Chapter 12

“If we go out through here…”

The small hand pointed toward a device on the wall. Still falling a bit short, he stood on tiptoe. Seeing that precarious scene where he could barely reach, Ian quickly extended his hand and pulled down the device handle.

Then the wall that had looked like a dead end slowly rose, and beyond the low entrance that required bending at the waist, the outside scene was revealed. A well-organized desk and beyond it, an armchair made of soft fabric and luxurious wood, a fireplace visible under a fine frame. The room, well-decorated with bookshelves filling the walls and expensive ornaments, was a very familiar place to both of them.

“Wow! This is the study?”

At Ian’s exclamation, Ash smiled until dimples formed. Though both their hair and clothes were full of cobwebs and dust, and fatigue showed on their faces, they seemed excited by their rare adventure.

Since Gale had left a pile of documents, Ian had expected quite a lot to do. However, thanks to Gale and Clayton dividing and handling the estate and manor’s management and administration, there wasn’t actually much for Ian to do.

Though he’d selected and read various books from the study, since his body wasn’t particularly friendly with books anyway, it was just boring, so Ian became absorbed in completing the map in the system while wandering around the manor with Ash’s help.

“Was I helpful?” “Yes, very much!”

Thanks to Ash knowing secret passages that even the manor staff didn’t know well, he’d completed the map. Ian nodded with a face full of sincerity. Ian, who had bent over to come out, sat his tired body in a chair without even brushing himself off—sorry to those who would have to clean.

Leaning back fully in his chair, Ian muttered quietly:

“Now what should I do…”

He’d expected to discover something strange while going through the passages, but the passages seemed to have been made for mostly practical purposes. They were just passages for manor servants to move without being seen by the master’s family or guests, or for the master’s family to secretly escape outside when in danger—far from the manor’s eerie secrets. Rather, they were similar to the back areas of the large mart where Ian had worked.

‘The front looks proper, but the back is bleak because no one pays attention to it—quite similar.’

The only somewhat strange thing was the basement finished with stone materials. It seemed intended for storing something but was empty, and no matter how much he touched the walls, nothing changed.

‘I’m really not used to mental work, so I should find something that involves at least a little physical activity.’

At his blank gaze into space, Ash pushed his face close.

“What should we do?” “Little kids are fine, but adults have responsibilities. That’s how you can rest comfortably when you take breaks…”

At his rambling explanation, Ash blinked as if unable to understand. Ian noticed the cobwebs on the innocent-faced child’s head.

“We should wash up first.”

Ian now quite familiarly pulled one of the cords on one side of the study. Soon the person who knocked and entered the study was Mrs. Gauner.

“Could you prepare some washing water?”

Mrs. Gauner, who scanned Ian and Ash’s condition with her eyes, immediately set up a large bathtub in Ash’s room and brought warm water. The tub, large enough for an adult man with room to spare, was filled with soft bubbles.

Seeing the servant standing in the room as if to help with bathing, Ian smiled awkwardly.

“We’ll manage by ourselves, so we’ll call if we need anything.”

Though he’d said this because he wasn’t used to it, rather the servant seemed unfamiliar and blinked before bowing.

“Then please call if you need anything.”

Since rumors had already spread throughout the manor that the new master didn’t often use the servants’ help, they didn’t seem particularly flustered. After the servant left, Ian and Ash remained in Ash’s room with the large tub gently steaming.

“Let’s undress and get in.”

At Ian’s words, Ash turned around and began undressing. Usually there would be a servant or maid to help, but having heard the earlier words, he seemed to want to show he could manage on his own.

Watching Ash squirm as he undressed, Ian began taking off his clothes. At the sound of clothes falling to the floor, Ash turned his head in surprise. At his puzzled expression, Ian smiled and said:

“To wash together. Or would you rather wash alone?”

He’d suggested it since the tub was large and to save time, but Ash looked at Ian like a surprised rabbit, as if the suggestion was very strange, then shook his head vigorously.

