Chapter Text
The children had settled in nicely within the territory, while bearing the Henituse name. With this recent development, they're also coming with them to the capital.
Deruth and Violan had taken their new titles as grandparents with a stride. They love being grandparents as much as they love being parents. Basen and Lily liked being uncle and aunt as well. The children were all smart, respectful, and kind, it wasn't hard to love them.
Ron had taken Ohn and Hong under his wings (much to the horror of the adopted mother of the two). Kyrin was taken under Beacrox's wing as well, surprisingly the boy was comfortable with Beacrox and has been learning how to cook so far. The twins were also with Kyrin. Agnar trains with Lily every other day, so he also had Choi Han as his instructor. Leilah stuck with Arabella most of the time, taking full advantage of being the youngest of all children.
Of course they were aware that none of the children were human. But they all accepted them. The children were all ecstatic to know that they're not being discriminated against, nor were the adoption being rescinded at all. They love it. They eat four times a day, sometimes five. They have their own rooms and clothes, their new mother was everything they could ask for, so is everyone else.
“Mama!” Leilah grinned. She likes to call for her a few times a day for no reason. Out of all the children, Leilah and Agnar are the ones who call her Mama the fastest. It made sense as they were the youngest.
“Lei and I are going to find Noona and the others,” Agnar, the ever polite and smart child, told her as he was holding Leilah’s hand. They were wearing matching clothes, how adorable.
“Have fun!” She smiled.
As soon as the door closed, her mask fell off. Cale was amused. Her happy demeanor was reserved for family and close friends after all. Ah yes, this is what her face looked like usually. Stoic and emotionless, warm emotions are reserved for them.
But her being like this means something.
“What’s your plan?” He asked his younger sister. They were about to leave soon, it was better to get their plans going.
“Stick to it,” She slumped to her seat, “I had Choi Han gather Rosalyn and Lock for the Plaza Terror Incident. The black dragon, we will deal with it with Choi Han,”
Cale could only shudder. In his past timeline, there was news about a mountain exploding, who knew that it was because of a dragon that was on a rampage and went berserk. But they were going to get back to that scum Venion anyway, who told that crazy bastard to try to tame a dragon anyway? Is he that delusional?
“We?” Cale raised an eyebrow at her, then scoffed, “With that weak ass body?”
Arabella was frowning, it might be a bit of work. Especially with the dragon, sure Choi Han and her brother are strong, but she’s pretty sure that with their auras, the dragon would be wary of their presence. So it is a must that she should be there.
“Both of you aren’t equipped to properly interact with a dragon, much less with a hatchling like the black dragon,” Arabella pointed out, “You and Choi Han have strong auras, especially you, who is the current Saint of the God of Death. He would be too wary of you guys,”
“This is still a dragon we are talking about, Bella,” He said, “This kid had the potential to kill all of us,”
“He won’t,” She pressed, “I’m sure of it,”
“You better make sure that you are taking proper meals and your medication, you should also not get too tired. If you two got bored during the banquet, feel free to leave the room,”
Arabella chuckled instead of responding to their father’s rambling. Arabella’s complexion had gotten much better in the last few days. It had no choice but to get better. But she was still pale as ever, probably due to the fact that it was genetic. (But she reckons that she has anemia).
It was raining in the Henituse territory until yesterday. If the story went as it did in the novel, Cale would have been beaten to a pulp on a rainy day. Of course, Cale was not beaten up yesterday. Since Choi Han had been nothing but a loyal knight to Arabella, and had been taking care of her whenever Cale was elsewhere(much to the displeasure of her twin).
She could also sleep well now. This was because she could feel the Indestructible Shield always surrounding her heart. Knowing that she could manage to survive, even if she did something wrong to someone like Ron or Beacrox, made it easier for her to sleep at night.
(Little did she know, the aforementioned people would rather kill everyone than actually hurt her.)
“Father.”
Cale looked at the breakfast spread that was fancier than ever before, as he asked.
“It looks like the number of people in the envoy has grown again. I asked you to reduce the number.”
It had been mentioned to her that Cale had asked their father to decrease the number of servants accompanying him to help with his needs. He said that Hans and Ron were enough. Of course, Hans turned pale at first, however, he started to pack right away after hearing that the children will be traveling with them as well.
“Ah, about that…”
For some reason, Deruth stopped his sentence without finishing. At that moment, someone else’s voice interjected itself into their conversation.
“That was my decision.”
It was their stepmother, Violan.
