Special Chapter: [Hareve Lancelot] The Lancelot Family’s Motto  

    He is a child who was born with a blessing from an angel.  

    A child whose power is extremely rare —a gifted individual.  

    “We are born to be predators.”

    That is what my father taught me. That is what the Lancelot family has been taught. 

    We only have one master; the rest are colleagues.

    It is difficult to defy us, even for the Gawain family, which is the Head of the Council of the Round Table. 

    We were born with an ego, pride, confidence, and a power that no one could ever match.  

    That is 'Lancelot'.

    Even though it's supposed to be like that… 

    Every time I look at my mother, I’m often curious. If anyone asks for imperfection within this mansion, everyone will certainly point towards Duchess Lancelot.

    It’s not like I don’t love her…but she is quite different. 

    My mother is a woman with a small frame, a short stature, freckles, and a rather dull appearance—unlike the duchesses from other families. Every time she looks at my father, it is not love but 'fear'. 

    Hence, when I started to make sense of my surroundings, the first thing I asked my father was…

    “Father, did you abduct my mother…?”  

    My father became silent for a moment as if he didn’t know what to say. In the end, he suppressed his anger and firmly replied. “Once you grow up, you will understand me…”

    It was like having something stuck within my mind, and I didn’t like it at all. 

    I think there's nothing we cannot find the answer to, but the scary thing is we have to wait until the day the answer finally appears.  

    Therefore, I decided to write it down and hoped that once I grew up…

    The answer will appear like how my father told me.

    Nigel Gawain is my best friend.

    He has every feature of a member of the Gawain family but also lacks many as well. He looks weak but is also very cute too.  

    I see him as a younger brother, and if I’m going to have a younger sibling…I would prefer someone like him. 

    However, my best friend seemed to be acting differently lately.

    Since he always talked about 'Gilbert Bedivere'. 

    “You’ve never met Gil before, right?” Every time Nigel talked about Gilbert Bedivere, he would always have a huge grin. His eyes sparkled when calling the other’s nickname, which made me feel a bit lonely. “Gil is a laid-back person who always smiles…I…I think his smile is very adorable…”

    I became quiet for a second before smiling at Nigel.  

    “…Hareve, please don’t smile a lot. Your smile might make it difficult for me to look at your face…”

    Nigel is scared of women; thus, my beauty and long hair made him feel uneasy.  

    In fact, I also thought about cutting them. Even though I’m still a kid, growing long hair feels very strange for a guy. But because my mother and father really like this hair color, I ended up growing my hair. 

    Although sometimes there were dumb people who saw me as a girl and did something that provoked my anger…but getting my payback was also a way of training.  

    “I feel like…being with Gil really makes me feel comfortable.” When I stopped smiling, Nigel began to breathe easier. “He is quite…weird as if he can read my mind. He can know what I want and it makes me feel happy talking to him.” 

    I thought something was not right. When I thought about Duke Bedivere, who is often serious…his son should also have the personality of the Bedivere family. Therefore, being with that type of person should be awkward more than anything else.   

    Nigel beamed when I didn’t say anything. Then he proceeded to talk about other things, which included the same name that I needed to let out a sigh.

    On that day…I thought everything would be the same as usual.

    “Hareve!”

    Every time we meet each other, Nigel will cheerfully call out my name. When I turn to look at him, I will see a smile on his face. However, what made it 'unusual' today was the person who walked in behind him.    

    A boy who was the same age as him.

    He had sparkling golden eyes and hair. Even though his face was not as adorable as Nigel's, he was still eye-catching. He stared at me. Something was telling me that he was 'Gilbert Bedivere'.  

    Weird… 

    A face that should be painted with a smile had gone pale. Meanwhile, his whole body was trembling as if he had seen something frightening. 

    I stopped in my tracks.

    “Er…May I ask you a question? Are you…Hareve Lancelot?”

    I blinked in confusion but still answered him anyway. “Yes…I am Hareve Lancelot.”

    After that, his eyes were wide-open. He was different from 'Gilbert Bedivere' whom Nigel often told me about. I didn’t really understand him. I looked at his trembling self, who turned to say something to Nigel. Those reactions were annoying, but I didn’t say anything at all. 

