500 SPECIAL CHAPTER: THEM, TEN YEARS AGO
A boy who looked to be about seven or eight years old leisurely flipped the book he was reading. Sitting at one corner of the library, the light coming through the floor to ceiling window shone at the boy. A halo seemed to form at the top of his soft, black hair. His black eyes seemed to be shining, like a black diamond.
Everyone in the library couldn't help but glance in the direction where the boy was sitting. It's hard for people there to ignore the presence of the boy. Not only because most of them were kids of a similar age and couldn't control their admiration, but mostly because the boy just had that kind of aura. Something that made people unable to take their eyes off him.
Many wanted to go up to him and talk. Many would think that since children were very honest with their feelings, it's only natural for them to approach the boy without any reservations. But surprisingly enough, none of the children in the library dared to do that.
Not because they were adhering to the 'silence policy' of the library. Children their age wouldn't really be stopped by something like that, but because of another boy sitting in front of the black-haired boy.
This boy had ice-blue hair and a pair of teal-gray eyes. Even though the other looked bored, almost everyone there knew that if they attempted to talk to the black-haired boy, those teal-gray eyes would turn sharp and stare at them as if trying to scan their whole body from inside out. For children like them, it's definitely chilling. And scary.
"Aster, how long will we stay here? I'm bored."
Astrid raised his head from the book he's reading and looked at his twin brother. "Only until the school airship arrived. If Reas is bored, you can go play football with the other kids."
They were in the school's library. This was Astrid's favorite place in the school. It's small and cozy, but the most important thing was, they had real books. Something very rare in this era. It was also the main reason why he wanted to attend this school.
Although it's already been eight years since he reincarnated in this era, there were still things from his past life that he missed. The food would be one, but that could be quickly remedied. But some things like books were pretty hard to come by. The biggest and only library he'd been to was Uncle Leigh's.
But Uncle Leigh's place was not somewhere he could just go to anytime he missed reading. So, the school library was very convenient.
"I don't want to. If I go off somewhere and play, you'll be surrounded by other kids again. What if one of them kidnaps you?" Reas said in a voice full of seriousness.
Astrid almost burst out laughing because of the righteous expression on his brother's face right now. "Did you hear that from Dad?"
Reas crossed his arms in front of his small chest and huffed. "Dad said that there might be people wanting to kidnap you because of how pretty you are. As your older brother, I should protect you."
Astrid chuckled. Because of how mature Reas act sometimes, he forgot that the other was still only eight-years-old.
"First, children our age couldn't possibly have the skills to kidnap me. And second, I'm the older brother. So, I should be the one protecting Reas." nov-Elu-Sb)C)O.m
Reas pouted. "I'm still stronger than Aster, though. So, I should still be the one protecting you."
"Yes, yes," Astrid could only say to appease his cute younger brother. "But is Reas still going to protect me when we're both old?"
"Of course!" Reas said without hesitation.
"But what if someone appeared in the future who wants to protect me as much as Reas?"
Reas' small face scrunched, as if he didn't like the idea.
"Like how Mom has Dad, and vice versa," Astrid added.
Reas scowled even more. "Then they have to be stronger than me. And you should like them, like how Mom likes Dad. And I should also like them. Because if I don't like them, that means they're not good for you."
Astrid couldn't help but laugh once again. That last point just didn't make any sense. But it still made him happy.
Who would have known that 10 years from now, someone would appear who could fit these criteria.
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In a certain remote planet....
A group of soldiers were camping in the clearing of a forest. They were there to apprehend some rebels that were hiding in the planet. To pass time, some of the new soldiers assigned to this mission did some hand-to-hand combat matches.
A man with a huge built and muscles was fighting against a white-haired young man with a very distinctive pair of golden eyes. The huge man threw a punch, which the other defended by raised both his arms against his face.
"Heh, is this all the precious prince is capable of?" the huge man asked with a mocking smile.
The one referred to as the prince grinned like some feral wolf. "You're going to pay for calling me 'precious'."
Then, he punched the huge man. Which the other managed to avoid. But before the huge man could say a mocking comment, he felt a strong punch hit his side. He could feel his ribs breaking after that. And then he found himself being thrown back at a fast speed.
"Okay, the prince won! Pay up people!" a young man with flaxen blond hair shouted to the other soldiers.
"Hil, do we really have to pay?"—one soldier complained.
Hildred smiled brightly. "Of course, or do you want to be beaten up by Wulf?"
"Aw, here."
The soldiers started sending Hildred money via their Terminals for losing the bet.
"Hey, you conman, can you stop using me to make money?" Wulfric said in an annoyed tone.
"You're making it sound like I'm a pimp." When Wulfric coldly glared at him, Hildred only raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying you worded that wrong."
Wulfric rolled his eyes and just walked passed the other, going to the nearby stream to take a dip. Hildred followed him.
"By the way, I heard you're planning to make a squad. Can I recommend some people? I just met this pretty smart rookie from another platoon, and there's also this fighting maniac. Of course, I'm also volunteering for your squad. Since you like me, you'll also like them."
Wulfric just gave the other a sideway glance, but didn't really rejected the idea. As much as he thought the other was annoying, he was also the only one he could tolerate in this dump.
"As long as they're not trash."
"Oh, don't worry, they'll be useful," Hildred said with a hippy smile. "So... I heard the reason you ran to the army was because the Emperor planned to arrange a marriage for you. Is it true?"
Wulfric stopped in his tracks and coldly glanced at the other. "Another word about that, and you can forget about joining my squad."
"Okay," Hildred said, doing a zipping motion of his mouth.
Wulfric continued walking. Thinking of how the first thing Cynric wanted to do just after he took over the throne was to marry him off simply made him want to beat someone.
What the fuck was marriage? He didn't need something like that.
What our Wulf didn't know was that 10 years from now, he would meet someone he would want to marry and swallow those words himself.
A special chapter! Sorry, if I was late again for updating. Once again, thank you to everyone who's still here despite my updates being so slow. I really want to update more frequently, but it's really hard to do that now. But don't worry, no matter how slow my updates are, I would definitely finish this story.
Anyways, HAPPY 500TH!!! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚
Tyramisu
