Chapter III

The father stood upon seeing me enter with a surprised almost elated expression, apparently attending breakfast is an unusual behavior for the young master, his smile even grew a bit upon seeing my expression (which was as flat as a board) so I can infer that a negative expression is typical for the red-head rather than a neutral one. And when I stopped just inside the room upon seeing him get up to greet me, he actually sped up his pace to come over to me.

Sweeping his eyes quickly to the mother.

Unsustained eye contact, she seems uncomfortable with directly facing the red-head, were they on bad terms? Neither the mother or father look anything alike to the red-head with their brown hair that doesn't have a lick of red to it, the two kids have very similar hair though, and there's definitely relation with the facial similarities. Could it be a case of a noble couple adopting a child to be an heir due to not being able to conceive a child of their own? Typical cases like that end with a child being conceived, within a few years of adopting at most. Because of the fact that infertility can very well be as psychological as it is physiological, which would explain the age difference between the red-head and the boy at the table. It would also explain the rocky eye contact with the kids, then again the father seems a good bit older than the lady, not by too many years but enough to suggest a possible political marriage which could also be a cause for the need to adopt a child. Interesting. It seems that-

"Cale! You came, I'm so glad you felt well enough to join us." The father said as he approached the red-head around the table.

Kale? Why did he call me a vegetable? Or is that actually the boy's name? What a weird choice of a name. How- Hold on…

A noble's son that doesn't get along with his family with a name that sounds like a vegetabl3e, with a bad personality to the point of having a servant girl quacking in her boots which suggests volatile behaviors which also suggests an unscrupulous personality or rather, a trashy personality… trash… And a servant named 'Ron' who seems like more than just your average servant… Ron… Cale… Disguised as a servant? Trash… weren't there similar people in a novel series I was reading What was it again? 'Birth of a Hero' right? Oh yeah! In the prologue of the first book some noble trash gets a royal thrashing by the main character, 'Choi' , something I think, it was a Korean name since the main character was from (duh) Korea.

And as far as that 'servant' Ron. No wonder that the descriptive 'servant' sounded so wrong. 'Ron Mow the lawn' was an escapee from the eastern continent for being a ferocious member of a legendary assassin household who were forced to go on the run with his son in tow. Upon making it to the Western Continent, Ron wandered until he ended up in the Henituse estate where he and his son both made a place for themselves as members of the staff, Ron became a highly skilled and respected butler rising to the rank 'head butler' with his son becoming the head chef of kitchen number two of the estate. He was responsible for the Western wing of the estate where the Count's eldest child resided.

The Count's eldest child, Cale. Was the child of the Count's first marriage. Well there's my 'adopted child' theory down the toilet. And here I thought I was on to something. Then again, it was mentioned that Cale took after his mother much more than his father, definitely explains the difference in appearance, the Thames family was known for their superlative good looks rumored to rival the beauty of the elven race, slender frames, and vibrant red hair. An appearance that Cale fit to a tittle.

Choi whats-his-face was the protagonist of 'Birth of a Hero' an ordinary Korean student till he found himself in The Forest of Darkness, a mysterious place in the northeastern territory of the Roan Empire. That was filled with monsters and creatures of unimaginable strength, with survival of the fittest becoming the soul of his mind, McChoiBoi became a super killing machine and slowly grated away at his humanity do to the toils of survival in the forest where he lived for . Until one day he stumbled upon Harris Village, a little village on the outskirts of the Forest of Darkness. There, his empathy was reawakened and wounds healed. Afterwards many things happened to the boy as he continued to grow, I only got as far as the fifth book though so my knowledge of this world is a bit limited.

The red-head frowned a bit at his own thoughts, unbeknownst to the flinch of the man in front of him who had gotten up to greet his son.

***

Sitting at the dining table, drumming his fingers, sat Count Deruth, glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

"May we start the meal, Dear," came the calm voice of his wife sitting to his right, "Judging by his state of being when he was brought home by Ron last night, I do not think Cale will be joining us."

At her words, there was a nod of consensus between the count and his second son, Basen, remembering how the eldest had been so drunk that he was carried home by the head butler the night previous. With the exception of the youngest child, Lily, who had been asleep in her room at the time of the incident.

Lily tilted her head, not understanding the context but also knowing that her eldest brother could be quite temperamental, summarized that he simply was quite tired and nodded in agreement with her mother's words.

The count, Deruth, glanced at the clock once more before slowly nodding. "I suppose you are right, once again, my dear." He says with a sigh before picking up his fork. "Let us now e-"

Deruth was interrupted mid-sentance to the sound of the dinning room's doors opening. His eyes widened at the sight of his eldest child, Cale, standing in the doorway. It has been such a long time since Cale had eaten with the family for not just the morning meal, but any of the meals of the day. He had had a fit the last time they had eaten together and harshly critiqued the food as being unpalatable. A habit he seemed to have at most meals, Deruth tried his best to calm Cale and have him be pleasant but for the most part, the only time the boy spoke to Deruth, for the last few weeks,was when he was short of coin for buying wine.

Deruth was truly feeling worried about how much trouble Cale could stir up when he was drunk. But he just doesn't know how to talk to Cale. Ever since Deruth's first wife passed those years ago, Deruth's heart had shattered and was weeping heartache non-stop for such a long time and with how much Cale resembled his mother…

Deruth could barely stand to look at his son for years to the point of avoiding the boy and gluing himself to his desk with work. By devoting his entire self to work, Deruth succeeded in making the Henituse territory stronger and one of the most wealthy lands of the Roan empire. Yet at the same time… Cale began to spend more and more time outside of the mansion in taverns and the like, he began drinking wine quite early and proved himself to be akin to a duck to water. Cale could often be found in evenings, kicking up a fuss at a bar or tavern throwing bottles at thugs and ruffians at the local. Deruth let Cale run amok in the territory, using the riches of the Henituse name to clean up any trouble his son caused. He also gave an excessive allowance to his son, believing that it would show his care for his son even though Deruth himself could not and would not even look the boy in the eye.

But then… He met Vivian at a gallery where the merchant's daughter had been showing some of her statues that she had carved and Deruth's pained heart began to beat again and a light once more shone in his eyes as he began to spend time with the lady Vivian. After seeing each other for none too long, Deruth proposed to Vivian and her child of a previous marriage and herself moved into the Henituse home. Soon after, the count found that it was no longer as painful to see the resemblance that Cale had to his lovely late-wife.

The count realized how apart the two of them had grown and tried to rekindle their relationship only to be met with consistent rejection from his son. The count only realized just how badly he had burnt the bridges he had had with his son when he tried to cross them once more, only to fall into the torrential river between them.

It hurt, but Deruth decided that the best thing he could do for his son is provide for him and keep him in the Henituse territory where his wealth could protect Cale no matter the trouble that the red-head kicked up.

Deruth felt delighted when he saw his eldest child walk into the dining room, he immediately rose and then before he even realized it, had walked over to greet his son.

"Cale! You came, I'm so glad you felt well enough to join us."