Timeline- after the chapter Decision

"What's with that proud look on your face?" Aguero mused, tucking his returned handkerchief into his pocket. He didn't think the girl would actually return it back since he never really used it.

There was even a faint smell of lavender stuck on the piece of cloth, much to Aguero's musing.

As promised, the two had met again under the same tree they had first met, and now are sitting against the tree comfortably as if having a picnic.

Maybe they should have one if they weren't in such a family.

Turning to the older boy with a wide grin that rivals the sunshine, Amelina happily elaborated the fact that she could now use shinsoo, along with some additional side story of the 'mysterious big brother' that helped with her training (Aguero wheezed at the mention of nickname, wondering about the girl's taste).

Though the older boy decided not to question the increased number of bandages on Amelina's pale skin. An extremely tired look was quite evident even with her delighted smile. Was she that happy meeting him again?

"Pfft, I'm pretty surprised with your capability of being happy with something so trivial," Aguero chuckled at the girl's pouting face.

"Well, excuse my lowly reasoning!" Amelina huffed, pretending to sulk. Gosh, why did she had to be so emo that day?

Aguero laughed heartily at the childish behavior, slightly pinching Amelina's cheek that didn't have any plaster on it. "Stop it. That's not cute at all," he snickered, also making Amelina burst out into laughter.

The two sure had gotten along well in a short amount of time, despite not knowing each other's background.

And that's why the curious Amelina had various questions stuck in her mind.

"Aguero, you said that the family are divided into branches of smaller fractions, right?" Amelina initiated as Aguero nodded. He'd gotten used with the impromptu questions from the girl by now. "Then, what branch do you belong to?"

After deciding that telling the dumb girl won't bring any harm ("Hey!"), Aguero finally answered, poking Amelina's cheek. "It's the Agnis branch. Though it's not that much of a great branch. And which one are you from, by the way?"

Amelina's goofy expression turned blank at the inquiry, also contemplating on what to answer (definitely different reasons from Aguero).

Did she belong to any branch? She didn't even had any mother anyway. Then how about Ran and Maschenny? Maybe she should ask Maschenny when she gets back? Wait, is it even a good idea to ask her?

"I-I'm not really sure..." Amelina slightly blushed, fidgeting with a few strands of her hair. Would Aguero be mad that she didn't tell him anything personal about herself?

But instead of being doubtful, Aguero sighed.

This was also one of the things he'd gotten used that it even surprised him; Amelina's lack of knowledge of herself (and the family). He could tell she wasn't exactly lying through his experience with handling all kinds of ass-people.

"Again, with your ignorant self," he sighed out as the girl unconsciously pouted at the comment. "There must be at least someone taking care of you, right? They should serve as a hint as to which branch you belonged to."

Awe-struck by the simple explanation, Amelina thought hard. Maybe this was better than asking a certain Jahad princess.

"Who takes care of me? There's a maid, a retainer and also someone who tried to kill me everyday by-"

"Okay, stop it. I don't want to hear about your personal diary of being tortured," Aguero joked, playfully covering his ears.

"Boo," Amelina grinned back. "Then, what about our father?"

'As in, the one who tried to kill me.'

But at the mention of Eduan, Aguero's expression darkened making Amelina flinch. She was only trying to lighten the mood...

"Don't even try to consider him as a father when he never cared about us," Aguero hissed, looking away from Amelina's big, innocent eyes. She's too pure to know about that womanizer. "Even the wives had a hard time meeting up with him now, how do you expect us children to see him even once?"

With that, Amelina looked down, negative thoughts began to invade her mind.

'Sometimes, I really wonder if Eduan really cared about me but... I guess I can't get my hopes up if he neglects his wives and children.'

Amelina's hand instinctively touched the rain locket (as what Eira named it), reminiscing back the moment Eduan gave her the item. Was there any meaning behind the locket? Or was it given to her on a whim? Just when she'd thought about Eduan in a new light...

Aguero sighed, noticing the grim aura Amelina gave off before patting the girl's head affectionately. "There's no need to think much about that stranger. We don't need him to live anyway."

The girl nodded back, leaning into Aguero's touch. Is this how it feels to have a big brother?

After a few seconds of comfortable silence, the boy spoke up. "Wanna do something?" Aguero suggested.

"Like what?"

"Fishing?"

Amelina's eyes sparkled at the suggestion, as she had never done this thing called fishing before. Humming happily, the girl followed Aguero to where he hid his fishing pole (why it was there, Amelina didn't know).

