Chapter 74
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Although she was trying her best to hide her anxiety, Eden could barely keep still after being invited in by Greyson. The two of them sat in silence for a good amount of time. Greyson could tell that she still felt conflicted about whatever she was going to say, so he did not interrupt her thoughts and continued waiting. While Eden continued her inner battle, Greyson decided to walk over to the night stand and pour out cups of water for the both of them. Before handing the cup over to Eden, Greyson's eyes flashed red as he heated up the water. The night was cold so he just thought warm water was more appropriate. However, when he looked up to hand the cup over, he realized that Eden was looking at him in a daze. In the next moment, she suddenly grabbed his arm violently.
"Do your eyes always change color? Is it when you use magic?!" Confused by her excitement, Greyson frowned and wrenched his arm from her grasp.
"Ms. Ley, I have treated you with nothing but respect and I would request that you reciprocate, otherwise I really do not see a future friendship between the two of us. It is none of your business, but if you must know, yes, my eyes always change color when I activate a certain element's mana. I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable with all the personal questions you ask me. There is not really any problem with telling you, however, asking so many just leaves me suspicious about your intentions." After such a long day and having to deal with Claire, Greyson used up all his patience already. Now, even Eden shows up and continues her odd habit of asking odd questions. Well he has had enough of just playing along. "I can tell that there has been something on your mind for a while, why don't you just tell me already? I sense no ill intent from you, so I answered your questions, but I am tired of this one-sided back and forth."
Hearing his words, Eden's face turned pale and she nibbled on her lips. She really did want to tell him, to the point it was driving her crazy. Only, she was finding it hard to get over the leftover trauma from her last encounter. Nobody understood the pain she endured throughout her stay as the glorified dog of the Argentum family. All she ever thought about was reuniting with her family and maybe eventually getting revenge, these thoughts kept her going. The moment she thought she discovered her youngest brother, she cried tears of joy for an entire week every time she saw his face. For six whole months, she spoiled him and tried her best to provide him everything to make up for the family he lost. All she could think was that he suffered a worse fate than her, because he believed his family abandoned him and grew up an unloved orphan. Blinded by her joy, only when Anne finally brought undeniable proof of that boy's lies did Eden finally wake up. His death threw her back down into hell and it took her a couple years to forget about it. Many more signs appeared on Greyson than the other boy, therefore she felt more and more confident that she was not too desperate this time and making assumptions. Thinking back to Greyson's eyes changing color, Eden finally hardened her heart and decided to let everything go today.
"I... I think you might be my youngest brother..." After slight hesitation, Eden grit her teeth and blurted it out finally. However, she did not see the expected shock or maybe happiness on Greyson's face after she said this. Curiosity was there and maybe some doubts, but not anything extreme. This lackluster reaction was not because Greyson was not glad about possible news about his biological family, but more because he did not want to allow himself to get too happy and excited before things were clearly explained. What if this was a mistake in judgment? Greyson longed for family and knowledge of his roots, but this did not mean he felt desperate enough to believe anyone who comes and claims to be his family. From all of Eden's questions, Greyson already formulated some inferences about what her curiosity was about. After all, her questions never deviated from his background, his age, even his hometown.
"Why do you think so? There are probably millions upon millions of other orphans with similar situations to me all over the world. Could you explain clearly? I do not mean to say you are lying to me, I just want to be sure before celebrating to early."
Eden at first just froze, not knowing how to respond to Greyson. This boy's attitude was so completely different from the other one, as that jerk's eyes lit up with greed the minute, he thought he was related to her. Finding more confidence, she began the story.
