On the way there, Kale kept his eyes open and stole glances around. It seemed like they were Kale to the residential section where they lived together.
Five to six-story tall buildings could be seen around his eyes. The distance between the buildings was so close that the road in the center seemed small to pass through. Kale could tell that the building looked very old, making him quite worried that it wouldn't last long.
They came to the end of the street where there was a simple one-story house with a middle-aged man drinking black coffee on the porch. The two men carrying Kale immediately dropped him down.
"Leader, sorry to interrupt your time, we found an intruder in the market."
The middle-aged man placed his coffee on the table. His head began to lower as he looked at Kale who was below him, sitting up from where he had been lying.
"How old is he?" The middle-aged man called the leader and began to ask.
"Around 12-13? This child is quite short, so we can't be sure."
Kale shook his head. "I just turned 15. Last night was my birthday..."
'... Although it can't be called a birthday either...' his mind continued.
The middle-aged man nodded. "What's your name and where did you live before?"
Kale answered as he was, "My name is Kale. I don't have a surname. Previously, I lived with a foster family, they were a tribe of three-eyed monsters from the interior. If you know the four seasons forest, that's where that tribe lives, you just have to go deeper to find them."
The four big men were surprised. No wonder Kale still looked fine despite being kicked and stomped by those who had considerable strength there.
'This kid has magical powers through a monster contract?!' the four thought.
The leader nodded. "No wonder you look fine. Noble blood, magical powers... Turns out you're a member of a certain cult group, huh."
What group?
"Yes, I do have royal blood. But, that cult you're referring to, what cult?"
"It's legal, leader! We must try this child fairly!" One of them immediately raised a loud voice while pointing at Kale.
"Wait, what cult?"
"Leader! We must put him on trial right now!" Interrupted again. Kale finally shut up and decided to go with the flow. The middle-aged man sitting before him seemed to bow slightly, asking in a low voice near Kale.
"You are a noble?"
Kale replied, "I was before--"
"Isn't it obvious, even from her clothes she does look like a noble most of the time!" Interrupted again. Kale let out an exasperated sigh. The middle-aged man immediately turned to the owner of the voice, shushing him for a moment before finally telling Kale to continue speaking.
"Continue."
"Previously yes, I was indeed a mixed-blood noble. However, when I was 10 years old, my father decided to dispose of me and took away the noble title from my name. He said that because my position would only threaten my brother's potential to become the next Clan leader, Father decided to discard me..."
"After all, mixed blood is usually discarded."
Kale continued, "It wasn't until I met Yesan, that she took me to the Three-Eyed Monster Tribe. It was there that I was adopted as their last child and was there for five years until I suddenly got lost here. That's it."
The middle-aged man nodded. "Why did you guys beat him up?" he asked while looking at the four big men behind Kale.
"He was blackmailing and threatening a fruit vendor at the market."
Kale glared at that, he looked back with a hurt look. "Why are you lying? I didn't even do anything to him. Just asked 'where is this' because I was lost. Don't slander me, it's a sin and God will be angry with you!"
Kale stared at the leader with a look full of confidence that his words were truthful.
"Sir, I'm neither extorting nor stealing, just check my pocket. I'm just asking for the location because I'm lost!" The leader originally looked at Kale, until he finally told the four big men to check his pants pockets.
Two of them immediately pulled Kale's arm to stand up, while one of them reached into the right and left pockets of Kale's pants.
Quietly, the master, who was reaching into Kale's pockets, inserted a few coins from his pocket. He finally pulled his hand out and showed the leader the coin he had smuggled in earlier. "Leader, look, this kid is lying."
Kale was surprised to see him. He was released by the two big men who had been holding his arm. Kale immediately checked his pocket, wondering how an empty pocket could be filled with a coin.
'Perhaps... They are slandering me? But, why?' Kale wondered.
The leader looked at Kale with the same face. "Son, you know what you did wrong, right? Here we can't forgive a single lie, especially if you have royal blood."
"Take this boy to the commonplace and tomorrow we will put him on trial."
"Yes, Leader!" Kale was immediately lifted like a big sack by one of the men there. He remained silent. Pondering a few things.
Why did he have to be slandered? Was it because of his royal blood? But why would they hate noble blood so much?
When he was beaten by four big men at the market. Normally, the other adults would have stopped because Kale's height gave enough evidence that he was still a child. However, they were just watching, Kale could catch their eyes looking satisfied before finally resuming his activities.
