We're finally back after a long hiatus! I lost motivation to write, but a few weeks ago leftabit-leftabit got round to reading this fic and made a fic cover for me (thank you!), then more recently AilenDolin also got to reading it and reviewed every chapter (also thank you!) and they both really helped me get back into it so here we go, hopefully back to regular Sunday updates! We are roughly halfway through the story now


Chapter 5

He almost forgot about that first little mistake.

His training period continued, still with no apparent specification of his job here, but Ian was no longer concerned with all that. By the end of his first full month working for the Earl of Croydon, he had come to the conclusion that it didn't matter. If neither the earl himself nor any member of his staff thought it necessary to discuss, it couldn't be that unusual. And besides, his mind was elsewhere at the moment.

Home.

With the passing of this month, he would be taking his first day off to visit his family, to spend a whole day with them before returning the following morning. In the few weeks they'd been apart, he'd come to miss even the scoldings from his parents, which now seemed tame in comparison to the earl's sharp tongue and hard stare. Even moreso, though, he had missed Alice. It was hard to believe he had once wanted to be free of her; to not have to bring her along with him everywhere he went, or chase after her to keep her from getting hurt or lost whenever she wondered off on her own. And in only a mere month.

Ian hopped off of the carriage and ran to greet his family, hugging his parents before being attacked by Alice, who was desperate for his attention, and, to their surprise, he wasted no time in scooping her up into his arms.

The siblings never once left each other's sides all day, and both were overjoyed to be together again. A month, and Ian had changed his ways. He'd taken her for granted, and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity to make it up to her. Now, he gladly held her hand as they walked through the marketplace. The rules and expectations of the earl's household had been so stifling, and now Ian had a brief few hours of freedom, with only his little sister to think about. He didn't have to watch his tongue here, and didn't have orders to follow. He had time to spare. And he was going to take full advantage of that fact.

Even if for just these brief few hours.

– SUCH SWEET SORROW –

After his day of frivolity, Ian remembered what he had been missing for the last four weeks. Despite his parents' attempts to reign him in, they couldn't always be there to keep him in line, unlike at the Earl of Croydon's manor. Here, either his new master was watching him, or another servant was. Even his friends among them were constantly reminding him of the rules, discouraging him from his fun.

He had just learned to follow their advice, not make waves, and be a servant, when this one day back at home reminded him what it was like to just be a boy.

He was right back to work when he arrived at the earl's Croydon residence, trailing after Edmund on the way to gather the laundry. There was no time to catch up on what they'd each been up to, it seemed, and Ed was having none of his nonsense.

"Only an hour or so, Ed, come on!" he pleaded but Edmund didn't so much as glance his way.

Ed kept his voice low, "Don't be daft. You've got a lot of work to catch up on around here."

"Half an hour?"

"The problem isn't the amount of time. It's leaving the manor in the first place. No."

Ian rolled his eyes, "Whatever. What do I need permission for, anyway? I know where the door is."

"You're a servant, now, Ian. You need permission for everything."

That wasn't enough to change his mind.

"If I go out, you'll just have to follow me. You're responsible for me, aren't you?"

Edmund threw him a look, furrowing his brow as he hissed back at him.

"I'm serious, Ian, you've seen how he gets if you disobey an order."

Ian winced at the memory of the earl's bellowing voice, the rage in his eyes. His slow, heavy footsteps. The grip on his shoulder.

But after that, what more was there?

"So what if I get yelled at again? He-"

At that, Edmund suddenly snapped to attention, standing bolt upright, his eyes locked on Ian's, and the words froze on his tongue.

"Yelled at? That was just a little bruise to his ego, that was nothing," there was something almost desperate in his tone, "You don't want to give him an excuse. Sneaking out, stealing, getting into fights like you always say you did, if you try any of that here, you won't get off so easily."

There was a pause as Ian considered this.

"... That's only if I get caught."

Edmund stared at him, stone-faced, then slowly shook his head and looked down again, back to his work.

"What about me, then? Like you say, I'm responsible for you. If you get caught, it's not just you who gets punished."

"Neither of us will get punished 'cause neither of us will get caught!"

"How can you be sure of that?"

"Because I know what I'm doing!"

"You're not doing anything, Ian," Ed said sharply and threw a bundle of sheets at his chest, watching him hurry to gather them together before he could drop them all, "Except for washing the linens. Come on."

He picked up the rest of the sheets himself and ushered Ian out of the room ahead of him.

