"Noodles" - Normal speech.

'Noodles' - Thoughts.

"Noodles" - Souls speaking.

Pic is from Tcf Manhwa.

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As they were traveling, Cale noticed the kitten siblings are fidgeting. Cale smiled and spoke.

"What are you two looking at?"

The kittens flinched and turned their eyes away. Cale made a teasing smile.

"Did you two maybe... saw a dragon?"

Cale heard the kittens gasp and he chuckled at their reactions. Seems like the dragon decided to make On and Hong it's first aquaintances.

After a day's worth of travel, they were now getting ready to make camp.

"Excuse me, if it is okay, may we share a part of your campsite?"

A carriage arrived by Cale's campsite area, and the person that seemed to be the driver got off and approached the Vice Captain.

"May I ask who you are?"

The Vice Captain asked, even though he already knew the answer after seeing the red snake on the driver's armor. The driver bowed to the Vice Captain and Cale behind him and introduced himself.

"My name is Tom, and I am a part of Marquis Stan's estate."

'Stan?'

Cale looked at the shabby looking carriage without a crest. The window opened and Cale could see the face of Taylor Stan.

"My name is Taylor Stan. I saw Count Henituse's crest, and am asking for help, even though I'm sure it is not ideal."

If it is the strong Count Henituse's campsite, Taylor thought he would be safe for the night.

'Indeed... Taylor is being hunted by his own family...'

Cale let out a soft sigh and he noticed the silence was odd, and looked toward Hans.

Hans smiled awkwardly, before stealthily gesturing toward the driver, Tom, and Taylor, who was looking out of the carriage window.

Taylor had a bitter smile on his face as he started to speak.

"If it is inconvenient for your party, we will leave."

The eldest son of the Marquis family, and the son who was pushed out of the family. After his legs became paralyzed, Taylor's life turned 180 degrees overnight, from one of luxury and power, to one where his family gave him just the minimal amount of support needed to survive.

Those nobles, who knew that anyone other than the successor to the Marquis title in the Stan family would die immediately, started to avoid Taylor, finding him to be an annoyance. They even purposefully ignored him in front of Venion or the other siblings to try to curry their favor as well. The current Taylor's situation was even worse than that of a bastard son of a baron's family.

Taylor knew about Cale, the kind young man of the Henituse family. A luxurious golden turtle as their symbol, as well as being a handsome young man with red hair. There was no one other than Cale who fit that description. Even someone like Count Henituse, who did not join a faction, could find it uncomfortable to associate with someone like him. They were all like that after his body became paralyzed.

Taylor had remembered the reality of the situation after hearing Cale's sigh. But at that moment.

"Why would you leave?"

Cale walked toward Taylor's carriage with a brow raised.

"We are both fellow travelers and no one owns this property."

Cale and Taylor made eye contact with each other. The redhead noticed another stare directed at him, he peeked inside Taylor's carriage and saw a brown-haired woman.

The woman was observing him from inside the carriage. 

Cale turned his gaze away from the woman and reached his hand out.

"I am Cale Henituse of the Henituse family."

Taylor gazed at the hand reaching out to him from outside the carriage. He then looked back at the smiling redhead.

Click.

Taylor opened the carriage door. Proper etiquette indicated that he should step out of the carriage to return the greeting.

"It is difficult for me to step out because of my legs."

"I am aware."

Taylor looked once more toward Cale, who did not seem to care about the proper etiquette, and shook his hand. It was just a short handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Young Master Cale."

After the handshake, Taylor then introduced the brown-haired woman beside him.

"This is my companion, priestess Cage-nim. She is a follower of the God of Eternal Rest."

Eternal rest. This was a term for death. Cale looked toward Cage with curiosity. Cage gracefully greeted him like a proper priestess.

"Nice to meet you, Young Master Cale. My name is Cage. May the peace of the night always be with you."

'Peace of the night.' That was the general greeting those who served the God of Death gave to the public.

Cage was smiling gently at the redhead, but Cale noticed the annoyance in her eyes. It was not directed at him but rather... herself.

'Is she... annoyed for being a priestess?'

She really was good at acting. Cale smiled at Cage, who still had a very stereotypical smile of a priestess on her face.

