[Exile – Part 3]

What Kay meant by 'managing the business' seemed to sound very different from what Kyren was used to.

True to his promise, after Kyren had recovered fully from his fever and with his wounds more or less healed, Kay had wasted no time to bring folders and files in relation to his business once Kyren was well enough to work. Kyren had not been allowed to step out of the house while he had still been nursing an illness but now that he was better, he found himself being kept entirely busy from day to night in the apartment reading up on the information that Kay had gotten back.

Through days of hard reading that made Kyren remember his days of studying and the teachings of his many tutors, the young boy began to realize that Kay was not just any simple businessman. He had initially thought Kay was just the sole owner of a small online business that dealt with moving items from place to place upon request and order. It seemed small enough for one man to do many things –calculating finances, managing personnel, designing marketing strategies and other business strategies. But as Kyren began to delve in deep to understand the business –and trying to understand the personality of the man responsible for the business through his company policies and rules –Kyren saw things that he had never seen before. He saw cases and things that had never appeared in his lessons as case studies, things that he never knew was possible when he had been entrusted with a small part of the family business by his mother.

"Kay, I think there is something wrong with the calculation here." Kyren announced as he spun the file that he had been reading up on around, pointing things out to the man who had eventually made it a habit to join him at the low table in the living area late at night, typing furiously on his laptop.

"Good of you to catch it." The man turned his face back to his laptop after a brief moment of checking. "It was a test."

"Then this company? Is it supposed to be a test for me to catch the fact that they were doing something outside of their contract boundaries and billing you for it?" Kyren moved his finger further down the page to point.

"Yes. But you seemed to miss this." Kay answered, slender finger pointing further up the page to a small detail. "An employee resigned on the 5th of April, but her name appears again the next month arranging a meeting with an interested investor."

"Right." Kyren nodded with realization. He had initially been confused and annoyed when he first found out that the mistakes and discrepancies within the reports and filings were all tests from Kay. He had been rather annoyed since Kay had been trying to extend some faith in him by having him read through his business files, but at the same time testing him like he was some sort of an intern.

Still, Kyren kept those words to himself since he needed to obey instructions if he wanted a shelter over his head, water to drink and food to eat. And, over time, as he began to point out more mistakes –and have more pointed out to him that he never noticed or simply never knew about, Kyren began to find it... fun. The boring lessons that he had once taken about the different types of infraction of financial and labor law were now applying as he read through report after report on different projects of Kay's business. Finding out mistakes slowly became a welcome challenge, became something that Kyren began looking forward to. He poured through reports and filings with eagerness to prove that he had learnt, always glad when the mistakes he pointed out were correct and always eager to prove that he could do better when any missed mistakes were pointed out to him.

"Why is the financial statement of the previous year filed together?" Kyren asked, frowning at the information popping out at him.

"Because that year, the finance team could not close their accounts in time for filing." Kay answered evenly, still typing furiously on his laptop. Kyren had long gotten past being impressed at the man's ability to multi task extremely well –Kay had even shown his ability to type on his laptop with one hand and make notes on paper simultaneously with his other hand.

"Then shouldn't the team have submitted an application for the deadline to be extended? Filing the previous year's financial statement is an infraction of the law."

"A complete filing was imperative to show a potential investor. There was a note in the filing that the financial year reported was outdated."

"Then should someone not have provided the investor with an incomplete filing but attached the updated financial statement the moment it was ready instead? It shows lack of clarity and incoherence when filed together. I'm surprised the investor agreed to sign the contract in the first place."

"The investor signed because I went down to talk to him personally." Kay answered honestly. "Good work pointing it out."

"I'm done with reading through the files today," Kyren announced, feeling accomplished for the first time in ages. When he had first started, Kay had told him that he needed to clear 10 files per day, and he had struggled through them painfully. He had accumulated so many unread files that Kyren had almost wanted to give up at some point.

But as he read the files one by one, Kyren got better. He began to realize that there were things he could skim through, situations that he could understand easily, and connections that he could make quickly. Over time, his reading had gotten faster and better, his explaining of any mistakes becoming more precise with every file that he cleared. And now, he had cleared everything he had been owing, and even the day's quota.

