Chapter Sixteen

Later that night, Grandpa Amlenor came to Celius' house with a pair of scissors. "Celius, ready to get your haircut?" Ennie was still around and they were just putting the kids to bed. Celius didn't want her to leave until his grandpa came so that someone could at least drop her home. Although she wasn't weak, he still felt it was rude to make her walk alone. He also couldn't just get up and leave his siblings alone, so he waited for his grandpa's return.

"Right now?" Celius was taken aback by his grandpa and couldn't help but ask.

"It's better if you do it now. Since I need to change your bandages anyways and you have to clean yourself, so I might as well just cut your hair now." Celius thought for a moment and then agreed. He then looked at Ennie who shook her hand and smiled.

"I can wait, go ahead." She was also looking forward to him getting his haircut. He did mention his hair being a little annoying, so it wasn't unexpected.

"Alright, go ahead then." Celius stepped outside with a chair and sat down. His grandpa then began to slowly cut his hair. It took about twenty minutes until it was done.

"Done." Celius got up and then without any pause, walked towards the pond. Taking off his shirt and bandages, he jumped in. He began to rub his head profusely, getting out any loose hairs. Grandpa Amlenor smiled from the side and just picked up the hair on the ground and threw it to the side, into a small bucket. He also took the chair inside. He came out after a while with a new set of bandages.

Celius came out of the pond after cleaning himself and shook his head. His grandpa passed him a cloth to dry his head with. Ennie, who was still waiting, watched the scene with a smile and blushed. 'Short hair looks really good on him, much better than the long hair. He looks more like a guy now.' Although his short hair wasn't spikey or rough, it was still really good looking. It was silky and straight, but she noticed a few grey strands on the side. She couldn't help but walk over and pluck the grey strands.

"Ouch!" Celius flinched as one of his closed while he rubbed his head. "What was that?"

"I just saw a few strands… when did you get this stitched?" She noticed the stitched-up cut and felt a little bit pained. 'So, it was much worse than I thought.' Judging by the stitching and the marks around the wound, she could tell it was extremely deep. Her heart filled with pain.

"My grandpa did it for me last night after you guys left. Even though it was small, I can't let it stay open, right?" He laughed slightly.

"When did you get a tattoo?" Ennie pointed at a mark that was on top of Celius' wound.

"Tattoo? I don't have a tattoo… Wait, when did this get here?" Celius was confused as he looked down and noticed a small mark. "Grandpa…?" When he looked at him, he saw that his eyes were shining as bright as the moon. "What is it?"

"Celius, do you know what shape this is?" He asked. Celius looked at it again but found it difficult to see so he just shook his head.

"It's a small white cloud." Ennie answered with a smile.

"Exactly. C'mon, think. What is the cloud representing and where is it located?" His grandpa continued questioning and Celius thought for a moment and then his eyes suddenly brightened.

"Wait, you don't mean that the orb…" Grandpa Amlenor cut him off with excitement.

"Yea, your orb has probably completed the absorption of your enlightenment. Although I have never seen this before, but your orb probably created this tattoo on your chest. There is a high chance it's there to represent that your future path is set." Celius kept thinking and that made sense. His enlightenment was related to clouds, his eyes were related to clouds, and he felt that the weird dreams he had were related to clouds in a way as well. He didn't know why, but he strongly felt that that was the case.

"Does that mean my orb is probably complete now?" Celius asked.

"Most likely. It's probably already ready, but you just need to purge your last three vital organs--" Celius raised two fingers, interrupting him.

"Not three vitals, two. I cleared my kidneys a while ago." His grandfather showed shock on his face, but then recovered while laughing loudly.

"Two? Well, your luck just doesn't run out. Then, if you clear your last two vitals, you should probably enter Essence Engulfing right away. If your orb is complete, you might be able to start absorbing essence right away." His grandpa began to think hard about this and then his smile widened. "There is a small chance that even before you enter Essence Engulfing, you might be able to absorb essence. If that's the case, then you might leap straight into Essence Engulfing - Sky from the get-go. Haha, how lucky! How good!"

As the two were discussing this, Ennie who was standing by the side felt her head spin. She couldn't understand what they were saying, or rather she couldn't believe it. What they were saying was nonsensical to her.

"Celius, go drop Ennie home, let me quietly think of a plan for what your next steps should be. I will acquire the herbs needed to help you progress through Physique Purge soon, but I need to make sure that everything goes perfectly." Without waiting for Celius to answer, Grandpa Amlenor walked back into the house with a wide smile on his face. He was mumbling to himself, and Celius couldn't help but smile when he saw this. He quickly put his shirt on and started to walk. He noticed that Ennie wasn't following so he tapped her shoulder.

