"Young master, please help with the paperwork."
"Young master, can you please help us get the Count back to his work?"
"Young master Cale, your father hasn't eaten."
"Young master, please be strong for your father."
'... I'm so tired.' The redhead boy thought as he stared blankly down at the red carpet of the luxurious hallway.
He felt his legs go numb from standing in the same place for so long, waiting for his father to come and eat dinner with him. His hands were calloused from the mindless training he subjected himself to, and his eyes went misty from staring at words for so long because his father wouldn't do his work.
The work had doubled since it was supposed to be divided between the count and countess, but the countess was no more, so Cale took up the job. Each calculation was meticulously reviewed, and each word was scanned with squinted eyes.
He was given no time to grieve as he was subjected to studies and work beyond his age. Sometimes, the advisors by his father's side and some trusted servants of his mother would come to help and relieve his stress a bit.
Coupled with the fact that his relatives were determined to push him off the heir chair after his mother's death, his stress just seemed to be endless.
Now, he stood in front of his father's bedroom, a place he could go in whenever he liked, with a clenched heart. His stomach growled in need of food, and his eyes required rest.
However, he couldn't go to rest yet until he was sure his father would be alright. Which was why he had come, hoping the man would open his door and let him see him again, only to be disappointed again. For one hundred and sixty-eight times over the past eight weeks,
Click. The door closed, and Cale looked up at the person who came out. He was visually disappointed when that person was the head butler.
"Young master Cale," the head butler greeted the young boy after his initial surprise wore off, thinking that the young master must be waiting for the count.
However, the count doesn't wish to see the young master. What should he do? The head butler was perplexed and worried before a question was posed.
"Father wishes not to see me, doesn't he?"
The question was so startling that those around the facility in the hallway flinched with their eyes immediately falling onto their young master.
Their heart ached at the disheartened and concerned look as if he hadn't said something worrisome. The rumors of him being a cold-hearted monster flew out of their mind as they clumsily continued on their work.
Who would believe such a young boy wouldn't cry privately? He was even sorry about his father while supporting his tired self to stand in the same spot for hours.
The head butler's mouth went dry, and he was mentally shaken that a child would think of such. However, it was true because the country had told him he didn't wish to see the young master anymore.
While the head butler was lost for words, the redheaded boy looked at the closed door and felt a sense of loss and anger.
Lost that why his father avoided seeing him when before, he would come to see him every break he could get.
Angered that his father would get back up and support himself for his deceased wife, Cale's mother, and be the man he claimed he was.
His father was no more than a coward, and Cale felt the need for the man to understand that.
With all emotions jumbled up in his mind, the red-haired boy turned on his heel and walked back to his wing of the large mansion. His steps resounded in the oddly quiet and cold corridor, and only a blur was seen as he locked himself in his room.
So be it. If his father wished not to see, then he wouldn't come to bother him anymore.
If his father wanted to be cruel, then Cale would be crueler.
⥢◈⥤
Three hundred and sixty days.
The number of days he hadn't seen his father, as he locked himself out of his part of the mansion and only went out for necessary exercise and training. Other than that, he focuses on the household administration and the count's work, which luckily decreased a bit.
It was the same old boring day, monotone and mind-numbing.
His sworn siblings and his godmother couldn't come to visit him because of an emergency regarding their family. The last letter they sent was nearly half a year ago, and since then, not a single letter with a red lotus motif stamp has ever come through the door of his office.
Which was why he now mindlessly walked through the luxurious hallway with a dazed look on his face. His palms become sweaty no matter how much he repeatedly rubs them against his pants.
He doesn't want to be nervous, but his eight-year-old self was freaking out with happiness. Even his steps became light as if he were flying toward the direction the butler led him through.
"Master, Young Master Cale is here."
The door opened just as the count allowed them, and the first thing Cale noticed was two unfamiliar people in the same room. One was a stern-looking lady with a neat hairstyle, appearing around his father's age, and another was a young boy hiding behind the woman's skirt while looking at Cale.
