Chapter 13. Return to the Castle

Asher and Theodore left the forest, and on their way to reach a town, they were found by a search party. Now safely in soldiers’ custody, the two could immediately return to the castle. According to the soldiers’ report, Jeffrey had managed to safely escape the beastfolk bandits. As soon as he had returned to the castle, he had promptly deployed soldiers. And Ward had led the search for Asher and Theodore as well as the hunt for the remaining beastfolk bandits. Upon learning that everyone was safe, Asher was relieved and had peace of mind, but the soldiers escorting the two back to the castle looked unwell. When they finally entered the castle and walked through the long hallway, Asher spotted someone running towards him from afar.

“Asher!!!”

“Mother!”

Angela aggressively embraced Asher, causing him to slightly stumble, but he firmly wrapped his arms around her back.

“Asher! Asher!!!” Angela’s voice trembled and her hold tightened, indicating that she wasn’t planning on letting him go. When he felt the fabric by his shoulder become moist, Asher realized that his mother was crying.

“I’m very sorry, Mother, for causing you so much concern.”

“Do you intend to kill your mother?! You must… You must never let this happen again! And look how dirty you’ve gotten!” Angela then glared at Theodore with daggers in her eyes. “How dare you endanger Asher like this! What hero of the country are you?! Don’t make me laugh! You’re useless. You can’t even protect your master!”

“Mother, please stop!” Asher shouted to stop her and tightly gripped her arm. Angela was shocked for a moment and looked at Asher, but she soon returned to glaring at Theodore in disdain.

“Your Majesty the Queen, His Highness has just returned to the castle… Let us not talk here and move somewhere else,” Theodore said to try to calm Angela down, but it backfired.

“How shameless can you be?!” she shouted.

To make Angela focus on him instead, Asher appealed, “I’m tired. I want to sit,” and had Angela move to the closest room where they could relax and continue the rest of their conversation.

Angela slowly helped Asher sit on the sofa in the room and took a seat naturally next to him. She asked, “Firstly, Asher, why did you accompany Jeffrey?!”

“…Um, well…”

Although Asher only had scratches, Angela pressed Asher with such ferocity as if he was gravely injured. The soldiers except for Theodore shivered from her threatening aura and became pale. It was no wonder why everyone looked uncomfortable… But her behavior was understandable. No mother could remain calm when her son, whom she treasured above anyone else, was involved.

“Everyone, leave us… Except for Black Knight Theodore. You remain,” Angela commanded.

The soldiers looked relieved to receive this order and left the room. The ones who remained were Asher, Angela, and Theodore. Angela faced Asher again to say something when the door the soldiers exited from opened up again. “Prince Asher!”

“Lord Jeffrey,” Asher said. Jeffrey ran inside the room, his usually fixed hair was a long, red mess and his breathing labored. “I’m glad you’re sa—”

“Don’t go near that man, Asher!” Angela shouted.

Asher stood up from the sofa and was about to go over to Jeffrey when Angela roughly pulled his arm. Angela showed a displeased face, one she would never show Asher, and glared at Jeffrey.

“Please stop this already, Queen Angela,” Jeffrey pleaded.

“You’re the one who needs to stop. You planned it all, didn’t you?”

“What foolish thing are you accusing me of? In the first place, Asher asked to accompany me to the orphanage himself.”

“So why was only Asher targeted if he was in the same carriage as you and your son?! That’s highly suspicious, don’t you think?!”

“Tch. Give me a damn break already!!! How many times do I have to tell you that my son was also targeted?!”

“Ha! You finally showed your true colors! You’re just a lowly, common male prostitute trying to climb the ranks!” Asher froze in shock from the ugly argument breaking out in front of him. Angela screamed next to him with bloodshot eyes. “If Asher, who holds the second claim to the throne, were killed, your son would take his spot, no?! Both your sons wag their little tails to curry favor with Prince Samuel… but someone with commoner’s blood will never be king! And a male whore will never, ever become the mother of true royalty! You’re just a replacement—a look-alike of the previous queen consort! Know your place! Or is His Majesty not enough for you, so you’ll wrap your legs around Prince Samuel as well?”

