Chapter 18

Would he like me if I acted like that to him?

Sucking up to him. Laughing and rubbing my palms in front of him. I looked into the raccoon's weird eyes and realized it was a terrible idea to compare myself with the animal.

How did you become the bad guy's pet? I asked myself, but the beast just moved its evil eyes because it was impossible for him to read my mind.

"Where's Tori?"

"Oh… her stomach hurt, so she went back."

Rupert rarely let Tori away from his sight. She hasn't been gone that long, but he's already looking for her… it kinda makes me sad. We're both his maids, but isn't he showing too much favoritism?

"You seem to like Tori a lot."

Rupert looked at me with his eyebrows raised when he heard my words. He frowned and looked at me with a ridiculous expression.

"Not really."

Even though he doesn't like her that much, he still keeps her beside him.

Is he perhaps embarrassed?

Even though he's been growing at a frighteningly quick rate lately, he still looks very young because he's grown so slowly. However, he's already fourteen years old. Even Lehan had started to act weird around this time.

It's probably when one starts to long for spring - puberty. It's the age where a girl or a boy starts feeling 'like' toward the opposite sex at least once. I couldn't find any evidence of such feelings between Tory and Rupert yet, but they have a connection that I couldn't figure out.

I'm not knowledgeable about these kinds of things, but also maybe because he's a tough nut to crack. It was hard to even imagine that he was a person capable of such fond emotions, so it was hard to believe.

"You like her."

I sat down next to Rupert, unsure of whether or not his answer was the one I expected.

"What are you seeing and hearing?"

Rupert sat up completely, wearing a raccoon as a scarf. He put his back against a big, old tree and rested his chin on one arm on his lap. I rolled my eyes because Rupert was too boyish to play as a girl.

"If you sit that way, I might be able to see the inside of your skirt."

"Take a look if you want to."

Even if they would pay me a lot, I don't want to see the inside of a skirt of a fourteen-year-old boy pretending to be a girl. I sighed and shook my head.

"Nobles don't sit like that."

"It's also not proper etiquette to sit on the dirt like this."

And, we're back to the beginning.

"Anyway, it's true that you do treasure Tori." (1)

"Do you like everything you treasure?"

"Shouldn't it be the opposite? You like it, so you treasure it."

When I asked Rupert a question, he paused.

His lips were pursed as if thinking hard with a serious expression, and the raccoon climbed up to his nape.

"Just because you like something doesn't mean you treasure everything about it."

"If you like it, then you should cherish it."

"Would you?"

"Almost everyone would."

I couldn't understand Rupert's question.

What part of 'if you like it, then cherish it' doesn't he understand?

Whether you like it or not, it's inevitable that you'd cherish it if you really like it.

"I guess it's not possible most of the time."

"Are you implying no?"

I don't know what he meant by that. But it might help me understand his heart better, so I tried listening.

"I only know how to take care of what's mine."

Mine.

Rupert would often do this, almost as if he were talking to himself.

What's his and what isn't. What's within his grasp and what isn't, as if they're different. As if they exist in completely separate worlds.

"It makes no difference whether you like it or not."

Whether you like it or not, if it is yours, it shows that you care about it.

I got up and moved closer to Rupert, who put the raccoon down as if ready to go back to the palace.

"Do you own Tori?"

I know the answer. He owns both Tori and Guri. That's why it's a given that he cherishes them. But his reason isn't something like possessiveness or obsession. It seemed like he cherished them not because he liked them but because they were the only ones he had.

"Yeah."

"And me?"

I've been told the answer to this question before. Time went by quickly, and soon it was spring. But even the warm sun of spring couldn't melt the frozen edge of his day. Still, it was silly to wait for his answer, so I laughed out loud as if I were reassuring myself.

I hate this kid more than anyone else, and it's annoying that I'm eager to get close to him. As I waited for Rupert's answer, I had to hold back a nervous laugh.

"You."

Rupert's small mouth took its time to open. He seemed to be slowly smirking at me while my eyes lit up, and I waited for an answer.

"No."

"But I'm your maid."

"You're given to me by the palace."

"What if I want to completely become your lady-in-waiting?"

"I don't believe that."

It's only natural to feel disappointed. Rupert turned around and started to walk away without telling me to follow him when he saw that I was getting upset. The tunnel's distance seemed like a million miles. The darkness kept going on, no matter how much I walked.

Still, I needed to choose, so I got up.

I will follow you even if I have to rub my paws together like that sneaky animal and smile a humiliating smile.