Tainted (nonbinary mc x man)

Chapter 9

A/N: Small update to fix an error made on 6/28. These changes do not alter the plot of the story.

Monrie felt like an absolute idiot for going through with this.

There he was, standing before the gates of a large mansion at the top of a mountain.

It had been three days since Monrie had seen Toma off – not that he was counting or anything. It was just that he hadn't heard anything since then. He'd been rather worried. It had gotten to the point where Arville had caught him pacing on more than one occasion.

"Go visit him," Arville had said, as if it was obvious. And maybe it was... except Monrie couldn't just walk up the mountain to see Toma.

If Toma was a prisoner there, they wouldn't just let him in. He couldn't tell him they were friends. In all likelihood, no one knew Toma had been away. Though, Monrie didn't really understand why they wouldn't be watching over a prisoner closely enough to know they'd been missing for nearly a week.

Monrie had decided not to tell Arville or Melina about what Toma had told him, either. For one, it wasn't his place to tell anyone Toma's secrets. Toma had trusted him enough to tell him and he wasn't willing to break that trust.

However, this was directly affecting their work in Ilia. He had already been reminded multiple times by Melina that this was not a vacation. Arville would be willing to look the other way if Monrie skimped on his responsibilities, but Melina would definitely report him to their employer. And that would get Toma in even more trouble.

So, after a few days of driving himself crazy over wanting to see Toma again, he was pleasantly surprised when Toma beat him to it. Though, the person who showed up at his door was not Toma. She was a woman with pale red hair wearing the dullest, most boring cloak Monrie had ever seen.

"My name is Parim," she said, smiling gently. That smile wasn't fake, per say, but Monrie still felt like there was something off about her expression. "I am a friend of Tomagura's."

"Oh?" Monrie leaned against the door and raised an eyebrow. "How is he?"

Parim's smile became softer and Monrie got the impression that she was satisfied with his question. "He's..." She paused, grimacing only slightly. If Monrie hadn't been focused on her facial expressions, he wouldn't have caught it. "Tomagura would like to see you."

Monrie hastily grabbed his cloak and step out into the hallway the moment those words passed her lips.

Parim blinked at him, but otherwise, didn't react. "Not now... tomorrow-"

"Now," Monrie said, beginning to walk down the hallway.

"Mr. Teval!" Parim called after him without moving to follow. Monrie came to a halt and turned over his shoulder to scrutinize her. Parim, for her part, remained unfazed. "Give me a few minutes. I climbed the ravine to get here and I will have to go back up that way. But unless you have experience climbing mountain." She looked at him pointedly, "I'm sure Tomagura would not want you to get hurt while coming to see him. Just give me some time, then come to the gates at the top. I will let you in."

Monrie nodded in agreement and turned to make his way to the door.

"One more thing... stop by the market on your way."

That was how Monrie ended up at the gates of a giant mansion, dumbly dangling a basket of fruit from his hand.

He stared up at the gates in awe. This didn't seem like a normal mansion, but then again, it was settled on the top of a mountain. The stone walls were tall and smooth, as were the gates, though they had a design of flowers and stars carved into them. In fact, the stone was so smooth, it almost looked as if it was there naturally; it was like a part of the mountain itself.