After a short reply, I silently raised my finger and pointed to the desk.
It was strewn with papers related to various complaints, taxes, and more that would take at least two days to process.
And then the eyes of inspiration, which were about to unleash anger, widened.
“Oh, yeah. That’s why I stayed up late last night.”
“No, you didn’t do it all by yourself, Jeremy, what about him? You bastard, you’re leaving work early because you’re whining to the Prime Minister again!”
“Don’t be so hard on my son, Inspiration. Jeremy came home pretty much super sober, too.”
Still hungover and tired, and speaking at full voice, Sir Russell seemed to feel a little pity for me, and a little awe and pride at the same time for the Archduke, who was a bastard in behavior but brilliant in ability.
So, then. Who am I, the Archduke of House Sterne?
With a triumphant smile, Inspiration turned to another nagging thought.
“Well, why don’t you get some more sleep, then, and why have you summoned me this morning? You need to fix this, all the elder nobles here are old men, not fresh young blood like your Excellency.”
“Oh, never mind, I need to discuss something with my inspiration.”
He jerked to his feet, his mind racing at the thought of it.
Sir Russell looked at me with wide eyes, wondering what the hell was going on.
“Well, we’re running out of time, so we’ll talk on the way.”
I patted my inspiration on the back and hurried him over to where Puffy was.
“Dio wants to keep Puffy with him.”
“What?”
“But the puppy is a person, a man. A slave, technically, that I had a bit of a relationship with back in the day.”
As Sir Russell and I made our way to the prison where Puffy was being held, I explained the events of yesterday in simple terms.
He’s actually a slave I rescued when I traveled, and when I heard of his brother and sister’s deaths, I left him in the Empire and came my way.
And now he comes to me three years later, and I haven’t given him a name or a family name! That’s suspicious, and he could be working as a spy somewhere.
I tried to kill him, but Dio caught me doing it, and now he’s in jail.
But Dio says she likes him, and she wants to stay with him.
Sir Russell went from deeply angry to transcendent and back again.
In the eastern kingdoms, they call it ‘transcending’.
I know that looks very well. I’m very familiar with that face because, after that expression, a waterfall of nagging questions would always follow.
“…But the way he is, he looks like a fallen aristocrat of some country. He doesn’t say it, but the way he talks and the way he acts, it’s like he’s an aristocrat.”
Inspiration took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as much as possible.
“I’ll have to see him for myself.”
I felt like I was being poked and prodded like I was being told to wait and see.
I inadvertently became a little more talkative and ended up looking like a bunch of flattering aristocrats huddled next to him.
“Well, yeah. You’ve got a very good eye for seeing things, don’t you? It’s called contemplation, or something like that?”
“That’s an eastern philosophy, and I don’t know how to contemplate yet.”
After a long walk down the stairs with my grumbling inspiration, we finally reached the place where he was locked up.
Upon entering, I was greeted by the sight of a man sitting on a small stone bed, looking out over the landscape beyond his cage, as if he were taking it easy, even though he was probably going to get his head cut off.
It’s underground anyway, so what’s there to see but people’s ankles and grass?
But he’s gazing at that tiny moon, the size of a pinky nail, in a very classical way. Of course, his viewing time was interrupted by the soldiers banging on the bars.
“Hey, here comes the Archduke and Lord Russell. What are you doing without making yourself presentable!”
“Never mind. You’ve done a good job, but you’ll have to leave for a while.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
After dismissing the soldier with a few gold coins, I slowly approached the cage in which he was to be confined.
“You, come here.”
In the distance, in the darkness, the man with his back to the window stares at us, unmoving.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said, ‘Come here,’ and unless you’re desperate to die, you’d better listen to me.”
With that, he stalks forward with a grunt.
With each movement, I could hear the clink, clink, clink of the shackles on his hands and feet.
Then he stepped out of the darkness, paused to look at inspiration, and smiled.
“Please call me Puffy. It’s the name my new master gave me.”
“Shut up. …Anyway, this is it, Inspiration. Can you see what’s bothering me, Inspiration?”
I might as well show him once as tell him a hundred times. One look at his face and you can’t help but see why Dioana would die for him, why she’d even name him Puffy to keep him close.
