Under the Veil of Night

The two of them walked towards a separated room. Kanae was startled to see the faint light on the wall nearby. She didn't expect to see natural plants that emitted light in this place. Some of them were florescence light, though, but they made this place rather beautiful.

"You're surprised, huh?" the senior laughed. "Wait until the light turns back on and you can see more clearly here."

"There's light here, senior?"

"I make it so there's light," the senior answered. "By the way, I have name. My name is Patrick Kalin, you can call me Senior Pat."

"Okay, Senior Pat," Kanae replied. She thought about this man name for a moment. "Senior, are you part of the core member in the Ryukalin Clan?"

Patrick chuckled. "Everyone who hear my name will ask the same thing. The answer is yes, I'm part of the core member in the Ryukalin Clan."

At that moment, the light turned on. A lamp by the side of the room turned on, illuminating the previously dark room. Using the light, Kanae could see Patrick's face very well. To be honest, she was extremely stunned to see his face as he had similar features with Kevin. His messy black hair and dark iris were a perfect copy of how Kevin looked like when that man didn't clean up his appearance.

Their only difference would be Patrick's light beard on his chin.

Patrick noticed Kanae's stare to his face. He knew that his face was quite attractive, but was there any need to stare this much? Also, seeing her appearance made him surprised because he never thought his master would take a girl as his disciple.

"Rei, are you that surprised with my handsome face?" Patrick asked, calling the girl in front of him.

"I just think about how similar you are with Kevin, Senior Pat," Kanae replied awkwardly. That was embarrassing to be caught staring at someone's face for a long time.

Patrick raised his eyebrows. "You're calling my little nephew informally, are you close with Kevin?"

"He's my senior in high school… huh? He's your nephew?" Kanae's eyes widen in disbelief. She did think that they had some relation with each other considering how they looked alike and their obvious same surname, but she never thought about them being uncle and nephew.

That was practically impossible… right? This man still looked young that she couldn't believe him to be an uncle.

"Are you thinking about something rude?" Patrick chuckled.

"No, I mean, yes," Kanae admitted. "Do you mind if I ask you how old you are?"

"I'm 35," Patrick answered calmly.

Kanae: "…" you don't look that old. If you don't say your age, I'll think that you're still in your mid-twenties.

Patrick laughed when he saw Kanae got speechless. He got that reaction a lot, so he didn't mind it too much. Having people thought that he was younger was much better than having them thought that he was much older.

"Anyway, I'm sure that you're not an ordinary junior of Kevin to make him allow you call his name directly," Patrick asked curiously.

Kanae scratched her head. Should she tell this man that she liked Kevin? That would be equivalent with her admitting that she was harboring thoughts for his nephew when she certainly didn't have the qualification for that.

"it's a rather long story, Senior Pat," Kanae didn't know where to begin anymore.

Patrick shrugged. "I guess it's fine for him to get close with you. You look like a decent girl."

"Senior, Kevin is engaged with another woman."

"I see… wait, what?" Patrick's eyes widened when he heard that Kevin got engaged. From what he remembered, that block ice brat wouldn't even let a girl got close to him. Now, he got the news that this brat was engaged?

Years of time in the prison made him lost sense of time. He had missed so many things.

"He's engaged on his 18 birthday to Alice Ainge," Kanae explained.

Patrick raised his hand. "Hold on, how old are you and how old is Kevin right now?"

"I'm 17, Kevin is 18."

Patrick gaped when he heard their age. Did it mean he had practically missed more than six years of Kevin's life? Argh, he wanted to see his nephew grew up, but it was practically impossible right now. The brat has already grown up so much.

"Why is Kevin got engaged with Alice?" he didn't have any memories about Alice, so he immediately asked about the matter.

"He has to be engaged as the Clan Head," Kanae answered back.

"Clan Head?" Patrick's eyes narrowed. "I see. Those old fogies hide the news from me to not allow me return back. How cunning of them, let me knock their head to awaken them, then."

Kanae could sense that Patrick was angry. She was not sure about the internal strife in the Ryukalin Clan, but she could guess that it was anything but peaceful. After all, the previous gathering atmosphere was painfully clear in her memories.

One thing for sure, though, this senior of hers was someone close to Kevin. Their relationship should be pretty good with each other considering how this senior was angry on his behalf.

"Senior, do you mind if I ask you about what happen in the clan?" Kanae asked curiously.

"Are you part of the Ryukalin Clan too?" her name was also unfamiliar for him, so he was unsure about this matter.

"No," Kanae shook her head. "Rei is my alias in the underworld. My real name is Kanae Nali."

"Oh…" Patrick mouthed out as he pondered over the matter. There was no need for Kanae to know about them as they were rather embarrassing and complicated. At the same time, he knew that he could trust her as fellow disciple of Master Rudy.

Kanae smiled. "There's no need to tell me if it's a secret. I'm not part of the clan too."

"No, it's fine if you know," Patrick sighed. "My knowledge about the matter of the clan is rather outdated, so I don't know about the current internal strife, but I can guess that not all of them support Kevin to be the Clan Head of Ryukalin Clan."

"Yes, they're opposing him under Megara's lead. Even in the gathering, they voiced out their disagreement openly."

"…You're even there during the gathering?"

"I'm the leader of Fiore Group, it's a new group that I create three years ago and also the current strongest group in this city," Kanae explained. "During the gathering, I accept the mission to protect Kevin, so I'm also present in the hall at that time."

Patrick nodded his head. "I still receive news about the outside world from the new prisoners and so on, so I know about Fiore Group."

"I see."

"Now that you already tell me so much about yourself, is there anything you want to ask from me? It's fine to ask anything you want," Patrick offered.

Kanae thought for a moment. "Senior, why did they capture you in the prison?"

"I had a girlfriend. Her name is Yuki," Patrick answered in low tone. "She's not part of the clan and relationship between ordinary people and those from the clans are not allowed. Her existence causes a lot of problems in the clan because they disagree of her being my girlfriend because my status as the core member of the clan placed me in a rather important position."

She had heard about this matter when she researched about Kevin before, so she knew that they were not allowed to have relationship with ordinary people. Only those from the clan would be allowed to stay with the core members of a clan.

"Around 8 to 9 years ago, there's an internal strife in the clan and some attacks from the other clans. It was a busy time for all of us and we have to face a lot of people to fight. During that time, one of them caught news regarding my relationship with her. In the end, I failed to protect her as they got my girlfriend involved, and she died," Patrick sighed when he reached this point. Remembering about her made him rather down.

"When I lost her, I lost my temper so much that I make a complete mess. I destroyed several gangs and made the street a complete blood bath. Since I can't calm down at all even after some time has passed, my brother let the government capture me. This way I can stay in the prison to cool my head.

This happened around six years before, and since then I didn't go out. Whenever I feel like beating up someone, I can instigate a fight with the other prisoner, so this is quite a convenient place. That should be all, so here I am now," Patrick spread his hand and smiled.

Kanae nodded in understanding. Finally, she gained more information regarding clans that had never been leaked out. It was no wonder the rules of the clan was so strict.

She looked at her senior. "Have you calmed down now, Senior?"