Chancing upon the couple, Langa stopped them to ask for directions to the main forest, where his pack was, without having to walk. After answering all his questions, he noticed Freya holding something in her hands, something she didn't have before. "What is that?"
"I got it from Eden." Freya smirked. "A drug."
"A drug?!" Langa sounded genuinely worried for them. "Are you sure they are harmless?"
"It's a euphoriant for us to enjoy ourselves in bed. Want to hear more details?" Lloyd teased him. "Just in case, you have to use it on one of your girls later."
"No thanks." Langa had a straight expression on his face as he refused without hesitation. "If I had to, I would rather they only have their experience with me and…."
"Hahahahaha….!" Lloyd laughed whereas Freya was trying her best to hold her laughter in.
"I thought you would say something like I don't need them!" She couldn't hold her laughter in. "Hahahaha…I didn't expect the Alpha of a pack to be this….!"
Leaning into him, Freya disclosed her true voice, his original voice. "If you want the answers to everything, investigate the substance inside this drug." Hiding it under his sleeves, she handed him a small resealable bag with white powder in it.
"...innocent." Freya backed away as she finished her sentence. "It was fun talking with you. See you later!" She waved bye as she followed her husband with a slight skip in her steps.
"What's wrong with you?" Lloyd frowned as she was happier than her usual self, leaving Langa dumbfounded.
"Nothing." Freya smiled radiantly.
As they left, Langa resolved to see this case through to the end even if it led to something bigger before heading back to his clan. "It seems Eden had more involvement in our activities than I thought. I should be more vigilant."
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Charles, who drove the twins back home, escorted them to the house and took care of their needs while the two masters were away. Thinking about it, his daily routine on the weekdays has become like this - fetching the twins, and accompanying them until Callisto returns.
Although his encounter with Adrian, that monster, was ominous. If possible, he wouldn't like to meet him ever again.
The twins, refreshed from their bath, finished putting on comfortable pajamas, went out of their bedrooms and sat beside Charles in the living room.
Rune, however, sat opposite him and crossed her legs as if she was an inquisitor. He had a bad feeling. "You...what's your relationship with Adrian?"
Not expecting her to ask this question, he dodged it cleverly. "What relationship? Uhm…. if I had to say it would be a subordinate and a master's friend relationship."
"You are lying! You always have a habit of stroking your chin whenever you lie!"
"Huh?! It's true. I never interacted with him aside from the past. Besides, whether in the past or present, our relationship only amounted to that much."
"Hmm…." Rune could tell he thought of his relationship with Adrian as something ordinary but is actually quite the opposite. But seeing how Adrian was displeased to see Charles, it might be quite a love-hate relationship. Love from this side and hate from the other. She should get Adrian used to Charles and get them to converse while holding back the negative emotions.
Of course! The best way to do that was to let them spend more time with each other to get used to each other!
But,
the problem was….whether they would fight openly in front of her…
Well, they probably won't.
While Rune was pondering over a dilemma, Raul was busy interrogating Charles after he finished preparing their refreshments.
In an impatient but respectful tone, Raul demanded Charles to spill the whereabouts of his dad and Callisto. Although Raul didn't care where the duke was, with how often he saw the duke and his dad stick to each other like glue - mostly a one sided approach from Callisto - he figured they might as well be dating each other by now.
"Where are they?" He asked for the fourth time after getting declined in a roundabout way by Charles.
"Well, young master, they are doing a mission somewhere."
"And I am asking you where they are doing that?"
"I can't disclose that." Charles curled up like a tiny hamster in front of him. "Sorry, young master."
"Even if I am only asking to confirm whether they are safe?" Raul was. "Even if they may be in danger right now?"
"But, that's almost impossible." Charles refuted. "They are so strong. Plus, they have the duke's secret guards behind them. Besides, even if you go there, I doubt you'd help as much as the professionals do."
Raul pouted as he thought it over. "I just wanted to ask because I wanted a peace of mind."
"Hey," Rune smirked, smacking Raul's shoulders and pointing at herself, "you have me. If you wanted to, you should have just asked me honestly."
"I didn't want to ask you because I knew you would act like this…" Raul leaned his head against the couch.
"What way?"
Raul frowned. "Like a cat about to tease its prey."
"What…?" Rune shyly scratched her head. "Tee-hee! You found out!"
"Don't try to act cute with me." Raul got out of his seat as he walked towards the door. As soon as he stopped, the door opened magically as if to honor his presence.
Val and Callisto were startled to see him standing in front of them. "Why were you out so late?"
Raul's demanding tone certainly didn't match the cutesy pajamas he was wearing, however, it was what made it even more terrifying as Raul rarely got mad.
Val had never seen Raul as vexed as he was now. Val turned to Callisto for help, who shrugged, telling him to look out for himself and left him alone. "I was out buying sweets for you guys." As he handed a packet of sweets to Rune as a bribe to convince Raul, Raul scowled.
