Only Obedient to Me! Sir Knight Chapter 22

My eyes are stinging from crying so much. Rowy sat there blankly, rubbing his eyes.

‘I can’t sleep….’

Usually, even if he cried, he would have been drained of energy and fallen asleep by now, but tonight, sleep just wouldn’t come. The reason he couldn’t sleep was probably… because Van wasn’t by his side. It hadn’t been that long since they’d started staying together, yet he had already become accustomed to the warmth of having him nearby.

‘How can he really leave just because I told him to?’

Rowy, who blamed Van for the situation, wiped his eyes and stood up. He intended to go find Van himself. Click. Rowy opened the door cautiously and stepped into the quiet hallway. He then walked as if running and knocked on Van’s door. Knock, knock.

“Van, I’m coming in.”

There was no answer. However, as one would expect, Rowy didn’t care and threw the door open.

“Van?”

But… only cold air was lingering in the room.

. ꕤ ｡ ˚⋆

‘Where did he go in the middle of the night?’

With his tears drying up at Van’s unexpected absence, Rowy trudged back to his room.

‘Don’t tell me he meant he’d spend the whole night looking around the castle? Doesn’t one usually do that during the day….’

Rowy flopped onto the bed. Sleep was now completely gone.

‘Why is he looking around the castle at this time of night?’

This castle is a bit… to be wandering around alone at night. Rowy chewed on his lip. Thinking about it, it seemed he had brought a person here as if kidnapping them into a crumbling castle and done absolutely nothing for him. He should have at least given him a tour of the castle or introduced him to the servants, but he had dumped it all on the butler and just gone to sleep.

Whether he had completely forgotten that Van had already become close with the servants and shared a welcoming bowl of noodles, Rowy blamed himself greatly for his shortcomings. Of course, if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t care if they got lost in the castle or tripped and fell, but…

‘But Van is….’

Van is… different from other people.

‘…I should have just asked him to sleep with me earlier.’

Rowy, recalling how Van would smile bashfully while sitting close to him and holding his hand until he fell asleep, let out a deep sigh with a depressed face. Then, he stood up abruptly.

‘I have to go find him. And I’m going to ask him to sleep with me again.’

Rowy headed back to the hallway with a determined look.

. ꕤ ｡ ˚⋆

‘But where could he really have gone?’

Rowy walked slowly down the hallway, thinking of places Van might go. The dining room? Why would he go there at this hour? Or… or what is there here?

“…”

He didn’t know. After a brief moment of thought, Rowy raised his hand. He had decided he needed to use magic. He had been suspicious of a lack of mana as the cause of the depression that visited him every night, so he had tried not to use magic as much as possible at night. …But he had no choice. Rowy gave a rough wave of his hand to cast a spell. Unlike his light gesture, dense magical energy swept through the castle in an instant.

“…Found him.”

Fortunately, Van was discovered quickly. Confirming that Van was coming up the stairs, Rowy hurried over there.

“Where have you been?”

“…Master?”

Rowy lunged at Van, who had just finished climbing the stairs. But Van, who would normally have caught Rowy immediately, stepped aside. Surprised, Rowy stopped in his tracks, never having thought he would be dodged.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“…My clothes are wet right now.”

“Where did you go that you got wet?”

“Just stay in your room for now.”

The voice of Van speaking like that was excessively cold.

“…Why are you talking like that?”

Rowy said, filled with a sense of resentment at the icy tone he had never heard from Van before. Tears welled up in the eyes of Rowy, who still hadn’t fully shaken off his nighttime depression.

“Ah….”

At Rowy’s reaction, Van clicked his tongue inwardly. He had wanted to treat him kindly as usual, but it wasn’t easy to control his emotions right now. Van took a deep breath and tried to explain the situation slowly again, striving to be as affectionate as he normally was.

“My body is wet and dirty right now. After I wash up….”

“Why are you angry?”

…However, unfortunately, it didn’t work on Rowy. Van, who had been choosing his words for a moment, finally opened his mouth.

“…I went to the basement.”

“The basement? Why there? It’s all collapsed.”

At the sudden statement, Rowy tilted his head.

“…Your magic tool was there, Master.”

“…My magic tool?”

At the unexpected words, Rowy’s eyes widened. A magic tool? If it was a place with a magic tool….

“…Did you see it?”

Rowy asked Van in a trembling voice.