"Retrieve the file for the case on the first day of September three years ago." The instruction was clear and precise, and Kyren was all too happy to jump up, running over to where the stacked files were beginning to look more like towers. He didn't know why Kay did not seem to need to bring these files back to his office –considering how recent the cases in some of those files were –but he did not want to question too much.

"Got it." Kyren announced quickly, returning to the low table and eager for his next task.

It was strange; how he found this interesting and entertaining. Back when he had been in the Mansion, Kyren had absolutely hated sitting through lessons like these. He had wanted to go out, wanted to play, and wanted time for himself to do whatever he wanted. He wanted to do everything and nothing at the same time, and it bored him so.

But now. Now that he only had one task at a time, now that he was clearly learning much faster than he ever would back at home, Kyren was excited and ready for more.

"Summarize everything in this file." Kay tasked, pausing in his typing to pull a sheet of blank paper out from the mess of papers left on the table. "Onto this piece of paper."

"What? Impossible." Kyren protested in disbelief. "There's too many important details for me to summarize everything coherently in one piece of paper."

"So you say." Kay seemed already prepared for the protest as he drew out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. The man wordlessly passed it over to Kyren, who opened it with confusion, then gasped in shock.

"What the... How did you..." Kyren searched for the appropriate words to say, then spun the scribbled piece of paper around. "This is Keyron's handwriting! How did you get your hands on this? If this is really about business, this is supposed to be completely confidential and it's not supposed to come out of Dad's office!"

"If a butler of the Greaves-Crawford household can do this, the young man who calls himself the heir of that household should be able to do the same. Perhaps better." Kay ignored the questions posed to him surrounding how the paper had been retrieved.

"I can't win against Keyron. He's Mum and Dad's butler!"

"And you are their son." Kay answered. Kyren had learnt by now that nothing seemed to trip this man up. Every exclamation that he made was always met by evened replies of utter stability –and even respect at times, though Kyren never thought that he had done anything that deserved that respect bestowed unto him.

"Still, you're comparing me with him who has done this for at least twenty years!"

"The way I see it, I'm comparing a Reyes man against a boy who will someday grow up and take over the Greaves-Crawford business. The odds are stacked against Keyron." Kay answered, retrieving the piece of paper that held a certain Head Butler's handwriting summarizing the case. "And he hasn't done very well on this particular piece of summary either. His handwriting is terrible and has not changed over the years as a butler, and he failed to shorten a few sentences."

Kyren stared at his savior with agape mouth, disbelieving of the words he was hearing from the evened, stable and confident tone of voice that spoke as if everything was a matter-of-fact. But it was impossible... someone claiming that the work of Keyron Reyes –the butler who was so famed at being so capable that he had his own moniker (the 'Butler in White') –was subpar? Never once in his entire life had he heard someone criticize the work of his parents' butler. Even enemies had grudgingly admitted that everything that Keyron did was perfect, and how if they had Keyron on their side, they would never lose to the Greaves-Crawford empire.

Even when his father and Keyron were teasing each other playfully, Brandon had never said anything about Keyron being subpar –just that Brandon wanted to be treated with more respect or care by his own butler.

"Are my words so terrible for Keyron?" Kay's question was understandable since Kyren had lost all words completely, unable to make a sound with his mouth agape at the blasphemy spoken in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't think so, but... this is absolutely the very first time I have heard anyone criticizing Keyron's work. There is nobody I know who has ever said that his work is not up to the standard of a butler. In fact, Keyron is supposed to be the most ideal version of a butler. Kylar and Kyvan told me themselves that their father was literally used as an ideal example in many classes back in the Imperial Academy."

"Every man has their flaws and so does Keyron." The answer came again –not even bothering to sound defensive but instead sounding as if he was stating an indisputable fact of the world. "Yes, he has been doing rather well in many areas now that he is very adept at serving both Miss Louise and Mr. Brandon, but he still has much to learn."

This was the first time Kyren was hearing the names of his parents coming out from Kay's lips, and it sounded weird for a short while. All the while, Kay had referred to Louise and Brandon as 'your parents', or the 'Mistress and Master of your family'.

