The Front Clan

Lilly woke up 3 hours later, it was almost 9:PM at the time. She left and went home to go eat dinner with the rest of the family as she wasn't allowed to stay overnight in the place.

Next to Cynthia's VIP ward were 4 other VIP wards, 3 of which were occupied. After Lilly left, she got off her bed and walked out in her hospital gown that was like pajamas. Light and made with very comfortable material, it was quite breathable.

She knocked on the door next to hers and asked "Are you awake?". She received a positive answer and walked in. Inside was Karina who unlike her, was plugged up to a drip line that was feeding a clear liquid into her bloodstream.

Karina viewed Cynthia with a complicated look as today's main event was not simple at all. They could have lost their lives! This was not something a young person full of ambition like her wanted.

At this moment she was wondering how she should give her thanks to the person who saved her.

'Maybe I should just send them a thank you gift?' she thought. She wasn't really good at expressing herself to strangers. Giving thanks and apologizing were two things she rarely did.

She was not sure if the person who saved her was busy or not. She also didn't know why to give display her gratitude in person. In the end, she decided it was best to just end some gifts.

"What is that for?" asked Cynthia as she sat beside Karina's bed. She was pointing to the liquid drip.

"This? It's something that helps my blood flow. My mana was abysmally low." Karina explained the reason why she was hooked to the liquid.

Cynthia, who had just recently been introduced to mana did not have as much of it flowing through her body as Karina did. This was evident in the difference in firepower showcased by her earlier.

While the former was able to slow down her opponents and barely do any surface damage, the latter showcased a tremendous capability by one-shotting half of the apes single-handedly.

"I see. So...do you feel comfortable talking right now?" Cynthia questioned. They had gotten past a tragic event and were wondering if Karina was in the right state of mind.

"Yeah...I'm fine now. You have some questions and so do I." she replied.

"You can go first." Cynthia gestured for Karina to initiate. She felt that she owed their survival mostly to her.

Karina looked up, took a deep breath, and then released it. "I noticed that your mannerisms and subtle habits fall perfectly in line with those of the upper class. Didn't you join the Duketh recently?'

Cynthia's calm expression faltered when she first heard this.'Damn it, I really can change the habits I picked up for 20 years. I'm not a professional actor!!' she said in her head.

She wasn't expecting someone to pick up on the abnormality so quickly. Nonetheless, she adjusted her expression and prepared a quick response.

"I'm an incredibly fast learner," she claimed with a straight face.

"Seriously? That's it?" Karina didn't believe her. There was no it was that simple as her subtle movements were too clean. No one can just pick those up in two weeks.

As for how Cynthia showed excellent control over her ability and the plan she had come up with on the spot, she didn't question it. All of the Duketh family's children had either exceptional powers or talents of some sort and she didn't count Cynthia out just because she is illegitimate.

"Yeah, nothing more to it." Cynthia shrugged.

"Since you don't want to say, we'll leave it at that. But, you have to answer another question of mine without bullsh*tting." Karina gave up as she knew that this girl is as hard as ice and she could crack her. Just oke no one could crack her.

"No promises." Cynthia would only answer if she wanted.

"Where did you meet my cousin and how are you so familiar with him?"

"That's two questions." Cynthia pointed but internally, she did not mind answering this. She didn't know that these two were related in the past. She didn't hear much about Karina after graduating from high school and moving out.

Before any of them could say anything, the door opened and the 15-year-old, handsome young man walked in. His red was in a messy state as if he had been tossing and turning in bed all day.

He had a tube attached to his arm as he carried the same drip equipment as Karina but one a pole and wheels.

Ryan looked at the two girls who were talking to each other with cold faces and felt like he had interrupted a conversation.

"Should I leave?" he asked.

"No, we were talking about you anyways. Sit down." Cynthia gave him the order and he complied by quietly taking a chair and sitting down by her side. Once he sat down, Cynthia decided to continue by answering the question.

"We met in a dangerous environment, with monsters all around us. He was being hunted by some nasty individuals with ill intentions. He ran towards the beach, where I was enjoying the views of the sea.

We ran into each and I saved him from the hunters. Now that he owes me his life, I decided to make him repay me by becoming mine."

This story f hers left the other two in the room stumped for words Karina thought that what she said sounded plausible but also somewhat like a novel.

Ryan on the other hand was taken aback by how Cynthia easily twisted the story of their encounter. Funny thing is, that's is their second encounter and not first it's just that Cynthia wants awake when he delivered the Ice Lotus for her.

Karina looked over at Ryan to see his reaction and saw that he was left lost in his thoughts as well. She figured this wasn't the real story. it was kind of hard to tell as Cynthia always spoke with confidence and a natural tone that made everything she said seem like the truth.

At this point, Karina asked Cynthia to tell her the truth but the girl insisted that this was it.

"I have made part of this story up, except for the parts that I did," she admitted, shamelessly. Cynthia then shook her head.

"It's my turn to ask now. How are you two exactly related? Elaborate on the whole cousin thing." This was directed at both of them and whoever wanted could answer.

The pair of cousins with similar last names looked at each other and nodded to reach a silent agreement. Karina felt like she had said enough and it was Ryan, the quiet one to speak this time.

Below is what he explained:

The United Federation of Aznolia, the country they are currently in is located on the Melthoy Continent. This country is not very old and only has been around for 300 years. There are countries with thousands of years of history so they are babies in comparison.

