Seven years old.
My daily routine was still researching magic and training my body.
Lately, the research had hit a wall.
This world apparently didn’t have any magic that could influence the mind, but that was exactly the kind of magic I wanted to develop.
Starting from nothing is always brutal, and the real problem was simple: I had no test subjects.
My idea was to shape mana into threads and use them to invade a person’s mind.
No test subjects, no progress.
“Oh well.
No rush.”
…
One night, the room next door was completely silent.
Zenith was pregnant.
For a while now, I hadn’t heard those sounds at all.
“Guess I don’t even need soundproofing magic lately.”
I said it to no one, opened my door, and headed out to use the bathroom.
Halfway there, I heard something.
Not Zenith’s voice.
But the same quality, thick with want.
And in this house, besides Zenith, there was only Lilia.
“Of all the luck.”
I was about to turn back when I heard something else.
Not Lilia.
A male voice.
One that sounded familiar.
No.
No way.
Don’t tell me that’s…
Paul.
I moved quietly to Lilia’s door and looked through the gap.
Lilia.
Paul.
My first instinct was to throw the door open and make them stop.
I didn’t.
I walked back to my room instead.
Paul had cheated.
With Zenith’s closest friend.
While Zenith was pregnant.
What kind of awful movie had I stumbled into?
It was genuinely revolting.
…
“Take this — hey, why are you so distracted today?”
Paul swung the wooden sword.
I could barely keep up.
Distracted?
I glanced around.
Neither Lilia nor Zenith were nearby.
“Father, is there something you should be saying to Mother?”
“Hm?
I said my ‘I love you’ this morning, same as always.
Did I miss something?”
How to put this.
Cheating on his wife and still this relaxed about it.
Paul was more brazen than I’d given him credit for.
I sighed.
“You did something to betray Mother.”
Paul went still.
“Ru…
Rudy…
you mean…”
“Yes.
I saw you.
Father and Lilia.”
He was quiet for a long time.
When he finally spoke, the words came out one at a time, like he was forcing each one through a crack.
“Uh…
could you…
keep this between us?
I…”
Scumbag.
That was the word that landed first.
Complete and utter scumbag.
Knowing this man was my father made my skin crawl.
“Father.
Pick up your sword.
One more match.
You win, I keep your secret.”
“Oh — oh!”
The moment he picked it up, I cast.
Ice locked the wooden sword and his feet to the spot.
Earth magic followed, turning the ground beneath him into bog.
Paul reacted fast.
He shattered the ice with some burst of force and came at me.
But.
“Father.
You lost.”
“Huh?”
A Magic Circle activated under his feet.
I had prepared it in advance, packed with mana.
Its function was simple: controllable vines.
They wrapped around him and held.
Even Paul, with this much mana infused into the circle, couldn’t pull free.
“Father.”
“Rudy…
uh…
any chance we could go again?” He laughed awkwardly.
“You are a complete and utter scumbag.”
“Uh…”
The words stopped him cold.
I exhaled slowly.
“Father.
Whatever else happens, you need to take responsibility and apologize to Mother.”
“B-but…
your mother is a Milis follower, she’d…”
“I don’t care about any of that!
Lilia and Zenith both raised me.
Both of them.
You are going to earn their forgiveness, and you are going to accept Lilia into this family.
No exceptions.”
I hit the bound Paul with a water bullet for good measure.
He looked pathetic enough.
It was deserved.
…
That night, I heard argument after argument.
Zenith’s voice, sharp with anger, then breaking into tears.
Lilia stood to the side the whole time, still as a statue, looking like she was ready to walk out the door at any second.
I came downstairs.
Everyone turned to look at me.
Paul hadn’t handled this well.
But he had gone and admitted it.
I’d give him that.
“Mother.”
I walked over and wrapped my arms around Zenith, wearing the most harmless child expression I could manage.
Honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Zenith stroked my hair and pulled me close.
Her voice was rough.
“Paul…
I’m so disappointed in you.
Was I really never enough…?”
