"Hold your head up; you don''t have to apologize like that," the voice so maic, like a spring breeze, rang through the room, bringing all the gossip to a direct halt.


    She straighted her posture. "Thank you so much" she thanked, staring at Theos'' face.


    ''He''s smiling at me!'' she mtally shouted, her bright eyes fixed on Theos'' smile.


    Like Teressa, Nora had never once se Theos smile at her, so seeing his smile, though very slight, she saw the natural radiance and beauty of that smile.


    "You mustn''t thank me," he said politely, making Nora''s heart pound.


    "Ah... Yes, Happy Birthday, brother," she congratted aftering out of her shock, causing each of the guests to react as well.


    No one had congratted him directly!


    They had prested their congrattions to Theos'' parts but  directly to Theos; his dazzling appearance made everyone forget to congratte him, and th n made a sce, making everyone forget.


    "Oh, yes, Happy Birthday!"


    "Congrattions to the heir to the Fall family! I hope you continue to have more birthdays!"


    "Yes, congrattions, may prosperity and the gods be with you!"


    Each of the guests began to congratte Theos, who didn''t care to answer him. What for? They had missed to congratte him, so it was tasteful to pass on answering him.


    But there was one exception.


    "Thank you, Nora," he thanked sincerely, Walking away with Luna to go up to the second floor.


    Nora stood there with a big smile on her face. ''Hahaha, I''ve already improved our rtionship a lot... Awesome!'', she mtally congratted herself, feeling extremely happy.


    Pitifully, as she looked a, she couldn''t find anyone to chat with; Eleanor was nowhere to be se. In a corner, n was eating, mumbled to himself, but she already considered him a lot, so she didn''t approach him.


    The other nobles didn''t represt much either; they all treated them out of interest, but on closer inspection, she saw two girls with gre hair and pointed ears who recognized her immediately.


    ...


    Arriving on the second floor, the two walked a little further into a hallway full of rooms, where they met a guard.


    "What is your wish, Your Majesty?" the guard recognized him instantly, causing Theos to nod.


    "Lead me to where my father is located," he ordered, causing the guard to nod.


    Guided by the guard, Theos and Luna walked together until they arrived in front of a door, an ordinary room, causing Theos to raise an eyebrow. "He''s here?" he asked, making him hard to believe.


    "Yes, young sir, our lord is currtly here, in one of the private rooms of the pce," the guard exined, causing Theos to nod.


    "Okay, you may go," with these words, the guard left siltly.


    "He is of Master Rank, but he respects you quite a bit, the loyalty to your family shows," Luna spoke briefly in awe after watching the guard walk away.


    "It''s obvious; I trained since birth to be loyal to our family," turning to look at Luna, Theos continued his exnation.


    "You see, mostly our family recruits orphaned childr with pretty dect talt, sometimes ev recruiting pregnant wom so their child can be born and serve the family. Everyone gets paid, we''re not freaks either, so the guards are quite satisfied."


    Luna''s  eyes wided with astonishmt at learning such privileged information. "Oh, I see, now I understand."


    Smiling confidtly, he moved a little closer to Luna. "Now, how do you n to pay for my information?" he asked, causing Luna to blush with embarrassmt.


    "What do you mean?", her gnatty voice was barely audible, trying to hide from Theos but being useless, she was trapped.


    "Nothing, I just want to know why your father nor mother are here," with amusemt, Theos stopped and decided to ask something that was constantly rolling a in his head.


    Despite Theos'' teasing, Luna''s blush disappeared immediately upon hearing Theos'' question, making her feel a little depressed.


    "My parts... They''re quite ill; rectly, they''ve both be in bed with coughs, flu, and a very high fever," she said with deep sadness, sighing. "Mostly, I take care of them, but today, with your birthday and so on, I left them in the care of the maids, who, honestly speaking, are better than me with that; after all, they have received training."


    Her words contained her deep regret and sadness, causing Theos tofort her by patting her on the head. "Don''t worry, everything will be fine... I''ll help you heal them," he assured her, making Luna shake her head.


    "No, it''s like some kind of curse; not ev healing potions have be able to cure it. We''ve tried to resort to the priests, but for some reason, they didn''t want to visit my parts," the exnation of a decayed Luna made Theos frown deeply.


    ''This is extremely strange... By now, Luna''s parts should have be cured naturally, but now it''s not just any fever, but a curse...'' he thought with a bad feeling in his heart.


    ''This is not a butterfly effect; I didn''t do anything for them to reach that one as if that wasn''t ough; they should have be sick since before I traveled to this world... I know this isn''t the novel, but these sudd changes make me think...''


    Theos swallowed saliva at the thought of just one possibility. ''There is someone like me in this world,'' he concluded, feeling a little strange, nervous, but also... Moved and amused.


    Now everything would be more interesting! Honestly, he felt a bit bored if everything would be as he imagined, everything would go ording to his ns, but with this discovery, he could feel a thrill he had never felt before.


    But with it, also came his alertness. They could no longer be careless, so every move counted now.


    ''I must be more powerful, faster than I had thought,'' he concluded, resolving to increase his already rapid growth.


    With this new resolve, Theos was about to respond to Luna''s words, but a shout interrupted him.


    "You''re here!"


    ~