"Nice to meet you Priestess-nim."

Cage nodded at the redhead and Cale noticed the growing annoyance in her eyes when he called her 'Priestess-nim'.

'Does she want to get excommunicated perhaps?'

Cale looked around the carriage, it was extremely shabby for the eldest son of a Marquis. Just one knight, a subordinate, who also served as the driver, and the two of them, Cage and Taylor.

'Hm... I bet he's out of money as well.'

Taylor probably spent a lot of money putting magic tools around the his temporary residence. Since he was not getting much help from the Marquis, he wouldn't really have any emergency funds to use. Taylor was probably doing everything he could to reduce his expenses.

Taylor closed his eyes to hold back the shame while watching Cale look through his carriage. Cale did not put much meaning behind it, and started to wonder.

'Why did Taylor left?'

Taylor wouldn't have any reason to leave his refuge, if so, then it must be important than his own safety.

"Hans."

"Yes, Young Master."

Cale gave the Deputy butler an order.

"Help them out."

"Yes."

"Set up a separate meal for them and set up a campsite next to our as well."

"Yes, sir. I will serve them like I am serving you, Young Master."

Cale nodded at Hans, then his gaze went back to Taylor. He slightly bowed and said goodbye.

"Then I will be on my way, Young Master Taylor."

"Thank you for your benevolence, Young Master Cale."

"It was nothing."

Cale turned away from Taylor, who had a curious look on his face. He then immediately headed back to his carriage without looking anywhere else. Of course, he gave an order to the Vice Captain who was walking by his side.

"Hilsman, take care of their guard duty as well."

"Yes, Young Master."

Cale verified what the Vice Captain had said to Taylor's knight before getting back on the carriage. It was regarding guard duty at night. Cale verified the knight's expression turning bright before the knight got back onto the carriage.

Click.

The door closed with a loud click. This made everyone turn their gaze toward the closed door of the carriage with the golden turtle crest, before returning to do their duties. Only Taylor and Cage, who didn't really have anything to do right now, just continued to stare at the closed door.

The two kittens greeted Cale inside the carriage.

"I've seen those two people."
"Hong. I was there too."

The kittens, who had been watching everything through the window, slowly approached Cale and sat down next to him before starting to talk to each other. Just then, a presence made itself known.

Sitting across them was the black dragon. Cale stared at it in surprise but quickly recomposed himself while On and Hong gasped.

"Dongsaeng!"
"He showed himself!"

"..."

The kittens went over to the black dragon and sat next to it. The black dragon didn't glance at the two, his eyes is focused on the redhead in front of him. There was mistrust in it but also curiosity as well.

During his time following the redhead, he observed the red-haired human and only saw goodness come out of the human, which is surreal. But the most shocking thing was to see another version of the said human, but not just the redhead but the black-haired human and the kittens as well.

 A human(?) with long ears and an aura that just screams... safety.

A human with a cold and intimidating aura.

And two humans(?) with cat ears and tails.

It was a very weird and curious thing.

So when the black dragon met the kittens a second time, he asked them about what he saw that day and the siblings only glanced at each other before looking back at the dragon. They said that they'll explain it with 'Cale', who the dragon thinks is the red-haired human's name.

And so here he is, staring eye-to-eye with the red-haired human. 

"You."

"Hm?"

"What are you?"

"Huh?"

Cale stared at the black dragon in confusion, he glanced at the kitten siblings and they elaborated the dragon's question.

"He's asking about our otherselves nya."
"Ego, Reverie and Deliverance."

Cale made an 'Oh' and nodded understandingly.

"Then... do you want to see them?"

The black dragon nodded, then suddenly voices spoke.

"Hi~ Little one~"

"Dragon nya!"
"Dragon!"

The black dragon was startled and his eyes darted from the redhead to the kittens, back and forth. He saw that the human and kittens did not anticipated that as well.

"...I thought you guys can only talk when... you know."

"That's what we thought too Cale nya."
"Yeah."

"It seem we can also speak to others if we have the desire to do so chickadee."

"I see..."

"Why not just show yourselves nya?"

"If we were to do that, then it'll bring on a lot of attention On."