Her hair was perfectly formed in a bun, without a single stray hair, as she was looking down at her plate. She looked so similar to her son, Basen. Even the way they both did not make eye contact with Cale and had a stoic expression was the same.
“We can’t have someone from our family looking poor and terrible just because you want to go with such a small envoy.”
It was an extremely stoic voice. Violan then lifted up her gaze to look in Cale’s direction before continuing on.
“… I am not saying you are terrible.”
“Even I know that much.”
Violan hesitated for a moment after hearing Cale’s response, before taking another bite of her food and continuing to speak.
“People, especially nobles, care a lot about appearances.” She said, “And there’s also the fact that your sister needs servants as well, female servants. And the children are going with you, that’s why there’s a need for many knights,”
“Ah,” Cale made a small sound of realization.
“I also have a healer amongst the envoy in any case her illness strike again,”
Arabella flinched a bit. This body was really weak. Even a weak heart, so maybe that's why her brother was too overprotective, even with Indestructible Shield, she really was that weak.
‘Aigoo’ She could only sigh, ‘My life as Percy would be screaming at this.’
And it was the truth, as Percilla Jackson, she would always be on the move. Getting sick and weak like this was very unlikely due to her body being half human only. It was the very least of their worries, her mom was even glad about that. In camp, they have Cabin #7.
“You’re right,” Cale sighed, as he glanced to the side, his sister’s maids were there. They were specifically chosen by their late mother according to their father, so their stepmother had brought them back on their duty (which made the two maids happy).
“Anyways, there are a lot of people who think that appearances reveal everything about a person.”
That was her way of telling Cale to take a lot of servants with them. Her goal was for the twins to not be judged negatively just because they only took a few servants with them.
Naturally, Arabella wanted to take a lot of people to do her biddings for her as well.
‘How nice and relaxing would it be?’
She was finding it difficult to get changed without a servant now. Kim Rok Soo had been in this world as Arabella for only about a month and two weeks, but she already could not let go of that easy life.
However, a few days into the twins' future was a crazy Black Dragon.
If they cannot release this crazy dragon in advance, it might go wild and kill a lot of people. Although she didn’t care about what happened to other people, she still did not want to see people dying in front of her eyes.
Furthermore, she also didn’t want to take responsibility for those people who will be injured because of the dragon.
Responsibility was a heavy burden, and for someone like Kim Rok Soo, who had taken responsibility for his own life since he was a young boy, she knew that responsibility related to people and people’s lives was the scariest and heaviest burden.
“…Do as you wish. I will reduce the number of people going with you two, but, in return, the carriage and everything in it shall be of the highest quality. That is how it should be for us Henituse people.”
“That is fine with me. Please give us the most expensive stuff.”
“Great. I will make sure you have a carriage that won’t even hurt your butt as you travel across bumpy roads, and both of you are comfortable,”
“Only the best.”
Cale could not see it because he was looking at his plate, but there was a slight smile on Violan’s face, before it disappeared. Count Deruth, who had been watching this from the start, let out a fake cough to cover up his slowly rising smile, and asked Cale and Arabella.
“Did you verify the information from Hans regarding the personalities of all the nobles who will be going to the capital?”
Deruth had used his own network, as well as the information guild to purchase information on the other nobles, and had handed it to Hans to give to Cale for both of them to read.
“Yes. It was pretty entertaining.”
It was probably difficult to purchase that file. In fact, it probably cost a fortune. Although it only had about three or four lines about each person, it was precious and expensive to purchase information on nobles.
“There are some petty ones, some stupid ones, some smart and scary ones, even some who are desperate for power. Looks like all sorts of people are coming this time.”
Of course, there were also some stupidly nice people, villains, and trash as well.
“You read the file I sent you. Ahem. Anyways, do as you please. But you two.”
“Yes, father.”
“Yes, Papa?”
“I heard a strange rumor.”
Their shoulders flinched just ever so slightly.
“Apparently the man-eating tree, that black tree, has changed. It is now a white three with beautiful blue leaves. There is even grass growing in that spot where nothing used to grow.”
The place that had changed the most in the last four days was none other than the top of the hill in the slums. It was a location where only the black tree had resided, however, that tree turned white with blue leaves after Arabella had resolved its grudge, and it was now a beautiful tree that looked almost divine.
“Isn’t it an interesting rumor?”
“It is. What an interesting rumor.”
“Truly interesting,” Arabella chuckled, “I do hope that it has become a place where people could rest during the day,”
— Are you the Saint or I am?
Her big brother scoffed through the link.