I sigh and look over at Russell Inspiration, and his reaction is startling.
He turns pale, like he’s seeing a ghost, and shakes his head in disbelief.
Of course, it’s quite remarkable that he looks so radiant in the midst of all this, but I wasn’t expecting him to be so shocked.
Later on, he starts to look pretty solidly angry.
When I get out of this prison, I’m going to have to put up with a lot of nagging and lecturing from Russell for a while.
I’m already starting to cringe at the thought of his ear-splitting rants.
I tugged at the hem of inspiration, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.
“Inspiration?”
“Ah, ah. Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Are you all right? What’s wrong with your look?”
“No, Your Excellency, I’m fine, but let’s go upstairs and talk, I have a lot to ask you.”
I mean, why are you meeting so many men on your travels, no, it’s none of my business, but at least meet with men whose status is guaranteed, what will Dioana learn from watching, blah, blah, blah.
I knew I was going to be berated.
I walked upstairs, shoulders slumped, inspired.
All the way to the office, Russell stroked his beard and muttered incoherently.
…Is that him rehearsing what he’s going to say to me?
I hung my head low, like a child at full tilt, knowing I was about to be told off. I’m twenty-six years old, and I’m preparing to be scolded like a child.
‘I don’t regret my past behavior, it’s all because of that weirdo, so who the hell do you think you are, chasing me all the way here…!
Diana has been burning up my insides for days, saying things like, “Don’t kill Puffy, Puffy’s my mate.”
She’s not scared to death, and she’s laughing her arse off.
Isn’t it unfair that I’m the only one caught in the middle?
Determined not to get in trouble, I returned to the Oval Office and looked up at Inspiration with a stern face.
“Your Excellency, I have something to tell you-“
“Before you do, let me talk to you first, Inspiration. I know, of course, that it was because he followed me into this Steren castle that he broke into it, and I shouldn’t have picked him up at the slave market then.”
“But-!”
“Whatever I may have done in the past, I did not break any laws, so I have no regrets or guilt about my actions. Of course, I realize that my behavior could have a bad effect on Diana.”
“…….”
“That’s why I haven’t been seeing men since I took over this position, and what I need from you now is advice on how to convince Dioana, not meddling in my sex life.”
Wadadada spat out the words quickly, and when I had finished my reflection and plea for advice, Inspiration, who had been wearing a serious expression for a moment, as if deep in thought, asked me.
“That slave, where did you get him?”
“From the slave market in Itharian harbor.”
“Do you know his name?”
“Inspiration, if I did, would I call him Puppy? I don’t know if he doesn’t remember his name, or if he doesn’t want to tell me, because he won’t open his mouth even if he’s about to die.”
Expecting to be met with logic, rebuttal, and a bit of nagging, my inspiration surprisingly didn’t say much.
He just stroked his ever-bushy beard and mumbled something that sounded like an old man.
“Inspiration, what are you muttering about? If you’re going to scold me, do it quickly.”
“…Firstly, give me a little more time to think, Your Highness.”
“Eh?”
“You said you were thinking about it, about how to persuade the young lady, and I’m not about to argue with you about your male proclivities.”
“…What. Is that all you have to say?”
“Indeed. Let me see if I can find out if he is being evasive or if he really doesn’t remember.”
“I’m not even sure what he’s like, and I don’t know if he’s going to turn on you. There’s no need to do that.”
“No, Your Excellency, it’s times like these that you should be in charge of the young lady. I need you to concentrate on Dioana for a while, to take your mind off this puppy.”
With that, the Inspiration left the room, saying that he had something important to attend to.
This is not how Russell’s nagging ends.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’m going to live to tell the tale, but why did it end so easily?
I’ve been feeling weird since I saw Puffy earlier. But if we’d known each other, I’m sure Russell would have said something to me.
“What the hell, did you really think of something else?
After scratching my head, I decided to keep it simple.
I certainly don’t miss Russell’s nagging, so I’ll do as he says and focus on Dioana for a while to get her to forget about that weirdo Puffy.
She’s a kid, after all, and she’ll get over it in a few more days.
I’ll just have to sneak it by then.
