Book 1. Shifting Winds. Chapter 1. It all began that day. (Part I)

Laien kneeled on one leg, staring at the coffin with clouded eyes. He tensed up, feeling many unpleasant gazes on his back. He gave his best to ignore them, knowing that in his current situation, all he could do was to bear with it.

He wondered silently, why did Tei’ru need to die now? He was still only ten, but Tei’ru passed away, making everything so incredibly difficult. Despite his worries, Laien decided to not mourn the past, instead focusing on the matters in front of him.

Just this once, though, he wanted to reminisce everything. He wanted to settle his inner feelings towards the Old Man, who he loved and hated at the same time.

Laien truly didn’t know how he should feel about Tei’ru. He had a reason to be grateful to him, but also a reason to hate him; both extremely important as neither could be easily forgotten nor forgiven.

For one instance, Tei’ru was the one who saved him and his younger sister three years ago. For that alone, Laien was extremely grateful. Old Man even went as far as adopting them into the Valius family… Only later Laien realized how great of a meaning this one act has had.

A leader of one of the three greatest clans of Sarkcente Kingdom, taking two war orphans as his son and daughter! Even if they previously belonged to a declined noble family, it was simply an unthinkable, ridiculous decision.

Laien smirked self-mockingly. If not for this unreasonable act of Tei’ru’s, they wouldn’t be in so much trouble after his death. Holding back a long sigh, Laien thought about the one thing that he absolutely hated about Tei’ru.

In the next instant, Laien forcefully threw this memory away. He closed his eyes, trying to calm down. But… This was the one thing that he couldn’t ever forgive Tei’ru for doing, no matter what his reason was.

Shaking his head, Laien abandoned his attempts to decide how he felt about Tei'ru. Now, all of that was a thing of the past. It simply didn’t matter anymore. He had other things he should be worrying about.

He looked to the left, at his younger sister, Siana. She was standing completely straight, like an immobile, expressionless rock. A weak smile appeared on Laien’s face. Siana was only eight and yet she already behaved properly. She despised Tei’ru. She hated him. Nevertheless, she listened to his reasons and agreed to come here and pay her respects.

It was a fortunate thing, that only men were expected to kneel in front of the coffin. Convincing his little sister to come was one thing, making her kneel… Would be impossible, given her stubborn character.

Laien suppressed a sigh, wondering to himself. “Old Man, why didn’t you just accept us as honored guests, instead of adopting us? It would have been so much better…”

The two of them weren’t related by blood to the Valius family, and neither were they engaged to any youths of theirs. Given the fact that a majority of the Valius family viewed them with contempt, their lives here would become much harder.

With no one to rely on, two adopted brats occupying positions on the very top of the Clan’s hierarchy… It should be understood, that for many of the Valius family, such a situation was simply unacceptable. Noblemen always had a stupid amount of pride in them. To have two brats stand above them in the hierarchy wasn’t something that they were willing to bear quietly.

Laien stood up, having done the thing he came for. He paid his respects, so did Siana. There was no reason for them to stay in the Cathedral any longer, enduring a suffocating atmosphere. Laien grabbed his little sister’s hand and headed out together with her. They exchanged a short look, knowing that both of them are equally happy to leave this place.

Looking at the two siblings walking past him, Jasi sneered, displeased. He truly disliked this one brat and his sister. Even though they weren’t of the Valius family lineage, their status was supposedly on par with his. The third son of the next Clan Leader, equal to Laien? Just because Grandfather Tei’ru adopted him in an act of insanity?

Maybe if it was just that, he could handle. He could just pay no attention to those siblings, as in reality, they didn’t hold any power within the family at all. However, to this very day he remembered clearly how once, because of Laien, he got in big trouble with grandfather Tei’ru.

Just once! He skipped his boring lessons with those old, boring tutors just once. And it just so happened that Grandfather Tei’ru was talking a walk around the city with Laien. At first, Grandfather wasn’t even angry at him, he didn’t intend to punish him in any way! But!