"Aren't you a businessman? How do you know so well about butlers and what Keyron is supposed to be doing?"

Kyren thought back on the files on the many smart and strategic actions that he had read about Kay doing to maneuver his business through. He had constantly been surprised how this small-name business had been able to navigate through so many troubles with ease, had also been equally confused as to why Kay did not seem to have any plans for his business to gain more recognition. There was a deep well of potential for this business to explode into fame and even be noticed and picked up by the Greaves-Crawford Household. Their financials were in the green, a steady stream of potential investors, effective personnel, a good leader Kay who could make very good decisions and extremely well thought-out explanations to strategies.

Suddenly it clicked. "Do you happen to be an ex-young master of a powerful family? Or perhaps a disgraced family member like me who got kicked out of the family? It explains how you know so much about Keyron's role as a butler, and how well you're managing the business."

"Remember your first rule to staying here." Came the only reply to Kyren's questions, and the masked face turned back to the laptop, resuming the typing as if their conversation had not suddenly deviated.

"Ok, I know I'm not supposed to try to finding out about your identity." Kyren gave in, looking through the piece of paper that had been scribbled by his parent's butler. "But at least let me tell you what my theories are. You are welcome to either confirm or deny confirmation to them."

He waited for a short moment, glad that there was no reply banning him against such attempts from his housemate and savior.

"I admit that I first thought that you were probably someone who belonged in a rival household or a secret intelligence agency that's trying to dig up secrets of the Greaves-Crawford Household." Kyren said, observing the man carefully. Kay simply continued typing without missing a single beat, and the mask and sunglasses were doing very well covering any possible accidental reactions that the man might be showing on his face to his words. "But I decided that you were not from an intelligence agency after a few days. I thought you might be a servant or a butler of some disgraced or bankrupt household. Since most butlers of disgraced or bankrupt households tend to take what they can get right before the fall of the family, they still have some capital or savings from their work and knowledge from serving their masters to set up their own business by themselves."

Still, there was no signal or sign from Kay that there was confirmation or denial of Kyren's words despite his careful observation. Never once did the fingers stop or miss a beat in their steady, consistent typing.

"There's no doubt that you're definitely acquainted to one of the bigger families, though. Normal small-time businessmen don't strategize and think so far like you, and they definitely wouldn't be so informed about the people in my family. You didn't even bother to ask who Kylar and Kyvan were when I dropped their name just now, so I'm guessing that you are or were close enough in my family to know that they are my personal butlers."

"You must be forgetting the fact that when your butlers graduated from the Imperial Academy with their golden coat of arms, they were interviewed by multiple newspaper agencies and revealed to the public that they were following their father's footsteps to serve the Greaves-Crawford Household." Kay replied this time, and the reaction mildly encouraged Kyren to continue along this topic.

"But you would have to be close to the family or at least someone working in the Mansion to know that both of them have been assigned to my case. Logical, rational thinking would assume that Kylar as the older twin would be serving me while Kyvan serves my little sister. But you knew that they were both mine."

"Your sister was barely one year old when they graduated. The newspaper reported that both Reyes graduates were set to serve one master at that point in time." Kay retorted easily, and Kyren was further encouraged when he managed to distract his housemate enough to have the man's quick fingers halting the furious typing.

"And why would you, a small-time businessman as you were, pay attention to the family affairs of the Greaves-Crawford household? As far as business information went, the assignment of my butlers were merely treated as gossip."

"There is no smoke without fire. What seems like harmless gossips always originates from one tiny point of truth." The man's answer was evened. "You should do well to learn that if you intend on becoming a righteous young master."

"And how you would you know what the makings of a righteous young master are, if you were not once a butler, or a righteous young master yourself?" Kyren pounced on the very first chance to ask, grinning victoriously when the hands that had been rested leisurely against the low table retreated and disappeared from his sight below the table. Kay had turned his masked face directly over to Kyren now, and though Kyren could see no facial features or expression, he had gotten used to reading his housemate's bodily gestures by now.

