The Knight Commander's son

Chapter 3

A maid was waiting outside and when he saw Alden he approached to take Amauri with him:

"It's time for the young master's bath."

Amauri immediately started yelling when he saw him try to separate him from Alden:

"No! I want mommy! I don't want to bathe!"

The maid seemed really troubled by his reaction and couldn't reason with him at all. Alden turned Amauri in his arms to make him look at him and he smiled gently:

"Sweety, do you know why we take baths?"

Amauri shook his head.

"That's not a problem, I'll tell you. We take baths once a day because it is important for our health to be clean. Do you understand?"

Amauri nodded but Alden sensed he didn't.

"If you don't take a bath every day you could get sick. That's why everyone takes at least one bath a day. Even adults. Do you understand?

-Yes.

-Then are you going to go take your bath?"

Amauri seemed to hesitate.

"I won't go anywhere, don't worry. While you bathe, this nice young man will show me around. We will talk about adult things which could be boring for you.

-Okay. I'll bathe.

-Great!"

Alden gave Amauri to the maid and he didn't cry about the bath anymore. He waved to Alden and quickly forgot how he felt about the bath a few seconds before. He clung to the maid with a huge smile and started babbling about bubbles and how important soap was for our health.

Seeing him, Alden laughed before turning to Janyn:

"I'm sorry, we were saying? Oh right, nice to meet you, Janyn. My name is Alden and I guess I am Amauri's parent now.

-Nice to meet you, Mister Alden. I have to admit everyone is quite confused by the recent turn of events but I am relieved to see how gentle you are with Amauri. I understand why he likes you so much.

-Aww thank you. He is really cute I have to admit. Poor thing seemed so vulnerable in that alley I was really scared for a second.

-You saved his life, this is not a small affair. Every knight in this mansion will forever be grateful to you.

-I'm not so sure about that.

-What do you mean?

-I know a few who are being screamed at by now. I won't apologize to them. They were the ones who lost a child and they were being really suspicious. I couldn't have looked in the mirror if I had given Amauri to them."

Janyn laughed.

"I am sure they will soon forget about it. The commander will give them a hard time but he won't fire them and deep down they know you did the right thing, trust me.

-I hope so. I don't really want to be on bad terms with them. Especially if I'll be staying for a whole year.

-Don't worry about it. I have no doubt that they are going to love you.

-Thank you but we'll see about that."

Janyn showed him around the mansion. He showed him his room, the kitchens, the garden... Alden really liked how beautiful and big everything was and thought he would have a good time living here despite everything. When they arrived in front of a bunch of stairs, Janyn stopped:

"This staircase leads to Sir Farroworb's isle.

-I know I shouldn't go there. I don't want him to kill me in my sleep. I just hope he is not somnambulist."

Janyn laughed.

"Sir Tyon isn't as frightening as he seems.

-Right. I am not sure he knows about this. I even have a dress that says otherwise.

-Speaking of which, I never saw any dress like the one you are wearing."

Alden looked at his dress with uther pride:

"I bet. I made this one.

-Really? That's impressive.

-You don't have to lie. No one likes my dresses but I love them and that's all that matters.

-No I really mean it."

Janyn seemed sincerely amazed, which surprised Alden.

"You'll see a lot of them in the future.

-I can't wait for that."

Alden's smile was really warm and Janyn looked away for some reason, his cheeks red.

"Hum... I should probably go. If you need anything at all don't hesitate to call for me.

-Thank you really much, Janyn. Have a good evening.

-You too."

Alden went back to his room and laid down on the bed. He didn't realize how tired he had been. He closed his eyes on the verge of falling asleep when he heard someone knock. He was quite irritated by being woken up but when he opened he saw the maid from earlier with a clean Amauri. He jumped in his arms and hugged Alden with all his might:

"Mommy! I missed you."

Alden laughed:

"You are definitely adorable."

Amauri laughed hearing the compliment:

"Yes I am adorable right?

-Yes you are. The most adorable child in the world."

Alden suddenly remembered that they weren't alone and turned to the maid. He looked at his shoes a bit shy:

"The young master really wanted to see your grace. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

-What inconvenience? This little guy can come to me any time. He doesn't even have to ask."

Amauri seemed really touched by this declaration:

"Can I sleep with mommy?

-Of course you can."

The maid opened wide eyes:

"Sir Farroworb wants the young master to sleep alone... He believes it best for him to become independent from a young age.

-That's just dumb. He wants to sleep with me so he'll sleep with me."

The maid didn't seem really confident about this plan and Alden tried soothing his voice:

"What's your name?

-Earl...

-Nice to meet you Earl, my name is Alden. Don't worry about Tyon finding out about this. It will be our little secret."

Earl still seemed a bit stressed but didn't dare say anything more.

"Do you need help cleaning up, young Mister?

-Please call me Alden."

He looked at his dress. He hadn't realized how dirty he had gotten in the alley. All his dresses got ruined when he crossed paths with Tyon.

"I guess I could use some cleaning too."

Earl smiled and helped Alden get ready for dinner. Having just arrived he had to wear a normal dress provided by the mansion and Alden felt rather uncomfortable in it. He looked at himself in the mirror for long minutes with a grimace.

"Is something wrong, Alden?

-I don't like it.

-I'm sorry. Could I help you with something?

-No it's fine. I'll have to put up with it as long as my suitcases are still not here."

He shrugged and started heading to dinner followed by Amauri. Tyon arrived 10 minutes later and food immediately got served. Alden thought there would be some awkward attempt at making conversation but Tyon said nothing. Alden wasn't that surprised he wasn't talking to him but why wasn't he talking to Amauri? The young boy was really talkative and talked a lot to Alden but hearing him, Tyon only said:

"Don't talk while eating."

The little boy's face immediately dropped and he focused on eating. Alden felt really bad and tried smoothing things over:

"Do you know why Dada told you not to speak while eating?"

Amauri shook his head while Tyon looked straight at Alden:

"He doesn't need to understand why I said it. He just has to listen."

Alden couldn't hold back the urge to roll his eyes. He covered Amauri's ears and turned to Tyon:

"That's where you're wrong. He should have a critical mind and always ask why he has to do things.

-He needs to do what he is told.

-He isn't a soldier."

Tyon didn't say anything but Alden could see his hands grow white because of how hard he was gripping his fork. There was no way to reason with him.