STABLE BOY ; Trash of the Count's Family

37. PROMISE

There are still a few things that don't make sense. Why bother with the tattoos, if blood is much more efficient? Those two things seemed like completely separate powers, even if vaguely voodoo-like in similarities.

And surely, there were things South could do with blood, other than transfer wounds.

But Choi Han was already satisfied with the answer he got, and thus, Cale didn't pursue any further answers.

"Stable boy, you may be able to transfer the injuries, but it's not as if you're completely healed. So you must not be transferring vitality," Cale said.

South nodded. "It still hurts, and while the damage is gone, I am still exhausted."

"Right," Cale decided. "Then you must be tired. Go back to your stables and get some rest, then."

South blinked in surprised.

"Whuh?"

"Did you not hear me?"

"I– I did but—" South stuttered. "Is that it? You're not going to... make me swear not to use it against you or anything? Do you not want to know if I have the power to subjugate you anytime?"

Cale's brow raised.

Is this why South always spoke like that about himself? Like he was a wild beast, domesticated against his will? Like he had to watch himself so he wouldn't be a threat to his master, like he wasn't allowed to do or receive anything without his master's permission?

Right. Makes sense. South's ability was a threat to the people he served, more than it was to the people he was put against. In war, even a second of restrictions in your movements can be fatal. Of course he'd be beaten into submission.

Of course he wouldn't know how to live as his own person.

Choi Han's shoulders tightened dangerously in a way that meant he was starting to get angry.

"Why would I do that?" Cale said. "If you're ever in a situation where you feel the need to use it against me, then you must certainly be desperate enough to make an enemy of the Henituse. You will be in far more danger than I could ever be."

Plus, he had the Vitality of the Heart. Maybe the power could bypass the Shield since it was so spiritual in nature, but Cale never had to worry about severe injuries. It would all, eventually, heal.

South gawked at him like Cale was speaking in biblical tongues or something.

"What, are you a masochist or something? Do you actually like using that power so often?" Cale allowed his trash nature to leak out a little, if only because it was so unnerving to see the stable boy act so passive and meek.

And South definitely reacted, "of course not," he said. "I hate it. But I don't know how to survive without using it."

Cale sighed.

He knew how that felt, too. There were times people grew to rely on their powers so much, they forgot how to live without them. It wouldn't be their fault— there were just powers that were so strong, the only way to survive was to use them.

Most people in this world were not smart enough to survive on their own. But they had power, so they allied themselves with someone smarter, and survived that way.

In the case of people who couldn't find someone to rely on, like South, he had probably just been clinging onto his power, trying to find a way to live as a person and not a tool.

"There will come a day where everything that can be used, will be used," Cale told him.

There was no 'I never want to use it again', the world was not that idealistic of a place. No matter how much South hated it, he will one day have to use his powers. And in the case of powers that just didn't switch off, they couldn't possibly cry about it forever.

They just had to deal with it.

"But if you hate it that much, then come to me, when you're in trouble," Cale said. "You belong to the Henituse, so I will protect you instead. My shield is much more reliable, and Choi Han is much more efficient at taking revenge, he could pay them back twofold or threefold even. So you will always be able to avoid using it if you wish."

Cale hated painful things.

Of course, South hated them too.

Being able to tolerate pain— Cale understood that too. And he understood that South would likely do anything to never feel so much pain again. For the same reasons as why Cale wished so dearly for a peaceful life, it was just obvious to him.

South had been silent for a while, so Cale turned around— and froze.

South's hands trembled on his lap, and his eyes were watery. He reached up to rub at his eyes and Cale officially did not know what to do.

Choi Han looked between swallowing a frog and jumping into a panic. His frazzled eyes met Cales like do something, and Cale wished he could telepathically project his thoughts of do what??? Right back at him.

South sniffled, and buried his face into his hands, and Cale has had enough.

"Hans," he threw open his door, forgetting he's a patient supposed to be on bedrest. Hans, beside the door playing with the kittens waiting for Choi Han and South to come out, jumped, startled.

Instead of addressing any of that, Cale allowed himself to some frantic and desperate.

"Do something about that. Now."

Hans whirled into the room and then whirled back at Cale accusatorily, "Young Master-nim, what did you DO?!"

"I don't know!"