Drenched In Blood (Trash Of The Count's Family/Lout Of The Count's Family)

chapter 1

The white star was finally defeated after the supernova that was his fight against Cale and his party. And now two years after his defeat the newly formed Roan empire has been more peaceful than ever. At least... that's what it is like for the common people...
But for their emperor and heros it has still been chaotic dealing with the remnants of the people that still support the white star and all the damages past two years. Even more so because of them.
When shielded from the direct rays of the sun too much, instead of growing stronger in the gentle light a sapling becomes weaker than it should have been. Likewise the people of the empire have become too dependent on their emperor and heros to deal with things, everything. Rather than supporting them from the back they have become the heavy burden weighting them down. Before of course there wasn't much they could do when they were fighting against the white star, but just because there wasn't much it didn't mean there was nothing they could do at all to help. Even now they're still too dependant. Holding the weight of the countless vulnerable souls can be miserable for anyone,it can exhaust even the strongest of the heros.

The now emperor Alberu has been feeling stressed lately, not because of important political matters regarding the empire or because of some new trouble his troublemaker of a dongsaeng caused, because Cale is finally getting his much needed rest and sitting still.
But saying it wasn't related to Cale would be a lie because the cause of his worry was indeed Cale but not because of something he did. The empire is finally peaceful but there are still things they needed to take care of. People of his empire trust him and his allies more than themselves and while it may seem like a blessing, it is in reality a curse in disguise. In the end it's making them too pressured, especially Cale who has always been in the centre of everything since the plaza incident. And with their belief that "the shield will not break". He really can't help but feel anxious that maybe soon enough their shield will indeed break and he won't be able to prevent it. Now he can really understand why Cale insists that he doesn't want to be in the spotlight and wants to live like a slacker... His dongsaeng is nowhere near in the healthy shape as he used to be when they had first met,he is now too thin and pale that he looks sickly and fatigued. His shoulders that look like they can bear the burden of the whole world now also look really frail. He is sure he is not the only one in their party thinking like that,all of them are really worried about their self sacrificial ex commander other than the person himself of course. How can they not worry when him even piercing his own heart had not been enough to take the burdens and expectations put by the people off his shoulders? Maybe now they need to show the general public something even more impactful than that to successfully do so... Maybe he should really talk to Cale about this and since the second year anniversary celebration of their victory against the white star is coming, maybe they can... Haha it should be a good plan.

Tasha who had been looking at her nephew smiling viciously couldn't help but shiver.
'Seems like something troublesome is going to happen...'
"Aunt Tasha"
"Yes?..."
"Do you think we should do something to help my dongsaeng?"
Whatever Tasha had been expecting to hear after looking at his viciously smiling expression a few moments ago,it definitely wasn't this. But she of course knew the answer to what Alberu asked her.
"Of course we should help young master Cale"
"Then what do you think? Should we make him faint again?"
"...huh?"
If earlier his question was unexpected,she really doesn't know what should she think about this one. She was stuck speechless looking at the smiling face of her nephew although this time it wasn't the same vicious smile.
"Why do we need to do that?..."
"To help him of course. It will be the most effective"
"...huh?" was all Tasha could think about at that moment.

