⚠ Content note for this chapter: coercion / non-consent.
Téllez smiled softly and turned around. Tomorrow morning, he would take Rubio and leave the castle.
He was quite tired, but his mood was good.
Glancing back, outside the window, moonlight poured down, casting long shadows. It seemed it would not be a night he fell asleep easily.
***
Before dawn had even broken, the attendants, who had finished all preparations, woke Rubio.
It was the day Anna and several of the attendants who had looked after Rubio at his side would leave de la Rosa with him. The carriages loaded with luggage alone numbered more than ten.
The residence, meeting a chilly autumn morning, was wrapped in dim sunlight and mist.
Rubio was washed, dressed, and fed with a still-sleepy, dazed face, then, seen off by his family, climbed into Téllez’s carriage.
“Take care, Rubio.”
The Duchess de la Rosa, a shawl over her shoulders, reached out her hand to her son through the carriage window to the very last. Rubio held the hand stroking his cheek tightly and kissed her fingertips, saying he would write.
“Depart.”
At Téllez’s signal, the carriage quietly left the residence. Each turn of the wheels, the lingering gazes dripping with reluctance grew farther away.
Rubio sat with both fists clenched tightly, trying not to look back until they became dots.
“……”
Only now did his feelings turn strange.
The fear of leaving his family’s embrace, which he had never once left in his life, and de la Rosa, suddenly covered Rubio.
It was not a trip he would be briefly away on. He could not believe that a strange land he was going to for the first time in his life would now become his home ground. His parents, Lionela, and Evan would become people he could hardly see even once or twice a year. The same went for Miguel, who had seen him off from afar, wishing him happiness.
His eyes stung and he sniffled pointlessly, when he suddenly felt a gaze.
When he raised his head, Téllez, seated in front of him, was staring at him.
In an instant, his face flushed hot with embarrassment, and Rubio turned his head away toward the window again. He did not want the man before him to catch him wanting to cry.
If I cry already, it will be a disaster……
But for one whose perceptiveness was exceptional, unlike others, not noticing was harder. And no wonder, for with both the skin under his eyes and the tip of his nose reddened and his lips pressed firmly shut, he looked ready to drop tears at any moment.
What to do with this.
Even as he thought so, Téllez neither rashly comforted Rubio nor soothed him. That was because he knew Rubio’s family could stay up all night on stories of Rubio alone.
For Téllez, who had never received such tremendous affection in his life, Rubio had grown up receiving more love than he could even guess, so Rubio must hold them just as dear.
So he wanted to give Rubio plenty of time to be sad.
This journey was the process of Rubio parting from his childhood. The moment he arrived in Orense, he would have great power as the mistress of House Téllez. But Rubio would not have wished for such a thing. If it were the right to run about forever at the de la Rosa estate, perhaps.
Marriage, an heir, management of the estate, and the duties of a nobleman……
Being born to a grand ducal house, they were things he had no choice but to accept. Téllez did not want to force such things on Rubio.
He had already married him against his will once, so after that, he wanted to let him do as he wished, somehow.
Of course, this was a story limited to within his own castle. As long as Rubio did not leave his bounds, he could do whatever he liked.
“……”
It was surprising even to himself that he was having such thoughts, but he was.
As Téllez stared at him for a long while without moving, Rubio grew needlessly uncomfortable and fidgeted with both hands. The slight friendliness that had formed the night before had evaporated long ago.
Why is he staring like that?
Is there something on my face? That could not be. Rubio barely managed to ignore that stinging gaze and fell into thought. Anna would never have let such a thing be. She would not leave so much as a fingernail-sized blemish on him alone.
Then… could it be that where he was hit still hurts…?
At that thought, he suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Thinking of how he had swung with all his might, it was plausible. Rubio worried a little, cleared his throat, hmm, hmm, and asked Téllez.
“Did it hurt a lot?”
“Pardon?”
“Your left cheek…… Is that not why you keep doing that?”
Téllez looked at Rubio with puzzled eyes. Then, roughly grasping what he was talking about, he laughed inside.
“Hmm…… Yes, it still hurts.”
Rubio hesitated a little, then awkwardly lifted his hips from his seat. Wondering what he was suddenly getting up to do, seeing Rubio reach out a hand toward him, Téllez sat still and let him.
The white, soft hand hesitated for a moment, then touched the face where the scratched wound remained. The fingertips tracing over the firm skin tickled and stung. He said not a word, but Téllez thought he knew what Rubio wanted to say.
