Greyson could feel his consciousness slowly returning. He could hear all sorts of sounds around him that started off a garbled mess but became clearer. At first, he could barely hear anything other than the rustling of clothes and quiet murmuring. After a while, his sensation of his body returned and he began to feel someone either touching his wrist as if checking for injuries, holding his hand, or even touching his face. Although he felt rather disgusted by anyone"s touch, there was one pair of hands that felt so warm and comfortable he wished they would never leave. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not get his eyes to open. When he could finally feel his mana again, his first goal was to check his body once again to see if Lucius succeeded in getting the Calming Fruit. Ecstatic by the results, he realized that his bloodline was similar to a tamed animal. No longer fighting rampantly but they all mixed together. Although they were not completely one, both of his bloodlines were twisted together in harmony. After a while, he realized that only one person continued to visit his room. He also started to worry because he could tell that Lucius was nowhere near him. With their connection, he would be able to feel Lucius even from a fairly long distance away. In the beginning, he could tell there were many bodies constantly filing in and out of his room all talking about something, but he could not gleam much information from their random comments. Now there was only one person, but this person never spoke so Greyson could not make out their ident.i.ty. He was, however, touched by their persistence and gentle care. A little while after, some of the questions in his head were finally answered."Rosie, why do you keep spending all your time with this weakling!? He is not waking up any time soon no matter how much you stay here beside him. I don"t know what the ancestor was thinking either by spending so many precious resources on this guy! There were obviously other owners of those treasures who deserved them. Not some random n.o.body who got picked up out of nowhere." A young man swung the door open with so much force that Greyson could hear the loud *SLAM* when the door collided with the wall. Following such a loud entrance was the whining and loud voice that Greyson automatically disliked. It was the first time he experienced such inexplicable dislike. He obviously had not even seen the person"s face but just his voice and words full of disdain triggered Greyson"s disgust. However, he soon felt like bursting out in laughter after hearing his caretaker"s response.
"First of all, my name is Rosalie, but to you, I am either Young Lady Ley or Miss Ley. We are not close, nor will we ever be close enough for you to call out so familiarly to me. The sound of that name from your mouth disgusts me. Second, my business is not your business. So, just leave me alone. Seeing your face puts me in a worse mood. At least this person"s face is nice to look at and is quiet, he is already an infinite amount of times better than you." A frigid and apathetic voice calmly responded as if she was speaking about the weather and had not just completely slapped the poor guy across the face. Even Greyson could not help but feel some pity for the guy. The only solace was that there was only the two of them in the room so no one else was able to witness such an embarra.s.sment.
"Rosalie, huh. That"s a nice name." Greyson thought to himself after hearing her speak.
"Wait, wait, wait... did she just say Miss Ley? Ley?!"
Suddenly Greyson could not compute what was happening. Where was Lucius, why was he not around? How did he end up already finding his sister? Where was he? Thrown into immense confusion, Greyson longed to quickly be able to open his eyes and finally get up. Stuck in his position for so long was driving him crazy!
The young man had no idea what to say in response. Greyson could hear the poor guy spluttering in shock, obviously not thinking that Rosalie would respond so strongly. It was almost as if he came just to stick out his face and take a beating. He could not very well start scolding and getting angry at Rosalie since he was trying to court her and the only other person was unresponsive and in a coma. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he could only turn to leave with his tail between his legs. Greyson was not able to see his expression, but he could pretty much imagine the immense embarra.s.sment and frustration showing on that person"s face. Inwardly chuckling, Greyson"s impression of his older sister rose exponentially. She was a stoic person with a poisonous tongue, it seems. Though it was quiet, since they were so close together, Greyson was able to hear her tired sigh after the other boy left. His heart hurt listening to the exhaustion in that sigh, as if her burdens were too heavy. The desire to speak out and comfort her overwhelmed him, he wished he could reach out and hold her hand and tell her that he could help her. Maybe this was the bond between family; even though they did not know each other, there was a subconscious pull that drew him closer to her. He feigned coldness with Eden because he was frightened by the fact, he could feel so close to someone so quickly. To prevent himself from disappointment, he tried to take it slow. Even with Rosalie, he was not sure how to interact with her once he woke up. Would she repel him just as she did that young man earlier?
...
