’Auntie, I’m home.’
Miyu wrapped her arms around the old woman, peering over at the pan to see what she was cooking.
Lucian, meanwhile, still couldn’t quite process any of it, how he’d suddenly ended up in a kitchen like this, surrounded by people who felt nothing like anyone he’d encountered before.
Without warning, a hand, warm to the touch, settled on his shoulder. He hadn’t even noticed the old man had come to stand right beside him until that moment. The man patted his shoulder a few times.
"Young man, why do you look so lost?"
The old man’s voice carried an easy warmth. He wore a white shirt and a white cap, though nothing about his clothing resembled anything from the Bravenheart Empire or any territory Lucian knew of.
Along the hem of his garment hung a small charm shaped like a crescent moon, and it wasn’t only on his clothes, the same crescent mark was etched into both his and the old woman’s foreheads, as if they belonged to some tribe from a continent Lucian had never heard of.
’Uncle, don’t tease him like that. Lucian’s exhausted,’ Miyu said, gently pulling her uncle’s hand off Lucian’s shoulder.
"Ah, it’s fine. I’m just still a little thrown off by all of this, that’s all."
"Ah, so your name is Lucian, young man, please forgive this an old man"
"Come, Come sit, rest a while. You must be worn out after such a long journey."
The old man guided him toward a chair, urging him to relax while his wife finished preparing the meal.
They’re surprisingly friendly to a stranger like me. Is this just part of their culture?
Miyu leaned in close to Lucian’s face. ’Lucian, is there anything you’d like to drink?’
Lucian raised a hand in polite refusal, hoping he wasn’t putting them to any trouble on his account.
’It’s fine, you don’t need to feel shy around me. Do you still like chocolate milk?’
Something about that caught Lucian completely off guard. How could Miyu possibly know his favorite drink? Only Rumelia had ever known things like that about him. Was Miyu just guessing?
’Okay, judging by your face, you really want some. Hold on, let me go find you some.’ Miyu was already on her feet, heading toward the door before he could stop her.
"Eh, wait, I said you don’t have to, Miyu." Lucian tried to hold her back, but she only smiled and turned to her aunt and uncle instead.
’You two watch over Lucian for a bit, okay? I’ll be right back. Ah, go ahead and eat without me.’ Miyu gave a quick wave and hurried out.
Lucian sat there, aware that only the three of them remained in the kitchen now, and a strange, unsettled feeling crept over him. Something about the room felt wrong without Miyu in it.
"Young man, what’s the matter? You look a little pale. Are you missing Miyu already, just because she stepped out?" the old man teased, nudging him lightly.
"Ah, no, that’s not what I meant, sir." Lucian shook his head.
"Hahaha, don’t worry, I’m only teasing you, son. But truly, we’re grateful you’re here."
Lucian rested his hands on his lap and leaned back against the chair, trying to make sense of what the old man meant.
"What do you mean, grateful?"
"We’re grateful because it’s been so long since we’ve seen Miyu look like this. Because of you, we finally got to see how beautiful she looks when she smiles. We’ve wanted to see her like this for so long, even if it turns out to be the last time."
Lucian’s confusion only deepened at that. "Has Miyu really never acted like this before, this whole time you’ve been here?"
"Ah, not just while we’ve been here. Even before we moved far away to this place, she’d already grown quiet, withdrawn. We never saw her smile anymore. But the moment you arrived, that dark cloud she’d been carrying seemed to lift, just like that."
The old man took off his cap and leaned back in his own chair.
"Sir, may I ask, where exactly are we right now?"
The old man smiled. "Of course. If you could see, you’d probably already realize we’re not from the same place as you."
Somewhere far away? Are they from somewhere well beyond the Bravenheart border?
"Are you from the northern territories?"
The old man shook his head, as though Lucian’s guess had missed by a wide margin. "Our home was never in the same region as yours at all. Where we originally came from was a land of desert."
Lucian turned that over in his mind. Nowhere in the surrounding territories had anything resembling a desert, not in his own region, and not anywhere across the entire continent of Arta as far as he knew its geography.