"You coming?" Ennie's unfocused eyes regained their clarity and she began to walk with him. The walk was quiet for a while before Ennie asked after a bit of hesitation.

"Celius, what you and your grandpa were talking about, is it true? Do you already have an orb created inside of you?" This was something that she never thought could happen. Not only was Celius the same realm as her, but he also had some weird, yet powerful eyes, and now he even created an orb before purging all of his organs? Such talent, no, not talent, such luck was unheard of.

"Haha, well that's what we're assuming. The tattoo is not the best evidence, but we think that it's likely." He felt proud of his achievement and couldn't help but flaunt it. "Jealous?"

Ennie smiled sweetly before shaking her head. "Nope." Of course, in her mind, something else was going on. 'Jealous, if I was jealous of the person I liked, then I wouldn't deserve to like you. The better you are, the more I like you.' Celius was taken back by her quick reply, but he didn't say anything. Ennie also happily walked beside him. She couldn't help but glance him a few times as they walked. As he was taller than her by quite a bit, she would have to look up to get a good look. She looked at his hand which was buried in his hair, wanting nothing more than to grab it and hold it as she walked. For some reason, after she internally accepted her feelings, she couldn't help but feel that she was getting wilder in her thoughts.

"Alright, we're here." As she was busy looking at him, she didn't even notice that they got home. When she heard him say those words, she felt reluctance in her heart. She sighed in her heart before walking away.

Before walking in, she looked back at Celius who was standing by the door, waiting for her to safely enter. Raising her slender hand, she waved at him before entering. Celius smiled back before turning around and walking away.

Ennie stood by her window and glanced through, watching him disappear into the night. She sighed bitterly before heading towards her bed. When she turned around, her mom was surprisingly standing there, looking at her with a bitter smile.

"I'm assuming that none of my warnings worked?" Ennie smiled a little but didn't say anything. Aunt Vena sighed deeply before walking deeper into the house and sitting down on a cushion. She patted beside to call Ennie over. The latter walked and sat beside her. None said a word for a while. "I'm not mad that you like him, so let's get that cleared first."

Ennie looked at her with confusion. "Then…?"

"I'm just giving you some advice, not warnings. Since you like him, I won't stop you. You're an adult so it's natural that you will eventually like someone." Ennie smiled when she heard this. She gave her mom and hug and then kissed her on the cheek. Aunt Vena laughed before pushing her away gently. "Alright, alright, settle down. I may be fine with it, but your dad should be convinced as well, but he isn't the hard part. The difficult part is trying to get Celius to feel the same way. From what I can see, he probably has no romantic feelings towards you whatsoever. Am I right?" Ennie grunted a little before nodding her head. "Well, you have two paths. Either he eventually likes you and you two get married..." When she said this, Ennie couldn't help but blush and also feel excited on the inside. "...or, you fail, and he doesn't ever think that way. You have to do this before he either finds someone he likes or moves away. If he finds someone he likes, he probably won't ever like anyone else, as for moving away, you just won't have the chance to even reach him."

"What should I do then?" She couldn't help but ask, but Aunt Vena shook her head.

"I can't tell you that since I don't know myself. You have to figure that out yourself. But let me give you a single warning, don't get too depressed if it doesn't work out." Ennie was a little angry when her mom said this. Although she knew her mom was just warning her, she couldn't help but feel somewhat upset.

"Mom, why do you always think so negatively?" Aunt Vena sighed a little before speaking once again.

"Let me ask you something, in the past three years, did we ever extend a hand to help out Celius and his family? Although we are getting along now, when he needed us most, were we there?" Ennie was shaken a little. "We weren't. Although Celius treats us very well now, and seems very happy and all around us, how do you know that he isn't still upset or even a little traumatized? Think about it. Although he lets us in on the good things, does he ever tell us his problems? When he needed someone to take care of siblings, did he come to us? No, you went to him. When he was wounded, did he show us the wounds, no he only showed his grandpa. He is still very restrained around us and isn't able to share his burdens with us. Do you think it will be easy for him to share romantic love with you in that case?"

"Do you think he really thinks that?" Ennie couldn't help but ask worriedly.