– SUCH SWEET SORROW –

He got him eventually. One day, Ian managed to slip out of the servants' door at the back of the manor, and he was already off round the corner by the time Edmund came after him. He'd always been good at getting away.

A little down the road, Edmund finally stopped to catch his breath, and called out Ian's name, only for him to burst out from a nearby alleyway with a loud shriek and collapse into laughter when Ed startled. Now that they were outside in the open, it was harder for Edmund to talk him out of his little excursion, or get a hold of him long enough to drag him back where he belonged. For the few minutes it took for Edmund to give up on taking him home, Ian kept a few paces ahead of him, and well out of arm's reach, until it was clear he had won.

They soon came upon the marketplace and Ian looked around curiously.

"I want to bring Alice something next time I go home."

"You've not got any money."

Ian just shrugged as he scanned the area, "Never stopped me before."

"Ian," Ed groaned, "Are you really going to dig yourself in even deeper here? Think what his lordship'll do if he-"

"He's not here, Ed, he can't hear what you call him."

Edmund fell silent for a moment as Ian kept looking.

"... Sooner or later, you'll understand," he muttered, just barely too soft to hear, as he watched his friend with sorrowful eyes. Then, he sighed, and raised his voice again, "Alright. Just find something for your sister and let's go. If we're here any longer, he's bound to notice."

– SUCH SWEET SORROW –

"And where have you two been?"

The boys' faces fell as they crept through the servants' door.

"Aggie..."

Edmund immediately stepped in front of Ian.

"I told him he shouldn't sneak out, and I tried to go after him-"

"But he got to you, eh?"

"... It didn't seem so bad once we were out..."

"Well," Agnes moved to one side to let them past and locked the door behind them, "I hope you got it out of your system, Ian, 'cause you won't be doing that again. You're lucky his lordship was distracted enough with his work."

Edmund and Ian both heaved a sigh of relief before Aggie continued.

"You might not be so lucky next time, though," she met their eyes, one after the other, "So there better not be a next time."

Edmund nodded with no hesitation, "Of course."

She turned to Ian expectantly. He bit back a snarky comment and also nodded.

Agnes, satisfied, turned away.

"Good. Now, come on. Get some food in you."

They joined the rest of the staff at the table and ate in relative silence, but later that night, Ian still couldn't accept the outcome. And he said as much to Edmund as they prepared for bed.

"It's not worth it," he said simply and Ian scoffed.

"Not worth it? Any time away from here is worth it, isn't it? Don't you ever want a break?"

"It's not worth the earl finding out. I know you don't think it's a big deal, but trust me, Ian, you don't want to risk it."

"Why not? What's he gonna do?"

"He gets..." he faltered, "Angry..."

"I've seen him get angry before!"

"That's no-"

Ed was interrupted by the stable boy entering the bedroom, who eyed them both somewhat cautiously.

"... Everything alright?"

"Just fine, Nick," Edmund said quickly, and Nick headed towards his own bed. He turned back to Ian, lowering his voice, as he seemed to do often, "Stay out of trouble, alright? It's for the best."

"Do we not get any freedom at all? Don't we get anything?"

Edmund tensed up and behind him, so did Nick.

"We get what we need," Ed seemed to hesitate, "... What he has to give us."

Nick coughed behind them and Edmund turned to lock eyes with him, sharing some secret message that Ian couldn't decipher. Something that made them both look almost... sorry for him. With a huff, Ian clambered into his bed and rolled over to face the wall.

He couldn't understand it. As harsh as the earl might be to his staff, as intimidating as he could get when he didn't have his way, Ian couldn't see why some of them seemed quite so... scared.

Sometimes even scared for him, in particular.

If he was being honest, most of the time, Ian found the Earl of Croydon to be nothing more than a pompous fool. He spoke so highly of himself, yet he didn't actually seem to do much worth speaking of. He had little more than his title, and he clung to it desperately. It was almost pathetic. Whenever he was alone with Edmund, or Aggie, or any of the other servants, he tried to joke about the earl's latest blunders or how he would go on and on about his lacklustre accomplishments. How he always insisted he could be better than other courtiers, if he only had the chance. His obsession with having 'nibbles' on hand for every occasion. What was so threatening about this man?

He paid his regular monthly visits to his family, enjoyed the days of freedom when he could, and returned wanting to ease back into work, to chat and mess around for just a short while at least, if he couldn't leave the manor. But as time went on, the other servants became more and more insistent. They couldn't talk like this. They couldn't shirk their responsibilities for the sake of idle chatter.

What would his lordship say?