Chapter 5: Chapter-5: House of Rose

“You can fake a smile, but you can’t fake your feelings.”

-Y.V.S Chauhan

The quote was stuck in Adui’s mind tonight. He had read it in a philosophical book ages ago, but somehow this dinner reminded him of the quote. It was a fine evening, Jarad, his wife Clair, and he were having a wonderful dinner. There was a live orchestra in the back and the best food that Huston town could offer was on their table, everyone around them was happy, even his companions were happy, but he wasn't.

“And I told him, I hadn't seen that man since our wedding. Let's just go and surprise him, so we came” Clair said with a smile on her face while sipping wine.

“And you know me, whenever this one asks me something, I cannot refuse,” Jarad said who was sitting beside Clair. “Of course, I would have refused… But she would have beaten me up later.” Clair lightly slapped Jarad’s shoulder and chuckled at his joke.

“It is very great to see you guys, especially you Clair. I heard you gave birth to two beautiful twins recently, I figured you would have gotten fat by now.” With a fake smile, he looked at the closeness that the couple in front of him. He didn't like it, not a little bit.

“Fat? I would never become fat. You haven't met Diane and Julia yet. Those two are like two little tornados that destroy everything that comes in their path. I get plenty of exercise cleaning after them.” She then took another sip of wine and then asked “What about you? What is going on in your life?”

“Me? Nothing new or exciting.” Then Jarad chimed in.

“Nothing exciting, Oh, Come on. We have heard the rumors as well. Come on spit it out” Adui scrunched his face in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“Gizelle of course.” Jarad then took a sip of wine and waited for Adui's reply. But seeing his scrunched and confused face he realized that something was not right here. “Have you not met Gizelle recently?”

“Yeah… I mean met her like 5-6 days ago. At that time she had ascended like two Ranks. Is that what you are talking about?”

“No, she completed the First Ring.” Flabbergasted, he almost spit his wine on them.

“The fuck are you talking about?” hearing his language Clair butted in. “Language Adui.” But instead, she got ignored.

“It is true. This is the new topic of conversation in the capital recently. Some say she used some sort of black magic to raise her Rank. While others believe that she found some sort of inheritance while she was away… By the way, do you know something about her recent power-up?”

“Ah… I may know something. But I don't think I am allowed to share the information.”

“Oh, Come on. It is us. I will never tell a soul about this. So just spill it.” seeing the eagerness in his eyes, he thought for a moment. He believed Jarad when he said that he wouldn't tell anyone.

“Well… She somehow was able to make her way into a Bloodborn family.” Jarad's mouth gaped. Seeing his reaction Clair couldn't help but ask “What is Bloodborn family?”

“Bloodborne families are the old Mage family that passes on their magic with blood.” Adui clarified.

“Pass on their magic by blood? Like how… Do you mean by giving birth to offspring? Clair asked. Jarad then grabbed her delicate hands and replied. “No. Take the word literally. Bloodborn means born by blood. Bloodborn mages share their blood by sharing it with their people that want to join their family.”

Horrified of what she heard, Clair covered her mouth with astonishment. “They have to drink blood?” To which her husband replied, “Yes they do.”

“Is it worth it?” she asked curiously.

“You tell me. That bitch was Rank-6 just two months ago. And now she had made a Ring and finally reached Rank-11. Most mana wielders could only achieve that in their dreams.” Adui replied in a bitter voice. Jarad who was sipping wine for at the moment suddenly stopped. He then started staring at him.

“Adui… Ulapas family? Are they… Are they a Bloodborn family?” The nod from Adui was enough to answer his question. Then Adui deliberately changed the topic of the conversation.

The rest of the dinner went by without any hitch. They talked about each other lives and the politics surrounding the newly crowned Queen of the kingdom, Jarad was very happy with her rein as according to him she is the most educated royal blood and deserved the throne. While Clair was happy that her husband didn't have a lot of work since her rein started.

After their dinner was over, Jarad fished out a very old book from the bag that he brought with him to dinner. Seeing that her husband and her friend were about to get to business, she decided to go back to their room. She kissed her husband good night and went on her way.

Seeing them so close together was very hard for Adui. But he maintained his fake smile through willpower. As he saw them kiss, his heart started aching, he felt like this was the worst type of torture that he could ever undergo. But he didn't let Clair or Jarad show what he truly felt.

He could still remember to this day when he proposed to her. She rejected him. I love you Adui. But you will never be more than a friend to me. She just spoke a few words that day. But those words made a wound so deep that it still hurts to this day…

“What the hell is that?” Adui asked with a fake smile.

“An old archive from the Royal Library itself.”

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“Really? Are you allowed to take these books?”

“Nah! But this one is different. These records are so old that no one would care if they vanish someday.”

“You sure?”

“100%… Now check this out.” Jarad then opened the book and pushed it toward him. “This book was written by some historians of the old empire. When the Gorgon family started their conquest, they started destroying old journals and books that recorded history. So few of the historians of the old empire banded together and wrote a bunch of stuff about the houses and power of the era as a remembrance. There is no telling how accurate this book is, but it is the best thing that I could find.”

---

The Ulapas House is one of the ancient houses whose insignia is a flower called the Rose. The beautiful flower that the men of the House wear as their coat of arms is a rare flower that is found in a valley surrounding their ancestral home. These flowers could be grown by the blood and fertilizer made of flesh, which also symbolizes the ideology of the said House.

The House of Ulaspas were the fiercest warriors and are known to butcher their enemies and store their blood and flesh to grow those flowers. They were one the ruthless and most dangerous houses in ancient times.