"I can't say for sure but let me tell you this. Your father found out from some of his friends that yesterday Celius went to the night market to get something, but instead of getting the item, he was pushed to the ground and shooed away because he didn't have the money. He supposedly came back a while later, but he was much paler, and his body was somewhat hunched. He went to another shop to get needles and thread after a huge problem happened, one of his friends came in and helped him acquire it. Supposedly he quickly sprinted away right after, with a small blood trail following behind him." Aunt Vena sighed heavily. "I'm assuming that he was getting medicine but couldn't afford it. Not only did he not get it, but he was also mistreated by the person. He went back again but not for medicine, rather needle and threads. Remember when he came back home after his grandpa, the blood seemed less, right? Do you think that maybe...."

"No way! How could that be?" Ennie felt her head hurt as she thought deeply. Aunt Vena got up and walked away after kissing her on the head. 'Did he really go through so much? Did he also stitch himself up before coming? Was that the reason his expression was much pale and his eyes red? Why didn't he tell me? Wait,' She suddenly recalled how Grandpa Amlenor walked in with an extremely pale face and red eyes. It seemed like he cried but they couldn't say for sure back then, and this was after he went to see Celius' injury. 'Did he stitch himself? Was that why his grandpa looked like that? Why didn't he tell us?' Her heart pounded as she began to feel tears fill her eyes.

Celius got home quickly and walked into his house with a wide smile on his face. His grandpa was sitting down in deep contemplation and when he saw Celius, he quickly beckoned him over. "Alright Celius, here is the plan. I'm going to first help you locate your orb. Once you locate your orb, you will get yourself familiar with it every day. Meaning, you should know what your orb looks like as if it was the palm of your hand. No, you have to know even more than that. Every detail must be known, alright?" Celius nodded his head. He didn't say anything and only listened. "After that part is perfected, you will begin to learn how to sense essence. Now, the essence is not too difficult to sense, but hard to absorb. Knowing your orb thoroughly will help you with the absorption process. So, after sensing the essence and getting used to what it feels like, you will begin to try and take it into your orb. Usually, this step is for people in Essence Engulfing - Earth, but since you already have an orb, you could in a way be called an Essence Engulfing - Earth cultivator. One you absorb a single strand of essence, no matter the size, you will be able to official step into Essence Engulfing - Sky once you purge your remaining vital organs. Got it?" Celius nodded his head.

"Alright, so should I try and sense my orb first?" Grandpa Amlenor nodded his head. He grabbed Celius' hand and injected a bit of essence into it.

"I'm going to slowly send my essence into your body, but first try and see if you can find it, alright? Once you do, I will slowly move it towards where your orb is. Try and follow it. It may take a while for you to locate my essence so don't…" Before finishing his words, Celius replied with his eyes closed.

"I found it." Amlenor looked at Celius with astonishment.

"You… found it? Wait, my essence? I can't sense your…" Celius spoke once again, but this time his words almost caused Grandpa Amlenor to faint.

"I found my orb." He spoke calmly, but his words caused large waves to appear Grandpa Amlenor's heart.

'This kid is truly… a monster. He is more talented than his father. It took Adilis an hour to find his orb, and that was considered monster like when compared to others in the clan/ Would Celius be considered demon-like?' His mind was in chaos, but he quickly calmed it. "Alright, since you found it, then explain to me what it looks like."

Celius nodded his head and began to describe the details. "It's a plain white orb with different colored gas surrounding it. It looks like a colorful sun if anything. Other than the white… star let's call it, there are yellow, black, purple, blue, and grey colored gas rings spinning around it, almost like a halo." His description wasn't too great, but it was enough for Grandpa Amlenor to understand.

"Alright, let me explain the situation to you then. The white ball in the middle, which looks like a white star, is your main orb. It's color varies, but I'm assuming it's white because of the white cloud tattoo on your chest. As for the multiple rings, they represent the different powers associated with your main path. Since your main path is related to clouds, that means you were enlightened on five different powers related to clouds. What these are, I can't tell, but you will slowly learn them when you enter the Self Realization stage. Normally, the rings would appear during the Self Realization stage, but you acquired them beforehand as well, so you're fortunate. Still, this is not a rare occurrence. Even your father and uncle acquired their rings before Self Realization, so don't get cocky." He patiently explained this, but his heart couldn't help but beat quicker. Although what he said in the end was true, there was something he didn't include. Celius' uncle, Brianus, got his rings when he entered Essence Engulfing – Heaven. As for his father Adilis, who was much more talented, he got his rings when he entered Essence Engulfing - Hell. Celius was more than just talented, he was a monster. He obtained his rings without even officially entering Essence Engulfing.

"I won't get over my head, Grandpa, I promise. As uncle always said, 'Don't aim to be the best but aim to surpass the best.' His teachings aren't lost yet, haha." Celius laughed and Grandpa Amlenor also smiled. Thinking back to his heroic older son, he couldn't help but feel a slight tinge in his heart. He missed his children and wanted nothing more than to see them alive and well. This, of course, included Adilis and his wife, Yinsi.

