41

A night before Ndulou's departure at the Marquis castle…

"Young master?" He was woken up in the middle of the night because someone was touching his hair.

"Oh, sorry for waking you up." Ernesto got out of bed and sat down in the chair next to him.

"You may continue to sleep," he gestured with his hand, saying, 'go on'

He frowned and commented, "How will I even sleep if someone is watching me?"

"Sorry, I just love your bright hair," Ernesto chuckled.

Ndulou frowned even more and thought to himself, [Is he going to play with me for the last time since I am leaving tomorrow?]

He sits down. "Young master, aren't you allowed to leave your room?"

"Don't worry. It's okay as long as I won't be caught." He shrugged his shoulders then acted like he was thinking about something deep. "Hey, want a parting gift?"

"No need, I'll be returning if I survive"

This time, it's the marquis's son who frowns.

He is acting as if Ndulou said something unnecessary.

"Keep this," Ernesto throws a magic pouch towards Ndulou that he successfully catches.

"What is this?"

"A magic pouch." he obviously stated.

"I know! I mean, what's inside?" Ndulou stomped his feet and pouted.

"In case of an emergency, when you are in a life-threatening situation and no one can protect you, drink the liquid inside that goblet."

Ndulou becomes curious, so he takes a peek inside the pouch. A goblet with liquid inside is properly stored inside the magic pouch without spilling.

"What's with the liquid?"

"Divine powers"

"D-divine? Where did you get this?" He carefully held the pouch upon realizing the high value of what was inside.

Divine power is the strongest capability a human could have. It is something you can not win over, even with the combined forces of Aura and Mana.

But these powers will be useless to anyone if that person doesn't have an affinity for divinity, or at least needs to be blessed by the gods.

"I stole it," Ernesto honestly responded.

"What?" His eyes became wider.

Ndulou feels uneasy about receiving the magic pouch.

"No more questions! Just accept it! Make sure to use it when there's nothing else to use! It will give you strength to defend yourself." Ernesto walks towards the door without waiting for Ndulou's response.

"Huh? Wait! I don't nee- " Ndulou wanted to run after leaving Ernesto, but he could not feel his legs. "What the hell?" He looked at his legs that were not moving even though he forced them to.

"Young master!" he called out to Ernesto, who was weirdly walking toward the door in slow motion.

"Ernesto!" He shouted again.

"Master, you're finally awake." Lucas suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, and his room suddenly became bright.

"Huh? a dream?" He touched his sweating forehead and tried to recall what had happened to him.

"Wait! the royal palace! I was at the royal palace, right? What happened?" He sat up, and Lucas helped him.

"Master, you were unconscious for two days." Then Lucas reached for the towel beside his master's bed and wiped off Ndulou's sweat.

"t-two days? Why? AH! My legs!"

He hastily removes the blankets that are covering his legs.

Fortunately, his wounds are all gone, and he can also freely move his legs. He just felt dizzy in his head and his body stiffened, possibly from sleeping for too long.

He released a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, I thought I was going to die. It's my first time seeing too much blood," he stated while looking at his usual skinny legs.

"I am very sorry, master." Lucas made a full bow in front of his master and said, "I am lacking as a servant. It was my fault that you got hurt."

"No! No! Lucas! You save me! If you're not there, maybe it's my head that will be sliced!" Ndulou is surprised.

He never thought that Lucas was taking his job seriously.

Ndulou is aware that Lucas is not entirely serving under him, despite the fact that they have a slave contract. He was also aware of the short meetings between Ernesto and Lucas at night, and he thought that it was Ernesto ordering Lucas to help Ernesto with pranks and toy with him.

He thought that Lucas would request his leave soon.

"No master! It was really my fault! Please punish me!" Lucas emotionally shouted while keeping his bowing position.

Ndulou just awkwardly scratched his head because he didn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to comfort a servant or punish them.

[If it's my father, he will be beaten up. but I despise violence]

"Lucas, I am hungry." He ended up changing the topic because he felt uncomfortable. He slightly flinched after seeing Lucas's teary eyes.

