21 Fate and Tears

"What happened?"

The Marquis stared at his two sons.

Ernesto was sound asleep while his arms were wrapped around Ndulou, who was sitting comfortably while playing with Ernesto's hair. He was almost done braiding one side of Ernesto's long silver-blonde hair when the Marquis entered the room without knocking.

"Good morning, Sir Marquis Oliva." Ndulou greeted Jose as he explained, "I am sorry I can't greet you properly. Ernesto barely fell asleep. I cannot move out,"

Jose Oliva just waved his hand to tell him it was okay. He then sat down beside them and touched Ernesto's cheeks.

Early this morning, Jose's butler reported to him the moment he woke up that his son was crying. He didn't believe it at first, but checked him out immediately despite his busy schedule. He thought Ernesto was doing well all this time and felt guilty about not properly taking care of his own child.

"Why are his eyes like this?"

Ernesto's eyes are swollen, and his cheeks are like tomatoes.

"He had a nightmare, sir,"

Ndulou thought that Ernesto was still a child with a lot of fears. He pitied the child who might suffer and dreading something. He didn't move, even if his legs became numb. He didn't want to wake up the child that cried for an hour without a halt and fell asleep when the sun had already risen.

Jose looked at Ernesto with worry. He wondered what might be his son not tell him about. He asked, "Nightmare? Do you perhaps know about it?"

Ndulou shook his head and slowly unbraided Ernesto's hair before the Marquis noticed it.

"I don't know the details, sir, but I heard him speaking about the curse."

The Marquis stopped caressing his son's cheeks.

"C–curse?"

The Marquis frowned from the moment a curse was mentioned. His mind became chaotic as he thought internally, "This child knows about the curse?" He looked at his youngest child and wondered how he knew about the curse.

"He didn't mention it in detail because he was crying, but he keeps telling me that I will die young, so I guess it is just nonsense, sir?"

Ndulou shrugged his shoulders like it was an unimportant matter. Ndulou just took Ernesto's words as meaningless speech, resulting from his emotional breakdown.

However, Jose's hand trembled. He stood up and covered Ernesto's body with a blanket. He just gestured that he was leaving and left the room without a sound.

"What the? He entered and left the room like the wind."

Ndulou ended up just staring at the closed door with nothing else left to do while the child was still wrapped around him.

…..

…...

"My sooooon welcome back homeeee!!!"

Baron Miyano sounds affectionate, welcoming his child back home, but he went straight to the carriage while saying those words. He checked all the gifts that the Marquis had sent him and the huge carriage with a large crest of Oliva Marchy.

The baron looked exhilarated.

"Greetings, Baron Miyano." A knight suddenly stood in front of the baron and introduced himself. "I am Vice Captain Gilfredo,"

Ndulou wondered why the Marquis sent him a carriage and a guarding knight even though he would just spend a night at home to pack his clothes. In his opinion, who will try to abduct a penniless baron's son?

"Is his gift too pricey that we need a knight? Father will definitely cry from happiness if it is expensive."

On the other hand, Marquis Oliva requested that he be his son's "study buddy"—nobles with a single child would customarily hire a companion for their child so that they wouldn't be lonely.

Of course, the Baron happily accepted the request. Ndulou has nothing against it since he pity Ernesto after his emotional breakdown, whom he thought was really a lonely child after seeing him cry this morning.

He had to return to the Marquis' castle the next day and would spend most of his adolescent days with Ernesto.

"I feel like they sold me off."

Ndulou pushed the thought away and entered his home. His two sisters bluntly greeted him and immediately left him alone. His four older brothers are living their lives at the academy, while his younger brother is probably at a gathering in another noble's house. His home is not lively and full of people. He is used to the dull ambiance of this household. He was not treated greatly here, but it was still a home he could come back to.

. .. ….

….

At the same time, at the Marquis Castle...

"Young master, isn't it a bit unfair?" Lucas is weakly holding a wooden sword.

He lacked sleep and was called again by his master. Ernesto called him to spar at the castle training grounds.

Ernesto was wearing his well-designed black training suit and had his hair cleanly brushed up. He holds his longsword with a golden hilt, pointing it toward the poor servant, Lucas.

The knights and servants who were present to watch looked anxious and pitied Lucas for being targeted by their cruel young master.

"What's unfair?" Ernesto innocently asked.

"Young master is holding a really sharp longsword while I am only using a wooden sword," Lucas answered, looking anxious about his own life.

"Stop acting; I know you can kill me even with just your fingers."

Ernesto turned his gaze to the people watching and shouted at everyone to leave.

"Please let us use this facility for an hour. Sir Knight, guard the door so that no one will disturb us."

The knight worriedly replied, "But young master, you might get hurt." but in reality, he was more worried about the poor servant than about his master.

"I won't. I'll be training only; nothing major will happen."

Ernesto faked a smile, and the knight looked at Lucas before bowing his head. Everyone else bowed down and hurriedly left the training grounds, leaving the training ground with a condolence gaze toward Lucas as if they were certain Lucas would not come out unharmed.

"Come on, let's fight." Ernesto returned to his fighting stance as he confidently shouted, "I am curious about your strength."

Ernesto was quite intrigued by his servant skills and the reason he was hiding them.

