It was a quiet evening. The lazy, cool wind slowly breezed past the flowing curtains. The scenery outside the window had been completely swallowed by darkness, only the occasional flickering light, most likely guards roaming the premises, interrupting it.
When Edward came to, the warm lights of the flickering candles swarm around in his vision. He blinked a couple of time, then when he remembered where he was, suddenly sat up in his bed.
His eyes made contact with the duke, who was sitting at the edge of his bed, gently stroking his hand.
He wanted to pull his hand free from his grasp, but he hesitated for a moment, which gave the duke time to speak.
"I heard everything from Armand"
Edward swallowed, not sure of what was going to happen to him.
But the duke simply just sighed, his eyes quivering with some unknown emotion as he gazed at him.
"You don't have to worry about anything for a while, Just focus on recovering, alright?"
The duke patted his head.
For some reason a strange welled up in his chest, and Edward found himself breathing a bit too heavily.
What...
Before he could process the strange emotion, the duke pulled him into a tight hug.
It was like a dam had broken apart in his chest.
A tidal wave of emotions washed over him, and a lifetime's worth of sorrow, of both his new life as Edward, and as Kim Joon-Ho poured over him.
The silent room soon filled with sound Edward's quiet sobbing.
"hic... i'm sorry..." He babbled, not even knowing what he was apologising for.
"It's not your fault." The duke just held him tighter, and patted his back.
Edward cried for a long time, longer than he was ready to admit.
And when he finally calmed down enough to regain his bearings, he felt himself slipping to the comfortable embrace of sleep once more.
***
His life as Joon-Ho, in his eyes, had been a failure.
He was not a good son who earned money to support his family, he wasn't good at studies, he wasn't good at sports, frankly, he wasn't good at anything he dipped his hands into.
Even though his parents had never voiced it out loud, Joon-Ho was sure of it, they were disappointed in him.
And this feeling only grew more as he found himself growing more and more afraid to face the outside world, eventually turning into a shut in.
Even when he had signed with a video game agency, working as their tester and moving out, he only felt himself growing more and more distant from the world around.
He was afraid of people.
He was afraid of interacting with them.
He was afraid of being hurt.
It had eventually consumed him, this despair. Clinging to his very soul, it had dragged down the hopes and expectations of everyone that had once believed in him.
It was a wasted life, really.
And so when he found himself facing his end, in-front of the blinding flashlights that sped towards, he had for a moment hoped, that he would finally be able to rest.
But no, he was now the son of a duke, with even more expectations placed on his shoulders.
He... had been denied his only chance to rest.
***
"Young master."
Edward's eye's fluttered open at the noise that shook him awake.
His chest felt tight for some reason, like he had been grieving something.
Ignoring the feeling, he looked up from he was laying in his soft mattress.
Emilia was standing next to him, a sombre smile stretched on her lips as he helped Edward sit up.
She gave him a moment to shake off the drowsiness. Then bowed to him, her tone unexpectedly soft.
"This humble servant apologise for her actions"
Edward blinked.
wait... what?
His brain raced, trying to find a reason for this sudden shift in attitude.
She had hit him. On the head. And now she was apologising, should he run? was this a trap? was she going to him again?
Shaking away the stupid thoughts, he considered the situation again.
Maybe i should accept the apology.
"A-ah, it's fine?" he said, voice pitching higher than he liked. "I survived, i think"
The maid merely nodded, as though this were a normal exchange between civilized people, and went to tidy his closet.
After a moment, she spoke again, her voice muffled from the distance.
"You can ask for anything you want from, I am here to provide help"
He paused.
Anything?
That was a perfect offer, considering his situation.
"R-right..."
There was a short pause.
"Then tell me about who i am"