This chapter is brought to you by Small Bump by Ed Sheeran.

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What did it mean to be the enemy of a house?

Well, according to his Lord Uncle:

"Those Monttevi dogs!"

"--What's a dog?"

"... I will explain later. Anyway, you will know them by their blue coats and shirts, Tobus, and those claymores on their backs. They're obviously compensating for something--"

"What--"

"You'll understand when you're older. But back to the point, if you see them, feel free to spit on their faces and insult them."

"..."

Nine made sure to first proclaim Belwyn Monttevi as an enemy of his house, only because that was apparently the norm in Vesna.

He didn't know why. He assumed it was supposed to establish some sort of relationship, but whatever.

Nine turned back to the little boy on the ground who was back to screaming bloody murder after Dog got tired of sitting on him.

He tilted his head.

The child had an impressive pair of lungs.

"Puppy," Nine called, casually plucking the boy off the ground by his shirt.

The image was not unlike a puppy being scruffed.

Nine shook him slightly and made a noise in approval as the boy went quiet.

"Monttevi puppy," he declared, before handing the boy over to his guardian.

Belwyn's expression was one that read befuddlement.

"Enemy?" he asked, his brows furrowing.

The little boy, Rowan, started to flop around in his grip, and he tried desperately to keep him in place.

"You... knew?"

Nine wondered if Belwyn was colorblind.

He raised a finger and slowly pointed at the boy's coat.

"Blue," he said curtly.

"Oh... wait a minute--"

Nine didn't give him the opportunity to speak further. He glanced up at the sky and noticed it was almost time for a nap.

"Kittens," he called.

The children rushed to him in an instant.

Kittens was a new term, but he couldn't keep calling them "children." It was easily confused with other people's children, and he wanted to make sure his children would know he was calling them while out in the open.

Nine took inspiration from the cats.

They were just as cute as real kittens, anyway. Dog, Cow, and Hungry agree with him.

He took a quick headcount and then turned to Belwyn.

Nine looked at him skeptically.

Finally, he nodded and his lips formed into what he hoped was an arrogant smirk.

"Monttevi puppy."

There was a beat, and then a flush of anger made its way onto the boy's face.

Nine could practically see steam rising from his ears.

Satisfied, he turned and left with the cats and children.

---

Toby Calypto failed to seduce Belwyn Monttevi in Poison-Lace Daggers. He flattered the man despite being a Calypto, and he threw his pride away for a person who simply didn't like him.

Nine felt pity for the original owner of the body, but he couldn't understand Toby's intentions.

Nonetheless, in his eyes, Belwyn was a puppy dog and even if his body was the same age as him, Nine did not want to vie for the affections of a twelve-year-old.

What was he even supposed to do with something like that? Love, in the romantic sense, didn't really exist in the Interstellar Era.

There were love stories, of course. The ancient people loved telling love stories, and even those in the Interstellar Era told them, too. Why else did his roommate's sister write Poison-Laced Dagger?

But love stories were never set in the Interstellar Era. It was always something historical, usually during the time when humanity was still on the home planet.

When humanity evolutionized above biological procreation, love was nothing but a myth.

There was no need for romantic relationships when children were born from glass wombs.

The very act of procreation was considered... barbaric, and coitus wasn't exactly as appealing as the ancient people made it out to be.

Intercourse, pregnancy, and birth were inhumane concepts and were deemed unethical since they made them no better than animals.

So Nine didn't understand Toby at all.

Wasn't it better to be a soldier of the Calypto Family rather than a lover?

And for that matter, Nine could confidently say he would not be a very good lover of any kind, on the account that he was not a native of this world and had very different values.

Perhaps he was lucky he ended up in this body as a child and not as an adult.

He and Toby's personality were simply incompatible.

---

"Toby, Toby... psst!"

Nine cracked open one eye and peeked over the ledge of the mantle he was currently lying on.

This was The Sun Room, as Lord Uncle had called it.

It was basically a glorified nursery in the Calypto Estate, but it had windows and a skylight to warm the soft fur-covered ground, so Nine wasn't complaining.

He, the cats, and the children have taken to napping here since they arrived.

Down below, lying on the furs with the rest of the children, Sept rolled over and stretched out his arms, silently asking for a cuddle.

Of course, how could Nine ever say no?

He jumped down and made his way over to the boy. Lying down, he tucked the boy against his chest.

Sept made a noise, a small little snuffle as he gripped his shirt. Then his breathing evened out once more and fell back to sleep.

Nine closed his eyes.

---

Valerius noticed it was late afternoon but there was no sign of his nephew's hoard of children in sight.

The first time Tobus referred to the children as his, he didn't think much of it. They were like his adoptive siblings, and he was the clear breadwinner after... well after he was "sold."

But then Tobus kept calling them his kittens, and he dressed them and fed them, and requested more for the care of the children than he did for himself.

Kittens. His children.

