The Protégé [On Hold]

01C | In the Midst of the Raging Snow

Three days had passed since then.

It was only a mere three days, yet the news of the incident had reached thousands of people already. Looking around the forest, it was quite obvious; massive crowds had gathered for the proceedings, and it felt more like a noisy gathering than a peaceful funeral.

Every person at the funeral wore noble clothing, although not all were technically nobles. Some were commoners, though they did their best to not look like one.

Likewise, every person at the funeral looked like they were there to mourn for the young general's death, although truth be told, it wasn't the case. Some were only there for sightseeing, while some were there all for the sake of spreading rumors and gossips about the one being mourned himself.

The few, remaining people were the ones who actually came to mourn, and one of them was none other than the person closest to the general, Hugh Rowland.

Ever since that day, Hugh had struggled to eat, sleep, and even talk, with only the horrifying picture on his mind.

Basically, he looked terrible, and even his noble outfit could not hide his despair- it was literally planted on his face.

As he walked lifelessly towards the middle of the forest, he saw several people walking in the same direction. Even without laying an eye, he could feel a hundred stares at him, although he wasn't surprised.

A young teen with black hair and glasses, with the trademark sky blue eyes, and a noble coat unique only to the Rowlands- he would actually be surprised if one did not recognize him.

As he arrived in the funeral, located in the middle of the large forest far from the Rowland Household, he saw massive crowds talking and chattering in front of him, which annoyed Hugh a bit. He couldn't pass through them either; if he did, all mouths and eyes would then be directed at him.

Aside from the people around, Hugh could see leafless trees and snow, which had accumulated so much that it actually looked like grass and the trees' leaves.

Bits of snow slowly fell one after another from the high branches, though the fallen snow would soon be replaced, as it was still snowing that time- except stronger.

The cold didn't bother Hugh at all, though. After all, he felt cold inside himself. Nothing else really mattered to him anymore, as he already lost the only one he had.

Soon, a small bit of snow fell right into Hugh's head. He didn't really plan to remove it, but someone did in the end.

"Look at these crowds. They're too many," a familiar man said. He patted Hugh's shoulder, and he looked at him in return.

"Sir Lucas," Hugh uttered in a low tone.

Lucas Simmons looked at him worryingly. "You look dreadful. Are you sure you can attend the proceedings until the end?" he asked.

Hugh nodded lightly in response.

"Sir, I'm just a personal guard to you, but I'm really worried about you right now. You look like you haven't eaten for days, Sir Hugh," said Lucas.

Hugh looked down. He couldn't utter a single word in return.

Lucas stuttered. "O-Oh, I'm sorry about that, sir. Forgive me for that careless remark." He bowed his head. "Anyway," he cleared his throat, "please follow me. You must be with Sir Hunt and the others," he said.

Hugh groaned internally as he heard his father's name. He didn't want to, but he had no choice. "Lead the way," he said as he walked in his direction.

* * *

The proceedings were about to start. Hugh and Lucas walked around the crowd until they saw five noblemen along with Hugh's father, who were exchanging greetings with each other.

"Oh, there you are, Hugh." Hunt Rowland looked at him. Hugh swallowed as the men with him did the same. They all looked mid-aged and noble, although they didn't look like his relatives.

"Pleasant greetings, Hugh Rowland." Three of the men bowed at him as if on cue, which confused him a bit.

"Ah, they are the representatives of the royal family," Hunt said. He pointed his hand towards the three.

"Indeed. We are from Niliveth Kingdom. We are here to express our deepest mourning towards the young general's death," one of the men said with his right hand on his chest. By the way they acted and spoke, it was pretty obvious they were from the Kingdom.

Hugh then looked at the other two nobles, which was his indirect way of asking 'what about them?'.

"Ah, they are the representatives of Xetha and Sator Empire. They also came to show thei-"

"Ahh, so you're Hunt's only son!" The man with yellow hair cut off Hunt's introduction and went closer to Hugh. "You look... ah... quite mournful today."

Hugh looked away from him in return, as he didn't like the way he looked at him.

Hunt cleared his throat. "This man is Ruth Garde. Xetha Empire's representative." He glared at Ruth. "Meanwhile, this is Sator's representative, Carter Hammond." He pointed at the brown-haired man beside him.

"Greetings," Carter bowed at Hugh.

"Ohh, this is very interesting!" Ruth yelled in a enthusiastic manner.