[BL]The Hero and his Party Won't Let Me Go-Chapter 158: Ch : Enemies on all sides - Part 1

Shuu blinked at the question and quickly pulled himself together. He had not meant to worry Rin with his actions as well. The quiet child hardly spoke, but at the moment, concern shone clearly in his bright eyes.

With a practiced smile plastered across his face, Shuu gave the boy a nod of acknowledgement and smiled at him.

"It’s fine. You don’t need to worry about me. My head just ached for a minute, but I am fine now."

Shuu was not fine. But if a small white lie would make the kids feel better, then he did not see the harm in it.

Neither Rin nor Caelis seemed to believe him. But it was not as though they could do anything either. So they simply returned to the imperial castle so that no harm would come to them.

Still, that experience was something that itched at the back of Shuu’s mind.

He was not a sentimental person, and he especially did not care to dwell on things like the vendor and what had happened. But this time, things were different.

Maybe it was the stress of the situation, or maybe it was something else. But breathing felt difficult for Shuu, and the memory of what had happened kept repeating in his mind.

’It must be all these stares. People are giving me the same look, almost as if I am not needed. I just need to keep reminding myself that it does not matter. None of these looks matter.’

But no matter how much Shuu pretended, he was not entirely immune to the effects of those looks. And each second felt like an eternity that he had to bear on these people’s behalf.

"Shuu, home?"

"Home please!"

The kids grabbed Shuu’s hand, and that distracted him enough to give them a small smile. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Both Rin and Caelis held his hand, and Shuu felt the world and his worries melting away. Suddenly, he did not feel as bad as he initially had, and he let out a sigh.

"Yeah-! Let’s go home now. There is nothing else to do out here anyway."

Shuu told the kids, and they all returned to their room. But this was just the start of a long and exhausting time for Shuu, and little did he know that the bullying was only beginning to get worse.

The first time Shuu noticed that something was wrong was the next morning. The laundry that was usually washed and kept separate from the dirty clothes had been mixed together. And it all smelled.

A dozen or so clothes that had been washed recently were now in a condition that required washing again.

"Tsk, such inefficiency. These will need to be washed again."

Shuu sighed as he looked at the clothes.

Had it only been him, he would not have cared about the smell and would have worn them anyway; they would still have been better than some of the rags he had worn before. But since this concerned Rin and Caelis’s dignity, he could not compromise on it.

So he called for the maids and asked them to wash the clothes again.

The maids complied, but the annoyance in their eyes was clear. Their actions and looks were growing bolder by the second.

Shuu should have set the tone right then by punishing some of the maids. But he did not and decided to let them go this time... and that turned out to be a mistake.

Earlier, all the maids had done was give Shuu annoyed looks. But with his small leniency, their actions grew bolder until they stopped thinking about what they were doing at all.

It started with Shuu’s necklace going missing, and then some trinkets. But things escalated quickly. From small trinkets to larger pieces of jewelry, items began to disappear, and the maids were to blame.

But they were a tight-knit group and had the guards’ support as well. So whenever Shuu tried to question them about it, all the guards did was conduct a cursory search of the maids and then declare that he had made a mistake.

Shuu was justifiably angry about all of this, but he held back for Kaiden’s sake.

He did not want anyone to say that Kaiden had made the wrong choice in choosing him. But honestly, it was becoming exhausting. Shuu felt his patience stretching thinner with each passing day, and it would not be long before it snapped.

Everyone could tell that he was on edge, but no one approached him to talk.

The biggest shock during all of this was Princess Danielle’s absence. She was not someone who would allow such disorder to occur in the palace, but even she was turning a blind eye to it.

Shuu wanted to have a small talk with her regarding all of this, so he decided to seek her out without thinking much about it.

He stood up and walked toward the door, only to feel a sudden dizzy spell threaten to overwhelm his senses. He almost collapsed before catching himself and forcing his legs to keep moving.

’I cannot... give up here. I need to... keep walking...’

Shuu reminded himself, but it was difficult. His vision felt heavy, and his eyes were closing at regular intervals.

He nearly stumbled when he felt someone grab his arm. The warm touch made Shuu snap out of his daze, and he pulled his arm away from the contact.

"Don’t touch me."

Shuu’s words were cold and emotionless. It was a warning from his side, and not a gentle one either.

"Woah-! One minute... I think there might be a misunderstanding here...! I am not here to cause you trouble or anything. I just... wanted to help."

The man told Shuu and raised his hands to show that he meant no harm.

But Shuu was not going to be fooled that easily. The man who claimed he wanted to help certainly had ulterior motives. And the fact that he had managed to reach this part of the imperial palace told Shuu that he was not an ordinary person to begin with.

’Tsk, do these nobles take me for a fool? Just what do they want from me?’