25.1
Young John barely kept up with the new school semester.
Day after day he was entrusted with mountains of homework, along with his father’s insistence of him partaking activities both in school and the Sarvod family, he had absolutely no time of his own.
Whereas in the past, he would use weekends to catch up with his own reading of books that catches his interest or simulate battle reenactments using his figurines alike, there was none of it this time.
His days passed quicker than water flowing from an open tap.
The matter of his abrupt departure from the Perxin household had now been a few months—five and a half to be exact. His ninth birthday had long passed him by the time he reached the mid of his schooling semester.
Unlike the other schools, the State Academy of Shi Jou had the minimal amount of breaks, making the workload in the National Academy look like a trivial matter.
That said, his life was not the worst.
Between the mind-numbing school life and his father’s uncompromising demands, Kahnira was the silver lining.
Whenever he arrived home and was greeted by her voice, it steeled his resolve to keep up his work ethic.
If there was anything for him to complain about…
It would be the matter with Serene Perxin.
He had not made any progress with her.
Not only most of her classes were no longer in the same timeslot as his, but she took classes that greatly differed from him.
Things such as management, economics, practical accounting alike that were opposite of the magic theory, applied science or even history that John applied to.
The only classes they shared would be language class, but whenever John attempted to speak to her, Serene would have friends or other duties to attend to.
The tigerkin even went as far as ignoring his presence whilst in school, causing more frustration to John.
He alienation of him had now caused an innate fear that stopped him from approaching Serene Perxin.
Kahnira would often inquire him about Serene, checking in with John and his progress with his best friend—or prior best friend in the beastkin’s case—but he could never find a way to answer her.
“Say Kahnira…”
“Yes?”
“I think I’ll give up.” John uttered at the table, face shrouded with gloom. “On Serene that is… I think she hates me.”
“Master…”
“I-I…” his voice choaked. “I think it’s for the best. She must hate me to pretend she doesn’t see me in school,” he admitted. “I never told you this…but I think Ha Zun is right. Doing something so many times is insane.”
Ha Zun, who was now John’s closest aide was there to witness many of John’s failed attempts to speak to Serene.
At first, John himself did not buy into Ha Zun’s comments that she is “Just an ignorant baroness that looked down on others because of her family’s wealth.”
So much so that John almost punched Ha Zun for daring imply such things.
But the longer Serene ignored him and the longer he failed, he can’t help but think that was the truth.
After all, how could a girl who once confessed her love for him do something so cruel?
Perhaps this was the growing pains that came with puberty, the so-called separation between close friends that happened when people grew apart.
Or…like his family, John had outlived his usefulness to the Perxins and is no longer considered anyone worth paying attention to.
“Is that so…?” an unhappy gloom draped over Kahnira’s face. “I never thought Serene would do something like that.”
“Yeah…”
A unspeakable silence dawned on them.
Granted, he had never told Kahnira the matters of Serene ever since their eviution from the Perxin household, the maid had held the tigerkin in high regards.
Casting his doubtful eyes on Kahnira, young John spoke.
“Are you mad at me…?”
Only to see the maid with puffed cheeks and her arms folded across her chest.
“Master is a naughty boy,” she complained. “This maid is disappointed!”
“!!!”
“You should have told me something, master. Else, how would this maid help you?”
“What do you mean help? She doesn’t want to talk to me in school, what can you do?”
“I’ll write her a letter then, ask Lady Serene to explain herself why she had been avoiding master.”
“W-wait! That’s not going to work!”
“We won’t know until we try, master. How else would…” Kahnira’s voice faltered when she saw John who hung his head low.
“No, that’s not it. I’ve tried giving letters, she just doesn’t respond to me. She ignores me on purpose, it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s the same. Ever since the night my father chased the Perxins away… She stopped speaking to me.”
“Master, I…didn’t know.”
“Well, yeah! Cause I didn’t tell you…” John shook his head. “I-I’ll…go for a night walk.”
John hurried to the door.
“Master, it’s dark out there!” his maid called to him as the sound of John’s footsteps became smaller.
“I finally have a Saturday to myself, Kahnira! I’ll be back before bedtime!”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
John ran along the paved roads as he left his house, drowned himself in the vaguely lit road that connected his residence and the Sarvod’s main house. Hoping the constant buzzing from the surrounding insects could drown all his thoughts regarding Serene, cauterizing the wound that the tigerkin has left in his heart.
