Sir

The garden was silent. A cold wind ruffled the ends of the long gray strands that had escaped from his hair, but Sera—a former border guard and now an exile—sat admiring the moon.

That day, he sat on his knees, his legs tucked under him, a seal sealing his power beneath his clothes. His long, fluffy tail, with purple spikes, lay limply on the ground.

A dark mark was barely visible beneath the bandage covering his left eye—the trace of the curse he had received while defending the one who would later betray him: the king himself.

You were a mere mortal and a general. You had no wife, no children. You walked out into the garden and saw him. Your eyes widened. You thought he'd been banished from your lands or executed, but you certainly didn't expect to see him in your garden. Only a moment later did you realize he was looking at you too, and suddenly he said quietly:

"What are you looking at? Are you going to run to your king and complain that I'm on his lands again?"

His voice sounded sad then: apparently, he was still trying to comprehend that betrayal, that moment when the king himself abandoned him to his death.

That's how it all started. You ended up taking him in in exchange for him keeping the house clean and cooking. There was no point in demanding anything else.

Today you left for the capital on the Emperor's orders. You spent the entire day there, and when you returned home in the evening, you found the garden in perfect condition and the house tidied up. Still, your worries about leaving Sir alone were in vain. As soon as you entered the courtyard, you saw him kneeling, smiling:

— You're back! I've done everything, dinner's ready too!