The locked door

In a large room inside the count's mansion, behind a wooden desk filled with books, at a comfortable chair that was just the right size for his body, sat a light-brown-haired man. Holding a pen in his hand, he was staring at a blank notebook, deep in thought. He had dismissed all of the servants and guards, locked the door, closed the windows, pulled down the curtains, and made sure nobody would ever see what he was doing. If someone was his action, they'd think that he was about to do a forbidden ritual or something, but no! He was just silently sitting behind his desk.

After thinking a little bit more to himself, he slowly moved down his hand. The tip of the fountain pen touched the blank page, leaving a small ink stain on the right edge of the paper. The boy moved his hand and started to note down something.

Scribe Scribe

He was writing words after words. The more he wrote, the faster his speed got. After a few minutes, he had already filled five pages of the notebook. He looked at the words he had scribed and quietly read some of the words under his lips, a habit he had taken long ago and couldn't quit no matter how much he tried.

"I've been here... three days... Alaric... tea and the pill... murder attem- ACK! A typo!"

He frowned his brows and hurriedly corrected the word by drawing a line on it and writing the true form on top of it. He shot hateful glances at the pen that kept leaving ink stains on his writings in the process. He picked up the notebook to keep reading the words but put it down after seeing how many pages were remaining.

"It's not like I need to correct them..."

He leaned back on his chair with a sigh.

"It's just a diary. Let there be thousands of typos. Who cares."

His hands slumped down as he put his head on the head of the chair, looking up at the ceiling.

Knock Knock

"Young master Alaric?"

The sound of gentle knocks on the door and then the voice of the old butler made the young master sit up in surprise, dropping the pen he was holding out of surprise. The pen hit the floor and made a 'Dang', before rolling on the ground while leaking ink.

"Young master? Are you alright? What was that sound? Why did you lock the door?"

The young man jumped up from his seat.

"I-I am fine! I'll open the door now-"

BANGGGG

He slammed his knee to the desk.

"ACK!"

The scream left his lips before he knew it. The young lad grabbed his knee with one hand and leaned on the desk with the other, jumping up a few times from the pain and letting out some silent curses.

Tak Tak Tak Tak

"Young master? Young master, what happened?"

The old butler was pulling and pushing the door and yelling with a worried voice.

"Young master if you don't answer I'll have to break the door-"

"No! Wait-"

PLOP

Plop plop

BANGG

Just when he let go of the table and rushed to the door, his hand hit the pile of books on the desk, resulting in the rows of books falling down one by one.

"Gasp!"

The young man gasped before hurriedly running away from the desk. He watched as the falling books hit the other books and caused them to fall as well like a domino and bit his lower lip-

"ACK!"

-Before slippering on the ground and almost falling down on his butt. He grabbed the edge of the dining table and took a deep breath, before carefully walking to the door.

Tak Tak Tak Tak

The door was shaking violently and he could hear the old voice of Ranger from outside. He rushed to unlock it and then open it wide.

"Ah, hi!"

With a bright, innocent smile on his face, he greeted the old butler who looked to be about to faint from worry.

"Young master what exactly-"

Ranger's gaze fell on the pile of books on the ground, before shifting to the ink-soaked floor and then the wrinkled edges of the carpet.

"...What happened here?"

The old man poked his head inside. Alaric moved a little bit back and let the man come in. While still having his smile on his face, Alaric went backward until he reached his desk. Ranger was following him while examining the whole room with his narrowed eyes. Once his gaze fell upon the young man, Alaric gulped and opened his mouth to explain.

"I... Um. I got shocked and dropped the pen, then slammed my knee on the desk before accidentally hitting the books... And slippered a little bit on the floor."

"Why was the door locked? The windows are closed and the curtains are down."

Alaric scratched his cheek and looked down.

"I... am sorry."

He could hear Ranger sigh and walk closer to him. The young man's shoulders tensed up a little bit, however, he had to look up at the old man's dark-blue eyes once he heard his next words.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes? Ah! Yes! I just hit the table but that's fine! Yes, yes, very fine!"

