Painful. Kale could barely restrain himself from showing his sadness at the Leader's story.
The leader immediately got up from the bed and walked towards the outside. "One moment, sir." He stopped his footsteps, while Kale immediately lifted his body slowly to get up.
"I feel sorry for what happened to you back then." The leader listened to Kale's voice silently without turning around.
"On behalf of the nobles, I sincerely apologize to you and the residents who shared the suffering of the nobles in question."
Kale bowed, making the wounds on his body reopen to soak the bandages that had just been changed. "I know that this request is not worth all that you have endured. Therefore, I, Kale, promise to guard you from any danger out there."
"Anyone who dares to disturb your peace, no matter who he is, I will put my body on the line to stand up to protect this place. Please accept my apology, sir."
The leader turned to look at him, seeing how Kale was trying to bend over while sitting towards him, letting the wound on his body reopen and making the bandage he had just changed wet with his blood.
"... Why are you apologizing to us?"
It was not Kale's fault.
In fact, from the very beginning, Kale had done nothing wrong to them. On the contrary, it was Kale who had always been kind and honest to them.
So, why should Kale apologize to them when he had never done anything wrong?
"I'm indirectly a noble too," Kale said as he lifted his body again, wincing in pain as the wound on his stomach opened up again, making the new bandage wet again.
"I'm sorry, the bandage got wet again..." Kale smiled in embarrassment, he had become a nuisance to the leader of the place again. He must have been busy doing other things besides taking care of the treatment. However, Kale...
"You can put the tray here and I will replace it myself." Kale lowered his head to look at the wound that continued to get wet.
The leader could not react in any way, he was completely at a loss.
"I understand you have trust issues with the nobles, including me who has noble blood as well. So, you don't have to believe the words I said just now."
Kale raised his face to stare at the leader who was still in place. "The most important thing is, to believe what you see and feel. The rest you don't need to think about."
...
...
...
After the leader left after changing the bandages again, Kale was told to rest while he had to go take care of some things out there.
Unfortunately, Kale could not sleep. He was still thinking about how the Leader had told him about his childhood. It was very painful.
'He must have felt a lifetime of guilt because his principal had caused his father to die. Even though it wasn't entirely his fault.' Kale thought.
'His thinking is pretty good, fighting for freedom, but I also can't blame his father's decision to keep running. Because from the sounds of it, the father couldn't do much to defend himself, and the risk was high because he had to protect his son and wife.' Kale let out a frustrated sigh.
'Why is Noel doing all this? He not only took away the freedom of the locals but also played with their trust. I want to know the reason behind what Noel did to all of them.' Kale decided to close his eyes. Continuing to think and assume what was the real reason Noel had acted so maliciously towards the people here.
...
...
...
"Today is your birthday, isn't it?" Kale opened his eyes, blinking repeatedly to make sure that he was awake and not dreaming.
His gaze was drawn towards the source of the voice, where there was a 20-year-old mature woman with long red hair looking in the mirror in the room they were in. Then, her three red eyes seemed to look at Kale who was now sitting on the bed.
"Why are you so quiet, Kale?"
That... Yesan?
The older sister of the three-eyed monster tribe?
"Kale...? Are you sick, my dear?" She walked over to him worriedly, grabbing his face to check if his temperature had risen. "Normal... Neither hot nor cold. What's wrong with you, Kale?"
Kale did not feel any warmth from Yesan's hand touching his face.
That is...
This was a dream.
Kale looked down gloomily. Feeling sad about the fact that the older sister he was seeing right now was just a dream.
Noticing the sad look on his little brother's face, Yesan was confused and began to guess what had caused his little brother to become like this.
'Is he thinking about his family again? I think my question earlier made him think back to the family that threw him away.' Yesan felt regretful. She quickly moved her hands away from Kale's face and grabbed her little brother's hand.
"My Kale, want to come with me to the market?" Yesan asked with a bright smile. Kale lifted his face and paused for a moment to see that smile, feeling very nostalgic because he knew he would never be able to see that smile after waking up from his dream.
"I'm in."
