Grey clouds loomed over the sky of a grand Manor, an ominous sign, as per usual of anyone belonging to this particular Family.
Vermillion eyes opened just ever so slightly to the sound of the opening door.
"Good morning, Master."
Footsteps trailed into the room, muffled by the lavish carpets spread across the spacious floor.
The noise of curtains being drawn open could be heard. The morning light streamed into the mute and dreary bedroom of its waking owner.
The servant helped his master sit up at the edge of the bed and began changing him into his daywear.
"What are my plans today?" The youth asked, allowing the servant to pull off his nightgown and change him into a proper shirt.
"Master has mentioned visiting the towns." The man replies.
The youth's eyes lighten slightly at the reminder.
The servant helped the boy rise from the bed once he fully changes his master and buckles his shoes. He brings him over to the dresser.
There was more silence between the pair of master and servant as the servant begins to brush out his master's hair. As he helps tie his master's hair into his usual half-horsetail, the boy spoke once again.
"How is Mother?"
The servant paused mid-brush for a moment, his mind working a mile a minute, before continuing with "The Madam is still resting. The healers have instructed her to remain in bed for a couple more days."
"I see." The boy adjusts his cuffs slightly and snorts. "That foolish woman should have known her place."
"As you say, Master."
The youth had asked this question and answered his replies in the same way for a multitude of times for the past week. The servant fears that he is becoming more and more irritable as his stepmother continues to be bedridden.
He can only sigh to himself internally.
The boy was too attached to his stepmother.
After brushing and tying his master's hair, all that was left is to-
The servant pauses and turns to his Master imploringly.
"Would Master like me to-"
"-I will do it myself."
He is abruptly cut off, as usual, by these words. They were brittle like ice and far too bitter for a boy his age.
"As you wish, Master."
The servant procured a roll of gauze and a pair of scissors from the dresser cabinet.
His master takes it from him and begins to change the gauze around his neck from the night before. After skillfully redoing the bandages, the boy looks at himself one last time in the mirror and stands up.
"Let's go, Thomas."
"Yes, Master Julius."
---
"Young Master," Rainier holds out a hand for Neo.
"Thank you, Rainier." Neo smiles and takes the hand, allowing the servant to help him into the carriage.
"It is my pleasure, Young Master."
For all intent and purpose, Neo is going into town today to pick up some plants he had ordered for his new greenhouse.
If he's honest, he's quite excited.
Back in the modern world, the pharmaceutical companies and institutions that he worked for had few greenhouses. Most of the plants he synthesized came from outside sources through contract and trade, as were all forms of business.
When the pandemic started, Neo was luckily located in a company with its own personal greenhouses situated within its institution.
Thanks to this, he managed to cultivate many different trial vaccines, one of which, according to Royce, managed to eradicate the deadly virus that was plaguing the world for half a decade.
The carriage pulls into town and makes a slow trot towards the side of the road.
"Young Master, what exactly are we looking for?"
Rainier asked. He had not been told of where they were going.
Neo points out the window, towards a building across the street from where they are. "Is it not obvious?"
Ortho and Artho Apothecary.
Rainier reads the sign but remains confused as he helps the Young Master out of the carriage.
"What does Young Master need from an apothecary?"
The youth is very honest in his answers. "They are the only store that sells herbal plants unapproved by the Church."
Rainier first looks alarmed by this revelation but calms himself so he can eye his Young with an exasperated look. "And why would Young Master want plants that the Church has forbidden?"
Neo turned to the man, a self-deprecating smile suddenly appearing on his face. He peers at Rainier, black scars intricately carved into his face and drawing looks from people with too much time on their hands.
"I bought powder hogroot and snakeweed nectar from this store once." He admitted calmly.
The servant froze.
Neo does not blame him.
Everyone knows that hogroots and snakeweeds are illegal plants, common in the underworld, but only if you know the right people. The plants only grow outside of the Rhine Empire, in hot and humid climates, and are considered rarities. They are known for burning the skins of those who are not careful, able to corrode the human body in seconds once they make contact.
The Empire has banned the selling of these plants on the market, but underground smugglers are bound to find ways to get around these restrictions somehow.
If Rainier understands the implication of Neo's words, then he should also understand that these plants were the main ingredients that were used to make those marks on his face.
The Slave Emblem.
Currently, it does not exist. At least not officially. Not until next spring.
The Slave Emblem was a mark that spread all over the Rhine Empire when he revealed its design and its recipe to the underground.
Neo is reminded when, in a desperate bid to survive, to escape punishment, Nazareth sold the secrets of the Slave Emblem to the underground in exchange for manpower against his brother.
It was a concoction of his own making. The design of the scar, too, was his own. He painted that intricate symbol onto the blindfold, taking inspiration from other brands in foreign countries, and used Rainier as a guinea pig.
It was his masterpiece.
Nazareth didn't survive to see the consequences of his actions.
Although the active ingredients included hogroot and snakeweed, there are also a handful of other herbal plants and alchemical techniques that went into the development of the Slave Emblem. The slave brand spell was one of such things.
Rainier had been the subject, not only because Nazareth hated his cornflower eyes, but because he desired to humiliate this man who had a pair of blue eyes.
Not only did the Slave Emblem force its victims to endure the embarrassment of having such a brand, but the spell that went into it also induces its victims to serve loyally to its castor.
That is if the castor chooses to activate the brand.
