The Tales of the Crimson Prince of Obelia

Part 8 Home

Deruth, stepfather of Cale was doing his daily routine. Working, eating, sleeping for several days on end. He had no time or energy to be with his kids, Cale, Basen and Lily. Of course he wanted to plan his time well. Afterall, Basen was 10 and Lily was only 2. But work kept piling up and time was running out. Deruth really didn't want his younger children to be left alone. Cale too. Reckless at times but Deruth loved the boy. He resembled his mother, Jour so much, he almost looked like her portrait. He is his first child and a redhead too.

Deruth hadn't seen him for quite sometime. As he heard from his wife, Violan who had assigned a task for Cale recently. Something about sending a letter. Although Deruth did find it odd that Violan didn't just send it through the mail service. They did have a bit too much money laying around so what's the point of saving it on mail. But Deruth thought Violan wanted Cale to go out into the world. He was only 13 and was still locked up in the estate. Poor boy. Deruth was sure Cale had felt lonely all by himself. Of course he had his siblings but they were young and not Cale's age. Surely the boy didn't feel too comfortable with his new life.

'Maybe I should do something for him'

Basen was...lonely as well. His brother was gone and now he had to take care of their younger sister. Of course he knew his brother was doing something important but he missed him. Although he can be reckless at times, he never hurt anyone before. Surely there was more to Cale than Basen could see. He just wanted to know him better.

  Meanwhile Lily didn't care much about Cale. She was only two after all. Just drawing away in her little sketchbook. To be honest, Lily wasn't much of an artist. She inherited her interests from her father, his hobby of sword fighting. So one would say it was unusual of her to start drawing all of a sudden. But who's to say she couldn't? She's the duke's only daughter after all. But when i say Lily wasn't much of a artist, I meant it. Even Cale noticed the horrors Lily draws. People in trees, voodoo dolls, a cross. Quite creepy but oddly normal for the siblings. She didn't really inherit much from her mother, who loves sculpting in particular.

  As Lily was drawing and Basen was reading, there was a knock on the door. A familiar maid to the two came in.

   "Greetings, Young Masters." She greeted with a bow. "The duchess will be home in any minute now. I'm sure you will be excited" Basen...was not excited though. His mother, after taking the title of duchess focused a lot of her energy on the merchants and businesses. She didn't give as much attention as she did before Deruth. But Basen convinced himself that it was fine to miss a few birthdays. As long as she comes home.

  "Greetings, My lady. There is a letter for you from an unknown source."