TRT Chapter 117: The Puppies Move In (Patreon)

(Edited by Radriel7)

I spend a good chunk of the day flying around atop Sky’s Dream. I had no particular destination in mind. Instead, I just wandered about, like an aimless cloud, letting the rushing wind clear my thoughts. After everything that I had been through within the past few weeks, such as finding out that Annabelle was Dancing Lily and hearing from Celestial Hound after all this time, I needed it in order to stabilize my mental state. Otherwise, I ran a serious risk of forming an inner demon.

While my cultivation realm was low, I was still a reincarnated Immortal. The inner demon of an Immortal was a terrifying being. The mental demons I faced several weeks ago, when I first returned to Sturm Manor, were like ants in comparison. Perhaps Aurora and I would be able to fight off an inner demon born from my heart, or perhaps it would devour us both and take over my body. Worst of all, considering the cause of this inner demon would be the two people closest to me, it would be especially powerful.

And so, I flew around and let my mind wander. No thoughts, no worries. Just me and the open sky, endless and infinite. Aurora remained quiet the entire time, leaving me to work things out on my own. She must have sensed that I needed solitude. If I were at a higher realm, I would have found a thunderstorm and tried to fly around in it. However, despite my current state, I wasn’t suicidal. At my current cultivation realm, getting hit by a lightning bolt would kill me. The only reason I survived the last one, when I almost died fighting the Black Wolf Gang, was because of Master.

By the time I returned to Sturm Manor, it was well after nightfall. I didn’t know the exact time, but I thought it was close to midnight. I noted that the train of carriages wasn’t parked in front of Sturm Manor anymore. I no longer cared about that. My feelings on the matter didn’t matter. The Sun Emperor had made a decree, and so they would stay. While I was sure that I could get away with disobeying an imperial edict, I wasn’t going to put that to the test. Even if I escaped unpunished, I doubted my family would. The Sun Emperor didn’t care about them.

I found Father waiting for me atop the roof of Sturm Manor. He stood there with his arms behind his back, watching me approach with a calm expression on his face. It looked like he had regained his composure. Today’s events must have come as a shock to him, and I didn’t know how I was even going to begin explaining the situation to him. I owed him something, however. My actions from earlier put him in a tough spot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he punished me for them. I deserved it. I attacked a scion of House Solaria. The Sun Emperor pardoned me for it ahead of time, but I hadn’t known that. I almost caused the downfall of my House because I was an emotional mess.

At first I intended to go to my room right away, but when I saw Father I changed course and landed atop the roof. The moment I hopped off Sky’s Dream, I fell to my knees and kowtowed to Father.

“I apologize for my actions earlier, Father,” I said. “There is no excusing my behavior. I will accept any punishment you give me.”

A beat of silence passed.

“Gabriel, get up,” Father said in an exasperated tone. “I’m not going to punish you.”

My head snapped up.

“What?” I asked. “But I disgraced our House and attacked a scion of House Solaria! Surely that merits some form of punishment.”

Father gave me a wry look.

“The Sun Emperor himself pardoned you,” he said. “It would be churlish of me to punish you after that.” His expression turned serious. “However, if you still feel like you deserve punishment, you can begin by explaining things to me. While I might look calm right now, I’m rather lost and confused at the moment. Just…what is going on Gabriel? Why did the Sun Emperor take a personal interest in our House? In you?”

I sighed, before moving to sit in the lotus position. Father sat down across from me, mimicking my pose. I took a moment to think.

“You know what I am,” I began. “However, I don’t think I’ve ever told you much about who I am. Or rather, I don’t think I ever told you much about who I was. I grew up an orphan in a place called Burning Crest City…”

I told Father about my history with Celestial Hound. At least, I told him the highlights. Telling him everything would take years. I began my story with the first time I met Celestial Hound, who I called Mutt at the time, and ended it with me finding out that Celestial Hound was in fact the Sun Emperor.

When I finished telling him everything, Father didn’t respond for a long while. I didn’t rush him. It was a lot to take in, and I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t believe me. In his shoes, I would have been skeptical as well.

“I see,” Father said. “So that’s why you acted the way you did.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s your reaction?”

Father raised an eyebrow at me.

“What?” he asked. “Did you expect me to accuse you of lying?”

“Well, yeah,” I said. “At the very least, I expected you to show some skepticism or incredulity.” I gestured towards him. “You’re acting far too calm.”

Father chuckled.

“Believe me, I am anything but calm,” he said. “Especially after finding out that my son knew the Sun Emperor in his past life. I don’t think anyone would be calm after hearing that.” He nodded at me. “However, I don’t think you’re lying. More than that, I don’t think you’re delusional.”

His words warmed my heart. Despite being a reincarnated Immortal, my parents’ opinions and thoughts mattered to me. As childish as that might sound, I craved their approval. Regardless of my past, I was their son. If they turned away from me or if they rejected me, that would be a serious blow to my heart. It reassured me to know that despite everything going on at the moment, my parents were still on my side.

