“Ryther? Is that this child’s na…”

Confusion was written all across Yong Hwa’s face when he heard the girl’s sudden scream. Just as he was wondering if that was the young boy’s name, unexpectedly, the girl ran forward and tightly embraced him. Startled by the sudden action, he was just about to push her off, when he heard her crying. Through all her sobbing, she silently spoke.

“Ryther, We were, *hic* so worried about *hic* you. It’s been so long *hic* since we heard any word about you. Why didn’t you *hic* come back home? *hic* We were even starting to *hic* think that *hic* you really did die. *hic*”

Hearing the girl’s sob, the hands that were just about to push her off, silently fell down to Yong Hwa’s side. He didn’t have the heart to push her away from him in that situation. After contemplating what to do, he finally decided to just let her cry everything out. He wasn’t sure who that Ryther was, but seeing the girl's break down, he must be someone very important to her.

Seol Hwa, who saw everything happen from the side, was also flabbergasted. Who was Ryther? Why did that girl suddenly fling herself on Yong Hwa? As those thoughts raced through her mind, in her heart, she felt something rise up.

’Am I being jealous right now?’

Feeling the emotion in her heart, Seol Hwa was shocked. She knew that Yong Hwa felt more than close friendship with her. Even though she knew that from a while back, she decided to purposely ignore it. She simply didn’t have the same feelings for him and didn’t want to ruin their relationship because of her rejection. For her to feel jealous now, Seol Hwa herself felt it was laughable.

Without knowing Seol Hwa’s inner thoughts, Yong Hwa remained still and let the girl cry everything out. A couple of minutes afterwards, when the girl seemed to regain some control of her emotions and was about to speak again, Yong Hwa put his hands on her shoulders and separated himself from her. Looking into her teary eyes, he began to speak.

“Miss, I’m not sure who this Ryther you speak of is, but you have the wrong person. My name is Yong Hwa.”

Yong Hwa felt that if he let the girl continue her misunderstanding, it would be worse later on. That’s why, even though it may be a little cruel, he cut off that possibility right away. As he expected, the girl stiffened up when she heard what he said. Without a chance for her to reply, he continued.

“I’m not sure who this Ryther guy is, but there was no such person here when I arrived. “

The girl stood where she was and looked over Yong Hwa. Now that she looked closely, even though he indeed resembled her little brother a lot, there were also areas that weren’t like him, too. Yong Hwa’s aura was a lot heavier and darker than Ryther’s pure and clean aura from the past. She wasn’t able to picture her younger brother having such a aura. Also, people grow a lot and may look differently from how they did in their mid-teens.

It wasn’t like everyone's looks were unique in the continent. Even though it wasn’t as severe as this time, the same thing had happened once or twice before when she saw someone who looked familiar to him. If Ryther was still alive, there was no reason for him to not have returned home by now. Also, Yong Hwa’s expression seemed as though he really didn’t know who she was. There was no way that the Ryther she knew would have that kind of expression when he saw her. Thinking up to there, she finally came to a decision that the person in front of her wasn’t the missing Ryther. Once she made that determination, she wiped the tears away from her face and bowed to Yong Hwa.

“I apologize for my earlier actions. I got carried away.”

Seeing how serious the girl turned, Yong Hwa felt helpless. Shaking his head, he spoke.

“No, no. It’s fine miss. It’s a mistake anyone can make. Anyways, now that I think about it, I have yet to hear your name. My name is Yong Hwa.”

“My name’s Raia.”

“Ah, it’s a pleasure meeting you, Raia. May I ask why you are here?”

“I am the commander of the troops that attacked here. The boy behind that girl is my brother, Rem.”

Hearing his name, Rem finally came out from behind Seol Hwa and rushed forward to Raia, immediately hugging her. Earlier on, he had wanted to rush forward when he saw his older sister, but felt that the situation was weird and stayed where he was. Although he was young, he knew that the something was wrong and never saw his sister that way. Now that she was finally acting normal again, his hesitation disappeared and he energetically ran up to her.

“Nuna! You came for me!”

Seeing the excited Rem, Raia’s eyes softened. A warm smile appeared on her face as she crouched down and hugged little Rem. After affectionately rubbing his hair a couple of times, she turned her attention back toward the other two.

“I sincerely thank the two of you for protecting my baby brother. If anything had happened to him…”

Yong Hwa didn’t say anything, but a lonely smile appeared on his face. Seeing the two siblings show so much affection to each other made him envious of their bond. He wondered how it felt to have a family member worry for him like that.

Right as Seol Hwa was about to reply that it wasn’t anything much, she saw Yong Hwa’s smile. When she saw that smile, she instantly recognized what Yong Hwa was thinking about. Every once in a while, she saw Yong Hwa show that kind of smile as he looked at a family.

“Yong Hwa! Seol Hwa! Are you two okay?”