. ꕤ ｡ ˚⋆

In the dim dawn as the sun began to rise. Van brought Rowy to the bedroom, then went off to his own room, saying he would go wash up. Waiting for Van to return, Rowy paced around the room restlessly.

‘How did he get there? The path was all collapsed.’

Rowy, who was trembling with anxiety, even biting his nails, looked at the ring on his finger. This ring on Rowy’s finger was the very magic tool that supported the path to the basement. …But to think Van had managed to get through the collapsed area and go all the way in there.

‘He must have seen it, right? …Will he be very angry?’

The two of them had already encountered a demon at the auction house. How worried Van had been then that Rowy might get hurt! Moreover, he had heard directly from him the story about how he was a holy knight who stood against demons. If he had seen that… he would surely be angry. Even for Rowy, he had that much conscience.

“…Sob.”

Rowy made a tearful face, anticipating being scolded. Knock, knock.

“Master.”

Just as he was at a loss, Van opened the door and entered.

“Y-you’re here?”

“…”

Gulp. Along with the sound of Rowy swallowing, a silence flowed between them for a moment. It was Van who spoke first.

“…Were you unable to sleep?”

“Yeah, I woke up suddenly. But you weren’t there….”

Rowy said, gauging Van’s mood. However, Van had no particular response even to Rowy’s words. If it were normal, he would have made a fuss and patted him the moment Rowy said he couldn’t sleep.

Sudden sorrow washed over him. The corners of Rowy’s eyes moistened in an instant. Still, having some conscience, Rowy tried as hard as he could to hold back the tears that wanted to flow. Whether he noticed Rowy or not, Van, who was still standing a step further away than usual, said in a low voice.

“Don’t stand there, sit down.”

He didn’t mean he should kneel, did he? Although he had never been scolded while kneeling in his life, Rowy, having seen it somewhere, sat meekly on the edge of the bed with a tear-streaked face.

“…Did you intend not to tell me?”

“No….”

Rowy said dejectedly. At the sound of that timid, intimidated voice, Van eventually sighed and approached Rowy. Seen up close, the corners of Rowy’s eyes were red, as if he had been crying all night again. To top it off, tears were still welling up in his eyes….

‘Ha….’

…Eventually, Van’s heart softened, and he took one more step closer.

“Do you know how surprised I was?”

“That is….”

Rowy, who had opened his mouth to make an excuse, shut it again after seeing Van’s glare, which seemed as angry as ever. Seeing that, Van couldn’t hold back and poured out a torrent of nagging.

“I was so surprised. To have something like that just sitting in the basement… You clearly told me there was nothing dangerous in this castle, Master. It’s not like you didn’t know it was there; you hid it from me and didn’t tell me—does that make any sense?”

“Sorry….”

“If I hadn’t found it, were you intending to never tell me?”

“…”

…? No immediate answer? Van’s eyes went wide. Startled by that, Rowy swallowed his words, stammering.

“I wasn’t planning on not telling you… I was just going to tell you a little later….”

“…”

“I’m sorry….”

Rowy, who had been glancing at Van’s expression, eventually couldn’t stand the suffocating atmosphere and gently grabbed a hem of Van’s clothing.

“I’m sorry. Don’t speak so scarily. Okay?”

“…”

At that delicate movement, the corners of Van’s mouth twitched for a moment. No, my goodness. Doing something so cute all of a sudden. Isn’t this totally foul play? Rowy, glancing at Van, shook the hem of his clothing with a more active gesture. Sorry, okay?

“…Haa, seriously.”

Eventually, Van, defeated by that cuteness, came to Rowy and stroked his hair. It was a gentle touch, just like before. Relieved, Rowy hugged Van first. While hugging him back, Van continued to nag him. Since he knew that Rowy was aware he had done something wrong, he intended to give him a very stern warning this time.

“Don’t ever do anything dangerous in the future. What would I do if you got hurt?”

“I understand. I won’t do it again. I’ll never do it again. Never again.”

Rowy shook his head enthusiastically.

“How could you hide that there was a demon-summoning circle….”

“Doing things like secretly trapping demons in the basement to experiment on them is now….”

At the words spoken simultaneously, Van looked at Rowy with a face filled with horror.

“…Ah, that’s not it?”

“…!”

“Oh my….”

…Overcome by dizziness, Van squeezed his eyes shut.