"I am not originally from the Idris Kingdom. 13 years ago, I was the princess of a now fallen kingdom called the Ley Kingdom. To be exact, I was the 5th princess. When an unknown enemy attacked, I was only 5 years old so I am not completely sure of any of the details of who it was and why they attacked. However, after destroying most of the kingdom and its citizens, the enemy just left and the land became wasteland. However, our mother was not human even though she was the queen of a human kingdom. She was an elf and a very powerful one. Father was a mixed blood, half-human and half-dragon. Although the Ley Kingdom was only a tier three kingdom, most people misunderstood as that meant we were weak. Our mother and father were extremely powerful, they taught all of us siblings magic. The overall power of the kingdom was tier three, but the royal family was much more than that. Our mother and father had seven children. The first was a boy, then a girl, two more boys, two girls, and then the youngest was a boy. I was the fifth child and second daughter. While the kingdom was under attack, our closest servants brought all of us on separate routes that our parents already thought out for us. The only issue was with the seventh child. He was only just born the day the imperial capital burned to the ground and mother and father did not have enough time to raise a strong servant for him. Therefore, during the escape, it was highly likely that he would not survive. This was where my questions for you came into play. The Willow Town you speak of is one of the closest towns to the border between the old Ley Kingdom and the Edysa Kingdom. You were born 13 years ago and found in the woods the day after the attack. You obviously have elf blood and you look uncannily similar to our mother. Even your eyes changing color is a signal of your identity. I am not completely sure of the details, however, a little before you were born, there was some sort of mishap in your birth. Mother started experiencing great pain and your life force was weakening. Trying their best, mother and father sought all sorts of doctors and physicians to stabilize the fetus. Using expensive and powerful magic herbs, they prolonged your life. Until one day, a very mysterious, yet powerful, man arrived in the kingdom. He trespassed actually and injected something into the queen while she was too weak to fight back. In his anger, after father discovered him, he quickly attacked. In that moment the man's eyes glowed different colors before a powerful attack rained down and pushed father back. In the next moment, the man was gone. Afterwards, you no longer had any issues and mother soon gave birth to the healthy you. Both mother and father were still extremely worried about what the man injected and not knowing had put both of them under a lot of stress for you. Looking at you now, that man must have injected something related to him, like a bloodline of some sort."
No longer able to stop herself, Eden let the entire story just flow out of her. Greyson listened carefully and could not help but agree than Eden's assumption sounded correct. So many questions popped up in his mind, however, he could tell she did not have the answers. What could a five-year-old know about the kingdom's affairs? Excitement to know his identity grew with sadness to know that his family could possibly be dead except for this sister.
"Are the queen and king still alive?" Although he believed her words, Greyson could not yet bring himself to call them mother and father.
"A lot of people claim they both fell after the battle in the imperial capital. However, I know how powerful our parents are. I do not believe they actually died. Maybe they are injured or in hiding currently. I can only pray that our siblings also made it out. During the escape, only Anne made it out of the 10 powerful guards who came with me. The enemies managed to strike me and severely injure me. It took me three long years to heal from that injury. During that time, the Argentum family found me and helped acquire herbs for me to heal. I was young and gullible, and thought they were just a kind family who wanted to help me. Only later did they tell me that although my old injury healed, there was a new kind of slow-acting poison in my body that chained me to the family." Even now Eden's hands clenched into tight fists as she recalled that terrible moment. "From that time on, I stayed in that family as they pushed me to further my magician level and forcefully dragged me into dangerous areas to hunt for treasure."
Greyson could only feel stabbing pain in his heart for this girl. Although his life as an orphan was not easy by any means, Sister Lily was extremely benevolent and caring. She cared for all the orphans like her own children. Eden's fate was much worse than his. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and wanted to comfort her. However, before he could get his words out, the door to the room was swung open in a hurry.
"Sir, the City Lord's son is here asking for you. My small inn cannot keep them out..." The inn's owner was wiping sweat off his brow nervously as he was not sure what he to do as the middle man. "He said he wants to duel you on top of the city's battle stage. He is waiting outside for your response."
His curiosity piqued, Greyson glanced out the window and saw a familiar arrogant face waiting with a new group of guards and that same servant.
"A battle?" A wide grin started spreading across Greyson's face. "Sounds perfect. I will go out and tell them, no need to worry about it."
Even Lucius sent over a mental message, "Hahahaha, you let them go the easy way and yet they crawl back with the perfect excuse for you to beat them up. Too convenient!"
"True, plus my hands have been feeling itchy. An annoying face delivered itself right into my hands, of course I need to take advantage of it."
