Chapter 7 - Spelling
A short distance away, Theodoros was waiting.
"Your Highness."
He spoke immediately.
"Your hand, please."
"......"
Without a word, Antonius held out his right hand.
It was red and visibly swollen.
Theodoros produced a cloth soaked in cold water and wrung it out.
"Permit me."
He pressed it gently against Antonius's palm.
Antonius grimaced.
"...That felt like punching a suit of armor."
"I've heard that dragon scales cannot be pierced by spears or arrows, nor cut by swords."
Antonius shot him a glare.
"You might have mentioned that sooner."
Theodoros remained perfectly calm.
"Then perhaps Your Highness should have mentioned your intention to strike the child."
Despite the joke, he never let down his guard.
Before anyone spoke, he had already turned toward the approaching footsteps.
"Um..."
It was Andri.
The boy lowered his head nervously.
"My apologies for disturbing Your Highness. Might I be permitted a moment of your time?"
Theodoros stepped in front of Antonius.
"Be brief. His Highness is a busy man."
Andri lowered his head even further.
"Y-Yes, sir. Um..."
Antonius let out a sigh.
"What is it, Andri?"
The boy's head snapped up.
For a moment he hesitated.
Then, gathering his courage, he asked, "That name..."
He swallowed.
"Is it truly mine?"
Antonius folded his arms.
"It was written in your birth record. Naturally, it's your name. What nonsense."
The answer came so quickly that it sounded almost rehearsed.
Andri's eyes widened.
"Then it really is my name..."
His voice trembled.
For the first time, he was speaking his own name.
Antonius feigned exasperation.
"What? Do you think I'm lying?"
"N-No! My apologishes. It's just... it was the first time I'd ever heard it."
Antonius ignored that.
"Anything else?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Andri hesitated.
"I would like to know how it is written."
"The spelling?"
"Yes, Your Higness."
He lowered his gaze apologetically.
"I cannot read."
Antonius was silent for several moments.
Then he pointed toward a nearby tree.
"Fetch me a stick."
Andri hurried off at once.
When he returned, Antonius crouched and took the small branch from him.
Then he began writing in the dirt.
Andri immediately crouched beside him.
His eyes never left the moving stick.
At last, Antonius finished.
"There."
Andri stared at the letters.
Patiently, Antonius guided him through each one.
Andri traced the letters over and over again.
Again.
And again.
And again.
By the time the sun had begun to sink toward the horizon, he could finally reproduce something resembling his own name.
Antonius, meanwhile, was exhausted.
"How many times are you planning to repeat it?"
"M-My apologies."
Andri kept his eyes fixed on the letters in the dirt.
"I'm afraid... if they disappear... I might not be able to write them again."
"Hm."
Antonius considered that.
Then he stood.
"Wait here."
Without another word, he walked away.
Several minutes later, he returned carrying a sheet of parchment.
It was one of his own.
The sort he normally used for correspondence.
Kneeling once more, he took up a pen and wrote in large, elegant letters across the center.
Andri Chaire.
He waited for the ink to dry.
Then held it out.
Andri froze.
"I-I could not possibly accept something so valuable."
Antonius shrugged.
"I've already written on it. It's useless to me now."
"But—"
"If it does not please you, I shall simply dispose of it."
Panic flashed across Andri's face.
He accepted the parchment at once.
The boy stared at it as though he were holding a dream in his hands.
Yet there was fear in his eyes as well.
As though the slightest movement might cause it to vanish.
Antonius snorted softly.
“Even your wages for an entire year wouldn't be enough to buy a single sheet like that."
Andri sucked in a sharp breath.
Antonius turned away.
Then added,
"And learn to write it properly."
He glanced back over his shoulder.
"Understood, Andri?"
Slowly, Andri lifted his gaze from the parchment.
"...Yes, Your Highness."
His voice trembled.
"You have my thanks."
Then he bowed so deeply that his forehead nearly touched the ground.