And the subtle tenseness in Kay's shoulders was extremely tell-tale.

"It's getting late." The completely swerve of topic away from the previous conversation was a dead give-away. Kay climbed to his feet and turned to the direction of the kitchen. "Would you like a cup of warm milk while you write me your summary of that case file?"

"Aren't you supposed to drink coffee if you're a proper businessman trying to stay up to do work?" Kyren grinned at the man's retreating back.

"Caffeine is not desirable for your body." The reply was made even as the man bent into the fridge to retrieve the carton.

"Warm milk makes me sleepy. Mum and Keyron used to always give me a cup of warm milk right before bed when I was younger, so I've developed a habit." Kyren informed, but it did not deter the man from bringing out a cup and pouring the beverage. "Are you not drinking too?"

"I have work to do." Kay left the cup in the microwave.

"And I don't? Summary, remember?" Kyren gestured back to the file left on the table while Kay waited by the machine for the milk to heat up.

"You can finish it tomorrow."

"That's something lazy people say. I am the son of Louise and Brandon Greaves-Crawford, and I will complete all work assigned me to before I fall asleep." Kyren declared proudly, thumping his chest in an exaggerated movement.

It was the first indicator of amusement and mirth that emanated from the almost always serious Kay. Because Kyren could not see anything beyond the mask and sunglasses, he had not known that there was amusement until he heard a familiar voice making an unfamiliar sound –a chuckle. He could only imagine the features of a man smiling at him when the masked face turned to him completely.

"As you wish, Master Kyren." Kay bowed lowly and spoke humbly in complete sarcasm.

"You as my butler, Kay?" Kyren spent a short moment imagining the situation before a bark of laughter escaped him at the hilarity of the image fixed in his mind. "We could probably rival Mum, Dad and Keyron."

"We could." The man himself affirmed with confidence, straightening from his bow and turning back to the microwave, a light and casual tone in his voice. "But you can do better."

_______________________________________________________________________________

Just like that, a month passed. Kyren got better at reading through case files and creating summaries, and eventually more tasks were loaded on him. For the very first time, Kyren felt as if managing a business was fun -every new challenge that was posed to him gave him new reason to wake up and work at the issue with fervor. He had eventually been allowed to use the desktop computer in Kay's room, and both of them had moved their operations from the living area into the bedroom, discussing and making plans for the future of the business.

Kyren had not known that he had begun to grow an attachment to his new job and his new situation until he woke up one day and found out that there was no new issue and no new challenge. For the first in a long time, Kyren had no issues to help settle, no tests and challenge posed by Kay. Sitting around the place made him bored out of his wits, and thus he had dropped Kay –who was usually outside at work during the day –a call and gotten permission to step out of the house to explore the area.

The town, when Kyren was not dressed in rags or obviously looking like a homeless boy, was much friendlier this time. While nobody remembered him as the homeless boy who had been slandering the Greaves-Crawford Household, nobody tried to take advantage of him or tried to rob him blind either. True to Kay's words, the clothes that he had worn down over the month (after cycling between the same few sets every few days) made Kyren seem like a casual boy in his usual going-out clothes. The small amount of leftover cash that Kay had given him to run errands some days sat well in his pocket, and Kyren afforded himself the luxury of buying some snacks –picking them off the shelf at random.

Back when Kyren was still the young master of the Greaves-Crawford Mansion, such unhealthy snacks had never been allowed. If there was ever a silver lining to be found in his current situation, it would be that Kyren could finally enjoy the guilty pleasures of a young man his age without having to care about what people thought about the image he created.

He fancied himself a simple boy from town as he picked a cheap baseball cap from the thrift store, fitting it over his head and fake-branded sunglasses to match. The sunglasses reminded him of his savior/housemate, and thus Kyren bought it too on a whim, grinning at himself through the mirror at how easily his identity was blurred out with just a pair of sunglasses and cap, just like Kay.

