The two had arrived at A Country and resided in Feng Xinya's mansion to await his next set of orders.

Not even two days after they had settled into the mansion, the special force soldier's superior came knocking on the door in his intimidating military attire to confirm Xue Yang's identity.

With some deliberation on Xue Yang's behalf, the three had agreed that the superior would talk with the younger boy's parents about him the next day, hoping to arrange a date and time for the family to reunite.

While Xue Yang didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore as he wouldn't be able to hide his disappointment in them if he saw them, he knew that he had to compromise so as not to make things difficult for Feng Xinya as there was no way someone with his background would be able to just ignore everything and live freely as he'd wished.

At least, now that he had remembered who he was and especially since others were also aware, he would not be able to escape his fate as the Xue family's true and only heir. This was one of the reasons he couldn't forgive Feng Xinya despite the fact that the man had saved him.

At the same time, he already knew that his dissatisfaction with Feng Xinya's action was unreasonable--if the man hadn't saved him in the first place then he would still be stuck in another brothel after Shadow fell, on the streets, or even dead.

Feng Xinya knew about the boy's inner conflict, but he didn't regret his action of jogging his memory. He'd rather deal with Xue Yang and help the frail boy live safely for the rest of his life than play babysitter for the protagonist. It wasn't only the matter of difficulty but also personal preference.

He would never judge the boy for wishing to remain clueless and ignorant, though, because wasn't he the same? Even if their circumstances were different, it didn't change anything.

Even more so, if Xue Yang wasn't held in higher esteem than the protagonist in his superiors' eyes, then there was no telling what would happen to the youth in the fight for the protagonist's safety with the male lead and his male lead halo. Only if Feng Xinya could fully invest in Xue Yang's safety alone without having to care about anyone else, would he be completely assured that nothing would happen to the boy.

As for matters concerning B Country, after their special forces got rid of Shadow and lost the male lead, Feng Xinya and Xue Yang as well as all of A Country decided to keep out of B Country's business from that moment forth. It's not like the male lead had the means to start anew in A Country. In fact, he wouldn't be able to even set foot inside A Country because of the high-leveled security checks at the borders and airports.

When his superior showed up on their doorstep with the news of their lost son, the Xue parents were in disbelief at first but set up the meeting time to be the soonest possible which was the next day. They had lived the past ten years believing that their son was dead only to find out that he was still alive!

Of course, they were extremely happy to know that they didn't have to grieve anymore. But the man at their doorstep didn't forget to mention the things the boy had gone through in order to prepare the couple for the negative treatment they were most likely to receive the next evening.

With his forenotice, the couple headed to the meeting whilst excited, happy, sad, regretful, and filled with remorse all at the same time.

In a private room on the top floor of a luxurious restaurant in A Country sat four individuals. A forcefully composed man and a fidgety woman sat across a tall and bulky indifferent man and a shorter thin boy whose head when seated next to his companion barely reached his shoulder. The room was large yet felt so small with the oppressive silence that surrounded everyone.

The middle-aged man beside the woman wore a black business suit with a matching black tie and a collared white undershirt. With his short black hair styled neatly and out of his face, he looked as if he had just gotten off of work to make time for this meeting, while the woman with long, naturally wavy platinum-blonde hair wore a tan knitted sweater paired with skinny black jeans and pumps.

One could tell from a glance that Xue Yang got his hair and eye color from his mother, while the hints of his Asian nationality originated from his father.

Earlier, when Xue Yang and Feng Xinya first stepped into the room, the woman—Xue Yang's mother—rose from her seated position and tried to hug the boy, but Xue Yang just stood and received the hug listlessly with a deadpanned look pasted across his face, making her very depressed. His father who similarly rose from his spot to greet the two who had entered, was distressed but couldn't blame Xue Yang and could only console his wife while apologizing to his son who still hadn't spoken a single word.

The most powerful man in A Country turned to the special forces soldier who accompanied his son and respectfully gestured for both to sit across from him and his wife,

"Thank you, for rescuing our son. And for taking care of him all this time."

As he sat down on the booth across form the other man, Feng Xinya slightly nodded and discreetly pulled the younger boy along with him by the hand, "Naturally."

