The sun was setting when a maid knocked on Kailen's door to inform him that Celia wished to talk, he promptly made his way there. Kailen failed to notice in the corner of the room watching him walk past was a blonde man with a scowl slowly masking his face as he worked out where Kailen was headed. The man was Nilen, the arrogant man that confronted Kailen and Kenneth a few days earlier.
He'd been enamored by the Lady Celia for almost two years much like the many other suitors that she had. Nilen wasn't exactly surprised that she didn't take a liking to him as she had many suitors much more capable than himself, what he couldn't understand however was her fascination with this low life before him. The man was handsome, Nilen conceded but many other of her admirers were also.
Nilen decided not to confront Kailen as he left with a wrathful expression twisting his somewhat handsome face.
Meanwhile, Kailen was treated to their usual tea as Celia and he sat facing one another. Kailen asked her a question as he stretched out his arm which was still fairly painful after his recent training.
"So when will we be leaving for the capital?"
"Two days, I will hire three carriages to bring some of my maids along. You can also sleep within the spare one if you wish, there will probably be three other bodyguards accompanying us."
"Okay, I've never traveled through Nictra before so is there anything I should know?"
Kailen was excited by the prospect of visiting new places, he also wanted to be prepared for the upcoming journey.
"Well, we will have to cross the Dassar desert which shall take us a few days. There is very little vegetation and the beasts that do live there can be vicious."
"If that's the case why hire so few bodyguards?"
"Well, it's very rare to meet anything there. The bodyguards are to protect us from the occasional bandit group."
It seemed that Celia was not worried about the danger from the carefree expression present on her face, which eased Kailen's worries. He was curious about this vicious wildlife she mentioned, though he doubted it could compare with Villith's true form. They sat in silence for a few moments, Kailen's imagination running wild on these new creatures she mentioned.
"Do you ever wonder about your parents Kailen?"
The question seemed to catch him off guard as he looked at her surprised for a few moments before contemplating his answer.
"Quite often, though my feelings on the topic are complex."
It seemed his answer was expected as she nodded understandingly before answering her own question.
"I wonder about them every day, though I think I hope that they died when I was young and not discarded by them. The idea of them being alive and well, leaving me alone to rot turns me sick."
Kailen could understand how she felt, he felt the same though from what he'd heard from the owner of the orphanage they found him outside their door, therefore, the chances were higher for the later.
Celia watched his expression silently for a few moments, her eyes offering comfort seeing his downcast expression.
Kailen took his leave after a couple of minutes, no longer in the mood to be interested in conversing he headed out into the night's streets. His fists clenched tightly as he walked down a dark alley towards the river, his thoughts revolving on the issue like they often did. His thoughts in turmoil as feelings of shame, sadness and most of all anger seemed to consume him, his eyes ever so faintly turning a dark shade of red.
The perfect release for his emotions seemed to present itself to him as two large ruffian men emerged from the side building both holding knives and looking at him excitedly.
"Hey boy! Give us everything you have or we'll slice your cock off!"
Kailen didn't reply as he runs towards the men intent on making their day as painful as possible, the two men surprised that their target suddenly started to run at them readied their knives in preparation.
The dark alley was narrow just about the width for the two men to completely block the exit, Kailen used his forearm to dislodge the incoming slash from his right while grabbing the other man's wrist with his left hand. With a sudden twist and pull the man on his left was left stumbling towards him, to which Kailen replied with a swift knee to the plums.
The man's expression twisting due to the extreme pain before collapsing as his eyes rolled back into his skull. His partner suddenly terrified due to the extremely ruthless attack on his friend's manhood, turned to run.
Kailen followed him closely before sweeping his leg, resulting in the man faceplanting the hard cold ground below. Jumping on his back, Kailen grabbed a fistful of his greasy long hair before slamming his face repeatedly into the ground below. Blood and teeth scattered across the dark ground were caught by a nearby candle providing a bloody red glow to illuminate the vicious scene. After a few moments of repeated slamming, Kailen's breathing started to even as his eyes slowly lost their red color and his thoughts returned.
As he slowly examined the scene of destruction around him a faint grimace marred his handsome face, now covered in blood he decided to head towards the river to wash off what he could before heading back to his room. A feeble, sad smile was present on his face as he slowly walked back, thinking back on what caused him to lose control of his emotions.