    A few minutes later, he cried.  

    Both Nigel and I panicked. He was crying very hard. After he finished crying, he told Nigel that he didn’t want to see him anymore and ran off. I felt like he was very strange…something must be wrong with his brain.  

    When I turned back, Nigel started to cry. I didn’t know what to do. Then, I tried to console him. Apart from feeling sympathetic, I couldn’t feel any irritation at all. 

    And I…also didn’t feel strange like what I did with Gilbert Bedivere as well.

    After that, we became close to each other.

    I don’t understand why I always feel irritated when I look at Gilbert Bedivere. Maybe because he seems absentminded, sluggish, and annoying… Actually, I’m also curious about how Nigel really views Gilbert. All the descriptions he gives me each time start to make me wonder about the judgment of this future duke of the Gawain family.    

    Gilbert in person is not as good as in Nigel’s description. He’s not calm and doesn’t have a pretty smile. In reality, he is preoccupied while having the same smile all the time. He is not comfortable being with. On the contrary, he is like some kind of living things that makes me feel weird. 

    Every time I look at him, I feel my body tingling. Before I knew it, both my hands and feet had already hit him.   

    He makes me unable to control myself, as I have become a hot-headed person. But his inactive attitude will make anyone who sees it want to fix it…oh, maybe except for Nigel.

    This best friend of mine is always ready to smile and accept everything about him…  

    Gilbert likes Nigel, I know. Gilbert is scared of me…I also know that as well.

    However, I’m not troubled by it. It is a feeling that I cannot really explain when he unknowingly glances at me with sparkly eyes. But the next moment, he will start to tremble, which I find kind of funny.  

    I never searched for an answer to this until my mother brought it up.

    “Late…lately…y…y…you…” Duchess Lancelot is the person I want to fix. I'm always surprised that she is my mother. “you start to…look like your father each day.”

    Hm?

    Did she mean that I’m becoming more mature? 

    After my mother said that, my father also turned to look at me as well. 

    “…I agree.”

    At first, I didn’t really understand.

    Because I’m not stupid, especially when I’m close to a 'variable' that helps me to find the answer, I clearly understand now…  

    “What’s wrong, Hareve, why are you looking at me like that? …It’s kind of scary.” Gilbert Bedivere’s expression becomes sheepish. I narrow my eyes. “…I…I don’t know what I have done wrong. But…could you stop looking at me like that…?”

    “Why?” I asked him because I didn’t know what kind of gaze I was giving him.

    Gilbert looks frightened like he doesn’t want to answer, but eventually can’t keep it. “It's like if I wrong you and end up dying, you will still bring me back and beat me up…” 

    “Hm?” I am puzzled. Is he trying to imply that I’m a vengeful person? 

    By the way… 

    I look at Gibert Bedivere.

    A small boy with golden hair who’s unwary and expresses all of his thoughts through his facial expression. This boy also tends to shiver when he looks at me…isn’t he too similar to a small animal?  

    The more I consider this, the more I understand, and it makes me unable to hold my smile, and when I smile like that… 

    “Please…please don’t smile…” Gilbert looks like he’s about to cry. “Every time you smile, I feel like I’m going to be murdered by a psychopath killer.”

    I smile…because he is 'Gilbert Bedivere'.

    Therefore, I won’t listen to him. 

    “Nooo! Hareve! I’m sorryyy!!”

    One time, I used to be curious about my own family.

    My mother, who doesn’t have anything special about her, seems foreign to the rest of the family. Every time she looks at her own husband, her eyes will be filled with fear. Thus, making me wonder.   

    Why did my father choose my mother although, in this small town, not to mention the whole kingdom, there are plenty of women who are more refined than my mother?

    I never understand.

    Until I met 'him'.

    It makes me want to laugh as the answer is always with me. It is in our blood and our name. It can basically be summed up as: 'Because we are the Lancelots'.  

    'We are born to be predators.'

    And there’s only one type of person that can make us feel the impulse, the thrill, and the feeling of not being ourselves.  

    They are not attractive, noble, or talented people.  

    But rather the 'preys' who attract us.  

    Well…

    Gilbert Bedivere doesn’t have to know about this.

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    …..

    ..

    At least for now.