He might be a spy or a refugee. It would be great if it was the latter, because he would instantly kill him if he were a spy. On the other hand, he was not worried much since Lucas was someone he had never met in his past lives. He was neither an enemy nor an ally.

Ernesto used magic to enhance his speed. Using both his hands, he attacked Lucas recklessly. Lucas effortlessly dodged the attack. Lucas doesn't know that Ernesto was also faking his skills, acting like he does not know of swordsmanship, and randomly attacking him.

All Lucas did was dodge and get away from Ernesto's reckless attacks.

"Hey, if you hit me, I'll spare your life," Ernesto said while running after Lucas.

Their swords clashed against each other. The wooden sword that Lucas uses surprisingly withstands the sharp longsword.

Lucas snorted as he replied, "Spare my life?" The more Lucas observed Ernesto, the more he thought about how vicious the Marquis' son was.

Ernesto pushed himself against the clashing swords and commented mischievously, "Hey, don't be shy. I know you're not human, and you're hiding something."

Lucas's lips moved upward. He didn't expect that Ernesto would know, but he was more amazed than shocked.

"Oh my! I never thought that you, young master, were so sharp! Even the Lord doesn't know yet! How—." his words were cut because Ernesto pushed his sword harder. Their swords slid down and created sparks.

Ernesto exclaimed, "Amazing! He's applying aura to the wooden sword."

As a lazy person like him, Ernesto could not learn how to wield Aura because it requires long physical and mental training. Ernesto admired Lucas' power and thought of him as a great weapon or a guard for Ndulou.

Lucas' aura was so faint that it would be hard to notice, but that also explains how a wooden sword can go against a sharp longsword without breaking.

The two of them stepped back, and at the same time, launched an attack. While Ernesto created a large magic circle around him that created a great number of stone spears, Lucas mumbled a few runic phrases in order to form tens of fireballs.

The moment the two powers collided, smoke and dust covered the entire training ground. Even with zero visibility, Lucas reflexively dodged the spears while Ernesto was just leisurely standing in the same place while the fire balls were crashing towards his sturdy magic shield.

"Spy? Or are you after our treasures?"

Ernesto crossed his arms while the smoke was still covering the area. "Money is not something that a strong individual like you would need, right? Are you looking for our secret storage?" 

Ernesto watched the silhouette of Lucas, who was still busy dodging his spears. Lucas's face looked toward Ernesto, despite his lack of proper vision. He menacingly gazed at Ernesto's shadow.

"How did this child know about the storage? Only the Lord knows!"

Because of the spears that endlessly attacked him, Lucas couldn't focus on what he was thinking.

"Secret Storage." Ernesto refers to the hidden door behind the Marquis' office. A storage area that is owned and protected by each generation of the Marquis of Oliva. The Marquis and his successors are the only ones who have access to the secret storage.

The storage room contains various rare or stolen treasures and records of the Oliva family's secrets and history. Ernesto believes Lucas was after one of the stolen treasures that the previous lords had gained.

Lucas said to himself, "Let's change the target," while bending his body to avoid dozens of spears.

Lucas was after the lord itself, but after knowing that the child was also knowledgeable regarding his goal, he thought his mission would be easier. And that could be only his opinion.

Ernesto, the child he thought would be weaker and easier to deal with, was stealthily casting a magic circle underneath him. Because the stone spears were keeping him busy, Lucas wasn't aware of the existence of the magic circle.

sssssshhhaaaaalaaaa!

Clang!

A bright light suddenly flashed, blinding Lucas's vision for a moment.

Cling! Clang!

The sound of chains could be heard before the beam of light, and smoke disappeared.

Lucas exclaimed loudly, "Hahaha! This! This! You distracted me with your spears!" He doesn't sound angry; instead, he sounds a little excited. His eyes sparkled while he looked at the chains that bound both his arms and body.

The stone spears finally stopped their attacks, and the smoke and dust settle down.

Ernesto walked slowly closer to him. He observed Lucas, who was not even trying to break the chains. Lucas observed the chains with amusement.

It made Ernesto think, "He's quite unique. Why didn't I notice him in my previous lives? Did he die young, or was he doing something else that we never met?"

There's only one thing Ernesto was sure of. Lucas never achieved his goal of stealing an item from the secret storage, because if he did, Ernesto would know about it.

"Mmn. You're pretty weak if you'll be defeated like this."

Ernesto raised his sword and pressed it against the side of Lucas's neck. Lucas could feel his neck being scratched by Ernesto's sword. His neck slightly bled, but still he smiled.

"Oh?"

Ernesto responded with a smile once he noticed the blood of Lucas that was crawling on his sword was turning a brighter red.

ssssshhhhhhsssss

Ernesto's sword melted, and black smoke evaporated.

"Hmm? His blood is like lava?"

Ernesto suddenly thought about the Tamahaling tribe on Mount Mayon. That earth tribe absorbed lava as their source of strength.

He ended up staring at Lucas with a more curious expression.

Lucas grinned as he confidently said, "Do you think these chains can bind me? I can melt anything." He clenched his fist and released a heat wave that instantly melted the chains and Ernesto's sword.

Ernesto stepped back and realized the reason Lucas hadn't appeared in his past lives.

"He passed away."