"Normal Speech"

'Thought'

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The next morning, Cale woke up with a headache. He remembered the nightmare yesterday and frowned.

Ron who was by his side, saw his frown and couldn't help asking. He helped Cale sat up and passed on a glass of warm water. "Young master, are you alright? Have some water first."

Cale sipped the water slowly, and looked around the room. "Were you here all night, Ron? I'm fine now. You can go take a rest."

"You know I don't need that much sleep. It's still early, young master, rest a bit more."

Cale shook his head. "Someone from the Viscount's villa will come to check as Venion is a paranoid person. I need to be there to fool them."

Ron sighed. "Can I know what are you going do to fool them?"

Cale smiled. "Be a trash I am? I'll have my hangover drinks."

Ron dropped any smiles he had on his face. "Not in your current condition. My duty is to look after you, for goodness sake. Can't you make my job easier?"

The kittens who had woken up by the conversation, interjected.

"You should listen to him, Cale."

"Yeah. You are not trash, so don't drink."

Cale stubbornly answered. "I will do it. Anyway, you said to tell you my plans, and I did, so don't stop me or get in my way."

Ron stared hard at his stubborn young master. "Not until you eat a full breakfast, and no more than two glasses. Can we agree on that?"

"Okay. Deal. I'm starving anyway."

"Then this Ron will go ask Beacrox to make you your breakfast." Ron's benign smile returned to his face.

Cale still a little shaken from remembering what he dreamt about last night, but he showed Ron and the kittens a smile to show that he's fine.

"I feel sorry to wake Beacrox so early but I guess my stomach is more important."

"Feel sorry." Hong echoed.

"But starving is bad." On agreed.

Ron chuckled. "I'm sure my son won't mind. I'll make sure he cooks some extra."

Ron said as he glanced at the window sill before turning to leave. The Dragon ignored that and observed the weak human's complexion.

Cale closed his eyes for a while, hands stroking the siblings, before he got up to wash his face and getting ready.

Cale looked into the mirror. What reflected was an extremely haggard face with a slight flushed as if he still drunk.

On and Hong who was in bedroom, looked alternatively between Cale inside the bathroom and the Dragon on the window sill.

"Noona, how about him?" Hong whispered.

"Do we have to hide from Cale?" On didn't answer Hong, but turned to ask the Dragon.

"...."

"If you don't tell us what you want, we wouldn't know. Cale told us that, we have to express ourselves, otherwise your feelings will not conveyed."

"... What does that even mean?"

"It means if you don't tell us to keep secret, we'll tell Cale about you. And even if you follow us secretly, you can't eat delicious food with us." On grinned.

"I bet you haven't try cakes yet. I only share mine with family."

"Cale will come out soon."

"I-I don't care about food or whatever a cake is." The D ragon flew out of the window.

On chuckled at her new Dongsaeng. "Let's keep a secret for now."

"Okay, Noona."

Cale came out and heard the word 'secret'. "What secret? Can I see know about it?"

"You can't know about it yet, Cale. We'll tell you when we got permission."

"Yes, only when we got permission."

Cale smiled, he felt a lot better after washing his face with cold water. "Okay. I'll wait for you to tell me your secret."

Ron returned with breakfast with the help of Beacrox. Ron sneakily looked at the opened window.

Cale looked at the breakfast and started to eat. What he didn't expect was the three cups of warm milk that was placed in front of him and the two children.

"Milk? Ron, are you not feeling well? Why are you suddenly bring milk instead of your usual lemon tea? Beacrox, quickly get Ron to go sleep." Cale felt a little panicked.

On and Hong, who had transformed into their human form, giggled at Cale's reaction. They just ate their breakfast silently after seeing Ron's benign smile grow wider.

They finally remembered how Cale grumbled about this old man's signature benign smiles being vicious.

"I couldn't help you with that, young master. I'd better go back to clean up the kitchen I borrowed now." Beacrox had a faint smile as he left the room.

"Did Beacrox just smile? Everyday is a miracle." Cale ate his breakfast and drank his milk.

He froze a bit before licking his lips to make sure. He tasted honey. Sweet honey was put inside his warm milk. He smiled and continued eating silently.

He felt that the nightmare last night could be forgotten, he had people he needed to protect, just like how his Hyungs and team members had done for him.

"Young master, it seems that Choi Han wanted to talk to you about something." Ron informed him. "He has been standing right outside the door for a while now."

"Let him go eat his breakfast first. We'll talk later." Cale ate without looking up.

"I'll go tell him that." Ron hummed and walked toward the door. He closed the door behind him before talking with Choi Han. "Young master wanted you to eat your breakfast first. Don't stand here and disturb his breakfast, punk."

