Chapter 271: The Right Choice (Han)


    Han ate slowly and pretended to savor the foodbecause what else was he supposed to do when some Lady came out of nowhere and wanted him to leave with her? He was buying himself some time and deciding on what to do. He really coulde with her and maybe convince the Crowel House to get him a tutor and perhaps do some solo-leveling.


    The idea of an extravagant life in this world offered itself to him, and it was easy enough to get caught in the reverie.


    Except Han was pretty sure that he was not rted to this woman. He might have been willing to fall into a delusionbut he experienced no ss change. The ss he still held with him was Peasant and it hadn''t changed even when the Lady said he was rted to her. That meant that she was wrong in her assessment when she first saw him.


    The same would ur for the old man that chased him down.


    What had made them think otherwise?


    He could easily ask the Lady in front of him, couldn''t he? Lady Andromeda Crowel was eating a filet mignon in front of him. She actually had a te filled to the brim now. The woman took a bite and so did the bird that so happened to be with her which was another question of itself. But there was no time for that. He was no Sherlock Holmes, so there was nothing wrong with asking, right?


    Until his gaze settled on the ne hanging around her neckit matched the one that he had in his pocket. Timothy''s memento that hade from his mother and which the man used to loan enough money to apany him to Kraelonia Academy. Was that all there was to it?


    He acted calm, and yet the revtion shook him.


    "Not me." Of course, that made sense. All the clues were therethe man''s mana pool and even his mother having real gold with her. Maybe it was the looks that were enough to catch the attention of Lady Primrose and perhaps of other women too? Could one tell it from the way that Timothy acted standoffish?


    It was a nature versus nurture debate right there.


    Well, it didn''t matter to him. Han stuck his hand into his pocket and took note of thefortable and cold sensation of the memento in his hand All he needed to do was take it out and then the misidentification would be over.


    That was all there was to it, and yet he hesitated. He couldn''t pull his hand out right now and dere that he wasn''t her brother, and it was all a case of a mistaken identity. But why, though? Both Timothy, the woman in front of him and their father deserved to know of the truth, didn''t they?


    Who knew how much suffering that this family had to do to find him?


    He couldn''t tell exactly. He had no ability to look into other people''s personal lives and have it allid out in front of himwhat if this family had some kind of evil reason for wanting to seek a half-Noble? It was what had made him hesitant. There was to be no such thing as joyful reunions between families, only more suffering.


    Maybe it was just Han Jing thinking about it very darkly and yet he couldn''t exactly trust aplete stranger who might have had another agenda at work. Was this really just a father searching for his lost son?


    It was too good to be true.


    Especially when he couldn''t trust a woman who didn''t know how to tell the difference between a brother and someone who had the memento in their hands. If someone else were to have this, then would that mean


    "You seem to be caught in your thoughts, Han, and staring at me intently. What is the matter?" Lady Andromeda ced her utensils down when he hadn''t even finished hisshe was probably eager to leave this ce and get her to their father.


    Or perhaps have him killed?


    There was a certain way in how her one purple looked at him like he was nothing. Perhaps now it made sense why this Lady was unable to find Timothy when she didn''t even seem to have the capacity to feel a familiarity with her supposed sibling. She was straight to the point.


    "I usually don''t have to repeat myself twice, but is there something wrong?"


    Han felt his jaw twitch lightly, and he stared at her, "How does it feel for you now that you''ve met your brother for the first time?"


    "Half-brother." She even corrected him at a time like this. Lady Andromeda pulled up a napkin and dabbed her lips, "I will be frank with you that I do not feel anything in particr with you. Perhaps I was expecting more anger to fuel my blood and where I''ll feel the need to be upset in seeing you or perhaps it might have been the exact opposite? Maybe a certain fondness would ur. But I do not particrly feel anything for you, and perhaps that is good."


    Ouch.


    Maybe it was because she was talking with Han? He really was just awkward with her, even more now that he was actively masquerading as her brother. But if she talked that way to Timothy he didn''t like the idea of that happening at all. Timothy just lost his mother and the only family he had now was turning him away? Was she really this callous?


    He didn''t like it.


    Not at all.


    What would Timothy do if he was in his proper ce now? He jerked his head to the right and saw the young man walking out of this ce with Sir Leon de Harrington and Donovan. How much of a chance was it that he just happened to be here in the dining hall? It was lunchtime, no doubt.


    But when was Timothy even in talking terms with the Noble?


    "You''re easily distracted by little things."


    Han nced back at her, "Those were my friends who left. I can''t just leave them here toe with you." He needed to tell her the truth, but all he did was digging himself deeper into a trench of liesit was so easy to just pull out the pendant of Timothy''s mother and exin how stupid it was that this world didn''t have some kind of DNA testing to check.


    But was he doing a good thing by holding the information back?


    "Friends." she said, her gaze focused on the three young men that left and returned to him. "... one of those was a Harrington boy. He is a friend of yours?"


    Nobles knew other Nobles.


    But the mere fact that she could tell by a singr nce was enough to make him a tad nervous paired with the intense gaze she was giving him. "What about it?" he asked.


    "Perhaps you are capable of being a Lord." a smile curled on her lips and she rubbed the head of her bird. "Rtionships are something that can breathe life into the Nobility''s life. A murder of crows can still overwhelm a lone hunter."


    Well, the Wood Elf told him to be a King too, so that wasn''t exactly out of his to-do-liswas what he wanted to say, but he didn''t think it woulde to that. Neither would he actually be a Lord unless he married into a family or something, and those were just things he didn''t want to hear about let Han shoot a fireball once and he''d be satisfied.


    At least temporarily.


    Hepletely ignored the flock of crow metaphor she said for his own sanity.


    Lady Andromeda wasn''t finished though."The test of this friendship''s strength will alsoe to pass once he hears of your affiliation to the Crowel House. I hope it can withstand it, young Han. I suppose one can consider this an actual yardstick to how you can connect with other people."


    What the heck did the Crowel House do to be on bad terms with the Harrington House?


    It was another thing he wanted to saybut the Lady came along with apany of hunters, and that meant he couldn''t just p her out of nowhere. Not that he would. But like it was still a pretty damn mean thing to say. Did she think she could get away because she thought that they were siblings?


    Half-siblings, if she wanted to be meticulous about it.


    "Hahh" Han scratched the back of his head and finally pushed back his chair. He stood up and gave her a look. The man fished out the ne from his pocket and dropped it onto the table. "This is what you detected that made you believe that I was your brother, am I right?" He couldn''t keep pretending to be her brother, whether it would be a good or bad thing.


    "Made me believe" her eyes narrowed at him. "You''ve been lying all this time that you were my brother?"


    "I never said I was your brother,dy." Han corrected her.


    He expected her to fume,sh out in anger and suchbut she onlyughed and then wiped one of her eyes. "My, my an Actor are you?" Her gaze settled on him, "I suppose I have to thank you for your honesty, I have failed to procure the necessary Healers to confirm that you are rted to me. But perhaps I might have forgotten it along the way if you didn''t even mention itGesth was positive that only his daughter''s son, his grandson, would keep it with him. But of course, some people fail your expectations. How did youe across this?"