Which meant, if that was true, they had to be from somewhere entirely outside Arta, perhaps the continent of Eosia, the closest landmass to it, though reaching it would take dozens of days by sea.
So where, exactly, was he right now?
"Young man, there’s no use dwelling too much on where we came from. It won’t do you any good. Our people are already gone, wiped out. Even if you managed to learn our tribe’s name, it wouldn’t lead you back to where we once lived."
"Gone?" Lucian’s brow furrowed instantly. There was clearly a deeper story here, something about Miyu he still needed to uncover.
"Much like the Crimson clan, famous for slaughtering so many, our tribe carries a dark history of its own."
"Wait, what do you mean by that, sir? Your people were wiped out because they committed crimes like the Crimson clan did?"
Lucian’s question came out sharp, weighted with real concern, but the old man only laughed at it.
"Hahah, no, don’t worry. Our tribe never slaughtered innocent people the way the Crimson clan did, chasing revenge that ended up spilling onto people who had nothing to do with it."
Just as the old man said, the Crimson clan had never massacred without reason. Their fury had been ignited by a neighboring kingdom, one that had secretly abducted a woman of their clan.
Her captors had made a fatal miscalculation. They believed Crimson blood alone could cure any illness on contact, when in truth, only the bloodline’s own will could guide that power once inside a patient’s body, and even then, success was never guaranteed. Frustrated and no longer trusting her, they killed her.
What they never realized was that the woman who’d gone with them willingly, hoping to help, was the Matriarch of the Crimson clan herself. Her death ignited an ancestral fury so absolute it razed several kingdoms to the ground.
"But our tribe never did anything close to what the Crimson clan did."
"Then what was it? What actually happened, sir? Can you tell me?" Lucian pressed, his curiosity growing sharper by the second.
But the heat rising off the pan had grown thicker, and before he knew it, the meal the old woman had prepared was already set down in front of them.
"Food’s ready. Come, let’s eat first, both of you," the old woman said, ladling the soup into three bowls set before them.
"Smells wonderful. Let’s eat first, and then we can keep talking, Lucian."
Damn it, I was so close. I almost had something to figure out where I actually am...
Still, custom demanded that once a host had gone through the trouble of preparing a meal, a guest owed it to them to sit down and eat, out of respect for the hospitality being offered. It wasn’t only soup laid out before them either. There was a pale, slightly white loaf of bread, and in their cups, a drink of deep, thick red.
"Come on, Lucian, let’s eat." The old man said it eagerly, already lifting his spoon and bringing it to his mouth.
Lucian turned his face toward the bowl in front of him, an odd unease settling over him. Nearly every meal he’d ever eaten had come from Rumelia’s hands. This was different, food prepared by strangers he’d only just met.
Something about this soup feels off, but I can’t place what.
"Ma’am, forgive me if this sounds rude, but could you tell me what’s in this soup?" Lucian forced the question out, hoping to settle the unease gnawing at him.
"Oh, it’s just an ordinary meat soup. Miyu mentioned you’re not too fond of vegetables, so I only added a little carrot. Is something wrong with my cooking?"
"Ah, no, no, that’s not what I meant. I just, um, I mean, could you tell me what kind of meat is in this soup?"
The old woman’s smile faltered, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face before she could answer. But it was the old man beside Lucian who spoke up instead.
"This is game meat Miyu caught not too long ago. Shame, though, she only managed to catch two. The other one was too quick and got away."
Something about that answer twisted uneasily in Lucian’s mind, the mention of two catches, and one that had slipped away.
Didn’t Sebast tell me two servants went missing?
Sweat broke out across Lucian’s skin, even though he hadn’t touched a single spoonful of the soup yet.
And he said only one managed to escape. Didn’t Sister Nora also manage to get away? Or is that just a coincidence... Damn it, this feeling is getting worse.
Lucian turned his face back toward the bowl in front of him. The more he replayed Sebast’s earlier words in his mind, the harder he found himself trembling, until even holding onto his spoon felt like more than he could manage.