“Sigh.”
He shook his head as he recalled Kahnira’s surprise moments ago.
He appreciated her concern for him, he really did.
There was just something about Kahnira’s care for him that sparked a warmth sensation in his chest, something that could turn a boy like him giddy from thinking about the sensible maid of his.
But sometimes, his maid’s worries of him felt…smothering.
It was not that John was uncomfortable for relying on her.
Quite the opposite, he thought that he had been relying on Kahnira far too much ever since she became a part of his life.
She had been his conversation partner, homekeeper, caretaker, and tutor—surprisingly his maid was well educated despite her humble origins.
In fact, John often thought to he himself that he was a useless master unable to do many things on his own.
“I suppose I’ll visit father and mother for a bit…” muttering to himself, John continued onwards to the Sarvod’s main house on his own for another ten minutes.
John had reached the back of the main house before he knew it.
Instead of walking towards the entrance like he always had whenever he requested his father’s presence, he walked around the main home and ended up at the back where the servants’ quarters and kitchen were.
“Huh?” the wanderlust boy jolted to his senses when he realized where his legs took him.
It was the place where he and Serene last had their fight.
“…”
He let out another breath shook his head as he dropped the notion of visiting his parents.
Being reminded of what happened sapped a huge chunk of energy from him, if he were to speak to his father now, John would not remember nor care half of what his old man said.
It seems like I still can’t take that silly cat off my mind.
He had considered to invite Serene to his 10th birthday party the coming month.
Now that he seriously thought about it.
He might as well cancel it.
The birthday party, that is.
It made little sense considering the most important person he wanted to visit him would not even acknowledge his presence.
Besides, the parties the Sarvods held were always for his parents’ benefit, it was meant to establish connections between families, his presence was just mere excuses for people to gather in the main estate.
The house where he was unwelcomed.
Yeah, I should go back now. Kahnira will be wondering—
“That man is here again?”
“Tonight as well?”
At the hushed whispers of the servants and seeing the shadows beyond the curtains of the main house, John ducked and his himself behind the closest stone wall by the windows.
“I’ve heard Sir and Madam are discussing about that ‘family’ again. That man is here to consult them.”
“That ‘family’? You mean…”
“Yes, the one young master John was with.”
“The Perxins.”
!!!
“Is that why they sent him and that servant he picked up away to the other house? Because they wanted to—”
“Shhh!!!”
“I hear someone coming!!!”
“What’s this? Have you three servants nothing else to do?” a man’s voice who belonged to someone unfamiliar called out to the whispering servants. “Is this the sorry state of the well-respected Sarvod family employees?”
“Eeep!!!”
“It’s him…”
“I-it’s our free time! W-we weren’t doing anything—”
“Enough with your antics, Lun Mien.”
Lun Mien!? Ha Zun’s father has been coming here recently!?
John froze with his body stuck against the stone wall.
The presence of the bizarre man caused his skin to crawl, to flee and be rid of being in the same proximity as the eerie person.
Instead of letting his instincts take over, John remained still.
If made sudden moves now, Ha Lun Mien would take notice.
“Dai’Ne, my brother in arms. I was just looking out for you, having blabbering mouths within your own confines is something...un-for-giveable.”
“Lord S-Sarvod, we—”
“It’s alright you three, there is no harm done. Leave me and Lun Mien a lone.”
“Yes,” the three servants hastily replied as they left.
“Tsk! You need to discipline them more, Dai’Ne, who knows if they spread word of our conspiracy?”
“My servants have no desire to tarnish the Sarvod name, Fenley will make sure of that. Besides, the clashes between us Sarvods and the Perxins had never been a secret.”
Conspiracy against the Perxins?
“Haahhh… I hate it when you can be so casual about it.”
“That is part of our deal, Lun Mien. I can afford to be casual about it. You are the one who is doing the dirty work for my sake. As per our deal, your family will receive the full backing from my family to be an official Federation Magistrate member once the matter of Dalene Perxin is settled.”
“Quite right, we’ll just have to make it look like an unfortunate accident. It just so happens the weather for the coming weeks are stormy, everything will look like it was a terrible accident during the midst of chaos.”
