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After a devastating civil war in the Mogoru Empire, the Henituse Duchy had taken in a thousand refugees from a distant kingdom. Bassen had to do a lot of administrative work to ensure adequate food, housing, and healthcare. It was important to settle everything as soon as possible so the refugees would not go through any more suffering. Bassen worked incredibly hard but was overwhelmed to the point of not being able to sleep properly, ultimately falling ill.
After hearing about the situation, Cale Henituse, the biggest slacker in the entire Rowoon Kingdom, decided to pause his retirement to help his poor brother. It didn’t feel right to laze his days away when his family was having nosebleeds and fevers from overworking himself.
That was why he was here, in Bassen’s study, holding a quill pen.
The paperwork wasn’t too hard to do. Cale Henituse had done work similar to this back when he was Kim Roksoo, the team leader of team 1. He ran calculations rapidly in his head and cleared document after document, forging Bassen’s signature on each of them. Raon watched curiously as the papers fluttered in the air, moving from one big pile to another. His siblings were yawning as they read books on the sofa next to him.
“Ow, fuck!”
The thin edge of the paper caught on Cale’s index finger and sliced into his skin.
Cale cussed before he could stop himself and stuck his finger into his mouth. He belatedly realized the kids had heard him. They’ve heard him say worse things, that’s for sure, but he didn’t want to make a habit out of it. If the kids learned bad words from him, Eruhaben and Ron would get on his case again.
“Weak human! What’s wrong?”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Are you okay?”
The children surrounded him in an instant, their eyes wide with worry.
Cale pulled his finger out of his mouth and took a closer look. The Energy of the Heart had already healed the cut completely. Thank God. Cale had experienced many types of wounds before, but paper cuts on his fingertips were one of the most annoying ones to deal with. He hated the sharp and stinging sensation with a fierce passion.
“I’m fine. I just cut my finger on the edge of the paper.”
Less than a second after he said those words, the document before him exploded.
One human and two cats stared wide-eyed as tiny pieces of paper descended from the air, singed orange and black as fire ate away at the material. The small pieces fell on the table.
Fwoosh!
The other documents on the table started catching on fire too.
“F-Fire!” Hong shrieked.
“Maknae! Put out the fire!” Ohn yelled.
“Right, put it out before it hurts Cale!”
Raon hurriedly summoned a large ball of water and dropped it on everything, including Cale himself.
Cale stared at the ruined documents in front of him. Many of them had been damaged by the fire, and for the others, the ink was beginning to run. There went an entire morning of hard work.
He sighed and pushed back his wet bangs.
“Raon, you—” Cale started to scold Raon, but he paused at the sight of Raon’s guilty and upset expression.
Well, a 9-year-old dragon was still a child. He might have overreacted, but hadn’t he always done so when it came to Cale’s wellbeing?
“...What’s done is done. Let’s try to salvage what we can.”
The children hurried to help Cale. Raon used his powers to get rid of as much water as he could, while the cats separated the pages before they got stuck together, placing them on the carpet to help dry them off.
Cale frowned as he took a closer look. Most of the words were no longer legible, blurred by Raon’s water attack.
“Hm. This won’t do. I think I’ll have to rewrite everything.”
It wasn't hard to redo everything. ‘With his Record ability, he could remember everything he had written.
“I’ll help you write!” Ohn offered.
Cale shook his head. A few droplets of water fell from his fringe as he did so, and Raon quickly cast magic to dry him off and warm him up.
“No, you don’t have to. You guys don’t have to stay here. Go out and play.”
It was annoying to have to redo all the work, but the Energy of the Heart had healed his papercut so he didn’t have to worry about the pain. The children were clearly bored of reading books too, so they should go have fun elsewhere. Cale reached out to pick up a piece of paper, but his hand was instantly blocked by Raon’s round head.
“No!” The kids protested as one.
Cale blinked as they got in his face and eagerly convinced him to stay away from the paperwork.
“You’ll get hurt again!”
“We’ll do everything, so you should just sit down and do nothing!”
“Right, do nothing!”
Doing nothing was music to his ears, honestly. Since the kids were so insistent, Cale sat down and watched as they hurriedly cleaned up the table and brought blank paper to write on.
“How big should I write it?” Ohn asked as Hong helped her to dip the quill pen into ink.
Cale lifted his hand. He was about to demonstrate but the kids started screaming.
“No!”
“Don’t touch the paper!”
“Your skin is too weak, weak human!”
Cale’s hand flinched in mid-air at the sound of their desperate protests. He glanced at their worried expressions and couldn’t help but find it a bit funny. All three of them had different personalities, but when it came to him, they were all extremely overprotective like helicopter parents. Just who was the adult and who were the kids here?
“I won’t touch the edge of the paper,” he promised. Under their intense gazes, he placed his hand on top of the paper and gestured with his thumb and index finger. “This big should be good.”
“Okay! I’m ready! Just start speaking and I’ll write!” Ohn declared, her face full of determination.
“Noona, I’ll take over when you’re tired!”
“Me too!”
The corner of Cale’s lips lifted.
Such cute kids.
He told them the words to write. Every time he waited for Ohn or Hong to finish writing, Raon would feed him a grape.
Just like that, an afternoon passed.
“We’ll get it!”
The children rushed ahead and pushed open the door in front of Cale before he could place his hand on the handle.
Cale shrugged it off and simply entered the dining hall. He took a seat and looked at Bassen, who was seated across from him.
“How are you feeling?” Cale asked.
