4 Chapter 04: The Road to Freedom
Kilian had left the meeting in a good mood. He moved his wheelchair down the hallway without any maid in tow, giving him free rein to explore the mansion more.
He had never ventured far outside of his room, as any maid that saw him would simply wheel him back to his room, and punishment would follow, to the point he stopped daring to even dream of the outside.
When he thought about it, had Kilian then ever been outside to feel the sun on his face?
Kilian from the modern world had experienced it countless times, and the memory of grass under his feet and wind in his hair, was now something he wanted to feel again.
"What are you doing here?". A deep coarse voice rang down the hallway, directed at Kilian.
Kilian turned his wheelchair but made sure to take his time doing it before staring up into a pair of unpleasant-looking grey eyes.
"Why is the Young Master out and about on his own, without attendance?".
The tone was rude, and even if the burly man who stood before him wanted to know, it was not as if it was ok for him to ask one of the owners of the house about their objective. Especially to a noble.
"Am I unable to be in the house I live in?"
Kilian asked the man back, staring up at him with indifferent eyes, not in a mood to have this man ruin his day now.
The man was wearing formal knights clothes, without the armor, bearing a sword in a sheath along his left side. He was a big man but more wide than tall, and he filled out his clothes to the brink, making Kilian think they could tear with any sudden movement.
The man cleared his throat, obviously taken aback.
They may not have met before but it was common knowledge that the youngest son of the Count was timid and also simple-minded, unable to take care of himself, or at least that was the words spread by the maids.
The man stared him down, scoffing as he saw the legs, realizing he had no reason to be polite to an unfavored son sitting in a wheelchair, unable to even learn swordsmanship as his brothers.
He had had the pride of training the two older promising Lords of the Count and had received praise for the incredible results.
The man moved his eyes back to Kilian's face and lingered on it for an uncomfortable amount of time without saying anything.
Kilian felt the seething anger stir within him again, but maintained an indifferent look, even though staring like that would be considered rude to anyone, not just as a noble.
Not just that, the stare was not even entirely pure, and Kilian could see that even if the man resented his person, he favored his face in a less than pure way.
It made his skin crawl. The man was not even hiding his interest in Kilian's features.
"Is something the matter? how can I help the Knight Commander of our fief?". Kilian continued, to try and break the stare of the Commander in front of him.
He knew very well who this man was, he had seen him every day torture the knights in training from his window.
"Ohh, excuse me". the Commander grinned, obviously not meaning the words as he continued.
"I just didn't expect the youngest Lord of the house to be this... fair".
The words felt like daggers to Kilian, the creepy stare from this man blocking his way, sending goosebumps down his spine.
"I appreciate the compliment Knight Commander, was it... Shawn?".
Kilian rudely called the man by his first name, pretending not to know the last, as he cut off the man that was about to correct him.
"I have had the pleasure of watching you train the young recruits over the past few days, I must say they all look excellent, from what I know I believe with my coming of age I should be able to request a personal knight from the ranks soon".
The man stiffened. Obviously not he or anyone under him would want to become this boy's personal knight, even if it was to serve the house they swore allegiance to.
There was no merit in protecting a cripple master.
"I will make sure to come by personally to appoint my new knight soon".
Kilian left the man with those words, not allowing him to interject or spew any more false flattery insults.
He knew, in the end, he was the one with the empty threats, but as a Count's son, he had the right he had spoken of, and he would make sure to claim it from his so-called Father.
He entered his room, seeing the obvious difference in decoration and luxury compared to the hallway outside the door.
It was not as if he cared that much about luxury, in either life he had never had it before, but the clear mistreatment and pocketing of money that was going on in this place made him nauseous.
Some humans were just driven by greed, and he had no reason to be kind to them.
Kilian moved his chair to the window, looking down, and noticed Shawn the knight commander, walking out on the field between trainees, starting to yell loudly making the bundle of young men scatter to find positions to continue their training.
The commander looked up catching the gaze of Kilian who gave him the same indifferent bored look he had given him earlier.
He was sure he saw the Commander's expression sour, but from this distance, he couldn't be sure, and instead was the first to turn his back and wheeled away from the window.
He had made a possible ally and a possible enemy within the span of an afternoon, the thoughts making him sigh while rubbing the forming crease between his eyebrows.
There was a small knock on the door, and he looked at the still-closed door with confusion.
This was a first. Normally anyone would just barge in.
"Come in," he said loud enough for the person behind the door to hear and open it.
A young maid walked in carrying a mountain of books in her arms to the point she looked like she would topple over any second before she put them down on the table in the room.
"Lord Kilga sent these for yo... Young Master".
She stuttered, correcting herself as she had not meant to say 'Young' at first.
"Thank you". Kilian gave her a small smile, wondering why the usual rudeness towards him had lessened.
'Is this the power of someone backing you?.'
He thought. Maybe the view of him interacting with Mr. Kilga earlier had left an impression, and they were apprehensive to be as rude as they had before.
He kept the smile and saw a slight blush on her cheeks before she nodded and left.
'Seriously, could some clothes and a clean face really change their opinion of me this much'?
'It is probably just this maid for now'.
It was not like he didn't understand them, but he was not sure he liked how people around him had begun to stare at his face.
He grabbed a book with the title "Etiquette", flipping through it a bit before sighing and starting again at the first page.
There was no shortcut to knowledge, and he needed to gain whatever he could before leaving this place.
Hours later he took a break from reading, doing his evening exercises after he had received his normal bowl of soup, though this time a soft piece of bread had been added to the meal.
'Seems I have some favorable opinions of me starting to flourish'.
He smiled at the thought of his actions finally bearing some fruit and he ate the bread hungrily.
