A Peacock Husband of Five Princesses by day, a Noble Assassin by Night-Chapter 101: A Sister’s burden and a Brother’s duty

Sometime later;

Mia blinked slowly, her vision adjusting to the dim glow of the lantern hanging on the wall. The damp, suffocating air of the prison was gone. Instead, she lay on a soft mattress covered with a thick woolen blanket. The bed wasn’t luxurious, but compared to where she had been for the past year or so, it was paradise.

Her body still ached, every limb feeling like lead, but as she turned her head, her eyes immediately landed on a familiar figure. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Kael sat at the edge of the bed, watching over her. His normally composed expression cracked with relief as their gazes met. "Mia." His voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the weight of a thousand emotions.

Mia shifted, trying to sit up, but the moment she did, her body betrayed her. A sharp dizziness hit her, and she lurched forward.

Kael’s hands shot out, steadying her before she could fall. "Easy there, tiger." His grip was firm, warm—so real that for a second, she almost forgot where she was.

Mia swallowed, her throat dry. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke. "Kael…" Her brows furrowed, and for the first time since waking, a sharp frustration filled her voice. "How did you—" She exhaled, staring at him. "How did you let yourself get captured by these people?" Clenching her fists, she added. "You were supposed to be safe, Kael! K should have been protecting you!"

Kael flinched slightly but said nothing.

Mia’s eyes darkened and continued. "K promised me…" she whispered, more to herself than to him. "He promised he’d keep you safe. Did he fail?"

She looked at him, searching for an answer, but Kael only gave her a small, awkward smile.

He went down memory lane.

Four years ago;

The rooftops of Moonstone Estate were bathed in silver moonlight, the cold wind whispering through the night. Kael, in his assassin attire, moved with purpose, but unlike his usual methods, he made no effort to conceal his presence.

His footsteps were deliberate. His aura was unmasked.

It was his own home, but he acted like K was intruding into the Moonstone Estate. He wanted to be found.

And she found him.

Mia stood at the peak of the estate, her sword drawn, its edge gleaming under the moonlight. Her stance was steady, her gaze sharp.

"You have some nerve," she said, her voice laced with suspicion. "Breaking in like this, K."

K tilted his head slightly. "I didn’t break in. I walked in."

Mia didn’t lower her weapon. "If I stand correctly, you only hunt down those corrupted officials and wealthy sinners who escaped the law. There’s no one in my family that is a criminal. What do you want? Who did you come for?"

"It doesn’t concern you, lady," K replied calmy, taking a step forward, and in an instant, Mia lunged.

The clash of steel rang through the night as their blades met in rapid succession. Mia’s movements were fierce, precise—but K, as always, moved like a ghost, parrying with fluid ease.

After a few exchanges, he suddenly stepped back, lowering his dagger. He didn’t retaliate, and neither did he press forward. Instead, he studied her and spoke. "Alright, I’ll tell you. I’m not here to hunt down. I’m here to protect."

Mia narrowed her eyes. "What are you playing at?"

K exhaled softly. "I made a promise."

Mia blinked. "To who?" She asked.

K looked up at the night sky, his voice quieter now. "To Altacruz Raiden."

"That’s my father’s former name." Mia’s grip tightened at the mention of her late father. "What is your relation to my father? And what promise?"

K turned back to her, his gaze unreadable behind his mask. "I belonged to House Raiden, young lady. Altacruz Raiden was my guardian. He practically raised me. In his life, he never asked me anything except for one. To look after his children if something happens to him. You are a strong lady and look after yourself. You don’t need my protection, but your brother, on the other hand, is frail and weak."

Mia’s sword lowered slightly. "So that’s why…?"

K gave a slight nod. "I check on him from time to time. Make sure he’s safe." His lips curled slightly under the mask. "You just never noticed."

Mia’s eyes widened in realization. "You’ve been coming here all this time?"

K tilted his head. "Not as often as I should, but yes." After a brief pause, he added, "I swore on my ethics and my life that as long as K is here, young lady, not even the Queen can lay her finger on him. That, I can assure you."

For a long moment, Mia didn’t know what to say. K isn’t just known to be some notorious killer. He is someone with ethics. He is someone who deals with justice. He is dubbed as the guardian angel or the shadow ruler of Imperial City, keeping the crimes in the city at bay. One can say he is more righteous than any other warriors out there. If he promised such a thing, Mia couldn’t help but believe him.

Then, without intending to converse anymore, K turned, walking toward the edge of the rooftop. As he reached the ledge, he glanced back at her. "Maybe now you’ll stop worrying," he thought. "And become an adventurer you always desired to become but couldn’t because of me."

And just like that, he vanished into the night, leaving Mia standing there, sword still in hand—mind reeling from what she had just learned.

