Rafael had a smile on his face as he was tending to the kitten, he gently bandages its leg before walking towards the backyard, this part of the property was a forbidden place.
No one was allowed to come here except Rune and Diora, everyone thought that this place behind the door was a torture chamber, and Rafael would torture humans and animals.
Rafael opened the door and once he did, a very vast space was revealed this place was huge, covered with lush green grass and various plants this was heaven.
Heaven was created by him.
He slowly walked around, this was a place where Rafael had kept animals he found injured or abandoned. He raised them with care and kept them here.
This vast land sheltered many animals, like horses dogs, and birds, basically any injured animal he could find was bought here to be healed and the animals that would belong in the forest would be left in the forest but the ones that can be domesticated stayed here.
These animals became his family, his siblings thought he was obsessed with animals but he was not, it's just that the animals understood him better than humans, they didn't mock him they didn't need an explanation for the damn thing, they only wanted his attention and so they would stay by his side forever and remain loyal to him.
This was his safe place when he came here, he took a tour over there and met his dear his horse was shiny black colored that he found as a child this horse names sage was abused by it's owner and of course, Rafale being Rafale got in a very heated argument with the owner and bought the horse and he also paid visits to his favorite dogs that included a german shepherd, a golden retriever, labrador, a chihuahua and a Pitbull all of them were rescued by him he played with them for sometime before he left.
He made a special box for the little kitten and placed it in it before he went back to look at some files, ever since he has retired, he focuses on managing the finances of the household.
That was his life ..alcohol, and animals, and maybe this was going to be his life for a long time now.
With a sigh, he poured himself some alcohol and got to work, but a thought crept inside his mind and he thought something, If he becomes Simon's teacher, then it will cause Chaos...
Yug will be questioned the most, as to why would he send his son to a madman as a disciple. He will have to answer royalty, temple, and even nobility because it's no lie that everyone is interested in things that he does.
Why would Yug go through all this shit when he could just hire some other teacher, like Rune, Diora, or even he himself can teach his son.
And all of this will put a lot of pressure on Simon, that child how much can he take, because he would be looked down on because of having a mad man as a disciple, he would have to prove himself at every point.
Those bastards don't have the guts to come after him, and his brother or Yug, and they will target Simon.
Looks like he needs to have a discussion with Yug, but Rafael had not been in contact with Yug for like years. It's still tough to connect with him.
~~~
Simon's legs were shivering and his tiny body was covered with sweat as his cruel father made him do fifty sit-ups.
"That's forty-eight-two more," Yug said with a straight face.
Simon's hands were also shivering as he was holding his ear, he was a fucking adult a twenty-year-old goddamnit, and doing something like this was embarrassing.
But he cannot say no now can he? Because if it would have been his last life he would throw a tantrum yell and run away but wouldn't have done this in this life, his father's words and wishes were like his commands.
He will never go against his father ever again...in any way.
That's fifty." Yug said and smiled while Simon just sat on the floor huffing and puffing.
Yug picked him up and made him sit on his lap and gave him some water, "Now Simon will you make us worried next time?"
Simon shook his head, "Sorry, father."
"Hm...that's a good boy." he said, Rune who was there the whole time enjoyed the most, a guard came in a few minutes later and went to Rune, "Lord Rune there is someone here to meet you, he calls himself Darian."
Rune nodded and stood up before he looked at Yug and Simon, "You might want to hear this duke."
Simon looked back and forth between them he wants to hear what this is about.
Yug made him sit on the sofa, "Simon, you stay here, I will be back in a few minutes."
Simon smiled as if he was going to follow this order no way in hell, "Sure, father."
Yug left with Rune and after some time Simon also slowly followed them out.
"What is it?" Yug asked, once he came out and saw Riley.
"Greeting duke." he bowed before Yug, who gave him an acknowledging nod, and Rune spoke,
"Duke, you remember the wound on my back?"
Yug nodded.
"There is a story behind it." Rune said and passed before he began, "it was the second last day of the battle, we won....and some remaining enemy troupes were left to be wiped out, so we were relaxed about it because we knew that we can easily kill those handfuls of people.
I went for a walk in the village at the border, to look around the village was awfully quiet, which was quite acceptable but I stumbled around the cemetery and I was about to pass from there but I saw a group of people in there and huge fire and I had to see what they were doing. They were doing rituals"
Rune paused as he sighed and Yug frowned and said, ". Rituals require knowledge about religious scriptures and blood rituals can only and only be performed by a very experienced priest because if it went wrong it can cause a lot of damage to the soul of the one performing it and also the ones present there and the one getting sacrifice his soul will get lost."
Rune nodded, "Exactly duke, it's actually making me think that those people were not villagers, they were educated men and women and somehow they spotted me I was ready to fight them so I took my sword surprisingly they knew sword fighting as well...I was able to fight them and eventually they ran away."
"Then? how is this related to your wound?" Yug asked.
Rune spoke, "This is where it's weird because the next day at night our camp was attacked and the attacker specifically came for my tent as if they knew my tent and my location my weapons and my strategies, everything...they were prepared."
Yug's face became firm, "There was a traitor among you."
"Exactly, and that traitor was related to that blood ritual people... I think so...that's why I have sent Darian to investigate all this..."
Yug thought a little about this. He was in deep thought before he spoke, "Darian have you found anything?"
Darian nodded, and Yug replied, "Okay, wait for a while. I will call you soon."
Darian left and after he was gone Rune looked at him wanting to know why he sent Darian away, "Rune...do you think that this ritual is related to the cult of Mithras that Rafael talked about."
Rune's eyes widened as he thought about that, it actually made sense, maybe Rafael also witness something like he did?
And if that's true then Rafael really was not lying... guilt came like a tsunami in his heart before he looked at Yug who spoke, "Rafael, before he came back, he disappeared for one month on the battlefield.
With him, his four teammates were also gone...we all thought that he was dead...but Rafael came back...and his four teammates didn't, when asked he only told us that they were dead.
But how, when, and why he never told us that and no one even asked...he only focused on the part that the cult of Mithras was real..."
Rune still remembers those dreadful days, that one month he had gone insane to think that his brother was missing, and he went to look for him himself.
While Yug was no better he had gone insane, he sent a large group of men shook the entire empire to look for Rafael, and that was when Yug's strength came out, it was just a glimpse but once he wanted something, then even royalty and the temple couldn't say no to him.
Yug's lineage came from the founder's friend Devin Deo Marlon who had helped the founder build this empire and always stayed by his side was the second most powerful man but he was not greedy he had adopted a child and that child was Yug's ancestor.
Hence, like royalty that is the direct descendant of Sean's disciple, Aaron Yug's bloodline is the direct descendant of the second most powerful man after the founder which gives him and his family as much power as the royalty.
Rune spoke, "If this is related to the cult of Mithras...then Rafael should be involved."
Yug nodded, "But Rafael is impulsive last time he nearly got himself executed."
"Well this time he has us and he has calmed down. I believe that he won't do anything like that again...and duke, if this can give him hope and motivation to come out, then why not."
"This can be dangerous..."
"I know, but I want to dig deeper, because of the bandits, the cult, and now this ritual...a lot is going on behind the scenes and we have to dig deeper before something major happens."
Yug nodded, "I think this is the start of a revolution."
Rune added, "And destruction."
The two didn't notice Simon, who had heard every word, and stood with a straight face, "You are right. This is the start of revolution and destruction..."