He repeated the word 'fine' over and over in the fear of being forced to take even more medicine. Sensing that the situation has settled a little bit, he plopped down in his comfortable chair and smiled at the old attendant.

"But what brings you here?"

The old butler placed down the cup of tea he was holding and walked towards the closed windows. He pulled up the curtains and opened the windows one by one. Alaric turned his head around to avoid the sunlight and picked up the cup of tea.

"Your father has set up a family dinner for tomorrow. He wants to have a gathering before you leave for the emperor's birthday."

"Pfff- cough."

Alaric spat out the tea he was about to drink and started to cough. He was about to choke himself with the tea. Ranger rushed to the young master's side and patted his back a few times.

"Are you alright, sir?"

"Y-yeah!"

Alaric put the cup on the table and decided not to touch it ever again.

"A family gathering? Is it really necessary?"

"Yes. Your father insisted that you must take part in it."

The young man's face turned solemn. He lowered his gaze and contemplated a little bit, wiggling with his fingers in the process.

"Can't you tell them that I'm sick and can't come?"

The old butler was a little bit taken back by those words, but he soon chuckled and shook his head, his silver hair waving around with the movement.

"No, sir. You should take part in it."

"I can even fake a faint if it's necessary!"

"Fake a faint? No no! You shouldn't do that!"

"But I don't want to go! I can't even remember who they are!"

The dark-blue eyes of the old man shook a little bit upon hearing those words. His lips curled up a little bit to a pained smile and he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Maybe, seeing and spending time with them will help you remember them."

"But-"

"No buts! Do you need my help in choosing proper clothes? You should appear neat and handsome even if it's a small family dinner."

The defeated young man moved back on his chair, his face was gloomy and his voice somber.

"Yeah. I don't know what cloth to wear and how to wear them..."

"Alright. I'll come back to you once I'm done with some preparations. Ah, by the way, Ian woke up today."

"He did? Is he alright?"

"Dr. Reeve said he was fine and only needed a few days of rest. He will probably be up by the time we depart to the ceremony."

"Huh... Isn't that too soon? I don't really like to drag a sickly child on a trip."

The old man raised one eyebrow at those words.

"Sickly child? He has long become an adult, young master. Also, Ian is your age."

"Eh? My age? But he looked too young to be 27!"

"...You are 22 years old, young master."

"O-oh! Ahaha! Yeah. 22! Still, he looks young for a 22-year-old!"

The old man leaned forward and picked up the still full cup of tea while casually chattering with Alaric, something he never imagined he could do one day when he was serving his cold young master when his eyes caught on something on the table.

"Ah, you were working before I came?"

He looked at the still open notebook for a second, before slowly tilting his head.

"...But, what language is this?"

"T-that-"

Alaric jolted up and jumped on his notebook with some dramatic movements, covering the pages with his arms before closing the notebook and tossing it aside.

"Ah! Ahahaha! It's nothing, just some random bullshit!"

"...."

The surprised old man cautiously took a step back. He sent a suspicious glance at the notebook that was thrown aside and then at the young master.

"I apologize for peeking in your personal stuff, young master. Still, I couldn't read its contents as it was a foreign language that an old butler like me doesn't understand."

"...There is no need to apologize."

The old man bowed his head and strolled towards the door, saying that he had some things to prepare for tomorrow night. Before leaving the room, Ranger suddenly stopped, turned back, smiled, and said in a gentle yet deep voice.

"Also, sir, 'bullshit' is not a proper word a nobleman like you should use."

"..."

"If it was not for your memory loss, big problems would rise because of your use of words in the past few days. I recommend that you refrain from using inappropriate words while conversing."

"..."

Closing his mouth shut, Alaric nodded his head like a little kid in front of their grandfather's lecture and mumbled in a low voice.

"I'll try."

Clack

The door closed as the old man left the room. Alaric stared at the closed door for a few minutes before bending down and picking up his fountain pen.

"It's broken..."

He regretted picking it up, as his hands were now stained with ink all over.