Edited by: bafflinghaze
Aurelion felt himself being grabbed roughly, practically plucked off the street without a single thought of being discreet.
There was no warning. The action was swift, leaving no traces despite his silent struggle.
It was amazing how no one noticed. Or if they did, they turned a blind eye in fear of getting involved.
Once his kidnapper managed to drag him bodily into the filthy alleyway, Aurelion elbowed the person holding him right in the gut. The arms around him loosened as his kidnapper grunted.
The Odum heir took this moment to break free from their hold.
He scrambled away, but four other people soon cornered him against the wall. Their swords were drawn and aimed directly toward him in a threatening manner. He surveyed the surroundings. The alleyway was a closed space with one exit. Beyond that was a dead end too tall to climb over.
Aurelion noticed the length of the swords. They were too long to be effective in this space. He concluded they were being used as a form of intimidation, likely to keep him quiet.
This meant there were three possibilities for the purpose of this kidnapping.
Option A: There was a seventy-five percent chance they wouldn’t necessarily hurt him and preferred him alive. This option would be right if they intended to bring him to a client who wanted to use him as ransom.
Option B: In the case of which his kidnappers were crazy and would rather torture him slowly, the percentage would be twenty.
Or Option C: As for the last five percent, he hazarded a guess that they would auction him off in the black market, which was the least favorable choice as he knew his mother would go on a rampage to retrieve him and leave a massacre in her wake.
Aurelion deftly reached into his pocket and drew out two small knives.
It was a weekend. He would rather not have to deal with any of these choices today.
His action was noticed by one of the figures, who sneered condescendingly at him.
What would a young master like him know how to use a knife?
A young master with a crazy older brother. They underestimated his own capabilities.
The alleyway began to grow cold as sapphire eyes narrowed into slits.
Both sides were silent and still.
As the tense atmosphere became stifling, his kidnappers moved.
One of the hooded men reached out to grab him, but Aurelion ruthlessly stabbed a knife into his gut. The man groaned but soon revealed a cunning smirk.
Aurelion’s eyes widened as he grabbed his wrist and proceeded to shove the knife deeper into his stomach.
The knife was snatched away and the man retreated.
The Odum Heir felt another person descend upon him soon after, their arms reaching out towards his neck.
Without only one weapon left, he could only go on the defense.
Aurelion was able to narrowly avoid a chokehold with a kick to the shin. He blocked a blade coming towards his side, barely, with his remaining knife, and clumsily shifted back to gain more distance.
The fight gradually turned more and more violent.
In the end, it was a match between five grown men and a fifteen-year-old kid.
The kidnappers were slowly pushing him against the wall. They were leading him, guiding him somewhere.
One figure lunged at him with his sword and he lost more ground. Too focused on those fighting him in the front, he wasn’t able to catch one of them sneaking behind him.
When Aurelion finally saw the man from the corner of his eyes, it was already too late.
His remaining knife was knocked out of his hands and his kidnappers converged.
One person restrained him by his arms and dragged him to the end of the alleyway.
They stood there while he struggled wildly, desperately trying to escape.
Five voices chanted.
Someone covered his mouth.
A bright circle glowed beneath him, followed by a sweet-smelling fragrance entering his nose, reminding him of burnt sugar and roses.
Restrained forcefully with his arms behind his back, Aurelion’s eyes widened.
The alleyway started to disappear.
—And that was all he could remember before feeling a sharp pain against his neck.
Everything went black.
—
Two heads turned the very moment Aurelion was pulled into the alleyway.
“Young Master—”
The Young Master cursed.
The air suddenly shifted as the youth’s casual demeanor turned strangely malevolent within a blink of an eye.
Rainier froze when vermillion eyes turned on him with a gaze so crazily intense, he nearly stopped breathing.
It’d been a while since he saw such a gaze. The pressure hung over him like a heavyweight. He couldn’t see (can’t see, can’t see, can’t see—).
“Get help. I’ll take care of it,” the Young Master spoke with a rigid tone of voice.
It took all but a few seconds before the servant was able to regain his bearings as if nothing happened.
He cast the Young Master a look wavering between uncertainty and suspicion. Despite how much Rainier disliked him, he was unwilling to let him go off on his own.
The Young Master’s face grew darker at the obvious sign of distrust.
