Delicately Blunt

Chapter 57

After walking the town for a few hours in the early morning I needed a break. I wasn’t physically tired but interacting as Deux left me mentally exhausted. Particularly since the bone brigade was taking delight in fucking with me.

I’d been offered food and drinks all day along with innuendo’s about our true nature. The Lepusan thankfully hadn’t picked up on anything but I’d been on pins and needles a couple times. I felt lucky Chris hadn’t joined in on the “publicly roast 42” fun.

I also knew I was a hypocrite for wanting to tease him when I noticed he was out and about with Andrea. If I hadn’t been momentarily distracted by how shockingly pale Andrea looked in the light of day I might have given in to my base instincts.

I really needed to change up the layout of her apartment and include an outdoor practice yard. One she had to use mandatorily. She looked like she was on her way to a vitamin D deficiency. Really she might have already had one if not for the potions system.

Passing through the food section of the main shopping street I caught a pair of hostile eyes as I smelled bread. Sven Rye was a new addition to the skill based skeletons. Unlike the combat oriented ones they’d opted to take the surnames from tools and materials from their trade. Currently Sven was glareing at me and not for the first time in the day.

“I’m starting to believe that not everyone likes me,” I grumbled to Henry. When he’d suggested it before I’d found it comforting. I wasn't looking forward to discord but accepted that it was natural at times. The only problem was Sven had only been in the dungeon for a week and I had no idea why he was pissed.

I’d done essentially nothing that should have provoked him. Personality clashes, ideological differences, I’d been prepared for a lot of things but not random hostility.

“Mal-malcontents by nature,” Henry replied quietly. With zero subtly he switched the side he was walking on, offering me his elbow. I took it and watched him proceed to stare Sven down. I had to fight down a chuckle..

Sven promptly scampered away from the window and I let myself laugh. Henry was average in height and not even glaring but he had a definite presence that he could bring to bear when he wanted to. That he was more intimidating than me was also hilarious in its own right no matter which identity you were using for the comparison.

“Oh, Elim’s written,” I said as I noticed a message and checked it.

“W-what is he up to?” Henry asked.

“Heading to his home village to tie up some loose ends. The matter with mana fevers has been put off too long as it is,” I said vaguely. My thoughts were naturally turning back to the work on bloody mana fever. I’d made progress of a sort but not enough to reach my goal.

“It seems like I’m stuck handing out potions but even that's problematic,” I added. I’d been working on other avenues but still hadn’t come up with anything that was easy to distribute and wouldn’t cause me undue trouble. At this point, I was half tempted to just have Elim dump them in the village well and see if it worked.

The specialized potion for dealing with bloody mana fever wasn’t expensive. It wasn’t cheap enough that I could wipe out the disease but I'd been stashing a few bottles a day since I’d first learned of it. I could handle helping Elim’s village.

“Ban and the Lepusan didn’t mind them. They seemed to think they tasted good for the most part,” Henry offered with a shrug.

“They did like the recovery medicine in particular. I think that was because I mixed it with orange juice though,” I said as I recalled their first few days. Half their food had been spiked with potions of one kind or another. They’d all been in such rough shape that I wasn’t sure if it actually tasted palatable or if they’d just been that hungry.

When we arrived at the mayor's residence, I thought about teleporting back to the Palace of Shadows but hesitated. Having a public persona meant I should live in it at least part-time.

“I’m going to here until my appointment, and possibly overnight. Do you want to go to the dungeon in the mean time?” I asked Henry. He had a residence in town but spent most of his free time in the dungeon. An arrangement that was easy to manage with my abilities. I would certainly be summoing him as my emotional suppourt skeleton for the meeting though.

“I-I’ll s-stay,” Henry said, looking surprised. I smiled, knowing it was probably unexpected. Leaving the dungeon proper had been difficult for. Thankfully now that I was out it wasn’t as hard to simply stay topside. I didn’t think it would make the next time I left easier, but it was something.

“I’m going to put some things in my room. Feel free to look around, I don’t think you’ve been here before,” I said, unconcerned. It wasn’t unusual for the bone brigade to come over and look at new construction. I hadn’t really kept tabs on who had explored what but felt like Henry would have said something if he’d dropped by.

“I haven't,” Henry agreed.

With that settled, I went to my room and started filling the closet. It felt more natural to put Deux’s things here than in the Palace of Shadows. It also made the space feel like it might actually be lived in.

It wouldn’t be long before I was supposed to meet Jessica but all I wanted to do was finish sorting my clothes and be lazy until the last possible minute. It was about as productive as sorting pants by length in the grand scheme of things but I couldn’t help it. The heart wants what it wants.

Thinking of the whole facade of being lived in for the residence I recalled the storage problem in the Palace of Shadows. I had space now, but not everything I’d been gifted fit. I could have increased the space size but it clashed with my personal preference. It seemed like what I really needed was a museum.

“Henry?” I called, leaning my head out of my bedroom door. He emerged from the study a moment later. Leave it to him to immediately find where all the books were.

“Do you think it would be alright if I put some of the gifts I received here?” I asked. The house was furnished but it lacked personal touches. If the bone brigade wouldn’t mind then I’d move some of the things they gave me from the place of shadows here.

“I don’t s-see why it would be a-a problem,” Henry said after a moment of thought.

“Might send a text to check though,” He added. I nodded, I’d been thinking the same but hesitant. I liked the idea of getting to show off the things they gave me in a more public setting. In the dungeon, they would probably collect dust in an artful display for eternity, woefully underappreciated.

I sent the text, feeling happy as I started thinking about what I’d place and where. No matter if it was a grand temple, dungeon layer, or almost normal home I really did love decorating. Looking through everything I was gifted, I was already picking out items that went with my vision for the home. I liked a gothic flair but not black, not for the residence. It would clash too much with how pale Deux was.

