Ruth Kieran was a sight of pure anguish. He’d collapsed down onto his knees, fat tears streaming down his face, and his sword laid forgotten on the floor next to him. Everything about the picture looked wrong to Noth. Why was he crying? Noth’s the one who got attacked! Noth’s the one who could have almost died! The child checked himself over to make sure he was really as fully in one piece as he felt, his eyes wide as we looked toward his angel and gave her a quick thankful nod for the shield. His gaze inevitably drifted back to his father, whose wails were seeming to increase in volume the more time that passed. The sounds were making the boy's heart ache deeply, and the clear sense of suffering being conveyed moved him. He cautiously crawled to the side of the man on his hands and knees, sat down next to him, and gently patted his shoulder.

“Are you… You’re ok, right? Did you get hurt?”

Ruth Kieran’s words came out in sobbing pants. They were almost hard to even understand.

“I… FAILED… you. I couldn’t save you! I’m so weak…”

The man gnashed his teeth and his fist pounded the carpet. Noth flinched at the sudden movement, but then after observing the man for a few moments, he returned to patting his shoulder once more. The boy was completely baffled by what any of this could have meant. Deciding that the only way to understand was to ask, he leaned in and spoke as calmingly as he could.

“But…I’m here? I’m fine.”

Noth figured it was best not to mention the irony of this monster trying to save him from anything. The words were very close to spilling out of his mouth, however.

“No, no you’re not fine at all! You’re here now, people have seen you! They’ll talk.”

The more words that escaped from the Earl’s lips, the more his body shook, and the deeper his sobs grew. His head started drooping closer and closer to the floor.

“I locked you up to protect you while I strengthened my resolve to do what’s right…but it’s too hard! I can’t! How can they expect me to do such a thing?! I…”

Before Noth could even realize what happened, the man had his shoulders in a tight grip. The position felt like he was going to get shaken violently, so he braced himself and clenched his teeth. But the shaking never came. Instead his father’s forehead was planted against his own, as the man looked down into his eyes. For the first time ever, Noth was finally able to learn his father's eye colour; It was blue, a beautiful, icy blue.

“You’re Natalia’s son! You’re my son! You’re all I have left… I’ve done everything they’ve told me to, but how could they ask this of me?!”

The child’s mind seemed to freeze at all the new revelations he was being showered with. As he watched the tears falling repeatedly in front of him, he tried to force himself to take in what this all meant. His father didn’t want to kill him. In fact, it looked like his father loved him. It seemed in some way that his father also had loved his mother. But then why did he kill her? And…

Wait.

Someone… told the Earl to kill his son?

Who could order an Earl?

Noth fisted his pants and stared hard into his father’s eyes. His voice was steely as he choked out his question.

“Was it a higher noble? Or maybe the church itself told you to remove an eyesore.”

No answer was given, instead he was just met with even more desperate sobbing. It seemed like the man was just too saddened and afraid to say.

“Father, I need to know. I deserve it.”

“I… ha… I can’t…”

The boy’s face twisted into a scowl. He honestly missed his father’s cold and strict appearance from before, when compared to this. A monster seemed much more manageable to converse with than a blubbering fool. He didn’t know how to handle or interact with any of what he was seeing right now. Noth let out a sigh, acknowledging that he most likely wouldn’t get anything more out of the man for today. It was time to retreat for now. He peeled his father off of him and took a step back.

“I’ll leave for now, father, but I still need answers. I expect to hear some when I come back tomorrow.”

The tragic look on Ruth Kieran’s face as he desperately reached towards his leaving son would probably haunt Noth’s nightmares for a while at least. It had been completely and firmly etched into his memory. The boy hurried his steps like he was trying to escape from the scene he’d never in his wildest dreams thought that he would have seen. He all but ran out of the office, navigating the halls without a care for who saw him, and dashed back to the safety of his villa. Out of breath, he flopped down on the stairs that he had no strength left to climb, and flung his arm over his face as his mind churned through everything that had happened today.

“I never want to leave this place again. It’s too much.”

A cold hand stroked Noth’s arm, and he gradually started feeling refreshed. When he felt a light kiss land where the hand had previously been, he moved his arm up to his forehead and glanced up at the angel.

“I also never want another big day again.”

The nervous giggle and the avoidance of his gaze told him just how unlikely that dream was. He let out a small frustrated huff and stared up at the ceiling for a moment before settling his eyes back on her. A clear look of worry sat across his features.

“Do you think… I did good today? I didn’t mess anything up? Or at least not worse than it already was?”

His angel drifted closer to the small boy, her hands coming to embrace his cheeks as she placed her face just inches away from him and tenderly looked into his eyes.

The more the spirit talked, the more starry eyed and worked up she seemed to be getting. Noth debated on whether he should slip out of her grasp and maybe escape to his room, but luckily his angel let him go and swiftly flew up the stairs, looking down at him once she reached the top.

