Chapter 41: Please, accept my apologies, young master

The procession stopped in front of a large estate. It was the Duke’s Estate in the capital, gifted to him by the Emperor.

He said, "The Grand Duke, my brother, needs to be able to feel at home whenever he comes back to the capital."

And so he prepared such a grand Estate that was looked after all year round and with a garden that was being preserved by magic and alchemy all year round.

It was luxurious and beautiful, way better than the gloomy cold mansion of the North.

Once they got down, the maids and butler of this estate were already lined up to welcome the master.

They bowed their heads.

"Welcome back to the capital, Your Grace." The Butler greeted and then Duke Alaric nodded.

"Yes, it’s already late so it’s better to forgo any formalities and speak about important issues in the morning." He said and began to walk past.

"Yes, of course your grace. You must’ve had a rough journey. I will have the maids draw a bath for you right away."

Compared to the North, the South, where the capital was located, was warm all year round. So warm that it sometimes pricked the Duke’s skin.

He was already so used to the cold of the North to the point he could walk around with his chest exposed. Now back to this heat, it felt incredibly uncomfortable.

He just might be wearing even more scanty clothes going forward.

"Ah, and make sure to take him to a warm room as well." The Duke said, pointing back.

"Pardon?" The Butler looked back to where the Duke was pointing, only to find a sleeping Lucius. His face lit up in delight to see the Young Lord. "Ah, for the Young Lord? Of course, I’ll make sure to prepare—"

"Not the boy." The Duke interrupted, confusing the butler.

"Pardon?"

"Can’t you see who’s holding the boy?" He asked, and the butler looked again, as if he had a problem with his vision.

He looked at Julian and then nodded.

"Are you a caregiver?" He asked but Julian nodded.

The way he reacted made it clear that he didn’t take note of Julian from the start.

Julian was handsome and had a peculiar pair of odd-colored eyes, which is why he was noticed almost instantly wherever he went. But this time, the butler didn’t even notice him, like he was a shadow holding onto the child.

’The veil of commoner must be working well.’ Julian thought. "I’m not a caregiver. I’m the Young Lord’s Tutor."

"His tutor?" he asked and his eyes widened. "Then you must be the fourth son of Marquis Astrea." He said, and Julian nodded.

He immediately bowed his head, feeling he had just shown discourtesy to a noble.

"Please, accept my apologies, young master."

"No, it’s fine." He said. "Right now, I’m just this child’s teacher and not a noble. I’m also a staff so let’s get along better than all of this."

The maids and the butler looked at Julian, feeling that he was ’kind’.

Word already spread that the Duke had gone to his son’s celebration and wished him a happy birthday, despite smelling like booze from drowning himself to the memory of his dead wife.

And the rumors specifically stated that the reason he had gone to wish his son on his birthday was that the new Tutor had ’asked’.

Of course, it sounded absurd. Why would the Duke, who hated his son for taking his wife’s life on his birth, forget all of that just because the Tutor asked?

Even the butler felt the same way.

It was all useless chatter from the nobles, trying to use the Grand Duke’s tragic story to get attention for themselves, he thought.

But when he saw the Grand Duke here, after not visiting the Capital for seven years since his wife died, he felt there was a change. He felt even more certain seeing the boy he was pressured to have hated with his whole being.

And then he thought, there must be a truth to that rumor.

After all, rumors don’t crop up out of nothing. Something definitely happened to trigger the rumor.

He was glad, regardless, that the wind of the North was changing and had extended here to the South.

Knowing the Duke was on talking terms with his son made him happy,y even though he hadn’t served the Duke for long.

But then, that wasn’t all of it.

The Duke had just asked them to take ’him’ to a warm room. And ’he’ just happened to be the tutor who was in the rumors.

Why would the Duke be concerned about his son’s tutor at all?

Wasn’t the Grand Duke supposed to care for no one?

This situation... They didn’t know what to make of it.

Just how much of that rumor was true?

It couldn’t be that all of it was true, right? Including the part where the Duke had Julian sit next to him until it was midnight.

"I will take you to a room right away," the Butler said, but then turned to the Duke, who was already walking ahead. "Your Grace, do you need me to lead you?"

"No need. Just take care of the kid and Astrea." The Duke said as he walked ahead.

The maids were already accompanying him, so there was no need to have the butler lead him as well.

From the corner of his eyes, he glanced back at Julian holding Lucius.

He could probably navigate everywhere himself. But this was still a strange place. So he wondered if Julian would have a problem sleeping.

"I should probably bring something to help him out." He thought but then paused.

Since when did it start? He wondered.

He tried to think of it, wondering when it started that his eyes always searched for Julian, and his thoughts always revolved around him.

Julian was indeed a person who made him curious about different shades, so that’s probably why he kept thinking about him and searching for him with his eyes.

And not to talk about how warm his body was.

Even in the cold North, this man had a certain heat radiating from his body. He claimed it was from a special balm but Alaric couldn’t bring himself to dismiss that warmth as being a balm’s effect.

So, he kept it away and instead, enjoyed the warmth that came from Julian.

That was one more reason why he sat next to him and rested his head on him.

"He’s quite the peculiar man," the Duke mumbled to himself and kept walking. "I’ll definitely figure him out at some point." he believed.