The One and Only Sami Chapter 25

“Heugh…”

Sami gasped and gripped Antar’s sleeve tight as a white lion and a black leopard strolled past a pillar right across from them.

“M-m-master Antar.”

The predators saw Sami and Antar’s party, puffing out their shoulders and letting out a low, guttural growl. Hearing that sound, the story Hibi told him earlier that afternoon flashed through Sami’s mind.

‘They say Harut is fickle and arrogant. I heard he throws people who offend him to his favorite pets as food.’

He had dismissed it as just a tall tale full of bazaar bluster… but it was true?

Sami froze, trembling like a leaf. As Sami stood there as if his very eyelids had stiffened shut, Antar soothed him gently.

“It’s just one of Harut’s peculiar tastes. They are beasts he has tamed himself, so they won’t harm a human. Don’t worry, Sami.”

Sami had just begun to relax a tiny bit at Antar’s words when—

“But don’t touch them. Harut may have tamed them, but their nature as predators hasn’t vanished.”

“I’m too scared to touch them anyway, sir…”

Sami shook his head with absolute finality, as if he wouldn’t even dream of such a thing. Antar gave a wry smile, his brows dipping slightly.

Harut’s eccentricities were famous among those in the know. It wasn’t that he possessed a cruelty that was completely out of control, but people whispered about him behind his back for other reasons. It would have been fine if he merely enjoyed unique things, but his tastes were often… aggressive.

There was the matter of letting apex predators roam the castle grounds without leashes, and his bizarre wanderlust—disappearing suddenly without a word only to slip back in later. His extravagant taste for only the finest jewels was actually quite tame by comparison.

But the most famous were his hobbies in the bedroom. For a man as diligent and upright as Antar, the vulgar rumors passed along by eunuchs and dancers were things he couldn’t even begin to wrap his head around.

“Sami.”

The best way to pull a dazed Sami back together was to remind him of his ‘duty.’ To a boy like Sami, who was sharp as a tack when working even while shivering with nerves, giving him a task was the best way to clear his head.

“See that spot over there? The area inside with the golden carpet and the purple silk cushions.”

Sami carefully looked at the spot Antar was describing.

The ruler’s throne, which was far too grand to even point at with a finger, was exceptionally lavish even in a place that offered a bird’s-eye view of the banquet plaza. In particular, the large purple cushion embroidered with gold thread was so wide and massive it looked more like a bed.

Since it was a spot that caught the eye instantly without having to look around, Sami nodded immediately.

“Yes, sir.”

“When the fireworks bloom in the sky nine times and the banquet has reached its peak, Harut will take his seat there. That is when we will offer our greetings and present the tribute. We will stand in that line over there and, when we are seventh, we will go before him and bow low.”

It was a sequence he had heard and organized several times before leaving the mansion, but seeing it with his own eyes made the instructions feel as foreign as if it were his first time hearing them. However, Sami quickly snapped to attention and nodded.

“Yes, Master. I remember. Like this.”

Sami performed the motion of kneeling and opening the box just as he had practiced. That was the end of Sami’s role. He would remain kneeling, and once Antar stood up, he would simply back away and vanish.

“There’s no need to be so stiff. Actually, this Harut finds strict adherence to etiquette quite tedious.”

Antar pointed slightly toward the outside. Near the fountain over there, people were still boisterously chatting. It seemed a new dish had arrived.

A whole roasted pig, its skin crisped to perfection with several daggers thrust into it, was placed right in the center of the banquet hall. People tore off meat as they pleased and drank freely. Some, swept up in the banquet’s high spirits, even tossed roasted chicken to the predators prowling around them.

The delicious smell, the eclectic music, the bright lights.

It was dazzling and extravagant, but even Sami, who wasn’t used to such scenes, could tell this wasn’t a banquet where one had to maintain stiff formalities.

“Just make sure you don’t do anything that could be considered an insult to him.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sami answered obediently and once again clutched the tribute box tightly. He knew. He just had to keep from being nervous. He knew it in his head, but the heart isn’t that simple.

