I recognized his expression: tension camouflaged, fear masked by curiosity. He was uncomfortable, and I knew why. A combat master at thirteen, coming from a family of hardened peasants? That wasn't just rare... it was dangerous. I was an unpredictable factor—and they hated that.
"The light of life enhances growth... It seems that Rillen used an ancient ritual to alter the boy's constitution... Tsk. How did he survive that?" I heard him mutter. He was trying to understand. Trying to rationalize something beyond his control.
I survived because I had no choice. Because I didn't scream. Because I didn't give in.
Rillen bet everything on that ritual. Something that many had tried, but few had come out alive—or sane. I knew of children of nobles who had gone mad with pain. Who never walked again. I... I became something different. Something they couldn't name.
"Does that mean he's a warhorse?" the girl asked innocently.
"Don't say that!" Arsino silenced her in a terrified whisper.
They might not like it... but they knew.
They knew I was a monster growing up within the confines of the law, and that when I was complete, no wall, title, or coin would stop me.
"The Udrak were lucky" murmured Golvene, the leader of the healing family, sitting next to me. His voice was soft, but his eyes... those eyes analyzed me like a goldsmith analyzes a rough diamond. "They married into the Black Lotus lineage, and their son inherited the blood. You're not wrong, girl... he's still a cub. But when he masters the other parts of battle... he'll be no different from a warhorse"
I stopped, took a deep breath, but didn't turn my face away. I just kept walking toward the altar of the scales.
"Your daughter is not wrong" he continued, and this time my ear itched. "He is still a puppy. When he learns other arts and becomes complete, he will be no different from a war horse."
(A war horse?) I thought to myself. Funny... these nobles always comparing men to animals.
"Archery is the most difficult path" he continued. "It requires more than physical strength, but also perception. Now that he has reached the limits of the human body, there are no more barriers to mastering other parts of battle. Give him five years, and he could take the position of a general in the empire"
I felt the eyes of Arsino and his entourage turn to me. I didn't look back at them, just kept walking steadily. Every muscle in my body knew it was being evaluated, weighed, measured.
"Are you sure?" I heard Arsino ask, a slight tone of doubt, almost admiration.
Golvene replied with fire in his eyes:
"Absolute. The Udrak have far exceeded expectations"
As if he were looking at a jewel, not a man.
"I don't know why the Black Lotus lineage is so special" I heard Theodore comment from across the stands.
"Hmm... there are some rumors and... look closely, now" he replied, giving me a direct look.
I sat in silence. One of the family warriors approached with a heavy iron cage, creaking with every step. Inside, the creatures writhed—black centipedes, thick as a man's arm. Their bodies glistened with a dark slime, and some of their heads were red as burning embers.
The warrior opened the cage and carefully handed one of them to me. I grabbed it firmly by the back. It was still struggling, its hundred legs moving in silent desperation. I brought it to my mouth without ceremony and bit down hard.
The sound of the shell breaking was loud and dry. I chewed slowly, feeling the bluish liquid run down my mouth as the metallic, bitter taste spread. The legs were still moving, even after the head had been torn off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the horror on the faces of the young noblewomen in front of me. Their expressions contorted, their eyes wide with shock. One of them turned her face away, covering her lips with her sleeve. The other simply lowered her head, unable to continue watching.
They couldn't understand. They didn't need to.
I didn't eat these things for pleasure.
Since I awoke as a combat master, my body had become more demanding. Before, I needed to devour two whole pigs to feel satiated—and even then, my body absorbed nothing but useless fat.
But with the centipedes... it was different. They carried a faint trace of the light of life. Tiny, almost imperceptible, but real. Ten a day, as long as they were of the hundred-legged, red-headed variety, were enough to keep my body nourished and in balance.
"What are they talking about?" I asked with my mouth full, chewing on that juicy piece of roasted meat. My gaze went to the three men in suits pointing shamelessly at me from across the hall.
"Nothing. Just their petty games" my father replied without even looking at them, with his usual veiled contempt in his voice.
"Mn" I shrugged and went back to eating. It was too good for me to care.
While I chewed in peace, on the other side of the table the atmosphere was boiling.
"See? Any ordinary man would die if he ate this animal. Even combat masters would be permanently injured" The voice was Golvene's. He stared at me with a strange gleam in his eyes. "I heard that in the Black Lotus House they revered these centipedes. I always suspected a secret, and now, I'm sure"
"Are you saying that the Udrak can produce more like him?" another asked, with obvious concern.
"No" Golvene shook his head. "Not even in the Black Lotus lineage was this common. They revered the centipedes, but they never ate them. This only works in a tiny portion of the population. One in a thousand, maybe less"
"So... this boy is stronger than average?" The question was laden with fear.
"When he matures, yes" Golvene's answer was definitive. "The light of life is already accumulating in him. It's like watching a well being filled"
"He's old enough to marry. Almost fourteen" said one of the voices in the hall, as casually as if commenting on the weather.
"An engagement can be proposed now. When he turns fourteen, he can marry" another voice added.
I swallowed hard. I had expected this. It wasn't the first time they had discussed my fate as if I were a piece of land or a head of cattle.
It was then that Theodore, always direct, spoke in a low voice, but loud enough to echo through the hall:
"Marrying a warrior caste to a diplomat caste... isn't that like putting a lion to breed with a dog?"
Silence fell for a second, just before exploding.