Chapter 330| Beneath The Wolf’s Roof
Dinner in the Sudrath family dining hall that evening should have proceeded as normally as ever.
Two seats remained conspicuously empty at the head of the table—belonging to King Lucian and Rumina, who were currently managing diplomatic affairs in Frostmere. The rest of the family was fully present. Aurelia, Riven, Elena, Raveena, and of course, Raphael.
In the center of the teakwood table, a massive bowl of creamy chicken soup wafted thick, mouth-watering steam. The rich aroma blended flawlessly with freshly baked whole-wheat bread and the sharp, spicy kick of their signature chili relish.
However, that peaceful domesticity was abruptly shattered the moment Raveena set down her spoon.
"By the way, Raphael," Raveena called out. His older sister’s voice flowed flawlessly sweet. Far too sweet for something that wasn’t lacing a deadly poison. "I heard some very... interesting information today."
Raphael’s back instinctively went rigid. His jaw muscles tightened. "I have absolutely zero interest in hearing it, Sister."
"Oh, really?" Raveena rested her chin on the palm of her hand, carving a lethal smirk. "Even though this information is about someone... very special?"
Gulp. Raphael swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat.
"Someone who happens to be wearing a new light-blue blouse today," Raveena continued in a teasing lilt. "With messy brown hair tied in a ponytail, and who just so happens to be... incredibly gifted at controlling root magic."
Hearing this, Aurelia paused slicing her bread and lifted her gaze. The Duchess’s eyes sparkled with motherly enthusiasm. "Oh? What did Elodie ask you today, Raveena?"
"Just a very innocent, tiny question, Mother," Raveena glanced at her little brother from the corner of her eye. "The sweet girl asked for my explanation regarding the meaning of the word... ’girlfriend’."
CLANG!
The silver spoon slipped from Raphael’s grip, crashing harshly against his ceramic bowl.
Instantly, the blood in the youngest prince’s body seemed to rush straight upward, boiling his face and both ears until they were as crimson as a boiled crab.
Raveena smiled in absolute triumph. "It seems someone was reckless enough to throw that word at her and successfully confused her half to death. And I presume... the foolish boy didn’t even bother explaining what it meant before he bolted like a scared rabbit."
"I didn’t run away!!" Raphael snapped instinctively, his voice cracking at an embarrassingly high pitch.
"Oh? So you’re admitting it right here at the dinner table?" Raveena raised an eyebrow. "You were the one who fired that word at her?"
Raphael froze. The young man’s mouth opened, then closed silently. Opened again, and closed again, exactly like a goldfish running out of oxygen on dry land. He had just dug his own grave.
Swoosh. Riven slowly set his water glass down on the table.
"So, you’ve finally decided to roll the dice, huh." The Grand General’s voice sounded incredibly flat and dry, yet undeniably lethal.
"I-I... t-that’s... it’s not like..." Raphael stammered, his eyes darting wildly in search of an escape route.
"Good. That means your guts are way bigger than mine were," Riven continued casually, ruthlessly cutting off his brother’s excuses. "It took me ages to muster the courage to confess my feelings to Elena."
COUGH!
Elena, who was in the middle of swallowing her soup, choked violently. She glared at her husband, her face flushing a deep red. "Riven! Please keep my name out of this!"
"That was a sincere compliment for my little brother’s bravery, Darling," Riven replied innocently.
"That wasn’t a compliment at all, Brother! That was a catastrophically humiliating disgrace!!" Raphael roared in sheer frustration, burying his crimson face entirely behind both hands.
Seeing his uncle shouting while covering his face, Kaelven—who was barely a year and a half old—suddenly got excited. The black-haired toddler started banging the edge of the table with his little wooden spoon. Clack! Clack! Clack!
"Raphy! Raphy shy!! Hahaha!" Kaelven squealed gleefully in his toddler lisp.
"Baby, hey, don’t throw your spoon, it might hit someone’s eye," Elena scolded in a panic, hurriedly grabbing the wrists of her overly excited son.
"Raphy mad! Raphy mad!!" Kaelven babbled, uncaring, his little legs kicking the air beneath his high chair.
Aurelia could only let out an elegant, quiet chuckle behind her white napkin. The mother looked at her youngest son with a tender, deeply affectionate gaze. "Raphael, dear. There is nothing to hide or be ashamed of. I have anticipated this exact scenario since the very first second you dragged that girl into the castle."
