Volume 1. Chapter 19. Adoption, Broccoli, and the Cliff

The next day, King Ligt gave them a fairly large house. Vail knew the king asked him not to tell anyone about last night's conversation.

"Why did the king give us a house and land?"

Cini was so confused.

"Maybe King Ligt asked us to live in his kingdom."

Vail replied, his tone hiding something he didn't want to reveal.

They walked up the stairs, seeing eight-bedroom doors on the second floor. Just stepping onto the second-floor balcony, they saw Zein and his mother coming with food.

"Brother Rii...!"

Zein waved at them and ran towards their residence.

"Zein, be careful...!"

The woman said, asking her son not to run.

"Since when did you guys get close to that kid?"

Vail was surprised to see Rii already so close to Zein.

"We got close after exchanging a few words, didn't we?"

Rii said, and Cini confirmed his friend's words, not wanting to keep Zein and his mother waiting.

They immediately went downstairs and opened the door for them. 

"Sorry if we came to your house without telling you. Zein wanted to meet his brother. The soldiers told us you were here when we were heading to the castle."

They felt bad for making Julian and Zein walk quite far.

"I brought food.... Have you all eaten?"

Julian smiled, raising the food container slightly.

"We haven't eaten anything this morning."

"Please, don't embarrass me."

"What? I'm just being honest."

"But this is different."

Julian was a little amused by Cini and Vail's little fight and felt bad for asking something inappropriate.

"Zein... have you eaten?"

Rii asked the little man.

"Mom asked me to eat first, but I refused. Because I want to eat together like last night."

Zein replied innocently.

"That makes me happy, but another time. I want you to eat first, okay?"

Zein nodded after Rii asked him to put himself before others, after which Vail asked Julian and Zein to come inside and eat together.

During the meal, Cini reminded Julian of what he said last night.

"Mrs. Julian, have you thought about the answer?"

Julian nodded before he spoke.

"I will answer it today."

"The answer? Can you explain to me what happened?"

"Zein is close to Rii, and Cini is the one who demands an answer from Zein's mother."

Vail was confused about what happened between them while he was gone.

"Let mother tell you."

Julian's words made Vail even more confused because she referred to herself as 'mother,' as if he were one of her sons

Julian recounted two conversations in which Cini had previously joked about adoptive parents and capital to open a restaurant.

Vail was shocked by Julian's explanation, and Rii confirmed it.

"He didn't even blink."

Cini said after waving his hand right in front of Vail's eyes.

"Maybe this is a bad idea. I got carried away and accepted it."

Julian felt guilty for getting too carried away.

Besides, Zein gave broccoli to Vail's plate because he didn't like the bitter taste.

"We are happy to have adoptive parents in this kingdom."

Rii tried to make Julian not regret and not feel guilty about what he said.

"Isn't that right, Cini?"

"Yes, we came from a very far place. And miss the figure of parents, if Mrs. Julian doesn't mind, we will be happy."

Cini's words made Julian happy if they would accept her as their adoptive mother.

"Vail... wake up."

Rii slapped Vail's cheek and made him hurt.

"What hap—why is my food full of broccoli?!"

Vail was shocked to see broccoli piled up on his plate, while he didn't like the vegetable.

In the afternoon, Clara came home and didn't find her mother and little brother. She waited until night. Her mother and sister still didn't come home.

"Where did they go?"

Clara ran to the castle and asked one of the soldiers where her mother and a little brother were. Luckily, the soldier she asked knew.

Without further ado, she immediately headed to the residence of the three castle guests.

"... there's no need to worry about money. We've prepared it,"

Vail said he already knew everything and didn't mind using the money he stole from Noel's warehouse.

"But... if you open a restaurant. Who will help me?"

Julian asked curiously.

"Regarding that, isn't there already—"

A knock on the door stopped Cini's words.

"We were just about to talk about it—and she's already here."

Rii said, knowing that it was Clara who had knocked.

Cini got up from his seat and walked towards the door to invite Clara in.

"You're just in time. Come in—we've been waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?"

Clara was confused by Cini's sudden words after opening the door. She entered and saw the table filled with food neatly arranged.

