The cleaning up of the clan took longer than what they expected. On the first day, Kanae couldn"t help because of the wound on her leg. All she could do was help Kevin to sort the doc.u.ments and made a call here and there to ensure that they knew about his return. At the same time, he made sure that the elders that he gave tasks out had returned.

"Kevin! I"m so glad to hear that you"re alright!" Taro practically ran towards Kevin the moment he returned. He attempted to hug the young man, but Kevin sent him a book straight to the middle of his face.

"You seem energetic, Taro," Kevin remarked calmly.

Taro grinned. He put the book that hit his face away as he sat down in front of Kevin. "I went into panic when Lou appeared and told us that we have to go. In particular, James seemed to worry about your wellbeing so much."

Before he departed for the battle, Kevin gave his instruction to Lou for taking Taro and James away from the headquarters. Although this would make the place became rather unguarded, there was no one else that Kevin could trust for such an important matter

Thankfully, Lou acted in time. He brought them away before Megara returned, allowing them to stay safe as the problem occurred in the clan.

"I won"t die so easily," Kevin replied nonchalantly.

Taro nodded his head. "I know that, but I can"t help being worried. Right now, my safety is completely in your hand."

"Has your brother, Charlie, manages to stabilize the family"s condition?"

"Not yet," Taro"s expression turned rather sour at the mention of this problem. "My brother is not too proficient in handling business. He"s more of a person who specializes in history and as you know, he becomes your history teacher for a few weeks."

Kevin nodded his head. He was not too surprised for this development. Although he didn"t mind having Taro around him, he would still hope for the other party to return back to his home as fast as possible. Soon, he might have to exert every member of his clan to the battle against the government.

That would be if their relations.h.i.+p became extremely strained.

As they talked, Lou and James walked into the study room. James"s eyes lit up when he saw Kevin.

"Big brother!"

Kevin nodded and allowed James to cuddle close to him. "Are you behaving well on your time there, James?"

James nodded his head frantically, trying his best to tell Kevin that he didn"t make any trouble.

"Good, now you should rest in your room. I have other matters to do."

"Kevin, do you want some snack?" Kanae walked inside calmly, holding a tray on her hand. On top of it were several cupcakes and bread.

"Snack!" James exclaimed. He ran to Kanae with his hand raised.

"Okay, one for you, James."

"Yay!"

Kanae s.h.i.+fted her gaze towards Lou and Taro. She smiled gently. "It"s nice to see you two again."

Lou narrowed his eyes. He had heard about Rei being in the clan, but he hadn"t heard about Kanae at all. His eyes caught the bandage on Kanae"s left leg. He had received a report that Rei was wounded on her left leg and stayed in the clan, but it was clearly Kanae whom he saw here.

He instantly realized: Kanae and Rei are the same person.

He sighed to himself. All along, he was worried that Kevin would be too close with an ordinary citizen, but it turned out that his worry was for nothing. Someone as famous as Rei with the capability far surpa.s.sing a normal human was surely very suitable for his Boss.

Right now, he had to admit that he acknowledged Kanae"s appearance.

On the other hand, Taro was shocked speechless. He didn"t know that Kanae would be here.

"You"re Kevin"s secretary, right? What are you doing here?"

"I"m doing my work as his secretary," Kanae chuckled. She walked pa.s.s the two men towards Kevin"s table and put the tray near him. "Kevin, do you want some?"

"Feed me," Kevin answered.

Kanae"s face darkened. "Your hand is not wounded to the point that you can"t eat by yourself, are you?"

"I want you to feed me," he replied stubbornly. All along, his eyes were locked on the paper before him as he had to finish the work as soon as possible.

"I don"t want to," Kanae mumbled. "How about I ask Lou to feed you?"

Lou: "…" do you want to send me to my death door?

Kevin"s movement stopped momentarily. He raised his hand and picked one of the cupcakes before putting it into his mouth. Upon tasting the saltiness within the cupcake, he turned his gaze towards Kanae.

"Are you the one who cooks?"

"Yes…is it that bad?"

"No wonder it feels salty, she must have mixed salt and sugar," Kevin thought to himself, but his mouth said otherwise. "No, it"s really good."

James listened to Kevin"s words with confusion. He had eaten the cupcake and he had to say that it was one of the worst cupcake that he had ever eaten. What kind of an idiot would add salt when making a cupcake?

While Lou was mumbling to himself about Kevin"s capability in lying through his teeth, the door was knocked again.

"Come in."

"Boss, I"m coming in," the sound of a woman caused Kanae to momentarily stopp in what she was doing. She was very familiar with that voice, but she had never expected that she would meet with the other party this soon.

On the door frame, Alice stood calmly, her hand was carrying a simple basket. Her eyes widened when she saw Kanae inside the room. She had never expected to see the other party in this place.

"Oh! Miss Alice, you look very pretty today," Taro broke the silence as he smiled warmly.

"Thank you for your compliment, Sir Taro," Alice replied back.

"Taro, you can go back with James."

"What? I haven"t had enough talk with Miss Alice."

"I want to play with Sister Alice," James also complained.

Kevin shot a glare towards the two of them. Immediately, they shut their mouth and walked to the back. That glare was enough to send them away from their place.

"Boss, how are you?" Alice tried to talk normally.

"I"m fine," Kevin replied back. "How"s the situation in your clan?"

"Thanks to the warning that you give us before, we can avoid meeting with Megara"s followers. There are no one who get injured in my clan, so I come to give my thanks," Alice lifted the basket slightly.

"There"s no need. I just want you to do your work in the clan well," Kevin replied back.

"Yes, Boss."

Kevin noticed that the two girls didn"t seem to talk with one another. However, it was not his place to meddle with their relations.h.i.+p. He turned his head to Kanae.

"Don"t you want to talk with your best friend after the battle?"

"Ah yes," Kanae smiled awkwardly. She was thinking about how she should greet Alice since the latter didn"t know that she was in fact Rei. It would be harder to explain about her existence here.

While Alice was racking her brain about Kevin"s words, Kanae stepped forward. She was still wondering what Kevin meant by saying "battle". Did he imply that Kanae partic.i.p.ated in the battle?

"Alice, I think I need to reintroduce myself," Kanae smiled. "My name is Kanae Nali, but in the underworld, I"m known as Rei."

Rei?

Alice"s mind blanked the moment she heard that word. She still remembered how she was awed by Rei"s capabilities in the underworld place and how everything seemed so easy for this person. All along, she had hoped from the bottom of her heart that she could have the same ability as Rei.

Her mind jolted as she recalled the day Rei protected her. It was also the day that they announced her to be Kevin"s fiancée. How hard would it be for her to accept the fact that her best friend would be the fiancée of someone she loved? And yet, at that time, she still chose to protect her.

Alice"s eyes watered. "I"m sorry."

Kanae was stunned. "Why are you apologizing? You didn"t do anything wrong."

"No, it"s not that," Alice forced a smile out of her face. "I never realize how painful it must be for you, so I have to apologize."