Finally, he said, You are both aware my next attempt is scheduled for next month. I did not plan this.” The last sentence was snapped out with an edge of distaste and a promise of violence.
Perhaps Rainier had grown lax these past few weeks. He was suddenly unused to the way the Young Master spoke.
Vermillion eyes glared at him. “Rainier, I’m ordering you to go. Don’t make me force you.”
It took every bit of self-control for the servant to remain unruffled by the threat. He wanted to touch the mark on his face and demand answers.
Gritting his teeth, Rainier bowed his head obediently and play the role of a Capable Servant.
“As you wish…” He turned.
“Rainier…” the Young Master suddenly called out.
He looked back and saw the other bring out one of his purchases from the jewelry store.
The Young Master handed him the bangle that was shaped like a bent nail.
“I don’t know if they’re only after Aurelion. You might not need this, but all occasions should call for a weapon. I trust you can bend it into a passable blade.”
The Young Master held the bangle in front of him.
A foolish thought comes to the forefront of Rainier’s mind.
This was the first time he’d ever received jewelry of such expensive make.
Albeit, it was for a situation like this.
The servant slowly took the bangle and tucked it into his pocket with a difficult smile.
“I appreciate it, Young Master,” he could only reply awkwardly, “…I will go now.”
“Be safe.”
The two parted swiftly, one towards the alleyway while the other went to locate the closest knight patrol.
—
Neo booked it towards the alleyway.
The moment he entered, Aurelion was nowhere to be found.
He crouched down.
The dirt on the ground had fresh footprints. There were clear signs of a struggle.
Neo was no detective, but he was once used to a life of shady backdoor dealings in this world. There was a certain energy in this space. The obvious trace of magic could be felt in its walls.
He breathed in and tasted a sweet scent in the back of his throat reminding him of burnt sugar.
What type of magic required this kind of smell? He couldn’t recall…
It was oddly familiar.
Carefully, he walked deeper into the alley, his steps light and hesitant.
Eventually, he stood in front of the alley’s dead end. The walls reached high, making it impossible for anyone to climb over them. So where could his brother have gone?
His eyes spotted something on the ground.
He took a closer look. There was a brick-red substance that formed… a circle?
The alleyway was dark enough to hide the traces, but for a keen eye, it wouldn’t be hard to notice the runes.
He paused.
Upon a closer inspection, this was a remnant of a transportation charm.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
A poorly hidden transportation charm.
Rfb ecmbnfgfv atf mtjgw klat tlr rtbfr, veralcu jkjs atf vlga.
Ktf mtjgw kjr j mtfjqis wjvf, bcf-alwf-erf qgbvema.
Mbg mtfjq mtjgwr ilxf atfrf, la kjr rlwqif ab erf.
Ggjk atf mtjgw bc atf ugbecv, kglaf bea atf gecf agjcrijalbc obg atf ibmjalbc lc atf mfcafg, wlz rbwfatlcu ogbw atja ibmjalbc lcab atf yglmx-gfv Zfgmegs Ubkvfg, jcv atfc qbeg atf yglmx-gfv Zfgmegs Ubkvfg jgbecv atf gecfr.
The instructions were so easy that even a five-year-old child was capable of using such a cheap, low-quality transportation charm.
Neo wasn’t sure if he should be offended on behalf of his brother. These kidnappers were quite frugal.
In summary, the kidnappers clearly didn’t know what the hell they were doing.
To the layman’s eyes, the symbols and markings were mere embellishments. No one bothered to memorize these things or knew what they meant.
This was similar to how one would read nutritional facts in the modern world and when coming across a long word they couldn’t pronounce, they don’t bother finding out what it is.
Nazareth spent days and nights studying the art of talisman-making. He knew exactly how to read a mere transportation charm.
He undid his hair stick and scratched the location into layman on the ground for Rainier to follow.
Patting the dirt off the sharp tip, he swiftly put the pin back into his hair without any assistance required and took off toward the direction of his destination.
—
When Aurelion woke up, he found himself sitting in a chair.
The first thing he noticed was the lack of ropes.
No one had bothered to tie him up, which was strange. Either his kidnappers severely underestimated him, or he was dealing with a maniac. Sometimes, when he’s really unlucky, he would get a combination of both.
