Chapter Text
Well, maybe he was just being a little dramatic. After a few minutes of rest, his heart calmed down.
Still lying on the ground, his gaze fell on the dragon near him, which was looking back at him. Instead of the fury he'd seen in the cave, the child was looking at him with curiosity.
Cale remembered what he still had to do when he saw the collar still attached to the dragon's neck. With difficulty, he sat up to rummage through his bag.
He pulled out a pair of wire cutters and cautiously approached the dragon, who backed away.
"Don't move."
The child seemed to have trouble trusting him, his eyes never leaving the sharp object.
Cale didn't blame him at all, he understood. Despite the situation, he kept moving forward. The dragon had stopped moving, but every muscle in his body was tense.
When he reached it, he crouched down again. One of his hands grasped the collar, while the other held the pliers. A loud click echoed through the empty clearing, and a blue light surrounded the little one. His mana had healed his minor wounds in the blink of an eye.
"I have something else for you." Cale returned to his bag and tossed aside the useless object. He pulled out two vials filled with a red liquid. "These are healing potions." He set them down in front of the child and turned away.
Well, now that that was done, he could go home and face his family, who were surely panicking by now.
"Where... where are you going?"
Cale stopped at the faint voice. "I'm going home. You should do the same."
He felt the black dragon's gaze linger on him, but he didn't stop. His mission had been accomplished, the dragon was free, that was all. An unfamiliar shiver ran through him, but he ignored it. He had other things to do. A predatory smile reappeared on his face at the sight of the unconscious Venion. And with a swift movement, he once again had a dead weight on his shoulder.
---
He looked around him, the strange human was gone, and... he was alone again...
A sense of unease caught him off guard. This was everything he'd wanted during his few years of life, so why did his gaze fall once more to where the human had vanished? And above all, why did he want to find him?
---
Cale looked down at the village below, there weren't many people out anymore. That made sense, it was pretty late by now. All the better, it was easier that way. He made his way down the mountain toward the village, not forgetting to change Venion's appearance first. He'd already planned everything by asking the merchant for a second disguise item.
---
Despite the hour, he found an inn that was still open. It was one of the few professions that hardly ever slept.
He entered with a light kick to open the door, his arms full. "Hello, do you have a room available? My friend isn't feeling very well."
The man behind the counter greeted him with a knowing smile. "You must have had a rough night."
Cale was sure the guy thought they were drunk. He certainly wasn't going to correct him. Now, with his key in hand, he went up to one of the rooms. After all that exertion, he now needed some rest.
---
Early in the morning, Cale met up with his driver, who was waiting for him as planned, and together with his "friend," they headed back toward Henituse territory.
Venion, still disguised, hadn't said a word since they left the inn. He was practically trembling with fear in his seat. Cale ignored him completely, he'd traumatized him enough for now. He would remain silent for as long as necessary. Venion already knew what awaited him if he didn't, anyway.
---
It was night again when they arrived at their destination. A few meters from the estate, Cale had the carriage stop so they could continue on foot. His prisoner was still with him. His goal was to get inside as quietly as possible.
The walk hadn't been long, and the guy was fairly cooperative. With a little more effort, Cale managed to drag Venion and himself into his room through one of the open windows. He barely had time to shove Venion into a closet before his bedroom door swung open.
"Hello, Ron." He stepped away from the closet with a calm stride. Doing everything he could not to look suspicious. Unfortunately, this was Ron. The butler fixed his young master with a piercing stare.
"How are Zed and father?" Fortunately, Cale knew how to distract his assassin butler.
"They'll be very happy to hear you're coming home."
"I'm sure they will."
There was a noise, something seemed to fall on its own, but Cale pretended not to hear it. "You should go tell them." No matter what he said or what time of day it was, he knew Ron would go do it anyway.
Ron seemed to hesitate before leaving, but he finally nodded. Cale thought he'd finally be left in peace, but...
"Young master, you know if you need help with this sort of thing, I'd be more than happy to assist you."
"Thank you, but I've got this under control."
With that, the butler left, and Cale breathed a sigh of relief. He took advantage of the few minutes of freedom he had left to threaten the nobleman once more.
He hurriedly closed the closet and jumped when his entire family burst in, accompanied by Zed and William.
"Cale! Where were you?"
"How are you?"
"Are you hurt?"
He was bombarded with questions, and William had already approached him to check on him. He quickly felt his mana coursing through him.
"I'm fine," he replied to his mother and brother. And ignored his father.
William confirmed his words, and they calmed down. The only one who remained silent was his uncle, and that was never a good sign.
"Where were you? You didn't answer your father."
Cale turned to Zed, who had asked the question, obviously, he had noticed. "I had things to do. I said so in the note I left."
"You didn't explain what those things were."
He simply smiled without answering. A long exchange of glances followed.
"If you're expecting an explanation for my actions, I might have some questions of my own. Why did you drug me?" And that was how he diverted his family's attention. Everyone looked away except his uncle.
"We had to. You refused to stop, it was the only way."
Cale couldn't really refute his words.
An awkward silence fell, his family still refused to meet his gaze, clearly guilty. Zed, however, didn't seem affected by it at all.
He saw his uncle suddenly flinch. And he had a bad feeling, he knew full well that Zed always traveled with his secret guards for protection. He'd dealt with them before. He'd simply hoped that, given the time of day, those guys wouldn't be there or that his uncle would be busy, that was his mistake. Cale saw the exact moment the men reported it to his uncle.
He seemed to be straining his ears toward the void, then his eyebrows darkened and his impassive gaze froze.
"Cale, why is there someone in your closet?"
And there it was, he was done for.