Chapter 39: Revealing secrets(1)

The night sky had stars sparkling all over it. The moon's soft glow was the only light, illuminating the path for a group of people. The cold wind brushed past them causing a man to sneeze loudly.

"ACHOOO!"

Paul's abrupt sneezing startled the group for a bit as their journey was proceeding rather quietly.

"Ugh...Sorry. I've never dealt with the cold well." Paul apologized as he prepared to sneeze again.

'...He can kill a troll in one blow but can't stand a bit of wind?' Dusk thought with a frown.

Dawn would have voiced the same thoughts he was having but she was asleep at the moment.

As for the slave trader Brad he was too afraid of Paul who was effortlessly pulling the slave carriage by himself with a rope, since the horses ran away during the Troll incident.

That being said, it seemed after Father and daughter bawled their eyes out while embracing each other, Dawn felt all the exhaustion hit her again. Causing her to fall asleep in Lucius's arms.

"Dusk. I'd like to speak with you about something." Lucius who was in front of Dusk suddenly turned back. An unconscious Dawn lying on his back could be seen.

'Oh fuck no. He didn't even call me young master. I'm definitely in for a death battle.'

Dusk gazed at the stars above him and could see them form a constellation of his dead Grandpa waving at him. It seemed he was going to meet the training maniac geezer soon.

"Thank you for giving your all to protect my daughter. I heard everything from Paul. Without you, I would have likely lost her for good." Lucius bowed his head, due to Dusk's small stature he could still see Lucius's eyes that were filled with gratitude.

'Hmm. It seems I owe Paul for now.' Dusk glanced at Paul who was still sneezing, albeit as quietly as possible.

"Please raise your head. If you didn't know already, I mentioned in my note that this was my fault to begin with. If I had kept an eye on her then all of this could have been avoided."

Dusk meant what he said. Although Dawn was partially to blame, she was a child. Children can't be held as accountable for mistakes as adults. So he should have foreseen her misconduct and stopped her back then. He didn't feel this way because of a sense of responsibility. As someone who tries to prevent anything troublesome from occurring, he thought it to be a miscalculation on his part.

"I'm not one to blame my daughter before hearing her out but Dusk, I find it hard to believe a child like you, who never bothers others and keeps to himself would be at fault. But even if that is the case, I wouldn't blame you since you're even younger than my daughter." Lucius smiled gently.

This would be a cause for celebration for Dusk but the last part caught him off guard.

"Wait, what? She's older than me?" Dusk asked, visibly surprised. This was the first he heard of this.

"Yes. You're around 7 and a half years old, correct? Dawn is 8. So she's almost 6 months older than you. I've kept it a secret from her though, since she might tease and annoy you even more if she found out."

"Thank you, and please continue keeping it a secret," Dusk said with a long sigh.

With how many times he's sighed today he felt he had already aged a year.

'I'm not even done for today. I've got an even more important matter to take care of.'

He wanted to sigh again but he ended up stopping himself.

Meanwhile, Paul was troubled further with a new piece of information.

'So you're telling me, he's not even 8 and he can hold off a troll? How is that even possible?' Paul tried his best to come up with an explanation but unfortunately, all he could do was sneeze repeatedly.

With that, the group along with Brad's slave carraige continued silently through the path excluding Paul's frequent sneezing.

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After about an hour, the group reached the Nightmoon family mansion despite their relaxed pace.

Dawn had woken up by now. And for whatever reason, she started clinging to Dusk instead of her father. Which caused Lucius to shed salty tears of jealousy.

Dusk obviously didn't like this either, but there was something in Dawn's eyes that made him refrain from protesting. It seemed like she was afraid to leave him or something.

Paul, on the other hand, teased the two.

"Oh ho! You two sure are love birds, clinging to each other like that!" He said with a smirk.

"It isn't like that and even if it was, I'm not stupid enough to do this in front of her father..." Dusk said as he glanced at Lucius who's had mana had started to spike from a short while ago.

