Reivan was once again reminded how much knights were revered in Aizen. After all, he had to sit through a corny, generic, and overall unoriginal play that lasted until dusk. Said play was about how a knight embarked on a journey of a thousand miles, just to get some sort of rare herb that only grew in some faraway mountain.

Why did the knight go on such a pain-in-the-ass journey, you ask? Well, the reason was incredibly cliche; to cure his lover's illness.

'Everybody really liked it though. I guess my taste in stories got broken from all the weird shit I read back on earth...'

The actors performed splendidly, the costumes were simple but did a great job in establishing the characters wearing them, and the music was exciting or suspenseful when it had to be... but Reivan just couldn't get into it like everyone else. He even had the thought that most of the people were brainwashed by the propaganda being fed to them, but then he remembered that it was his family doing the ruling here, so he threw those ideas out of his head.

Instead, he started feeling sad at the realization that the quality of stories he could access had dropped exponentially.

'Heh. Maybe I'll write some instead.'

Reivan vaguely remembered a quote going: "If it doesn't exist, just make it."

'Wait a minute... that's not such a bad idea.'

During the unfortunate period of time he was stuck inside a fragment of eternity, Reivan had lived the life of a writer for a while. In fact, the feeling of a pen in his hand was still vivid, even now. Back then, he had to write it manually, but wouldn't it be a lot easier if he used [Formless Will]?

There might even be a way to write thousands of words in an instant by using dream crystals to send text messages to a Holostone.

'Welp... That's a task for when I've already accomplished everything else I want.'

He had far too many things on his To-Do list. Adding something else when he didn't need to would be foolish, to say the least.

Reivan smirked as his head popped out of Valter's portal. Slowly, the rest of his body was also freed. With a sigh, he removed the ring that changed his outer appearance before stowing the artifact inside Zorous' stomach.

"Home, at last..." he said with a sigh. The veil of illusions that had been draped over his body slowly fell off while he stepped forward and took a deep breath, taking in the familiar scent of home. "Going out is fun, but there's just something about being in your own house, huh?"

"Indeed." Valter nodded, a step behind the young prince. "I also feel much more comfortable when I'm in my own home."

Reivan playfully grinned and looked up at his guardian knight. "Is that a dig at me for forcing you to go out so much?"

The man chuckled. "Perish the thought, Your Highness."

Hector, who had just regained his balance after the teleportation asked, his head tilted in apparent confusion. "I don't get it. Is that really how you guys feel? Cuz I don't think our house smells good at all. I mean, it doesn't smell bad, but... What do you think, Helen?"

The little glutton shook her head before stepping up beside Reivan and taking his hand. "Only food smells good."

"Pfft." The ashen-haired prince barely held in his laughter at the typical response, not caring for her odd behavior anymore. "Hopefully, the food here smells better than the stuff at your place. Come have dinner with us."

"Mhm." Helen's face instantly brightened.

"Is that really okay?" Hector frowned and scratched his head. "We just ate here earlier. People might say we're freeloading or something... Also, what's up with your hands? I think you two have been doing that since earlier..."

Reivan shrugged. "Beats me. Anyway, don't worry about the food. It's not like we're gonna run out. Plus, Zouros eats more than you two combined."

A faint hiss of displeasure echoed within Reivan's mind, making him snicker.

"Well..." Hector still seemed to be hesitant, but eventually, he nodded with a sigh. "If you say it's fine, then I guess it is. I won't refuse a free meal!"

"Mhm mhm." Helen bobbed her head with a serious expression.

"Sure. You guys are always welcome here." Reivan smiled as he led the way while holding onto the glutton's hand. "Besides, Father and Mother like you guys too."

'I just don't know if that's because I like you guys, or if it's because they genuinely like you two.'

It didn't make much of a difference to him though.

"Your Highness, I'll take my leave now." Valter stood ramrod straight and saluted in typical Aizenian fashion. "You're safe here, after all."

"Ah. Yeah, okay. " Reivan stopped and glanced back for a moment, a grateful smile on his face. "Thanks for everything."

"Of course. You're very welcome." The thousand-year-old knight smiled before he started sinking, a puddle of darkness ravenously swallowing him whole.

"Well, let's get going."

With that, the three started walking briskly toward the dining room.

Eventually, after a minute of traversing the palace's hallways, the three eventually made it to the small, private dining room that the royal family favored over the ginormous dining hall — which was only used on special occasions like parties and banquets.

Just before they could make their way inside though, Helen abruptly stopped walking.

Reivan, who had been holding her hand, naturally had to halt his steps as well. He turned to the girl and raised a brow. "Is something wrong?"

Helen shook her head. "Bathroom."

"Oh..."

'Well, she did eat a crap ton of food...'

Reivan let go of her hand and nodded. "You know where it is."

"Mhm. Be right back." She waved before sprinting down the hall.

The young prince frowned and shouted after her. "Hey! Don't run!"

"That's what she gets for eating so much..." Hector scoffed and shook his head in apparent exasperation. "Now she has to poo in someone else's house. Yuck."

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that." Reivan smirked as he stepped through the dining room door that a maid opened for him. "You can do that here too, y'know?"

"I'll pass."

The prince chuckled in good faith but he had to stop once again when he saw his Mother standing at the other end of the room with a very suspicious smile on her face.

"Hey, move it, will ya?" Hector lightly pushed Reivan forward since the dumbstruck prince blocked the entrance. "What're you doing?"

Reivan ignored him and frowned while pointing a shaky finger at his mother. "Mother."

