Cale Henituse.
The son of Deruth Henituse and Drew Thames.
Drew Thames was the previous matriarch of the Henituse Household.
Regrettably, she lost her life when her only child was just 8 years old.
The cause of death was she ended up seriously injured when the carriage tipped over on her way back due to the storm from Harris Village.
Well, that's what people believe.
Everybody thinks that she passed away because of the injuries from the accident.
The real reason is her ancient power.
Annual Rings of Life.
Drew could see the entire annual rings of a person from birth to death.
The purpose she had gone to Harris Village was to secretly hide a portion of her ancient power.
The ancient power user could transfer his or her ancient power when they are alive.
However, there is a price.
As long as that person is willing to break their plate.
Every person had a 'plate.'
Ancient powers were stored in this plate as well.
If a person's plate breaks, death is waiting for them.
The truth about Drew Thames' death is only known by Cale Henituse.
The real one and the current one.
The young master is a carbon copy of his mother who was known as beauty when she was the lady of the Henituse County.
Bright red hair like blood and sharp reddish-brown eyes.
Her russet eyes were full of wisdom and confidence.
'She looks like me. No, should I say otherwise?'
There is a man in the middle of the room.
The man's shadow loomed in the dark room even after the sun had set.
His only source of light is the moonlight from outside.
It's clear enough to see the woman in the portrait.
'His' birth mother, Lady Drew Thames.
He never thought about this before.
There is no single portrait of his mother anywhere in the mansion.
Also, it's kind of taboo to talk about her.
Cale was already aware that his father cherished her more than anyone.
That's why he didn't say anything to his father.
Then, he found a room he had never been in after 3 years of living as the eldest young master of the Henituse Household.
The music room.
He just found it while wandering around in the mansion as he didn't spend enough time in his own home in the past.
He frequently leaves his house to stop a crazy bastard who tried to take away his slacker life.
As he expected from Ducal House, there are a lot of musical instruments and expensive ornaments to decorate the wide room.
But, what caught his attention the most is portraits of a beautiful woman in her early thirties with hair the same shade of red as him.
It was the first time he to meet her.
The mother of the body he resides in and the previous owner of one of the ancient power he currently possessed.
Moreover, someone who cleared up the questions that swirling in his mind and the one who gave him information on how to defeat White Star.
"It's a bit dusty here."
He could see the dust on the grand piano and the frames.
Knock! Knock!
At that moment, the sound of someone knocking on the door broke the silence of the music room.
"Young Master-nim? It's Ron."
"Come in."
His reddish-brown eyes are still on the biggest portrait of his mother on the wall while Ron, his butler silently entered the room with his permission.
Ron looked at the back of his grown-up young master.
Since the war began, he's been looking at his young master's back a lot, especially on the battlefield.
However, the reliable large back felt quite small today.
The image of a small 8 years old boy overlaps the current sight of his.
"Ron."
"Yes, Young Master-nim."
"Clean up this room. It's dirty."
Cale turned around and walked past Ron even before the butler answered him.
He has the same expression he always made.
Indifference.
'...In the end, he just cares.'
The words from the owner of the bakery he visited with his son, Beacrox that evening echoed in his mind.
'The lady is right.'
It's been a long time since the puppy young master of his had visited the music room.
The previous matriarch, Drew's favorite room.
In the past, the little redhead used to come here a lot with his mother.
He stopped doing so after the late Countess passed away and started acting out.
'Young Master-nim's mind must be stable and at ease now.'
Many people have surrounded themselves with the redhead for the past 2 years.
Without mentioning it, they are already like a family.
"Where're the children?"
"They are currently in Young Master-nim's room."
Cale nodded his head and continue walking toward his bedroom.
As he arrived in front of the room, he could hear the averaging 10 years old children's voices inside.
A soft smile broke on his expressionless face.
Only halfway.
"―then Young Master Silver Shield jumped on the bone wyvern alongside his guardian knight and the strongest swordmaster, Choi Han of the Black Blade."
"Our human is the best!"
"That's right! Our Choi Han is the strongest!"
'What the hell?'
Cale, the so-called Young Master Silver Shield was speechless listening to the recitation of a young girl and the energetic voices of two boys.
Cale opened the door and the sight of a silver-haired girl, a dark red-haired boy, and a 2-meter black dragon.
Three of them wear the same sleepwear.
What attracts his attention is not their adorableness but the book in the little girl's hand who was sitting between the boy and the young dragon.
Cale assumed On is reading a fairy tale story for her little brothers.
He's mistaken.
The title of the book made his assumption invalid.
'The Legendary of Young Master Silver Shield: Volume I.'
"Cale, you are back!"
"Human!"
"Cale!"