— Just keeping up with the persona, brother dearest.
The twins had no intention of revealing Arabella’s Ancient Power right now, so they simply pretended to have no knowledge of it. There was no way that Count Deruth did not know about the fact that they went to the slums. However, he would not have any knowledge of the Ancient Power. He would just suspect that something happened with the twins and the man-eating tree.
“Yes, but it isn’t that big of a deal. However, you need to pay attention to rumors no matter what you do. There is nothing scarier than human eyes and mouths. However, anything that happens inside the territory is fine for members of our household.”
“We will keep that in mind.”
The twins felt like they really could live a peaceful life, as long as they remained in their territory. How great would it be to quickly come back from the capital and live the life of a couch potato?
The luxurious breakfast that was made for the twins, who were leaving for the capital, finally came to an end. They received goodbyes from the Count and Countess, who couldn’t watch them leave because they had work to do, and then made eye contact with their siblings, who were awkwardly standing there.
“What?”
Their younger stepbrother, Basen, just shook his head at Cale’s question. His younger sister, Lily, slowly approached them. 7 years old. This youngest sibling of theirs was 11 years apart from the twins.
“P, please have a safe trip.”
“Thanks. You be safe here too.”
Lily vigorously nodded her head.
“Yes!”
She then quietly looked at Cale. Cale just casually asked in response to her gaze.
“Should we buy you a present while on our trip?”
“Really?”
‘As I thought. She wanted a present.’ Cale nodded his head as he watched the surprised, amazed, and happy expression all taking turns showing up on Lily’s face.
“Yes. What would you like?”
“A sword.”
“…What?”
“Please buy me a sword.”
Seeing the shock on Cale’s face, Basen started to speak.
“Hyung-nim, Lily’s dream these days is to become a swordsman.”
“That’s right, Big Brother! She wants to become a swordsman,” Arabella chimed in.
“Is that so?” Cale hummed and examined his half sister. The people of this household all had long arms, long legs, and a good physique(except Arabella, a strong gust of wind could blow her away). Lily was only 7 years old, but she was tall for her age and could easily become a good swordsman if she put in the effort. And as a swordmaster himself, he could tell that.
“I guess it would suit her.”
Lily’s eyes started to sparkle.
“I will buy you an expensive one.”
Lily started to smile as she lowered her head in embarrassment instead of responding. Cale did not see this, as he looked toward his 15 year old younger brother, who was looking at him.
“You want something too?”
“A fountain pen.”
“Got it.”
The breakfast came to an end once they got the list of presents from their siblings.
***
Cale’s expression was odd as he stood in front of the carriage that would take him to the carriage. But Arabella was simply laughing at his face.
‘How odd.’
He had an odd expression as he asked the person standing next to him.
“Why is it that their seat is better than my seat?”
Cale was looking at the expensive and soft cushion that was placed for the children and Arabella. Ohn and Hong are taking their cat form for comfortability. Arabella simply just went inside as the children were happy to see their mom.
“Ah! I simply wanted the children and the Young Miss to have a comfortable seat during the journey,” Hans answered as Cale looked at him with a blank expression. The carriage was larger than a normal noble carriage, their parents specifically had this built so that the children wouldn’t be separated with Arabella.
It had been perfectly fine. All of these children have abilities of their own, they’re strong to protect themselves.
“Young master, I will be sitting with the driver up top.”
“Okay.”
Ron jumped up next to the driver, and Cale was about to board as well, when Choi Han approached him.
“Cale-nim.”
Choi Han said that he did not want to call Cale young master, instead choosing to call him Cale-nim. He even addressed Arabella as Belle-nim when she told him to call her Belle (honestly that girl, are you trying to catch the attention of these bastards? First Beacrox and now him?).
“What?”
“Is it okay for me to not be in the same carriage protecting you and Belle-nim?”
Cale’s expression turned like he had eaten some bitter persimmon. He really didn’t want any men other than their family to get near his precious sister.
“Yes,” He answered, “Ron is with us. And you are very near, therefore could run to protect Bella and I,”
Choi Han didn’t say anything else, instead just nodding his head. Cale started to squint his eyes while watching Choi Han walk away.
‘It’s really weird.’
Choi Han’s eyes were still not very clear. His mind still seemed to be full of anger and thoughts of revenge. When Cale mentioned yesterday that they had sent people to Harris Village, he could see the anger in Choi Han’s eyes.
But he felt a little different than before. He wasn’t deep into his despair, it seems like his aura was a bit lighter than before. As the Saint of the God of Death, he could even tell as much.
