—

Paul and Mark’s face often twitched at the sight before them.

“Ah! That hurts you freaking dummy! This Big Sister will end you!”

“Tsk…”

“…”

They were now on their backyard where the training equipments or Raven’s creations were placed. Raven gave the girls one simple task, and that is to spar with the wooden dummies that he had set up. And let’s just say that it’s not going hot for them.

Foundation wise, the girls were much better than the boys (at least their version one month ago). They were able to strike back after they got attacked, but for some reason, Raven isn’t stopping the test even though they have seen enough of what the girls could do.

Paul and Mark could already see their bruises and their exhaustion but still, he didn’t budged, he remained as an observer. It wasn’t until…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The girls were thrown outside of the line that he moved and got closer to them. The girls were still conscious, although barely. They sat up with difficulty and glanced warily at the dummies. Now they knew why Paul and Mark warned them to not step beyond that line upon their visit. Those things could pass for the position of a guard at their homes! These dummies don’t know exhaustion and hits hard! No mercy even for ladies.

The girls saw Raven crouching before them while shaking his head, he heard them say: “Well, at least you something going. But still this is not enough, not by a long shot.”

“This is what you guys do everyday?” Anne asked while massaging her thighs, she grimaced as she felt at least five to six bruises on one leg alone, that’s on top of the one’s on her upper body.

“Well, for my brothers yes, but the dummies they faced is metal versions of those that had steel weapons. As for me, my training is a bit different from what they do.”

The girls had a sudden flashback of what they saw him doing earlier. What does he mean by ‘a bit different’? His training is on a completely different level!

“Paul, Mark, help me out and let’s have them soak in the medicinal bath. You girls should have spare clothing right?” Raven asked and they nodded. He assisted Luna, Paul with Ellen and Mark with Anne.

They went into the boys’ bathroom and the guys left to let the girls soak in the bath after giving them instructions. Not even five minutes after they left, the girls let out collective gasps that caught each other’s attentions.

“Oh my! What a wondrous medicinal bath this is!” Anne exclaimed.

“Honestly! I could already feel my bruises dissipating and we’re not even five minutes in! I don’t even have to absorb them actively since the process was automatic! This must cost them a fortune!” Ellen said emotionally as she inspected her bruised body.

“I don’t think so.” Luna spoke which caught the attention of the two. “I reckon that this medicinal bath is as expensive as you guys think. I could name at least five ingredients that’s used in here and so far, all of them are extremely cheap. I think the cost would be anyone from 1 or 2 gold cards.”

Ellen and Anne looked at her in shock, they have no doubts about what she said since Luna knew a bit of apothecary. She could casually tell if a herb is harmful or good in one glance. What’s more surprising to them was she can’t actually tell the things that are included in this medicinal bath, which means that she was also out-skilled, probably by Raven, in terms of plant knowledge as well.

“I’ve been meaning to ask this question for a while now…” Anne looked at Ellen and asked: “Why didn’t you tell us that you have a cousin like him?”

Ellen pursed her lips as she saw Luna was interested in knowing too, she sighed and said: “Would you believe me if I said that I didn’t knew anything too?”

“Fifty fifty.” Anne replied flatly, “We’ve known you for a long time and out friendship came to the point where secrets are no so much to any of us. But I also can’t believe that you haven’t notice anything from him as well.”

Ellen let out a dry laugh and felt a pang of nostalgia. “He is rather…a secretive person when we were kids.”

“There were no days that I saw him sad, he was always smiling and whatever it is that tries to get him down will always fail. It’s like he completely incapable of feeling any negative emotions at all. And I HATED that so much. I always felt he was mocking me. But boy was I wrong…so wrong.” Ellen gripped her fists unconsciously as she thought of the past.

“I also heard…” Luna said, “That he was from Burning Heaven Clan-”

“Fuck those people…” Ellen grunted. Anne and Luna was shocked to a pure and unrestrained rage coming off from her face, it has been a while since they saw her like this. Ellen sighed and calmed herself down. “Those bastards! If it weren’t for the fact that they made huge contributions for the kingdom then our clan would totally wage war against them!”

