Another Redhead (TCF Fanfic)

Chapter 3

3: The king's aide (1)

"Everything from here to there."

Clang. The gold coin that Cale took out started to spin on the counter.

"Pack it all up."

The baker seemed to be frozen in place as Cale continued to speak.

"Two or three more gold coins should be enough for a week's worth of bread, right?"

The baker's gaze, which had been on the gold coin, moved to Cale. It was too much money to pay for the bread. Cale just stoically responded to the baker's shaking eyes.

"I can go somewhere else if you don't want it."

"No, it is nothing like that! Young master! I will pack it as fast as possible!"

The baker was extremely respectful for a different reason than before as he moved around quickly. Cale is now preparing to earn an ancient power, the Indestructible Shield.

"..."

While waiting for the baker to finish packing his order, he saw someone walking past him, the man he saw earlier.

Cale blatantly stared at the man, who put his hood back on and walked lightly without noticing someone staring at him.

And Cale began to think,

'No such person happens to come across Choi Han in the novel.'

He recalls the contents of 'The Birth of a Hero' until the fifth volume and there is no caramel-haired character with a white cat in it.

'Is he just a regular side character? Or is the appearance just fake?'

As Cale thought the man's identity, he saw the white cat stop walking and stare at him.

'...hm?'

Cale wondered if it was staring at him because it realized that he had just stared at the man.

Stareee..
"...."

Cale, uncomfortable at the sight of the cat staring at him intensely, naturally shifted his gaze and only after that did the cat stop staring at him and walked back to follow the hooded man.

"Yo-young master, your order is ready."

Cale hummed in response to the baker's call and left the bakery with a bag full of bread over his shoulder.

'Whoever he is doesn't matter, because it's not like he did change anything just now.'

Choi Han is now still outside the gate and nothing has happened.

And just like that, he walked to the slums, towards the man-eating tree.

***

3 days later.

Deruth Henituse, the Count, observed the fancy letter in front of him.

It had been several weeks since he received the letter and it had been several days since he received the report of the person’s arrival, but still he and the person had not met yet.

'Let's wait a little longer.'

But then he heard a knock on the door and a servant appeared.

"Excuse me Count-nim, the aide has come."

"Is that so?"

There was a slight relief in his tone as he looked at the wall clock and continued to speak,

"Prepare some tea and snacks."

It was a perfect time for morning tea.

.
.
.

"Greetings, Your Excellency."

A bright smile rose on the man's face when he greets the Count.

Deruth was almost gasped by the man's appearance but managed to hold back and returned the smile.

'He looks even younger than I thought.'

"Welcome to the Henituse territory, aide-nim. I'm Deruth Henituse."

The two then shook hands.

"I'm Ciel. And this is Amelia."

Hearing Ciel's words, Deruth turned his gaze down to see the white cat on Ciel's right leg and Amelia then meowed cheerfully like she was greeting  him.

"Me~oww!"

"Hello to you too."

Seeing the cute behaviour, the Count smiled even more.

This reminds Deruth that Cale did bring back two adorable kittens but this one looks a little bigger than them.

What a bright atmosphere around them when Deruth invited them for some tea.

"First of all, forgive me for being late to see you."

Ciel bowed his head and lifted it again after Deruth said that it was okay.

After all, it's not his fault he's been walking for weeks and ended up lying in bed for 3 days.

'Fucking Zed.'

He pissed off and sipped his tea but quickly calmed down again by the tea's sweet aroma.

"I have made preparations for your trip to the capital with my eldest son."

"Is that so...I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"It's not a problem. But I want to know why his majesty the king asked for my help."

'He just doesn't want to teleport me there, dammit.'

"I actually live near here."

"...you do?"

Seeing the shocked count, Ciel quickly added.

"Yes but I can't say it's too close from here and not in this Western City. But still, the Henituse territory is the closest to my home compared to the other territories."

Deruth finds out that this little piece of information is quite interesting but he doesn’t ask for more. They then chatted a few more things before Ciel finally asked to leave.

"I probably won't say goodbye later because I'm busy, so I'll just say goodbye here."

"I understand, thank you."

"Meoww~!"

After Ciel leaves, Deruth once again thinks that the man is very young and probably the same age as his son.

Seeing Cale behaving unusually lately, he hoped the young man would be fine even if he would be in the same carriage with him.

That's a good chance for Cale to have a friend his age, isn't it?