“My love, that’s not — I really do love you.
That night it was…”
“Don’t.
After the baby is born, we’re getting a divorce.”
“Dear!”
Paul dropped to his knees in front of her.
Zenith pressed her lips together.
I looked at her face and made my decision.
I buried my head against her and let my voice go small and unsteady.
“Mother…
could you give Father one more chance?
I don’t want to lose him.”
“Rudy.
Do you understand what your father did?”
“I don’t…
I just don’t want Mother to keep hurting like this.”
“Rudy…”
I knew.
This wasn’t fair to her.
Words like this from her own child had to sting, a second kind of betrayal, from someone she trusted completely.
But Paul, scumbag that he was, was still my family.
Zenith closed her eyes.
She took a slow breath.
Something in her face shifted, like she was crossing a line she couldn’t uncross.
“Paul.
I have one question.
Answer it right, and I’ll forgive you this one time.”
“G-go ahead.”
“What are you going to do about Lilia?”
The room went dead quiet.
Quiet enough to hear the candle burning.
Lilia broke the silence first.
“Master, Madam, this was my fault, I, ”
“You.
Don’t say another word.
Paul.
Answer me.”
That was a voice I hadn’t heard from Zenith before.
Not once since I’d been born had I seen her turn that kind of anger on Lilia.
Paul, still on his knees, drew a long breath.
Then he pressed his forehead to the floor.
“I will…
I will take responsibility.
I swear it.
But…
I do love you.
I really do love you, Dear.”
Zenith stood.
She picked me up and started toward the stairs.
“This is the only time.
And you remember what you said, take responsibility.”
“Dear…
you’re…
forgiving me?”
“I don’t break my promises.
That’s not something we share in common.
I’m doing this for Rudy, and for Rudy alone.
Once.
That’s all you get.”
“Dear…”
“That’s enough.
I’m taking my lovely son to bed.
Figure out where you’re sleeping yourself.”
She carried me upstairs and set me down on the bed, then lay beside me.
A few minutes later, she started crying.
There was so much she was holding inside.
I could feel it without her saying a word.
I sat up and wrapped my arms around her from behind.
My body was only seven.
I couldn’t do much more than grip the fabric of her clothes, but I held on.
“Rudy…”
“Mother.
I love you.”
The words I had never managed to say in my previous life.
I had loved my mother then.
I was certain of that.
So why couldn’t I ever say it out loud?
Was it pride?
Shame?
Something else I never had a name for?
I know, without any doubt, that the love I had for my mother in that life ran deeper than what I feel for Zenith now.
And still I never said it.
Not once.
Maybe this time it was easier because I was a child.
Maybe it didn’t feel like it required anything from me.
But I know the real reason.
I was saying it now for the version of me who never could.
For my mother in that life.
Zenith cried harder and pulled me against her.
“I love you too.
My good Rudy.”
No son wants to watch his mother cry.
No matter what.
I used magic to knock on the wooden door, a gentle tap from inside, but it sounded like it came from the hallway.
Zenith loosened her arms around me, got up, and went to the door.
Paul was sitting on the floor outside.
I had expected this.
If he hadn’t been there, I would have spent tomorrow rigging every room with traps.
A real punishment, not a practice run.
He looked up when Zenith opened the door and gave her his most sheepish smile.
“Dear…
can I come in?”
“Fine.
You can sleep on the floor.
The bed is mine and Rudy’s.”
The traces of tears still showed at the corners of her eyes.
Even Paul couldn’t look at that without flinching.
He stood and folded her into his arms.
“I promise you.
I will never do anything like this again.”
“Hah.
And what exactly is your promise worth right now?
I will never, ”
He kissed her before she could finish.
Zenith resisted for a moment.
Then she stopped.
When it ended, she pushed him firmly to one side.
“Floor.
I already told you.”
“Yes, Dear.”
“Don’t think this means I’ve forgiven you.”
Paul.
That’s as far as I can take you.
You are a complete and utter scumbag.
But you’re still my family.
➤ Next: Family — Face to Face