“You could tell us what happen if that would calm you down…” Anne reached out to hold her hand. Ellen smiled as a look of thankfulness surfaced in her face.

“I’m supposed to grow up in the Burning Heaven Clan, the clan of my mom. I stayed there and grew until 8 when an accident happen. A group of the Black Curtain Guild managed to penetrate the kingdom walls and attacked the Burning Heaven Clan. In the midst of the fight, someone from the guild found our hiding place and abducted me. The strength of that person outclassed most of the people who were guarding us, the elders were too busy on defending their attacks and backup from the army was far from arriving. In the end, I was taken without much of a fight and became a bargaining chip for the Guild.”

Anne and Luna’s eyes constricted in disbelief, they weren’t aware that she encountered something like this at such a young age too!

“Of course my parents were fuming in rage, but they also couldn’t really blame the clan. Why you ask? It’s because they forged a story that they weren’t aware that I was missing. They even said that they thought I was with them, safe and sound. Those fuckers really knew how to act!” Ellen gnashed her teeth in anger.

“On the other hand, there I was. Scared and trembling in a corner of a dark room. Chains clamping my hands and feet, I could still move about but I was far from escaping that place. Heck! I didn’t even knew what was going on outside! I could only cry and pray in hopes of getting out of there. But those fuckers told me that my mom and dad won’t save me at all.”

“Imagine my surprise when I heard a familiar voice calling out for me on the other end of my cell. It was him. He told me that he was going to free me and escape with me but how could I believe him? But lo and behold, he came with keys, opened up my cell, released my chains and left the place. Leaving those fucktards none the wiser. A bunch of senile fools not even knowing that an 8 year old managed to completely infiltrate their base and free up their captive without alarming them. It was damn waste I didn’t manage to see their dumbfounded faces!”

“But as we were walking back home, I noticed that he was acting rather…weirdly. I got my answer when we came back. He…wasn’t smiling anymore, he was angry and it unnerved me to the point of speechlessness. His parents were shocked, my parents were shocked, then angry. Why you ask? Imagine a 8 year old boy, openly cursing the patriarch of his clan, calling him Senile Old Fool and bunch of other nicknames. Spouting out the truth of the whole situation along with providing hard facts, all of this in front of a Royal Guard who was stunned into speechlessness as well.”

“You know what’s even more funny? The Patriarch ALMOST killed him right then there. A fully fledged Knight converging his entire cultivation base on an 8 year old child.” These words made the two shuddered in horror. Ellen smiled sadly despite of herself.

“Good thing our fathers were fast to move and shielded him from all of that. The Royal Guard was irked into fury and slapped the fool, sending him spiralling out of where he was standing. His dad was mad. He openly said that he was formally cutting ties with the Burning Heaven Clan. My dad was just as angry as he was and swore on his entire being that the Vermilion Sky Clan were also cutting ties with the Burning Sky Clan and were treating them as enemies. That time, my dad was already the first in line successor of the Patriarch position so his words had weight behind them.”

“The situation called for the Royal Judgement, with the Judges penalizing the Burning Heaven Clan with 50% of their entire stocks for compensation and 5 years of forced Community Service for their males. My dad wanted them to be exiled from the kingdom but the Burning Heaven Clan had made some noticeable contributions for the kingdom so it didn’t happen. Still, our emnity is still alive to this very day, but the Burning Heaven Clan became quiet specially now that his dad became the Hawk and my dad became a Royal Guard.”

“Raven was traumatized by the whole event. He became so silent and I never saw him smile once more. My family expressed their wholehearted thanks for his bravery and wits but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t fine. His parents didn’t blame us though, which just really made feel guilty. We searched for healers for him and even asked them to stay with us but they refused.. His family retreated to the Outer Division and found a nice and quiet place to stay while our family decided to live with our relatives inside the Inner Division, leaving me always guilty about what happen until this day.”