Despite the boy teaching the girl how to set up a bait and how to use the pole, their activity later turned into a full-blown water war (that began when Aguero splashed waters towards the confused Amelina).

Well, needless the outcome, the two had fun that day. Never mind the drenched clothes and all, as long as Amelina kept her smile till the end.

Still, Ageuro was really curious about one particular thing.

'Is that the family symbol on the necklace?'

The sun was already setting when Aguero parted ways with the happy girl, now walking back to his mansion until he stopped in his tracks. "Whoever you are, come out. Did you think I wouldn't notice you've been following me since earlier?"

A certain retainer sighed out in defeat, coming out from behind a tree with both of his hands raised up. He'd sometimes forgotten that Khun Aguero Agnis is also a child of Khun. A spectacular one, on top of that. "Please, forgive my insolence."

Aguero warily observed the empty-handed servant who smiled back even under his pressuring gaze, as if assuring the boy that he definitely wasn't up to anything. But still, Aguero can't let his guard down. Who knows what this mysterious man was capable of.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" the by demanded. It's easier to be straightforward, after all.

The servant knew it was a risky gamble on his life when he decided to follow the boy, knowing fully well he got two bosses of High Rankers above him. He even went on with this plan of his even knowing what role Aguero played in his branch. He wasn't one to be underestimated if he can control the political flow of Khun family to suit his own taste.

"Han Miru, at your service," the retainer bowed down, a hand gestured across his chest as a sign of respect.

"You're-" Aguero suspiciously stared at the bowing man, "-Ame's retainer?"

"Ah, you've heard about me?" Miru happily asked, though he still detected the murderous glint in the young boy's eyes. 'How scary.'

"She told me about someone whose been taking care of her since she was a toddler, so it was you?" Aguero skeptically asked back, his blue eyes judging the servant's flimsy figure. "Are you here regarding Ame?"

"Right on the spot! I have this responsibility of protecting the young miss from anything that may harm her, after all," Miru grinned.

The boy narrowed his eyes at the indirect words of threat. "I've only met her twice, in case you didn't know."

Miru lightly chuckled at this. "Of course I knew. In fact, I was the only one around her who knew about you and your meeting with her. And she always had this smile, pondering about the day of your promised reunion, which was today! Just so you know, our young miss even pushed herself to become stronger just to impress you," Miru hid his smile at the slight blush adorning the young boy. He did care about young miss, after all.

On the other hand, Aguero slightly gaped at the revelation. 'Was that how she was thinking this whole time?' He knew Ame was especially hyperactive today, but to think he was the sole reason...

"So, I'm here to propose a deal with you!" Miru exclaimed, now daring to get closer to Aguero.

"...what kind of deal?" Aguero had seen many adults with alternative methods of negotiating, but Miru was actually the first servant that even dared to spoke up to him that way. 'He must have been working under someone influential for him to actually uses the word deal.'

"Easy! Spend as much time you can with miss Ame!" Miru smiled, as if he hadn't just proposed some kind of weird deal to a Khun. The retainer merely chuckled as Aguero glared holes at him that basically spells 'are-you-kidding-me?!'. "Of course, I can assure you that you will be rewarded handsomely. I'll also try my best for your benefits."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"

"Hmm... I wouldn't call it a nonsense. Nothing can be considered nonsense when it comes to Miss Ame," Miru muttered then his looks suddenly darkened. "She might be nothing- just a pebble in the way for others, but for us... she is our one and only treasure."

'Her branch must've really loves her if they are willing so go that far...' Aguero thought. 'Pretty useless, if you apply that to this family.'

Alas, Aguero smiled, amused by the whole ordeal. "Sure, she's been playing the role of my stress-reliever, after all. It wouldn't be good if her retainer suddenly bans her from meeting me."

"Awww, I don't think that's very honest of you, Young Master Aguero," Miru chuckled, holding out his hand. To think there would be a time he would've made a deal with a kid. Well, maybe only the appearance looks like a kid.

"Nice working with you too, Han Miru," Aguero smirked. For now, it's better to let Ame close to him for personal entertainment. It won't be good if he finally snapped into insanity when he'd had enough of the family, right?

Author's note:

Another warning, it might take a whole lot longer for me and my co-author to construct the next real chapter, so please enlighten yourselves with a few bonus chapters that was stored deeply in my document manager XD.

Thanks for the support and have a nice day! 3

Sayonara! Love chu guys!