All sorts of thoughts ran through Greyson"s mind as he continued to lay quietly. Days slowly pa.s.sed while Greyson could feel his body waking up. If one was watching closely, they could see his toes and fingers twitching occasionally. Greyson mentally sighed in exasperation and made a promise to himself to never use this spell on himself anymore. It was such a pain to undo! Another morning rolled around, Greyson could feel the presence of Rosalie again. She slipped her dainty, cold hand into his and just silently sat at his bedside. He was shocked that she could handle sitting around in silence, however, he could tell that the situation actually suited her calm personality. In the midst of the silence was the sound of slowly flipping pages. Greyson wished he could ask what book she was reading, but all he could do was pa.s.sively lay on the bed and wait. The scene felt tranquil as the chirping of birds in the morning leaked through the open window and a nice breeze blew through and rustled the curtains. Warm rays of the sun shone down on his face, leaving him feeling comfortable and content. If he could, he would have whipped out Mesmer and play some music. Somehow, he felt that his sister would like his music.
Good times never lasted long as the door swung open once again while breaking the peace inside the room.
"Let"s go, Young Lady Ley, the Master is waiting for you to accompany him to his meal." A gruff voice spoke. His voice was even-keeled and strict, as he spoke without any extra words.
"Tell your Master that I am not feeling well and would have to ask to be excused from breakfast this morning." Her cold voice not changing one bit, Rosalie did not try to mince words with the newcomer.
"I"m sorry, Miss, but the Master is no longer going to take your excuses. He ordered this servant to make sure that you came over this time." Leaving no room for rejection, the man once again sternly spoke.
"Leave. I lose my appet.i.te sitting anywhere near that man."
"I"m sorry, Miss. This one has no other options other than to use force."
Greyson could not see anything, but he could hear the struggle and the force pulling Rosalie"s hand away as she kept her tight grip on his hand trying her best to resist. The hand was slowly slipping from Greyson"s hand as he began to panic. Knowing that she did not want to leave, Greyson wished to quickly get up and help. n.o.body should be able to force his sister to do anything. He kept chanting at himself to wake up in his hand almost screaming it. Right as the last bit of her fingers were about to slip from his grasp, he could finally grip the hand that was in his. Rosalie gasped in shock when she felt that limp hand suddenly grab onto hers with a surprising amount of strength. Looking over to the person laying down, she could see his eyes twitching before his long eyelashes began fluttering. Soon, piercing light grey eyes were staring at her face in confusion, obviously trying to get his eyes to focus. His platinum silver hair flowed down from his shoulders and color returned to his cheeks. At that moment, Rosalie could feel her heart stop. Not because he was so good-looking, but because his face was almost a reflection of hers! The only difference was the slightly masculine touch on his features that differed from the feminine touch on hers. Even the man behind her was shocked by the similarity and stopped pulling on Rosalie"s arm. Everyone saw his face before as Greyson was laying down, however, they could not see the similarities until his eyes actually opened.
Greyson did not notice their confusion, as he was distracted by his own delight for finally being able to get up. He looked around the room only to see that it was rather bare other than for the bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. Turning back towards the two people in room, he finally recoiled in shock. Although, he and Eden looked relatively like siblings, they did not look that similar. Eden had told him it was because she most took on their father"s features while Greyson looked more like their mother. The Rosalie in front of him had obviously also inherited their mother"s features because even he had to admit that they looked really similar. Only if he activated his Snow Dragon bloodline would they look slightly different since his hair and eyes would change.
"h.e.l.lo..." Greyson slowly spoke, not knowing how to really begin. The room sank into awkward silence as everyone was no longer sure what to say.
"Ahem, h.e.l.lo, my name is Greyson. Who are all of you guys? I left my body in the responsibility of my friends, so how did I end up here? Where are my friends?" Trying his best not to overwhelm them with questions, Greyson decided to calmly ask the most important things. As if his voice finally kick-started her brain once again, Rosalie awoke from her stupor and blushed after realizing she stared for so long.
"h.e.l.lo, my name is Rosalie Ley. Nice to meet you. This is the Snow Dragon tribe location; however, I am just a guest here so I am not really aware of why or how you arrived here. None of your friends were here when you showed up, therefore I am not aware of their current location. You would probably have to ask the ancestor since he was the one that brought you over. He also allowed for the Calming Fruit and a couple other of herbs that help with bloodline incorporation to be used on you, so I do believe you should make sure to thank him if you see him." Her face returning to its original calm, her voice was just as cold and apathetic as before.
"Snow Dragon?" After learning his location, Greyson could finally understand why he would run into his sixth sister here. Although she did not inherit the dragon bloodline, she is still descended from one of the tribe members. Maybe her guard brought her to the Beast Empire as her location? With the power of the Dragon tribe, this location would definitely be safer than most. Did any of his other siblings come here, as well?
"Since you are awake, then you can take care of yourself. Young Lady Ley, you should come with me to join the Master." Turning his cold eyes towards Greyson briefly, the other man pulled on Rosalie"s arm once again.