Grandfather must have asked Laien what he thinks ‘about his grandson skipping his lessons’. And what did this seven-year-old brat reply back then?! Even now Jasi could remember his words perfectly.

“He doesn’t care about what he has in life and just wants to lazy around. If he doesn’t want to use his life properly, being born in such a good position, he can as well go ahead and switch with me.”

Maybe Laien was even right, but so what? Was he not allowed to have fun in his life? He couldn’t take a break and play around at least once, just like all normal kids did? Jasi felt incredibly sour about this one particular memory.

“After that, Grandfather Tei’ru actually agreed with him, and decided to punish me! For three months, I did nothing but train with the sword, train my body, study economics and war tactics! Three fucking months! Six hours of sleep, and eighteen hours of this hell! I didn’t see any of my friends even once for three months! Motherfucker!”

Just thinking about that made Jasi feel boundless rage. If he could, he would have repaid this debt ten times over a long time ago. Regretfully, with Laien being Tei’ru’s favorite, he couldn’t do anything to him. But now Tei’ru was dead. His own father would soon succeed the position of Clan Leader. No matter what he did, as long as it wasn’t anything too extreme, there would be no consequences.

Just this thought made Jasi happy, his mood brightening. He would no longer need to act like if he tolerated the presence of those two strays in his family. “Hmmm, what should I do to him? Let’s think about it tonight, maybe someone will have a good idea.” Feeling a lot better now, Jasi went to pay his respects to Tei’ru.

With regards to Laien and Siana…

Truth to be told, Jasi was completely right. Even if those two siblings were to disappear, nothing would change. In the main family, most of its members had similar thoughts. They never understood why, three years ago, Clan Leader Tei’ru took in two run-of-the-mill kids and even went as far as adopting them as his own scion.

They didn’t dare to argue in front of Tei’ru, but, they never hesitated to show siblings that they weren’t welcomed in their Valius Family.

Of course, they were exceptions, too. Some Family members didn’t really care, maybe even thought that leaving those two alone would be for the best. As long as siblings would not create any trouble, they wouldn’t bother with them either. Nothing more, nothing less. None of them went as far as offering a hand to Laien and Siana after Tei’ru passed away.

Laien sighed quietly, as he left the unpleasant atmosphere behind. He truly felt that he was not welcomed in this Family. But, as a kid, what else could he do? He even considered trying to leave to live a normal life in Neil City as a commoner. He saved up some gold, so living on his own with his little sister wouldn’t be that hard.

Unfortunately, the world wasn’t so simple. Had he left for no reason, Valius family would have born a grudge towards him for not appreciating their ‘kindness’, thus making every day hard for him. What else could have he done? Leave the province as a ten-year-old kid with a bag of gold hanging at his belt? That would be asking for death, at best.

To make matters worse, those people of Valius Family wouldn’t understand that he himself didn’t have anything to do with being adopted by Tei’ru. Staying with them would result in hardships. Leaving would cause the same. If this wasn’t hypocrisy, then what was?

Finally out of the Great Cathedral, Laien allowed himself to relax a bit. “At least in the Sarkcente Kingdom, women are treated as political tools or beautiful furniture. They don’t have the power to inherit on their own, so Siana should still be fine, they won’t bother with her… At least for next four, five years, until they might want to marry her off… In five years… Only five years. What will we do, then? What will happen to me, before that time, anyway…?”

Laien unconsciously tightened the grip of his hand, attracting Siana’s attention. With but a gaze, she asked what was he worried about. Laien sighed, deciding to put his worries into words. From the very beginning, he told Siana about many things that were on his mind for the last week.

---

Two days later, in the early afternoon, Laien and Siana were sitting on the same bed. Laien just returned to their room, after he encountered the first dose of bullying.