The sly look in her eyes had him wary for a moment, but a yawn that snuck up on him a second later had him crawling up the stairs after her.

~~~

The rest of the day had passed by so uneventfully that Noth almost felt disappointed by how such a big day could end so mildly. Even though he’d napped so soundly from how frazzled his nerves were, the same wasn’t true when it came time to sleep. Too many worries and possibilities and trains of thought occupied him every second that he laid in bed, and in the end he was only able to squeak out about 4 hours of sleep. When his angel roused him awake at the time he’d told her, she had a terribly guilty look on her face.

Crabbiness almost had the boy snapping at the well meaning comment, but he just sighed and got out of bed instead.

“No. He’ll be expecting me now, since this is around the same time I showed up yesterday. We go now.”

A few wishes later and the boy was once again inside his family manor. He didn’t even bother trying to hide from the servants this time now that his father was expecting him. The man most likely had informed people to not impede his path. It’s just the kind of thing the orderly Earl would have done. Of course, this didn’t stop those that Noth did come across from giving him a myriad of different looks. He did his best to just ignore their reactions and keep marching towards his destination, but his face slowly grew more and more unsettled each time he heard the dark chuckles and derisive words of the angel floating behind him.

“I don’t think that’s something an angel is supposed to say. Especially not out loud.”

The spirit flew in close as Noth reached the final hallway outside his father’s office, and suddenly hugged him tight from the side, staring at his profile. The child had stopped in place, and his eyes were locked on the now visible door.

Her words seemed so loving and passionate on the surface, that at first they brought a blush to the boy’s face. But the moment he turned his head to look at her, he realized that he’d made a mistake. The slightly unhinged look in her eyes as she gazed at him, combined with the odd way she was smiling so widely that it almost looked like the corners of her mouth would rip, immediately made the blood drain from his face. Her hold seemed to tighten on him when he started to lightly tremble, but after just a handful of seconds she suddenly let Noth go and slowly flew away, down the hall they’d just been headed towards. She hummed and giggled and called out her next words in a sing-song voice.

Noth was supremely confused by her sudden changes in behaviour. His little legs were still rooted in place, almost afraid to take another step closer to the thing that had scared him so, just moments ago. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched her flittering around and decided to let his curiosity win over his fear, yet again.

“W-what kind of favour?”

He frowned at the answer he was given. The boy hated how ambiguous the angel could be over things that were important for him. Every time she did something like this it drove his curiosity wild. His frustration at his lack of understanding somehow managed to eat up the rest of the fear that had had him stuck in place, and he finally managed to move forwards once again, his grumbling having pushed the incident from a minute ago to the back of his mind. He slogged himself to the doorway his angel had landed herself next to, and after a brief moment of apprehension and a quick repeat of yesterday’s oh so essential shielding wish, Noth finally entered his father’s office, once again.

His father, Earl Ruth Kieran, was clearly the most haggard that Noth had ever seen him be. It almost looked like he’d aged a handful of years overnight. Lines and creases the boy was sure hadn’t been there before pervaded the man’s face, and he came very close to turning and asking his angel what had happened. Or better yet, he also came close to just blurting the question out to his father directly. Noth’s childhood had taught him that such questions would be impolite, however, so he decided to shelf the question and see if he couldn’t remember to ask someone about it later.

“My son, you’ve come! I…”

At first the Earl had smiled and stood up from his desk when Noth had entered, but it seems the wind left his sails very quickly afterwards, and he flopped back into his chair, his face falling along with his body. A second later he slumped forwards against his desk and hung his head. Shaky words left his mouth and were mumbled into the wood.

“...I was thinking that maybe you wouldn’t come back, or that maybe I’d just dreamed the whole ordeal yesterday. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep… I was worried you’d be d-disappointed in me just like everyone else. I’d almost convinced myself you wouldn’t come today.”

The feeble words put a confused and concerned look on Noth’s face. The past two days had shown him a man that was nothing at all like the father he’d seen when he was younger. Where had his monster gone? He had to admit that his father was correct; he was indeed very disappointed. But once again, his curiosity reigned supreme. He needed answers, no matter how different things were going than he’d imagined. The boy strode up to the desk, deciding that it’d be best to just get to the point.

“Well then it’s good that I showed up. You promised me answers today, father. I was promised. If you want me to not be disappointed so much, then I’d like to hear them. Please.”

A just barely audible sob escaped the man’s lips, and his shoulders trembled for a few seconds, but after a deep sniff and a wiping of his eyes, the Earl gazed across the desk at his son.

“You wanted to know what exactly again? I’ll tell you anything. I owe you that much. It’s all gone to hell anyways, you deserve to know what’s happening before it comes to you.”