Chapter 8: CH 8

“Cassadin?”

Upon seeing Cassadin, Father snatched the herb away from Cassadin and brought it to his nose.

“…This is the herb that I mentioned without a doubt.”

It was clear Father was surprised even as he said it. His expression showed that he didn’t actually expect Cassadin to bring him the herb. After alternating his gaze between Cassadin and the herb for a moment, Father then opened his mouth.

“You have passed the first test.”

First test? When I looked at my father with a frown, he just shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“Then let’s proceed to the next test.”

“Wait a moment, Father.”

Cassadin’s white uniform was dirtied with soil, from whatever he’d endured there. There were also visible blood stains on his clothing. Unable to stand that sight, I approached Cassadin.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

And Cassadin replied calmly to my question.

“I’m fine. A little bit of the blood from the beasts inside the cave got on me.”

“That’s not just a little… Are you really okay?”

“Are you worried about me?”

Cassadin’s eyes arched beautifully. It was impossible to think that the way he looked at me was how he would look at his sister. Instead, it was more like he was trying to seduce someone he was attracted to…

‘I think I like you, Sister.’

‘I felt it from the first time I saw you in the arena. You felt like someone from a completely different world—so different from the entire arena—that I couldn’t take my eyes off you. And someone like you said you would take me in as part of your family.’

I recalled what he said when he came to my room last night.

It was amusing. The way he was talking and acting, trying to seduce me in order to survive.

“Of course, you’re my brother.”

In that case, I would act accordingly. If a naïve sister is what you want, then I will give it to you.

“Father, I don’t think the next test will be necessary.”

I bowed to Father as I spoke. Hearing that, the wrinkles on Father’s forehead deepened even more.

“Cassadin will be able to pass whatever test you give him. Didn’t you just see with your own eyes how he brought the herbs in no time? Cassadin has already proven his worth to be here.”

“…”

“So, please allow him to be adopted as my younger brother. He will surely become the honor of our family.”

I could feel Cassadin’s gaze next to me. I gave him a reassuring smile, then added, to Father,

“If you don’t accept him because of his status as a slave, then expel me from the family as well.”

“What?!”

What was close to an angry shout came out of Father’s mouth. It was a tone I had never heard from him before. Well, it did sound crazy, even to me, as I said it.

Cassadin must have also been surprised because he was staring at me with widened eyes.

“I’m the one who brought Cassadin here, Father. If you don’t adopt him, then expel me as well.”

But I had to spit out this madness. In order to bring down that damned Damian, I needed to establish a strong emotional bond with Cassadin. There wasn’t time to waste on the adoption process.

“Aren.”

Father called out to me with a pale expression. I could feel my heart tighten when I saw Father’s ashen face. But I couldn’t just tell him that, ‘Actually, Cassadin was the Commander of the Knights in my previous life’ either.

It didn’t matter if what I was doing right now seemed like a child’s tantrum. If it meant saving my father and saving our family, then I’m prepared to do worse.

“Your father’s heart feels like it’s being torn to pieces. What happened to you that made you fall in love with that slave? Appearance is not everything about a person.”

“Father.”

I calmly called out to Father. My one and only family, one I share blood with. The father that I failed to protect in my past life.

“Father, you enjoy drinking herbal tea. But the places that cultivate the herbs you often drink are slave farms.

“…”

“Do you know that most of the slaves on the slave farm were originally nobles? They were once nobles from other countries. But they were trampled on by the empire, and they were not only stripped of their titles and confiscated of all their property, but they are now living as slaves.”

In my past life, during my engagement with Damian, the only pleasure I had in that suffocating environment was reading. I couldn’t step foot in any of the places Damian told me not to, but I read and reread every single book in the places I was allowed to be in.

Which is why I had memorized all the contents of the books I read at that time. And I never knew I would be using what I read this way.

“Nobility is such a futile thing. It’s like a midsummer night’s dream or snow that falls in winter. That’s what nobility is, a fleeting title that can disappear at any time.”

Having stopped speaking, I glanced at Cassadin. He may have also been a noble from another country who became a slave. There wasn’t any opportunity for slaves to learn how to read in the empire, but that story changed if the slave was once a noble who already knew how to.

Cassadin’s eyes were gazing downward after hearing my speech. His eyelashes were trembling faintly.

“I did not bring him here for his face. Father. Cassadin is a person, just like us.”

“…”

“Please allow Cassadin to be adopted as my younger brother.”

Father had his eyes closed as he went silent. I waited patiently for the next words to come out of his mouth. Eventually, his tightly shut lips finally opened back up.

“…there is no parent in the world that’s able to win over their child, and I am exactly in that situation.”

“Father!”

“Yes, Aren. We will do as you wish.”

Father’s voice sounded resigned. His shoulders, which had been angled high and tall, were now drooping without any strength.

