CRASH!
The second impact sounded much louder.
The living room window shattered, sending glass spraying across the floor.
The servants ran around, screaming in fear.
"Sir! They got in!"
"There are so many of them!"
"They have weapons!"
I froze.
Never in my life had I experienced anything like this.
"Dad... what's going on?" I asked, my voice trembling.
Dad didn't answer.
His gaze remained fixed on the front door.
For the first time, I saw panic covering his face.
"Take Nara away!" he barked at Revan.
"Don't let them find her!"
I immediately turned around.
What?
Hadn't Dad still considered my life and death none of his concern just a few days ago?
And now he was ordering someone else to save me?
"I don't want to leave!" I cried.
"Dad, what's actually going on?"
"There's no time to explain!" Revan shot back.
The man grabbed my wrist.
I yanked it away on reflex.
"Let go!"
"Nara, listen to me."
"No! All of you are confusing me!"
My sobs broke free.
"You've ignored me for twenty-two years."
"Now, all of a sudden, you show up and ask me to come with you, and then there are people trying to capture me."
"I don't even know what I did wrong!"
The room fell silent again.
My sobbing became the only sound that could be heard.
Mom covered her mouth as she cried.
My two older brothers could only lower their heads.
They couldn't bring themselves to meet my eyes.
Revan let out a long sigh.
"You haven't done anything wrong."
"Then why are they looking for me?"
"Because you exist."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Before Revan could answer, gunshots rang out from outside.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The guards' screams filled the yard.
"Everyone, fall back!"
"They're fully armed!"
My body immediately began to tremble.
I was truly terrified.
Revan stood in front of me.
Meanwhile, Dad grabbed a large flower vase and smashed it, leaving him with sharp shards of glass in his hand.
I stared at him in disbelief.
Dad...
The man who usually guarded his dignity so carefully...
Was now preparing to fight with nothing but broken glass?
"Dad..."
He turned toward me.
Our eyes met.
"Nara."
"Yes?"
"If something happens later..."
Dad's voice trembled.
"...never hate yourself."
I furrowed my brow.
"What do you mean, Dad?"
He smiled bitterly.
"The people you should hate are us."
My chest felt tight.
Before I could ask anything else, the front door suddenly collapsed.
CRASH!
Dust billowed through the room.
A dozen men dressed in black entered the house at a calm pace.
Each of them wore a mask.
One of them stepped forward.
"Mr. Mahendra."
His voice was deep.
"We didn't come to kill your family."
"Then what do you want?"
"We only want to take the girl."
The man's gaze stopped directly on my face.
My heart seemed to stop beating.
He...
He had come for me.
Dad instinctively stepped in front of me.
"You won't."
The masked man let out a quiet chuckle.
"Are you sure you can stop us?"
"No."
"Then?"
"I only need to buy some time."
Revan, who had been silent until then, finally stepped forward.
"Enough."
All the masked men immediately turned their attention to him.
Their leader looked startled.
"So it's true..."
"Young Master Revan."
Revan didn't answer.
His gaze was cold.
"I'll give you one chance."
"Leave."
The leader laughed instead.
"What if we refuse?"
Revan slipped a hand into his suit pocket.
Then he pulled out a small black object.
I had no idea what it was.
But the moment they saw it, every masked man's face went pale.
"That object..."
"Impossible..."
"Wasn't that lost decades ago?"
Their leader took a step back.
Revan spoke in a flat tone.
"This is my last warning."
"Leave this house."
"Or you'll never return."
The atmosphere grew tense.
No one moved.
A few seconds later...
The masked leader merely smiled faintly.
"So the object really has returned to its heir."
His gaze slowly shifted to me.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
"We've finally found you."
I swallowed.
"I... don't know you."
"You don't know us yet."
"But we've been looking for you..."
The man paused.
"...since the day you were born."
Those words made my entire body go cold.
I turned to Dad, then to Mom, and finally to Revan.
Not one of them looked surprised.
As if...
They had known the truth for a long time.
While I...
Was the last person to learn who I really was.