"Alright, get some rest then. Since you found your orb, try and understand it more tomorrow. Your aunt should also arrive by tomorrow, so try and spend some time with her as well, this includes your cousins." Celius smiled and nodded his head. Excitement filled his heart as he thought of his aunt's arrival. Just like his grandpa, his aunty was his closest family, equivalent to a second mother. She would occasionally send money over, but because of her circumstances, she was unable to do too much. However, her visits were enough for him. He got up and went into his room to rest. His grandpa left as well.

Celius slept well again that night, but there was no dream once again.

Knock Knock

The next day arrived and he heard a few knocks on his door. His eyes slowly opened, and he groaned a little before getting up. He put a shirt on and quickly opened the door.

"Celius!" In his sight was a middle-aged woman, who looked no older than thirty, but he knew she was a little older than that. She had long black hair and dark blue eyes. Beside her were two kids. One was a boy and the other a girl.

"Aunt Esadora?!" Seeing the woman, Celius felt his eyes brighten and also turn a little red. He quickly went forward and gave her a big hug. "You're finally here." He let her go and looked at his two cousins with a wide smile. "Aluin, Ivol, here, give me a hug too." Although they weren't that much younger, Celius still treated them like children, which was a change that happened to him during the more recent years.

He gave big hugs to both Aluin and Ivol, who were his only first cousins. Aluin was fourteen years old while Ivol was twelve. The former was, of course, the boy, while the latter was the girl.

"Hey Celius, it's been a while." Aluin happily hugged him and walked into the house before his mother and sister. He had a brawny build, which was very different from Celius. This was mostly because Aluin's father was a very macho man.

"Ivol, wow, you grew so much in just these few months." Celius smirked at his male cousin before looking back at his female cousin. She looked very much like aunt Esadora. She had long black hair, while her eyes were a deep blue color. Aluin had blue eyes as well, but his hair was brown rather than black.

Quickly letting the rest in, he began to get some food out. "Cousin, you cut your hair. Why?" Ivol sat down and couldn't help but ask when she saw his current appearance. He usually had very long hair, which was an iconic look of the Illeaf family as all males had long hair as well. "Don't get me wrong, you look great, but why?"

"It was getting in the way of work, so I cut it. Enough of me, tell me about you guys. How was your trip? What are you guys up to now? Aunty, how is uncle doing?" His uncle, Vulen Ailwer, was a shop owner in a town. His shop wasn't famous but made enough to get by. Since he was so busy with work all the time and since closing the shop for even a day would make him lose greatly, he rarely left the town. He had met uncle Vulen many times in the past when he used to visit Aunty Esadora, but that was when his parents were alive.

"It was fine dear. Nothing happened on the way, but your cousin did get sick and barfed a few times. Your uncle is also doing fine. He was too busy so he couldn't come this time as well. He says sorry for that." Aunt Esadora smirked as she looked at Ivol and the back at Celius.

"Mom, did you have to mention that?" Ivol couldn't help but become a little embarrassed. She loved being clean, so vomiting during the trip more than once was a blemish in her life, something she could never forget. She then ignored her mom and bit into the green peach that Celius passed to her.

"Celius, dad was telling me to give this to you." Aluin walked over and passed Celius a small dagger. "He said this was his old hunting knife and thought you might want it." The knife that Aluin passed to Celius was a little old, but its sharp glint couldn't be hidden. It was completely silver with a small black jewel on the handle. It looked a bit pricey. "You're so lucky." Aluin looked at the dagger with a bit of jealousy but didn't ask for it back. His father wanted Celius to have it, so he wasn't going to take it and go against his dad.

"Great, this will be helpful. Tell uncle I said thanks when you go back." Celius placed the blade in the kitchen, on a high shelf, so the three kids couldn't touch it.

"Hey, where are the kids? Are they still sleeping?" Aunt Esadora asked when she saw that no one was around.

"Yea. Let me go wake them up. It's almost time for the twins to get ready, so it will be good if they could see you before going." Celius went into the twins' room and quickly woke the two up. "Elrith, Alura, guess who's here?"

"Brother, let me sleep." Alura looked over and grumbled a little before turning her body in the opposite direction. Elrith did the same and went deeper under his blanket.

"Alright, but if you don't wake up then Aunty Esadora is going to leave." He got up and slowly walked to the door, but Alura and Elrith quickly jumped out of the bed with messy hair. Their eyes gleamed as they rushed past Celius and into the kitchen.