Continuing down the road, Kyren began to wonder what his savior's reaction would be if he got himself a mask along for the ride to copy Kay's look. Through the one month they had spent together, Kyren had made himself a strange relationship with his savior. Kay felt too distant and polite to be a friend, but too close to be a business partner. The way Kay dispensed his advice made him feel like an elder brother at time, and a father at other times. Yet, Kyren found Kay accepting and carrying out his instructions at times with the steady reliability of a stellar butler. It was a strange relationship that Kyren could not categorize anywhere, but what mattered most was that Kay was his savior and the person who had extended a helping hand to him when he had needed it most.

If there was ever a chance that Kyren returned to his family, he had every intention to bring Kay along. The man was a talent –and that itself was an understatement. Kay was one of the most capable person Kyren had ever seen, and if there was a ranking to be created based on his impression of the capability of others, he would easily put Kay on the same level as Keyron.

The sound of a girl's crying came to Kyren's attention as he strolled through the streets, and he slowed down in his steps, looking around for the source of the sound. In the street only sparsely populated in the late afternoon, it was not particularly difficult to find the girl responsible for the crying sitting on the sidewalk in front of a closed toy shop, hands covering her face as she sobbed terribly. From the small frame of the poor girl, Kyren could only think of his little sister, and though it was probably not the best idea to be approaching a stranger while he himself was not familiar with his own surroundings, Kyren crossed the road to approach her anyway.

"What's wrong?" He hoped his voice was gentle enough. He had played with his sister enough times to know how to affect the kind elder brother aura, after all. "Are you lost?"

"Yes, I'm lost! I can't find my big brothers!" She answered in a wail that jolted him.

"It's okay, don't cry." Kyren rushed to produce a handkerchief, but remembered at the last minute that he was no longer a young master of the Greaves-Crawford Household. Hoping that the little girl wouldn't mind, he stepped forwards closer with the hopes to wipe the tears escaping from the sides of her hands with the cuff of his sleeves. "Calm down, I will help you find them."

"I'm going to be all alone!" His attempt to calm her down did not seem to be working very well as the tears continued to spill and cries continued to come. "All my big brothers are going to leave me and I'm going to end up alone!"

"You're going to be fine. I'm sure they are desperately looking for you now. Dry your tears. You would want to meet them with a big smile instead of an ugly crying face, right?" Kyren wiped more tears again, looking around for any possible 'big brothers' running around searching for their lost sister. "Come on, show me your beautiful face without those tears."

The encouragement thankfully reaped some positive results as the girl finally removed her hands, wiping her face unceremoniously on the sleeves of her frilly dress before looking up with moist eyes and cheeks.

Bright blue eyes looked up at Kyren as he froze in the presence of such familiar beauty.

"Big brother..." Kaylen Greaves-Crawford tugged the corner of his shirt forlornly with a look of fear. "I'm scared of being alone."

The split moment in which Kyren spent in confusion over why his little sister did not seem to be able to recognize him passed in a quick moment as he stumbled upon the realization that he was –thankfully –still wearing his cap and sunglasses on his nose. Like how he had failed to recognize his sister's voice after one month spent apart, it appeared as if Kaylen had forgotten how his voice sounded as well.

"I-It's okay. You will be fine." Kyren looked around desperately again once more, now knowing exactly who to look out for. There were few people that Kaylen dubbed her big brothers, and since Kyren had been exiled for the past month, he was clearly not the one guilty of bringing her out of the Mansion and losing her in the middle of town. There were only two other possibilities of 'big brothers' bringing her out here.

"Will you bring me to big brothers Kylar and Kyvan?" Kaylen asked innocently, a true 9 year old girl who had grown up in the same sheltered and innocently trusting way that Kyren had been until one month ago.

Kyren figured that he must have truly spent the entire years' worth of luck having been the one who had approached Kaylen on the street instead of the many different types of people that he had met a month ago. His heart could only sour at the thought of what could have happened to his dear sister if he had been just a little later or -worse -had not decided to take a walk out of his shelter at all today.

"No worries, I will help you find Kylar and Kyvan." Kyren expressed sincerely, looking forward to meeting his butlers again. For some reason, his butlers had allowed their young mistress to be lost in the town alone, and Kyren was ready to hear some sort of explanation. As butlers having graduated from the Imperial Academy with proud golden coat of arms, the two of them had to have very good reasons why they had allowed their mistress to be put in such a situation of danger.