The children got down from the bed and ran toward their guardian.
Cale crouched down and patted their heads.
While patting the oldest's silver hair, he asked her.
"On, where did you get this book?"
"Oh, this? Raisa Unnie gave it to me. I refused her at first but she said she already finished reading it."
On lifting the book in her hands.
She showed it to the protagonist of the heroic story proudly.
Even so, there's a weird light glistening in her bright golden eyes.
It's the light Cale had seen before.
It's similar to the silver eyes he knew.
The owner of those moonlight-like eyes has that light when she's teasing him.
'It's not even a year...On already taken after Jung Yeon Hwa so much.'
The young master could only sigh internally.
Cale got up from his position and called out his butler.
"Ron."
"The dinner will be prepared right away, Young Master-nim."
Ron bowed his head towards the young master and left the room at once.
Cale leads the children to their table to have dinner together.
The reason they are not having dinner with the other Henituse family members is that the others are busy with their respective tasks.
Cale's father, Deruth, and mother, Violan were busy as Roan have achieved victory and peace after the war.
Moreover, Henituse Household is not the County anymore.
It's Henituse Dukedom now.
The highest title for a noble signifies more responsibility and work.
The next heir of the Dukedom also going to be busy.
Basen Henituse, Cale's step younger brother.
His reliable and intelligent little brother.
Basen has been taught and given tasks as the Young Duke personally by the Lord of Henituse Territory.
It takes a lot of procedure to make Basen the Young Duke even after Cale, the eldest son gave up the position as the heir.
It caused uproar in the beginning but in the end, everyone accept Basen as the next heir.
His youngest sibling, on the other hand, the Young Lady Henituse, Lily Henituse occupy with her training as a swordsman.
Choi Han has commented before that she has the potential to be the swordmaster.
Additionally, the potential to take over Choi Han's title as the youngest swordmaster.
That made the only Young Lady of Henituse Dukedom spend most of her time on the training ground.
That's how Cale and the averaging 10 years old children have dinner together in their bedroom as the other family members have early dinner.
Knock! Knock!
"We are here to prepare the dinner, Young Master-nim."
"Come in."
After Cale has given permission, Ron and Beacrox entered the room with the cart.
On the cart, it's dinner for the Young Master and the three growing children.
The father-son duo set up the table perfectly.
The eyes of the children twinkled like stars in the dark sky while looking at the food on the table.
"It looks delicious."
"Yummy! It's meat today!"
"Thank you, Lemonade Gramps! Talented Beacrox too!"
The excited children hold the cutleries while thanking the butler and the chef brightly.
Ron smiled kindly to them and Beacrox just had his usual stoic expression but his brown eyes looking at them softly.
Both the butler and the chef bowed their heads towards their young master to excuse themselves.
Right before they leave the room, a calm voice asks them something.
The calm voice belonged to their young master.
"Did you meet Raisa?"
The father-son duo stopped their movement after listening to the redhead's question.
They peeked to see Cale.
Cale didn't touch the food yet.
He just stares at them like it's something familiar but unexpected to eat in his house.
'This is Galbi-jjim.'
Galbi-jjim is Korean braised short ribs.
It's not easy to make this dish as it takes quite a time even though the ingredients are easy to find.
The smell from the dish in front of him is the same as he remembers.
He picked up the spoon and take a piece of meat.
'As I thought, it's perfect.'
The meat is tender and the sauce is salty, sweet, and nutty.
As he chewed the meat, he could only think about a lady who could give the recipe to his chef, Beacrox.
Cale is on point.
Raisa is indeed the one who gave the recipe to Beacrox.
The chef looks at his young master enjoying the meal deliciously.
He diverted his eyes from the redhead to his father.
He still remembers what happened that evening.
"How long have both of you have known each other?"
"Around 10 years, if I am not mistaken."
An answer without hesitation.
After a few seconds of silence, the lady looked up.
She could see Ron with a benign smile on his face.
She also smiled back.
"I didn't expect both of you have a long relationship."
"Hahaha...I also didn't expect."
Raisa laughed softly while avoiding meeting eyes with the butler.
Ron and Beacrox misunderstood her action as being shy.
However, the real reason is she's currently cursing herself inside her mind.
'Jung Yeon Hwa, you are an idiot! He's talking about 21 years old Cale Henituse not 39 years old Kim Rok Soo that you know! I am sorry, Team Leader Kim...'
She silently apologizes to his working partner for her mistakes.
Then, she recalled something.
It's written in one of Raisa's diaries.
"...I met a beautiful lady with a gentle smile. She's like a fairy. It's winter right now. But when she came, it's like summer came in the bakery."
