A/N : This chapter may include some disturbing moments but its only for a short time. Cian ain't my fav and he will get what he deserves.
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"Good morning, sweethearts. Are you ready for today's event?"
Kal only stared at her in utter confusion while the background was filled with the kid's loud cheers. With her words in mind, He felt that he had forgotten a chapter of the book.
Even though he wrote the novel himself, he was bound to forget minor details that were written a long time ago. Which is why Kal was glad that he could always rely on Allyn to remind him of such matters since he allowed her to view his past memories in case such things happen.
─'Did this ever happen in the novel? Got any ideas?' He questioned Allyn, trying to find any clues on what this was about.
✿'I'm as confused as you are. Plus, based on what I saw in your memories, not much is mentioned about the events that happened here prior to the incident.' Allyn felt helpless. She was supposed to be able to aid her master when needed.
She felt...useless.
─'Can't do much about it then. try to spy on them and see what they are up to, I'll stay here and hunt for information.'
As per his 'order', Allyn quickly went to spy on the old hags.
Ian noticed how Kal's calm expression changed, so he went straight up to ask him. Taking this chance to show his reliable side to his new friend.
"Did something happen? Anyone dared to bother you? Tell me, and I'll send them to the afterlife!" With worry clearly shown on his face and not -so - hidden killing intent in his eyes, Ian tried to get answers from the innocent and not so innocent Kallous, only to be rendered speechless when he heard his response.
"Afterlife? Watz dat? Can I eat it?"
Ivan, who was calmly observing the two of them while sipping his favourite strawberry juice, choked at hearing Kal's words. He could only watch as his brother, Ian, sat there as his face turned as pale as if he had seen a ghost.
Kal, who watched their reaction, couldn't help but laugh, gaining both the attention of the nearby children and staff.
Meanwhile, Cian who was eyeing Kallous the moment he first noticed the boy, witnessed how friendly he became with the two unlucky demon twins. Something about seeing how close those two were with his gem made his expression turn dark.
After giving it some thought, he made the choice to go talk to the youngster. Since they hadn't spoken in a while, Kallous must have missed him.
Cian happily hummed as walked closer to where Kal was seated and touched the boy's shoulder and greeted him with a smile.
"Missed me?" The man with the scarred face interpreted the younger boy's lack of hostile response to his touch as a silent approval of his actions and continued to gently press on the boy's shoulder.
The twins saw how unnaturally close Cian got to Kallous—too close, even freely touching his back. Ian, who considered himself as Kal's best friend and was feeling a little attached to the suspiciously innocent kid, did not like this at all!
Ivan, on the other hand, only looked at his brother. He did not care much about Kallous, but if his brother were to get involved, that would be a different story.
Plus, he knows that Kallous was different even though he appeared innocent; no one 'pure' could ever own such a dark shadow to his knowledge, which made him curious and decide to only observe.
With a pure, innocent expression that instantly blinded Cian upon seeing it, Kal backed away from the creep's touch in a polite manner and spoke, "Who are you again?"
Dumbfounded, Cian nervously laughed. He then got on one knee so the child could see him. thinking that the lack of memory the child had was because he was unable to look at him properly.
"Kiddo, I'm the uncle who brought you here, remember? I even gave you some snacks. Wait.." he proceeded to check his pockets, took it out the chocolate bar and showed it to Kallous.
"Remember this? Here, take it." He handed it to Kallous who, without batting an eye, took it with a smile as if he just received his birthday present.
✿'DO NOT EAT THAT!!' Allyn, who came after finishing her spy duty, loudly shouted in Kal's mind. She didn't know why this creep was standing close to her little master, nor does she understand the current situation, but no way in this shiny life will she EVER allow this ugly, two- faced, nasty, smelly, short, creepy, unshiny human to ever gift ANYTHING to her Kal under her watch.
─'You came back; how was your tour? Got anything to share?' Acting as if he was observing the chocolate bar with interest. Kal chatted with Allyn and sensed her anger, knowing the source of it all. Seeing how cute and red she looked, he had the urge to poke her if not for the curious eyes of the audience.
Fortunately, he was the only one who could see and sense Allyn's presence. But with a crowd watching him, touching air without cause or valid reason wasn't ideal in any situation.
✿'I'll update you about it later once I'm done with this creep.'
To Allyn, Cian was the absolute embodiment of unshininess. And she did not like him at all.
─'Allyn, no need to worry. Instead, quickly replace this bar with a replica from the system shop. His mere presence disgusts me and since he dared to lay his dirty hands on me, I should grant him a gift. One that he shall never forget.'
Allyn understood his intentions and swiftly changed the chocolate bar that was in Kal's hands with a replica.
On cue, he broke the bar in half and 'kindly' gave Cian the other half of it.
"A gift." He explained, noting Ian's heated gaze. Kal turned his head for a second and gave the younger twin a smile before turning his attention back to Cian.
Cian held the half chocolate bar as if it was a priceless treasure, he finally felt that his gem liked him so much that he shared his precious snack with him.
He looked at Kallous and saw him smiling happily at him. Cian felt like today was the best day of his life. He ate the chocolate bar all in one go to not disappoint his gem and show how much he liked his little gift. Only to feel off few seconds later.
