As they all entered the restaurant, William and Lucielle decided to stay behind in the car. The staff had been informed beforehand about the Nightstar family visiting, but seeing all four of them still made the staff tremble out of fear. What if they offended them? They didn't dare to think of the consequences. Moon City, the city they lived in, was way too important and big for a mere viscount to handle alone. Yet the Nightstars could, and were allowed. Knowing that made everyone apprehensive, understanding that they were not what they seemed to be.
But what shocked them even more was the little girl with snow-white hair and blood-red eyes, the newest member of the Nightstar family, which almost no one knew of. Seeing her, almost all the staff members felt like they wanted to protect her and her precious smile. Then they looked at the heir of the Nightstars, Lucas Nightstar, who had the same hair and eyes as his little sister. The female staff members kept their eyes glued to him, their cheeks flushed red, while the male staff members didn't even want to know what they were thinking about, as a few were even clamping their own legs...
As the family sat together at a luxurious table with Lucas and Lena next to each other and their parents in front of them, a female waiter came to take their order after 10 minutes. The female waiter, as she wrote down the order on her tablet, kept stealing glances at Lucas, her cheeks taking on a red shade before she hurriedly left.
"Oh my, toying with the hearts of so many innocent maidens~" His mother teased Lucas as she sat in front of him, bringing a scowl to his face.
"What toying with the hearts? It's not like I did anything."
"Fufu, that is true, after all, only the elven princess's heart is the one you want~"
"What? No! Can't I just have a female friend? Besides, we barely spent a month together!" He said through gritted teeth.
'It's not like I can fall in love so fast! I don't even know how that would feel!'
"Love is strange, after all, dear. Your father and I fell in love at first sight," his mother said, shocking him honestly.
"First sight? Really?" He said, not believing them.
"Of course. It was back at the academy when I saw your mother at the entrance ceremony. It was like all sound faded from the room, and only your mother and I were there, looking into each other's eyes for seemingly an eternity," his father answered with a distant gaze as Lucas glanced at his mother, seeing a small blush forming on her face.
'Well damn... they totally fell for each other.'
As he watched both of them now looking at each other as if they were in their own little world, he couldn't help but interrupt and ask a weird question.
"U-um, so how exactly does it feel to... you know? Love?"
Hearing his question, they both snapped out of their daze and looked at him with intense gazes. He couldn't help but avert his eyes.
'Ugh, this is embarrassing! I have never talked to anyone about something like this! I should've just stayed quiet! But I am way too curious!'
Hearing such a question coming from their son's mouth, they were honestly shocked. Lucas had never asked them such questions, no. In fact, Lucas barely asked for much at all. He almost never even started a conversation or continued one, as if he didn't know how to...
His mother really wanted to tease her son right now, but knowing that this was a rare moment, she decided to answer seriously with a warm smile.
"Mm... well, it is different for everyone. Love isn't the same for everyone; it differs from person to person."
"Huh? It isn't the same?" Lucas didn't understand. 'How can a feeling be different for everyone yet still be called the same?'
"Isn't love... you know, just love?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Hmm, that is true, dear, but love doesn't have only one emotion. It could have a mix of respect, admiration, and friendship, or it could have darker aspects like obsession, hatred, jealousy, or even lust, as in sexual desires."
'Lust? So love is a mix of different emotions? I thought it would be something like a different type of emotion... besides I never really had s-sex before.' He didn't really understand, but he did at the same time. He wasn't the smartest when it came to emotions and feelings, yet his mother's words still caught in his mind, repeating over and over again.
"Well, that is my opinion on it, at least, dear. It could be different for another person as well," she said while smiling warmly at seeing her son pondering deeply about her words.
'Fufu, what a troublesome child~' she thought.
"Mm, I think I understand? Thanks, Mom," Lucas said. In the end, he would have to experience it himself to fully understand what she meant. But perhaps it isn't just meant for him. Perhaps love is a feeling he has lost forever due to his previous life.
"No problem, dear. Just take your time in living your life without rushing," she said while his father gently watched over, but then all of them heard a voice that made them freeze.
"Mommy, what is sewual dessire?" Lena asked cutely, tilting her head, not understanding in the slightest what they were talking about.
**************
Currently, they were heading to a famous shopping center in Moon City which has at least 15 floors and dozens of shops. It was only 15 minutes away from Moon Fish. They were lucky that before they could try to come up with an answer for Lena's question, the waitress arrived with the food distracting her completly. The food was delicious, and Lena kept ordering more, though not as much as Lucas did. Honestly, his parents kept looking worried at him for ordering so much that his mother couldn't help but ask if he hadn't been eating properly during his adventures. Only when he explained that he was a half-dragon did they understand that he needed to eat much more than humans. Though because of that, his mother became angry, knowing that Lucas barely ate properly yesterday.