“Ah yes, no one will suspect a thing, especially when there is no one to place the blame on...”
“Hahaha, you are quite the devil yourself Dai’Ne, who knew a Defense Advisor like you seek to do such devious things.”
“In my eyes, the Perxins are plenty guilty… If not for that woman who stepped up, the whole Perxin family would have been judged accordingly in one fell swoop! Now the rest had gone into hiding or had their history erased. I was this close, Lun Mien!!! This close to expunge those beastkin from the Continent, from our great nation!!!”
“…”
“Lun Mien? What are you spacing out for?”
“I thought I heard something outside, my ears are quite sensitive. It almost appears to be rustling of somekind.”
“Bah! Nonsense, it’s the monsoon, remember? The rain is on our side, my friend! Come, let us drink and continue on with our strategy.”
Hah…hah-hah…
He was panting and drenched in sticky sweat by the time the silhouette to his home came to view.
Despite being kilometers away from the main home, the urgency in John’s mind had yet to wane, the words between Ha Lun Mien and his own father latched onto his mind like a parasite, reminding him each second that the Perxins were caught up in a terrible scheme.
He wanted to scream, to howl at the insanity that transpired under his nose. That despite having lived in both Sarvod and Perxin households, he understood nothing about the hatred between both sides.
Could it be that his father was doing it because of his hatred for non-humans?
Was it Ha Lun Mien who orchestrated it and that his father’s accusations of the Perxin family were correct?
That, John himself was far too ignorant of what the Perxins truly were in the face of everything he went through with them.
It would make sense considering how coldly Serene treated him, and that by sending him to live with the Perxins, his father wanted him to see the famous tigerkin family’s true nature.
His father who, although had cruel ways of teaching John many things, after all, did many things for John out of love.
Why else would his father constantly parade those words to him?
Yet…
Were the Perxins really were at fault?
Why did they treat John like their own before he was forced back to the Sarvod Estate, before the quarrel between his father and them happened?
It made no sense for Serene Perxin to confess her love to him with her mother’s rigid rules.
Knowing Aunt Dalene, she must have been aware of their budding love for each other, but she has never once told Serene or him off.
John would have been captured by the slave trader that day if the Perxins truly wished for him to be gone. Kahnira would not have been able to live with him if the Perxins had not allowed it.
Everything they did, throughout the year that he lived with them, was all for his sake.
The news of the hatred between Sarvods and Perxins came down his head like a guillotine, lopping away his sanity that struggled to differentiate truth to it all.
He wanted to believe the Perxins were innocent.
That they had done nothing of the sorts that would convict them as law breaking criminals.
But his father, the Defense Advisor for the Eastern Federation in Shi Jou could not be be wrong at the same time.
Dai’Ne Perxin, for all intents and purposes, was both an accomplished political figure and a valuable assest for the Eastern Continent’s magistrate.
While John had often made the wish that he were a child of the Perxin family, he was not as preposterous to denounce his parents who raised him.
“T-this can’t be…”
His fingers dug into his scalp.
The respect he held for the important people in his life, the greatness that he had ascribed to both his family values and the Perxins…
It was all a farce.
The Perxins were like his family whom he shared no blood relations with, they are people he loved dearly. The Sarvods though caused him many great suffering were his blood and flesh, people whom are the most deserving of his undying loyalty.
Yet, yet…yet!
“!!!”
The harrowing sensation in his mind abated.
And a voice from his memories surfaced.
“The truth is painful to many, and can be exploited by even more. Be wary of what others say and what they mean, words often cloud true intention. When finding yourself in a fog of everything, only you can determine what is fact or fiction.”
Whatever struggle that was tearing him apart, was all undone.
The words from Aunt Dalene long ago struck him like a bell, alerting to what she was trying to tell him long ago.
It rested on his shoulders to decide what to do with this knowledge.
Did his father truly meant to kill the Perxins, or was it John’s wrongful interpretation?
Were the Perxins truly guilty or were they skirting around the laws of the Federation?
He had no clue, nor an inkling of the truth behind everything. Even if he knew, what would he do?
But one thing was clear.
He had the responsibility to seek truth.
If not him, who else?
Who else but John cared about both the Sarvods and the Perxins?