There was the odd scent of sugary delights in the room. It was a familiar scent, but he wasn’t able to recall where he’d smelled this scent before.
The door creaked open.
Aurelion shut his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.
Then there was the sound of numerous footsteps entering the room.
“My Lord, I highly suggest we use the rope,” a gruff voice rang out.
It was followed by a scoff. “He’s an Odum. What do they know besides living a cushy life? No need to waste the rope on him.”
This person was quite obnoxious, which usually meant he was either the client of the kidnappers or an arrogant fodder.
Either way, it made no difference.
“He stabbed two of our men, My Lord,” Gruff-Voice tried again.
“Due to luck,” Obnoxious-Voice responded, clearly deluded. “Now go bring out the tools. I want his body in the seas by daybreak.”
There was a pause.
And then, “As you wish.”
Oh, hell no.
Aurelion ‘woke up’.
He took in the people in the room.
Five men dressed similarly in black coats lined with silver stood in a circle around him.
In front of him, standing a good few feet away, was a man with dark blonde hair and lavender eyes.
Unlike the men dressed in black, he wore a fine red coat with embroidered pink roses. Aurelion couldn’t help but think of how pretentious he looked. He was either the son of a merchant or the child of a low-ranking official.
“Heir Odum,” the man sneered. “Do you know who I am?”
Aurelion wanted to roll his eyes.
“No,” he calmly answered with a glacial expression.
And he didn’t care, either.
As expected, the man turned red in anger. He looked like he was suffocating.
“Titus!” He spat as if saying his name loud enough to burst his eardrums would encourage him to give a damn. “Titus Phelan of the Phelan Baron Family!”
Aurelion looked the man up and down. A candle flickered to life in his head as he noticed the man’s lavender eyes.
“Tybalt’s useless brother,” he acknowledged, nodding his head in greeting. “My condolences. I heard you’ve been disowned.”
Titus looked like he was about to foam at the mouth.
But before he could start verbally abusing him, one of the men approached with a warning look.
“My Lord.”
The man had no choice but to calm himself.
Meaning he had to take several deep breaths before he could face him again.
As if the earlier exchange hadn’t happened, Titus schooled his features into a bitter scowl and began a tangent that seemed to have been scripted by a bad playwright.
“We heard the bastard Odum has gotten lax as of late. Every opportunity is a good one when a person of his character provides us with a moment to strike. You Odum dogs always played kings and hounds with the emperor, acting above the power struggle while you send your bastard after us.”
Aurelion wanted to object to this accusation, but when he thought about it, the man wasn’t wrong.
Those who tried to kill him always went missing at the best of times. Perhaps once or twice was a coincidence, but there were those rare moments when someone believed killing him could gain them benefits, and would promptly die or disappear without a trace.
In all honesty, Aurelion had always been jaded by his brother’s sins. He didn’t doubt Nazareth’s involvement in those cases.
Nazareth was always involved, somehow. And Aurelion always took the brunt of it as a result.
“Nazareth’s actions have nothing to do with me,” he simply stated.
However, Titus snorted and waved for the men surrounding them to begin whatever evil plan they prepared for him.
“Blame him for your demise, Odum. Between you and me, this isn’t personal. The bastard shouldn’t have pissed us off.”
Aurelion tensed. He didn’t think it would be Option B…
“And praytell, Titus, how exactly did I offend you?”
Everyone in the room froze on instinct as a dark and heavy tension slithered into the room without notice.
With each passing second, the atmosphere turned suffocating.
“From what I recall, you have always been a useless waste of space. It wasn’t my fault your father chose now to deem you as a worthless participation award. Not that he’s any better, but even he knows you’re incompetent, which is already telling of how much of a morally bankrupted degenerate you are.”
“L-L-Lord Nazareth!”
No one had noticed the door opening.
If they had, it would have been better to drop their swords and beg for mercy.
As one, all of them turned toward the door.
Nazareth was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. It was hard to decipher what he was thinking as he scanned the room with a predator’s gaze.
“Honestly, it seems like the bastards in your household are more capable than the legitimate children. I truly wonder why this is. You seem so… uneducated compared to the results of your father’s insatiable sex life. A crab in heels would have better poise.”