Laien only shook his head, not sure what he should do now. He guessed that Jasi will cause him some troubles, as they never liked each other too much. However, for Jasi to go that far wasn’t something he expected. He didn’t imagine that just this morning while strolling around the open grounds, three kids older than him would attack him and beat him up.

“Big Brother…”Siana looked at his bruises and a dried blood covering his clothes, a hint of tears and anger shining in her eyes. Laien couldn’t help but smile, seeing how deeply his little sister cared for him. Patting Siana’s head, he reassured her again. “I told you that something like that will happen sooner or later, right? Don’t worry about me, it doesn’t hurt very much.” He tried to reassure Siana, hoping that things will turn out fine, one way or another.

Siana glared at him as if scolding him for being an idiot. Just a moment later, Laien chuckled helplessly. He noticed how Siana looked like she really wanted to hug him, yet at the same time seemed to be worried that it would make him hurt more. She kept fidgeting, not knowing what to do. Laien found that quite cute of her. He patted her head, gently stroking her long, black hair, not saying anything.

Laien knew that Siana was a very smart girl, so he did not bother to explain the same thing again. Between them, there was no need for meaningless words. It was always like that, as far as they could remember.

After a while, Siana calmed down. She laid down on the bed, giving him a short, meaningful look.

“I’m going to wash myself, will you be staying here?” Laien asked, taking few needed things from a wardrobe. Siana nodded in response, cuddling a big pillow on the bed. “Looks like she will be fine.” Laien thought. He looked at Siana for a while longer, then left their room, heading to baths.

Hearing the door close behind her Big Brother, Siana hugged a pillow, trying really hard to not cry. Right now, she just wanted to fall asleep and forget about all unpleasant things. The current and the past ones. “I’m sorry, Big Brother, I just can’t help but be happy that he died…” She mumbled to herself. Deep inside, she thought that she was being really unfair towards her Big Brother. It made her feel really bad.

Accompanied by those unpleasant feelings, she slowly fell asleep.

Walking through empty corridors, Laien wondered where should he go to wash himself. Looking all beaten up like that, he preferred to have some time in private. If he could, he preferred to avoid people speaking of this incident. He thought it would be for the best if no one at all realized what happened to him. “Hmph, when they ask, what will I be supposed to answer? Hey, friends of your Young Master are bullying me? As if they would believe that…”

In the end, Laien decided to simply use the Great Baths. At this time of the day, just before noon, they were usually empty, so he probably wouldn’t meet anyone there.

As for Great Baths, they were built directly on top of hot springs. Washing oneself there could easily be considered a luxury. A stable access to the hot water was something that only a few in the world could afford to own, with the Valius Family being one of them.

Inside the Great Baths, as expected, was pretty quiet. Only a calming sound of the flowing water could be heard. Laien went into one of the furthers bathing rooms, just like he usually did when coming here. He put down the bag and took off his clothes off. “I guess I really need to clean myself properly, ugh, so much dirt all over…”

In no hurry, Laien prepared some water in a wooden bowl. Before entering the bath, he needed to clean himself… Well, that would be the most unpleasant part.

As he poured some water on his head, he twitched a bit. He was more or less used to pain, after training his body for the last two years. Still, it didn’t mean he enjoyed hurting.

Laien closed his eyes, allowing his consciousness to wander freely. He could clearly feel each drop of the water falling down from his black hair. He was completely aware of the moisture covering his body... He smiled, enjoying this unique feeling. “I just don’t have enough time. Fifteen … No, just ten years would be enough. Then, I wouldn’t need to worry so much…”

By now, Laien understood that to ensure a good life for himself and Siana, he needed to become strong. Although he was part of the Valius clan, his influence was negligible. His only option was to gain everything he wanted by his own strength.

In this world, no one would listen or care about him, a child with no true noble background. Even if he were to become an outstanding talent in governing or tactics, without backing-up from someone, he would not achieve anything. To be respected, he needed to gain power! That was the only way left for him.