After soaking together leisurely in the bubble-filled tub and washing off the dust and cobwebs, they felt refreshed. After changing clothes, when the servant who came to clean up the tub asked if they needed anything, something flashed through Ian’s mind.

“Could you ask the kitchen? Tell them it’s not something I want to eat right away.”

He’d added that because it was something that had appeared as dessert before, but he wasn’t sure if they still had it. The servant faithfully conveyed Ian’s request to the kitchen.

A while later, when the two moved to Ian’s room, two delicately made glass bowls sat on a small table where they could sit facing each other.

“The yogurt you requested.”

Clayton standing beside them had a gentle expression, seeming satisfied to have fulfilled his master’s rare request. Ian and Ash each sat down and began eating what was in the bowls with small spoons. The harmony of the fermented, tart, thick white liquid and sour fruits was good.

Ash also sparkled his eyes while eating the yogurt with a small spoon, his face slightly flushed.

“It tastes even better after washing, doesn’t it?”

At his proud words, Ash quickly nodded. Watching Ash eat the yogurt more enthusiastically than usual with his small spoon, Ian remembered going to public baths with his father as a child. Though it might be different from the yogurt his father bought after washing until their bodies turned red, the memory made him smile.

It was the moment when a handcart full of hay was rolling along and made a loud noise, perhaps hitting a stone.

“Ahhhhh!”

Ian let out an undignified scream and nearly fell helplessly, but thanks to hands that rushed from behind to catch him, he was safe. The hands—dark-skinned with thick joints and prominent veins on the back—had been reliably holding the handcart and let go when Ian stood properly.

“Th-thank you, Uncle Gabe.”

Though he’d volunteered thinking he could handle this much, Ian smiled and expressed his gratitude, embarrassed by his clumsy movements. The middle-aged man who had caught him just nodded without a word and returned to his place slowly, unlike when he’d rushed over. Then he picked up the rake carelessly thrown on the ground and continued organizing the hay with swishing sounds.

Gabe the coachman, who had helped Ian, was always silent. He didn’t mingle much with the manor staff and lived alone in a small house next to the stables, somewhat away from the manor. With his not-so-tall height and broad shoulders giving him a sturdy build, he covered his bald head with a long-brimmed hat and grew a thick beard on his nose and chin.

‘When did I first see his face properly… was it when everyone was introduced in the entrance hall?’

As if the interior of this gorgeous yet solemn manor didn’t suit him, Gabe had hunched his shoulders wrapped in shabby outerwear and just gripped his hat as if crumpling it. He kept his gaze on the floor throughout, then quietly disappeared through the manor’s back door when everyone returned to their places after the introductions ended.

‘Even though he drove the carriage every time, his face was hidden by his hat, so I only realized later it was the same person driving.’

Carefully pushing the cart again while briefly recalling that time, Ian found himself entering the stable with rattling sounds. The horses with gentle eyes nickered, and he delightedly petted each one.

“There, there. You all seem to be in a good mood today?”

The well-cared-for horses’ coats were smooth. Thanks to giving them well-dried hay and occasionally taking them to flat ground far from the swamps to let them run, even Ian, who didn’t know much, could see the horses looked healthy. It was quite amazing how they now recognized him after several visits of petting and feeding them.

As he began frequenting the stable like this, Gabe, who had been quietly watching from a distance, approached and personally taught him how to care for horses. Though his attitude was gruff, teaching only through silent gestures without words, being near him made his inability to make proper eye contact seem like a shy personality.

Just as he was petting each horse’s favorite spots as he’d learned and distributing the hay he’d brought to their feed troughs, he felt something stick to his waist with a slap. Looking down, he saw a sulking face.

“Did you finish reading your book?” “…Yes.”

Though Ash had initially been excited, following Ian and directly feeding hay to the horses, once Ian’s attention focused on the horses, he began subtly sulking. It reminded Ian of his young cousins, and he was quite pleased that unlike before, Ash was acting childlike.