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Although she was trying her best to hide her anxiety, Eden could barely keep still after being invited in by Greyson. The two of them sat in silence for a good amount of time. Greyson could tell that she still felt conflicted about whatever she was going to say, so he did not interrupt her thoughts and continued waiting. While Eden continued her inner battle, Greyson decided to walk over to the night stand and pour out cups of water for the both of them. Before handing the cup over to Eden, Greyson's eyes flashed red as he heated up the water. The night was cold so he just thought warm water was more appropriate. However, when he looked up to hand the cup over, he realized that Eden was looking at him in a daze. In the next moment, she suddenly grabbed his arm violently.
"Do your eyes always change color? Is it when you use magic?!" Confused by her excitement, Greyson frowned and wrenched his arm from her grasp.
"Ms. Ley, I have treated you with nothing but respect and I would request that you reciprocate, otherwise I really do not see a future friendship between the two of us. It is none of your business, but if you must know, yes, my eyes always change color when I activate a certain element's mana. I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable with all the personal questions you ask me. There is not really any problem with telling you, however, asking so many just leaves me suspicious about your intentions." After such a long day and having to deal with Claire, Greyson used up all his patience already. Now, even Eden shows up and continues her odd habit of asking odd questions. Well he has had enough of just playing along. "I can tell that there has been something on your mind for a while, why don't you just tell me already? I sense no ill intent from you, so I answered your questions, but I am tired of this one-sided back and forth."
Hearing his words, Eden's face turned pale and she nibbled on her lips. She really did want to tell him, to the point it was driving her crazy. Only, she was finding it hard to get over the leftover trauma from her last encounter. Nobody understood the pain she endured throughout her stay as the glorified dog of the Argentum family. All she ever thought about was reuniting with her family and maybe eventually getting revenge, these thoughts kept her going. The moment she thought she discovered her youngest brother, she cried tears of joy for an entire week every time she saw his face. For six whole months, she spoiled him and tried her best to provide him everything to make up for the family he lost. All she could think was that he suffered a worse fate than her, because he believed his family abandoned him and grew up an unloved orphan. Blinded by her joy, only when Anne finally brought undeniable proof of that boy's lies did Eden finally wake up. His death threw her back down into hell and it took her a couple years to forget about it. Many more signs appeared on Greyson than the other boy, therefore she felt more and more confident that she was not too desperate this time and making assumptions. Thinking back to Greyson's eyes changing color, Eden finally hardened her heart and decided to let everything go today.
"I... I think you might be my youngest brother..." After slight hesitation, Eden grit her teeth and blurted it out finally. However, she did not see the expected shock or maybe happiness on Greyson's face after she said this. Curiosity was there and maybe some doubts, but not anything extreme. This lackluster reaction was not because Greyson was not glad about possible news about his biological family, but more because he did not want to allow himself to get too happy and excited before things were clearly explained. What if this was a mistake in judgment? Greyson longed for family and knowledge of his roots, but this did not mean he felt desperate enough to believe anyone who comes and claims to be his family. From all of Eden's questions, Greyson already formulated some inferences about what her curiosity was about. After all, her questions never deviated from his background, his age, even his hometown.
"Why do you think so? There are probably millions upon millions of other orphans with similar situations to me all over the world. Could you explain clearly? I do not mean to say you are lying to me, I just want to be sure before celebrating to early."
Eden at first just froze, not knowing how to respond to Greyson. This boy's attitude was so completely different from the other one, as that jerk's eyes lit up with greed the minute, he thought he was related to her. Finding more confidence, she began the story.