The man spoke as if to reassure him.
“I deserved the beating, so it’s fine.”
“I suppose that’s true…….”
Rubio nodded. Even now, thinking of that night and the day of the ceremony made him embarrassed. He still could not understand how Pedro could have told such an outrageous lie.
Seeing that the moisture pooled in the jewel-like eyes had subsided, Téllez met his gaze and smiled brightly. Then he took that small hand in his, gently so as not to hurt him, and let it go again. If Rubio hurt himself sitting in an awkward posture while they traveled, that would be a disaster.
“Sit back down now.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“A little…….”
For someone who answered that way, he still looked sleepy. A drowsy air still clung to his downy face, so Téllez waited for him to fall asleep.
Sure enough, before long Rubio began to nod off. It was only natural, given the forced march of the days around the wedding, so the man rose and moved over to the side where Rubio sat.
He cradled in his hand the small head that nearly knocked against the window frame and leaned it against his own shoulder. The little frame was so light he could hardly tell whether it was leaning on him at all.
Sitting close, that particular scent of his skin reached the tip of Téllez’s nose. It was the same fragrance he had caught on the night they first met.
Pheromones…….’
Téllez slowly breathed the scent in. It called to mind white flower petals holding rainwater. Neither showy nor thick, and for that very reason it suited Rubio’s pure looks all the better.
Even his closed eyes were lovely, a fresh observation. His long blond hair flowed down over his forehead, and beneath his long lashes lay shadow. His innocent face was utterly unguarded, without a trace of wariness.
He’s an angel only when he sleeps.
The man chuckled and, not missing the chance, stroked Rubio’s cheek. The smooth cheek against his fingertips tickled.
But only for a moment; when Rubio burrowed into his arms in his sleep with a small “mm…….”, his movements stopped dead.
“……
Only the sound of Rubio’s soft, even breathing filled the carriage.
Téllez froze, then, catching himself, let out a small sigh. He could not bring himself to push away the sweetly sleeping Rubio, so, ignoring his own burning ears, he held him.
Outside the window it was still broad daylight. As Lionela had said, it would be trouble if Rubio tired himself out on the long journey, so perhaps falling asleep like this, as if fainting, was for the best.
When he returned, the imperial rescript approving the marriage would have arrived, and the piled-up work would be a mountain besides, so he would be busy for a while.
Rubio, too, would have things to adjust to and learn in his own way. It would be awkward at first, but in time he would grow used to it…….
While Rubio fell into a sweet dream in his arms, Téllez turned his thoughts elsewhere.
There was still a long way to go before they reached Orense.
“Your Grace, a message has come from the lodgings where we’ll stay tonight…….” José, riding alongside as an escort, spoke to him from outside the window, and Téllez put a finger to his lips. Shh. Seeing that Rubio was asleep, José’s eyes went wide.
Then, unable to tear his gaze from the face sleeping without a care in the world, he stared as if spellbound, until Téllez glared at him and he backed off with an “oh dear…….”
Perhaps the steady rhythm of the rolling wheels sounded like a lullaby, for once asleep, Rubio did not wake easily.
The man gazed for a long while at the one sleeping in his arms. Not even noticing the world outside the window gradually darkening, the time inside the carriage flowed by in peace.
***
Because the party traveled so slowly, reaching Orense took twice the usual time. Téllez’s servants, who had been waiting with all their hearts for their master and his spouse to arrive, were staring out the windows with bored faces.
“Oh, I think they’re coming!”
At the servant boy’s words, Maria, who managed Téllez’s castle, jerked her head up.
Beyond her shining glasses, a carriage entering the residence could be seen in the distance. She hurriedly gathered the servants to go out and greet them.
For days now she had been tidying the inner chambers every single day for the young master coming from de la Rosa. Only after three days had passed since she sent word asking when on earth the Duke would arrive could she finally receive the master and his spouse.
“Welcome home. Your Grace, Lord Rubio.”
The woman, who had bowed deeply, raised her head. She looked to be far older than Téllez, and she smiled with a warm, comfortable face. The servants lined up behind her were the same.
Rubio, a little tense before all those brightly smiling faces, returned her greeting. At Téllez’s gesture, Maria attached herself cozily to the new master’s side.
“So I finally get to see you, Lord Rubio. You must be tired from coming all this way.”
“No, I’m fine…….”
“And this is the person you brought with you?”
Leave a Reply