STABLE BOY ; Trash of the Count's Family

21. OLIVE BRANCH

Choi Han left the day after that, and then the rest of the group set off.

"Young Master-nim, you do remember sometimes that I'm technically older than you, right?" South said. "By two years."

And then Cale proceeded to stare at him with the weighted gaze of oh do you really want to get started with the conversation of my age? So South instantly decided that age is a social construct and he will never bring this up ever again.

"Everyone treats me like a kid!" he whined, crouched down on the ground beside Cale's table in their campsite. He pulled his knees up to his chest to make himself smaller, and was apparently hiding from everyone. "Coachman-nim hasn't let me put the harness on the horses, even, what am I doing here?"

Cale wondered when he became his employees' sounding board.

"And Hans-Hyung starts screaming the second I pick up the horse brush. I'm going to go crazy from the lack of horse contact."

"Why are you so dramatic...? Wait, seriously?"

Cale turned towards him, only to realize South had fallen asleep just like that in that position, his arms folded around his knees and his cheek resting on the side of the bench.

"Is that even comfortable?"

Cale sighed. Best to wait for him to naturally wake up, then. If everyone was teaming up to make this kid rest, Cale wasn't opposed to it.

He may be older than Cale Henituse, but Kim Rok Soo understood that twenty was still young, and everyone deserved to be strongarmed into a break after they went through an ordeal like that.

"Uhm, Young Master Cale," Hillsman approached, "there's a carriage..."

-

So, Taylor Stan has joined the party.

"But Young Master—"

"Why are you so hostile for," Cale chided Hillsman, "he had nothing to do with it. He's just a small group travelling, why can't we let them camp beside us?"

Hillsman still seemed displeased.

Of course he would be. How could any of the knights feel at ease around the Stan now?

"They only have one knight, keep an eye on him if you're so worried," Cale dismissed. "Keep watch over their carriage at night while you're at it."

Hillsman relented when he said that, acknowledging that he couldn't keep arguing with his master like this. He still eyed the Stans' knight warily, though, and the man just kept his head low, not refuting anything.

"We're sorry to hear what happened," Taylor extended quickly, "the coachman involved has been... returned to the territory."

So they couldn't fire him.

But that also explained why Taylor was travelling with just Cage and a single knight. That was definitely dangerous for this long trip to the capital, but he was desperate to get his legs healed.

"Don't say sorry to me," Cale said. "What's the point? The rivalry among servants of nobles is incomprehensible to us— there was a fight, but people were killed. Is it not the Henituse who should be apologizing to you?"

Taylor seemed taken aback. "But..."

"Exactly. There's a lot more to it that I just don't give a rat's ass about," Cale said. "I'd rather spend my time relaxing and drinking than try and figure out who was at fault in a scuffle between servants."

This was the servants' business, and their masters are hardly obligated to take responsibility for it.

Sure, it would be nice if they did, but Cale Henituse was trash, and it's clear that South wanted to bury the issue and take revenge in his own hands. Who was Cale to interfere with that?