Sharp-tongued and crude. There were rare moments when his brother fell back to speaking like a street rat.
It was actually quite intimidating to hear it in such close quarters in the world of pretense and false flattery.
“Forgive me, Lord Nazareth… I have… I wasn’t thinking… I… I…”
It was amazing how his brother could reduce this fool into a quivering mess within seconds.
Nazareth’s vermillion eyes narrowed with a menacing light, promising violence and death. He scowled before his lips twisted with blatant disgust.
“I have never seen a more pathetic display. You’re sweating like a washerwoman after acting like the madam of a whorehouse. Where did you find the audacity?”
Titus was sweating buckets. The men around him were hesitant. Within moments, his brother cast fear into everyone in the room.
A chilly thought came to Aurelion’s mind at the realization.
Was this his brother’s method?
For these disgusting pieces of trash, he came to them like a wraith, dragging them off to hell? This show of capability…
If he was able to corner them so ruthlessly with a few words and his mere presence alone, why did he send those gangs and assassins after him?
Nazareth’s very presence was fierce and blood-curdling. Everyone in the know understood his tendencies towards violence.
There was something about him that spoke of uncertainty. Uncertainty of who he was willing to sacrifice for his goals.
Aurelion breathed. He flexed his hands and picked at his thumb.
He was alright.
He’ll be alright.
“Do you know your wrongs, Titus?”
Nazareth looked displeased with each moment Titus begged for mercy. Aurelion was nervous for the man. His brother got testy when idiots like him wasted their time begging.
Titus Phelan was a worthless coward. Being one of two legitimate children belonging to Baron Phelan, his arrogance knew no bounds.
A year ago, something happened.
The second son of the Phelan Family was disowned for bringing disgrace to the Family. There weren’t any details about the case, but it was obvious Nazareth was involved.
Titus was swiftly kicked out with enough money to keep him afloat for a decade, banished from the family forever, and stripped of his title.
Noble Society gossiped and analyzed the rumors for an entire month.
Someone had exposed the treatment of the bastard children in the Phelan Family to the public. Their reputation took a downward spiral into hell so Titus, being a good-for-nothing son, was sacrificed and took the fall.
This was Tybalt’s brother.
Comparing him to Tybalt, the two were like night and day.
For a second, Aurelion deliberated whether he preferred someone like Titus as an older brother.
His decision was swift when, a moment later, Titus got down on his knees and started to wail at the top of his lungs.
At least Nazareth had his dignity.
“Lord Nazareth…!” he pleaded, his eyes watering with tears, “I was wrong…!”
His brother answered by closing the door shut and locking it.
The men in the room stiffened as he made his way over.
In the dim-lit basement, his brother’s eyes could be compared to a deep pool of blood.
Every step was taken in a deliberately slow manner, a calm and graceful gait with no room for imperfection.
Nazareth looked like a spider eyeing his prey.
“I am disappointed in you, Titus. You took after your disgusting father’s idiocy and haven’t learned a single thing.”
Those last words sent shivers down Aurelion’s spine.
His brother stood in front of the sniveling man and prodded his head with the tip of his shoe.
“I dislike disappointment the most, Titus. I hope you know that.”
Nazareth drew two small containers from his pocket, each barely the size of a glass vial.
“You know the road I pave. I have already set the ground rules, but you’ve broken each and every one of them. You have touched my bottom line for the last time and I have grown impatient with you.”
Titus showed a look of confusion, his mouth gaping open like a fish.
“Choose. Do you prefer the Mulberry Stinger Serum or the Salamander Water?”
“My Lord!” One of the men protested, already drawing his blade.
In an instant, a glass bottle shot past his head, hitting the wall behind him with a loud bang.
The room fell silent with horror.
The kidnapper slowly turned to the wall behind him.
“I have more of those if you want to test my aim. You don’t think I roam the streets empty-handed, do you?” A sadistic look passed over the devil’s face. He stared at the man in amusement. “That was the Heart Flutter acid. It eats anything with a heartbeat.”
Inches away from the kidnapper’s head, there was a fat cockroach crawling on the wall. The glass bottle had shattered over it and the liquid inside was now slowly devouring the insect.
What was unnerving about the sight was the fact that the cockroach carried on crawling until the liquid turned it into sludge.
