02 : Won't bother

Duke Elhas Fon Roosevelt was tapping his finger on the round table in his study room. Across the table, his wife and daughter sat. The two looked nervous, squeezing each other’s hands. Ah, this was all because of the sudden appearance of Olvfas on Keyran Yoon Roosevelt’s hand. It was a joyous event!

However, their happiness needed to be postponed because of the absence of their first son. An hour ago, The Duke had sent a message to Faihn, asking his son to come home immediately. But until now? Ha! His son hadn’t come yet!

“Chen, has Faihn been sighted yet?” The brown-haired Duke asked impatiently—he eyed the loyal aid who had been standing unmoving at the corner of the room, by the side of his table.

Chen smiled softly before shaking his head. “Young Master left early, Sir. We were having trouble reaching him, so we only left a message.”

A sigh left Elhas before he eyed his daughter who had been squeezing the red mark on the back of her hand. Feeling that Faihn could wait, he moved to approach Keyran.

“Dearest, Key—“

But before he could reach the two most important women in his life, there was an electrostatic spark and the density in the air changed. The air turned to miasma.

Knowing this, Elhas activated his manna and tried to fight back—whatever this was. Chen Hion—his guard—also did the same. However, the gravity around them became twice heavier and it was as if the oxygen had faded.

“A—wha—curse you!” Quickly, Elhas pulled out his sword as he doubled up his manna intensity from his body. He moved his hand as he tried to control the energy flow. Then he changed his own manna into a dome and spread the radius out. In seconds, the flowing, choking miasma faded slowly.

Elhas glanced towards Chen. They both were panting but quickly gathered their composure. Chen ran out of the room to find out the source of disturbance, while Elhas went towards the two women who were still on the ground with their hands on their throats. His sword was still on his hand, just in case.

“Keyran! Lilian! Are you okay?” The Duke immediately helped the two women back on the sofa. Only, when he looked up towards the door, Elhas was floored.

And Chen too was stunned.

Not far from Chen, was Faihn. But it wasn’t his son’s arrival that floored Elhas; it was the one next him. There was another young man with bright brown hair around his son’s age—he was the one who made their rationality screeched to a halt.

And at the same, Elhas knew what—or who had made miasma in the air.

“Your Majesty! What are you doing in our humble abode? No one told me of your arrival!” Elhas quickly sheathed his sword on his waist. The tension on his expression and body disappeared, his aura changed.

When he reached the door, Elhas bowed respectfully. He quickly gestured towards Chen to prepare for a warm welcome. It has to be grand, of course, because the one  in front of him was the second son of the pure Imperial line.

Meanwhile, the person whom Elhas had called as ‘Your Majesty’ only blinked before smiling and cackled. Then he followed the house-owner’s gesture to sit on the main sofa in the room.

When they were all sitting down, making small talk as they waited for the tea to brew, it was then that the Imperial Prince opened his mouth. Elegantly, he gave the reason for his unannounced visitation. “Honestly, Duke. Faihn and I was working on something in Keldirya when Faihn received a message stated he needed to be home immediately.”

The Duke froze hearing that. He knew that his son was the captain of Imperial Knights, but he didn’t know he was on a reconnaissance mission out of town. Elhas’ hand was trembling before he put them on his knees and bowed in apology, “I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I wasn’t aware that Faihn was—”

“Don’t worry about it, Duke Roosevelt,” the dark-eyed young man cut with a raise of his hand. He sipped his tea again before continuing, “It was also my fault because I didn’t give any information. Moreover, Faihn was yammering a bit because he was afraid his father was going to ground him if he didn’t immediately go home.”

The Second Imperial Prince glanced at his childhood friend beside him and smirked smugly at the shorter man’s reaction. Heh, imagine that. The captain of Imperial Knights was taken aback. His mouth was opened and closed like a fish out of water. Understanding that he couldn’t take back his words, he glanced at his father and flinched seeing the wrath on his face. Haha, how amusing.

“Prince William, I beg your par—”

But the prince didn’t give a chance for Faihn to defend himself—immediately, he cut off, “And because Keldirya was in the corner of the continent, the nearest teleportation canal in our area was a few miles away. So I had to make my own canal and opening my own gate.” Then he smiled charmingly, “So I apologize for unable to announce my visitation beforehand.”

Hearing that, Elhas chuckled awkwardly. He controlled himself by not sighing heavily over what the young man had said sitting by his left side. “As expected of Your Majesty. Thank you for helping my incompetent son.” The Duke said sweetly even though his eyes were glaring at Faihn.

“Well, I’m sorry for being so incompetent that I made a gate and transported from another corner of the conti—ow! Mother!” Faihn was about to say something sarcastic, but his mother, Lilian pinched his waist before he could complete his sentence.

Of course, the Prince witnessed this. The young man laughed seeing the warmth of the Duke’s family.

It fitted ‘him’ who always gave warmth to his surroundings.

“Please pardon Faihn’s impudence, Your Highness. Ah, the snacks are coming. Please, help yourself,” Elhas said, gesturing to the arrival of a tray of bite-sized cakes. Then a maid brought their main dish. For a moment, their conversation cut off, but after eating, it resumed.

At first, they made small talks, asking about the state of the Empire before touching the main subject—the appearance of Olvfas on Keyran’s hand. Elhas conveyed his daughter’s insecurity if she could not love the person meant for her.

However, Faihn’s response was different. Looking at the mark, he froze. He turned towards the Prince, his face sad and his eyes expressed his sorrow. He wasn’t worried about his sister; he worried more about his friend. However, when the bright haired royalty noticed his stare, he laughed.

“Why the long face?” The Prince teased, amused by the pale face of Roosevelt Heir.

Meanwhile, Faihn bit his own lip. From his perspective, he could see his friend was pushing himself. A melancholic smile repeatedly appeared on his controlled expression. And somehow Faihn could feel it too; the pain. It felt as though there was a deep wound inside his soul.

“Your Ma—”

“Do not worry, Lady Keyran. I’m sure your soulmate would make you happy.”

Faihn was dumbfounded. He blinked repeatedly hearing what the Prince said. He glanced towards Keyran, and saw her blinked before smiling hesitantly. Softly, she asked, “Are you certain, Your Highness?”

On this answer, the man with a beauty mark on his chin nodded. “Of course. I can guarantee, ‘he’ will love you dearly and will always be by your side,” he paused. His dark eyes met Keyran’s bright ones. A laugh escaped him before he smiled genuinely, “Wasn’t ‘he’ born for you, Lady Keyran? You need to have faith.”

Keyran blinked, before she looked down with a blush. Her expression of fear and nervousness of being played by someone she hadn’t met had disappeared. Her beautiful face showed face—and her eyes conveyed hope, even. Maybe she was praying to quickly meet her soulmate.

Meanwhile, the bright-haired man calmly took a round cake covered in sesame seeds from the cake tray. He loved this cake. In the past life, ‘that person’ loved to make and serve him onde-onde  (a cake with a mung bean fill and topped with sesame seeds) when he was busy with work.

Yes. That happened in ‘the past’.

Their first lives. Before the boring iteration happened and kept happening—and he was always… forgotten.

Stabbing a small fork on the cake, the Prince muttered softly, “Besides… this time I won’t bother.”

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