Back to the Present;

Mia listened intently, her fingers tightening around the edges of the blanket. Kael sat across from her, his gaze distant, as if he were staring into the past rather than the dimly lit room they occupied.

"When you disappeared," he began, his voice steady but weighted with something unspoken, "I tried to find you. Everywhere. Every lead, every whisper, I followed them all. I burned up almost every bit of our savings into information guild so that I could find even a little bit of hint. But…" He exhaled, a quiet frustration laced in the sound, and shook his head. "It was like chasing shadows."

Mia’s chest tightened, guilt creeping into her bones. She swallowed, but the lump in her throat refused to go away.

"Then the Royal Bank’s president paid me a visit," Kael continued, his tone turning bitter. "Though, ’visit’ might be too polite a word. It was an outright abduction." His jaw tensed. "That was when I learned about the debt. The ancestral debt. The one that had been growing like a curse passed down through generations, which you hid from me for years."

Mia sucked in a breath. The weight of those words pressed against her ribs, suffocating her.

"127 million gold coins… I had no idea we owed so much," Kael said, his expression darkening. "There was no choice," Kael went on, his fingers lacing together as he leaned forward. "Then the Queen made an offer. A way out." He let out a humorless chuckle. "Marry into the royal family, settle into the court, and in return, she’d erase the debt." His mouth twisted into something that wasn’t quite a smile. "So, I married her daughters."

Mia’s head jerked up. "Daughters? Plural?"

Kael rubbed the back of his neck, his expression caught between sheepish and resigned. "Yeah. Five of them."

Mia’s lips parted in shock, words failing her for a long, suspended moment. But before she could find them, Kael pushed forward, his voice shifting, his focus sharpening.

"The debt is paid by Her Majesty," His hands curled into fists on his knees. "As the prince consort, who married five princesses, I get five times the pension, aka 50,000 gold coins per month. If we think about it, it wasn’t a bad deal. I get so much pension, have beautiful princesses as my wives and the entire debt is waived off. However, I underestimated the monthly expenses to maintain the estate. Being a mere guild receptionist was no longer enough for both reputation and finance. Hence, I carved my own path. Became a merchant. Took to the road. I worked with adventurers, gathered rare materials, and took on quests that most nobles would never even dream of touching." His gaze softened with affection as he remembered the faces of his wives. "Luckily, I was blessed with wives who supported my decision all the time. They never mentioned that I was doing work below my status. All of them stood by me… well, not all of them, but anyways…"

Mia could only stare at him, her mind struggling to bridge the image of the younger brother she once knew—the elder brother who had trailed after her, always grinning, always dependent on her, and the person who was afraid to leave the imperial city—with the man sitting before her now—shaped by the princesses instead. Honestly, it kinda made her a bit jealous, learning that she wasn’t the one who changed him but it was his wives.

Then, his expression darkened as he continued. "And recently, we are in one of those quests. But, our luck died out. And we got caught."

Mia’s fingers curled into the fabric of the blanket.

"The Clowns of Ark found me." His voice was steady, but there was an undercurrent of something unspoken beneath it. "Their Vice Head—Jagger. He was strong. Too strong for even Shiera. There was no escaping him." Kael’s gaze met hers, and a flicker of something unreadable passed through his eyes. "He made it clear. If I didn’t go with him, Shiera and Laura would die, and I would still get dragged anyway."

Mia couldn’t help but bite her lip in frustration.

"So I surrendered," Kael finished simply. "That’s how I got here."

Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

Mia clenched her jaw, her throat burning with unshed tears. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely more than a whisper. "I’m sorry. This was never supposed to be your burden. The debt was mine to bear. Not yours." She looked down, her fingers digging into the fabric of the blanket as if she could anchor herself against the storm inside her. "Even today, because of me, you were put into such a position. I was supposed to protect you, but instead, I only harmed you in return."

A hand ruffled her hair, startling her. She looked up, blinking in surprise.

Kael offered her a small, lopsided smile. "Don’t be stupid."

Mia opened her mouth, but no words came.

"I’m living better than I ever have," he said, leaning back with a sigh. "Yeah, it’s been hard. And yeah, I’ve had to fight for every scrap of ground I’ve gained. But I’m not alone, sis. I have people on my side to worry about me, to look after me, and to protect me." He tapped her forehead lightly. "And who said you were supposed to protect me? If anything, it is my duty to protect my younger sister. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me, not you."

Mia’s vision blurred for a moment. She swallowed past the knot in her throat and nodded, not intending to argue with him.

Kael exhaled as if shaking off the weight of the past, and then his expression shifted. "Now, let’s talk about something else." His eyes sharpened. "What’s this deal with the Monarch of Darkness?"

Mia stiffened.

Kael’s gaze locked onto her, keen and unyielding. "Mia?"

She hesitated, her mind racing. Then, slowly, she took a breath and spoke.