Reincarnated in the Royal Family with a Plunder System-Chapter 38: Crying?

Ryan walked like a zombie through the palace corridors. His back was slumped, his face a bit gloomy.

The interaction with Eleanor had brightened his mood significantly. To know that someone so powerful, someone who he had always considered an enemy, was someone who was actually his greatest of allies—it was comforting.

But that didn’t completely fix Ryan’s mood.

He felt very wan.

The whole thing with his mother made him feel incredibly complicated. It was a mess. And Ryan was not familiar with such deep, unknown emotions. He was not used to being so torn.

He saw a maid walking with a tray full of wine.

Ryan had the urge to pick a cup and drink, but he restrained himself. If he touched alcohol, Seraphina would kill him.

"Hey, miss," he called out to the maid.

She paused. "Yes, your highness."

"Did you see Kaelith or Lady Seraphina? You work on the same block as Kaelith, right?"

"Ah, are you talking about the shy girl with freckles?"

"Yeah, definitely that one."

"She must be in the personal maid meeting right now."

"What on earth is that again?"

"Your highness, Kaelith is a personal maid for a prince and that comes with a lot of responsibilities. So, all the personal maids in the palace came up with a meeting to learn from each other. They talk about their experiences and life in general."

"Oh interesting. Where is that happening?"

"In the Pillar 4 region of the palace."

The palace was a giant world of its own. And you had to use the Pillars as landmarks inside to track your location. He himself was currently in the Pillar 7 region of the palace.

"Pillar 4... That would be to the left from the main kitchen right?"

"Yes, your highness."

"Okay thanks, you can return to your duties."

Ryan soon walked through the corridors again, this time with direction in mind. In about ten minutes, he saw a giant pillar with "4" written boldly on it in Mugen Numerals.

He noticed a few maids walking in and out of a room by the distance. Ryan quickly walked over and sneaked his head into a window to get a look.

Damn, so many maids.

The whole big room was full of maids engaged in chatter. And most of them were beautiful women. Yet, Ryan was proud to know that he didn’t find any of them very interesting.

The women around him had increased his standards.

Kaelith... where is Kaelith?

"Your Highness, are you looking for someone?"

"Yes, Kaelith. Short girl, freckles, shy, and silent. Also very cute. To the point of adorable."

The maid who had asked became a bit worried. "A person meeting that profile just checked out ten minutes ago. She went that way." She pointed in a direction. "I remember her because she was crying."

Ryan frowned. "Crying, why?"

Why would Kaeli cry? Did some fucker bully her?!

"I... do not know the specifics but word has it that someone said mean things about her."

Ryan nodded, then without bothering the maid, he went in the direction she pointed.

Just the thought of it made Ryan’s blood boil. Not to mention his mood was already bad. His pace quickened, pushing past rushing maids and lingering little prince-boys.

He ignored all the noise as he moved, soon reaching an isolated area with nearly no one at sight. Huddled to a corner, a small figure in simple white clothes trembled.

Ryan walked upto her.

"Kaelith," he called. "Are you alright?"

She looked up, and seeing him, sniffed. Then, she quickly rubbed her eyes clean.

"...Ryan, I didn’t expect you here."

"And I didn’t expect to see you hiding and crying either."

"..."

Ryan placed a hand on her cheek, clearing away her tears with a thumb. She looked up at him with even redder eyes.

"What happened, Kael?"

"...nothing, Ryan. This is my problem."

"Your problem my ass. You are my problem so anything that’s your problem is my problem. Which bastardess tried to bully you?"

She placed a hand on his chest. Her eyes reddened even further. Then, she leaned on his chest and began crying in sobs.

"They said I sold my body to you to bewitch you," she said through sobs. "That I have it so good because I am a... a bitch. This one maid even said that everyone should learn from me... and..." she began just crying.

Ryan just hugged her head into his chest, then took a deep breath. "Don’t cry baby, you know their words don’t matter."

"But... but they were so mean! I..."

She remembered all the things that the maids had whispered about Ryan himself. They had said that when they thought she wasn’t hearing, but Kaelith had keen ears. She was called a whore, he was called trash, and...

All of it made her bite her lips—she couldn’t bring herself to tell Ryan what she had heard.

The thought made her eyes tear up again.

"Kael. Look at my face."

She looked up.

He said firmly: "I know they are lying and mouthing off, you know they are not telling the truth as well. Now. Why should you let people’s judgments and lies make you cry?"

"... sniff." She nodded. "But..."

"No buts."

He wiped her face with his sleeve. Then, he pulled her into a princess-carry. She looked up with a pout. Yet, her moist eyes and puffed cheeks said she was still emotional about it.

Ryan felt his own earlier bad mood vanish.

"You say that I shouldn’t cry, but Ryan—you will also cry if you were called mean things."

Ryan glared at her. "I am not as fragile as you think I am. At least, strangers would never be able to attack me with lies."

Only the truth could ever affect him.

Kaelith became silent. Her own mood had already long started improving the moment she saw Ryan—and by now, she wasn’t really that affected. Yet, the sadness still lingered.

He said gently: "I know what kind of lady my Kaelith is. That’s why I ended up falling for her. As long as I don’t believe their lies, what have you got to worry about?"

She blinked. That was true.

"Then what... do we do when people talk behind our backs?"

Ryan smirked. "If someone talks behind your back, just fart."

Kaelith couldn’t help but chuckle. Then, she hit his chest. "You are so bad."

"Heh, you are too innocent my lady."