When planning the residence I’d pictured a blood-spattered bone treasure chest. The pale white contrasting with rich scarlet and gold. Combined with the larger scale of the furniture, I felt it created a surreal atmosphere that fit with Deux’s image.

The bone brigade got back to me a little while later with a unanimous series of yes messages. That didn’t strike me as strange but the content did. They all had a very nonchalant vibe about having their work displayed. I raised an eyebrow at that.

The skeletons could be a bit aloof from certain worldly matters, but not their crafting work. Pondering it, I felt the odds were good that they had a similar thought to my own. That having things in the mayor's residence would make them more visible to outsiders.

I felt a pang of worry. I didn’t want them to feel like mom hadn’t put their drawing on the fridge if I didn’t pick one of their works for display. I fretted for a few minutes before calling Henry over to share my thoughts.

“Th-thats… entirely possible,” Henry agreed, fighting back laughter. I frowned then threw a pillow at him which did nothing to stop him laughing. He wasn’t helping but it wasn’t really a serious situation either.

“Ugh… I’m going to need to figure something out. It needs to be nice so hopefully no one will feel slighted. Maybe add a treasure room to the palace,” I said, flopping on the bed.

“P-palace?” Henry asked.

“Oh… I did some home improvements and expanded my space… and named it the Palace of Shadows,” I started strong and finished weak. I wasn’t great at names and expected Henry to laugh again. Thankfully he didn’t and my pride remained intact for a little while longer.

“I’d l-love to see that,” Henry said cheerfully. He’d taken a seat beside me on the bed, leaning against the headboard. I’d spent so much time with him lately I’d become a little desensitized to him being in my personal space. Particularly since the one in the dungeon was a bit ambiguous until recently.

I’d used one place to do pretty much everything and didn’t draw a line. It was like operating a business out of a studio apartment. Letting someone sit on your bed wasn’t the same when it was also your office couch.

Looking at Henry now I didn't feel like anything was out of place and turned off my Deux appearance.

“I like you,” I said. Henry nodded in response, then did a double-take, looking shocked.

“Romanticly,” I clarified. He nodded again, more slowly this time, brows knitting. I had to wonder if he didn’t quite believe me but I didn’t say anything more. He could think about it for a minute if he needed to.

There were still a lot of things wrong with the situation and my choice, but I was past the point of caring. My feelings wouldn’t change the ethics of the matter and ethics wouldn’t change my feelings. It was better to just be honest and deal with the fall out when it happened.

“You were s-scared I’d be in-influenced by it,” Henry said finally.

“Y-yeah,” I admitted. I hadn’t thought of it, but we had discussed that before. It was part of the reason I’d kept silent about how I felt. The other part was just normal cowardice though.

“I’d l-like to reply in k-kind but c-cant,” Henry started, looking nervous. I felt something sink in my pseudo flesh. I certainly had hopes but it also hurt to see he was uncertain about rejecting me. Intimidating him was the last thing I’d wanted to do regardless of the outcome

“I love you,” He finished and a grin slowly stretched his lips. My mind had been trying to deal with the apparent rejection. I almost didn’t catch the last part. Now I was frozen, unable to do anything at all as his words sunk in.

“For how long?” I asked finally even though I was scared of the answer.

“You were considerate and funny, so I think I liked you almost immediately. Respect came a little later,” Henry explained.

“Love? It wasn’t exactly… There wasn’t a specific moment,” He continued.

“I think I was a little slow putting it together, but I knew the night of the ball,” Henry added as he paused to look at me. I was deeply glad I’d switched to my normal appearance. We were on the same level and I was looking him in the eyes unlike when I was Deux.

“Enchanted by my dancing?” I asked jokingly. Henry laughed and shook his head.

“Before that, Katrina asked me to be her partner. She obviously liked me and didn’t care who I’d been. You… I didn’t know how you felt. If you’d be disgusted by my feelings. If you’d be repulsed once you knew more about me,” Henry explained and I felt like my heart was in my throat. I could relate to that kind of uncertainty.

“Yet, when I was given that token by an obvious admirer? All I could think was I’d rather be alone than with someone other than you,” Henry said gently.

"And you?" He asked. I felt a thrill of dread at the question. ‘I like you’ really felt like a garbage choice of words after listening to him. Part of me knew that wasn’t the point. The rest was frozen like a deer in headlights. I looked down, not meeting his eyes as I tried to put a coherent thought together.

A flicker of candlelight glinted off the hilt of Henry’s sword. I hadn’t looked at it before, but my focus was in shambles. I should have been thinking of something poetic to say. Instead, I was squinting at the shiny.

To my surprise, I found I was looking at a familiar crest carved in crystal. It was the one I’d made for him and colored blue. I hadn't seen it since I gave it to him and hadn’t asked what he’d done with it. It was small and a bit useless, like a button that didn't match the rest on a shirt.

He'd taken that random little thing and set into his swords hilt. I knew how much the blade ment to him and that includeing it as part of it was treating it like a treasure. Seeing that, I felt the last of my tension drain out of me.

"I've always liked you. Youre sweet, funny, and... You made roses bloom in a dungeon," I said clumisly, the words comeing without grace. How long had I liked him? I had no idea. I knew how long I'd been scared that I liked him but that wasn't quite the same thing.

Looking up at him the rest of what I was going to say vanished. He was looking at me with adoration instead of impatience at my lack of eloquence. I couldn't help but laugh and kissed him, no long worried about getting the words right. They didn't matter. A single moment wouldn’t make or break our relationship, it wasn’t that fragile.