Chapter Text
Count Henituse brought home a woman and her son. Violan and Basen. The Count is going to give them the last name 'Henituse' soon.
It hasn't been long since Cale Henituse's mother died.
Less than a year, Cale believes. He can't exactly remember. Since her death, days and months began to blur.
As much as Cale wants to drive them out, he won't. When was the last time his father looked so carefree after mother's death?
Father…
Can Cale even call him that anymore?
The Count hasn't been acting like a father as of late. Well, the father he remembers.
The Count looks anywhere but him. Cale knows he resembles the late Countess (and gosh, that hurts to think about-)
They haven't shared a meal together since mother.
Haven't spoken to each other since her funeral. Communication was strictly through Ron.
Ron is Cale's personal butler. He's been by his side for as long as he can remember. Oftentimes (usually after Ron helps him get ready for bed), Cale wonders how things would be if Ron was his father instead.
Would they eat dinner together?
Cale shakes away those thoughts before they get anymore complex.
Ron has his son, Beacrox. There is no room for Cale.
The same goes for Father. Even though he has the Count's blood in his veins, he is not family. Not anymore.
Father, the woman he brought back to the estate and her son. They all have brown hair.
Cale does not.
He inherited his appearance from the late countess. That includes his hair color.
He does not belong in their family of three. Or should he say four? Father's new lady seems to be pregnant. Not far along. But her stomach strains against her dress a little and father frets over her every action. Similar to how mother would describe father during her pregnancy with him.
His cousins do not share the same opinion. Cale thinks they are stupid. Who is the one being outcasted? Eating dinner alone. Not Father's new family, that's for sure.
Cale is hungry. All this thinking about dinner is making his stomach grumble.
He could ask Ron to prepare something for him. But he's not at the mansion. And Ron is not with him. He threw a fit to make sure of that.
He can't stand the situation in the Henituse mansion at the moment.
He tried to ignore it. He really did. But people talk.
He doesn't want to hear about father and his new family. His chest hurts everytime he overhears the maids praising the Count for taking in the woman's son as if his blood flowed through him.
Maybe it did. Who knows? How could the Count move on so quickly? How could he erase everything of mother?! Maybe-
No. Father loved mother dearly.
He wouldn't have an affair….would he?
Cale is going through so many emotions right now, some of which he can't identify. One thing he is sure of, he is angry.
Very much so.
The anger stems from a lot of things.
Like father's sudden engagement. (Why didn't father notify him sooner?)
Lady Violan's pregnancy. (It becomes much harder to even think about throwing her out with her son and unborn child. A child who hasn't done anything.)
Father's affection towards Basen. (Cale does not understand how Basen earned his affection so quickly. There's a lot of things he doesn't understand about father either.)
And lemon sweets. (Disgusting. It didn't even deserve to be called sweets when it isn't even sweet. Cale didn't want to eat it. But he was told by Ron that his son made it just for him. Didn't taste like Beacrox's cooking though. Maybe he was experimenting. Whatever, Cale will just have to ban lemons when he becomes Count.)
Not only is Cale hungry (and angry.) He is lost.
His hunger was to blame.
He was chasing after a delicious smell, but came short. How disappointing. He was really looking forward to it.
Now, he'd have to walk all the way back. That is, if he knows which way he came from. Cale was so occupied with finding the source of the smell that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.
He'd have to ask someone for directions.
There weren't many people to pick from.
Cale picked the least likely to kidnap him.
A tall man with black hair and eyes like Cale's. The man was handsome. Extremely so. Is the man an elf? Dragon? Prince of a neighboring kingdom?
"Excuse me. Ahem..ahem.. Ahemm" Cale faked a few coughs, similar to his father's vassals. Just less exaggerated. And with less spit flying out his mouth.
The man, occupied by a book, continued reading. He ignored the young master. Not even sparing a glance to Cale Henituse.
Any other day, Cale would be amused. It is not often that he is treated like this. But it is becoming increasingly frequent the more time the Count spends with his new family. This is not any other day though, Cale is fed up already and is so close to ripping his hair out.
"Hey you! Don't you know who I am?" Cale puffed out his chest, standing straighter. His hands rested on his hips. How dare that man ignore him! The Count's eldest son! (He is no longer the only son.)
That made the man tear his gaze away from whatever he was reading. The young man looked around him, trying to see if the young master was actually talking to him. He even points at himself. Cale just gives him a look that hopefully conveys his 'Who else?' message.
The man exaggerates a sigh before raising an eyebrow as if to tell Cale to get on with it, they don't have all the time in the world. With how he acted, it seemed like the man actually did not know who Cale Henituse was. At least by his appearance.
Cale continued, "Where is the Henituse mansion from here?"
To his surprise, the beautiful man went back to reading his book.
Truthfully, the man with black hair, Kim Rok Soo, is not reading.
Unlike his stoic expression portrayed, his mind is currently in a state of chaos. The boy with red hair, dressed like a noble, asked for directions to the Henituse estate; there is only one person that comes to mind.
Cale Henituse.
A character from a novel he read in Korea, [The Birth of a Hero]. The eldest son of Count Henituse. He appears briefly at the beginning of the novel as a minor villain that the protagonist, Choi Han, encounters.
Cale Henituse is known as the trashy young master. He's known to always have a bottle of alcohol in his hand, either to throw or drink.
In [The Birth of a Hero] the trashy young master was eighteen years old when he was introduced. The redhead in front of him looks like he is nine at most. It is noted in the novel that Cale started drinking when he became fifteen. The boy that stood before Kim Rok Soo has yet to become trash.
Meanwhile Cale stole a peek at the title. He was curious as to what had the man so occupied. Perhaps he can find it in the mansion's library. He needs a good read.
His jaw dropped.
The title read; How to become rich with just a bronze coin!