Trash of the Royal Family (Ao3)

TOTRF KAIEN VERSION CH. 44

Alver looked at Cale.

"Of course, I will listen. Wait while I prepare something." Alver stood up and pulled up a winter bed that Ron had discreetly given him when they arrived here. Callen's butler is well-prepared for everything, which is what makes him so frightening.

"Haha. What is this?" Cale could not stop laughing. "Are you a boy scout?"

"Blame Ron. Guess Callie's servants are so used to his crap that they are prepared for anything thrown at them." Alver laughs.

"It is called efficiency, Hyunnie," the six-year-old explained.

The three of them settle into the winter bed. It is nice that there is not a blizzard today, and warming spells have been cast on the bed. Alver and Cale simply sat down and leaned against the ready-made backrest. This is how they define perfection.

The two of them began to share a drink, while Callen lay down and stared at the sky.

"There was an eight-year-old boy who lost his mother. His father soon became indifferent to him and even brought his new family, and the boy did not know how to interact with them. He even told his stepbrother hurtful things and made him believe words that he wished to hear from people around him."

Alver cast a glance at him. Cale's eyes were filled with pain, but he persevered.

"He lived as trash, pushing everyone away, thinking it was the only way to save them, but he was only saving himself. He is afraid that embracing his new family and forgetting his mother will be a sin against her."

"No mother would have wished like that."

"Right?" Cale chuckles. "That boy grew up thinking that way."

Callen was also staring at him.

"He was beaten up by a black knight and disappeared from the story until his brother was caught in the Plaze Bombing he was supposed to attend." Cale bitterly bit his lips. "All he saw was a casket... with his stepbrother lying cold in it."

Cale had never mentioned this to anyone, not even Callen. But now he did not think twice about telling them. He could tell Alver and Callen were placing a lot of trust in him right now.

"That young man could not cry. He could not even mourn. He was set to stare at his brother's body coldly, and everyone, including his father, screamed at him for being indifferent, but in reality, he was hurt deep inside and did not know how to accept that loss," he chuckled. He remembered Deruth pushing him away. He remembered Deruth asking him if he was glad he had lost Bassen and that he had finally gotten rid of the boy who was making him unhappy.

"It was that boy's fault for smiling while looking at his own brother's body."

Cale had no idea why he was smiling. He was about to grab Bassen, shake him, and scream at him to stop his nonsense. Violan and Deruth, on the other hand, looked at him dismissively.

"He eventually became estranged from his own family."

With no one to rely on, Cale lived a life in which even his existence was despised. He could not bear to look at his father's face at the time. He remained looking down, staring, and becoming familiar with his father's shoes.

"Then the war began."

Cale lived a life in which his heart was constantly broken.

"Wyverns attacked the Henituse County," he gritted his teeth. "The boy took up arms, but he was never a good fighter at all. He trembled before the overwhelming force. He trembled in the face of the enemy destroying his home. He simply watched filled with fear, until all he was was his father protecting him from the debris."