own luggage requires permission.”

“Pardon?”

Seeing the flustered servant, Ren shook his head.

“It’s nothing.”

“Yes. Then.......”

The servant bowed his head and quietly left the room.

A silence meant for one person, a quiet stillness, wrapped around Ren. For the first time in a while, it felt as if he had been left completely alone.

“Don’t pick a fight for no reason.”

Suppressing the urge to turn sharp, Ren sighed.

Right, this is the royal castle. Since the king is here, of course even little things like that need permission. Yes, even if it’s for a Hero who commanded battlefields and suffered countless wounds for the kingdom, and that Hero’s younger brother!

The more he thought about it, the angrier Ren became, and he fumed.

Wasn’t that attitude basically doubting their loyalty?

Ren curled his body into a ball. The blanket was soft as feathers, and the bed was comfortable enough that he could fall asleep at once. So much so that it could not compare to anything Ren had lived with until now.

But Ren found that comfort uncomfortable instead.

He began to suspect Temar had never received proper compensation from the king.

The shack was old, Ren’s life had been shabby, and not once had they ever lived in abundance.

Ren did not hate poverty. He was only angry that they had not properly received what was theirs.

No matter how much Temar had given away to the villagers, he was a Hero of the kingdom who did not indulge in a single luxury, and one of the Seven Stars on top of that. Ren hated that he lived in an old house. He hated that Temar gave everything away without even thinking of Ren, but he hated even more the sight of him struggling even to share that much.

And now, he had questions about all of it.

This room was so fine and spacious. Ragniel had shown kindness even to Ren, merely because he was Temar’s younger brother. Even under Ren’s glare, he had not called him insolent, but had tried to understand him. The king of an entire kingdom had even asked for the understanding of a boy who was nothing.

Had Ragniel been acting in front of Ren?

There was no need for that. What was Ren, anyway? At most, a Hero’s younger brother. A minor child with no particularly impressive ability. What could the king possibly want from someone like that, enough to go through the trouble?

So...... Temar must have been treated as he deserved by the king. In some way, surely not in a way unworthy of a Hero’s honor.

The day Luman first came to the shack, his clothes could not have been called shabby.

Then why did my brother?

No, forget it.

There was no need to argue about it.

It belonged to his brother. Whatever his brother did with it had nothing to do with Ren......

“Damn it!”

Ren struck the bed with a twisted expression.

It had nothing to do with him. But still, then why did they have to live so hard? They could have replaced the warped window frame and the worn-out blankets.

“......Once I leave the royal castle.”

Ren muttered, slowly blinking.

Once he left, he would earn money. With his own strength.

Ren simply thought of that, and nothing else.

The servant soon returned with Ren’s luggage, along with food that was suitable for a light meal. Among the things the servant had brought, some were not Ren’s.

Ren rummaged through his luggage, chewed the tea leaves raw, and swallowed them, erasing side effects from his mind. After the medicinal sweet jelly’s side effects, he might have been cautious out of fear, but instead a rebellious feeling welled up in him. That kind of pain was only frightening once. What, was it supposed to scare him a second time?

So Ren did not look for the dosage instructions the old apothecary had packed for him. Instead of digging through his own luggage, he rummaged through Temar’s.

Because thinking of the old apothecary had reminded him of something.

A letter.

That day, in the loneliness after Luman left, Ren had not been able to read the letters from the old apothecary and Coco.

Ren pushed the food to one side and took the crumpled letters in his hand.

As he slowly read the letter, Ren’s eyes began moving faster. After reading it to the end, he reread the same part over and over again. Joy and tears abruptly filled his eyes.

Ren had to bite his lip to keep from crying. His lip, tattered from how many times he had bitten it, still had not healed properly no matter how much medicine he put on it. Blood still ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ showed, and it stung. Enough to make the tears retreat.

Ren sprang up, went out onto the balcony, flung the doors wide open, and looked down. The garden of the royal castle, the servants busily passing through it, and past them, the faint, distant scenery of the capital! That view made Ren’s chest swell. His heart beat urgently as he searched for someone he could not possibly see from this far away. Thump, thump, thump. It pounded hard enough to shake his body, like someone was knocking frantically on a door.

The old apothecary was coming to the capital!

The letter said that he, too, had business in the capital. He had found a skilled coachman, and the old apothecary wrote that he thought he would arrive in the capital at almost the same time as Ren. Aside from that, in a nuance only Ren would recognize, he asked about Ren’s health and wrote that he had obtained several good medicinal ingredients.

The letter was simple. Almost dry, for something written by the old apothecary, who usually nagged and worried so much.

But those few simple sentences, that plain and even dry letter, moved Ren’s heart.

The gladness of meeting an old friend from home had already begun to sprout in Ren’s chest.