He, who made you a princess

EXTRA: Side-story 1

A thousand

~ part two ~

_______________________

"Hey... hey! Hey what is that you brought back with you, and what is it doing?"

The small flame on the fireplace sparked and spoke. Eyeballs closely watching a dirty raven head man stare at it the moment the master of the house entered with him.

"...it's staring at me. Howl? Hello?"

"Take a seat wherever you like."

"When you said a castle, I thought you meant a real one. But you live in a dump."

"What did you say?! You rude human! I'll kick you out right now, grrrrr! Raaaawwrr!"

"Calcifer, heat up the bath for our guest will you?"

Calcifer, the flame on the fireplace, expanded and turned red, shining even brighter than the rubies on the raven head's eyes.

"Do not order this Calcifer arooooound!"

*splash* *pssh*

A splash of water extinguished the blaze on the fire and the entire castle stopped moving.

"H—! Hooooowl......"

The master of the house walked up to the fireplace and grabbed what seemed to be a lump of flesh, once engulfed in flames, onto his hand. A gentle and tender caress from his hand revived the fire on his heart and he smiled.

"Please refrain from bullying my dear friend here, will you?"

"You call a demon your friend?"

"What else is he but a friend?"

The flame on the fireplace looked like it smirked at the guest who was just looking back at it with a smug face.

"Now, why don't you clean up before anything else Lucas?"

Lucas looked up at the smiling Howl as if he was the master of the house. But Howl was a much laid-back person, not paying attention to the attitude of Lucas.

"Uh-huh."

~~~

It was after Lucas had failed to clean himself with magic that he did as Howl said. Showering and bathing in a bathroom that he had thought was an experiment lab, Lucas emerged a brand new man.

By the time he had finished and came down the stairs, food was already prepared on the table while the master of the house was tinkering with spells on another table.

Howl apologized that the food might not be as filling because it was made with magic, but Lucas said nothing and ate all of them.

Calcifer stared at the guest the whole time, sometimes throwing him insults here and there while also calling for his master's name whenever Lucas would glare back at him.

It was already obvious the moment Calcifer saw the two standing side by side, that the one who was more mature was his own master. And he was not wrong.

Howl remained focused on what he was doing, be it actually important or not, to give Lucas the space he needed to replenish and organize his thoughts. Because when he refused to help him, Lucas then begged him to somehow kill him.

But to kill a brethren is the least of what Howl likes to do, despite having done so in the past. Especially not one so helpless...

In the quiet evening where Howl and Calcifer pretended not to see the tears that rolled down Lucas' face as he chewed his food, Lucas completely gave up on the hope that he could die.