"Don't lie. You reek of drugs." Raul pinched his sensitive nose. "The same drugs that were enveloped around those two servants. Tell me honestly."
Val knew he couldn't avoid this question any longer. "We were on a disguise mission."
"For what?"
"For the drugs…" Val trailed off. "It's not safe to know further."
Raul knew what he was talking about. At this age, where he was the most powerless, anyone could easily use him to threaten his dad. This mission was dangerous.
"At least let us know…." Now that he thought it all over, Raul was embarrassed. Why did he even get mad although Val did this often when he was younger?
As expected, he wanted to grow into an adult quickly. "Next time, just let us know...beforehand, okay?"
"I get it." Val instantly became relaxed. "I will tell you when I will be late and send you my location. Is that okay now?"
"Yeah." Raul gave a nod.
"How was your school?" Val turned to Rune, waving at her to come over.
Rune waddled like a duck towards her. She sat on Val's lap. "Relatively fine."
"Clarify the definition of 'fine'."
Since Rune didn't want to explain the situation to him, Raul took the task instead. "She was calm in the classroom for the first and second period. However, a boy behind her desk once again teased her."
"It wasn't teasing! It was clearly a provocation!" Rune tried to speak out the things in her perspective but Val stopped her.
Raul carried on with his observations. "Obviously, the hot-headed, do-first-think-later girl she was, she charged straight at him and confronted him about it. The boy wanted her to do that because the note said she was motherless."
Val bit his lips for a second before speaking. "Are you sure that boy wrote it down?"
"Yes." Raul said. "I knew she would charge ahead, so I checked if our side's action was legally acceptable. It was."
"Nice going." Val praised him for it by patting him on the head. "Such insults will not go unforgiven by me. Do you have his picture?"
"Here." Raul pictured the boy and Rune pulling each other's hair out with all strength.
Val almost wanted to laugh, seeing their ridiculous expressions. He had to hold it in for Rune's sake. "I will remember him. The next time you see him doing a prank at you, ask him if he had a crush on you. That would deal the biggest blow."
Raul sighed, saying. "I also suggested that idea…."
Rune immediately agreed to it. "I will try to be the sarcastic type of responder."
"Hey," Raul held her shoulders and made her face him, "why did you listen to my advice when I gave you exactly the same one!?"
"Hahaha...," Rune avoided his eyes, "that's because you are untrustworthy." After she finished her sentence, she promptly darted away from him.
Raul chased her around the living room. "Wait!" Raul reached out for her but she evaded it quite easily. Clenching his fists, Raul became calm. "You are so infuriating!"
While the two kids were busy going around and the two adults were in their separate rooms, minding their own business, Charles was left wondering whether he should go home or just stay here for a bit longer. It was soon turning six. He should get going by now. As he opened the door, he didn't notice someone, about to ring the bell, fall down.
It was Adrian.
What was he doing here?
Grabbing him by the waist, Charles pulled Adrian towards him so that he didn't fall onto the ground and hurt himself.
"You….!" Adrian stuttered in surprise. Their lips came close to brushing over each other. Charles, knowing how inappropriate the close distance he had with Adrian, released him at once. Lowering his head, he couldn't bear to see Adrian's reaction to this since Adrian always had hated him to the bone.
"Please come in. You want to talk to the young master and young mistress, right?" Charles said as he closed the door and led him to the living room.
Val, sensing a presence entering the room, asked Charles who it was.
"Adrian."
Hearing his name, Val said nothing as if permitting his visit. "Who was that?" Adrian asked, not recognizing whose voice that was.
"It is Val." Charles answered.
"Val?" Adrian stroked his chin, trying hard to remember who it was. "Ah! Callisto mentioned him slightly before in our talks and I believe we've met one time before."
"Aside from your monstrous strength, you've got a good memory." Charles snided.
"Are you kidding me?"
"I am serious." Charles said as he stopped before the twins. "Raul, Rune, you've got a visitor."
"Are you serious!?" Rune's eyes lit up as she saw Adrian. "I was just thinking about contacting you to come over." She guided him to an open seat.
"Same here. I had a feeling someone was going to run away as soon as they saw me." Adrian glanced at Charles, who felt uncomfortable meeting his eyes.
"Who would?" Raul asked as if it wasn't obvious enough. She forgot that he was dense. Not the normal kind of dense who couldn't read the room, but the abnormal level of denseness, unable to read the room, moreover, his words often added fuel to the fire.
She'd seen it happen plenty of times.
His denseness was something she was reminded of from time to time because he was usually sharp and observant when it came to business and analyzing matters. She sighed wondering whether at this rate, her brother was going to ever get himself an appropriate wife.
"What?" Noticing his sister's dismal, he wanted to cheer her up, but it made her feel even worse.