Chapter 152: Meet the Wraths (1)

Seven main families are the backbone of the kingdom of Fruit Salad.

Every single citizen regardless of their status and origin knows that.

Sloth family protects not only Fruit Salad, but the whole continent from the invasion of the monstrous titan-class beasts from the far north.

Envy family is responsible for gathering intel thanks to which their kingdom always has an upper hand in negotiations.

Lust family's duty as lorekepers is to preserve the history both past and present for the future generations to learn from.

Gluttony family watches over the army and trains the most excellent warriors and soldiers forever hungry for achievements.

Greed family's insatiable yearning for more wealth and power constantly pushes the kingdom towards the ever prosperous future.

Pride family watches over the other families with strict eyes so that the corruption would never sneak its way into their ranks.

And finally, the Wrath family.

The most humble from all the others, they took on themselves the burden of protecting the most important members of the main families.

...yes...

Those are the stories feed to the commoners and the less influential nobles.

The truth has always been different.

Much more muddy and unsightly than some pretty legends and tall tales.

Though the progenitors of the seven main families all brought down an administrator each in one way or another, they remained humans - mostly - as did their descendants, and therefore the intrigues and schemes were just as common amongst them as they were amongst the nobility in any other country.

Basically, all of them were hiding something and were using the prettied-up legends to their advantage.

All of them were much more - or much less - than what the public thought about them.

Even the humble Wraths weren't the exception.

Through the years they shifted from the powerful bodyguards who protected their targets with their honed bodies and ferociousness, into the more intellectual position of advisers, or straight up stopped supporting some of the other houses and focused on the creme of the crop and those who paid the most.

By far, they were the ones who changed the most from how they were during the life of their progenitor, lord Wrath, who had beaten the administrator to death with his bare fists.

...or so it seemed at the first glance.

"Here, Corvus, how about another cup of tea?"

A young ashen-haired girl of fragile built, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, leaned over the table and poured the hot beverage into the teacup of the person sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Her pale hands were carefully gripping the teapot, as she watchfully made sure that not a single drop would get spilled.

"Thank you very much, Mika."

Her companion nodded with a pleased expression and picked up the teacup, taking a moment to smell the aroma of the excellently brewed tea.

He was a young man, around twenty years old. He was both tall and slim, with a handsome face surrounded by sleek white hair, and his pale blue eyes that made him look slightly demonic were partially hidden behind a pair of stylish half-rimmed glasses.

"Delicious."

Corvus took a sip and smiled, making the young girl blush.

At the first glance, it was clear that Mika wanted to impress him.

She asked Corvus to join her for the afternoon snack in the garden, right where the exotic flowers were in full bloom.

She prepared the tea herself after carefully investigating whether the particular brew she liked suits the type of desserts prepared by the cooks.

And finally, she styled her hair so that she would look more mature and serious, she did the same for her clothes too - picking ones that would look similar to the style that the elegant Corvus was going for himself.

Well, by the looks alone she had things figured out perfectly.

Corvus's black shoes, white pants, black shirt, and white vest were mirrored by Mika's white shoes, white dress with black rims, and black vest - making the two of them looked like a set, with just enough differences to not be too jarringly obvious.

"I'm really grateful that you always manage to find the time to keep me company, even with your busy schedule, Corvus."

Mika nodded politely, keeping in mind that she shouldn't blush too much or say something unsightly childish.

"No need to thank me. I'll always find time for my sweet little sister."

Corvus responded with disarming smile, that made Mika feel both happy and infuriated at the same time.

First of all, Mika wasn't Corvus's real sister, she was the daughter of the head of the Wrath family, Pomegranate Wrath, the avatar of wrath, and Corvus was the adopted son of Pomegranate's deceased older brother.

Second of all, she had fallen in love with him, utterly and completely.

But to ever hope to be together with him, she had to face many obstacles.

The age difference - for once.

Mika was seven years younger than Corvus.

Thankfully, in only four years Mika would turn eighteen and would be able to marry him without getting him in trouble.

But to even start thinking about the marriage, she would have to move past an even greater hurdle.

The little sister zone.

Mika's biggest problem and greatest pain was the fact that her beloved Corvus simply didn't saw her as a possible romantic interest.

At all...!

At first, the ashen-haired girl thought that she still had a lot of time to change that.

After all, Corvus wasn't really a social butterfly and didn't have much contact with anyone, since even the man himself had confirmed that he doesn't have a special someone, and isn't looking either, being too busy with his work as a bodyguard.

But the global event started.

That damned global event!

Mika's beloved Corvus received an outrageous role of Wrathful protector / Capture target, while she got stuck with Justice's Wrath.

Her own extremely odd and vague role aside, the second part of Corvus's role bothered Mika greatly.

Capture target.

Capture. Target.

Mika's intuition had instantly told her that this had something to do with being a romantic interest for someone - she had no doubt about it!

That accursed global event was obviously trying to mess up her long-term plan of winning Corvus's heart!