Over to the west of the Melthoy Continent is the Zamish Continent. (For reference, I imagine the Melthoy Contentint to be about the size of North America and the Zamish Continent is somewhat bigger than Asia.)

On the neighboring land is the ancient country of Bristack. A nation that once colonized a significant portion of lands in the world. They had a leading military power and inexhaustible wealth.

In this prosperous nation exists a family known as the "FRONT CLAN". The main rulers of this family have the last name of Front, while the branch families have the same prefix with something added to it.

The main family lives in the Country of Bristack which no longer has colonies or overwhelming military power. They do however have kept their financial situation the same and some argue that it's even better now than in the colonial era 200 years ago.

The most essential contributor has to be the Front Clan as a whole. This family has spread its branches all over the globe and have their members in politics, business, media, and even the entertainment world.

This has allowed them to be in a global economic seat of power and uphold strategic positions in the central government of Bristack.

The current president of Bristack is named Anthroon Front. This is more than enough to explain their reach.

Both Ryan Fronterra and Karina Frontessa are members of the branch families. Thie parents contribute to the wealth, connections, and power of the Front Clan. In return, the Front Clan protects them from serious harm.

The mothers of the two kids are sisters and married into different branches of the clan. This makes them both direct and distant cousins.

As kids, they often played with each other and were very close, like real siblings, It's just that, the Fronterra's shifted their business to a nation on a different continent.

(There are 9 continents. Asmodia, Borington, Lithintor, Dardias, Sokingtish, Femur, Queent, Melthoy, and Zamish.)

This made them drift apart but they still saw each other once in a while so they could recognize one another.

However, they didn't talk much about where they were living currently so Ryan didn't know that she was in Navas City.

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'You never told me any of this back then. How come?' complained Cynthia s she thought about the past life. In it, Ryan never mentioned the intricacies of his family. All she met were his older brother, sister-in-law, younger sister, and parents.

They never once mentioned the existence of the Front Clan.' I just thought of them as successful business people. None of them even hinted at anything grander.'

Cynthia didn't know what to think of this. On one hand, she was glad that her future husband as such a background and set of possible connections, and on the other, she wondered if everything the Front Clan did was clean.

To her, there is no way the existence of such can establish itself without being involved in illegal acts to a certain degree. she knows very well how dangerous both the political and business world is.

If the Front Clan really runs as deep as he says, Cynthia was sure she had to keep herself guarded against them lest they drag her or her loved ones into something unsavory.

"Does that satisfy you?" asked Ryan before chugging down a bottle of mineral water. His throat was dry for all the talking.

"I never asked for such a detailed explanation. I don't mind it though," she said. Ryan had nothing to reply to that because he honestly felt that he said too much. He was only going to tell her that their parents were related on both ends.

Ryan felt strange as if some unknown force had urged him to speak out som many unnecessary details. He forgot about this feeling soon enough.

Cynthia showed a rare some for a couple of seconds when she noticed Ryan's strange expression as she knew exactly what that feeling was and where it came from. She wouldn't tell him though. He never asked.

"That being said, are any of you hungry?" Cynthia didn't feel like talking or listening at the moment as her body craved nutrition.

GRUUEEE! The noise of a stomach rumbling came from Karina as her face slowly turned red from embarrassment. Cynthia and Ryan who noticed that suddenly started laughing. They felt that girl certainly had a gap in her personality known as 'gap moe' by many.

She is cold at most times but has a completely different warmth when it comes to certain unexpected situations.

At this moment, Ryan had internally decided to find some time to reconcile with this pasts sister of his. he was slowly reminiscing about something he had done with her as a child and he felt like she had changed over time.

In his head, he was picturing himself and she as cut little 5 years olds that rolling around in their spacious back yards. In hands were toys and props from the cartoon that was popular at that time.

A tiny girl with short silver hair was sitting on top of a mechanical unicorn chasing a boy with fiery red hair. This boy carried a fantasy-looking sword and rode upon a blue-colored tiger with horns.

This tiger was also mechanical. The two children had smiles on their faces as they were preparing lines from the shows with their cute little voices.

"I, princess Liliasura will take revenge on you for hurting my precious friends?" declared the little girl as she waved around a sparkling magic wand. At the same time, she adjusted the silver crown on her head.

"Your power of friendship can't outdo my ultimate sword of justice. I will teach you what it means to be the coolest knight in the land. I will make you fear the name, Zukabu Dubala." replied the boy.

he had an expression of excitement as he charged at the girl and the girl charged at him. Both their weapons were make-believe and their mechanical mounts dodged each in a timely manner.

Scenes like these were common in the heads of both Karina and Ryan. They both had blushed expressions which left Cynthia stumped. She couldn't guess what the two were thinking. She was also waiting for them to say what food they wanted to get.

Author's Note: I'm back, sorry for the 10-day break. I needed to get my arm healthy and out of pain. It was only temporary as I was carrying a heavy load and tore some muscles.

I'm going to post consistently for the next couple of days until I wake up for all the lost chapters. UI feels motivated and refreshed.

I cant wait to show everyone what I have ins store for the next arcs. I promise that things will go quite crazy. This chapter and properly the next one is the characters relaxing after a chaotic outing.

I would love to get your feedback after we hit 50 or so chapters. I will remind everyone to write some reviews at that point. See ya. It's time I catch up.

P.S.: Thanks for the Powers stones that kept coming after I was AWOL. It makes me glad to see people still reading this even when I'm not posting. I will try best to not disappoint.