CHAPTER 6: Trouble

Days followed by, Ekiel's mood had gotten sour. It was a mystery for everyone in the mansion why did their young master had turned into like this, when he was really happy when he came home from the trip to the town with Owen days ago.

Everyday, Ekiel's frown went deeper as he got home from taking Din for a walk in the fields.

"What's wrong, Young master Kiel?" Yor asked, completely worried about the kid infront of her.

"I haven't seen Owen for a week. He hadn't come on the stables like he usually does." Ekiel said as he huffed on the bed after drinking the glass of milk.

Yor smiled. Of course, its Owen.

"Dont worry, Young master Kiel. Maybe, Sir Owen just had some personal stuff that he needed to do. You might see him tomorrow or the next day."

"Right..." Ekiel spoke as he turned himself to face the ceiling. "But why do I feel like something is really wrong..."

Yor chuckled. "Ah, young love."

Hearing Yor's words, Ekiel sat up from the bed with a flustered face and immediately denied.

"Y-young love? That can't be! Haha, right!"

"I dont think so, young master Kiel." Yor teased more making Ekiel to be more flustered than he was.

"W-we are just boy friends!"

"Yes, boy friends. I get that." Yor chuckled softly and finally turned off the scented candle in the room. "I shall go now to not interrupt young master Kiel's sleep. Good night, young master Kiel."

With that, Yor left with a fond smile on her face, leaving a completely flustered 12 year old who was still unfamiliar to the new feelings intensifying on his chest.

♡︎♡︎♡︎

Tomorrow went by and Ekiel hurriedly dressed himself to go on the stables once again. He passed by the field of vegetables until he arrived at the stables and carefully peeked his head on the side and saw nothing but just Din being taken care by the stable boy.

"Good morning, young master Ekiel." The stable boy said as he stepped aside from the pony. Ekiel smiled in return as he discreetly smiled in relief about not seeing the boy from yesterday.

"Im gonna stroll with Din, so you can rest, Allan."

"Alright."

Ekiel immediately stepped on the stirrup iron while his small hands gripped on the reins. He finally placed his weight on his feet and raised his body to place his bottom to the seat.

Ekiel finally left with the pony and started to stroll on the wide fields but his pace soon got faster as he got carried away by excitement bubbling on his chest.

"Din, aren't you excited like me?" Ekiel said as he bent his upper body ang gripped tighter on the reins.

The pony just snorted as he lead both of them to an unknown location that made Ekiel's brows furrow in confusion.

"Where are we going, Din?"

The pony snorted once again and fasten his pace until Ekiel found a small abandoned house. A few meters away from the house, the pony stopped running giving Ekiel a moment to see what's on the house.

"𝘐-𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴...𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱..."

"𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱.. 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨."

𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙥! 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙥! 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙥!

Ekiel's eyes widened hearing the pleads from afar, as well as the slapping and any other upleasant sounds echoing in the empty field.

And the voice... Ekiel was sure who was the owner of the voice. And the other voices were a childs.

"You wont keep quiet or Ill do the same thing I did on that peasant outside the house?!" A voice of a man shouted followed by slaps.

Ekiel felt himself shrinking and shivering in fear at the moment. He doesn't feel good, he's scared. He's —

"Din, did you bought me here because...?"

The pony silently neighed.

Ekiel squinted his eyes and carefully told Din to come closer for about 20 steps. That time, he found himself having a hard tome to breathe as a figure of a naked kid that was more younger than him, was lying outside the small cabin, lifeless.

"I-i need to go back." Ekiel cracked and patted the pony's neck. "We need to get help."

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘸𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥.

As soon as hearing the words from its owner, Din turned his back from the house and started dashing back from the direction of the Manor. Ekiel could only hear his heart pumping fast in his chest and grip the reins tighter because of Din who was much more faster than before.

In no time, they arrived back at the stables meeting Allan who was brushing the horse's backs.

"Young master Ekiel, please slow down...!" Allan shouted as Ekiel passed by him and immediately went to the mansion.

As soon as Ekiel arrived at the entrance of the mansion, he hopped out from Din and ran towards Grendell who was at the office.

"I told you to knock—"

"B-bandits! I mean, k-kidnappers the field from the south. They—" Ekiel blabbered as his hands shivered in fright and tears came out from his crystal purple orbs.

"Hey hey hey. Calm down young master Kiel." Grendell immediately ran to him and held the kid on his arms.

"T-there's another kids getting hurt... b-by the bandits from the small c-cabin in the south... D-din bought me there and I saw a dead body... a-and Owen! O-owen is there, h-he was hurt—"

"Alright alright. Hedger, bring the patrol team and get ready."

Ekiel disnt stopped crying as he continued to hear the words on his head echoed repeatedly. The image of the dead body of a kid from the cabin just made his stomach churn.

"Hey, hey. Kiel, listen to me. Take deep breaths slowly. That's it, yes, you're doing a good job."

Ekiel nodded pitifully as he clasped both of his hands tightly. He can feel his chest clenching painfully as new emotions poured out. The image of Owen entered his mind, he cried once again.

"Now, stay here and Ill take Din with me, okay?" Grendell said as he carried the small boy and softly set him at the couch. "As your uncle, I'll take care of it."

Before Grendell could even leave, Ekiel pulled the hem of his shirt.

"I-I'll come with you, uncle Grendell."

"No, you're just a kid and you might—"

"No...I-i need to make sure Owen is okay. I-i saw him inside the cabin and h-he wasn't doing good...!"

"But youre—"

"Please, uncle Grendell. I- i am indeed scared but I cant let Owen get hurt more... Please uncle... Im really worried about him."

Grendell sighed.

"If something happens, stay at my back and dont do anything rashly, okay?"

Ekiel nodded as he followed Grendell from behind.

Meanwhile Grendell could only sigh in defeat. This kid is really stubborn. Just like his mother.

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𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫!!

𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧 (𝟏𝟔)

-black eyes, black hair. a stable boy

𝐇𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐢𝐧 (𝟐𝟖)

-black hair, brown eyes. A leader in one of the group of knights.