POV- The Elven King

I had come here with so much anger, but now as I look at this child I am filled with regret. What am I doing…? To my own flesh and blood? I started to cry in desperation and grief. If this child wasn’t here, who would I force blame on? My subjects? My concubines? I’m not solving anything by killing this child, am I? Just as I think this, there is a small hand patting my shoulder. The boy… is consoling me?

I look to him in surprise. Doesn’t this mean… “You aren’t so bad are you? Maybe it’s because I kept you here-.” I was going to say ‘you turned out looking so terrifying’, but I stopped myself. I can’t say that to a kid. Even though I don’t think he understands me. To distract myself I summon a small ball of light. He backs away in fear. I suppose he’s never seen magic before, has he? I try to teach him the word magic, but he only stares back. Well, I didn’t expect him to do anything anyway. So we look at each other and all of the sudden I get the urge to…

Hug him.

I once considered him a monster of immeasurable evil, but now I see that he is just a small child, and also my grandson. At the thought, I try to hold back more coming tears (what kind of king cries so much, honestly) and I am caught off guard by the sudden soft sound of crying on my shoulder. Is he…? His little body shakes with sobs. Regret twists my heart tenfold. How much pain did this child experience because of me? But instead of crying pathetically, I make a resolution. I will be the most doting Grandpa ever.

POV- Main Dude

Grandfather carried me out of the prison princess-style. I didn’t know how to make him let me walk like a normal person, so I just decided to let it be a part of the payback for locking me up. I allowed myself to be carried, but I arranged myself in a somewhat more dignified manner.

When we left my dungeon, I was partially blinded by the intense midday light. Thankfully, I learned to adjust my senses before we left the building to go into the main part of the castle. That could have been bad. But I was having fun adjusting my eyesight in a new range of ways, so that’s a plus.

It wasn’t until we were walking through the halls of the castle that I finally noticed I was completely naked. Even when I did notice, I didn’t particularly care. Why should I give a damn about social rules? I was half tempted to just stick my middle finger to anyone we passed, but I refrained.

Finally, Grandfather handed me over to a servant girl, saying, “Clean him and dress him. Make sure he’s ready for lunch. Also, prepare some sweets for him.” Then he left, leaving me with the woman who could barely hold me up, much less carry me. I rolled out of her hold and stood beside her.

She stared at me in awe. Thankfully, it wasn’t disgust or fear. “Who are you?” she wondered to herself. I didn’t know the answer, so I only shrugged. Shouldn’t all the servants know me at this point? “Well. Um.” She paused, staring at me with confusion. “H-how about we go to the servant’s baths? Is… is that okay?” She tilted her head with a slight blush. The cat ears on her head also tilted uncertainly. She’s a beastwoman, huh?

*DING*

Skill: Identify (Intermediate lvl. 2) leveled up!

I snarled a little in annoyance of the box and after I dismissed it, I nodded to her question. Why should I care whether it’s a servant bath or whatever? I haven’t taken a bath since I was born! It’s disgusting! Well, I did use water magic to clean myself off, but… it doesn’t really count. Especially since I didn’t have soap.

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She brought me to a big circular outdoor pool lined with smooth stone. It seemed to be heated with magic, as far as I could tell, and it was pretty luxurious for a so-called “servant’s bath”. The pool was devoid of life, probably because everyone was working. She put me in the water carefully and went to go get something. As I relaxed into the water, I felt my stress melt away. I hadn’t even realized how tense I had become.

The woman returned with clothes and soap. She carefully scrubbed me down, even my tail and under my claws, with careful attention. Since I’ve been born, I’ve never felt so clean and content.

As the woman washed me, she made tentative conversation. “Um. My name is Celes… what’s yours?” she asked. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I have a name… Not wanting to be irresponsive, I simply shrugged. “You… don’t know?” she guessed. I grinned widely and nodded as if to say ‘bingo’. She flinched a little, probably having seen my fangs. When I didn’t attack, she resumed her cleaning.

“Are you a noble?” she asked me a bit more boldly. I nodded again, but without grinning this time. “Oh. I’ve never seen you before. You have the ears of an elf, but-.” She cut herself off quickly. “Um, never mind.” I patted her hand in reassurance. I don’t mind the questions, but I don’t really feel like talking. It’s not that I think I’m better than her, but… I just find myself appreciating silence. Besides, there’s no way I can talk in a cutesy voice like a kid. Hell, under my circumstance, what kid would be ‘cutesy’ anyway? Yeah, it would be a lot simpler if I were just quiet.

“Celes! What are you doing?! You need to help set the lunch table!” a gruff woman shouted from behind us.

“I-I’m sorry, the king-.” Celes is cut off.

“-will have our hides if we can’t keep it together! It’s a crucial time now, so hurry up!” without listening to explanation, the woman runs off, leaving Celes near tears. Oh-no, I’m not comforting anyone else today. I quickly jump out of the water and pull on my clothes, which turn out to be robes similar to my grandfathers but less fancy. Then, I grab Celes’ hand and drag her after the woman who disappeared.

We reenter the castle, and I find myself in a busy kitchen with servants bustling and cooks shouting at the top of their capacity. I wince and quickly dull my hearing. Ah, much better.

Celes was sort of forced into the fray, and she seemed worried about me, but I found a nice little seat next to the wall that was out of the way. I sent her a thumbs up. I don’t think she didn’t really understand what a thumbs up was, but it got the basic point across.

As I waited for Celes to return, my eyes caught sight of the woman from before. She was older, maybe middle aged, with a gruff but motherly kind of feeling about her. Her hair was tied back and her sleeves were rolled up to make work easier. I noticed that she was working two times harder than everybody else, leading and ordering people left and right with ease. She lifted heavy pots and filled them with water for soups, pulled big trays of bread from the stone ovens, mixed, seasoned, ordered someone around, and repeated.

She caught me staring and called me over. “You there.” She said to me. “What are you doing sitting around? Put on some work clothes and help me.” She ordered. I looked down at my robes and shrugged, trying to tell her I didn’t have any. She stared at me for a moment, and I considered telling her so, (even though it would break my silence which I was becoming fond of and kinda makes me seem cooler) but she immediately understood. “If you don’t have any, just stay away from the stoves. Here.” She handed me a broom and cloth. “Clean up with the others and stay out of the way.” She said.

I found myself a little excited to do something other than train (why did I train again?) and this seemed fun. What’s wrong with me, seriously? Since when was cleaning fun? I answered my own question, since I got locked in a prison for five years, I guess.