Bassen’s face was red and his eyes were slightly glazed over. He still looked very sick. He offered a weak smile and replied in a scratchy voice, “Better. Thank you for coming to help, hyung-nim. I’m sorry for being a burden.”
“What kind of nonsense are you saying? It’s normal to fall sick. There’s nothing to feel sorry about. I’m the one who should be ashamed since I spend all my days slacking off.”
Bassen shook his head. His eyes were full of fierce determination as he retorted, “No, hyung-nim. You deserve to rest after all you’ve done for the world.”
“No, Bassen. You deserve to rest after all you’ve done for our territory,” Cale parroted Bassen’s words, causing everyone at the table to smile, including Bassen himself. “I mean it. You’re the most hardworking person I know. Let me do the work and behave like a hyung for once.”
With a shy nod, Bassen said gratefully, “Thank you, hyung-nim.”
“Mm. Don’t worry about anything and rest well. If you start working before you’ve fully recovered, you’ll just fall sick again.”
“Cale is right!” The children agreed.
Duke Deruth clapped his hands together. He looked the happiest he had been in a while. “It’s time to eat. We have to eat well to have the strength to work, right?”
The children happily agreed again.
“Yes, we have to eat well!”
“The Duke is right!”
The atmosphere at the dining table was very warm and bright, especially with the presence of the talkative children. Cale wore a small smile as the servants started serving the food.
“Cale, Deruth told the kitchen to cook your favourite dishes,” Violan informed with a smile.
“Thank you for the consideration.”
“There’s no need for thanks.”
“I’ll eat well,” Cale amended his words. He picked up his spoon and took a spoonful of the tomato soup. He lifted it to his lips and winced slightly.
It was hotter than he expected.
“What’s wrong?”
“Human! Did you hurt yourself again?”
The children were worrying about him immediately. How did they even notice? He didn’t think his reaction was that obvious.
“The soup was too hot,” Cale said calmly as he wiped his lips with a napkin. A sudden feeling of dread caused his stomach to drop.
“Wait—”
It was too late for him to stop Raon.
His soup was promptly turned into a block of ice.
“Raon…” Cale sighed and covered his face with a weary hand as other people at the table chuckled at his expense.
Raon huffed in agitation. His eyes shifted guiltily, avoiding Cale’s gaze.
“Human! You’re too weak! How can you be burned by something like this? I, I really can’t take my eyes off you!”
Cale couldn’t resist teasing the nine-year-old dragon. “But you’re not looking at me right now.”
Raon flinched and immediately turned to stare at Cale with his large, round eyes. He protested with a shaky voice, “I’m looking even when I’m not looking!”
Cale bit back a smile after hearing Raon’s childish protest. He couldn’t help but find the young dragon adorable. Sometimes he wished Raon would never grow up, even if he did cause some troubles here and there due to his childishness.
The rest of dinner continued. The kids always stopped Cale from eating things before they did so they could check the temperature for him. And when the main course arrived…
“I’ll cut your steak for you, human!”
It was quite nice to sit back and do nothing. Cale picked up his glass of wine and took a small sip, enjoying the taste of their territory’s most famous red wine. But at that moment, his eyes fell on Lilly, who was cutting her steak easily like it was butter.
…
His youngest sister was eating by herself. Even Bassen, who was sick, was eating on his own. Cale was struck by a sudden sense of shame.
“...I’ll do it myself.”
“No!” Raon rejected immediately. “Knives are dangerous!”
“Our maknae is right!” The cats chimed in.
The children were being overprotective like he was a newborn baby. If you counted all the years Cale lived in this body and his previous one, he had lived for a total of forty years. And yet, he wasn’t allowed to open doors or eat by himself.
He patted Raon’s round head and offered a solution. "I'll wear gloves like Vicross so I won't hurt my hands. Stop worrying."
The children tilted their heads as they thought about it.
Cale felt both amused and helpless.
How did his life reach the point where he had to get permission from children to use a steak knife?
“Ahem.” Everyone turned their attention to Violan after her quiet cough. “I’ll make sure to request a good pair of gloves from the most famous boutique in the capital. They use the best materials, so you don’t have to worry about them ripping.”
Her tone was firm as though she was discussing business, but the warmth in her eyes could not be hidden. Cale subtly nodded towards her to thank her for stepping in.
“Okay!”
“As long as Cale doesn’t get hurt!”
The children finally agreed.
“We’ll protect you until your gloves arrive!” Raon declared. He continued cutting Cale’s steak with renewed vigour and Cale let him do it.
Cale stuck his fork into a bite-sized piece and ate it. As he chewed, the delightful flavours coated his tongue. Vicross’s cooking was as delicious as ever.
He lifted a bite for Raon to eat since the child was too busy taking care of him to eat. Just like that, Cale took turns feeding himself and Raon.
“Delicious!” Raon said happily.
“Yeah, it’s delicious. Thanks for cutting my steak for me.”
Raon’s wings fluttered after Cale thanked him. He was so cute that Cale couldn’t resist patting his round head.
“Make sure you chew a lot so you don’t choke!” Hong reminded. “Don’t get too lazy to chew!”
“I will.”
The Henituses watched the scene with amusement. Cale had only choked once before, but the children never stopped nagging afterwards.
It was embarrassing, but it wasn’t just embarrassment Cale felt.
His heart was very warm.
It was better to be cared for than to be alone, even though he still wasn’t completely used to such warmth. He wanted to repay their sincerity. He would take care of the children and make sure they grew up well without lacking anything.
In this life, he would protect his family.