“Queen Angela,” someone interjected. No one had noticed Samuel quietly and calmly standing by the door until he called Angela’s name. When Angela noticed Samuel, she regained her composure and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. “You have said too much. It’s not good to make such declarations on mere speculation. Besides, to interrogate the injured Asher and Theodore right after they finally returned to the castle without waiting for them to get treated first… What is the meaning of this? And Consort Jeffrey, have you also calmed down?”

“…My apologies, Prince Samuel… for showing you such unsightly behavior…” Jeffrey said.

“It’s fine… besides…” Samuel cut himself off and turned around. The ones who appeared from behind the door were Hugo glaring at Angela and Noah trembling in fear.

“Hugo, Noah… why are you here? I told you to stay where you were,” Jeffrey said.

“Noah wouldn’t listen and kept saying he wanted to go,” Hugo, disgruntled, answered Jeffrey’s question and glanced over at Noah. The scared Noah timidly peered into the room, but the moment he met eyes with Asher, he suddenly looked away and clung to Hugo’s leg.

“Noah? What’s wrong? …Asher, you better not be glaring at him,” Hugo said.

“I wasn’t glaring at him…” Asher said.

“W-waaaah!” Noah suddenly started to cry loudly, shocking everyone present.

“Noah?! What’s wrong?!” Panicking, Hugo knelt down and extended his arms to pick up Noah. But Hugo’s hand didn’t touch Noah.

Noah, still crying, left Hugo and made a beeline straight for Asher. He jumped on Asher’s knees as Asher sat on the couch and he continued to bawl. “Waaah… sniffle, s-sor…rry… Waaah… s-s-so…rry… for s-saying… th-those things… Waaaah!”

Asher picked up from the broken cries that Noah was trying to apologize. Those things…? Did Noah say something to him? Then, Asher recalled what Noah had said in the carriage: ‘You should’ve been the one to die.’ And right after he said that, they were attacked by the beastfolk bandits and Asher was thrown out of the carriage.

Noah desperately clung to Asher’s chest and cried. Asher looked at him and slowly patted the boy’s head. So that’s how it was… Noah was likely frightened by all that happened to Asher after he had said that. But Asher couldn’t scold his younger brother. Noah probably thought that Asher might have died because of him…

Asher gently cupped the crying Noah’s face and smiled to reassure him. “Look, I’m fine! I came back safely, right?”

“…Y-yeah… I-I’m glad.”

Asher gently wiped away the tears falling down Noah’s cheek with his finger. Noah burst into more tears at the smiling Asher and buried his face in Asher’s chest.

“Noah… Wh-why?” Just like Hugo, Angela and Jeffrey couldn’t hide their shock as they watched Asher and Noah together. Among everyone, only Samuel and Theodore watched on calmly.

“It seems that among all of us, only Noah was genuinely praying for Asher’s safety.” Samuel chuckled and Angela glared and frowned at him. Samuel didn’t bother to look at her, approached Asher, and patted Noah on the head. “The whole time Queen Angela and Lord Jeffrey were arguing, Noah had his hands clasped together in prayer for your safety.”

“What?” Asher said.

“Hah? No way he would…” Hugo couldn’t believe Samuel’s statement and tried to refute, but he swallowed his words back when he saw how Noah was currently clinging to Asher.

“You are injured to some extent… Theodore too. Come here, Noah. Let’s leave Asher to get treated. Then we can talk later., Samuel said.

Noah looked reluctant to leave, but Samuel picked his youngest brother up and left the room together. But then, Asher called out to Samuel’s retreating figure.

“Where’s Father?”

Everyone except Asher and Theodore looked grim at that question.

“Father collapsed yesterday and is currently in complete bed rest.”

“What?!”

“We’ll talk later.”

Asher was bewildered, but Samuel left him like that and exited the room. Jeffrey looked concerned at Asher, but he followed behind Samuel out of the room without saying anything.

“Asher… I… I’m glad you’re safe…” Angela stuttered and Asher slowly nodded and smiled back.

“Yes, I know, Mother. Let’s have a nice chat later in my room. As Samuel said… I should get my injuries treated.”

Asher stood up from the sofa and threw a glance at Theodore. Asher and Theodore left Angela alone in the room.

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