"Is he the one saying that?" Choi Han wanted to report to Cale the situation at the villa and used the chance to apologize.

"The young master currently isn't in the best condition. So, go eat your breakfast and leave him to eat his in peace." Ron said sharply, before he went downstairs to request for a bottle of wine to be ready.

Choi Han couldn't say anything when he heard that Cale was not feeling well. His intuition was telling him that it was partially or even entirely his fault.

Choi Han looked at the door for a long while before go down the stairs to eat his breakfast as he was ordered.

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Cale went down after he was done with his breakfast. He glanced at the clock.

7:00am. It was early, but the day was not over yet for some people. He saw the vice captain who looked like he had never drank last night, was having a serious conversation with someone.

Cale also saw a stiff Choi Han standing nearby. He knew the reason after seeing the face of the person who was talking with the vice captain. It was one of the knights that Choi Han defeated yesterday.

Cale approached Choi Han and patted his shoulder. "Don't be so stiff. He won't be able to recognize us."

"Ah. Cale-nim." Choi Han was startled by Cale's stealthy whisper, he looked at how haggard Cale looked. "I-I apologize for what happened last night. I—"

"Wait. Now isn't the time to talk." Cale cut Choi Han off and walk toward the counter that had his wine prepared there.

On and Hong had also followed Cale downstairs. They had smirks on their face as they wagged their tails and peeked at the knight.

"Young master, I've prepared the same alcohol you drank last night."

"You're a smart vendor. This is perfect for a hangover drink." Cale poured a cup and downed it in one go. His face instantly turned red. He purposely act drunk as he listened to the conversation that was still going on.

"Yesterday, we had a party to relax after a long journey until here. Everyone was drinking and relaxing. Nobody left the inn. But I still don't understand why someone from the Viscount's estate would be curious about that."

The knight from the Marquis's estate seemed to have introduced himself as someone from Viscount's estate.

The knight smiled at the vice captain's suspicion gaze but answered in a serious expression. "There was a thief that broke into the viscount's villa yesterday. A couple other knights and myself was on guard, but we lost a few items to the thief.

After hearing that the people from Count Henituse's estate were here at the village, we come to see if the thief had stolen from the Count as well."

Cale took a gulp directly from the bottle when the knight made eye contact with him. "What are you looking at? Do you think I'm the thief?"

Cale frowned, he knew he wasn't drunk, but it seemed his mind was still unstable from the nightmare. He couldn't control his emotions and ended up throwing the bottle to the ground.

The inn turned silence. On and Hong had jumped at the sound of bottle breaking. Hans was staring at Cale with a little surprise, while Choi Han, with concerned.

However, the knights and the soldiers from Henituse was looking at him in resignation, before looking elsewhere.

Cale froze, he hated being in a center of attention, he hated being looked at. Especially when he couldn't control his feelings. Especially when those eyes remind him of the scene of the nightmare last night.

Ron quickly stood in front of Cale with a smile. "My apologies, it seems you disturb my young master from his hangover drink. My young master just hate it when he got disturbed."

"Ahem. Yes, he needs his hangover drink to cure the hangover from last night."

"I-I see. What an interesting young master. I apologize for interrupting you."

Cale snapped out of it when he saw Ron shielding him from view. 'I got to finish this act.'

Cale scoffed. "I can't even drink in peace. Ron, help me to my room then bring another bottle for me."

Ron turned around immediately and helped Cale to his room, Choi Han had wanted to help but he backed down when Cale seemed to flinch when he got near.

*************************************

"Ron, I think lemon tea would be good for hangover." Cale mumbled trying to distract himself. 'I can't break down by this much. I've been through worse. The regression had its side effect, after all.'

"You could lay down for a while, you didn't get enough sleep last night, young master."

"I don't want to sleep right now." Cale bit his lips, buried his head to the crock of his arms. "Just let me be alone for a while. I'll be fine."

Ron sighed helplessly, reach out his hand to stroke Cale's head. "Young master Cale, you don't have to always keep your burden alone. This Ron is here to help you. Just say a word, as long as I could help, I will fulfill all your wish."

"Then stay with me for a while." Cale finally let out a muffled cry. His shoulders was shaking. "I don't want to be alone."

It was the first time Cale let anyone see him cried while he was conscious. Ron remembered how Cale hid inside his room to cry alone a few week after his mother died.

"I won't leave, young master."

Ron really had no idea how heavy was this young man's burden on his young shoulders. How suddenly he got that said burden. But he was going to make sure to help with everything he got, so the burden could be lessened.

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Tsuki: uh.... I feel like this chapter is a little messy. Lol I can't focus when there are too many people at one scene... forgive me.