“Hah, I can think of many such things, boy!”

  The Duke let his ughter out for a while longer, much to the confusion of both of the onlookers across from him, and then quieted down into a subdued smile.

  “There are entire bookshelves that have been filled with the topic of the Fae. As I’ve stated, they’re vast and diverse, and more information is found about them by researchers constantly. If I’m to tell you anything, you’ll have to narrow the possibilities down a bit more.”

  “Hmm…”

  Ritt frowned slightly, unsure of what he should say.

  “If that’s the case… then can you tell me the important things for now?”

  “Mmm, yes, I suppose there are indeed pertinent notes that I should share with you on the topic of the Fae. There are, as a matter of course, the more violent breeds of Fae. With them, they do not spirit our kind away as ‘pets’ but as ‘prey’. In fact, there are a number of types with maliciously deadly intent towards humans-”

  “Ah…”

  Although Ritt was surprised to hear that some Fae considered humans as food instead of simple entertainment, and although he did in fact find such a thing interesting to hear, this wasn’t the kind of information that he needed. If Sien had been born from the type of Fae that ate humans, then it was doubtful that his mother would have lived to have given birth to him. It was also highly unlikely that Sien’s mother would have wanted to go back to a dangerous man-eater’s nds, or what Sien would have even let her go there in the first pce in such a fragile state.

  And even if it was the case that Sien came from such a flesh-hungering breed of Fae, Ritt was sure he would have been alright. Because of the many tests that the mages had run on him, Ritt was no stranger to monsters nibbling at him. He was sure that Sien eating a piece of him would be much more favorable than the previous horrors he’d had to survive through, no matter how bad it got.

  Besides, Sien didn’t seem to like meat anyways.

  “I’m sorry My Lord, I meant… I wanted to learn things that were important for my life with Sien.”

  Sien, who’d been hiding a sour face for a while now, visibly fidgetted at Ritt’s words, causing the Duke to give a small wry smile.

  “Hmm, yes… Well, the d himself is quite the special case, as far as the Fae are concerned.”

  The Duke’s eyes lingered meaningfully on Sien, seeming to hide the volumes of things that he could not speak aloud behind them. He felt a conflict in his usually unmarred thoughts, unsure whether Ritt should be privy to some of the things that he knew. But when Sien’s eyes briefly fshed to meet with his own out of the corner of his eyes, the Duke knew better than to let such things slip from his mouth.

  Unsettled, the Duke once more picked up his cold tea, nursing it as he did his best to look as neutral and unbothered as possible.

  “Were you to be with a normal full-blooded Fae, I would have warned you about the gates to the capital, or perhaps about the food, but-”

  “Oh?”

  Although the Duke implied that these subjects weren’t pertinent to Sien, Ritt couldn’t help but be intrigued by the mysterious topics. Of course, bringing up food was interesting, because Ritt had often wondered about Sien’s peculiar eating habits, but the fact that the gates, which had seemed rather pin and unremarkable when he’d passed through them, were brought up as something that needed a warning was quite interesting to him.

  “Gates? And food?”

  “Ahem, yes. The capital city’s gates are lined with iron, you see.”

  Ritt tilted his head, thinking of the cobbled stone gate that he’d passed through. It hadn’t looked like it was hiding iron in it, but on further thought, he could imagine that the rocks surrounded a kind of iron framework, or that they perhaps bnketed some kind of iron sheet. It was reasonable to believe that such a thing had been done as a defensive measure, although Ritt didn’t understand how such a fact could matter unless under an attack.

  Seeing the confusion that was evident on Ritt’s countenance, the Duke quickly realized that he’d made a mistake due to how flustered he was, and calmed himself down with a long slow sip of his uncomfortably cold tea, clearing his mind before going on to expin.

  “Yes… If you know nothing of the Fae, then of course you wouldn’t know. The Fae race itself is quite centered in nature, you see. They quite dislike unnatural things. This holds especially true for metals that have been maniputed by fire. Any metals changed from their normal forms cause the Fae all kinds of discomforts and madies, but we’ve found that iron seems to be the most detrimental to them, to the point that it burns their flesh should they get too close to it. It’s why our currency isn’t made of metals to match the other surrounding countries, so as not to upset the Fae, since trade with them is so crucial for us.”

  When the Duke said the words ‘dislike unnatural things’, Ritt couldn’t suppress the small moment of panic in his heart. He knew what he was well enough to know that he deserved the title of ‘unnatural thing’ more than anything else he’d ever seen before. He couldn’t help but peek at Sien in worry, scared what this might have meant, but soon Ritt calmed down, letting the fear slowly dissolve from his body. If Sien had disliked him, then he wouldn’t have treated him so well in the first pce, or shown him so much favor, let alone come to meet with him every day like this. Sien had walked through the capital’s gates just fine without showing a single reaction, and as the Duke said, such things didn’t seem to concern Sien whatsoever. Hopefully this meant that Sien didn’t have a reaction to Ritt’s unnaturalness whatsoever, too.

  Sien, feeling Ritt’s gaze on him, haughtily puffed himself up, thinking that Ritt was looking at him out of concern.

  “I’m perfectly fine with it! If metals affected me, I wouldn’t be able to use my sword!”

  The Duke chuckled dismissively at Sien, looking at him as if he were watching a mischievous child.

  “That is indeed the case, although the d is still afflicted by the other curses of the Fae blood.”

  Sien immediately gred at the Duke and looked away, as if he’d just heard something incredibly rude. Ritt, completely clueless and confused as to what was being spoken about, couldn’t help but cautiously ask for crification.

  “Um… What curses might those exactly be, My Lord?”

  “Well it’s simple, boy; The Fae and their ilk cannot stand listening to lies. It’s almost bad enough to bring them pain.”

  “...Oh?”

  Feeling Ritt’s gaze return to him once more, Sien huffed and crossed his arms, his voice ringing shrill-ly with annoyance.

  “I can stand it much more than they can! Don’t lump me in with them!”

  The Duke smirked, seeing how defensive Sien had become.

  “Yes. But even then, you still can’t stand it.”

  The noise that Sien made in reply was almost akin to a shriek, causing Ritt a good bit of worry. He couldn’t remember ever having lied to Sien, but there were plenty of times where he’d certainly omitted the truth. Such things felt a bit too akin to lying in Ritt’s book. He was beginning to feel like he might have secretly been accruing offenses against Sien that Sien had simply been letting slip by. Even Ritt, socially inept as he was, knew of the expression ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’. If perhaps his unnaturalness and possible lies grew to be too much for even the kind Sien suddenly decided to turn on him, then-

  Ritt quickly turned and bowed to Sien in apology, just in case.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve ever lied to you and hurt you, Sien.”

  Sien, who was absolutely baffled by Ritt’s actions, reached out to force him to get up.

  “What? No, you’ve never lied to me, Ritt! Never! You have nothing to apologize for!”

  “Is… Is that really true?”

  “Yes! You and uncle- No, you’re the only person who’s never ever lied to me, Ritt! I promise!”

  “..If that’s so, then…”

  Ritt let a weak little smile form on his face. He really hoped that Sien was telling the truth, but for some reason a few beads of worry remained trapped inside of his heart, uncomfortable working their way up into his throat.