“Why do you do this kind of work, brother? You don’t even ride the horses…”

Ash, who had been watching Ian pour hay into the feed trough while clinging to his side, asked.

‘Still, a young master is a young master.’

At Ash’s words, seemingly displeased that the manor’s master and baron (though temporary, strictly speaking) was doing menial work like caring for horses, Ian could only laugh inwardly.

His life had been one of looking only forward and rushing ahead. After his parents died in an accident, with help from relatives he finished high school, but unable to afford college, he immediately enlisted in the military. After completing military service, wanting to quickly repay his debt of gratitude to his relatives, he ended up working at a large mart while looking for immediate work.

Always busy working to send even a small amount of money to the relatives who had helped him, on his days off he lived without particular hobbies, just enjoying games, webtoons, and web novels in his small studio apartment. Living like that and then coming here, this life that continued leisurely and peacefully despite being eerie felt both strange and unsettling.

That unease slowly spread, shaking thoughts he’d been confident about alone.

‘If there are no particular problems with the manor like this, will it end when I hand over the title to Ash when he becomes an adult? When I reach the end, will I be able to return to where I originally was? If not, how should I live here?’

To calm his restless heart, he’d gone outside and this stable had caught his eye. Gabe and the horses had initially been wary of the sudden intruder, but as time passed, they accepted him. And gradually, as if for leisure, he naturally began coming here and caring for the horses whenever he had time.

Cutting off his chain of thoughts, he looked down at Ash, who was looking up with a dissatisfied gaze. When their eyes met, at the softening look in his eyes, Ian chuckled and pointed to a horse inside.

“Ash, see that gray horse over there? That horse is pregnant.”

What Ian pointed to was a horse with ash-colored fur. It was also the first horse to show curiosity and come close to Ian once its wariness subsided. Even then, its belly had been quite swollen, as if not much time remained before giving birth. When he’d asked Gabe, who was hovering nearby, he’d nodded.

“Soon when the foal comes out, it’ll be incredibly cute. Aren’t you excited?”

Though he’d said it to divert Ash’s attention, Ian was also looking forward to it. A foal—his heart fluttered. Gabe seemed to usually care for and treat it well too, but Ian brought extra carrots just in case. Then the horse would elegantly approach with clip-clop sounds and accept the carrots.

In Ash’s eyes as he looked at the ash-colored horse demurely, undeniable curiosity was now showing.

“…I am curious.” “Right? I wonder what color it’ll be. Uncle Gabe taught me—see that white horse over there? That guy is the father.”

The horse Ian pointed to was a dignified and handsome white stallion, but unlike the elegant ash-colored mare, he was a glutton who greedily devoured hay. After finishing his own, he’d regularly stick his nose into others’, and his temperament was also nasty—when you petted places he didn’t allow, he’d threaten by clicking his teeth as if to bite, making Gabe rush over to stop him.

The white horse stopped eating hay and looked toward Ian and Ash as if asking if they’d called him. Hay was stuck all over his nose bridge, and he flicked his tongue as if trying to remove it. At that sight, Ash finally burst into giggles. As Ian laughed along, the white horse snorted and stuck his nose back into the hay.

“When the foal comes out, shall we name it? Hmm, let’s have Ash decide.”

Ash, who glanced at the horse once, smiled brightly and nodded.

“Good. I’ll give it a wonderful name.”

Seeing Ash nod with quite a serious face, Ian patted his shoulder. Ash, who seemed to fall into thought about what name to give while looking at the horse, said he’d need to look up books to come up with a wonderful name and left.

Not long after, someone entered the stable. It was Gabe, who had finished organizing the hay. At Gabe, who usually hovered around and only came close when needed, carefully approaching him when nothing particular was happening, Ian turned around with a puzzled expression. His closed mouth twitched with spasms, and his already old hat was being mercilessly crumpled in his grip.

“Is there something you want to say?”

Gabe opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, then rummaged through his work clothes pocket and pulled something out. It was a tattered piece of paper. When he held out the paper, Ian reflexively took it.