“There’s a numbing effect to it,” the devil said. “You won’t feel a thing until the very end.”
If that bottle had hit his head…
The kidnapper’s spine tingled and his knees nearly gave out from under him.
Nazareth stared at him with a calloused gaze, eyeing him as if he were a specimen rather than another human being.
“S-stand back! Don’t move!” Titus sputtered. He looked two seconds away from wetting himself.
Aurelion watched in fascination as his brother continued to prod at the fallen noble’s head with his foot.
“Your goons better behave themselves. You know I don’t like pests.”
Titus didn’t respond.
He continued to shake in fear as the demon incarnate revealed a crooked grin. It looked like a sharp blade waiting to carve into his skin.
“Perhaps if you choose the right poison, it will give you ample time to find an antidote. I hope you’ve been keeping up in your herbal studies.”
Titus grew more and more pitiful by the second.
The way his brother toyed with his victims… seeing it up close, Aurelion thought the other was playing with him this whole time.
The nobler side of his mind grew soft with a bit of sympathy.
As much as he disliked Titus, it was better to settle this without having to witness a murder in the making.
Besides, the man was an idiot.
Did he seriously think he was capable of getting away with murdering him? No.
Titus was merely a pawn. The real enemies were obviously testing the waters after noticing his brother’s inactivity. He was sure of it.
“Nazareth,” Aurelion called out and immediately regretted it.
He sucked in a breath when his brother’s turbulent gaze turned to him.
“Aurelion,” Nazareth shot him a furious look.
Aurelion had never seen such anger directed towards him. For as long as he knew, there had always been a malicious intent in his brother’s gaze when he glared, as if he was making known his dislike of him.
Anger, however…
Strangely enough, Nazareth had never gotten angry with him.
Sure, there were times when he would shout at him and curse him out. There were moments in their childhood when he would throw things over his head and taunt him.
But Nazareth never showed anger on his face.
A devious smirk, an irritated scowl, a crazed gleam in his eyes, or the natural cold resting face inherited by their family, were the few ranges of emotions his brother showed him.
They all differed greatly from anger—rage, fury, wrath. These seldom appeared on the face of his brother.
And Titus—that piece of garbage—may have triggered something in Nazareth.
The fool touched his brother’s reverse scale.
This was not an offense one could undo.
No doubt, the idiot was going to die.
Aurelion swallowed. He shut his mouth and turned away.
There was no telling what Nazareth would do to him once he killed Titus.
“I’m done waiting.”
Nazareth uncorked one of the bottles. His hand stretched out and forcefully took hold of Titus’ chin—a viper’s grip on a stumbling prey.
Aurelion wondered which poison he’d chosen. The mulberry thing or the salamander water? Which poison would kill first? Which would make Titus suffer more?
His eyes caught Titus’ for just a moment.
Despite being half-brothers, he and Tybalt looked quite similar now that he had gotten a better look.
Both inherited their family’s lavender eyes, but while Tybalt had a more narrowed and shrewd eye shape, Titus’ eyes were wider and appeared more innocent and foolish.
He looked like a man who had no idea what he was actually doing.
Like a goddamn idiot.
What would Tybalt think about Nazareth murdering his older brother?
He probably wouldn’t care, but it was the ethicality of the matter.
How was Nazareth able to stomach killing someone who looked so similar to his companion?
Aurelion internally scoffed.
His brother’s behavior these past few days was strange. His tendency for violence went gone down. For these two weeks, Aurelion foolishly hoped the other had a moment of self-realization.
He foolishly thought his brother finally took a look around at what they had done with their lives, and where it had got them.
The results of their so-called rivalry and the lives wasted for their game.
But in the end, as he watched Nazareth about to force poison down Titus’ throat, he realized nothing changed at all.
He was once again disappointed by his expectations.
The older brother he wanted still remained nonexistent in the form of a beast with blood dripping from its fangs, hungering for more and more and more…
He hated this.
He hated every moment of this.
Why?
Why did the story have to be like this?
It wasn’t fair!
It wasn’t fair at all!
Life was never fair to anyone, regardless if one was rich and wealthy or poor and hungry.
In the end, trouble and danger lay underneath the sky, with death coming for the reaping, leaving nothing but a sack of flesh for the crows to feast on.