[Why is he so emotional?] Ndulou is used to the stoic expression of Lucas, and he never thought that his perfect servant had a soft spot.

"I'll prepare your food, master," Lucas says as he exits the room.

Ndulou got off his bed and looked around his room. "Why am I back at Marquis Castle and not at my home?" He forgot to ask this question to Lucas because of the awkward situation.

He decided to go for a walk to exercise his stiff body. While still in his pajamas, he just put a robe on top of it and walked outside his room towards the castle hall.

"What is going on?" He looked at the window and saw that from the gate up to the entrance of the castle, there was a pile of white flowers lined up. He could also see the servants and people around the castle were all busy doing something, like they were preparing for a celebration."

"Excuse me!"

He holds the sleeves of the maid who will pass by the same way as him.

"What's the occasion?" Why is everyone so busy?"

He thought that if there was an occasion, he needed to help out, since he didn't want to be a freeloader at the Marquis' castle.

"OH my goodness! You're finally awake!" The maid let go of the set of clothes she was holding because of the surprise of seeing Ndulou.

He became confused by this reaction and asked the maid again. "Yes, thank goodness. Anyway, may I know the occasion? Is the Marquis celebrating something?" He innocently asked, but the expression on the maid's face became gloomy.

"No young master, it's young master Ernesto's funeral. He was at the Royal Palace until yesterday because the marquis was still hoping he would come back to life, but today they decided to give him his funeral rites."

"Who? Whose funeral " Ndulou's eyes started to shake.

"It's young master Ernesto. He is a hero. He saves everyone from the Dragon!" The maid said it bitterly and with admiration.

Ndulou fell down on his knee.

"Oh no! Are you all right?" The maid tried to support him, but his legs lost all their strength.

"What the? This prank is too much. "

He felt like his entire body had become numb.

"Where was he?" He asked the maid while trembling.

"There are no guests yet, and the marquis is the only one allowed inside the funeral hall." After hearing that, he stood up and started to run.

The maid was left behind, calling out his name.

"This is just a prank! I am sure of it!" He runs toward the hall while thinking Ernesto will be there laughing loudly at his prank, but his reality is different.

While he was getting near to the hall, white flowers started to appear being line up.

He rushed inside the hall, and even the guard at the door could not stop him.

The marquis turned his head toward him.

The Marquis' eyes are surrounded by dark circles, as if he had aged so much in the short time he hadn't seen him.

"Lord, the young master is just playing around, right?" he walked toward the marquis, who was kneeling beside a coffin.

He is still denying everything.

The marquis didn't answer him and just returned his gaze toward Ernesto, who was lying peacefully inside his coffin.

He touched the silver blonde hair of his young child, who didn't deserve to die at such a young age.

A lot of wrinkles appeared on Jose Olivas's face as he tried to talk. "Come here, greet my child."

Ndulou keeps his distance from the coffin. He doesn't want to accept the situation yet.

However, since the marquis was calling him, he needed to step forward, but he did it slowly.

"Th- this is not funny anymore." He said it after he reached the coffin and saw the lifeless, mischievous child that used to pester him. He kneeled down and touched the child's cold hand. His tears fell down without his permission.

"You win, this prank is too much on a large scale."

He felt like his heart was going to burst any second, and his tears were making his vision blurry.

"They said you saved everyone? What happened to the selfish kid I know? You can be rude and selfish! It's better than being dead!"

His head starts to hurt and he feels like he is suffocating. Marquis Oliva hurriedly approached the excessively crying child, "That is enough, calm down." but the child keeps holding the cold hands "Right! If only you hadn't followed me to the palace, you-"

"Calm down!" Marquis shook the child's shoulder, "You just woke up, you need to take care of your health." He forcefully pulled the child away from the coffin and carried him towards the exit. "No, this is too much." Ndulou is still crying and doesn't realize that the marquis is carrying him.

"Call the physician and bring him to his room." He then let the knight carry the child back to his room.