The three children along with Ron and Eruhaben were looking at a feverish Cale who was breathing really heavily as if it was very difficult with concerned expressions. The children had woken up to the sound of laboured breathing and found Cale soaked in his own sweat and shivering while burning up at an alarming rate. Finding him awake at that and staring blankly at the ceiling had made them even more worried. While Hong and Raon tried to get Cale's attention, On had swiftly gone and called Ron and Eruhaben over.
"What's wrong with him?!"
Raon couldn't help but ask Eruhaben in urgency while Eruhaben quickly checked Cale's condition. Ron who had came back at that moment after going to bring towels and a water basin also looked at Eruhaben with a cold expression.
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his body or his plate. ...Has he been acting different lately?" Eruhaben directed his question to Ron with a frowning face.
"Young master seemed to be more tired than usual"
"Then maybe..."
"What is it goldie gramps?Is weak human dying?!" On and Hong also gasped at that as if finally realising it
"Don't worry little kid he isn't dying"
"Then why is he in this condition Eruhaben-nim?"
"I'm not really sure right now. Do you remember when he had read those thousands of books?" Of course he remembers,how could he forget it? It was something he doesn't think he would be able to ever forget. Thinking back Cale had been in a similar state then, even though it wasn't as bad.
"Yes. Is it something similar?"
"I feel like it maybe because of that ability even though I'm not really sure how this could have happened. Truly an unlucky bastard..."
(Who is our Eruhaben without his "unlucky bastard"™ lol)
After that none of them could bring themselves to sleep, their worry kept them awake. But they didn't alert the others because they would have surely come to his room running and shouting. Crowding around a person who was breathing with so much difficulty certainly didn't seem like a good idea. Fortunately to their relief Cale seemed to be slowly getting better and finally sleeping.
"Human didn't notice us..."
"He looks so sick nya..."
On could only give pats to her younger brothers in comfort. The children were sitting near Cale's legs and looking his face with teary eyes.
"Young master is getting better don't worry"
Past few hours Ron has been taking care of his puppy young master without stopping while Eruhaben watched over him and checked his condition from time to time . After wiping the sweat off his face with a wet cloth and changing the compress on his forehead,he gently corrected Cale's position so he could sleep properly.
"You three should also go to sleep now, Cale won't be happy when he wakes up if he hears you didn't sleep properly"
"But weak human is..."
"We are here to take care of him,you don't have to worry"
"Okay Goldie Gramps..."
"Ugh..." They all looked backed to Cale who seemed to be waking up slightly at that moment.
"Human!"
"Cale nya!"
The kittens and baby dragon wasted no time to go comfort Cale,Hong was rubbing his cheeks gently with his tiny face while purring slightly and Raon was also patting his head with his chubby paw as if soothing a child back to sleep. On quickly put the blanket around him more securely and soon Cale went back to sleeping peacefully like before.
All of them heaved out a sigh that they didn't realise they were holding,they really didn't want him to wake up when he had just fallen asleep a few minutes ago. Their voices probably disturbed his sleep but fortunately it wasn't enough to completely wake him up.
After a while the three children were also sleeping soundly curled around their guardian. Ron and Eruhaben were also dozing off since it was almost 3am.
It was about half an hour or so before they were suddenly woken up by the baby dragon's shouts.
"Goldy Gramps, Lemonade Gramps! Wake up!"
And just that was enough to make the ancient dragon and the assassin completely alert without a trace of sleep.
Eruhaben and Ron felt their hearts sink and quickly checked Cale's condition in case it worsened.
After making sure that he is still the same but fortunately not getting worse, Ron and Eruhaben turned to look at the baby dragon who had woken them up. "What's wrong?"
"Goldie Gramps! The cookie prince is calling!" Raon quickly showed them the communication device that was glowing red. "Connect it"
"Okay"
Eruhaben and Raon went back to sit at the sofa bit farther from the bed.
<Eruhaben-nim?... Did something happen?! Where is Cale?!>
"He is sleeping, but he's not well,we shouldn't wake him up.
<Not well?... What's wrong with him?...>
"High fever and he also seemed to be having difficulty breathing. Fortunately his fever is slowly going down and his breathing is much better than earlier now"
<I see... that's good>
"Anyway why are you calling so late at night? Did something happen there?"
<Everything is fine,I was just up doing paperwork...I wanted to tell him something...>
"This late at night? Is it something really urgent?"
Raon also looked at Alberu in mix of concern and curiosity.
<No it's not that urgent...>
"Then?"
<...>
It was useless to lie to the ancient dragon anyway so Alberu had to reluctantly answer him.
<I was just...impatient... and I guess I'm bit tired so I really didn't think much haha...>
"Ha...you really..."
Alberu could only smile awkwardly at that.
"Impatient? About what cookie prince?"
"He is an emperor now"
"Still he is cookie prince!"
<I'll tell you both later>
"Okay! You can also tell the human when he is better. And you look sleepy! You should go to sleep!"
<You too. Goodnight. Take care Eruhaben-nim>
With that their conversation had ended and both the dragons were left with more questions than answers.

But Alberu had now decided what he needed to do. He was feeling even more determined to carry out his plan after learning that Cale was sick.
"Don't worry Cale, I'll make sure you get your slacker life this time"
They needed to do something as soon as possible to make the people of the empire understand that the heros they are so dependant on get exhausted too.

__________

Um so... that's it for the first chapter. Sorry if it's a bit ooc ;-;
And sorry for the mistakes I know my English sucks. Why is my writing so awkward -_-;;
And I really haven't written in years haha. I wanted to post in ao3 first but I got scared lol so please don't leave hate comments :')
The amount of times I had to edit it again and again...All because my brain autocorrects the sh*t it reads *sigh* -_-;;;
*Sobbing while correcting something for the 68973956th time*