"I am not originally from the Idris Kingdom. 13 years ago, I was the princess of a now fallen kingdom called the Ley Kingdom. To be exact, I was the 5th princess. When an unknown enemy attacked, I was only 5 years old so I am not completely sure of any of the details of who it was and why they attacked. However, after destroying most of the kingdom and its citizens, the enemy just left and the land became wasteland. However, our mother was not human even though she was the queen of a human kingdom. She was an elf and a very powerful one. Father was a mixed blood, half-human and half-dragon. Although the Ley Kingdom was only a tier three kingdom, most people misunderstood as that meant we were weak. Our mother and father were extremely powerful, they taught all of us siblings magic. The overall power of the kingdom was tier three, but the royal family was much more than that. Our mother and father had seven children. The first was a boy, then a girl, two more boys, two girls, and then the youngest was a boy. I was the fifth child and second daughter. While the kingdom was under attack, our closest servants brought all of us on separate routes that our parents already thought out for us. The only issue was with the seventh child. He was only just born the day the imperial capital burned to the ground and mother and father did not have enough time to raise a strong servant for him. Therefore, during the escape, it was highly likely that he would not survive. This was where my questions for you came into play. The Willow Town you speak of is one of the closest towns to the border between the old Ley Kingdom and the Edysa Kingdom. You were born 13 years ago and found in the woods the day after the attack. You obviously have elf blood and you look uncannily similar to our mother. Even your eyes changing color is a signal of your identity. I am not completely sure of the details, however, a little before you were born, there was some sort of mishap in your birth. Mother started experiencing great pain and your life force was weakening. Trying their best, mother and father sought all sorts of doctors and physicians to stabilize the fetus. Using expensive and powerful magic herbs, they prolonged your life. Until one day, a very mysterious, yet powerful, man arrived in the kingdom. He trespassed actually and injected something into the queen while she was too weak to fight back. In his anger, after father discovered him, he quickly attacked. In that moment the man's eyes glowed different colors before a powerful attack rained down and pushed father back. In the next moment, the man was gone. Afterwards, you no longer had any issues and mother soon gave birth to the healthy you. Both mother and father were still extremely worried about what the man injected and not knowing had put both of them under a lot of stress for you. Looking at you now, that man must have injected something related to him, like a bloodline of some sort."
No longer able to stop herself, Eden let the entire story just flow out of her. Greyson listened carefully and could not help but agree than Eden's assumption sounded correct. So many questions popped up in his mind, however, he could tell she did not have the answers. What could a five-year-old know about the kingdom's affairs? Excitement to know his identity grew with sadness to know that his family could possibly be dead except for this sister.
"Are the queen and king still alive?" Although he believed her words, Greyson could not yet bring himself to call them mother and father.
"A lot of people claim they both fell after the battle in the imperial capital. However, I know how powerful our parents are. I do not believe they actually died. Maybe they are injured or in hiding currently. I can only pray that our siblings also made it out. During the escape, only Anne made it out of the 10 powerful guards who came with me. The enemies managed to strike me and severely injure me. It took me three long years to heal from that injury. During that time, the Argentum family found me and helped acquire herbs for me to heal. I was young and gullible, and thought they were just a kind family who wanted to help me. Only later did they tell me that although my old injury healed, there was a new kind of slow-acting poison in my body that chained me to the family." Even now Eden's hands clenched into tight fists as she recalled that terrible moment. "From that time on, I stayed in that family as they pushed me to further my magician level and forcefully dragged me into dangerous areas to hunt for treasure."
Greyson could only feel stabbing pain in his heart for this girl. Although his life as an orphan was not easy by any means, Sister Lily was extremely benevolent and caring. She cared for all the orphans like her own children. Eden's fate was much worse than his. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and wanted to comfort her. However, before he could get his words out, the door to the room was swung open in a hurry.
"Sir, the City Lord's son is here asking for you. My small inn cannot keep them out..." The inn's owner was wiping sweat off his brow nervously as he was not sure what he to do as the middle man. "He said he wants to duel you on top of the city's battle stage. He is waiting outside for your response."
His curiosity piqued, Greyson glanced out the window and saw a familiar arrogant face waiting with a new group of guards and that same servant.
"A battle?" A wide grin started spreading across Greyson's face. "Sounds perfect. I will go out and tell them, no need to worry about it."
Even Lucius sent over a mental message, "Hahahaha, you let them go the easy way and yet they crawl back with the perfect excuse for you to beat them up. Too convenient!"
"True, plus my hands have been feeling itchy. An annoying face delivered itself right into my hands, of course I need to take advantage of it."
