Chapter 6 - Chapter 5

@International_Pen

(ZHIO)

I didn't quite understand before why my father used to leave, and go out then back the country often. I am left in a huge mansion where every corner was heavily guarded or secured by cameras. It was frequently quiet and no one to ever talk to.  

I was usually confined to the corners of my room, sat by the window as I watch my father go after we had breakfast together. He'd usually disappear for a month or how long his business trip would take.  

I was always alone…

Life was a cliché. I am homeschooled so books were my constant companions. If not, I was out to wander the meadows of Zel Cantheliz Villa atop my white stallion. Of course, my father's men followed suit.  

While I was out by the little bridge one day and spacing out in the nothingness, my father's voice boomed behind me in the distance.  

"The sole Zel Canthel that will be left alone someday," he teased. I didn't turn to see him and kept quiet. "Is already always alone."

He stepped closer and handed me a fishing rod,

"You shouldn't grow up like that Zhio, I'm about to leave you a huge responsibility in the future…a family and a company."  

I took that rod and gave him a short smile. He sat beside me at the wooden bridge's floor and spoke,

"I used to fish alone when I was a kid. That way the catch is often plenty."

He threw the tipple with the bait on the water and I did too.  

"I often got none when I fish with my three older siblings so I decided to fish alone after ever since," father's face fell a little. His eyes were downcast and his mind was somewhere back in the past.

"You were aware of the Zel Cantheliz massacre, right?"

I nodded although it wasn't really a question.  

"I've went fishing just to see everybody dead when I got home. All of the Zel Cantheliz lineage was killed, except me and grandpa, the eldest in line. He helped me escape."

The lake remained calm for a while but I felt a little tug at the hook of my fishing rod.  Eventually a hungry fish bit my bait and struggled against being pulled off the water. It was a moderately big one. I smiled at my catch but instantly felt bad as I watched it pathetically wriggle for its life and was slowly dying.

Our family has been shrouded with death and father has been its witness.  

@International_Pen