“When I first learned about cultivation and all that,” Father continued, looking up at the night sky. “I realized that the world was much larger and much stranger than I had previously thought, though it took me a while to come to terms with that. Perhaps that’s why I can so easily accept your words.” He looked at me and shrugged. “I already believed that you are a reincarnated Immortal. Finding out that you were once friends with the Sun Emperor isn’t so strange in comparison.”

Huh, it made sense when he put it like that.

“I’m sorry I’m such a disaster of a son,” I said with a sigh. “I keep dragging our family into trouble regardless of my intentions.”

Father chuckled.

“You’re not a disaster,” he said. “And putting up a pair of scions from House Solaria barely constitutes as trouble. In fact, from a certain perspective, it’s a boon. Besides, I shoulder some of the blame for this as well. I went back on my word and agreed to House Solaria’s terms, despite telling you otherwise.”

I shook my head.

“You are Lord Sturm,” I said. “Our entire House’s wellbeing takes priority over my personal feelings. You did what you needed to do in order to ensure our family’s prosperity. I won’t hold that against you.”

Father sighed.

“Still, I wished that I could have given you some warning beforehand,” he said. “However, the twins arrived the moment I agreed to Prince Eugene’s offer.” He gave me a wry smile. “I think they planned it out that way, to give you as little time to react as possible.”

I glanced in the direction of the Solar Palace, which floated in the sky above Sunheart. It was visible to us, even from this distance.

“I can think of whose idea that was,” I muttered.

Celestial Hound always believed that it was better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Whenever I tried to call him out on it, he looked at me with those sad puppy eyes of his and I relented. Every. Single. Fucking. Time. In his defense, much as I hated to admit it, he only ever did this when he thought it was important. He never abused this privilege of his, and it was a privilege. I never let anyone else get away with it, back when I was Celestial Thunder, and there were a few who tried, including Dancing Lily.

“How are you feeling?” Father asked.

“Better than before,” I said, turning to face him again. “Again, I’m sorry for the way I acted before. You’d think that someone like me would have better control over his emotions.”

Father smiled at me.

“Considering the circumstances, I think you can be excused for acting emotionally,” he said. “However, if you still feel guilty about it, there’s something you can do to atone.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“And what is that?” I asked.

“You can be the one to tell your sister that she is now Princess Evelynn’s lady-in-waiting.”

Father laughed as my face fell. Right. That was part of the deal Father made with House Solaria. On the surface, becoming the lady-in-waiting to a scion from House Solaria seemed like a blessing from the heavens. However, considering the twins’ reputation, I doubted that Kaylee was going to be happy about her change in status. I wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation with her.

***

Over the next few days, everyone adjusted to the presence of Prince Everard and Princess Evelynn in Sturm Manor. The servants had it the easiest in that regard since they were used to serving House scions and the twins treated them well. It was a little more difficult for the House Sturm retainers and the paladins of Tempest since they weren’t sure of how to treat the twins. Prince Everard and Princess Evelynn weren’t guests but neither were they intruders. Instead, they occupied a sort of limbo.

My disciples had it both easier and more difficult than the other House Sturm retainers. On the one hand, they were my personal retainers which elevated their status. This meant they could get away with things that the other House Sturm retainers couldn’t. On the other hand, their actions reflected on me. I was responsible for them, for good or for ill. This led to them walking on eggshells around the twins for a while.

I solved these issues by telling everyone to just treat the twins like scions of House Sturm. That way, we wouldn’t end up accidentally offending House Solaria. Everything went smoothly after that, at least for them.

Aside from me, Gabriella and Roland had the most difficulty adjusting to the twins’ presence in Sturm Manor. My cousin was a Blaze Cat while the twins were Sun Hounds, and they got along as well as could be expected in this situation; i.e. not at all. To their credit, the twins tried. They attempted to befriend Gabriella, but she rejected their overtures. The problem was that they kept trying, even after my cousin made it clear that she had no interest in becoming friends with them. This led to quite a bit of tension between them.

There was one incident where Gabriella ended up riding atop Prince Everard, both in their magic beast forms, with her claws digging into his back. Prince Everard ran around yelping and trying to dislodge my cousin, to no avail, and I ended up having to intervene. Thankfully, as a magic beast, Prince Everard was much tougher than the average Foundation Establishment cultivator so he didn’t sustain that much damage. Roland, who worshiped the ground Gabriella walked on, made a nuisance of himself because he kept going along with her schemes.

However, despite all of this, I had the most trouble adjusting to the twins’ presence in Sturm Manor. The reason for this was simple: they kept following me around everywhere. My alchemy lab, the training grounds, my goddamn bedroom. No matter where I went or what I was doing, they tagged along. While they understood concepts such as privacy and personal space, they didn’t believe it applied to them when it came to me.

The first instance of this occurred on the day they arrived at Sturm Manor, right after my conversation with Father. I was emotionally exhausted after everything that had happened, so I was out like a light the moment my head touched my pillow. I woke up the next morning with the twins in bed with me. Naked. In human form.