Idiots died. Fools were killed. Pieces of shit went down screaming.
In this instance, Titus would die.
Unless…
There was a brief moment in which Aurelion’s vision went black.
Moments like these were what tipped fate by a small millimeter.
No one knew this, but the strands of fate were so, so thin; a small movement could change everything.
“Stop!”
He didn’t even think his next actions through. He charged forward and pushed his brother away.
Which was a futile act.
Their height difference wasn’t that great despite Aurelion being the taller, and Nazareth was unexpectedly stronger than he looked. All Aurelion ended up doing was causing the other to accidentally spill the poison all over the ground and nearly trip over his brother’s feet.
“A-Aurelion?”
He felt the other grab him by his shoulders to keep him steady.
Oh.
Oh shit!
Aurelion felt his life flash before his eyes.
Nazareth dropped the whole bottle of poison in order to catch his fall…
He was going to die die die die die–
“H-hey! Are you okay?”
Aurelion blinked.
Huh?
—
Neo caught Aurelion in the nick of time. He was afraid his brother was going to dive headfirst onto the ground.
He sighed.
How reckless! This stinky kid has read too many books! What a daring thing to do. The Mulberry Stinger serum could have spilled all over him and given him a toxic rash! His brother would have itched to death if he hadn’t spilled it all over the ground.
Speaking of which, what in the world was he doing?
“You idiot!” Aurelion shoved him away. “What the hell are you doing? You can’t just kill someone in broad daylight!”
Oh.
Neo grew silent.
He was about to kill Titus.
Oh, dear.
Seeing the other man still fully alive and well, he let go of the murderous rage he donned on his way to rescue his brother.
Something hideous had overcome his reasoning. It felt hot and simmering and protective.
It was strange to feel the way he did since he hadn’t been angry in years. Could it be the effects of living in this world?
Or perhaps the collision of two different mental states?
At that moment, the dark, ugly, and twisted side of him had been unleashed when he realized Aurelion was taken.
If his brother didn’t stop him, Neo knew he would have killed Titus.
Brain slightly fuzzy as he took in his surroundings and saw fear etched into the faces of all the men in the room, Neo stuttered out, “I…”
At that moment, Titus took the momentary distraction to bring out a knife. He took aim at the brothers.
“Kill them! Kill them quickly!”
Fuck.
Neo’s body instinctively reacted.
He pulled Aurelion out of stabbing distance while the other men in the room began to converge on them like wolves.
The two brothers suddenly found themselves standing back to back with each other.
“Has your class gone over the sword unit?” Neo asked in a low voice.
“I can handle myself just fine,” Aurelion scoffed, glaring at their opponents.
Neo slipped his brother a thin blade from his pocket. “It’s coated in Mulberry Stinger. Sheath it once you’re done. Don’t get cut.”
Aurelion had never experienced the feeling of being given a knife out of nowhere. “Wait, what about…”
Neo took out the hair stick from his hair.
He turned to Aurelion with a raised brow. “Did you think this was a knitting needle?”
The younger brother remained silent.
He snorted.
The two brothers tighten their grip on their weapons.
Their eyes sharpened as they scanned the room, designating each individual as prey.
Aurelion cut the first man on the hand before stabbing the second.
His movements were clumsy. One could tell he only learned self-defense.
However, each man he cut with his blade suddenly fell to the ground clutching their wounds.
They began to frantically scratch at the areas his knife touched.
He looked on in horrified fascination and glanced down at his blade.
What the hell did the mulberry thing do?
“Toxic rash.” As if reading his mind, his brother passed him and commented, before swiftly taking down a buff-looking man with a hard kick.
The remaining two men were soon finished off by his brother, who hardly needed to use his hair stick knife.
A few jabs to the throat, a few repeated kicks to the groin, a black eye, and three teeth on the ground later, the bad guys were rounded up and tied by a pile of ropes lying in the corner.
Titus was gagged after Neo beat him half to death.
“Next time, bring guards,” he said.
“Hypocrite,” Aurelion mumbled like a rebellious teenager.
Neo raised a brow. “Rainier equals ten.”
The two of them were quiet.
Finally, Aurelion sighed. “… Rainier equals ten.”
—
Rainier found the note the Young Master left him and brought the knights patrolling the area to The Lover Café.