Although she was trying her best to hide her anxiety, Eden could barely keep still after being invited in by Greyson. The two of them sat in silence for a good amount of time. Greyson could tell that she still felt conflicted about whatever she was going to say, so he did not interrupt her thoughts and continued waiting. While Eden continued her inner battle, Greyson decided to walk over to the night stand and pour out cups of water for the both of them. Before handing the cup over to Eden, Greyson's eyes flashed red as he heated up the water. The night was cold so he just thought warm water was more appropriate. However, when he looked up to hand the cup over, he realized that Eden was looking at him in a daze. In the next moment, she suddenly grabbed his arm violently."Do your eyes always change color? Is it when you use magic?!" Confused by her excitement, Greyson frowned and wrenched his arm from her grasp."Ms. Ley, I have treated you with nothing but respect and I would request that you reciprocate, otherwise I really do not see a future friendship between the two of us. It is none of your business, but if you must know, yes, my eyes always change color when I activate a certain element's mana. I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable with all the personal questions you ask me. There is not really any problem with telling you, however, asking so many just leaves me suspicious about your intentions." After such a long day and having to deal with Claire, Greyson used up all his patience already. Now, even Eden shows up and continues her odd habit of asking odd questions. Well he has had enough of just playing along. "I can tell that there has been something on your mind for a while, why don't you just tell me already? I sense no ill intent from you, so I answered your questions, but I am tired of this one-sided back and forth."Hearing his words, Eden's face turned pale and she nibbled on her lips. She really did want to tell him, to the point it was driving her crazy. Only, she was finding it hard to get over the leftover trauma from her last encounter. Nobody understood the pain she endured throughout her stay as the glorified dog of the Argentum family. All she ever thought about was reuniting with her family and maybe eventually getting revenge, these thoughts kept her going. The moment she thought she discovered her youngest brother, she cried tears of joy for an entire week every time she saw his face. For six whole months, she spoiled him and tried her best to provide him everything to make up for the family he lost. All she could think was that he suffered a worse fate than her, because he believed his family abandoned him and grew up an unloved orphan. Blinded by her joy, only when Anne finally brought undeniable proof of that boy's lies did Eden finally wake up. His death threw her back down into hell and it took her a couple years to forget about it. Many more signs appeared on Greyson than the other boy, therefore she felt more and more confident that she was not too desperate this time and making assumptions. Thinking back to Greyson's eyes changing color, Eden finally hardened her heart and decided to let everything go today."I... I think you might be my youngest brother..." After slight hesitation, Eden grit her teeth and blurted it out finally. However, she did not see the expected shock or maybe happiness on Greyson's face after she said this. Curiosity was there and maybe some doubts, but not anything extreme. This lackluster reaction was not because Greyson was not glad about possible news about his biological family, but more because he did not want to allow himself to get too happy and excited before things were clearly explained. What if this was a mistake in judgment? Greyson longed for family and knowledge of his roots, but this did not mean he felt desperate enough to believe anyone who comes and claims to be his family. From all of Eden's questions, Greyson already formulated some inferences about what her curiosity was about. After all, her questions never deviated from his background, his age, even his hometown."Why do you think so? There are probably millions upon millions of other orphans with similar situations to me all over the world. Could you explain clearly? I do not mean to say you are lying to me, I just want to be sure before celebrating to early."Eden at first just froze, not knowing how to respond to Greyson. This boy's attitude was so completely different from the other one, as that jerk's eyes lit up with greed the minute, he thought he was related to her. Finding more confidence, she began the story."I am not originally from the Idris Kingdom. 