The Head Lord and the Rat Thief {Kamisato Ayato FanFiction}

Chapter 25 ~ The Spy and the Lord's Room

Chapter 25 ~ The Spy and the Lord's Room

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       Caiome spent hours doing nothing in Ayato's office. And she couldn't even leave, considering Ayato strictly forbade her from exiting the room. "What's the point of having a bodyguard anyway if you're within the estate perimeter swarming with guards?" she wondered. "It is the bodyguard's responsibility to always be near the one they are supposed to protect," Ayato had said, and Caiome raised an eyebrow.

       "I don't think you've ever had a bodyguard before," she remarked.

       "Before," Ayato repeated.

       "And you managed just fine without one," she commented, but Ayato didn't say anything further, returning to his tasks.

      They were MANY, Caiome noticed. She always found it ridiculous how much time Ayato spent dealing with these matters, staying away from home for days and barely seeing him in these two months. She found it stupid what a slave to responsibilities he was. And that's precisely why Caiome disliked meddling in politics. She sometimes stumbled upon tangled situations herself that required careful handling, of course, but not situations like "festival activities," "market profit," "Commission influence," "land governance," or "staff distribution." She usually adhered to the "divide and conquer" principle, and if that didn't work, she charged straight ahead and always managed to come out unscathed.

       While Ayato sat for hours on a violet cushion, embroidered with golden threads along the edges, using at least a quarter of an inkwell. How could he still have the mood to sit and copy poems? Or read. Or whatever else he did while sitting down. Caiome would have gone mad.

       And that was precisely why she spun around like a drunk duck throughout the entire office. Occasionally, she would go to the window, stand on the terrace, and look at everything from a distance, because she couldn't stray too far from Ayato... who seemed to know what he was doing, forcing her to stay with him.

       At least when she worked as a maid, Caiome could go anywhere. Almost anywhere... But at least she wasn't stuck in a tiny square while the world opened up in front of her. She could have at least stood on her little bridge... but when she wanted to do that, Ayato would sing her name, as innocent as he could, and Caiome had no choice.

       She already had a few violations. She shouldn't be impatient. It was one matter to run off and solve certain problems in the city, and another to break the rules just because... She would have broken the rules anyway. She felt like a dog on a leash.

       "I just want to visit Seishin," she complained, pouting.

       "Who?" Ayato asked.

       "My horse?" she said as if it were obvious.

       "It's an... interesting name," Ayato said, still not looking up from his papers.

       "More interesting than yours at least," she commented, feeling slightly offended. "Who names their animal after rice?"

       Ayato sighed, letting his writing brush down, crossing his fingers, and looking at Caiome as if he, too, were offended in turn. Caiome almost laughed at how his cheeks turned slightly red, as if suddenly, from the lord who stood for hours with his back straight in front of a desk, he became a child who didn't like you teasing his pony.

       "Its name," he began with dignity, "means 'white rice,' which in turn means wealth, abundance, and prosperity, the purest form of rice through its clean color. And it suits him very well," he added with a trace of pride. "Hakumai is docile, obedient, quick, agile, elegant, and worthy of being a lord's horse. Even his gaze is cleaner and more charming than many people full of hypocrisy and false loyalty."