"You really don't talk like your a-"

"DUSK! DAWN! LUCIUS! ARE YOU THREE FINE?!" Suddenly the voice of a man interrupted Paul. A man in noble attire could be seen running up to them with inhuman agility. It seemed like he would collide with the group but he stopped himself with precise movement and mana control.

"Lord Nightmoon! Yes, we're fine! Thanks to your son, even my daughte-" Lucius started replying with a smile.

But Stygian walked past him and went up to Dusk instead. He then hugged the boy. Thankfully, Dawn was able to sense the emotions within Stygian with her skill and managed to step away from Dusk in time.

While Dusk was caught off guard.

"Dusk. My son. I'm sorry. You stormed into such trouble and I couldn't do anything. I was so worried that I'd lose you too! I feared my cowardice and negligence toward you would be how our relationship would end today. I'm so sorry for being such an incompetent father!" Stygian shouted venting all the frustrations and pain he felt these past few years.

He cursed himself for being so incompetent, that he not only somehow failed his wife but his son too.

He wasn't crying but he had an extremely pained look on his face while hugging Dusk.

"Father, Calm down for now. I'm fine. And let's discuss this later in the mansion. There's people around us." Dusk said with a smile as he gently pushed off Stygian.

"Y-You're right. Sorry. Let's talk after settling everything here, if you don't mind." Stygian requested.

"Yes, Of course." Dusk accepted.

Stygian then noticed the knight captain in black armor.

"Ah! You must be Sir Paul! I apologize for the sight you just saw! Please come to my mansion. You are a guest."

But Paul rejected Stygian's offer with a wave of his hand.

"No, It's okay Mr. Nightmoon. Although I would like to speak with you, I have some unexpected business to attend now." Paul gestured toward the restrained Brad and the carriage filled with unhealthy children.

Stygian instantly got the gist of the situation and nodded.

"I see. I will make sure to give you time when it's required. I apologize for not being able to attend to you today."

Paul nodded to this and then started leaving.

"Take care kids and you as well, Mr. Lucius!"

"I hope we meet again, Sir Paul! Thank you for everything you did today!" Lucius shot a grateful look. While Dusk and Dawn bowed their heads to show their gratitude.

Paul turned around and waved his hand dismissively like an anime character, before he started pulling along the wagon again. Brad followed him without making an attempt to escape.

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Dusk was in Stygian's office at the moment. He sat down on a comfortable couch with a coffee table in front of it. While Stygian was seated at his Desk. Lucius was also in the room, he stood near a bookshelf. The room was fitting for a noble's office. The shelf near Lucius contained a great many different kinds of books that were picked by Stygian himself. The room had a red sophisticated carpet spread across the flooring.

The aesthetic of the room would make hours of work more bearable. Yet the awkward silence between father and son for the last few minutes was enough to make Lucius feel the room was a hellscape.

" *Cough*! Uh- So Dusk you wanted to discuss something important with us?" Lucius finally spoke up to break the unbearable silence.

Both Lucius and Stygian were curious as to what the important matter was. Originally, both thought it was about the father-son discussion Dusk mentioned earlier. But Lucius was specifically requested to be present which confused them. Not only that, Dusk also told the two that he'd like to keep the matter a secret from everyone else, requesting Stygian to dismiss all maids and butlers temporarily from the mansion.

Stygian was a bit hesitant but he didn't want to reject his son's rare request. On the other hand, all this coupled with today's incident caused Lucius to come up with the possibility of something he had been thinking about for some time. But it was an absurd idea so he didn't put too much faith in it.

"Yes. I was just organizing my thoughts." Dusk spoke up after a short while. His eyes which were closed from thinking deeply about the decision he was about to make opened.

"I'm sure both of you noticed some gradual but apparent changes within me these past 3 and a half years. There were also odd behaviors that I portrayed. That coupled with today's incident...I'd like to explain everything." Dusk said to the two individuals with a determined look.