"Aunty!" They laughed in joy when they saw Aunty Esadora sitting on the chair. They ran towards her and jumped into her arms.

"Haha, hey you two." Esadora also hugged them tightly before taking a better look at the two. "Wow, you two have grown so much. Alura, you look so pretty and you Elrith, so manly." Elrith and Alura puffed their chests forward as they smiled foolishly.

"That's right, Aunty, I'm the prettiest, right?" Alura grabbed her leg and asked again. She couldn't help but become extremely happy after seeing her aunt. Her memory was not super clear, but she did remember her. Plus, they were all really good memories.

"Yup, you're even prettier than Ivol now." Ivol got up from her chair and took Alura into her arms.

"Hey Alura, do you remember me. I'm your big sister, Ivol." Alura pondered for a moment but shook her head. Ivol couldn't help but bitterly laugh when she saw this.

"Big sister? I have a big sister; her name is big sister Ennie." Alura smiled and said this to Ivol, who put on a confused expression. She looked towards Celius, but the latter was in his room, waking Rislia up.

"Who is Ennie? Is she a friend?" Aunt Esadora also couldn't help but ask. Normally, the only people Alura knew of was her, Celius, and Grandpa Amlenor.

Alura shook her head and said with a sweet smile. "Big Sister Ennie takes care of me, Elrith, and Rislia. She's brother's friend."

When she said this, Celius walked out with a tired Rislia in his arms. "Rislia, look, that's Aunty Esadora, big sister Ivol, and big brother Aluin." Rislia cutely rubbed her eyes, and Aunt Esadora came forward and took her from Celius's hands.

"Hey Rislia, I'm Aunty, remember?" Rislia looked at Aunty Esadora with doubt before shaking her head. "Alright, that's ok. Hey Rislia, look what I brought you. Alura, Elrith, come here as well, I got both of you something too." Aunt Esadora placed Rislia on her lap as she pulled out a bag from underneath her seat. She placed the bag on the table and began to take out a bunch of small toys.

She passed Rislia a doll with blue thread hair while also giving a doll to Alura, but this one had purple threaded hair. Elrith got a small blue sword made from wood. It was small, but enough for him. There were also some other toys, such as a soft, yellow tiger, a wooden figure of a woman, and some others. She passed them one by one to the three kids.

"Wow?" Rislia looked at the new doll with bright eyes. She couldn't help but embrace it before playing with it on Esadora's lap.

"Alura, Elrith, Rislia, what do you say to Aunty?" Celius leaned against the wall while smiling at his happy siblings.

"Thank you." Alura and Elrith yelled first before running to a corner and inspecting their new toy. "Thank you.' Rislia also said it after a while.

"Here, give Aunty a kiss." She moved her soft cheek in front of Rislia's little lips. Rislia leaned forward and gave her a big kiss. "Haha." Aunt Esadora kissed her back lovingly as she stared back at Celius. "Dear, who is Ennie? Alura was mentioning that she looks after them?"

"Oh, yeah." He smirked a little before explaining. "Do you remember Uncle Lorron?" Aunt Esadora nodded her head, but she was somewhat shocked with the way Celius called him uncle. From what she remembered, only two people were ever called uncle by Celius, her husband, and her oldest brother. "Well, his oldest daughter is named Ennie. We hit it off well and became friends. She and her mom, Aunt Vena, were helping me take care of these three while I worked. Grandpa was busy so I needed a fill-in."

"Really? Well, that's just great. Who knew that there were still good people in this clan." Esadora was gratified after hearing his words. "Tell me everything. I want to go and thank them as well."

Celius nodded his head and began to explain many of the incidents and the different meetings. Of course, he left some things out, like how bad his injury was, but he didn't hide it. For one, his grandpa was sure to tell her, and second, he felt that she would find out sooner or later, even if no one told her.

"You got hurt? Hurry up and show me.' Esadora quickly got up in a panic. She knew that Celius wouldn't have mentioned it if it was a small thing, so him talking about it made her know that it wasn't anything little.

"It's alright, it's mostly healed now. Grandpa cleaned it and used his essence to make sure…" His aunt suddenly glared at him.

"I'm not asking Celius. Hurry up and show me where you got hurt." Celius became a little scared when he saw her expression. Unlike his grandpa who was always kind to him, his aunt was no pushover. She cared deeply for him, but that didn't mean that she would ignore things just because he said so.

"Umm, aunty it's no big…" Seeing her glare become even more intense, he sighed. "Alright, but only you can see, alright? Come into my room." he walked back and Aunt Esadora followed.