"Really? You are not going to bring me somewhere weird, right?" Kaylen's bright round eyes that instantly reminded Kyren of their mother shined up at him, and instincts as an elder brother rose immediately. Ever since Kaylen's birth, he had been taught by his parents, Keyron and his butlers to treat the young girl carefully and like the princess that she was. Kaylen had grown up bright, cheerful and bubbly, and Kyren had not wished for anything else for his little sister.

"I swear I won't bring you anywhere dangerous. Even if we cannot find your big brothers, I will get you home." Kyren promised, taking his sister's hand in his and giving an encouraging squeeze.

"No, I don't want to go home." Kaylen came to her feet with the help of Kyren's pull, but shook her head adamantly. "Big brothers Kylar and Kyvan sneaked out today to find my big brother Kyren. I wanted to follow them, but I got lost. I won't go home until I have found them and big brother Kyren."

Well, that explained why his butlers had not seemed to realize that their young mistress had escaped and gotten lost.

"Okay, I'll bring you to your big brothers then. Do you know where they will be? Did you hear anything about where they were intending to go?" While Kyren himself was not particularly familiar with the layout of the town, he had –at the very least –spent one entire week stumbling around the place trying to find food and a place to live. Granted, he had been fever-addled half that duration, but in all he had still spent much more time than his sister in this unfamiliar place.

"They said they were going to start searching from the town square." Kaylen seemed to gain a little confidence from having someone at her side as she bravely wiped the last remnants of tears from her cheeks and tightly grasped Kyren's hand. While there was still much to be said about his sister's sense of danger in trusting random strangers, Kyren was still silently glad that Kaylen had agreed to trust and rely on him instead of making a fuss and attracting all sorts of wrong attention.

Kyren made sure that his sister was fully calmed down while walking through a few streets in comfortable silence before he dared himself to ask.

"Kaylen, how did you sneak out of your house?"

"Mum called big brothers Kylar and Kyvan to her because she said she had instructions for them to run an errand in town, so they left me with Auntie Kiera. When I went to tell them goodbye, I overheard them talking about searching for big brother Kyren. I climbed into the trunk of their car and climbed out when the car stopped. I was going to return to the car if I couldn't find them, but when I went back, the car was gone!"

It made sense; the family driver had better things to do than to wait around for the two butlers to run their errands. Kylar and Kyvan could easily call for another driver to come pick them up once they were done with their errand, and they could be picked up anywhere as long as they had their phones with them. The same could not be said for the young mistress who had sneaked out without any preparations whatsoever.

Still, if Kaylen had overheard clearly that the twins were coming to town to look for him, Kyren figured that his butlers were not the type to give up easily and would probably still be around town trying to look for him. The chances of finding his butlers to take their young mistress home was still high. Kyren wasn't sure if he wanted to go home in his current state and leave behind Kay without a second word, but he was sure as hell that he wasn't going to let his little sister roam around, lost and alone, for a single minute more.

"Big brother, what is your name?"

Name? Kyren surely couldn't...

"My name is Kay." He blurted the answer before he could overthink the question. Besides, Kay had been pretty obvious in telling him that the name Kay was an alias –he had no idea what Kay's real name was. It was probably not considered identity theft if he was borrowing a fake name to use for his little sister.

"Kay? My name is Kaylen! Our names sound alike!"

"Right." Kyren nodded, hoping that his smile was convincing at the innocence of his little sister. "Let's get you to your big brothers."

And so, the two of them looked. Kyren managed to remember the route to the town square despite all odds, but there were no sign of his butlers anywhere. Figuring that Kylar and Kyvan might return to the town square once they were done with their errand and had given up on finding him, Kyren convinced his little sister to accompany him to wait for them there.

Assured that there would at least be someone with her during the wait, Kaylen had accepted his offer immediately, her spirits lifted up once again. Even Kyren could not resist the small smile at the sight of his sister's returned cheerfulness once again as she ran around in circles in the middle of the town square chasing a stray butterfly that had been unfortunate enough to catch Kaylen's attention.