"I seriously want to march to the civil registry and change my name tomorrow," Raphael groaned from behind his palms, his voice muffled. "Or move out. Or if necessary, I want to move to another continent tonight."
"Another continent is a bit too far of a commute, little brother," Riven stated deadpan. "Besides, you still have to finish your high school grades here."
Raphael peeked through the gaps in his fingers, giving his family a pitiful glare. "I swear by the Goddess, I absolutely despise all of you tonight."
"Of course you hate us," Raveena propped her chin up with an obnoxiously cheerful smile. "And that just means... you love this family very much."
Light, warm laughter finally erupted, filling every corner of the dining room. The sound of Kaelven’s squealing giggles dominated the space.
Raphael kept his red face buried against the table. But hidden behind his calloused palms... the corners of the young man’s lips were slowly pulling upward. Carving a faint smile he simply couldn’t hide.
One hour later, inside Raphael’s bedroom.
The room was pitch black, illuminated only by the silver refraction of moonlight piercing through the gaps in the glass window.
Click. Raphael stepped inside, shutting the door tightly behind him. He kicked off his shoes haphazardly, then dropped his exhausted body flat onto the mattress. Thud.
Haaaaah... A long, heavily burdened breath escaped his nose.
His right hand fumbled over the wooden nightstand beside the bed, grabbing an object. A mechanical puzzle. A palm-sized metal cube that was a birthday gift from his older brother, Rianor.
The engraved mana circuits on the cube’s surface were unlit. Inside the cube lay a micro-sized gear that could only be unlocked and removed if the outer metal panels were shifted in a highly specific logarithmic sequence.
Raphael’s fingers began shifting the cold panels with incredibly slow, disinterested movements. Click... slide... click... He wasn’t actually trying to focus his brain on solving the puzzle. The prince purely needed something—anything at all—to keep his hands busy.
His internal thoughts were spiraling wildly out of control. Stranded back at the dinner table. Remembering the echo of Raveena’s teasing laugh. Remembering Riven’s deadpan jab.
And most agonizing of all... the image of Elodie’s face.
Why had he been so stupid to throw the word ’girlfriend’ at an innocent girl who hadn’t even heard of it in her world? Why did Elodie have to run out of the classroom in a panic today? And most importantly... tomorrow morning, they were definitely going to cross paths at the school gates again. Damn it. What kind of sentence am I supposed to use as an excuse tomorrow morning?!
Click. The movement of the puzzle in his hands stopped. Raphael placed the metal cube onto his rising and falling chest. He squeezed his eyes shut.
Knock. Knock.
The sound of a soft tap from outside his door abruptly broke the room’s silence.
"Raphael? Are you still awake in there?"
It was Raveena’s voice.
Raphael didn’t shift an inch from his position on the bed. His eyes remained closed. "Go away. I still hate you because of what happened at the dinner table."
Click. The door handle was pressed down. "I’m coming in."
Raveena stepped slowly into the dimly lit room. She closed the door silently behind her.
This time, there was not a single trace of a triumphant smirk or mischievous gleam on his older sister’s beautiful face. Raveena’s expression looked extraordinarily serious and dim.
The woman walked closer, then took a seat on the edge of Raphael’s bed.
"I’m sorry."
Hearing that highly unusual tone of voice, Raphael opened his eyes and lifted his head slightly from the pillow. "For which sin? For successfully humiliating me, or for thoroughly enjoying every single second of my suffering earlier?"
"For all of it," Raveena sighed softly, bowing her head. "I know my teasing went way overboard. But honestly... seeing your face turn that panicky shade of red was simply too funny to pass up."
Raphael snorted quietly. Hmph. "Thank you very much for your fake empathy, Sister. What you just said truly succeeded in making me feel so much better."
Raveena let out a small chuckle at her brother’s sarcasm. But the next second, her features hardened back into absolute seriousness.
"I am not joking around right now, Raphael. This is about Elodie," Raveena said, looking straight into her brother’s eyes under the shower of moonlight. "I am one hundred percent rooting for you to be with her."
