Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

68 | The Tobacco Deal

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HANS WAS WALKING DOWN the hallway beside the head of the barons, Master Joker, while their respective brotherhoods followed behind them.

     "The reconstruction of the greenhouse is finally complete, and we're allowed to move back tomorrow. I hope you don't miss us too much jester," Hans teases, looking at Krist who was chewing bubblegum.

     As soon as he heard what the duke said, Krist rolls his eyes and replies, "In your dreams. I'm actually glad that you guys are finally going to move out. The rooftop is already way too crowded with you guys around."

     "He's joking. It's his coping mechanism," Brave suddenly butts in behind them, immediately making Krist turn to punch his shoulder, making the two brotherhoods laugh.

     As the laughter slowly dies down, Hans then looks back and glances at Marcus who has been quiet since earlier. No one has said anything, but the moment they saw Marcus, they instantly saw how exhausted he looked. Even though they wanted to ask what happened to him for the past two weeks, Hans decided to just let him cool down for a while. If he's ready to share it with them, they'll listen.

     "Anyway, I'm fucking starving. I hope they serve Chicken Makhani again," Khian says before looking at Marcus. "How about you Marcus? Any dish you're craving for right now?" He then asks, casually draping his arm around him so Marcus wouldn't feel like they're being cautious around him.

    Everyone looks at Marcus, expecting him to smile like he always does, but he wasn't even looking at Khian as he answers, "I'm not really hungry."

     The atmosphere around them instantly tenses up, so before things could get awkward, Rome clears his throat and says, "I'm not really hungry too. I'm trying to lose weight."

     "Why the fuck are you trying to lose weight when you're still so young? Eat as much as you can you clown," Red suddenly scolds him, making Rome glare at him and reply, "Sure thing mom."

     The brotherhoods laugh again, and the atmosphere goes back to normal. But as they were walking, Hans and Krist look at each other before glancing back at Marcus who looked distant.

     They were worried about him, but they knew that they can't help him at the moment. The only person who can talk to him now was his brother, and it seems like their conversation earlier didn't really help with whatever Marcus was feeling at the moment.

     "Maybe I'll just buy-" before Rome could finish his sentence, a white uniform suddenly runs in their direction. The brotherhoods were surprised, but then Hans recognized the white uniform as he was one of their Roses.

     BND and Jokers stop walking as the white uniform made a sudden halt in front of them.

     "My dukes," he says while bowing at BND in a respectable manner before looking at Jokers this time. "Barons," he greets next.

     Krist bows his head to acknowledge the greeting while the other members of Jokers were still not used to that kind of treatment so they didn't really know what to do and how to react, which ended up with them just awkwardly standing there.

     "What's the matter? Is there anything for you to report to us?" Hans asks.

     "One of our Roses reported that they spotted four white uniforms pretending to be Ashes. We haven't particularly seen their faces due to their masks, but a lot of factors point out that they're frauds," the Rose reports, surprising the brotherhoods even more.

     After hearing the report, Arjun stood beside Hans while Brave stood next to Krist.

     "Why on earth would white uniforms mimic the Ashes? Do they want to get killed by Cj?" Arjun asks with furrowed brows.