Chapter 271: The Right Choice (Han)

Han ate slowly and pretended to savor the food—because what else was he supposed to do when some Lady came out of nowhere and wanted him to leave with her? He was buying himself some time and deciding on what to do. He really could come with her and maybe convince the Crowel House to get him a tutor and perhaps do some solo-leveling.

The idea of an extravagant life in this world offered itself to him, and it was easy enough to get caught in the reverie.

Except Han was pretty sure that he was not related to this woman. He might have been willing to fall into a delusion—but he experienced no Class change. The Class he still held with him was Peasant and it hadn't changed even when the Lady said he was related to her. That meant that she was wrong in her assessment when she first saw him.

The same would occur for the old man that chased him down.

What had made them think otherwise?

He could easily ask the Lady in front of him, couldn't he? Lady Andromeda Crowel was eating a filet mignon in front of him. She actually had a plate filled to the brim now. The woman took a bite and so did the bird that so happened to be with her… which was another question of itself. But there was no time for that. He was no Sherlock Holmes, so there was nothing wrong with asking, right?

Until his gaze settled on the necklace hanging around her neck—it matched the one that he had in his pocket. Timothy's memento that had come from his mother and which the man used to loan enough money to accompany him to Kraelonia Academy. Was that all there was to it…?

He acted calm, and yet the revelation shook him.

"Not me." Of course, that made sense. All the clues were there—the man's mana pool and even his mother having real gold with her. Maybe it was the looks that were enough to catch the attention of Lady Primrose and perhaps of other women too? Could one tell it from the way that Timothy acted standoffish?

It was a nature versus nurture debate right there.

Well, it didn't matter to him. Han stuck his hand into his pocket and took note of the comfortable and cold sensation of the memento in his hand… All he needed to do was take it out and then the misidentification would be over.

That was all there was to it, and yet he hesitated. He couldn't pull his hand out right now and declare that he wasn't her brother, and it was all a case of a mistaken identity. But why, though? Both Timothy, the woman in front of him and their father deserved to know of the truth, didn't they?

Who knew how much suffering that this family had to do to find him?

He couldn't tell exactly. He had no ability to look into other people's personal lives and have it all laid out in front of him—what if this family had some kind of evil reason for wanting to seek a half-Noble? It was what had made him hesitant. There was to be no such thing as joyful reunions between families, only more suffering.

Maybe it was just Han Jing thinking about it very darkly… and yet he couldn't exactly trust a complete stranger who might have had another agenda at work. Was this really just a father searching for his lost son?

It was too good to be true.

Especially when he couldn't trust a woman who didn't know how to tell the difference between a brother and someone who had the memento in their hands. If someone else were to have this, then would that mean—

"You seem to be caught in your thoughts, Han, and staring at me intently. What is the matter?" Lady Andromeda placed her utensils down when he hadn't even finished his—she was probably eager to leave this place and get her to their father.

Or perhaps have him killed?

There was a certain way in how her one purple looked at him like he was nothing. Perhaps now it made sense why this Lady was unable to find Timothy when she didn't even seem to have the capacity to feel a familiarity with her supposed sibling. She was straight to the point.

"I usually don't have to repeat myself twice, but is there something wrong?"

Han felt his jaw twitch lightly, and he stared at her, "How does it feel for you now that you've met your brother for the first time?"

"Half-brother." She even corrected him at a time like this. Lady Andromeda pulled up a napkin and dabbed her lips, "I will be frank with you that I do not feel anything in particular with you. Perhaps I was expecting more anger to fuel my blood and where I'll feel the need to be upset in seeing you… or perhaps it might have been the exact opposite? Maybe a certain fondness would occur. But I do not particularly feel anything for you, and perhaps that is good."

Ouch.

Maybe it was because she was talking with Han? He really was just awkward with her, even more now that he was actively masquerading as her brother. But if she talked that way to Timothy… he didn't like the idea of that happening at all. Timothy just lost his mother and the only family he had now was turning him away? Was she really this callous?

He didn't like it.

Not at all.

What would Timothy do if he was in his proper place now? He jerked his head to the right and saw the young man walking out of this place with Sir Leon de Harrington and Donovan. How much of a chance was it that he just happened to be here in the dining hall? It was lunchtime, no doubt.

But when was Timothy even in talking terms with the Noble?

"You're easily distracted by little things."

Han glanced back at her, "Those were my friends who left. I can't just leave them here to come with you." He needed to tell her the truth, but all he did was digging himself deeper into a trench of lies—it was so easy to just pull out the pendant of Timothy's mother and explain how stupid it was that this world didn't have some kind of DNA testing to check.

But was he doing a good thing by holding the information back?

"Friends." she said, her gaze focused on the three young men that left and returned to him. "... one of those was a Harrington boy. He is a friend of yours?"

Nobles knew other Nobles.

But the mere fact that she could tell by a singular glance was enough to make him a tad nervous paired with the intense gaze she was giving him. "What about it?" he asked.

"Perhaps you are capable of being a Lord." a smile curled on her lips and she rubbed the head of her bird. "Relationships are something that can breathe life into the Nobility's life. A murder of crows can still overwhelm a lone hunter."

Well, the Wood Elf told him to be a King too, so that wasn't exactly out of his to-do-lis—was what he wanted to say, but he didn't think it would come to that. Neither would he actually be a Lord unless he married into a family or something, and those were just things he didn't want to hear about… let Han shoot a fireball once and he'd be satisfied.

At least temporarily.

He completely ignored the flock of crow metaphor she said for his own sanity.

Lady Andromeda wasn't finished though."The test of this friendship's strength will also come to pass once he hears of your affiliation to the Crowel House. I hope it can withstand it, young Han. I suppose one can consider this an actual yardstick to how you can connect with other people."

What the heck did the Crowel House do to be on bad terms with the Harrington House?

It was another thing he wanted to say—but the Lady came along with a company of hunters, and that meant he couldn't just slap her out of nowhere. Not that he would. But like… it was still a pretty damn mean thing to say. Did she think she could get away because she thought that they were siblings?

Half-siblings, if she wanted to be meticulous about it.

"Hahh…" Han scratched the back of his head and finally pushed back his chair. He stood up and gave her a look. The man fished out the necklace from his pocket and dropped it onto the table. "This is what you detected that made you believe that I was your brother, am I right?" He couldn't keep pretending to be her brother, whether it would be a good or bad thing.

"Made me believe…" her eyes narrowed at him. "You've been lying all this time that you were my brother?"

"I never said I was your brother, lady." Han corrected her.

He expected her to fume, lash out in anger and such—but she only laughed and then wiped one of her eyes. "My, my… an Actor are you?" Her gaze settled on him, "I suppose I have to thank you for your honesty, I have failed to procure the necessary Healers to confirm that you are related to me. But perhaps I might have forgotten it along the way if you didn't even mention it—Gesth was positive that only his daughter's son, his grandson, would keep it with him. But of course, some people fail your expectations. How did you come across this?"