It's been three weeks since Cale came back. There was no improvement in his relationship with his previous friends. He refused to eat whenever he was given food. For some unknown reason, Cale doesn't really get hungry though he is getting thinner and thinner each day.

Cale finally went back to his family home in the Henituse Territory. Choi Han, Ron, Vicross, Raon, Ohn and Hong came back with him. His family and friends were trying to get close to him but Cale only responded with a hum or nod. He didn't even come out of his room ever since he got back, he didn't even come whenever he was invited to eat with them.

"Orabeoni, have you eaten?" Lilly asked, day by day she would come to his room and talk to him. Cale just blankly looked at her.

"No, I don't have any appetite," he answered. Lilly smiled when her brother answered her. That was the longest sentence Cale had said ever since he came back.

"We should eat, Orabeoni! Let's go," Lilly offered her hand to her brother. Cale looked at her hand and to her face. He reluctantly held her hand which made his little sister happy. Cale has always been weak against his siblings.

Lilly and Cale walked towards the dining hall hand in hand. Ron smiled seeing his young master finally opening up to his siblings. The servants were looking at the redhead in confusion, they did not know who the red-haired person was. However, their master knew him. He called him son. The young master and lady called him brother yet the servants didn't know the existence of another young master. This was the first time they had seen him.

Cale was seated adjacent to his father. Deruth offered Cale plenty of food. The redhead didn't eat, he kept slicing the meat into pieces until nothing could be eaten anymore. This made Violan frown.

"Hm? No small rocks in my meal this time?" Cale asked.

The redhead remembered the times when the servants of their household would mistreat him. When his father neglected him, the servants started mistreating him. They would put small rocks in his meal, which made his teeth and mouth ache. Sometimes, they would hit him and punch him. His time in this household wasn't a good one.

"Wh-What do you mean, Cale?" Deruth asked. Cale blankly stared at his father's face.

"Nothing. I just remembered something interesting during my childhood. I remembered your servants putting small rocks in my food," Cale answered as he smiled, yet his eyes were empty.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?" Deruth asked in fury. Cale laughed, even his laughter contained emptiness.

"Do you even have time looking after me? Oh yeah, you don't have time for that. You were heartbroken that time and as your son I have to be strong for you. I have to be mature for my father who seemed unfit to act like a father to me," Cale answered, mockery was obvious with his tone. This made Deruth flinch as memories resurfaced.

"Cale, stop disrespecting your father," Violan reprimanded. 

"Sure, then don't dare invite me again here while pretending to be nice to me," Cale responded as he stood and walked away but he halted when he felt something heavy on his right cheek. Deruth slapped him on his face.

"How dare you treat your parents like this? Why are you being so ungrateful?!" Deruth yelled. Cale slowly turned his head to look at his father. Lilly and Bassen stood to come in between their father and brother but Violan stopped them.

"Now you're calling yourself a parent? Are you serious? I don't even remember when you acted like a parent to me," Cale raised his voice, tears were forming in his eyes which made Deruth calm down and realized what he had done. He could see his son's right cheek red and blood dripped from his lips.

"S-Sorry, Cale. I didn't mean to hit you," Deruth tried to approach Cale but the redhead flinched and backed away.

"Reserve your apologies some other time. Enjoy your time with your perfect little family, I am going back to my room," Cale said as he walked away. Tears kept falling from his eyes and he didn't bother wiping them away.

Deruth, Violan, Bassen and Lilly stared at him as he walked away. Deruth sat on the chair, contemplating on what he had done. He hurt his son again. 

Cale walked back to his room, then he came across the room of his birth mother. He stood and stared at the door blankly then he entered. The room was still the same, nothing changed. The furniture, the books clattered around the room, everything was still the same. He walked inside and closed the door, he walked towards the pictures scattered around the room. He picked up one of the pictures and he saw himself with his mother when he was young.

"Mom, you are a liar," Cale said.

"You said if I persevere and survive, I will be happy. But I am not happy, mom. I suffered. I suffered a lot. I persevered, I forgave everyone no matter how much they hated me. No matter how cruel they are to me, I forgave them. I loved them truly. I cared for them and yet all I received was pain. An endless pain," he added as he slowly ripped apart the picture of him and his mother.

"I believed in everything you said to me. I took it to heart. You said if I showed affection, they would reciprocate my feelings. But you were wrong, mom. Nobody cared for me, nobody even liked me. They hated me enough to kill me," he continued as he picked up another picture and ripped it.

"You should have taken me with you when you decided to die for me," he said. "You left me alone to suffer here."

"I don't want to be in this place again. I hated this place. I hated them," Cale started crying. He knew deep inside his heart, he still loved them. He was stupid, he knew about that.

"Mom, this time I'll choose myself over anybody. I am tired of making sacrifices to people who would eventually kill me," Cale said as he saw a lit candle in the room.

Cale got tired ripping up all their pictures with his mother and father. He just separated himself from the picture. He wanted to be out of the picture. In this family, made-up of a brown-haired family, he didn't fit in or feel that he belonged. He was always an outsider. Even with his friends, even with Kim Rok Soo's group he was an outsider. He didn't belong anywhere. He realized it late, he doesn't have any place in the hearts of his family and friends. He was just the side character. He was always the villain. 

Cale began burning the remaining pictures using the flame from the candle. He dropped the burning pictures on the fleece carpet adorning the floor of his mother's room. He didn't even notice that the carpet started to burn too. The redhead began burning every single piece of his picture and memory inside the room. The moment he turned around, he could see red. The room was burning. He stood there in awe of how pretty the fire was.

The smoke filled the room and the flame blazed ever so bright. The servants outside the room were frantic and yelling.

"Lord Deruth, the room of the late Countess is burning!" one of the servants said.

"Put out the fire immediately! Evacuate my son Cale, his room is next to it!" Deruth ordered.

"But Young Master Cale is inside the late Countess' room!" the servant said. This made Deruth run towards the room.

"Cale!" Deruth called outside the room. He opened the door and the fire became wild. He found his son in the middle of the burning room. Cale turned around to face him and smiled.

Kim Rok Soo, on the other hand, was on the way to the Henituse Estate. He could finally meet Cale again. He would definitely take him away with him, he won't let anyone see him again. The moment he stood in front of the gates of Henituse, he saw smoke inside. Something was burning. The location of the fire was near Cale's room. He immediately entered the estate and found Ohn and Hong inside.

"Rok Soo-nyaa, Cale-nyaa is still inside!" Hong said.

Kim Rok Soo ran as fast as he could. He readied his Sky Eating Water to put out the fire. Luckily, Raon was there extinguishing the fire. He saw Cale passed out in the arms of Choi Han.

"Cale!" Rok Soo called out. He immediately approached Cale. He didn't have any burns in his body, that's a good thing.

Kim Rok Soo looked at Choi Han and the others. He couldn't speak from disappointment.

"I told you all to look after him," Rok Soo said. Choi Han and the others looked at him guiltily.

Cale didn't listen to them so they somehow gave up trying to win his heart again. The redhead didn't even spare them a glance or give them words. Cale was completely ignoring and denying their existence—like what they've done to him.

"Count Deruth, I know Cale is your son but I will bring him to my villa to rest," Kim Rok Soo said as Choi Han placed Cale on Rok Soo's arms. He frowned from how light and thin his little brother was.

"I understand. Tell me what you need and I'll immediately send it out," Deruth responded. He didn't have any face after seeing his son so willing to die in the fire. He didn't know what to say to his son who experienced abandonment and neglect.

Kim Rok Soo didn't say anything anymore and he told Raon to teleport them inside the Super Rock Villa.

... to be continued