"...Do you know just how dangerous the most dangerous moment of my life was back then?"
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Reid said, playing along in the driest tone possible. "You’ve told that story about eight hundred times already. The guy on watch fell asleep, so a giant forest wolf snuck into the camp. When you woke up, the tent had already been ripped open, and the wolf was right beside your head, happily devouring the army rations. You woke up because its drool was dripping all over you, while everyone nearby was so scared they practically wet themselves and didn’t dare make a sound."
"Then, fearless as ever, you waited until the wolf wasn’t paying attention, quietly drew the sword beside you, stabbed it straight through the neck, and shouted for help. The whole camp rushed over, and in the end the giant wolf was brought down without anyone getting hurt."
Razelian got cut off so thoroughly that the speech he had been building up lodged in his throat and refused to go either way.
What he really wanted to say was, My heroic performance was worth at least eight thousand words of thrilling combat, and you little brat just summed it up in one sentence?
"Oh, right, Razelian."
Reid spoke again.
"There’s actually something I’ve always wondered."
He set down his spoon and looked at Razelian with complete seriousness.
"If you were out in the wild, in a place full of danger, and it took giant wolf drool dripping on you to wake you up... just how dead asleep were you, exactly?"
Amon snorted on the spot.
The porridge in his mouth sprayed right out, and he hurriedly grabbed a napkin to wipe it off, but he was laughing so hard he kept leaking more while he cleaned.
The rest of the family were trying, with varying degrees of success, not to laugh. None of them were quite as bad as Amon, though.
Razelian’s face went from green to white and back again. He glared at Reid, too angry to get words out for a moment.
Then he shot Amon a hard look as well. Amon hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth, though muffled laughter still kept escaping from behind his palm.
Razelian was fuming.
These two unfilial sons had to be doing this on purpose because of what happened earlier that day. They were getting revenge.
"You two little punks, do you have any manners at all? Just look at the state of you at the dinner table. Amon, if you still haven’t learned how to eat properly, then tomorrow I’ll go dig out your old pacifier and make you start all over from the beginning. And you, Reid, why do you have so much to say while eating? Do you have any idea your spit is about to land in my bowl?"
Reid hunched his shoulders a little and wiped a few droplets off his own face, all while grumbling inwardly, Whose spit is landing in whose bowl here?
"All right, all right, dear, don’t get into it with the children."
Lilia spoke up with a smile, trying to smooth things over.
Only then did Razelian rein in his temper a little, though he was still stewing inside. He cast sidelong looks at Reid and Amon, already plotting how he would teach the two of them a lesson tomorrow so they would finally understand their place.
"And the two of you, too."
After calming Razelian down, Lilia turned to Reid and Amon in a slightly sterner tone.
"You shouldn’t talk to Razelian like that. No next time."
"Got it."
"Understood."
Reid and Amon both lowered their heads at once and wisely gave in.
Seeing that they admitted their mistake, Razelian let them off for the moment.
"Eat."
After snapping that out in a bad mood, he picked up his spoon again. The table fell quiet for a while, leaving only the soft clink of spoons against bowls and plates.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a loud crash.
The entire family froze and turned toward Razelian in shock.
Razelian was no longer in his chair.
Instead, he was sitting on the floor in a daze, with the shattered remains of the chair beneath him.
"Razelian!"
"Father!"
"Dad!"
Voices of alarm rose all at once.
Lilia hurried over to help him up, brushing dust from the back of his clothes as she asked anxiously, "Are you all right?"
"Huh? Oh. I’m fine."
Razelian waved a hand and got to his feet, though he cast a strange look at the broken chair behind him.
What rotten luck do I have today?
A short while later, Lorenz brought over a new chair.
Razelian gave it a few solid pats to make sure it was sound before finally sitting down again.
Then he said, "Lorenz, check the furniture tomorrow. If anything needs replacing, replace it."
"Of course, sir."
Lorenz answered as he gathered up the broken pieces of the chair and carried them out.
Once outside, he looked down at the wreckage with a puzzled expression.
"That’s odd. I checked the condition of everything just last week. There shouldn’t have been any problem. So how did this chair suddenly fall apart?"
He thought about it for only a moment before deciding not to dwell on it. Instead, he started wondering whether he ought to call in a proper carpenter to inspect the house the next day.
And so, with that small but memorable interruption, another otherwise ordinary dinner at House Hayeral came to an end.
...
The next morning, bright and early, Razelian dragged Reid and Amon out of bed and hauled them into the yard for training.
Before long, the courtyard was echoing with Razelian’s barking and the miserable howls of the two brothers.
Meanwhile, Lilia sat by the window in the study, quietly reading a book in the warm morning sunlight.
"Heave-ho."
At the sound, Lilia looked up and saw Shulim dragging over a stool with all her strength. Then the little girl climbed onto it, rose up on tiptoe, and stretched one small hand as far as she could toward a book on the shelf.
A larger hand reached out from behind her and pulled the book down first.
Shulim tipped her head back and saw her mother’s gentle face.
"What is it, Shulim? Did you want to read this one?"
Shulim nodded.
"Yes."
Lilia smiled softly, then carefully lifted Shulim down from the stool. Holding the book, she crouched in front of her so their eyes were level.
"Do you want me to read it to you?"
Shulim shook her head, took the book from Lilia’s hands, and declared with complete confidence, "No need. I can read now. My prep school teacher taught me lots of words."
Lilia looked a little surprised at first, then smiled.
"Is that so? Shulim is amazing."
Hearing her mother praise her, Shulim tried not to look too pleased with herself, but her chin still lifted just a little.
"I’m going to read now."
Holding the book to her chest, Shulim gave a proper little bow and started to leave.
"All right, go ahead. And if there’s anything you can’t read, you can come ask me anytime. I’ll be right here."
"Okay."
Shulim carried the magic book over to the desk, climbed up onto the chair Razelian usually used, and opened to the first page with a look of absolute seriousness.
"Magic... is a miracle-like power granted by... the world itself. To use this power... it is nec... neces... necessary to understand the most basic... basic particles that make up magic, ma... ma... ma..."
Lilia looked up.
Shulim was standing there in front of her, clutching the book.
Unable to help herself, Lilia smiled and asked, "What is it, Shulim?"
Shulim held up the book and pointed to one of the words on the page.
"How do you read this one?"
Lilia blinked, then patiently explained, "That word is read as particle. The most basic particles. Mana particles."
"I see. Mana particles. Got it."
The moment she had her answer, Shulim gave Lilia a big bow and hurried back off with the book in her arms.
Lilia watched her go, as if she wanted to say something.
In the end, though, she said nothing.