Although as the years went by, the power and influence of the Ulaspas family diminished. But the last living member of the family proved why they were all considered the fiercest warriors of these lands. The last living descendant of the Ulaspas family was Franc Ulaspas, also known as the hero of the Ice Age.

A certain magical beast came to these peaceful lands that influenced the weather of the place. During that time, Frozen water started falling all over these lands, and all the rivers solidified and became thick and hard as a rock. This brought great famine in the lands which almost wiped out every living being on the Island. People who survived somehow started being hunted down by the offspring of the rabid beast.

In the time of need, Franc Ulaspas, who at the time was an eccentric old man came forward and vanquished the monster that brought the winter that lasted at least 7 summers to an end…

---

“This is it?”

“I found some more text about the House. They were useless stuff like, their family slogan was ‘Dopr Su lakrta, huid semi lagarta, Rose hind alobartha’. It is Hasy. The language that was spoken at that time. It basically translates to ‘Everything that comes to Earth, must go back to it’. During that time Rose was a symbol that there is a grave underneath where it grows. So it is also in the slogan.” The words got Adui thinking.

Well, this was a gigantic waste of time. Adui was a little disappointed as he was not able to uncover anything about the family. Follow your gut Adui. His gut told him that there was something special about the land. So he decided to take a look at that land himself and take a look around, who knows that a particular opportunity is waiting for him just around the corner?

“And Adui. I am sorry.” The guilty voice of Jarad made him look up. “I still remember our promise… It is just that, she didn't listen to me this time. She was so adamant about meeting you that I just couldn't stop her.”

“Don't worry about it Jarad, it has been 10 years. I have moved on in my life… Now it doesn't hurt me anymore.” While on the other hand, his heart would disagree, it had been more than 10 years but he could still feel pain whenever he sees both of them together.

“That is a relief. You know she really wanted to meet you. She misses her old friend very dearly.” Adui only chuckled at his words. They then changed the topic and started talking about the political stuff of the country…

***

Adui, you are a good guy. I love you Adui. But you will never be more than a friend to me. I don't see you in that way. It is not you, it is me. Those cruel words had replaced his mantra and were getting repeated in his head. He had tried so hard in the past years to forget the night when he got rejected, those cruel words that she said, and the worst of all the day that Jarad and she got married. It was the worst day of his life.

The burden of a broken heart was too heavy for him to carry, which is why he moved to Laverdale in the first place. But when he moved, he made Jarad promise to never let Clair near him again. It was just too painful for him to see her with him. That stupid son of a bitch being a nice guy agreed to his stupid request and kept her from meeting him until yesterday…

The sun was up and a new day was finally upon the town of Huston. Adui's morning started with a slight hangover and a repetition of those cruel words in his head. He cursed his life with profanities, and after a 20min of self-loathing, he got up. After taking a bath, he went to Ben’s room who was sleeping with a bottle of mead that he drank last night, he woke him up and instructed him to get ready, they were leaving Huston.

It took the old man forever to get ready, and as soon as he came down, he fell asleep on the cart. Adui who learned to drive the thing while they were coming there was more than happy to start their journey again. Although he did feel a little sad that he was not about to leave the town without saying goodbye to Clair, he reinforced his resolve, he couldn't face her again, especially now with her husband beside her.

By nightfall, the duo was able to leave Baron Huston’s territory and enter Baron’s Geon territory. They spent a night out camping and then resumed their journey to the infamous Star City, the home of descendants of House Geon.

Unlike House Hubert, he had met Baron Geon many times in the past. The man was a typical aristocrat down to the bone, and his son is a prick who wanted to marry Gizelle, but she rejected his advances. Both of them were kind of a pain in the ass and were also very difficult people to convince.

He doesn't know much about them but aristocrats like him tend to take grudges to their graves, he had to talk to them without ever mentioning Gizelle or he would not be able to seal this deal. He was too close to his objective that he didn't want to mess up now. If he is able to pull this deal off then he would be able to get the deed of the land from both Barons then officially no one would be able to challenge the ownership of the land.

After reaching Star City, the duo booked the inn in which they would be staying. The next day, Adui wrote a letter to Baron Geon addressing him as formally as he could. He then send Ben to deliver the letter and told him to only come back with a reply to the letter. The people of House Geon made him wait for a whole day and it is only by nightfall they gave him a reply.

They agreed to meet with him during the afternoon tea session the next day. After reading their reply, Adui then sent Ben to book him a carriage for the next day. He would need it to show those rich snobs that he was someone rich and powerful, and they are not wasting their time meeting with him. He was maybe overthinking it, but he couldn't risk it.

The next day, after wearing his fanciest silk and taking his fanciest cane, he made his way to Castle in House Geon's descendants live. The butler of the family then escorted him to the study room of the Baron, he was not there currently, and Adui then took a seat on one of the sofas in the room. The butler then served him some tea and then leave him be.

Where Baron Hubert’s study room was filled with maps, books, and charts, Baron Geon’s study room was filled with expensive-looking vases, portraits, and tapestries from a foreign land. Only a small section of the room was actually dedicated to books, charts, and other items.

After half an hour's delay, Baron Geon finally came to the study room accompanied by two more guys. Baron looked like a fat pig with a juggling layer of fat that covered his body, his black hair had a huge amount of scented oils applied to them. One of the men who accompanied him was a middle-aged man wearing linen clothes and had a sword by his side, while the other one was a young man with a lean body that was covered with expensive-looking silks.

“Lord Geon, it is pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He said after pushing him up on his feet and with a light bow, to which he just nodded and sat down opposite to him, seizing him up from top to bottom.

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