Free Web NovelChapter 23: The Boy in Chains [3]
"T-that’s my ring. Please—"
The boy’s fingers were still shaking when he managed to lift his head far enough to see it. fгeewebnovёl.com
Aries crouched down and placed the small golden ring back into his palm, closing the boy’s fingers gently around it.
"Here. It’s yours."
The boy clutched it against his chest like it might disappear the second he stopped holding it that tight. "Th-thank you." Tears clung to his lashes, and up close, he looked barely Aries’s own age — maybe younger, hard to tell under all the bruising.
Valea knelt down on his other side. "Hey — where are your parents?"
"Yeah," Eren added, crouching too. "What are you doing out here all alone? Did you get separated, or—"
"You two." Cedric pressed two fingers against his temple. "Give him a moment to breathe, will you? You heard those men, he was sold. Likely as a slave. The kid is barely conscious and you’re already running an interrogation."
Eren frowned. "But we can’t just ignore what happened, can we? We need to know who he—"
The boy’s body went slack mid-sentence. His eyes rolled back and he tipped forward.
"Hey—hey!" Aries caught him before he hit the ground, arms going around a frame that felt far too light for how heavy his bruises looked. "Hey, you okay? Stay with me—"
"What happened?!" Valea’s eyes went wide.
Cedric stepped closer, crouching to look him over with the calm, practiced focus of someone who’d done this before. "He’s unconscious. Given the bruising, this wasn’t the first time those men got their hands on him."
He lifted the boy carefully, settling him onto his back. "We’ll take him with us. Least we can do."
____
The group set off again, the slums fading slowly behind them, the dirt path winding toward the distant gleam of a capital.
Hours later, they reached the border between Kaelenor’s outskirts and Ashton — white walls catching the last orange light of the day, watchtowers standing tall against the sky. Cedric flagged down a passing carriage and everyone climbed in.
Valea stretched out across her seat with a long groan. "Finally! I was so done with walking."
Nico crossed his arms, smirking from the opposite bench. "That’s what happens when you’re too f—"
Valea’s head turned toward him before he finished the word. "Don’t. Just. Shut. Up."
A pause.
Nico held her gaze.
"...Fat."
WHOOSH.
A gust of wind tore through the carriage and Nico went sideways out the open window before anyone could blink, his yelp cutting off somewhere behind them on the road.
Valea brushed her hair back into place, perfectly satisfied. "Now it’s peaceful."
"You really don’t hold back, do you," Eren said, not even looking up from where he’d settled against the wall.
Aries stared at the now-empty window, then at Valea, then back at the window.
’What the hell. What kind of married life are these two even gonna have? They don’t have a future for at least a single second.’ ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Cedric pressed both palms over his eyes. "By the gods. Every single day with you people takes years off my life."
Aries spun toward him.
’And what kind of teacher are you?! Your student just got launched out of a moving carriage! He could be lying in a ditch right now and you’re just— sitting there?! Stop the carriage!’
He didn’t say any of it out loud. He just sat there processing.
The boy lay across the seat beside Valea, breathing slow and even, finally still after everything.
His face was a mess of bruises, small arms striped with cuts old and new. But he was sleeping — properly sleeping, the kind of sleep that looked like it hadn’t happened in a long time.
Valea’s expression softened as she looked down at him. "He’s so young." Her voice dropped. "Those scars... those wounds... what kind of life has he even been living?"
Eren nodded slowly, quiet for once. "Whatever it was. It must’ve been hell."
The carriage rocked gently as it crossed the border marker into Ashton territory.
Then the side door swung open and Nico climbed back in, completely soaked, water dripping steadily onto the floorboards, glaring directly at Valea with the unbothered patience of someone who had walked the entire way back without complaint.
Valea jumped half out of her seat. "W-when did you—"
"Right after you decided to test your aim," Nico said flatly, wringing out his sleeve onto the floor with extra emphasis.
The carriage slowed in front of a mansion tucked into emerald gardens.
The gates swung open and the place unfolded ahead of them — pale stone walls, terracotta roofing catching the last light, climbing roses framing every window, neat boxwood hedges lining the path.
A marble fountain sat in the courtyard, water catching the glow of lanterns hung from carved columns.
Orchard trees dotted the gardens, and somewhere underneath it all, night-blooming jasmine was already starting to open.
"We’re finally at Ashton," Cedric said, stepping through the front doors.
Eren whistled low, turning in a slow circle. "This is way bigger than the place in Kaelenor."
"Maybe Kaelenor just had a tighter budget," Nico said, deadpan, still dripping slightly. "Some places just can’t keep up."
"Are we actually staying here?" Valea’s eyes were already tracking up toward the high ceilings.
"Don’t get too excited." Cedric let out a short laugh. "We’re guests for now. Enjoy it — but let’s not destroy the place on the very first day."
Aries dropped onto a couch in the main hall and looked around at all of it — the columns, the gardens visible through the windows, the sheer scale of the place.
’So this is just... normal? Because he’s a high-ranked knight and a professor at Nexus? Must be nice. Must be really, really nice.’
A scream tore through the mansion.
Everyone froze for half a second.
"What was that?!"
They moved at the same time, following the sound down the hall to the room where the boy had been laid down to rest.
The door was already open.
Inside, the boy was thrashing weakly against the sheets, his face twisted, voice breaking on every word.
"P-please— leave me— don’t hurt me—"
