Chapter 6
…
As one of the servants hurried to the very front, to open the large sliding door for his lord, Lucius, Kyren saw many people already present inside this great hall.
There were little ones, young ones, mid ones, middle-aged ones, old ones, pretty old ones, ancient ones, and one fine line above the grave ones.
'So many variants…'
Kyren was wide-eyed, seeing everyone.
There were 3 other little babies like him, and 11 other bigger children, perhaps around 1 to 5 years old. All of them currently stood in the middle of the hall.
Upon their arrival, many people directed their sight at Chriselda while whispering something to the others, as she walked inside, and joined the middle group.
Some of them even pointed their fingers discreetly at Kyren's mother.
Seeing that, Kyren frowned at their rude behavior.
'I think I really need to have that Identify Skill. It will come in handy to know who are threats, who are pigs, who are baby toes. So, I can beat those weaker than me later.'
Kyren kept reminding himself to be careful all the time, as this novel world was extremely cruel.
Being vigilant was something the MC always did. So, he should have done the same.
He couldn't just punch someone in the face, without expecting retaliation from their big brother, father, stepfather, second stepfather, hidden stepfather, uncle, step uncle, grandfather, grand uncle, great grandfather, 2 times great GF, ancestor, hidden experts, hidden demons, assassins, or whatever came to their petty head.
Meanwhile, Lucius walked to the very front and seated himself among the other ancient, old ones.
Beside him, stood a gorgeous, sexy woman wearing a really tight, bright red cheongsam, with the slit reached her outer thigh, revealing her smooth skin and supple, slim muscles, tempting anyone caught a glimpse of it.
She had an innocent face, but all was covered by her heavy makeup and red lipstick, which was almost as red as a red traffic light.
For some reason, Kyren feels weird and uneasy seeing her.
Just one look, he immediately didn't like her.
Seeing that red lipstick already decreased Kyren's favorability by a quarter.
Seeing that she stood beside a certain jerky man decreased his favorability even further, plunging into the negatives.
Because Kyren didn't know that his mother was the second wife, he thought his father had been cheating on his beautiful mother.
'Oh my god, are his eyes blind, or does he have some cataracts. She wasn't even half as beautiful as my mother. Truly pitiful. He was born handsome, but he must have fallen with his head first when he was a baby, hence, eye problems…'
'At least find a better mistress. No, I mean… why even cheat in the first place???'
All kinds of thoughts spiraling inside Kyren's head, distracting him, as he didn't even bother to look at what was in front of him.
If he had looked properly, he would have noticed that the red cheongsam-wearing lady's gaze was currently locked on Kyren.
She also occasionally licked her lips.
Chriselda, who saw that, frowned in displeasure and wariness, as she hugged her son gently, breaking her sight from Kyren's little face.
The red whatever lady smiled gently, seeing what Chriselda had done.
She bent down and whispered something to Lucius' ear, to which the latter nodded his head in response.
Afterwards, the lady approached Kyren and Chriselda.
The others who saw that ceased their murmurs, as everyone kept silent, seemingly afraid of her.
"Oh, it's been a long time since we last saw each other, big sister. How are you?"
She smiled, her tone was polite and full of goodwill.
Meanwhile, Kyren's mother acts as if she didn't hear anything.
She ignored her completely, busy looking down while making a funny face and bouncing her baby up and down, which made Kyren, who knew what she wanted, play along by giggling loudly.
In the quiet room, his laughter drew an echo all around.
If this were recorded and uploaded on YouMeUsTube, everyone would shower this scene with countless praises, comments, and heartwarming blessings.
But here in this world, thanks to a certain author's insane fetishes, everyone was currently scowling, looking at the mother-son duo in displeasure.
"Tch, I heard she has a noble background. Who knows, she doesn't even have enough propriety and manners in front of the matriarch. Truly, it is unfortunate for the patriarch to marry this woman. Disgusting…"
"I heard she was begging at the front gate of the family, desperately wanting the patriarch to marry her. I also heard she even bribed a guard."
"Really??? I bet she also sleeps with that guard, doesn't she? With her beauty, dumb people will be entranced by her looks."
"I see. So, the rumors were true then. What a whore. She acted so prideful, but didn't even keep her dignity. If not for patriarch's good grace, she would have been beheaded by now…"
"Yeah, ungrateful witch. She deserves to be burned at the stake. See how she'd gonna scream by then…"
"Cuih, cuih, cuih. It's better if we convince the patriarch to get rid of this woman. She might bring bad luck to the family later."
…
They purposely said it out loud so Chriselda could hear what they said.
Though her mother looked unfazed by such a claim, Kyren knew her mom.
She always acted strong, but she was actually fragile deep inside.
He could feel the pain inside her heart. Kyren inside felt like it was burning by fire from rage.
'Just you wait, all of you. Wait for my revenge.'
"Enough…"
A loud voice shut all of those murmurs.
It was Lucius who glared at the others around, as they dared to raise their voice in his presence, and the elders around, though he actually could have stopped them earlier.
But he didn't.
On the other hand, the red lady kept her smile, relishing the curse directed at Chriselda.
After Lucius's shout, she leaned closer to Kyren's mother and spoke again.
"C'mon, sister, don't be so cold. I understand completely your anger toward me. I know I have stolen your darling affection toward you. But it isn't my fault, ok…"
She bit her own lips, acting pitiful.
That is, until poison seeped out from her tongue.
"All of this isn't my fault, okay? It's just, you are not enough for him. His feelings change toward you because you have never been enough for him. Perhaps largely because you are a weak, talentless, crippled lady. You are pathetic, same as your clan, who all died just because of a single demon…"
'Oh my god, I'm going to kill this woman first,' Kyren widened her eyes in her mother's bosom, outraged by her words.
But then, Chriselda abruptly looked up―eyes spitting fire, intently locked on the red girl.
"You are still as treacherous as ever, Scarlet. I don't care if you take him. Take all of him. I don't need any of it. You can insult me all you want, too. I'll take all of it. But don't you ever dare insult my clan. My family… If not for my father and grandfather, who stopped that demon and bought you all enough time to leave, do you think any of you here can still live and breathe now?"
Chriselda gritted her teeth, her glowering eyes lit up in red blood color, as she slowly directed her well-contained seething gaze at everyone present, especially those who cursed and smeared her name with blatant lies.
Those weaklings whose eyes…