His voice stopped at his throat at the absurd thought that came to mind when he shifted his gaze to his father's brown eyes. Those brown eyes, once filled with despair and grief, now turned happy and full of guilt.
Guilt. Cale has a bad feeling about this.
Putting aside his ominous feeling, he spoke calmly to a father he hadn't met for nearly a year.
"Father, you called for me?"
"Yes, I want to introduce you to someone."
He watched as his father nervously introduced the two unknown people.
"Cale, this is Violan and her child, Basen."
Something tucked his soul the moment the man said his next words.
"Violan and I will get married. What do you think?"
Cale's heart dropped just as his ominous feeling came to light. The hand hidden behind his back, as per the etiquette of nobility when talking to a lord, clenched tightly in response.
As a proper noble child, he spoke up when he saw the expected look he received.
"Congratulations, Father." His voice was carefully blank of emotions hidden within.
He turned toward the stern woman and nodded with a polite smile, his gaze somewhat softened at the child hidden behind the woman's skirt. To him, a child doesn't deserve his anger at the situation, and at how clueless the boy looked at the situation, he doubted that the two responsible adults even thought to tell the children.
After the amount of necessary polite and estranged conversation with the two adults, he excused himself from the room and walked out.
His face was blank throughout the walk, and only when he reached his side of the mansion did he visibly relax. A bitter smile spread on his face, and a hollow laugh at his fate.
His clenched fist was bloodied, causing the wound he had caused from clenching onto the thorny stem of the white rose to react. His blood stained the equally red carpet, and it kept on going until a hand grabbed him.
The familiar hands supported an intricate golden band with a captivating gemstone at the center. He knew who it was instantly. There was no one else who owned such a rare gem that alternated between the depth of the ocean and the rich, velvet purple of the entrance of the abyss.
Cale looked up to the kind eyes, the same color as the gem on the woman's left hand. "Aunt…" He breathed out wearily.
"My Cale…"
His cheeks rested on her shoulder just as she kneeled to take him in her arms, similar to how his mother did it. Her warmth comfortably engulfed him, making his guard break down.
"He's so cruel."
"He had the most black heart I know."
"I'm tired," Cale complained, eyes squeezing shut to get rid of his unshed tears.
He was tired. Tired of not having his father's attention. Tired from overworking. Tired of everything in this household.
"I know, my child. Have a well-rested nap today. Your Hyung and Noona are in your room."
"Is it?" Cale asked, sleepiness dozing him.
A chuckle escaped Celaena's lips as she lifted her godson and walked to his room. Her hand rested on his back warmly while a tune hummed in the quiet and deserted hall.
Cale vaguely remembered his godmother talking to him and the door opening, but he was tired. He was so tired that he went unconscious the moment he was put on his bed with two bodies pressed into him.
A thin and pale hand caressed the crimson locks, and the boy's golden eyes flickered to his mother, who sat at the edge of the queen-sized bed.
"Mom, can't we just take Cale with us?" Aeternus questioned, voice barely heard.
Celaena looked at her sickly son and shook her head. "We are of different status, dear. We are just mere commoners in the eyes of nobles and royalty. The type to be taken advantage of, no matter the gender or age."
"But it never seemed to deter you from your goal, Mom." A girl's voice said, her hand securely wrapping around her young brother. Her look was that of an innocent girl, but if one looked closely at her eyes, one would see the shrewdness that was inherited from her parents.
"You two know me too well, but…" The silver-haired woman looked at the setting sun, her eyes changing at the illuminated light of the sun. There was a contemplative look on her face before she shook her head as if she was getting rid of a stupid idea.
"No, it's nothing. Go to sleep. I will come back in an hour."
Celaena reminded softly before she disappeared in a flash; not even a speck of her magic was left.
The twin looked at the same spot their mother had said before a sigh escaped their lips. They opted to hug their young brother and close their eyes.
Matters aside, their top priority right now was for their little brother to rest while giving him the warmth he needed.
Whatever their mother was planning, it could wait.
What matters most was their brother.