Although he noticed the contact between his son and the soldier, the Xue head did not say or think too much about it. He felt that Feng Xinya was simply being considerate as Xue Yang probably would not have sat down if left alone. Thinking this, the middle-aged man couldn't help but smile bitterly as he knew just how disappointed his son was in himself. But he couldn't help wanting to see him again, to make sure he was okay--that he was truly alive and breathing.

Following Feng Xinya, Xue Yang felt warm inside as he understood that Feng Xinya didn't see him as a burden or just another mission as opposed to his curt reply. The man still considered his feelings even though he clearly wasn't the type to care about anything aside from his own goals. Xinya knew perfectly well how much he didn't want to be there at the moment even though he had to see his parents eventually.

At least, now he was starting to consider his feelings. Xue Yang couldn't help but think that he was dragged unwillingly back into this life, but he knew that it was the least he could do as thanks for having been pulled out of his previously torturous one.

Also, Xinya may have dragged him back but it's not like he was going to leave him alone. Their clasped hands were proof of this. And the fact that Xinya had prepared a room especially for him back at his mansion.

But thinking about the two in front of him and how they hadn't found out the truth even after ten years still left him feeling bitter as he could feel the couple's intense gazes fixated on himself. 

Xue Yang felt like a terrible person--not only did he feel like he was wronged by Xinya when he was forced to remember the things that he felt were best left forgotten, he couldn't even find it in himself to forgive the parents who obviously didn't know any better; his parents' eyes were still filled with unconditional love but at the moment all he felt was disappointment.

Unable to bear the self-loathing that was building up all over again, Xue Yang kept his face down as his hands unconsciously tightened around Xinya's, who similarly tightened his hold to silently console the youth without removing his callous gaze from the Xue head in front of him.

Even though Feng Xinya personally thought it to be much better to just take it out on the two in front of them, he knew that Yang wasn't the type to do that, so the only thing he could do was to lift him up from his miserable state by his smaller actions.

Of course, that didn't mean he'd help the mother and father converse with their estranged son. He felt that no matter what excuse they could pull out, they were supposed to be the most powerful people in the world, yet they couldn't even find out that their son hadn't died in that car accident--with their might that could encompass the entire world they couldn't even trace the deceased driver back to Shadow and therefore the aunt and mistress.

Really, what were they doing during the entire ten years that their son was suffering? Grieving? They could have spent that time investigating, but they obviously dropped the matter way too quickly so Feng Xinya did not think that Yang was being petty at all.

In all honesty, Feng Xinya's memories regarding his own clan was blurry after all he'd been through, but he knew that his parents had died for him back in their first prison in the human territory. After all, while he was the son of the current Feng clan head, that didn't mean he was the best specimen to keep alive. He was only four--obviously the best specimen that should have been kept would have been the ones who had fully developed and were in their prime--but the vampires had taken only him and even had to wait for a few more years to turn him into one of them.

He had already guessed somewhere along the way that the only reason he was the only surviving member of his clan was because the rest of his clan had petitioned for his life in some way or another.

Seeing that their son wouldn't even spare them so much as a glance, and the soldier beside him did not plan to help them out either, that was how the silent oppression that was described earlier came to be.

Thankfully, the waiter was extremely timely and had come in with the menus before the atmosphere became too much for the woman to handle as she appeared ready to burst into tears at any moment,

"What may I get for these esteemed guests tonight?"

As Xue Yang hadn't picked up his menu from the table, Feng Xinya decided to pick one up with his free hand, flipping through carelessly as he shared the view with the youth beside him.

Truthfully, he didn't have much of an impression on food in general--similarly to Xue Yang who had been kidnapped when he was merely four. These two men, the only food that they had even a slight impression of was the Italian meal they had cooked up together that one night in B Country.

And Feng Xinya knew that Yang was just like him in this aspect, thus, finding the Italian section on the menu, Feng Xinya pointed as his deep voice resonated throughout the private room, "Two Italian Set C. Water for both."

"Um," the woman's higher pitched voice shook as she tried to order without looking up from her menu but one could see tiny droplets dripping onto the elaborate booklet, "I will take the same, please."

"Make that four Italian Set Cs, please. Thank you," the Xue head politely smiled towards the waiter as he gently took the menu from his wife's hands and handed it to the waiter before pulling her into a hug and rubbing her hair in a consoling manner.

To their miserable display, Feng Xinya could tell that the boy beside him only hated himself more for making his mother cry, so he ruthlessly spat out as soon as the waiter left the room and shut the door behind him, "Get over yourself."