"Hey Celius, let me see too. What's there to hide?" Ivol and Aluin complained, but Celius shook his head.

"It's better if you don't. Just stay put, we'll be out in a second." Just like for his siblings, he didn't want his two cousins seeing anything too gruesome. Although they wouldn't get scared like the three kids, they wouldn't like it either.

"But…" Ivol pouted a little. Esadora, in turn, glared at her, which immediately shut her up.

Getting inside the room, Aunt Esadora shut the door. "Aunty, when you see it, don't freak out too much. It's healed very well now, plus I don't feel any pain either." Aunty Esadora nodded her head, so Celius slowly took his shirt off. At first, all Aunt Esadora could see was a thick bandage wrapping around his shoulder and around his chest, which made her anxious. After taking the bandages off, Aunt Esadora felt all her blood become cold. A long stitch mark was present on his chest. His skin was being pulled in, which wasn't a pretty sight. The shoulder wound was slightly better, but it was still very unsightly.

"Celius, when did you get hurt so badly? No, how did it happen?" Her eyes became tearful as she quickly walked towards Celius and stroked his cheek. She couldn't look after him the way she wanted, which was a regret of hers. Now that she saw that he was injured so badly when she wasn't around, her heart couldn't help but hurt. She pulled him into her embrace, and although she was shorter than him, she still stroked the back of his head. "Celius, I'm sorry I wasn't here. It must have hurt so much."

Unlike Grandpa Amlenor, Aunt Esadora knew Celius' personality on a deeper level. Even though they only met twice a year after her marriage, she knew him well since he was very much like her brother, Adilis.

"It was nothing, Aunty. I'm not a weak kid anymore, haha." He smiled and Aunt Esadora also smiled while taking a step back.

"Also, what's this cloud tattoo on your chest? When did you start liking these things?" She tapped the cloud mark on his chest and asked with a doubtful look on her face.

"This? Well, it would be better if grandpa told you about it first. He knows more than me." He smiled mysteriously which caused Aunt Esadora to lift one of her eyebrows.

Celius wore his shirt and walked out of the room with his aunt. Ivol and Aluin stared at them both with a complaining look. "What did it look like, Mom? Is it big? Tell me." Aluin rushed towards his mom and couldn't help but ask with glittering eyes.

Esadora smacked her son on the back of his head and scolded, "Don't ask about things that you shouldn't. Celius doesn't want you to know, so stop asking."

Aluin smiled sheepishly before walking towards Celius. With his mouth close to his ear, he began to whisper in a way his mom couldn't hear him. "You'll show me later, right?"

Celius was speechless by his cousin and shook his head. "No, Aluin. When you get older I might, but for now, you're too young." Aluin couldn't help but grumble under his breath as he found a place to sit and crossed his arms. It looked a little weird since his body was quite big. "Hey, don't get so pouty. I'll take you out to where I work later. I'm assuming uncle wants you to learn a thing or two, am I right?" Celius knew that his uncle was very strict with Aluin. Not only did he expect his son to be a tiger amongst men, but he also wanted him to mature and be more responsible so that he could help with the shop. This was the case whenever he sent Aluin over. Before his parents' death, his dad would make sure to teach Aluin some things before he left, and after their deaths, the responsibility fell on Celius, who was extremely similar to Adilis.

"Hehe, do we have to this time too? C'mon, can't we just do some other things?" Aluin complained when Celius mentioned that.

"We aren't starting right away, so relax for now." Celius smiled as he looked at Alura and Elrith, who were playing in the corner. "Alright, come on you two. Go get cleaned up. You still have classes to attend." Alura and Elrith looked at Celius with pitiful expressions.

"Not today Brother, please. Aunty is here." Aunt Esadora went over, picked Alura up and tapped her nose.

"Even if Aunty is here, you can't miss classes, now can you. Now let's go and get ready. Elrith, you too." The two kids pouted as they were taken away by Aunt Esadora. Celius didn't stop her since she usually became the boss when she was around.

Ivol walked over to Rislia and sat beside her. "Rislia, want to go play in your room?" She wanted to get closer to Rislia since Elrith and Alura had to go. She didn't want to be forgotten again.

Rislia looked at Ivol with her pretty green eyes and then frowned. She then got up and walked to Celius and pulled on his leg. "Sister Ennie?"

"Rislia, Ennie doesn't need to come and look after you anymore. Plus, she is busy too, so go and play with Sister Ivol. She's also your big sister, just like Ennie." Rislia thought for a moment and looked back at Ivol, who smiled at her. Rislia frowned again.