I jumped into Father’s arms just as he was about to turn his back. It was only then that Father’s expression softened.

“Haha. Are you really that happy?”

“Thank you, Father. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t ever mention expulsion ever again. You scared me to death, Aren.”

“I’m sorry, Father.”

“Who did you take after to be so reckless?”

“You, Father.”

“Hahaha!”

During my pleasant conversation with Father, I turned my gaze to look at Cassadin. He was quietly watching Father and me.

But the way he looked at us felt so lonely that I gestured for him to come closer.

“Come here.”

He approached hesitantly at my beckoning. I let go of Father’s hand and held both of his hands in mine.

“I’m looking forward to being with you, Cassadin.”

A gentle smile appeared on Cassadin’s lips.

“I’m also looking forward to it, Sister. And…”

Cassadin glanced at Father standing next to me and, with a beautiful curving of his eyes, added on.

“Father.”

One of Father’s eyebrows arched at the title in disapproval, but he didn’t say anything in response. His smile was too pure for him to disrupt it.

“…alright.”

Spitting out those words, my father quickly turned his head.

I felt like I’d taken a step forward.

The act of him placing his dirty white uniform, stained with dirt and blood, into a laundry basket was much too elegant to think it was done by a slave.

After stripping off his clothes, Cassadin immersed himself in the bathtub, with steam rising from the water. His broad, muscular back was marred with an array of scars.

The bath was quiet and peaceful, to the point where he didn’t want to go back to the gladiatorial arena where he had been dwelling for years.

Eyes closed shut, Cassadin thought about Aren, the woman who had called him her younger brother.

“Sister.”

Cassadin muttered the word. Who knew a word could sound so awkward coming from his mouth? It was so ridiculous that he could laugh.

“Sister, you say.”

Why was she trying so hard to make him her brother?

Aren was truly a strange woman. She opened the door for him when he suddenly visited her at night, and declared to be expelled if he wasn’t accepted into the family.

Moreover…

‘I see. But I do wish you wouldn’t be so tied up to your past.’

‘I hope you aren’t bearing a wound that’s already been ignored for so long. There will only be good days from now on, after all.’

Cassadin had seen countless people through his time in the gladiator arena, but he couldn’t get a grasp on just who Aren could be.

Cassadin looked down at the hand he used to stroke Aren’s hair the night before. His hand, which had been full of scars, was now smooth and pale thanks to Aren’s treatment.

‘Strange woman.’

Cassadin could tell whether a person was asleep or not through their breathing. The night he visited her, Aren did not fall asleep. Even when he was stroking her platinum blonde hair, Aren was definitely awake. Yet Aren showed no reaction at all.

He had done that out of impulsion, to see how she would look when angry, but Aren didn’t react at all. It only felt like he had become a petty child.

Well, it didn’t matter who Aren was. There was only one purpose he had with her. To use her. It didn’t matter as long as he could use her.

Cassadin slowly opened his eyes back up.

I was wrapping my gift for Cassadin in my room. Since today was the day he would become a member of our family, I thought I should commemorate the occasion.

‘I wonder if he’ll like it. He did tell me he needed a sword.’

The gift I prepared for Cassadin was a sword. While Cassadin went out to dig herbs, I went to the blacksmith with Sasha and bought every kind of sword I saw.

On the way home, I saw a small sword with a golden belt attached to the hilt that caught my eye at a dusty stall. When the shopkeeper saw me staring at the sword, he gave me a professional grin and laid out an extensive explanation about the sword.

‘Oh my~ Miss, you have a keen eye. This sword is said to have been used by the Crown Prince of the fallen Hyran Kingdom!’

Why would such a precious sword be in a dusty stall like this?

I was skeptical, but I immediately understood why people didn’t buy the sword when the shopkeeper charged an absurdly high price. But I still bought the sword just because I thought it would suit Cassadin.

I put the small sword in a box slightly larger than my palm. The box was portable enough to hold in one hand.

‘The weapon Damian killed me with was also a sword.’

I reflexively placed a hand on my heart. Fortunately, my heart was beating properly. The pain of Damian stabbing my heart was so substantial that I developed the unconscious habit of checking my heart.

I needed to make sure Damian felt the same pain that I experienced. In this life, I’m not going to heal his heart disease under any circumstances.

Shaking away those thoughts, I held the box holding the sword and knocked on Cassadin’s door.

Knock knock.

“Cassadin.”

There was no response from inside, so I knocked again.

Knock knock.

“Cassadin, I have something for you.”

Silence again.

It was strange that there was no response, so I opened the door. But when I opened the door, I cocked my head at the unexpected sight.

The curtain over the window was blowing in the wind, and the room was quiet, as if nobody was there.

“Cassadin? Are you there?”

When I cautiously called out his name, the bathroom door that had been closed suddenly clicked open.

“Sister…?”

There, I accidentally met with Cassadin, who was coming out of the bathroom.