"...Her shiny long red beautiful hair reminds me of sunset. Her reddish-brown eyes are full of affectionate. Those affectionate was for the boy beside her."
"...The boy who has the same shade of red-haired as the beautiful lady."
'Raisa certainly has met Cale Henituse in the past. According to the diary, she was only 5-6 years old at that time. That means it's not completely misunderstood. Right?'
Currently, she's 19 years old.
So, that means she's not completely wrong.
Jung Yeon Hwa who is Raisa now convinced herself and picked up the teacup.
She wordlessly sipped the lemon tea.
At that moment, Ron and Beacrox stand up from their seat.
"It's getting late, Miss Raisa. You must need to close the bakery now."
"Ah. You don't need to worry about me. But, it's indeed getting late."
Raisa turned her head toward the window and could see the sky is getting darker.
She also get up and asked them to wait for a bit.
After a few seconds, she's back with a bag of 'Hwajeon' and a piece of paper.
She hands those things to Beacrox.
"Beacrox-ssi, you looked interested in Hwajeon. So, this is for you. Also, I heard Young Master Cale didn't eat much these days, this recipe is for you. Try it."
She smiled warmly at the chef and Beacrox nodded to her in thankful.
The father and son bowed to her before leaving the bakery.
Raisa awkwardly waves her hand to them.
When she is completely alone. she asked herself something she has been thinking about since the butler and the chef of the Henituse Ducal House come.
"Why do they keep treating me like a noble lady...?"
Back to the Henituse Mansion.
The Eldest Young Master has his dinner peacefully and from time to time wipes the boys' faces who are covered with Galbi-jjim's sticky sauce.
"So, why were you meeting her?"
"Hoho, I just went to Miss Raisa's bakery to have quality time in the evening with my son, Young Master-nim."
"Hmm, is that so?"
Ron nodded politely to the redhead.
Then, Cale lifted his hand to signal the father-son duo to leave them alone.
There was no point for him to ask his butler-cum-assassin furthermore when he can just Raisa personally.
"Please excuse us, Young Master-nim."
Ron and Beacrox bowed their heads to him and leave right away.
Ron closed the door quietly to not disturb the young master and children inside.
It's time for them to back to their respective tasks same as always.
But. today is a bit different for Ron.
"Why are you going in that direction, Father?"
"Young Master-nim asked me to clean up the music room."
Beacrox's eyes widened hearing that statement.
He's aware of how precious and meaningful the music room is for the eldest young master and the previous lady of the house.
Beacrox nodded his head and pushed the cart to the kitchen.
They parted way and go in their own directions.
Before Ron go to the music room, he ordered a few maids to bring the necessary cleaning tools to the room.
The music room is a spacious room with many musical instruments and fancy ornaments, so it's better to have a lot of people clean it up.
Ron opened the door of the music room carefully.
The sight of the red-haired lady sitting elegantly with confident eyes welcoming him.
His puppy young master took after the lady very much.
Ron stood in front of the portrait and pay respect to the lady he first served ever since he arrived in Roan together with his only son, Beacrox.
Her benevolence is something he never forgets.
On the next day.
Upon the spring day, the sweet fragrance of the flower circled in the warm small bakery.
It's a fine day for sure, from the sunlight to the birdsong, yet what makes it good is the bright laughter from the children.
"How is it?"
"It's really delicious, Raisa Unnie."
"Noona is right!"
"It's the best, Sweet Raisa!"
The averaging 10 years old children eat their dessert heartily.
On enjoying them neatly while Hong and Raon have a messy faces with the cream on their chubby cheeks.
Raisa wiped their cheeks with her handkerchief.
She looked at them with silver eyes full of affection.
She didn't realize the russet eyes staring at her while she was taking care of the children.
The owner of the sharp russet eyes called her out.
"Raisa."
"Yes?"
"Did Ron And Beacrox visit you yesterday?"
"Yes, they did. Mr. Ron was surprisingly very polite to me and Beacrox Oppa was also kind to me. He gave me a butter cookie recipe in exchange for the recipe I gave to him."
The young master stopped his action from putting the butter cookie in his mouth when hearing something unexpected.
Raisa turned her head to Cale.
A confused expression plastered on her face while looking at his action.
The redhead was frowning looking at the ash brown-haired lady in front of him.
"Beacrox Oppa? You are older than him!"
"What are you talking about? I am 19!"
Cale looked at Raisa with a disbelief face when listened to her confident voice.
It's true Raisa is 19 years old which is younger than 33 years old Beacrox.
However, the redhead talked about Jung Yeon Hwa who is 4 years older than the chef.
Cale sighed while flipping back his red hair.
He opened his mouth with a helpless face.
"You are driving me crazy, Jung Yeon Hwa."