Chương 16: A Time To Rest

Hearing that, the first step was partially done. "While he's disposing the corpses, secure an inn for tonight," Isaac said, tossing his coin pouch to Nyx. "I got first sister a birthday gift for you, take as much money as needed to buy the inn out."

Nyx nodded, slightly tired from doing grunt work but got to it regardless. "Ya really run others ragged, not even a damn thank you?" He rolled his eyes, only for Isaac to glare.

"You've got blood on your cheek, clean it. You signed up for this." He retorted and felt Theia stir in her sleep, and had Nyx take her before shooing him away. "I won't be back until past three in the morning." He said while walking off.

"Clean the blood off ya before ya return to the room." Nyx teasingly yelled back, ignoring any passerby who even dared to listen. He was now stuck having to find an entire inn, with a baby in one hand, and a weapon in the other.

Still, he preferred this over talking to that woman in the shop. He watched the girl in his arm sleep peacefully, completely unaware of the recent attempts at her head. Isaac was possibly being a bit too protective buying an entire inn out, but it was better to be safe than stupid with her life.

He'd already written a note and set everything up for the past week for Isaac, going above and beyond, he definitely deserved this much desired break. Finding a nice inn, he dropped two gold coins, the owner immediately ready to kick out the other guests who had booked, fueled by extreme greed. He hated the Argyris family, but he had to admit, having this much power, influence, and money was useful.

"Make sure to write a note on the front of the inn's door, an Argyris is staying here tonight." He said, his normally accent and slang gone but instead replaced with the vocabulary of a noble. It annoyed him to no end to speak politely, but he was out in public.

Seeing the owner nod, he walked off to the highest floor and chose a random room, kicking off his shoes, he placed her between two pillows and laid on the bed, weapon thrown to a corner. "Ya gotta thank me when yer older, little eleventh," he said to himself, knowing she was asleep. "And yer brother too. Not everyone's willin' to do this." He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head.

He wondered if he were born outside the Argyris estate, would things be different for him? The same went for her and all the other children. He rolled on his stomach and watched her for a few minutes, just thinking about how much happier children must be not knowing the crimes the Argyris family has done. He knew she'd have to grow strong and get exposed to the family some day, but for now he preferred this.

As she stirred, she found herself looking up at a ceiling, her back on a bed with pillows beside her. Turning her head and attempting to roll, she saw Nyx staring directly at her. She was still waking up from her nap, but nearly had a heart attack from seeing him. All she remembered was being in a carriage.

"Abu!" She called out, stretching her arms towards him as she wanted to be picked up and stretched. Getting the message, the frown she saw on his face instantly subsided and was replaced with his normal smile, sitting up and standing her on his leg, his arms playing with her little ones.

"So jealous Isaac got a cute younger sister, Lady Cyrille's genes are damn mazin'." He sighed dramatically as he raised her arms at while she tried walking her feet on his leg.

While he was gushing, she wondered if she'd be able to walk soon. At her age, she couldn't walk yet but at least managed to roll over, and crawl a little bit, she'd need to practice more while she was awake, the sooner she could, the better.

Moving her feet the edge of his knee, she found herself pulled back to the starting point, great exercise. "My younger brother won't even let ya touch em' with a ten foot spear," He sighed, relishing in the fact he got to play with a normal child. "Can't wait to kill 'em." He casually said, taking her a bit off guard but she recovered.

She had no idea what made her safe compared to his actual brother from the same mother, but she didn't question the fact. "Donu." She tried to say down, wanting to try and stand on the floor rather than his lap. If he was going to enable her, she would use him.

Unfortunately he didn't get the memo and instead sat her on his thigh and began squishing her cheeks and commenting how soft they were. She tried to crawl off many times, only for him to laugh and say she woke up with a lot of energy… being a baby was a bit too restricting, she thought.

"If Isaac were a livin' doll, maybe ya would be a rabbit?" He commented, pulling on the ribbon in her hair which resembled two rabbit ears. She didn't like the sound of that, being called prey, but he decided with a satisfied nod that in fact, she was.

Now that she thought about it, she always did have a ribbon in her hair, she didn't recall the original Theia ever wearing ribbons, though. Perhaps it was just a small baby phase, nothing more. "That's it!" Nyx yelled out, jumping to his feet so quickly she felt like she was seeing stars.

Walking over to his weapon, he picked it up and placed her on the bed for a moment, fixing his clothes and checking the coins as she watched him. He dusted off his shorts and shirt, fixing the ribbons and attaching a brooch after multiple minutes of fumbling with the frilly sleeves.

Tightening his hair tie, he finished, turning towards his weapon and picking it up, then taking her with his free hand. For the first time, she saw the brooch clearly, a gorgeous phoenix with different gems, but large wings in a graceful pose. If she were correct, the crest of the Argyris family were a bird, more specifically, the phoenix. "Even if you kill me, I'll come back to life with fire of revenge coursing through my veins like a phoenix." she believed was something an Argyris said in the novel.

Snapping out of her daze, Nyx begun walking towards the door. "Yer brother never said to sit pretty! Let's go explorin'." He exclaimed, bursting the door open and heading out.