"No." She then ran into her room, which made Celius a little speechless.

"Haha!" Aluin laughed on the side and teased his sister. "You're so bad with kids, even Rislia doesn't like you."

"Hmph, I don't see her liking you." She snapped back, but Aluin shrugged his shoulders.

"That's because I haven't even tried yet. You'll see, once I make my move, Rislia will like me more than even Celius." He had a confident expression, but his sister couldn't help but become a little irritated.

"More than Celius? Have you looked in the mirror? Rislia not crying from seeing your face is already shocking." The two siblings went on and on, trying to make the other succumb and Celius couldn't help but sigh. He went into the kitchen and looked at the icebox as his expression suddenly brightened.

"Aunty!" He yelled.

"Yeah?" Her voice also came from afar.

"I forgot to tell you, but we have lots of boar meat in the icebox. You should make something using it." Although he was a good cook, he was still not as good as his aunt who taught him everything he knew. She was amazing.

His aunt came from outside of the twins' room with the two completely dressed. She looked at Celius with a smile. "When did you get boar meat?"

"I caught it. You know…" He circled his left shoulder with a smile, and his aunt understood.

"Alright, I'll make something for tonight then." She smiled as Alura suddenly tugged on her hand.

"Aunty, we need books.��� Alura said this in a complaining manner. "Teacher got mad at us because we didn't have them."

"Books? Alura, when did you need books?" Celius walked over and asked questionably.

"The teacher told us two days ago. Didn't Sister Ennie tell you?" Celius shook his head but then smiled.

"Alright then, we'll get some books…" Then he suddenly stopped. He had no money left on him. The last bit he had was used to get the thread and needle, which Faelor ripped him off for. He looked at his aunt with a bitter smile. "Aunty, would you be able to get them the books? I ran out a few days ago."

"No problem. I'll get some on the way there." Celius sighed in relief. "Alright, you go off to work for now. I'll take these two to their classes, while Aluin and Ivol can look after Rislia. Are you still chopping wood?"

"Not anymore. I had to leave that since they paid too little. I'm doing fieldwork now." He said it with a smile, but when he saw his aunt glare at him, his smile froze.

"So that's how you got hurt?" Celius became a little scared so he averted his gaze. "Celius, quit that job. You're not going to be able to do it without getting hurt. Even your father and uncle did it in the past. They came home with injuries every day."

"Aunty, I can't." Celius shook his head and sighed. "It's alright, me and grandpa talked it over and decided that if anything happens again, I'll leave it, but for now I can't. I need it." He couldn't accept his aunt's wishes this time.

Seeing him not agree, although she was upset, she sighed. "Make sure you inform me right away if something happens." Although she would put her foot down in some cases, she couldn't always do that. She knew that Celius needed it and she couldn't just force him to stop going.

"Yeah." Celius smiled when he saw her become understanding. "Rislia, come here." Rislia came out of her room running with the new doll in her hand. She looked at Celius in confusion.

"Brother is going now, alright. Aunty will take care of you, but she is going to drop your brother and sister off, so Aluin and Ivol will be home with you. Don't annoy them, alright?" Rislia listened patiently but she shook her head.

"No, I want sister!" She began to complain. She had gotten used to Ennie, while Ivol and Aluin were strangers to her. Although Aunty Esadora was also the same, she liked her for some reason.

"Rislia, Ennie isn't coming…" Just as he was going to finish his words, he heard a knock on his door. Aunt Esadora who was nearby opened it and saw a pretty girl in a pink dress. Her skin was white like the snow and her face angelic. She had a pretty little nose, two beautiful eyes, and tender pink lips. It was none other than Ennie.

"Yes?" Esadora didn't know the girl so she couldn't help but ask. Although she visited twice a year, she didn't interact with any of the clan members because of her hate towards them.

Ennie was a little surprised to see a woman, who was also extremely beautiful, open the door. She looked in and saw Celius looking at her. She made a quick calculation in her head and immediately understood who the person was. "Hello, my name is Ennie. You must be Aunty Esadora."

"That's me. Oh, so you're big sister Ennie?" Aunty Esadora's face brightened when she heard the girl's name.

"Sister Ennie!" Alura and Elrith quickly ran to her and hugged her legs. Rislia saw Ennie and ran to her as well. When Esadora saw this, she was surprised but happy. Ivol was jealous, while Aluin couldn't help but become shocked at the appearance of Ennie.

"Hey, you guys." Ennie smiled at the three and lifted Rislia into her arms.