Valerius fell into a momentary panic one night as he was getting ready for bed.

Was his nephew their father?

"Four of them are two years younger than him," his wife said, lying beside him in bed without looking up from her book.

So that was a no.

But still, Valerius noticed the way Tobus took care of the children was not like an older brother would with their siblings, but rather like a parent.

Well, the boy did say they were his, hence his responsibility.

His wife claimed he would be a charmer in the future.

Apparently, women liked men who could kill with their bare hands and take care of children.

The wing of the estate that Valerius had given to Tobus and the children was quiet when he entered.

He decided to first check The Sun Room.

Carefully opening the door, lo and behold, there was a cuddle pile in the center of the room.

Tobus was surrounded by cats and his children, and the sunlight from the skylight was shining its warm rays perfectly over them.

The weird warm and flip-floppy feeling Valerius felt the first time he saw the cuddle pile appeared in his gut, churning uncomfortably as he approached.

But then--

"Kitty!"

A blur of blonde and red ran past him and jumped on one of his nephew's massive cats.

"Jovette, no!" Valerius hissed, speed tip-toeing his way to try and get his daughter back.

The cat his daughter jumped on made a rumbling noise, opened its eyes, glared murderously at Valerius, shook his daughter off of it, and then leaned down, snatched her up by the back of her dress, and proceeded toward the middle of the cuddle pile where Tobus was lying.

"Cow! No!" Valerius whisper-yelled a little louder this time.

Of all the cats, it had to be Cow. That one was a bastard who absolutely despised him.

Despite his efforts, the cat dropped his daughter in front of his sleeping nephew.

Cursing under his breath, Valerius carefully walked through the pile and avoided stepping on the children and other two cats like it was an obstacle course of death.

Once he reached his nephew, he went to pick up his daughter, who was miraculously sitting in place while petting a smug-looking Cow.

Tobus' arms reached out and circled his daughter before pulling her into a hug.

Jovette giggled.

Valerius gritted his teeth and crouched down, trying to pry her off.

"Mine."

He nearly jumped and was suddenly faced with a pair of emerald green eyes glaring up at him behind his daughter's lovely face.

Oh.

Valerius thought.

Oh no.

Again, Jovette giggled.

Emerald green eyes snapped over to the child in his nephew's arms and his gaze softened.

His nephew nuzzled his nose against her hair and made a rumble in his chest that was nearly similar to the noises the cats would often make when they were happy.

Jovette's eyes widened in surprise and she suddenly smiled like a thousand suns.

Tobus shot him another glare.

"Mine," he said, with the same possessive tone he used when referring to his children.

Valerius huffed, feeling both irritated and amused.

He covered his nephew and daughter with his jacket and quietly made his way out.

Before he left, however, he turned to another cat, Dog, and told it, "Wake them up for dinner."

He received a polite mewl, which was much better than the disrespectful Cow and the fickled Hungry.

Now, to tell his wife he lost their daughter to their nephew.

---

Bel was on babysitting duty once more and Rowan seemed to hate him.

That tiny little fucker.

The kid had been sulking for three days because Bel didn't let him pet one of House Calypto's new cats.

He wasn't even sure if the cats even belonged to the House. They seemed to follow the group of children he now often spotted roaming the city alongside that pretty boy.

Tobus Arcadia.

The long lost nephew of Lord Calypto.

Enemy of his house, indeed.

Wherever he went, eyes would follow alongside whispers.

Tobus ignored them or was rather oblivious to them.

Whenever Bel saw him, it always looked like he was too busy watching over his charges to care about the rumors.

For a person dressed to the nines in expensive red silk and golden thread embroidery, one would think he'd be used to luxury.

Instead, the boy just looked like a glorified exhausted mother of too many and seemed more used to being pulled around by the children.

How he had so much patience, Bel didn't know.

He could barely handle his baby cousin.

The contrasting image that was currently unfolding in the city square made him want to melt into the ground in sheer horror.

On one side of the fountain was Tobus, carefully wiping one of the children's faces while helping another open their snack. The rest of his children were sharing treats with each other.

On the other, Bel's side, Rowan was on the ground pretending to be dead because Bel told him he couldn't touch Tobus' cats.

"..."

He briefly eye contact with emerald eyes and flushed red in embarrassment.

"Bel!"

A figure vaulted toward him from a rooftop and crashed into him.

The momentum sent Bel flying toward the fountain.

"Mercuryyyyy!" he screamed in rage before crashing into the waters.

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[.................. Jovette Calypto : Tobus' cousin and female lead of Poison-Laced Daggers. Toby Calypto tried and failed to marry her ..................]

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The author has something to say:

Did not expect to write the cuddle pile, or introduce Mercury so late into the chapter. Can you guess who he is in Rumeo and Joliet? And also, Valerius, what happened to you??? He is so out of character from the original outline, but for some reason, I can't write him how the outline wants it. sob sob sob.