Drew coughed up blood, staining his hands as he wiped it off, and struggled to get up. 

"Dammit..." 

He gazed at the gap in the roof of the mansion. A figure descended and made a graceful landing. He stared and smiled in relief and self-blame. 

Rebekah stood there with a frozen expression. She examined her surroundings before she slowly walked up to him and placed her hand on his unwound shoulder.

"Drew. Where are my children?" 

He grins and grumbles, gazing at her fierce eyes that were only filled with worry. Sighing, he once again adjusted himself to be in a comfortable position. He looks up at her, not breaking their eye contacts. 

"They are safely sent to the safe zone. And I have information to report but right now isn't the safest time to discuss it." 

Rebekah's stiff shoulders quickly loosen up and release a small smile, nodding her head. She gently pats his shoulders and carefully raises his unharmed arm on top of her shoulders. Due to his big body, she struggles a bit but safely secures him with the both of them up. 

Drew wheezes in pain and gazes at the ground. He gives out a weak chuckle at how pathetically he had fallen. 

"You are plenty strong. Don't doubt your strength." 

Drew looks up and stares at Rebekah in surprise. She walks ahead, holding onto him firmly, with a calm expression. Seeing her unaffected demeanor, he couldn't help once again admire the person he looks up to since their academic years. He suddenly reminisces about the time when she led them to victory during the war. 

"Ah! But do remind me about what exactly you're reporting to me and why once we fix this baby up!" 

She glanced at the battered-up roof and grins in his direction. Drew helplessly grins back at her. 

"Yes. Looks like the civilians will be excited and will not let this opportunity to fix up a duke's mansion that hasn't collapsed for centuries slip away..."

——— 

"Ugh...." 

Ian wipes the purple gush of blood on his arms, nauseous from battling a demonic beast. Henry approaches Ian and offers him water. 

"Must be your first time." 

Henry leans his back against the tall fence's bar, chuckling. 

Ian grumbles after wiping his mouth from drinking the water in one gulp. 

He looks up at the old knight, exhaling, tiredness shown in his eyes, before standing back up and approaching the dead beast on the ground. He hesitates and follows Henry and crouches next to him as he watches him skillfully slices the core out of the beast and pulls out a gemstone. 

"Ian, do you know what this is?" 

Ian looks up to meet Henry's eyes and nods. 

Gemstones. 

His father often talks about it when he goes and hunts down when he was a knight. As the name suggests, its appearance looks like the beautiful gemstones you see crafted for accessories that nobles often wear. 

Since they are the core of Demonic Beasts who are no different from creatures with mana, many can get killed just by entering their habitats. Due to the risk in hunting for demonic beasts, they are fetched at high prices. 

You can also enchant it with any type of spell. Now that he is thinking about it, his thoughts drift to the twins' pair of necklaces. Despite them being called magic stones, they were originally gemstones. 

Finishing his job, Henry wiped off the splattered blood that came onto him when he took the cores out with a unique handkerchief that Ian couldn’t help but gaze at. Noticing his stare. Henry couldn’t help but smile, grabbing a hold of his neck then ruffle his hair roughly with his free hand.

“Hey!”

“Pretty awesome dontcha think?”

Ian felt his mouth forcefully sealed after seeing the foolish grin spread across his face but with a gloom and longing gaze, staring at the handkerchief in silence.

What was embroidery on the handkerchief was a magnificent black dragon with fierce crimson eyes.

“Sir… You know if someone were…”

“Seen it and done it. It’s fine kid, there was enough backlash for me to go numb about.”

Ian purses his lips in response. Red eyes aren’t welcomed and accepted. Or to be more specific, they are considered as monsters who were born only to bring destruction. Animals with red eyes were immediately killed in sight or were treated harshly and used to their benefit. He couldn’t imagine what would happen to a human who is born with them which is out of their control.

Now this had brought to him in thought, he couldn’t help but think about the rumors that were spread since his exposure to the world due to an incident about the second prince. The same second prince who was apparently saved by the twins he’s serving. Thinking about him when he first made eye contact that day gave him the chills.

‘Monster! Monster! Don’t look at me with that eye!’

He shook his head, clenching his sweaty fists. The horror he felt that day nearly made his barely cool facade collapse. If one move were seen made by that monster against his masters that will threaten their lives, he wouldn’t hesitate to go against him even if it means risking his life.

He shook his head even more furiously. He isn’t thinking rationally. He almost forgot why he is working under them.

‘Father… Penny…’