His entertainment was shortly interrupted when Kaylen tripped over her own feet and fell splat on the ground. It was not too grave a fall, but when Kyren rushed to pick her up, the poor girl had tears ready to fall from her eyes and a chafed knee.

"You are brave not to cry, Kaylen." Kyren said as he helped her to her feet, hands on her arms to provide support.

"I cannot cry. My big brothers won't come back to me if I'm not a good girl." Kaylen declared despite the fact that her eyes were already moist. There was serious frown on her face that Kyren stifled a laugh at. It was the usual Kaylen face whenever she was holding back tears and struggling to put on her dignified young mistress persona.

Any words of encouragement or praise was cut short when Kyren found himself hit by a strong force that managed to throw him completely off his feet onto the floor. Taken completely by shock, Kyren cradled the side of his face that had borne the brunt of the blow as he –still blurred with shock –turned back to find a middle aged man with an impressive build standing beside his sister. The look on the man's face was not friendly at all.

"I recognize you. You're that scruffy homeless Hague boy from a month ago!" The man declared angrily, hand curled in a fist that was ready to let a second punch fly –this time with more force than the first.

"Kay!" Kaylen screamed in shock, trying her best to run to him, but was held back by the man.

"You don't want to get close to that boy, Little Missy. I recognize you from when you came with your dad to come visit my factory for an inspection. You are Miss Kaylen from the Greaves-Crawford Household, right?" The man's voice in addressing Kyren's little sister was gentle, and at the very least, Kyren was quietly glad that he did not have to worry about Kaylen's safety with this man.

"Let go of me! You hurt Kay! Kay helped me!" Kaylen was struggling futilely against their intruder, but the man clearly thought that the danger existed elsewhere.

"Sir, you have things all mistaken. I'm not-" Kyren began to say to even the situation, but he had learnt from a month ago that this town was deathly protective of the Greaves-Crawford Household. He had not known of this back when he had still been the young master of that very household, but now that he was being viewed as an enemy of his very own household, he could see very clearly the things he had failed to recognize back then.

"Enough with your lies. I thought you were done when we chased you out of here last month, but you have the guts to come back and harm the little missy of the Household. You really have a death wish, don't you, boy?" The man interrupted, stepping forwards with clearly not very friendly intentions now as Kyren scrambled quickly to his feet.

Even with his change of clothes and a shower, Kyren was surprised to find himself in the same situation as a month before. It was ridiculous; how could he possibly have been recognized?

And that was when he realized; the sunglasses had flown right off his face when he had received the first hit.

"I wasn't trying to harm Kaylen, I swear. She got lost by herself, and she was trying to find her butlers. I brought her here to wait for them." Kyren protested quickly, raising both hands, palms out while backing up to show that he meant no harm.

"Like hell I'm going to believe you, Hague Boy!"

"I am not affiliated to the Hague family!" Kyren begged, but they were increasingly beginning to attract more attention of the people around them, and Kyren absolutely did not wish for a repetition of the same situation as a month before. It had been nightmare inducing, and the strength of the sudden fear that gripped his heart was almost irrational.

"P-Please take care of Kaylen until she can find her butlers!" Kyren managed the shout before he spun on his feet, dashing before groceries or stones could begin flying towards him.

"Kay! Don't leave me alone! KAY!" Behind him, the sorrowful cries and wails of his poor sister chased him, but Kyren ran nonetheless.

The town was friendly towards anyone affiliated with the Greaves-Crawford Household, and someone could vouch of Kaylen's identity as the young mistress. That meant that as long as she stayed in the town square waiting, someone would watch over her until she was reunited with her family. The same could not be said for Kyren who had been adamantly mistaken to be a boy from the Hague family.

Kyren jerked his cap down as much as he could afford to so that it could cover most of his face, kept his head down and dashed. Somewhere in the middle of his run, Kyren's instincts told him that he had run past someone that held the silhouette of Kay. He could not slow down to confirm the facts, and thus kept his head down and dashed all the way home, praying that no angry mob would come after him ever again.