"Ennie, glad that you're here." When Ennie heard Celius' words, her heart fluttered even though he didn't mean what she wanted him to mean. "Let me introduce you. As you guessed, this is my aunt Esadora, basically a second mother. These are my little cousins Ivol and Aluin, basically my little siblings. All of you, this is Ennie. So Ennie, I was wondering if you can look after Rislia just until my aunt comes home? Rislia doesn't want to stay with these two." He sighed bitterly while looking at his two cousins. Ivol was still pouting in jealousy, while Aluin continued to stare at Ennie in a daze.

"That's what I'm here for, right?" She looked a little confused as she glanced at Celius. In her mind, she had become the three kids' permanent caretaker.

"Well, I was lucky that you came, but after today, you don't have to worry about these three. My aunt and cousins can look after them now, plus my grandfather should be free after they leave, so you don't have to stress yourself. Haha." Celius spoke without much thought, but little did he know that his words made Ennie panicky.

'So, I'm done? That can't be; I wanted to look after these three. Not only that, but it's my only way to hang out more with Celius. What should I do? I don't want to leave these three and Celius so suddenly.' Her mind was in chaos, but her expression was calm, although a little forced. Aunty Esadora was, however, able to catch that slight change in expression. "Alright, that's fine," she spoke with a forced smile, which Aunt Esadora also noticed.

'Hmm, what's this? Is she sad about this change?' She couldn't help but take her thoughts into this direction. Normally, if she was truly fine with it, Ennie would behave normally and her expression wouldn't have been so forced, but seeing that it was forced, Esadora concluded that Ennie didn't like the change. "Hey, Ennie, why don't you bring Rislia along with me? I would love to talk to you and ask about your life. Since you did help Celius, it would be good if I got to know you." Esadora smiled at the girl. Although she didn't know about the crush Ennie had on Celius, she still wanted to learn more about her family. They did help Celius after all.

"Oh?" When Ennie heard this, she looked at Aunt Esadora blankly. 'Wait, if Celius treats Aunty Esadora like his mother, is she my ticket to him?' She thought long and hard the other night about the whole situation. She agreed that her mother was right that Celius may still have some hard feelings, but Ennie didn't want to give up. She hoped that she could eventually win him over. "That would be great." Her mood got much better as she agreed happily.

"Ivol, Aluin, both of you stay home. I'll be back soon. Celius, what time will you be back?" Aunty Esadora smiled when she saw Ennie's reaction. She gave instructions to her kids and then looked at Celius.

"I should be home by nightfall." Aunt Esadora nodded her head and then left the house with Ennie and the three kids. Aluin snapped out of his daze and Ivol walked into the twins' room in frustration.

"H-hey, Celius." Celius looked at him weirdly. He didn't speak once, rather didn't even move the second Ennie came, which was kind of weird. "That girl is so pretty. Holy crap!" His face suddenly became so excited and his face began to blush.

Celius was taken aback and couldn't help but put on a teasing smile. "Oh, you like her?"

Aluin nodded his head crazily. "Don't you? Look at her. Her legs are so nice, her figure so sexy, her face is like an angel. How are you not affected?" Aluin became more excited as he spoke.

"She is pretty, yea." Celius nodded his head. "But she is my friend, plus she is technically my cousin as well."

"Cousin? That's bull. The only relationship she has with you is her last name. No one in this clan has that much ties with each other anymore. She could very well not be related to you at all." Aluin then smiled mischievously. "But whatever, since you don't like her then that's for the best. I have a shot; do you think my mom will let me marry her?"

Hearing his words, Celius couldn't help but laugh. "Marry? Little cousin let me tell you something. Ennie is much older than you, she's even older than me. Not only is she not interested in younger men, but she also wouldn't be interested in a buffoon like you. Look for girls your own age. Haha." Celius' words stung, but Aluin brushed him off.

"Whatever. I like her, so I'm going to try. Who knows, what if she likes real men like me?" He smiled confidently as he puffed his large chest. Celius smirked when he saw this but didn't say anything.

"Go ahead, try your best. That's all I can say for now, I guess. But let me tell you this, don't do anything stupid. If I hear that you try to take cheap advantages or do something that makes her uncomfortable, there won't be anyone worse than me." he glared at his cousin and left threatening words. Aluin was scared silly by Celius. Although he had more muscle than Celius, he knew that he was much weaker than him. Plus, his mom would kill him if he ever tried to touch anyone older than him, so he was quite scared.

"Jeez, you're a spitting image of Uncle Adilis. So scary." Celius didn't hear this since he was already out the door, but he would have taken those words as a compliment rather than an insult. He respected his dad greatly.