13 years ago, I was the princess of a now fallen kingdom called the Ley Kingdom. To be exact, I was the 5th princess. When an unknown enemy attacked, I was only 5 years old so I am not completely sure of any of the details of who it was and why they attacked. However, after destroying most of the kingdom and its citizens, the enemy just left and the land became wasteland. However, our mother was not human even though she was the queen of a human kingdom. She was an elf and a very powerful one. Father was a mixed blood, half-human and half-dragon. Although the Ley Kingdom was only a tier three kingdom, most people misunderstood as that meant we were weak. Our mother and father were extremely powerful, they taught all of us siblings magic. The overall power of the kingdom was tier three, but the royal family was much more than that. Our mother and father had seven children. The first was a boy, then a girl, two more boys, two girls, and then the youngest was a boy. I was the fifth child and second daughter. While the kingdom was under attack, our closest servants brought all of us on separate routes that our parents already thought out for us. The only issue was with the seventh child. He was only just born the day the imperial capital burned to the ground and mother and father did not have enough time to raise a strong servant for him. Therefore, during the escape, it was highly likely that he would not survive. This was where my questions for you came into play. The Willow Town you speak of is one of the closest towns to the border between the old Ley Kingdom and the Edysa Kingdom. You were born 13 years ago and found in the woods the day after the attack. You obviously have elf blood and you look uncannily similar to our mother. Even your eyes changing color is a signal of your identity. I am not completely sure of the details, however, a little before you were born, there was some sort of mishap in your birth. Mother started experiencing great pain and your life force was weakening. Trying their best, mother and father sought all sorts of doctors and physicians to stabilize the fetus. Using expensive and powerful magic herbs, they prolonged your life. Until one day, a very mysterious, yet powerful, man arrived in the kingdom. He trespassed actually and injected something into the queen while she was too weak to fight back. In his anger, after father discovered him, he quickly attacked. In that moment the man's eyes glowed different colors before a powerful attack rained down and pushed father back. In the next moment, the man was gone. Afterwards, you no longer had any issues and mother soon gave birth to the healthy you. Both mother and father were still extremely worried about what the man injected and not knowing had put both of them under a lot of stress for you. Looking at you now, that man must have injected something related to him, like a bloodline of some sort."No longer able to stop herself, Eden let the entire story just flow out of her. Greyson listened carefully and could not help but agree than Eden's assumption sounded correct. So many questions popped up in his mind, however, he could tell she did not have the answers. What could a five-year-old know about the kingdom's affairs? Excitement to know his identity grew with sadness to know that his family could possibly be dead except for this sister."Are the queen and king still alive?" Although he believed her words, Greyson could not yet bring himself to call them mother and father."A lot of people claim they both fell after the battle in the imperial capital. However, I know how powerful our parents are. I do not believe they actually died. Maybe they are injured or in hiding currently. I can only pray that our siblings also made it out. During the escape, only Anne made it out of the 10 powerful guards who came with me. The enemies managed to strike me and severely injure me. It took me three long years to heal from that injury. During that time, the Argentum family found me and helped acquire herbs for me to heal. I was young and gullible, and thought they were just a kind family who wanted to help me. Only later did they tell me that although my old injury healed, there was a new kind of slow-acting poison in my body that chained me to the family." Even now Eden's hands clenched into tight fists as she recalled that terrible moment. "From that time on, I stayed in that family as they pushed me to further my magician level and forcefully dragged me into dangerous areas to hunt for treasure."Greyson could only feel stabbing pain in his heart for this girl. Although his life as an orphan was not easy by any means, Sister Lily was extremely benevolent and caring. She cared for all the orphans like her own children. Eden's fate was much worse than his. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and wanted to comfort her. However, before he could get his words out, the door to the room was swung open in a hurry."Sir, the City Lord's son is here asking for you. My small inn cannot keep them out..." The inn's owner was wiping sweat off his brow nervously as he was not sure what he to do as the middle man. "He said he wants to duel you on top of the city's battle stage. He is waiting outside for your response."His curiosity piqued, Greyson glanced out the window and saw a familiar arrogant face waiting with a new group of guards and that same servant."A battle?" A wide grin started spreading across Greyson's face. "Sounds perfect. I will go out and tell them, no need to worry about it."Even Lucius sent over a mental message, "Hahahaha, you let them go the easy way and yet they crawl back with the perfect excuse for you to beat them up. Too convenient!""True, plus my hands have been feeling itchy. An annoying face delivered itself right into my hands, of course I need to take advantage of it."