Then, the part where the four big men kept interrupting his sentences, and even the leader looked at him without empathy just because he was a noble.
In her former place. No matter how bad the nobles were, the people didn't hate them that much. A clear example was her cousin Kale whom he found in the Moon Clan. They often bullied him and even treated him like trash. However, no one dared to confront them.
Even the people had been bullied a few times by him if one day his cousin was in danger they would help him. But, it was different here.
Could it be that the nobles here had done something more horrible than her world?
- BRAK
Kale was thrown into a dark room that only provided light from the small window on the wall in front of him. He sat up, looking toward the closed door.
Kale's gaze returned to his surroundings, where the place was currently quite dirty. Full of rats, unpleasant odors, and blood stains from the walls. It was similar to his bed in the Moon Clan.
Seeing all this again would only make Kale remember the old incident. Clasping his legs to his chest, Kale buried his face between his elbows above his knees. He decided to sleep to get rid of the trembling caused by remembering the dark childhood he had when he lived in the Moon Clan and had yet to meet brother Chale.
...
...
...
The next day. Kale was rudely awakened. He was doused with water so cold that it made Kale's body shocked and wet.
"Wake up too, you spoiled brat. Today is the day you will be given a fair trial by our leader!" Kale was silent, still processing everything. He recalled how two days ago was his birthday, the massacre of his adopted family, how Chale's brother had to die at his hands, he was the one who died, until finally the second day he was in a place where he was not recognized, beaten again like before, until finally he was slandered and finally he was awakened to be tried fairly.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Kale was surprised to hear that shout.
He nodded. "I heard. It's just that I'm still a little surprised to be woken up using water."
The big man laughed sarcastically. "Of course, a noble child like you will never understand how miserable we have been. You are always woken up gently and immediately receive warm water for bathing, right."
'Not really...' Kale answered silently. If he answered directly it might hurt his feelings. Kale understood how this man might have suffered as he had during his stay at the Moon Clan's residence.
"Now we must go." He walked over to Kale and immediately pulled him to walk.
"Okay, I understand. I'll walk by myself, don't pull me, I still have legs."
Kale was led back to the front of the leader's house, there was a slight difference from yesterday. He found a stage complete with a guillotine on it. Many people in the area began to gather around the stage when they finally saw him appear, one by one they began to shout various bad words.
"DIE! KILL HIM!"
"NOBLES DESERVE TO DIE!!!"
Kale was brought up to the stage just to meet the leader who was there. When Kale finally made it up, the leader ordered one of the big men accompanying him to immediately tie Kale's hands behind his back.
"Wait a minute, why do I have to be tied up?" asked Kale feeling confused about his situation. Wasn't he supposed to be on trial?
"Maybe you don't know how the device beside us works." The leader's answer made Kale turn his head to the right to look at the guillotine.
"What does this mean?" Kale looked back at the leader.
"Sir, yesterday you said that today I will be tried. So, why give me the death penalty if you did not conduct the trial properly?"
"Perhaps you don't know this sentence. Now, listen to this sentence carefully, understand it and you will understand why I am doing this." The Leader's voice seemed to pause for a moment, before finally resuming.
"Nobles do not deserve a trial. They should be executed immediately."
After hearing that answer, Kale was immediately pulled towards the guillotine. The people were still faithfully shouting at him with cruel words until finally Kale's head was lowered in the device, he looked for a moment at the Leader behind him.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Kale knew that if he looked for a defense no one would listen to him. What kind of bad deeds had the Noble done, that made the people there hate him so much?
One of the four men Kale recognized seemed to take on the role of executioner, as his hand prepared to drop the knife to cut his throat.
There was a loud crash from the back of the group. Scream after scream could be heard. The community began to break up, running here and there to avoid the uniformed troops who entered their place while carrying sharp weapons.
"RUN!!! THEY ARE COMING! THEY'RE COMING!"
The leader was startled when his eyes met the eyes of the person leading the chaos there.
"Wow... Looks like I disturbed the execution ceremony, huh." An unfamiliar voice sounded from a distance. Kale raised his face slightly.
Just like the leader of the place, Kale also found someone who seemed to be leading the chaos at the execution event for him.
'Is he the one who made this place hate Nobles so much?' Kale asked silently.