Rainier knew what the symbol across the upper part of his face meant. He studied enough to know that his Young Master had given him a slave brand, a complex one, one that he has never seen before, but it had hurt more than anything he had ever experience.
The feeling of his skin being carved by the spell on that blindfold felt like hell. He could smell the skin on his eyes burning, the charred smell of his own flesh, and that wasn't the worst of it. The pain became even worse after the punishment was inflicted when the infection spread onto the burns.
If Master Aurelion had not interfered, have not tried his best to heal him of the wounds, have not allowed him to study within the walls of the Servant Academy for three years, he might have become truly blind, if not dead.
Some parts of him shivered, thinking that if he had stuck around long enough, the Young Master might have activated the slave brand.
So why didn't he?
"Rainier, look at me."
The voice of his Young Master drew him from his conflicting thoughts.
The man sees his Young Master, short hair tied neatly together with a red ribbon, looking kinder than he ever should for the infamous Scummy Troublemaker.
This is the same child, the same monster, who had cruelly burned the slave brand into his face. The same person who is standing across from him, a mere foot away, in front of a carriage. Who likes to drink coffee and bitter tea and eat sweet cakes, and smile like the world had given him a splendid gift. Who thanks him for every little thing he does.
And yet, despite his current goodwill towards this Young Master, Rainier is ashamed to admit that he can never forgive this person for what he did to him.
Vermillion meets Cornflower, and the gaze is maintained for a prolonged time.
It is Neo that falters first and breaks the silence.
"I was not a good person, Rainier. I don't expect you to like me because I have suddenly decided to turn over a new leaf. You understand?"
What can the servant do but nod? He doesn't know where this conversation is going.
Neo nods as well, his eyes falling to the carriage wheel and avoiding his gaze, as if, the more he continues to look at Rainier, the bigger the lump grows in his throat.
"I'm looking for a way to subside my guilt." He admits freely. "The only way to do so is to erase those marks. I shouldn't have done it in the first place, and regretting it now is a waste of time. All I'm asking you is to wait for me."
Because they had time, this time around. They had all the time in the world after everything is over. This time... surely, this time will be better. Right?
It's not his place to cry, or make himself pitiful. What of Rainier? What of the survivor of his tyranny? Rainier should be yelling at him, not serving him.
Neo knows he shouldn't be deserving of this loyalty, no matter how many lifetime he has lived. He has repented and tried his best to make up for his sins, but it does not mean he has the right to erase them, to make them not matter once he earns forgiveness, that is, if he earns forgiveness. Whether or not he ever will find himself redeemed for his wickedness, at the end of the day, he still did what he did.
So why does Rainier serve him?
Rainier doesn't know what to say. What can he say to that?
Sure, the Young Master had spoken about how he wanted to erase the marks he inflicted, but can he really? More importantly, will he finally be able to forgive the Young Master once the marks are removed?
He wouldn't. He would never forgive the Young Master. And the Young Master has seemingly already accepted that with the way he looks at him with that terrible expression of self-spite marring his pale features.
Why aren't you crying? Young Master should relieve yourself of your stress. Don't pent it up. This servant will comfort you, Young Master, so don't hold it in.
He wants to tell him.
Young Master, don't you know? This servant is ever faithful because Young Master is kinder.
Rainier opens his mouth to speak. And he speaks the truth.
"I will never forgive Young Master for doing this to me." He admits, bringing his hand to the marks on his face, because it is the truth.
The Young Master doesn't even flinch, and just looks at him with that smile, as if he knows this (as he should).
"But," Rainier continues because he wasn't done, "I don't hate the Young Master either." And those are the truest of words.
The Young Master has all this time to activate the slave brand, to sear another mark into his face, to make him walk blindly around the manor, but he doesn't any of this. The Young Master is kind to him, speaks to him in a manner that can almost be considered taboo because servants and masters are not friends, and continues to smile at him.
The Young Master smiles and tells him that he will erase the slave brand. Rainier believes him.
Perhaps he might have hated the Young Master, held some form of resentment in the past. When the Young Master told him to take off the blindfold, he initially thought he wanted everyone to know that he had been branded. That he wanted everyone to see the humiliation on his face.
Rainier had waited for the Young Master cruel streak to rear its ugly head and activate the mark on his face once he no longer wears his blindfold, but he never did.
Rainier had three years to stew the resentment he held for the Young Master as he studied at the Servant Academy, and the Young Master has decidedly wanted to change himself to become better.
He came back to serve the Young Master and help Master Aurelion spy on the Scummy Troublemaker.
But the Young Master no longer does any of this.
And Rainier doesn't know if he should be glad of it or despise the change.
Until...
The words that the Young Master tells him in that dandelion field, with Lady Aloysia's tombstone a few feet away...
"I'm going to remove those marks."
He sounded so remorseful, so determined. Rainier believed him.
It is a waste of time to hate someone when they are trying to be good. You will only drive them further from goodness and back to their wicked ways.
Rainier may not forgive his Young Master for all that he has done to him, but it does not mean he hates him.
That is the truth and truest of truths he will admit.
The expression on his Young Master's face was unusual. Like he didn't know what to say. They drifted into silence, and Rainier awaited his Young Master's answer.
"... Okay."
The smile looked heartbreaking.
After instructing the carriage driver to come back at noon, Neo and Rainier made their way over to the apothecary.