‘He recovered pretty quickly.’ He let it be since it wasn’t bad, but Cale had an oddly bitter feeling in his mouth. It was at that moment.
“I don’t think this is your spot.”
The leader of the envoy, the Vice Captain of the territory’s Knight Brigade, approached Choi Han and started to speak. The Vice Captain looked at Choi Han from head to toe before smirking, like he was looking down at Choi Han.
‘I knew we would have at least one person like this.’
Cale clicked his tongue.
Choi Han had hidden his abilities to that of an average level.
The problem was that Choi Han was the person who saved the precious young miss of the County, and the fact that Count Deruth treated him like an important guest for that. Adding on the fact that he was selected as the twins’ Guardian Knight this time made some people start to dislike and oppose him. They didn’t annoy him visibly because he was still a guest, but there were a lot of things they were secretly doing to annoy Choi Han.
‘Young master, I do not think Choi Han-nim is getting along with the other knights who will be going with us to the capital.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Yes. I think the Vice Captain is responsible for it.’
‘I got it Hans. You can stop worrying about it.’
Cale thought about Hans’s report and felt bad, not for Choi Han, but for the Vice Captain.
‘Soon enough, he’ll realize that his eyes were not just at the ground, but completely underground.’
It’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t do anything to get beaten up.
Cale did not choose to try to resolve their issues. Nor did he ever inform his sister of this fact, it was better for her to worry about her children than worry about this Vice Captain’s misplaced jealousy. Because even if Choi Han wasn’t their knight, Cale was a swordmaster, he could be his sister’s knight if he wanted.
The Vice Captain will not be able to sleep properly once he sees Choi Han’s real skills. How could he sleep when he is extremely scared?
“Young master, shall we leave now?”
The Vice Captain asked Cale, and Cale closed the carriage door as he answered.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
15 soldiers, 5 knights, 2 maids, and one special guard. The twins’s envoy, which consisted of this protection squad and then some other people, finally started to head toward the capital. It was a pretty peaceful trip so far, but it was not a very uneventful trip.
Nobody dared to touch their carriage in the Henituse territory. The carriage did not have the flag that represented the family, but the carriage itself had the Golden Turtle, the symbol of the Henituse family, drawn on it. It was representative of the Henituse family’s love for wealth and longevity.
However, as soon as they left the Henituse territory, they ran into a situation.
‘As expected, they really do show up.’ Cale could only sigh.
While they were rushing through a mountain range, tens of people suddenly showed up in the valley.
“Pay the toll if you want to cross this mountain!”
“Take out everything you have! If we found anything after you claim to have taken everything out, it will be 1 slap for every 1 bronze we find!”
Yes, it was the bandits.
There were bound to be bandits around these parts, but the fact that there were tens of them was surprising. They probably relied on their numbers to attack this carriage, which only had 5 knights. Cale looked toward his eldest niece On, who was yawning and asked.
“You think they can’t see the symbol on my carriage?”
“I guess so.”
“Idiots! Beginners!”
Cale nodded his head at Hong’s assessment. He was not afraid of bandits. Why would he be?
Knock Knock.
The knocking came from the small window by the driver’s seat before the window slightly opened, and Ron looked inside.
“Young master, it looks like we will need to take a break. There seem to be quite a lot of rabbits here.”
Rabbits. Cale was quiet for a moment. Ron went, ‘Ah!’ before smiling and added on.
“Ah, this rabbit is different from the rabbit I was going to catch for you, young master. Of course, these rabbits will not be caught by me but by other people.”
“Tell them no need,” Cale grinned, “I’ll deal with this myself,”
Cale once again looked at the children, “Protect your mom, alright?”
Arabella had once again fallen asleep, with the two youngest on her sides. Ohn and Kyrin nodded. Arabella was going to be protected by people who were scarier than the bandits.
He stepped out of the carriage with a sword in hand.
“Young Master,” Even the knights looked at him in confusion. Probably wondering why he, the trash that never studied nor held a sword at the age of eight, came out with a sword.
Unsheathing the sword, he grinned at their envoy, “Choi Han and I will handle them. Protect the carriage,”
He listened to the sound of the bandits’ screams as he wordlessly attacked them with a blank expression, as he started to calculate the time.
‘About a day and a half.’
In about a day and a half, they would arrive around the area where the Black Dragon was being tortured. It was earlier than when Choi Han arrived in the novel according to his sister. This was the reason he had made them rush forward without taking any breaks.