Right now Kale just wanted to enjoy the momentary warmth of his old family again. Although when he woke up, all dreams would disappear.
Outside the hinterland of the Four Seasons Forest, Kale and Yesan were walking in the bustling marketplace in oversized black robes. There was an underlying reason why Yesan and Kale wore black robes, although Kale was not obligated to wear them. However, for Yesan it was an obligation to avoid harm.
The humans hated the tribes scattered across the world. One tribe that is very famous for its rumors of ferocity and horror is the three-eyed monster tribe, it is said that they always go out at night to look for humans as their staple food, the reason why they have to go out at night is because they are allergic to the sun which will burn their skin and eyes.
Unfortunately, rumors are just rumors. According to Kale, they are better than humans in general. The three-eyed monster tribe is a vegetarian, they can't eat meat.
Their appearance was a bit scary because they had three red eyes on their face, but their nature was not that fierce, their fighting techniques were very deadly and almost always killed their opponents. However, those techniques are all used to protect themselves and others.
The rest are not used to attack others. They weren't allergic to the sun either, as they were very open to Kale who had the Sun Clan's spirituality. They guard themselves very well and can even hug themselves tightly.
The reason why there were rumors that they were allergic to the sun was because of one thing, which was that they never showed themselves among humans. The three-eyed monster tribe always hides and stays in the deepest forests of the four seasons. They would only come out to buy some necessities for their lives, after which they would just stay in the forest.
"Kale do you like dolls?" asked Yesan as they stopped in front of a children's doll shop. There were teddy bears, whales, monkeys, dogs, cats, and many more. Unfortunately, Kale wasn't interested in dolls.
"What do you want to buy?" Kale asked Yesan back.
"It's your birthday today, not mine, Kale. So, choose whatever gift you want here. I'll buy it for you, I promise." Kale felt bad about that. He had only been with them for a year, asking for a birthday present was a bit much for him.
"Don't feel bad," Yesan said when she realized Kale felt bad for her. "You are our family. You're my little brother. Think of me as your big sister, too, Kale. Buying a gift for a little brother is a normal thing for a big sister to do, right?"
"Buy whatever you want, okay?" asked Yesan. Seeing Kale still not moving to choose made her sigh in exasperation, Yesan immediately lowered her body to be at Kale's level and clasped his little brother's hands together.
"Little brother, do you still not think of me as your big sister?"
"No, I, I already think of you as ... My sister ..." Kale still seemed unsure. However, Yesan did not push too hard on Kale who had tried to open up to her. She gently stroked the small hand she was holding.
"I'll be sad if you don't choose your birthday present, do you want me to be sad?"
Only then did Kale look panicked? Making Yesan chuckle, it was a habit for Kale to always put other people's feelings before his own. "So, let's pick out his birthday present." Kale run away from her to choose the cheapest item that was small enough for him so as not to burden Yesan who intended to buy it for him.
Kale's choice fell on a light blue butterfly hair ornament. "Wow... It's beautiful," Yesan praised sincerely. However, her attention became distracted by Kale's short hair before finally looking at the gift Kale had chosen.
Yesan chuckled at that. "Where do you want to put the hairpin, Kale?" Kale gasped in surprise, as he quickly pulled his short hair and realized that he had been caught choosing a gift in a hurry and didn't realize that hairpins were for long hair.
Kale's face suddenly turned red. 'How embarrassing ... Sister Yesan will be upset with me!'
Yesan continued to laugh at his little brother's funny reaction, her eyes rolling in the other direction to find a little boy who had his mouth covered with a cloth by an old man.
From the looks of it, the man was intending to carry the child away, while the child seemed to be trying to escape as he raised his hand. Yesan looked where the hand was pointing --- there was a couple sorting jewelry. Yesan's gaze returned to the child the old man was now carrying, looking right and left before finally walking down a small alley.
"Hey, stop!" Yesan shouted as she run up to the old man.
Kale saw Yesan hurrying down the alleyway and immediately asked, "Where are you going?"
Putting the hairpin on the counter of the shop. Kale followed Yesan's footsteps into the alley.