'If they think I eat much, they should see Sylv! God! She isn't even a half-dragon, so where does all that food go? Wait, perhaps that is why they are so bi-...' He didn't dare to finish that thought. He felt like something ominous would happen if he did.
As they walked the streets, people could be seen looking at them with various reactions: some out of fear, some out of admiration, some out of shock, some out of joy, some out of hate. Yet no one dared to come too close. They weren't stupid to know that if they got too close, something dreadful might happen to them. So instead, they decided to take a bunch of photos from afar as they kept walking towards the entrance of the center. Once they were inside, the same scene happened: people stood still with various reactions, whispering to each other in a hushed tone. Of course, Lucas and his parents could hear everything as he walked behind his parents holding Lena's hand. She has become much more relaxed in his presence.
"H-hey, am I dreaming or..."
"N-no way, the Nightstar family is here..."
"Who is that little girl... she is so damn cute! Don't tell me did Lord Nightstar have a daughter!?"
"Hey... God, just look how handsome the young master is... I want him to devour me..."
Various people could be whispering to each other while taking pictures or videos, some of which were extremely questionable and should've just been kept in their heads, especially those of the females.
"Brother, why is everyone looking at us?" Lena asked while holding his hand as she nervously glanced at the people who were watching them like hawks.
"It's because we are famous people, little sis. We barely appear in public, so they can't help but talk about us. After all, mom and dad are the ones who rule this city. Do you understand?" Lucas said, though he wasn't sure if Lena understood what he just said. He knew she was much smarter than most her age but didn't know by how much.
"Unn. We are like those famous people on TV, right!?" She said excitedly, luckily understanding what Lucas meant.
"Yes, that's right. You sure are smart, Lena," Lucas said, praising her by patting her head with a warm smile, doing critical damage to the hearts of all the women watching. In their eyes, Lucas, though barely seen, always has a cold face yet the moment he talked to his sister, his facial expression instantly shifted to that of a loving brother.
"Hehehe~" Lena happily giggled at her brother patting her head.
As they arrived at the middle of the mall where an indoor fountain was located, their parents turned around, smiling warmly at them.
"My, am I glad to see you two getting along~" their mother said, elated at them finally getting along together like brother and sister as all four of them just ignored all the people watching them not caring in the slightest.
"Well, right now, I am planning to go with Lena and buy 'some' clothes for her. So what are Darling and Lucas going to do? Do you want to join us?" Their mother asked.
'By some clothes, she probably means buying the entire store. Yeah, hell no, don't wanna get stuck with that,' Lucas thought to himself.
"I'm good, Mom, thanks. I think I'll just walk around and see what interests me," Lucas said, as he had no plans to sit there for hours, even though he knew that everything Lena would wear would be cute and adorable. He still probably wouldn't be able to handle being there for so long.
"Hmm, alright. What about you, Darling?" his father who looked over at Lucas and then their mother barely waited for her to finish before responding.
"Ahaha, you see, I haven't spent much time with my son, you know, honey? So I think it's best for us to have some father-son bonding time, right, Lucas?" His father said, looking at him with pleading eyes. He didn't want to be stuck either!
'We barely have had a proper conversation with each other... especially after what happened yesterday. Yeah, I guess we should have some proper talk,' Lucas thought.
"Hmm, sounds good, Dad. Let's go together," Lucas said, deciding they should have a talk. He was sure his father knew his intentions and wanted to have a talk as well.
"Hmm, very well. Let's meet up here in 5 hours," their mother said as she took Lena from Lucas and ran off.
'Huh! 5 hours!? Are the shops even open after 5 hours!? The hell!' Lucas thought, perplexed inside his mind at how long they would be buying clothes.
As he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a hand firmly pressing on his shoulder. Glancing at his right, he saw his father with a bitter smile on his face, yet he didn't look at Lucas.
"Your mother has always been like that since Lena was born. She always wanted a daughter, you see. So since her birth, she would always empty the shopping center or order thousands of clothes for her to wear. Lena, of course, enjoys them all as well," he said, as he gazed where they had run off to.
"Hmm, I see. Wanna go grab a drink?" Lucas asked. He really didn't know how he should handle it with his father now, so he thought it would be best to sit somewhere where they could drink something like coffee or tea.
"Sounds like a good idea. Let's go," his father said, as both started to walk towards a famous coffee shop on the 3rd floor under the gazes of everyone..
'I wonder how they will react when they find out in a week or two that I am the White Devil. Haha, that would be fun,' he thought as they finally arrived at the coffee shop. One of the female staff members came to greet them to guide them towards a seat. She froze in her place as her face became pale as snow.
"Welcome, please foll- e-eh!?"
Hearing her sudden scream, everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed at her direction as they saw something that made them all tremble.
She was frightened as her clients were the current patriarch of the Nightstars and the current heir of the Nightstars.