After Clara and Cini sat down, Rii brought it up again—he asked Clara to quit her job at the castle and help Julian at the restaurant.

"Quit? Are you out of your mind?"

Clara said, rejecting Rii's request that she quit her job just for her mother's sake.

"In fact, I work at the castle to meet our daily needs."

Clara said again.

"We're not asking without a reason. Of course, we will give you wages if you want to help Mrs. Julian build her restaurant business."

Rii told again what he wanted.

"Until the restaurant can run on its own, we will cover all the needs related to the restaurant."

Cini said, trying to convince Clara to stop being a waitress and help Julian.

"You're saying that—but where's the money to build the restaurant supposed to come from?"

Asked Clara, a little annoyed and irritated by their wishes.

"Clara... don't say that to your older siblings."

Julian reprimanded her daughter, who raised her voice a little because she was so annoyed.

"But mom, they..."

Clara stopped her words because Zein suddenly fell asleep on the dining table.

When Julian and her two children were about to go home, Rii asked them to stay overnight because the night was too dangerous for the two of them.

"Sorry if Zein prefers to sleep with you instead."

Julian felt that she had bothered Rii because her son preferred to sleep with one of her adopted siblings.

"It's okay, Mom. Besides, this place is still quite spacious if only we were the ones occupying it."

Rii did not mind that.

A few days later, Julian found a letter from an unknown sender. After reading a few lines, she realized that the letter was actually meant for Rii.

"Rii...!"

Julian called out, summoning one of her adopted children from the living room.

"Yes...?"

Rii responded to his adoptive mother's reply and immediately went to Julian.

"There's a letter for you."

"For me?"

Rii was confused. He took a piece of paper that Julian had given and read it silently.

After reading, Rii was curious why Una asked him to meet her at the Leindorf River.

"Mom, I'm going out for a while."

"Where?"

Julian asked curiously.

"There's something I have to do regarding last night's discussion. Cini and Vail will take Mom and Zein to find a place to be used as a restaurant."

Rii couldn't tell where he was going, but he talked about two of his friends would take Julian and Zein to buy a building for their restaurant.

"I don't know what's going on, but... please be careful out there."

Julian was a little worried about the situation that had just befallen Rii.

Rii nodded and had just walked out the door. When Julian was about to see Rii off, she no longer saw her adopted daughter.

"Where did he go?"

"He should still be visible."

Julian was so confused by what she found.

"Mrs. Julian, do you want to go out?"

Vail was surprised to see Julian standing in confusion in front of the door.

Julian turned her head, finding Vail already behind him as Zein came down the stairs joking with Cini.

Meanwhile, Una was staring at the river. Feeling Rii's presence near her, she turned her head and saw Rii approaching her.

"Is something wrong? Why did you ask me to meet you?"

Rii was curious about the contents of the letter, asking him to meet her as soon as possible.

"Did Vail and Cini follow you?"

Nia wanted to make sure that only Rii came.

"They have matters to attend to in the Gerna Kingdom,"

Rii's answer satisfied Nia's calmness.

"So, what's wrong?"

Rii asked again. Una asked him to follow her. Rii was confused as to why they had to walk into the forest, and it took quite a long time to find the edge of the cliff.

Stopping his steps and letting Nia keep walking.

"Why stop? Come closer. There's something I want to talk to you about," 

Nia said after realizing Rii was no longer following her to the cliff.

Her words made Rii wonder why they had to be near the cliff for such a conversation.

When he was near Nia, Rii had a vision of he and Nia dying together after jumping off the cliff.

"Rii—"

Rii caught Nia's hands before she could hug him and took her away from the cliff.

"What are you doing?"

Nia was confused as to why Rii pulled one of her hands and took her away from the cliff.

"Are you crazy?"

Rii's words shocked Nia, not expecting Rii to know about her desire to die together.

"What do you mean?"

Nia tried to hide it and pretended not to know.

"What do I mean? I had a vision of you hugging me and jumping off the cliff with me."

Nia was speechless after hearing Rii's words.

"Why do you know?"

Nia asked with a gloomy face and lowered her head, confusing Rii.

"Ni—"

"What do you know...!?"

Nia replied in a raised voice and looked at him with a sad face.