He didn’t think the kidnappers would use this specific establishment as a choice for their headquarters, but to each their own, he guessed.
According to his own predictions, the Young Master had likely managed to confront the kidnappers before any harm could come to Master Aurelion. Hopefully, the Young Master didn’t take this chance to murder Master Aurelion as well.
The knights he brought with him all charged into the café without a word.
The customers were frightened at first but were ignored as the group bypassed them and entered the backroom.
After a hasty interrogation involving threatening the livelihoods of all the employees and their families, the manager of the café finally confessed and led them down to the underground storage.
The scene that awaited them once they kicked down the door was… unexpected, but expected.
The kidnappers were tied up and crazily foaming in the mouth with obvious signs of discomfort. Beside them was the Phelan Family’s disowned second legitimate son and café owner, beaten black and blue with blood running down his nose and missing a few of his front teeth.
As for Rainier’s Young Master and his brother…
He watched as Young Master Nazareth patted Master Aurelion on the head awkwardly and insisted he kept his knife.
The odd feeling of exasperation came to the forefront of the servant’s mind.
As it turns out, for Odums, kidnapping was a great source of bonding.
—
Step 13: Getting kidnapped by incompetent kidnappers is a great source of bonding for you and your siblings. Just don’t kill anyone. And don’t try this again. And make sure you aren’t the one kidnapped.
The author has something to say:
There will be no incest in this story. Thank you.
Yaayyyyyyyyy! An update! Thank fuck!
I’m so happy for this chapter. Hopefully their relationship will become more amiable after this. Progress is progress afterall.
That author’s note tho… LOL
I’m so happy it got updated. Can’t wait to see how their sibling relationship will develop into. Neo is so cool and scary at the same time and oh all those serums/liquids…wonder how many he brings everyday Q∆Q
The inside of his coat must be lined with suspicious vials😅
I just imagined that suspicious meme where the man has his coat opened…
Neo turned bloodthirsty!! Nobody can harm his little brother and now they got a great bonding time~
Yay for sibling bonding!!💕
Thanks for the chapter!
I really like this story. Neo is just my type of protagonist and the plot is quite nice and the writing style is understandable also quite well-written. I might read the one posted on Webnovel just because I’m impatient. hehehe
Anyways, I can’t wait for the next one!
Rainier x Neo squad for the win.
Hahaha I’m sorry the authors note made me cackle.
But I’m glad they are okay and hopefully bond?
Thanks for the chapter! <3
Lmao the author’s note tho, gold! But since the beginning I’ve been a Rainier x neo shipper, sorry not sorry 😂
I’ve been checking for updates everyday😅I love this story. I love that Neo’s aggressive and bloodthirsty side didn’t just disappear because he has lived another life.
they are so cute
LOL the author’s note tho
Kidnapping sure is a great way to bond with your bro…. it’s a Neo approved bonding activity.
Thanks for the update!
So happy for a new chapter!
Thank you very much
Thanks for the chapter! What a sweet bonding scene! (I hope you can hear the irony, lol)
Thank you for the chapter
thanks for the chapter! ♡ lol
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you author xD
No. Seriously, thanks so much for the chapter!!! I missed this!!!
… Neo going ballistic was sooo cool!!!!
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ WAITING FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! LOVED THIS SO MUCH! SIDUJNNAUIJABUKYDHYUAIGDHK
I love it!😍 and hopefully they will bond a bit after this
Thank you for the chapter (*＾3＾)/～♡
What great brotherly bonding! Thanks for the chapter!!
THAT LAST LINE THO 😂😂😭
” As it turns out, for Odums, kidnapping is a great source of bonding.”
I SERIOUSLY LOVE IT 😂
I can’t believe I almost forgot how good this story made me feel when I first read it. I’m glad im here for a reread haha
Thank you for this chapter!
Thank you for the chapter.
I’m curious. Is Rainier still has the slave mark or not?
yep, but Neo has the answer to reverse it, I think…
.
I love nice Neo, but it doesn’t hurt to see him fighting and killing enemies !!!! Besides, his brother will learn not to walk alone like that, idiot!
dang
Kyaaaaaa~~~ sibling bonding! So cute!!! I can’t~ 😍
This story is seriously amazing
Very descriptive