"Tell your Master that I"m not interested!" Annoyed by the man"s persistence, Rosalie finally pushed away from him and a large gust of wind followed that slammed the man into the wall. Smas.h.i.+ng the wall apart, the man was sent flying out of the room. Widening his eyes in surprise, Greyson did not realize she would just throw him out like that.
"You should have done that earlier. He obviously was not taking your opinion into consideration, so you should just beat away people like that." Chuckling happily, Greyson did not worry about the other man since he was the one acting out of line from the beginning. "Who is his Master anyways?" He asked just out of pure curiosity. His sister was obviously not interested in this man one bit.
"A disgusting man from the tribe. His position is rather high and his power is as well, so I cannot really just ask him to leave me alone. I can only take out my frustrations on his stupid dogs." Grimacing, Rosalie spat her words with disdain.
"But, enough about him. He is insignificant." Waving her dismissively as if shooing away thoughts of that man, she looked again at Greyson with confusion. "You... not to be weird, but don"t you look way too much like me?" Waving her dismissively as if shooing away thoughts of that man, she looked again at Greyson with confusion. If one looked close enough, though, they could see the s.h.i.+mmer of excitement and expectation in her eyes.
"Well... I am pretty sure that you are my sixth sister. You are from the Ley Kingdom, right? The one that used to be in the Snow Country. I could tell from your last name. I met another sister with the same last name and she was the one who told me about my origin." He felt she probably already had some a.s.sumptions about him since she stayed with him and took care of him for so long. She did not really seem like the type of person to do so otherwise.
"Then, you ARE the seventh child! The one who was born the day the kingdom fell!" Genuine pleasant surprise filled her face as she smiled brightly. "Rain spoke to me about you, but she knew the least about you since you were only just born on that day. No one from the kingdom was able to get to know even what you looked like other than Mother and her maidservants. I had my suspicions from the beginning, but I could not be sure." She continued to grip his hand tightly as if afraid he would disappear.
"Rain?"
"Yes, she is my head guard. She and a couple other of my guards led me to Greenwolf Country since they thought that the chaotic situation there would help hide me. However, after a while, they decided to send me to the Snow Dragon tribe. She was worried, though, that they might not accept me. Grandfather and the Ancestor were really welcoming and they made sure to shut anyone else up. Ironic that most of those disgusting flies that are chasing after me were the ones who shouted the loudest for me to leave the tribe when I was younger. Oh, how the tables have turned, right?" Sneering, Rosalie explained the current situation a little. Greyson had gotten a glimpse of her struggles just laying down. He would constantly hear a couple different young men come and go. Each one was turned away in embarra.s.sment, but they did not give up. Scanning his sister from head to toe, Greyson did have to admit that his sister was definitely prettier than most. Way more than Ezra and Natalie, her elf bloodline led her features to look almost flawless. As if she could feel his vision, Rosalie blushed a little before looking closely at Greyson and laughing lightly.
"Hahaha, maybe you will lighten my load by arriving. You look so much like me that some of those guys might start chasing you!" Giggling at this thought, Rosalie"s mood became much brighter. Hearing her words, Greyson furrowed his brows while grimacing. His mood completely souring.
"Alright, alright, don"t be upset. I"m just messing with you. Everyone knows you"re a boy. Maybe if you were a little younger, they would still make that mistake." Looking at his expression, Rosalie held in her laughter and tried to be serious. "Why don"t you tell me about your life? I really want to hear about it." Her eyes sparkling with curiosity, she felt that his life was probably much more interesting than hers.
...
Calming down, Greyson nodded and started talking about his life. She nodded and smiled hearing of the happy moments while cursing angrily at the sad moments. Her expression turned especially bad when she heard about Eden"s situation.
"I have to go help her! Snow Dragons are extremely proud and Grandfather and Grandmother love us like his own even if we are mixed bloods. He would never allow for one of us to suffer like a servant. Hmph, treasure-hunter? Seriously idiotic, of course that"s all they could think of."
Greyson agreed with her and looked forward to meeting his grandparents. They seemed like really loving people. He continued on with his story until finally reaching the last memory that he remembered before putting himself in a coma.
"Wow, your life has been so much more exciting than mine!" Rosalie sighed in envy. "I have been stuck running for my life then staying in this tribe since I was five. I have never left the Beast Empire. Although there is ton to see here, it is all for magic beasts and Beastmen. Most of these things do not help me at all, nor do they interest me. I would have to visit the Elf Empire, but Grandfather always says no as if there is some kind of issue there."
"I would actually rather my life would not be as exciting, maybe it would save me a lot of trouble and danger." Greyson gave a wry smile thinking through his life thus far.