Enigma of Sin

As Kayn was getting better and better about moving in and out of the academy without being noticed in the middle of the night, he made it back with a couple of hours to spare until his class began. 

He first cleaned up the mess in the basement room of the Villa before picking his sleeping sister up and proceeding to spend the rest of the night holding her while sitting in a rocking chair, staring at the ring he placed on the table in front of him.

He hadn't tried to get into it yet, and honestly, he was having trouble mustering up the courage to. What if there was nothing inside? What if he couldn't even get in? The emperor of Carnet and his best enchanters had tried to get into it. If they couldn't do it, what gave him the confidence to think he could?

He figured that his father put some kind of blood seal on the ring before his death, but Kayn was still nervous to try opening it.

…

The hours passed as Kayn continued staring at the ring, at some point his sister had woken up, but she didn't cry or make any noise or movements other than curling back into his embrace. Kayn was startled out of his daze as he heard the morning bell, indicating the start of classes for the day.

"Shit." Kayn spoke aloud as he hurriedly dressed in his professor uniform and took the portal to the healing department.

A few minutes after the bell rang, Kayn entered into his classroom with hurried footsteps, still carrying his little sister in his arms.

"I apologize for my tardiness class, something came up this morning that I was dealing with." Kayn spoke as he approached the podium and nodded to Maria who was sitting at the nearby table.

Kayn proceeded with the day's lesson, but most of his class was distracted by the tiny professor in his arms. None of them knew that he was a father, but she looked just like him aside from her eyes, so they could only assume.

When the lesson ended for the day, Kayn dismissed the class and asked that they keep any questions until the next lesson or ask Maria. He then quickly departed from the classroom and headed back to his residence.

Lara hadn't eaten yet today, but oddly enough she hadn't cried or asked for food yet. She just remained silent in Kayn's arms throughout the entire morning lecture. He didn't even have to ask her to be as quiet as possible or give her toys to play with. She just read Kayn's mood and enjoyed that she was actually in the real Kayn's arms for once.

Kayn sighed as he sat Lara in her high chair and began to put together lunch for the both of them. She truly was a blessing for him and also was quite good at feeling Kayn's emotions apparently. It was like she knew something was off about him and she only wanted to help cheer him up by being a good girl.

After they finished eating, Kayn cleaned everything up and when he turned around to pick Lara up, she already had her arms extended out to be picked up.

"Brother!"

Kayn smiled, this was the first time she had addressed him as anything other than papa. He hadn't even tried addressing the issue with her for a while now, he could only assume that she remembered from the countless times he originally tried to correct her.

As Kayn picked her up, he looked her in the eyes, "Lara's a good girl, isn't she?"

"Yes!" Lara giggled as she replied. "I want to play outside!"

Kayn couldn't help but feel heartened as his sister's smiling face soothed his soul and mind. For the rest of the afternoon, Kayn played with Lara at the playground area meant for professor's children.

Even after spending the entire afternoon playing with Lara, Kayn was still quite distracted and lost in thought as he prepared dinner. As he anticipated, Kinzie had called him and asked for him to let her in as she was outside of the secured residence area where he lived.

Once they arrived inside of his home, she jumped on him and gave him a big hug before kissing his cheek. "I missed you, why didn't you even call once during the last few days?"

"Sorry Kinz, I was pretty busy helping out Charlotte and I didn't have the chance. Dinner is ready and all set out for us." Kayn replied as he returned her kiss with one of his own planted on her lips.

Kinzie smiled as she followed him to the dining area, however when she glanced over at Kayn's face, something felt off. He wasn't showing his gentle caring smile which normally adorned his face, and his eyes seemed to be staring off into the distance.

Even during dinner, Kinzie noticed that rather than eating his food, Kayn was quiet and fiddling with something under the table, pushing his food back and forth on the plate. Kinzie knew that Kayn wasn't ignoring her on purpose, but was definitely lost in thought over something. She had seen him like this a few times before, but never this bad.

Thinking that something had happened, she placed her silverware down and stood up to walk to Kayn's side. "Hey, are you okay? You've hardly touched your food."

Kayn snapped out of his thoughts as he only now noticed that Kinzie was no longer sitting across from him but was rather standing next to him, looking at him with worry evident in her eyes. He quickly pocketed the ring before focusing on her and replying.

"Let's finish eating, then we can talk, alright?"

Kinzie only nodded and sat back down to continue eating. She was nervous that she might have upset him somehow, but that was just the irrational part of her brain talking. Clearly, something happened regarding the ring that he tried to hide from her and hopefully he would open up to her about it.

After they all finished eating, Kayn cleaned everything up as usual and Kinzie picked Lara up to take her to the living room where she began playing with her. Kayn followed shortly after and when he saw the heartwarming scene he couldn't help but feel his mind ease a bit.

The past was the past. For now, he couldn't do anything to change it and he could only move forward. Things were on the up and up for him, so he needed to focus on what was important to him in the here and now.

"Come sit with me." Kayn spoke as he patted the spot next to him on the couch he sat down on.

Kinzie saw that Kayn seemed a bit more relaxed now, but he had a serious look on his face regardless. Quickly picking Lara up and sitting down next to him, Lara laid down using both of their laps as a bed before starting to doze off.

Kayn wrapped his arm around Kinzie as he pulled her a little closer in order to rest his head on top of hers. Kinzie slightly turned and embraced Kayn with both arms, silently waiting for him to open up to her.

"Do you remember me telling you about my family's murder?" Kayn asked even though he knew how she would answer.

"Of course! I could never forget such a thing." 

"How about the Obsidian Void Dragon Clan's dimensional ring that my father usually wore?"

"I remember you mentioning it offhandedly…wait…the ring you were fiddling with at dinner?" Kinzie asked as she speculated about the ring's identity.

"Yeah, it's my family's ring." Kayn replied, not denying it.

"How? Wasn't that ring on your father when he was killed? Shouldn't it be in the Carnet Empire's possession?" Kinzie asked as she clearly wanted to know how it was now in Kayn's custody.

"Yes and Yes. Charlotte and I happened upon it by chance, so she helped me to reacquire it. Apparently, my father placed a seal on it so no one can get into it, which is probably why it was tossed away by Carnet."

"Well, have you opened it and looked inside yet?" Kinzie asked in excitement.

"No, I'm too nervous. I don't even know if I'll be able to unseal it. What if I'm not strong enough?"

It was clear to Kinzie that Kayn's insecurities were holding his mind hostage. Even without knowing Ezekiel personally, from what she had heard about him, he clearly placed family above all else. Surely, he would have made some way for his own family to unseal the ring.

"You won't know until you try sweetheart." Kinzie gently spoke as he caressed Kayn's head that was now resting on her shoulder. She could feel a wet spot slowly appearing on her shoulder, so she decided to let silence take over the room for a while, at least until Kayn had let it all out.

The last few days were a roller coaster of emotions for Kayn, and now that he was back in the presence of someone who made him feel safe and that he didn't feel he had to maintain a facade around, he broke down and released all of his pent-up sorrow.

About half an hour later, the two of them sat, huddled together with a ring in Kayn's hand and determination written all over his face.