NOVPUB
Chapter 32 - Shameless
After getting an earful from his mom for yet another misunderstanding, Kai went to his sister and pinched her cheeks in annoyance.
Nana naturally slapped her brother's hands away, annoyed that her happy time with the wolf had been interrupted over something unimportant.
"Do you want to ride it with me?" Nana asked Viona, noticing the girl in her mom's arms watching with an eager expression.
Viona hesitated and looked at her older sister and Kai from time to time because she had been warned by Vanya that she needed to be extremely polite and never ever make any trouble when they were with Kai.
Before Kai could respond to the girl's anxious looks, Liora suddenly said, "Don't be afraid of him. Do whatever you like. If he dares scold you, just tell Auntie Liora, okay?"
She continued, gently settling Viona behind Nana, "But be careful when you play with Nana—her legs are paralyzed, so she can't move them."
"Viona understands," the girl said, then hugged Nana and the wolf together, making sure Nana wouldn't fall.
"From now on, you can just play around with Nana, okay?" Liora petted Viona's head softly, feeling pity that she had already been thinking about how to make money and help her older sister when she was supposed to play around as a kid.
"But..." Viona was genuinely happy for a second before she remembered her situation.
"No—but!" Liora flicked her forehead softly and said, " Don't worry about money. I'll pay you double—no, triple the money you earned before if you accompany Nana and play with her every everyday."
"Really?" Viona exclaimed, opening her eyes widely as she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.
"Of course!" Liora chuckled.
"Where do you live? Is it far from here?" Viona asked, assuming she'd need to visit daily.
Liora laughed for a while before pinching her cheek softly. "Silly girl, you don't need to think about it since you will live with us from now on, okay?"
She added, "You'll be much safer with us. There are dangerous monsters outside, and it's risky if you're not strong. Do you understand?"
Viona nodded. "Hmm... but what about my sister? She'll come too, right?"
"Naturally," Liora replied with a smile.
"This..." Vanya hesitated for a few seconds.
Kai immediately waved his hand dismissively when he noticed a cold gaze from his mom. "It's alright, you can follow us. I'll find you a job later when I'm free, don't worry too much."
Truth be told, Kai had already planned to let Vanya and her little sister as he thought that Vanya could become Nana's friend since they were similar in age.
...
After chatting for a while, they set out again to the east. This time Cedric sat atop the truck beside Kai, while the two little girls and Vanya were riding on the Darkfang Wolf since Nana was very adamant in doing so.
On the way there, there was basically no trouble since even if there was any, they quickly got taken care of by the Goblin Commander and the others.
When they had already gone quite far, Kai asked Cedric a weird question. "By any chance, do you know where the Celestine Apartment is?"
Cedric frowned at him for a moment, then laughed, slapping his forehead. "Don't tell me you don't know where it is."
Before Kai could respond, Liora shouted. "Stop!"
Sigh!
"How could I forget this guy doesn't know anywhere except for some places?" Liora slapped her forehead.
"Mom, how can you say that to your son? I know where the bank and ice cream places are!" Kai said in annoyance.
"Yeah, those are included in the 'some places' that I've mentioned. Why else would you skip the bank nearer our house and go all the way to one off the main road?" Liora sneered.
"Hmmph! It's because the bank that's near the central city is bigger!" Kai snorted in disagreement.
"What about the closer ice-cream shop that's easier to reach?" Liora asked, amused.
"That one always gives bigger portions, right, Nana?" Kai replied.
Nana chimed in, "Brother Kai is right. I always get more ice cream whenever we go there."
"See that?" Kai sneered back.
"Get lost, Kai! That's because you always buy her two ice creams instead of one. There's no such thing as that shop gives more portions!" Liora replied with an annoyed expression as if she was about to get out of the truck and scolded him really badly.
"..."
Everyone was speechless but didn't dare to laugh except for Cedric, Darius, Uncle Liam, and Luca.
"Anyway, that's not important. We need to go to the Celestine Apartment as soon as possible." Kai changed the topic and nudged at Cedric using his full strength.
Bam!
Cedric blocked it with a helpless expression. 'This young man is really something else.'
"We already passed the intersection where we should've turned north. The apartment isn't far from there," Cedric explained, shaking his head. "When we passed it, I thought you had a reason—turns out you didn't even know the place."
Cough!
Kai coughed and looked around. "What was that loud sound a few seconds ago? There must have been someone fighting against the others!"
He continued, "Go search the surroundings to see if there are people fighting and help them!" 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
"..."
Everyone was speechless again when they heard Kai shamelessly changed the topic by spouting such nonsense since the source of the sound was literally from him attacking Cedric.
"Let's head back right away since I've gathered enough subordinates." Kai shook his head and continued. "You guys really don't know the responsibility of the leader, where they need to put everyone's safety. That's why I deliberately went further because I need to gather more subordinates while helping people in need."
Nana chimed in again, "But didn't you say we should prioritize ourselves first? Why help others now?"
Kai gritted his teeth, glaring at her little sister and raised his fist as if he wanted to knock her head. "Nana, ask Mom for ice cream from now on—don't come to me."
Realizing her mistake, Nana nodded vigorously. "Brother Kai is right! People don't understand a true leader's responsibility."
"..."
"That's enough, you two!" Liora has had enough, looking at her precious little princess has gone astray because of Kai.
Sigh!
Kai sighed and looked above. "The sunset is beautiful, isn't it?"
"..."
'The time hasn't even passed the afternoon yet, how can it be sunset already?'
Everyone thought to themselves when they heard Kai's words.