"Why, hello there, my beloved son!" Vianna smiled widely, acting as if there was nothing weird going on at all. "How did your little trip to the city go?"

"It went great, actually. But that's not important right now..." The prince stomped forward until he was a few steps away from the queen. "Did you grow two additional tails, or are there people hiding behind you?"

In addition to the luxuriously fluffy tail that Reivan was all too familiar with, he could see two additional tails behind Vianna, swaying lazily up and down. The tails were thin and somewhat long — just like the ones found on feline creatures. Reivan also noted how only one of the non-fluffy tails matched the color of Vianna's fur, while the other was of a dark brown color.

"Oh my. It seems I've been found out~" The snow-haired beauty giggled. She then glanced behind her and said something in a language Reivan couldn't understand.

'That doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard... I guess it's a language from this world?'

The words flying out of his mother's mouth sounded rough and gritty. Growls and snarls appeared to be deeply integrated into the language. Reivan didn't want to think of it in this way, but there were some parts that almost sounded like someone choking on something while trying their best to talk.

'I better not tell Mom that...'

Eventually, it seemed that Vianna grew more annoyed at whoever she was talking to. She turned around and grabbed at something. With a heave, she threw whatever — or rather whoever — she was holding onto the floor in front of Reivan.

Two tiny yelps echoed across the room before Vianna's energetic voice boomed out.

"Meet Mi and Ji...! Your new little sisters!"

Reivan looked down, where two girls who couldn't be older than ten years old sat on the floor, rubbing their butts with pained looks on their faces.

'What the hell did I she just say...?'

After sitting down and getting a more in-depth explanation, Reivan nodded in understanding and looked at his two little sisters — both of which had taken to hiding half of their bodies behind his mother while peeking cautiously at him.

The bigger girl — who was named Mi — had long brown hair, while the smaller one — who was named Ji — had shoulder-length hair that was as white as freshly fallen snow. Both of the cat-eared girls shared the same golden eyes that resembled the wolf-trio of the royal family.

Reivan couldn't help but notice their thin frames and chipped nails though. Although hidden behind pretty dresses and simple jewelry, they could not escape the young prince's observant eyes.

"So..." Reivan scratched his head, trying to summarize what he'd just been told. "This is all because of something I said?"

"That's right!" Vianna smirked, her chin raised proudly. "You said you wanted a little sister, so I got you two! I won't let anybody say that I don't spoil you rotten! Mua~hahahahaha!"

"You... You just kidnapped two little girls because of something I said...? And they were refugees too, so it's not like they had any choice but to agree..."

'The worst part about this... is that I can't even remember saying something like that.'

Reivan assumed he must've been half-asleep when it happened, but it didn't change the fact that two kids were stolen away from their family.

"Kidnap?" Vianna's nose scrunched up in displeasure. "We adopted them. They're orphans without anyone to take care of them. Without a doubt, they're better off with us."

"Oh... Well, okay then..."

"Besides, it was your uncle Viktor that did the kidnapping, not me."

'Ah. You just admitted it! It was a kidnapping!'

Hector chose this moment to speak up, his right hand raised up in the air like a student in a classroom. "Uhm! Is that where sisters come from? Do people just take them from somewhere else? Does that mean Helen's gonna get kidnapped and become someone else's little sister instead...!?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to be the one teaching you about where kids come from..." Vianna's brows furrowed in thought. "But Helen is very cute. So maybe she'll get taken away?"

A look of utter horror flashed past Hector's face before he bolted for the door.

"Ah! I was joking!" Vianna giggled. After a casual wave of a hand, Hector was suddenly floating in the air. She took walked toward the dark-haired boy and softly pinched his cheeks. "Helen's not going anywhere. Especially not after what happened yesterday. So don't worry, she'll be your sister forever."

"Really...?"

"Really!"

"I don't really like jokes like that..."

The queen stroked Hector's head and cooed, seemingly finding the sulking boy adorable. "I'm sorry. Will you cheer up if I give you some money?"

"I will!"

'Yesterday...?'

Reivan didn't get to ask the question he wanted to ask though. With his mother gone, the two cat-eared girls suddenly had nobody to hide behind. Three pairs of golden eyes met in the air between the warbeast children — two of which, were filled with uncertainty and anxiety.

'Orphans, huh?'

Despite having parents in his past life, Reivan never really met them that often. In a year, the number of times the seasons changed exceeded how many times he saw his mother or father. As such, Reivan related to the feeling of not having parents — something that actual orphans may not agree to.

'Well, whatever. They're apparently my sisters now, so I guess I'll do my best to get along with them.'

Reivan put on the friendliest smile he could muster and waved at them. "Hello! My name is Reivan, your new big brother! And since we're family now, let's get along with each other!"

He was well aware that they probably wouldn't understand what he said, but he hoped his positive energy, the upward intonation of his voice, and the bright smile on his face would ferry the message across. In his mind, this would be the moment that started a wonderful sibling relationship between kids who weren't really related to each other. Perhaps when they got older, they could look back on this moment fondly.

"Raaah!"

Contrary to the warm reception he'd been expecting, Mi dashed to stand protectively in front of her little sister. With narrowed eyes and bared fangs, the girl looked about ready to jump for Reivan's throat if he moved a muscle.

"Uh. Mom...!" Reivan's face froze as he whispered loudly to his mother — who was busy bribing his friend. "I need some help here...! I think I said something really rude. I'm not really sure what, though!"

'Did I accidentally say a racial slur or something...? Why's she so mad!?'