At that moment, a loud voice roared out as Chang sprinted into the room. Chang’s clothing was a mess as there were tears all over his clothes and large spots of blood. His hair, which was usually pulled together into a ponytail, was now all over the place as the string was lost. Still, when he saw that the both of them were unharmed, he loosened a large sigh of relief. Just as he was about to speak again though, he finally realized they weren’t alone in the room and noticed the other two. When he saw Raia, Yong Hwa could have sworn he saw his eyes sparkle.

After trying to rearrange his clothes to appear more presentable, his voice became huskier as he spoke.

“I apologize for my previous behavior. May I have the honor to…OOPF!”

At that moment, a shadow flew in and drop kicked Chang. Chang flew a couple of feet in the air before he hit a wall and slid down. After dusting her clothes and hands off, Dal stood up and smiled toward Raia.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Just ignore idiots like him. My name’s Yoo Dal.”

Seeing the spectacle in front of her, Raia was startled at first but her expression changed to one of amusement after a short moment.

“Nice to meet you, Yoo Dal. My name’s Raia.”

When Dal heard Raia’s introduction, her eyes opened wide in surprise. Just like the previous person who stood where she was, her eyes began to sparkle. Just as she was about to explode into excitement though, Geum appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the back of her collar before he began to drag her away.

“My lady, please refrain from embarrassing yourself.”

“Bu..but Geum! She’s that Raia Dragos!”

“Ha…. Just what would the master say if he saw you like this, my lady?”

Seol Hwa’s face seemed blank by all the events that happened one after another. Even Yong Hwa, who was familiar with all of them, was shocked. He wasn’t surprised much by Chang’s actions since it fit into his personality, but he hadn’t expected Raia to act so passionately. All he was able to do was watch Dal as she was dragged out the while shaking his head. The image in his mind of the graceful and elegant Dal was violently shattered at that moment.

“PFFT, AHAHA!”

Startled by the sudden laugh, everyone in the room turned to the source of the laughter. At that location, Raia was holding her stomach as she leaned forward and laughed. If one looked closely, they would be able to see that she was laughing so hard that tears formed at the edge of her eyes. After spending a couple of minutes to laugh, Raia gained control of herself and saw that Yong Hwa and Seol Hwa were looking at her strangely. Even her younger brother Rem had a worried expression on his face.

“Ahaha, sorry about that everyone. It’s been a long time since I saw such an entertaining scene. Even though there are times when my soldiers joke around, the atmosphere is usually serious as we’re always training.”

Yong Hwa nodded his head when he heard what Raia said. As a commander, Rair wasn’t able to mingle with her soldiers and joke around with them. She had to set the example by being stern and professional at all times. If she didn’t, she’d slowly begin to lose her command presence and that would become detrimental in a battle.

He felt a little bad for her. Although Raia seemed to be only in her early twenties, she wasn’t able to hang out and joke around with her friends. She probably didn’t have many opportunities to let herself loose like that and heartily laugh.

Even though it was a nice scene to look out, Yong Hwa suddenly thought of Uncle Ray. He was probably worried to death about Seol Hwa and would be constantly pacing about his own room. Thinking that he should go back soon to relieve him of his worry, he said his goodbyes with Raia and Rem.

“Commander Raia, I believe it is time for us to part. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

As Yong Hwa spoke, he bent his upper body forward from the waist a little. Seeing his bow, Raia smiled and tossed a coin at him.

“It was a pleasure meeting you and your friends too, Yong Hwa. If you or your friends ever find yourselves in Wenam, show that token to any of the soldiers in the city and tell them that you wish to see me. I’ll show you all around the city.”

After hastily catching the tossed coin, Yong Hwa opened his right hand and looked at the token. The token was made from silver and was made in the shape of a rectangle. On the surface was an intrinsic design of a dragon’s head.

Nodding his head in acknowledgement, Yong Hwa turned around and picked up Chang before he exited the floor. As she was leaving with the other two, Seol Hwa turned around and observed Raia once more before she too, left.

Seeing them leave, Raia’s smile disappeared and her expression became serious. She wasn’t sure what to make of this chance meeting with that group. Also, the image of Yong Hwa kept bugging her. She needed to find out more information about him. Even though she met others who resembled Ryther in the past, Yong Hwa felt different. As she was lost in thought, she felt a tug on her sleeve and looked down to see Rem who was looking at her worriedly.

“Nuna, are you okay?”

Raia’s expression warmed up as she heard the concern in Rem’s voice. Since the disappearance of Ryther, her personality began to change. The youthful and fun loving girl disappeared to be replaced by one who became determined and power hungry. She focused all her attention on practicing while urging herself to become stronger so that she would never lose anyone else on her family. The only people she was still warm toward were her family and few others.

She was especially protective of Rem. Raia put the safety of Rem above all else since she already lost Ryther. When she found out Rem had been kidnapped, she ran forward with abandon to rescue him. All through the journey, she had been worried something happened to Rem and was constantly blaming herself.

“Eung, nuna is okay. Anyways, let’s go back home, Rem. Mom and dad are worried to death over you.”

“Okay!”

After grabbing his outreached hand, Raia and Rem began to leave the abandoned fort too.

’That man’s name was Yong Hwa, huh?’