One after another, coughs could be heard in the hall, and while knowing that nothing was caught in his throat, Cian's seemed to be suffocating. He continued to feel the torture until, all of a sudden, blood began to sputter out his lips and nose, and before he could even process anything, he passed out.
The youngsters were horrified as the body suddenly dropped to the floor, sending them all into fits of screams when they noticed the black blood covering the surface of the ground. Some of the children even started to feel dizzy, which led the staff and assistant maids to swiftly take the kids back to their dormitories while their head, Lucy, and the butler hurried to Kal's side of the table to investigate what was going on.
When they arrived, they found a still breathing Cian, though barely, unconscious and his body was covered in sweat and blood. Lucy seemed to be the only one that didn't get queasy at the sight of blood and immediately scanned the scene and took her friend into her arms and handed him to the butler.
"You will not see the light of day If he dies today." The butler quickly left to take Cian to the medical centre. Leaving Lucy, Kal, the twins and a dozen kids alone in the Hall.
Lucy looked at each and every single one of them as she finally focused her gaze on Kal in silence. To her, Kal's expression looked expressionless and his eyes lost their lustre.
'This incidence must've done a number on him.' She shared Cian's love and admiration for this child. Knowing how unique they treated Kallous, someone must have been envious and chosen to attack their innocent gem today.
Unfortunately, their plans had failed and Cian was effected instead. Even if they made it so that Kallous was the culprit, she would never let them get away with it.
Her little gem is only a child after all.
What could a child possibly do?
Of course, this was all just Lucy being in her delulu era. But, who are we to judge? If our dear protagonist or fourth wall breaker were to ever hear Lucy's thoughts, they might've passed out and joined Cian.
Anyway back to the story~
Kal thought that Lucy might've suspected him since she kept staring at him for a whole minute, the kids who saw everything, thought that lady Lucy was suspicious of their youngest and, as if they had all shared a brain cell, they all stood in front of Kal, forming a straight line separating Lucy from him in a protective manner.
This sudden action not only shocked Kal, but even the twins who were observing the scene. The only reason why Ian was silent this whole time was because his brother was holding him back. And since he couldn't disobey him, he could only watch in silence as the other kids defended Kallous.
"P-please don't blame our youngest!" one of the side characters pleaded.
"Yeah! I-it was not his fault.." the little white lotus tried to defend him.
"Youngest was only being nice to uncle! Who knew that the choco was bad and made uncle get sick..." shy introvert side character spoke as he hid behind the white lotus.
"It was uncle's chocolate in the first place! He gave it to youngest. If youngest took a bite of it instead of sharing it with uncle, youngest could've been..." The side character, who is suspected to be a descendent of the very man that questioned Gol D. Roger about the one piece in another dimension, spoke. Making the other kids expressions shook as they realized that if Kallous had eaten that chocolate bar, he too might've ended up like Cian.
Allyn, who was watching this drama unfold, could only shook her head. Her little master's plot armour was definitely broken.
Kal, now faced with the gaze of the kids, only smiled and stood there in silence.
However, that simple smile only made the other kids feel worse, as some started sobbing and proclaiming their love and worry for their youngest. Lucy felt like her head was going to burst, so she ordered the kids to go to their rooms to rest while she took the other half of the snack, which was in Kal's hands, and gave it to the maids to test it.
While everyone returned back to their rooms, the twins quietly followed Kal, as they both felt that today's sudden event was odd. Well.. it was mostly Ivan who felt this way since Ian lacked few brain cells.
Allyn told Kal about the twins' – Ivan to be exact – suspicions, since it was kind of obvious because of the way he kept looking at him.
To this, he replied.
─'My act is mostly to fool the public eye, and if I were to ever get caught red- handed, and if by someone who was of no threat to me, I would gladly take off this fake mask and face them with my true self. After all, if anything bad were to ever happen, we could always figure it out together.'
✿ WHY IS LITTLE MASTER SO CUTE?! THIS SHOULD BE ILLIGAL!!! –sobs- must protect this soul at all cost!
The twins on the other hand, were having their own silent discussion.
"Don't you think it's weird?" Ivan questioned, whispering to his brother so Kallous wouldn't hear them.
"You mean what happened to the ugly hag out there? He totally deserved it. Who told him to touch what's not meant to be his?" Ian whispered back. Not knowing why they were whispering in the first place.
But his brother knows best, so he should just go with whatever he wants.
"Oh? So you are also suspicious that Kallous had a hand in this?" Ivan thought that his younger brother had finally used that brain of his and wasn't foolish for once.
"I saw it; I don't know how he did it, but when the ugly hag fell, Kallous smiled. It wasn't like his usual bright one, this time it felt genuine. Like It came from his heart."
Ivan Listened to his brother's words and came to realize something.
"Could he be...like us?" This sentence made Ian pause for a second and look at his brother.
"Brother, you can't be serious."
"It's just a feeling, a hunch. But if it's true..." Ivan glanced at Kal's back with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"We'll soon find out anyway." Ending their little chat, they both reached their room as they locked the door behind them.
The twins shared a look as they stepped into Kal's side of the room.
Kal looked at them, he knew that today's event won't end peacefully unless he dealt with these two..
He let out a sight and sat on the couch sensing the twins eyeing his every move.
Facing them, he pointed at the empty spot of the couch and spoke,
"Let's have a chat, shall we?"
For once, his tongue didn't betray him.