Angel

After the birthday song was sung, a chaotic chorus lacking any semblance of harmony due to the multitude of guests in the grand mansion, I found myself making my way to the playroom where Rubi and her friends were immersed in joyful play.

My purpose was simple — to personally wish Rubi a happy birthday, something I couldn't do with all these guests present.

However, to my surprise, someone had beaten me to it, and their intentions seemed different from my own.

I questioned my brother, standing outside the room with an air of secrecy.

"Brother, why are you lurking outside the room?" I asked him.

He pressed a finger against his lips, urging me to silence. His words escaped his mouth like a whispering breeze, "I'm just listening in on their conversation and making sure no boys are flirting with her."

"And how's that going?" I probed, eager to hear his childish findings.

He replied with the rapidity of an auctioneer, "I suspect three boys so far. See the one with blonde hair? Apparently, Rubi met him when Mother took her to his house for some business. Look at him. All the little girls are flocking to him, even though they don't yet grasp the meaning of love. All the attention he's receiving but his gaze has been glued to Rubi this whole time. I get it, though. Our sister is the most beautiful girl in the world, but if he dares to do anything beyond staring, I swear I'll pluck his eyes out."

His words grated on my already irritated nerves, making me contemplate stuffing a sock into his mouth to silence his incessant rambling.

I had just wrapped up a conversation with Aldo, though abruptly, fearing I might lose control and punch him in the middle of our discussion.

And now, I had to endure my brother's siscon tendencies.

Sighing at the exaggeration and comical nature of his siscon behavior, I couldn't help but think, 'Only in a novel world could this happen.'

Women were naturally attracted to my brother, even if you were to disregard his last name or his status as a paladin. He was simply that handsome.

However, if they were to discover his siscon nature, which he exhibited on rare occasions, I could only imagine how quickly their interest would wane.

'Or would his face be enough for them to overlook that flaw?'

"...and that's about it," he concluded his explanation.

Truthfully, I had zoned out during his monologue, failing to catch the details of the other two boys he suspected.

Nevertheless, I nodded along as if I had been fully attentive.

"Are you going in?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll go wish Rubi a happy birthday and then head to bed. I'm exhausted," I replied wearily.

"Alright. Keep an eye on those three when you're in there. I need to go discuss something with Father," he sighed.

If he didn't have pressing matters to attend to, I could tell he would've gladly eavesdropped on the children's conversation all night, determined to identify the one causing Rubi's excessive concern for her appearance.

Entering the room, the children paused their play, turning their attention towards me who had just interrupted their fun.

Rubi, spotting me, sprinted over and pleaded for me to lift her up.

"Having a good time?" I asked her, a smile tugging at my lips.

"Yes," she beamed. "I'm having so much fun!"

I didn't really want to do this but I felt like Cyro would be more annoying to deal with if I didn't so reluctantly, I whispered into her ear, my tone playful, "So, which of these boys do you have a crush on?"

In response, Rubi pressed her hands against my mouth, silencing me with urgency, She looked around the room, ensuring no one overheard my question. Her embarrassment was evident on her bright red face.

Sighing, I gently grasped her hands and whispered even softer, "You're too young for love."

'These boys might be trying to dig for gold at a young age.'

She shook her head, insisting, "Who said anything about love?"

"But your face is turning as red as a ripe tomato," I pointed out.

"That's because the question you asked is so embarrassing," she retorted.

"Then... why did you care so much about your dress today?" I probed.

"Because my best friend is here," she replied, pointing to a girl with pink hair, seemingly plucked from the realm of fairies.

She noticed that the two of us were speaking about her so she grabbed her dress, pulled it outwards, and gave me a very aristocratic bow.

It wasn't perfect but for her age, it was excellent form.

I gave the child a wave to acknowledge the bow before turning back to my little sister.

"Best friend? When did you meet this special someone?" confusion clouded my thoughts, as I had neither seen nor heard of this little girl's friendship with Rubi.

"Last week," she innocently answered.

'How does one form a best friendship in such a short time? Or perhaps even shorter than that?'

I chucked it up to them being kids.

"Is that why you wanted me to dress nicely?" I inquired, piecing things together. "To impress your best friend?"

She nodded, her gesture confirming my suspicion.

"And is that why you made our older brother wear a pink suit? Since it matches the color of your best friend's hair."

"Yep," she responded.

'Thankfully, he left to attend his business. If he heard that...'

"Do you realize that your older brother will be disappointed to hear that you chose his outfit not for him but because of someone else?" I asked with a hint of amusement in my voice.

After all, I knew how much my brother cherished Rubi's opinion; probably more than his own.

"I do. That's why it has to be our secret. Promise?" she asked, a mischievous smile gracing her face as she extended her pinky.

"Alright, I promise," I agreed, hooking my pinky with hers.

"Happy birthday, Rubi," I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," she smiled.

Setting her back on the ground, I watched as she rejoined her friends, then turned to make my way toward my room upstairs.

Like a serpent gliding through the grass, I navigated through the crowd, skillfully evading anyone who might have initiated a conversation I had no desire to engage in at the moment.

As I walked down the hallway toward my bedroom, I noticed that my door was slightly ajar.

These rooms were off-limits to guests and I had also locked them for extra security, making it clear that someone had entered without permission — most likely a thief attempting to pilfer something valuable in my room.

With my hand crackling with electrical energy, I pushed the door open, poised to attack, only to find Jaren inside, thoroughly intoxicated.

"What are you doing in my room?" I demanded, letting the sparks dissipate.