Seeing her so scared and his father looking down at her with a cold gaze, making her tremble even more as her legs started shaking as if she might fall any moment, he couldn't help but sigh.
He decided to ease her with a small smile on his face, which shocked almost everyone there.
"I am sorry for frightening you. Is there a table free for the both of us?" Lucas asked, hoping to ease her a little and focus more on him instead of his father. It worked; she wasn't scared anymore as she looked at Lucas. Yet, instead, she was as if in a trance, staring at his face for a good minute almost.
'What happened? Is she also scared of me? I didn't think I was so scary as father was...'
After a few more seconds, she finally snapped out of her daze as a red shade appeared on her cheeks.
"A-ah y-yes! Please! Follow me! There is a table free for you! And your father, of course!" she said while stuttering as she guided them with hurried steps to a free table under everyone's terrified gazes, while Lucas just chuckled, following her with his father.
'Hmm, she isn't scared of Dad anymore? Haha, it's more like she fully forgot about him.'
After that, they finally sat at a table opposite of each other while the waitress brought them both coffee. The shop got emptied out without them saying anything else. The staff members had enough sense to understand that it would be best for no one to be in the presence of Nightstars currently.
As they drank their coffee, his father suddenly spoke out.
"You have grown."
Hearing him, he couldn't help raise his eyebrows in surprise.
"Well, yeah. It has almost been 3 years, I guess."
"No, not like that. I mean stronger. You have become stronger. If we talk about intelligence, well then you were always smart yet too lazy to apply them to anything. What is your current star level?"
'Oh right, I forgot to say what star level I was yesterday, but I guess he is right. Even before my memories, I was always too smart for someone my age. Even in my previous life, I remembered whenever Ausburn taught me something, I easily learnt it, be it maths, science, or how to kill someone. I didn't even have to attend high school and only went to college after all the other things happened...'
Now that Lucas thought about it, he really was a genius in everything in his previous life. Just born in the wrong environment. No, that isn't the case. He was never normal. He never was interested in retaliating against those caretakers or those bullies back in middle school. As long as he was the one who was hurt, he didn't care. Even when he killed for the first time when he killed his entire orphanage and those children who killed Puck, he never felt a single thing. No guilt. No regret. Nothing. He felt nothing except his body being cold from the inside whenever he killed. Perhaps that is why Aushburn liked him so much...
"Lucas? Are you alright?" his father suddenly asked, snapping him out of his daze.
"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry, was just thinking about what you said," Lucas said.
Hearing him, he couldn't help but sigh.
"This is really one of those bad habits of yours, son. You always go into your own head when someone is there with you. Try to fix that."
"Mm, I will. Oh yeah, I am mid 6-star level currently, and I think I am close to breaking through to high 6-star level soon."
As he said that, all he was met with was his father looking at him with wide eyes, frozen in shock.
"Father?" He asked, not understanding the problem.
'"You... you already surpassed Princess Sylviette Velariah, the strongest champion of your generation... ah, right, of course you did. You are even so close with her..." he started mumbling random things as Lucas enjoyed it honestly since it was rare seeing his father so shocked.
"Well, what can I say? I am a genius."
"And looks like you are a narcissist as well."
"Nah, I am a dragon after all. Even I have my own pride, so I can't be weak."
Both suddenly burst out laughing at their conversation. After a while, as they were done drinking and laughing at each other, Lucas somberly spoke as his expression turned grim.
"Father."
"Hmm, son?"
"I am sorry."
His father was perplexed at the sudden apology. He never expected his son to apologize since he knew that his son said that dragons have immense pride and they would almost never apologize. Yet, it looks like that the people he cares about are the exception. And before he could speak up, Lucas continued.
"I am sorry for my sudden outburst against you yesterday. It is just for a split second...I felt like I wanted to kill you, to blast your brains into pieces and rip you apart. And I lost control of myself."
'I am sorry for almost becoming my old self again...' he said the last part in his mind.
"Lucas," his father said, pulling his attention towards him, stopping him from going into his head again.
"I don't know what you went through when you left for these past 3 years. I don't know how you have such a terrifying killing intent. If that was something you acquired before your adventures, then how? Did you sneak out under our noses without us noticing? If so, how? Or you must have had a extremly hard time on your own adventures all this time? I am fine if you won't tell me anything, but what I do know was I was equally at fault for pushing you to that point, as was your mother. We shouldn't have kept Lena a secret from you."
"You are my son. You became someone known as Noctis the White Devil. Do you know how proud you have made me? I am here always for you if you want to talk about your struggles. Even if the world stood against you, I will be standing right next to you against the whole world, as that is what it means to be your father."
Hearing his father's words, he grit his teeth as hard as he could, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill. He looked up right into his father's eyes for the first time today and smiled warmly, speaking with as much affection as he could.
"Thanks, Dad."