Raphael fell silent again. He dropped his head back onto the pillow, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"She is an incredibly, remarkably kind girl," Raveena continued in a soft tone. "I see her growth every single day in my class. The girl is a hard worker. Her hands get dirty with mud, but she refuses to surrender. And most importantly... she cares very, very deeply about you."
"Cares so much that she didn’t even know what the word ’girlfriend’ meant until you had to explain it yourself," Raphael shot back bitterly.
"Ah! But that is exactly the most important point, Raphael!" Raveena leaned forward. "She doesn’t know anything about romance, yes. But she cared enough about you to swallow her embarrassment and seek out the truth! She braved the humiliation to ask me the meaning of that word directly, my foolish brother. She dared to ask because she desperately wanted to understand what was going through your head!"
Raphael was struck mute. His tongue felt numb.
"So... please don’t back down and give up now," Raveena gently rubbed her brother’s arm. "You’ve already managed to do the hardest part for a man. You’ve voiced what is in your heart. Now... just give the girl a little time and space to process her own feelings."
Raphael remained silent for a long time. Only the ticking of the wall clock filled the void.
"...Are you serious, Sister?"
"I am very, very serious."
Raphael slowly turned his head, staring deeply into his sister’s eyes. "Thank you, Raveena."
"You are welcome, my dear brother." Raveena gave his knee a gentle pat. The older sister then drew a heavy breath, her eyes radiating hesitation. "Now... in turn... would it be alright if I vented to you for a second?"
Hearing the drastic shift in her tone, Raphael instinctively pushed himself up. He sat leaning against the wooden headboard. The metal puzzle slid off his chest and onto the blanket.
"You? Wanting to vent? To me?" Raphael asked, one eyebrow raised in sheer bewilderment.
"Well, since you happen to be the only resident of this castle who is still awake."
"Brother Riven is definitely still awake at this hour."
"He’s busy trying to put a fussy Kaelven to sleep. And I don’t have the heart to disturb Elena’s resting hours," Raveena explained, lowering her face.
Raveena’s slender fingers began to fidget restlessly, wringing the cuffs of her nightgown. An agonizingly suffocating stretch of silence hung in the air for several seconds.
"You... you already know about King Edward’s health condition, right? Caelus’s biological father."
Raphael narrowed his eyes. "I know. What about him?"
"His mysterious illness... is growing worse by the day." Raveena bit her lower lip to suppress a tremble. "This afternoon... Caelus just received an emergency dispatch from Sol-Regis. He is being summoned. He has to return to the Capital of Sol-Regis. Immediately."
Raphael froze. He didn’t interrupt, choosing to remain silent and wait for his sister to continue.
"And I..." A single teardrop escaped the corner of Raveena’s eye, falling onto the blanket. "...I am completely lost and don’t know what to do. I have to go back there with him to be by his side, right? As a partner who promised to stand with him. But... but my work, my duties are here!"
Raveena pulled at her hair in frustration. "Seruni Academy... my students in class... and Northreach is the only home I have! My brain feels like it’s going to shatter."
The bedroom fell back into the embrace of silence.
Not a single word of response fell from Raphael’s lips. There was only the rhythmic ticking of the clock on the wall. Tick... tock... tick... tock...
Raphael chose to keep his mouth tightly sealed. Not because he was selfish or didn’t care about his older sister’s fate. But rather because the young man was keenly aware that there was not a single wise quote or magical answer he could offer tonight.
This wasn’t one of Sergeant Garon’s military tactical chess boards that could be solved by calculating pawn sacrifices. This was an absolute dilemma of the heart and his sister’s sacred vows.
So Raphael simply stayed silent. He leaned forward, listening to the rest of Raveena’s sobs without judgment, and allowed his physical presence to become a pillar of support for his bewildered sister.
And for Raveena on that night... being accompanied by her youngest brother in the comforting silence... that alone felt like more than enough.
The night rolled on unyieldingly, swallowing time across the Northern lands.
Inside that dim, moonlit room, the siblings sat side-by-side in silence. Enclosed by the long shadows of the window frame printed across the floor tiles.
No pearls of wisdom were spoken. No magical solutions suddenly fell from the sky to resolve their dilemmas. There was only a presence. A warm companionship that strengthened each other’s shoulders.
And beneath the sturdy protection of the Wolf’s Roof that night... everything felt just perfectly enough.