I let out a sigh of relief, glad to see it was family that was being nosy in my room and not a stranger. I didn't want any more conflict for the day.

"Just looking to see if my cuzzo has any porn mags or something," he replied, sounding disappointed.

"People use phones for that now," I sighed. "How did you even get in? I locked this room."

"Isn't it obvious? I guessed your passcode," he retorted.

"How? It's an eight-digit code," I protested, settling onto my bed and unbuttoning my suit jacket to get comfortable.

"I just figured it was the most important date of your life."

"Which is?"

"When our yoga teacher broke your heart back in elementary school," he explained, a smirk playing on his lips.

"That's not... ugh, yeah, that's the date," I was about to deny it, as even I had forgotten, but when he mentioned it, a long-buried memory resurfaced.

I was prepared to ask him to leave since I wanted to be left alone with my thoughts when he closed the door and activated the device on the wall to ensure no one could eavesdrop on our conversation.

"There are some seriously powerful motherfuckers out there, man. We can't have them snooping around our business," he elucidated.

'Our business?'

"What are you talking about?" I inquired, puzzled. "I thought you were just searching for porn."

He grinned, replying, "That too, but... I overheard something when I was in one of the guest rooms upstairs."

'That must be his real reason for being here.'

"What did you hear?" I asked, sensing that something was amiss from his tone.

"Promise me you won't breathe a word of this to anyone. I wasn't meant to know, and I don't feel like being a target for someone else's mistake," Jaren warned, his voice tinged with caution.

"Just trust me. Your secret is safe with me," I reassured, my patience wearing thin.

"Swear on everything."

"I swear."

"Well... as I was in the middle of napping, I was abruptly woken up by the sound of two people arguing outside my room. It seemed they were unaware of my presence, speaking in the heat of the moment. Had they used their mana to survey their surroundings, they would never have dared to engage in such a conversation because I was deadass not even that far from them."

Considering the circumstances, it was peculiar for anyone at the birthday celebration to venture to the third floor.

Apart from Jaren, who often sought peace and quiet by himself whenever there were large gatherings, there was no plausible reason for guests to stray toward the guest rooms on the third floor.

Even immediate family members who were the ones allowed to be up there without explicit verbal permission wouldn't go up there, especially since their primary purpose was to catch up with relatives.

Already, I could sense that something was amiss just from that alone

To make matters more perplexing, they should have erected a mana barrier around them, a common practice to deter prying ears.

But in a world governed by clichéd laws, it made sense that such precautions were overlooked. Inevitably, it followed the age-old trope of a secret conversation needing to be overheard by a secret party.

'Unless they were trying to be overhead,' I thought.

My curiosity gnawed at me, and I probed further, "What were they talking about?"

"They sounded like a middle-aged couple, probably in their forties. The wife wanted to tell your father something, but the husband disagreed," he revealed, taking a seat beside me, his voice hushed as if afraid of being overheard even with the device activated.

"They found an angel child," he declared.

My eyes widened in astonishment at the revelation.

"Are... are you serious? Are you sure they weren't referring to a fallen angel?" I questioned, my mind racing with possibilities.

Shaking his head, Jaren asserted, "No, I'm being deadass right now. On everything I love, I'm telling the truth. They specifically mentioned harboring a genuine angel, saying that they feared for their lives."

My hand instinctively covered my mouth, my thoughts racing.

In the original novel, angels were never present since they had abandoned this realm thousands of years ago, leaving the human race susceptible to unchecked demon attacks which was a factor in the wars starting between the two races.

Only fallen angels, those who disagreed with the abandonment and sided with humans, aided in the multiple world wars.

Fallen angels themselves were rare, with a lifespan of just five years after descending from heaven.

After death, their bodies were usually donated by the fallen angels themselves, allowing humans to acquire their blood, the most toxic substance to demons.

Well, no.

It's the second most poisonous substance since the blood of a pure angel was far deadlier than that of a fallen angel.

Fallen angels, tainted by their connection to humans, possessed diluted blood and diminished holiness.

Throughout the novel, pure angels and heaven remained distant entities, uninvolved in the narrative. No gods existed and heaven was more of an entity than just a place for the angels to reside in.

''Now you're telling me an angel child is on this planet without becoming fallen?'

What had happened to this child then?

Why had their existence been erased from the novel's plot?

Sinister theories began to take shape in my mind, suggesting that the angel's discovery led to their capture and subsequent experimentation, perhaps driven by the rarity of an angel's presence after none of them being present for a very long time.

"That's an enormous secret you stumbled upon," I uttered, my voice heavy with concern.

Jaren nodded, clearly feeling the weight of the secret he had inadvertently unearthed. "I wish I just stayed asleep. Fuck."

I wondered if someone else, someone powerful with enhanced hearing, had also overheard the conversation just like Jaren did but since there were many people speaking at the same time in the mansion, I just hoped that they weren't able to make it out properly.

Despite his reluctance and my promise to keep it a secret, I felt compelled to involve myself in this matter.

"Do you know what the couple looks like?" I asked.

He nodded, having taken a peek at them most likely.

"Could you point them out to me?" I asked.

He nodded his head once again, an eyebrow-raising in confusion at why I was asking these sorts of questions.

"I know I said 'I swear' to keep it a secret and if you disagree then I'll keep my promise but... I think we need to," I declared.

"Do we really need to involve ourselves?" he questioned, his tone wary of the potential consequences.

"Yes. I'm afraid that the angel might be in danger," I explained.

He looked at me with these depressed eyes and then sighed. "Fuck me. I should've just kept my mouth shut and not tell you."

"Does that mean yes?"

"...Sure."