Oh. Ego meant the light. To go into their physical forms, theres always that light that comes with them and doing it here and now will bring unwanted attention and many unwanted questions.

"Well then~ Let's talk to the little one more shall we hm~?"

"W-who are you calling little!?"

"Oh my. Then this lowly elf gives his apologies to the great and mighty dragon before me~"

"H-Hmph!"

The dragon looked away, his eyes are closed, his cheeks are a tinted with a bit of red and his tail wagging around.

'Cute...'

'Cute nya...'
'Cute!'

The red elf then indulge the black dragon along with the others, unbeknownst to the dragon, deep inside, he felt happy.

_____

A day passed. 

Cale, who slept in, went out the carriage before noticing an odd atmosphere.

He had eaten and slept in the carriage last night with the kitten siblings and the black dragon. So he could not understand this odd and somewhat dark atmosphere.

"Hans... What is going on?"

Hans put on an awkward smile and greeted Cale. Hans, as well as the rest of the Cale's group, were quickly getting past their suspicions about the meat and fruit being delivered to them.

Although Cale had no idea what Ron thought about it, since Cale and Choi Han both had said that it was fine, they just went along with it. Beacrox was easy to convince since he was always excited to see ingredients of the highest quality appear every morning.

"Haha... Young Master, did you finally wake up?"

Hans slowly peeked toward Taylor and Cage, before approaching Cale.

"You see... I think Young Master Taylor has gotten the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea?"

Cale could see a dead boar, as well as Taylor on the wheelchair, and Cage pushing Taylor's wheelchair behind him. He approached the dead boar and stood next to the wheelchair as he started to speak.

"What's going on?"

The boar was enormous, tt was larger than a tiger, the type of boar that would excite Beacrox quite a bit. The redhead then saw the drawing next to the boar but this time, instead of a fork, it was a knife.

"...Young master Cale. I'm sorry."

What kind of utter nonsense was this?

Taylor had an apologetic smile on his face as he turned away from the boar.

"It seems like my movements have been detected."

Movement? Cale could then hear the priestess Cage mumbling behind Taylor. She was angry.

"We left in secret, so how is it possible? There is someone who can avoid my detection? This is too much!"

'Ah...'

Cale understood now. It was the black dragon's doing, it must've went out the carriage and hunt this boar down. The knife drawing must have made both Taylor and Cage have the wrong idea. This misunderstanding was funny to him.

"...Young Master Cale. This incident-"

"Pfft... Ahem... Beacrox."

Cale called out to Beacrox.

"Yes, Young Master?"

Beacrox, who was standing there with his kitchen knife prepared, responded with excitement on his face.

"Seems like we'll be eating steak for breakfast."

"Young Master, it seems like we will get the highest quality steak once again."

Taylor, who was staring at Cale with a blank expression, suddenly started to speak.

"...Once again?"

Cale nodded his head and responded.

"We have someone in our party who delivers food for us."

"...Who is it?"

Cale let out a giggle before responding.

"He is surprisingly shy so you will not be able to see him."

Cale saw the leaves on a tree not far from the campsite moving up and down and shook his head. Cale shaking his head made both Taylor and Cage turn red from embarrassment.

"Ahem, I-I see. It seems we had the wrong idea."

"It's not your fault. Beacrox is an excellent cook, so please have some steak before you go."

Beacrox stopped caressing the boar and looked up at Cale. Cale can feel Beacrox's stoic but happy gaze boring into the back of his head.

"Young Master Cale, I heard that you are heading for the capital. If it is okay with you, may we follow behind you?"

"Hm? Sure?"

"Thank you. We will be under your care until we get close to the capital."

Cale smiled a bit and nodded at Taylor's words.

"We will determine that later on."

"Of course. Please feel free to let us know whenever is most convenient for you, Young Master."

"Sure."

Taylor and Cage looked toward the casually responding Cale with curiosity. The redhead didn't noticed it and spoke to Hans.

"Bring my meal to the carriage, please."

"Yes, sir."

Cale headed back to the carriage and ate with the kitten siblings and the black dragon.

After eating, they continued their journey along with the Eldest Stan.

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Thank you for Reading!