The naive Sami who had been wandering around goggling at the banquet vanished; in his place returned the servant of the House of Salif, focused intensely and muttering the order of events under his breath. Even though he had practiced several times, he kept mimicking the act of opening and closing the box as if it were in his hands.

Had his attempt to relax him actually overstimulated Sami? Watching Sami swallow dryly while repeating the same motions, Antar smiled awkwardly. He was a virtuous young man who wouldn’t dream of harshly rebuking a servant who was trying so hard not to make a mistake.

“Sami, what I meant was, you don’t need to be that nervous…”

He was about to speak more gently.

“Are you not the eldest son of Salif?”

A dignified voice spoke from behind them. It was a middle-aged man with a turban decorated with a large hawk feather.

A large hawk… Sami bowed his head instantly. It was the symbol of the Nuwas family, who for generations had helped the Harut and achieved great feats in the eradication of Mages. Sami lowered his head quickly, and Antar, the young head of a family of scribes, also showed his respects to the elder of the other house.

“Greetings, Master Nuwas.”

“Yes. Is Salif still ill?”

“He has improved much, but…”

“There is no other stylist of words who can handle the luxuries of the Harut with such humility as Scribe Salif.”

“My father will be heartened to hear that. I will be sure to tell him.”

“No need to pass it on; I shall visit him myself soon. Oh, come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

It seemed the conversation would be long. Sami stood a few paces away from Antar, clutching the small box and keeping his head bowed. When he carefully raised his head again, he caught the Master’s eye. Antar looked at Sami for a brief moment and mouthed a small word.

‘Go have a look around.’

Master Antar likely anticipated that the discussion with the elder would be lengthy and decided it was better for Sami to look around than to stand there awkwardly.

Sami hesitated for a second. He didn’t feel comfortable wandering around as he pleased while holding the House of Salif’s tribute box. But looking around again, this banquet had too many magnificent things—enough to ensure no one would spare a glance at a simple box.

No one was paying particularly close attention to Sami. Everyone was busy enjoying the flamboyant dances, singing songs, eating the feast, and filling their wine cups.

Guards wearing red turbans occasionally crossed Sami’s field of vision in diagonal lines.

Watching the soldiers with large scimitars at their waists moving with discipline, the tension in his fingers—which had been gripping the box until the tips turned white—slowly released.

‘It should be fine.’

A servant must be quick on the uptake. Antar was a kind master, but he was someone who clearly indicated a servant’s position when they needed to be there. If he dismissed him, it meant it was fine.

‘Maybe I’ll just take a peek at the things not too far from the Master.’

With a small nod to himself, Sami killed his presence and slipped away. Just watching the light from the colored glass lamps breaking against the ripples of the water was enough to make him happy.

Sami approached the fountain cautiously and watched the jasmine petals and lavender leaves swaying as they drifted in the current. The dancers, who had been performing for a long time, were taking a break, quenching their thirst with juice and sharing shisha. Because of that, the hazy, sweet scent of the water pipe drifted near the fountain, making everything feel even more dreamlike.

In the meantime, another layer of leaf-shaped glass lamps had been hung, making the streets of the banquet sparkle even more.

‘It would be nice to see this from somewhere high up.’

Thinking not just of the lamp light, but the flames from the acrobats, the lighting buried under the transparent waterways, the streetlamps leading to the palace exterior, and the night market booming in step with the banquet—the night view today was bound to be exceptionally beautiful.

Sami naturally thought of the attic window frame he often climbed up a ladder to reach. That spot where he had to climb a long ladder with a lunch basket in his mouth just to sit on the ledge. The Housekeeper had nagged him numerous times saying he’d get in big trouble, but the view of the city from up high was pretty enough to endure her nagging.

That attic window was the highest place Sami could reach, but even if he climbed it, he wouldn’t be able to see beyond the taller palace walls.

Unless a magic carpet suddenly appeared before his eyes.