The law of Fiction: Harem in the fiction world

Zane was not sure what he was doing at the party hosted by the world-renown family. He had a thousand things to do than waste his time here.

Like, finding the soul of their king who had disappeared five years ago. No one knew where he had disappeared to but they knew that he was still alive somewhere.

And they only knew that because the demon tree was still alive. When a demon king passed away, the tree shredded its skin and bore a fruit that grew up to become a new demon tree.

“Zane, how is your aunt doing these days? She hardly shows her face at these gatherings. You should ask her to attend so that you can skip them instead. You always look annoyed and bored while being at these parties.”

Zane looked up to see Mr. Shah, the organizer of this party walk toward him. Just behind him was Mr. Trusdale, the current caretaker of the Strout funds.

They both had custody over the current heir who was coincidently named Yohan. Maybe that name had been the reason Zane had decided to attend this party.

“Bored? Me? There is no way that is possible. After all, I decided to attend and I even came on time. But I do not see the birthday boy anywhere.”

Zane pretended to look around for Yohan Strout, already knowing that the kid was not inside the hall. In fact, no kid was inside the hall right now. They had all dragged each other out into the back garden to play.

It was a shame that the kids were not around because Zane would have loved to scout them out for potential underlings. The earlier you picked them up, the easier it was to groom them.

“Ah, Yohan should be out with his other friends. Our kids are such good friends with the Strout heir that they even call each other brothers. Maybe Mr. Yohan would like to have a walk and see for himself how close our kids are to the Strout heir?”

Mr. Trusdale was boasting now. He sounded assured of that ‘so-called’ closeness between his son and the Strout heir that even Zane was intrigued.

Or, he had to pretend to be intrigued at least. Stout was a name that was influential in human society and if you wanted to live in it, you needed to be aware of the powerful.

“I would love to meet the birthday boy but maybe I should go out alone. I am sure the kids would put up a wall if an adult walks in between them so openly.”

Zane was serious when he spoke but both Mr. Trusdale and Mr. Shah took his words lightly. They just laughed it off as a joke which annoyed Zane.

“Come on Mr. Zane. I know that you are still youthful but you are no longer a kid yourself. But I can see your point as well. Kids do tend to act differently in front of their parents than strangers. Then, we will not disturb you any longer. Go and greet the birthday boy.”

Zane gave a small bow to the two gentlemen standing behind him and quickly made his exit. He did not want to stay any longer with Mr. Shah and Mr. Trusdale’s fake presence.

As a demon, he could see their corrupted essence. Both of them did not care about Yohan Strout but were in this sham only for the money he brought.

They behaved well with him and treated him fairly in front of everyone but it was a different case behind the doors. The poor kid was not only neglected but also bullied. And the adults turned a blind eye to all this happening.

‘But this is not my problem. I can try to get that Yohan kid on my side but it can be too troublesome. It would also cut in on my time to look for our king.’

With his mind made, Zane reached the garden. The scene in front of him was one Zane had not expected to come across but he decided to interfere in it anyway.

He had seen the kids pushing a white-haired and red eyes boy into the cold lake. The kid had struggled for some time before going limp.

But just when everything seemed to have ended, Strout heir had broken even with the water surface and yelled some muffled words that Yohan was not able to hear or understand.

Then the maid had come but she had been rendered silent by the kids. It was pathetic for the maid to fall silent in front of the kids but she had her reasons.

Zane decided to turn around and leave at first but something made him look back. Those red eyes were not only blazing but they looked familiar.

They had a shine of power that was calling out to Zane and that was why he decided to move toward the kids who were playing around.

“Hey, what is going on here? I see that you are all gathered in the garden and – Why is there a kid in the water?”

Zane’s shadow loomed over the kids and most of them looked nervous and startled. Some even looked like they would start crying at seeing Zane.

He was not a famous personality in the world but he was influential. And since Zane was influential, he knew that all the kids here likely knew his name. He was a mafia boss in the human world after all.

And currently, the same mafia boss was carrying the Strout heir out of the water.

“B-Brother Zane. I had no idea you were going to come to this party as well. B-But what are you doing in the back and away from the party?”

With red hair and grey eyes, Zane could guess who the kid was related to. He looked like a carbon copy of Mr. Trusdale and also looked like the leader of these kids.

And currently, those grey eyes were challenging Zane to rebuke him. Even the kid knew that he was outnumbering Yohan Strout so his story of what happened would win out.

“I was just passing by when I saw your friend in danger so I decided to help out. By the way, what was the birthday boy doing in the water? Taking a swim in this cold weather?”

Zane asked his question with a sly smile. The kids realized that Zane had seen everything but he was willing to give them the benefit of doubt.

“Y-Yeah. Strout is a real daredevil so he often pulls stunts like this one. Right Strout?”

Marcus taunted, knowing that Yohan could not say anything against him. Anything Yohan could say would be countered by not only Marcus but other kids around him as well.

However, when Zane looked at Yohan’s expression it did not look angry. It just looked disappointing.

“You know, I admit that falling into water is a dangerous activity but it is still mildly saner than to take a person you just met twice to a bar and then leave them there alone. But go ahead and speak about sanity a little more.”

Zane had a lot to say but his words died out in his throat. He was not sure why but this felt like something he knew.

It could be a coincidence that Yohan Strout happened to pick up this example out of all the others he could have at this moment. It did not make sense to Zane and his suspicion grew.

“HAH- Who does that? And where did such a person even come from?”

“Apparently they both met in school. The man-man who led their one-time meeting friend to the bar was even a transfer student who transferred only a day ago. Isn’t that funny? And-”

Zane was suspicious before but now he was sure. Somehow this kid knew what Yohan had done to try and awaken the previous demon lord.

It was not something Zane had hidden from the demon world but there was no way a human kid was supposed to know all that. Not to mention, the kid in question was only five years old and was looking at Zane with a familiar look.

“Hey kids, do you mind if I take your friend here with me? I will return him shortly so don’t worry much. Yohan needs to get dry and I will help him out. Don’t worry, I will make sure he is alright.”

Zane had no reason to be suspicious of a human but he still was. The kids in front of him suddenly froze, realizing how much trouble they could have landed themselves into right now.

“T-Thank you. Yeah, take Yohan in now. I ugh-will inform the adults that an accident took place here but Yohan is alright now.”

No matter what Zane thought of these kids, he had to admit that Marcus Trusdale had a bright brain. He realized that he had made a mistake and was quickly trying to do damage control.

He was bright for a seven-year-old human and under any other circumstance, Zane would have tried to take the kid under his command.

But not today. And it was all because of the young kid in Zane’s arms right now. The same kid who was glaring daggers at Zane right now with those familiar pair of eyes.