I chased them out before any of the servants noticed, to avoid any rumors spreading. The last thing I wanted was for House society to think I was some kind of hedonistic degenerate who was two-timing (or three-timing in this case) his betrothed.

Afterwards, I scolded them for their behavior. Unfortunately, my lecture didn’t stick and they snuck into my bed again the very next night. I gave up after that and just asked them to remain in their Sun Hound form when they slept in my bed.

When I asked the twins why they were so clingy, they told me that the Clan Solaria’s Honored Ancestor, aka the Sun Emperor, commanded them to.

“He told us that you were a wounded soul and that we should shower you with lots of love,” Prince Everard declared before giving me a hug.

Princess Evelynn hugged me from the other side.

“Don’t worry, Master,” she said. “We love you.”

They looked at me with complete devotion in their eyes, and I realized that they meant it. Somehow, within the span of a few days, they fell in love with me. There wasn’t anything romantic or sexual about it. Their love was pure and simple, which made it difficult to remain angry at them even though their antics annoyed me.

They reminded me a little of Celestial Hound, back in our youth, though he always had an air of cynicism about him. Unlike him, the twins grew up loved and cherished. They never experienced what it was like to starve in the streets, fighting just to survive.

“What is with this ‘Master’ business anyway?” I asked them. “I don’t remember taking you on as my disciples or my servants.”

“We’re your magic beasts,” Prince Everard said, as if it were obvious.

“That makes you our master, Master,” Princess Evelynn said, a pitying look in her eyes. “You feed us, you shelter us, and you give us scritches. What else would we call you?”

I had no argument against that. Well, I did. In fact, I had several. However, the moment I tried, they used their sad puppy dog eyes against me and my resolve weakened. Since they were going to be around for the foreseeable future, I decided to make the best of the situation.

It helped that the twins themselves never got in my way. Sure, I found their presence distracting, but they made sure not to interfere with my work. Whether I was brewing elixirs in my alchemy lab, crafting magical items, or imprinting knowledge into the memory stone tokens, they never interfered. They just watched me. Constantly.

They were also much more competent warriors than I expected. Due to their…excitable natures, I didn’t expect much from them in that regard. However, to my surprise, the two of them were superb fighters; both individually and as a team. In fact, after seeing them in action, I suspected that they would be able to beat Lord Asher in a fight if they worked together despite being weaker than him.

Part of it was their magic beast nature. They practiced a body cultivation technique that refined and strengthened Sun Hound blood running through their veins, making them stronger and tougher than most cultivators at the same level of power. Part of it was their skills. The twins seemed to be experts in all manner of martial arts. Swords, axes, hand to hand combat, etc. It didn’t matter. If it involved fighting, they excelled at it.

Later on, I learned from Paladin Charles that it had taken the majority of the paladins assigned to protect me in order to subdue the twins. If both sides hadn’t held back to avoid casualties, several of those same paladins could’ve been injured or even killed. They still would’ve won, but the cost would have been much higher.

The twins’ skill and versatility didn’t just apply to fighting. While they weren’t great at any one thing, they were competent in almost everything related to cultivation: alchemy, magical crafting, arrays, etc. All in all, they were a well rounded and competent pair. Despite their…eccentricities any sect, Clan, or House would’ve loved to have them.

I figured this was the reason why Celestial Hound sent the twins my way. While they weren’t all that powerful now, since they were still just Foundation Establishment cultivators, they would become absolute monsters if given enough time to grow. They didn’t even need that much guidance or cultivation resources from me since they received plenty of both from House Solaria.

At least I wouldn’t have to put up with them on my own. Due to the agreement between House Sturm and House Solaria, Kaylee was now Princess Evelynn’s lady-in-waiting. This didn’t mean much now, since my sister spent most of her time at the academy. However, after she graduated, this would change.

The best part, at least from my point of view, was that Kaylee didn’t know about it yet. Rather than send her a message and give her plenty of warning, I decided to tell Kaylee about the situation on her weekend. That way she could experience the same shock I felt. Perhaps it was petty of me, but as her older brother, it was my responsibility and duty to mess with Kaylee. I looked forward to seeing the expression on her face.

However, on the day when my sister was supposed to return home for the weekend, I woke up feeling a sense of foreboding. My intuition told me that there was something wrong. At first I thought that this feeling had something to do with Annabelle. After all, it was her weekend too and I still hadn’t figured out what to do about her. I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure how well that idea would pan out.

When the day wore on and Kaylee still hadn’t arrived at Sturm Manor, the foreboding morphed into full on dread. Something had gone terribly wrong. I wasn’t the only one who felt it either. Father, rather than focus on his work, decided to join me in waiting for Kaylee. However, when she failed to make an appearance, his expression grew more and more grave.

That was when an unexpected visitor arrived: Inquisitor Lewin, Grand Inquisitor Corvus’ aide.

“We need to talk,” he told us.