We didn't really speak after that, he avoided my eyes, as if what laid there was his demise, and I knew better than to challenge him to look, I knew how threatening the colour red could look, and I didn't want to sour our relationship any further. And since my arrival was in the evening, it was time to sleep.
Yet … I couldn't fall asleep, not just because I'm nocturnal, although it was certainly a factor, but the place was cold, the mattress was hard and uncomfortable, and the bucket was… disturbing me. That said, I was used to the cold, the hard ground, and even the bad smells like the kind that's coming from the bucket.
It was something else, and I didn't quite know what it was. But whatever it was, it appeared to also keep Royce awake.
''What are you doing?'' He asked.
I was fiddling with the watch I had brought, it's batteries long dead and it wasn't showing the time right, it was a chained silver pocket watch, the glass was cracked to the point where you couldn't even see the time when it died, truth be told, the day and night cycle here was different than in the outside world, where the watch was calibrated. So, it never showed true in the first place. Still, it reminded me of home, of outside world, of gensokyo. I did not want to explain what the device was for, and his human eyes couldn't have seen that I was holding something in the dark, so I just hid it.
''Nothing really.''
I replied with a mischievous smile. ''Just waiting for you to fall asleep, so I can devour your soul.''
Coming from a monster, it must've sound unnecessarily convincing, he looked scared, which made me feel guilty and I apologized, but right after, I couldn't help but take another jab.
''I don't devour souls'' I flashed my canines.
He looked to be terrified, so I stopped, replying honestly this time
''I was thinking about my home'' I sighed.
He did seem somewhat relieved, but not entirely. He still thinks of me as a monster.
I am.
I figured that acting like one would build more trust, after all, a silent bomb is scarier than a ticking one.
''How come you haven't been conscripted?'' I asked him. ''You seem like a strong lad.''
Truth be told, I knew the answer, they would need the miller to grind the crops, the lord would have him under his protection as his work is needed to get through winter, but I was just looking for some conversation.
Sure enough he confirmed. ''The crops needed millin' the elder defended me.''
''You should get some sleep'' I told him.
Life in a village started early, and a lack of sleep never made it any easier.
''Easy for you to say'' He complained.
I just ignored him and went to the mattress, ''Goodnight.''
I'd try to get some sleep, even if I wasn't used to sleeping in the night.