"The childhood friends relationship flag is utterly worthless." Seth couldn"t help but think to himself.Currently, in front of him, is a little girl hiding behind her mother, gripping her clothes and peeking at him with a fearful gaze.
This girl has black hair and black eyes, and the appearance of an immature child. She is Nala, Seth"s little girlfriend.
Her mother, Lady Hether, was the first of Merab Zefer"s concubines, and is also from a weak family clan within Haradur City, just like Seth"s mother. She is the one concubine that was unable to grant her husband any sons, and thus has the lowest status among the 3 concubines. But despite her daughters having little value to her husband, she still loves them. Because of their low statuses in this family, she is also rather protective of them.
Standing in front of her daughter, Lady Hether bowed to Seth.
"This lady thanks young master Seth for his kindness in saving her daughter."
"Auntie, why be so formal? If Nala is in trouble, naturally I should help, right?"
Lady Hether shook her head. "Now that you are lord Zefer"s official heir, I can no longer act informally before you."
Although her words sounded neutral, Seth could catch the hints of wariness within, wariness that did not exist in the past. He easily figured out that she knew not only of him being appointed as his father"s official heir, but also of his tearing apart of a man alive... Seth felt disappointed.
He acted as if he was emotionally hurt. "In the past, whenever I come over to play with Nala, you would always watch over us rather warmly, telling us not to get into trouble or whatever, treating us like the children that we are. What is all this now? Does a change in hierarchy insert that great a distance between you and I?"
At this moment, Lady Hether"s eyes widened. She was shocked, as she only just now realized, despite having known Seth throughout his whole 11 years of life, how maturely the boy actually speaks. This abnormality caused her to get even more on guard.
"Young master"s grace, this mother and daughter pair will repay in the future."
Seth didn"t realize his mistake. Instead, he nonchalantly continued. "In that case, how about handing Nala over to me?"
"...what does young master Seth mean by that?" Lady Hether asked a bit nervously. Behind her, Nala seemed to have detected her mother"s nervousness, as her expression also changed into one of worry.
"As a concubine, a lover, or a pet, whichever one you want." Seth said playfully. He meant it as half-joke, but...
Hearing the words "concubine", "lover", and especially, "pet", Lady Hether"s face turned extremely grim. She thought, "He turns out to be just like his father! Treating women like items. I thought this boy was better than that..."
Seeing Lady Hether"s gloomy mood, Seth thought, "Sh*t, I screwed up again.". He started wracking his brains for a way to remedy this, but perhaps because she could no longer stand this atmosphere, Nala walked out from behind her mother"s back.
…
Even before Nala became capable of understanding language, her mother had repeatedly warned her not to offend the men of this family. Her understanding of that warning became clear when she was 5 years old, during the day that she saw her elder sister being beaten for arguing back against her father"s eldest son. From then on, she had an innate fear of men.
But it was not long after that incident, that a little boy approached her. Even though he was even smaller than her, he was still one of the males of the Zefer family, so she was wary of him. She did not want to get involved with him, but she could not drive him away either, causing her to feel troubled during that time.
That little boy was dense. No, he was more than dense. Despite her saying words of rejection, he still tries to get close to her. Whenever she tried to put some distance between them, he would close in on her, as if they were playing a game of tag. He would ignore whatever she said or did, and kept bothering her.
It was, to say the least, unpleasant, not to mention that when they converse, he would sometimes take the topic to unimaginable places, as if the world he is looking at, and the world that she sees, are vastly different. Sometimes, he even seems to be talking to himself.
But as time pa.s.sed, she grew accustomed to him.
The things he spoke of were so much more colorful than the daily scenery available to her eyes.
He talked about the great immortal cities that she knew little about.
He talked about the supreme cities that remain bright even late into the night, the celestial cities that have mechanical giants as big as dragons, and the transcendent cities that exist in the clouds. All of that sounded so ridiculous that even the uneducated her of back then didn"t believe him.
Still, she thought it would be nice if she could see such places...
He would take her hand, and pull her around the mansion. They would play various games, while hiding away from the adults. At first, she was nervous all the time, afraid that they would get caught and be punished... but after getting away with it enough times, she stopped caring and just started to enjoy herself.
If it wasn"t for his company, her life in this strict and boring mansion, would have been as bland as could be.
As they grew up, she came to realize that she no longer felt troubled by his presence. Instead, she felt that she was developing a liking to this little boy that always came to bug her. It was a crush. It was a childish crush on a boy even younger than herself. When she realized that, her face would start to blush whenever she spent time together with him.
But then came this day, when she witnessed that boy tear a grown man into chucks of flesh and bones, that crush was pushed back by fear and disgust. Thus, after the incident, when the boy came to check up on her, she hid behind her mother like a coward.
The conversation between her mother and the boy was a little weird in the beginning, considering how the day before, her mother would talk to him as amiably as if he were a blood-related nephew of hers, while now, she is speaking to him so formally.
Soon after, the boy proposed something surprising, causing her mother to turn gloomy.
In response to her mother"s gloominess, the boy scratched his head with a troubled expression. Nala recognized that expression. It was the expression he would have when thinking something like, "Sh*t, I screwed up again.".
Seeing that familiar expression, caused her fear to be alleviated a bit, allowing her to walk out from behind her mother"s back.
…
"Seth, I don"t want to become a concubine." That was the first thing Nala said after she came out, in a tone as if she was complaining.
Her mother tried to pull her back, but she continued.
"Concubines are treated badly compared to wives. I want to become a wife." Nala"s face turned red. It took her a bit of courage for her to say that.
Seth was confused. Where did her fear go? Did the childhood friends relationship flag somehow revive?
Just as Lady Hether was about to scold her daughter, thinking about how recklessly her daughter is behaving in front of this little lord, she heard Seth casually reply, "Okay."
To Seth, it didn"t matter whether she becomes his concubine, lover, pet, or wife, as long as she ends up his.
Lady Hether was dumbfounded, whereas Nala turned extremely happy. A smiled blossomed on her face.
This little girl did not entirely understand what the relationship between husband and wife entails, but she knew that her love will finally bear fruit.
As for Seth, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d was just hoping for p.u.b.erty to quickly arrive so that he could push her down and start mating with her...
…