"Hey, brat," Michel called out as he reached the edge of the woods and came upon Edward.
At first, Edward thought Michel was talking to him, but the leader of Midian soon made his true intention clear.
Poking Theo—who was sitting on the ground, scribbling at the dirt with a stick—Edward drew his nephew's attention.
"He's talking to you, Te."
Theo looked at Michel with a flat expression that clearly irritated the village leader.
"The kid's got quite the expression…"
"I know," Ethan snapped, clearly dissatisfied.
Michel pulled a small sickle from his waist while adjusting his straw hat. With a tilt of his head, he beckoned Theo without saying a word.
A few minutes later, a cluster of villagers formed around a section of the plantation that blocked the road and half the routes through the fields.
They whispered among themselves as bursts of laughter occasionally rang out. None of it had to do with the reason they had gathered there; the farmers had simply seized the chance to rest for a few minutes and chat.
"What's going on here? Why aren't you working?!" Anton complained, one of the men closest to Michel.
The peasant pushed through the crowd of farmers.
When he reached the end of the path… he froze.
Anton stared in shock at Duke Ethan's back, standing still with his arms crossed, merely observing from a distance.
"My lord—" he began, but was cut off by a heavy sigh.
"Cut it at this height," Michel instructed, running his hand along the wheat stalk, close to the ground.
With the sickle in hand, Theo cut exactly where Michel had told him to.
"Good. Put it there. Now do the same with the next ones."
"What are you doing?" Anton asked as he stepped closer.
"Giving the Young Master a reason to show off to Magnum."
A vein throbbed on Anton's forehead; Magnum was his only son, and unlike Theo, he was not a deviant.
"Come on! I'll teach you how to remove the seeds."
By accompanying Theo and Michel for the rest of that day, Ethan found the solution to his worries.
Over the following months, Ethan took Theo to the village at least twice a week. Even with more than thirty children to play with, Theo preferred to stay by Michel's side.
He found himself only in the old man's personality and values—someone completely unlike Liam Mason. Theo grew attached to the fact that Michel was always extending a hand to others, even when they didn't truly need it, simply to accumulate what he called a "positive balance."
A karma capable of ensuring a worthy rest… something Liam had never cared to build.
Once, Michel had said there were no heroes in humanity… yet he himself became the light for a child with an exceptionally intense glow.
A second father to the Young Master of the Lawrence family.
Four months after he began spending time with Michel, the boy had grown noticeably more open with some of the villagers, though he still hadn't bonded with the children of Midian.
When Michel wasn't nearby, Theo would sit at the foot of a tree, scratching at the dirt with a stick.
That particular afternoon, Theo was drawing something like an eye on the ground, with rays forming a kind of magical velcro around a sharp pupil.
'I think it was like this…' he thought as he examined the scribbles. 'The will of the destroyer… All this information is inside my head, all these memories are so…'
With his eyes closed, he let out a heavy sigh.
'Cruel.'
"What are you doing?" Agnes asked. A girl with red hair and brown eyes approached Theo slowly. Michel's granddaughter leaned in and continued, "What is that supposed to be?"
She bent down to examine Theo's drawing.
'He's weird…'
"An eye."
"It's messy… the composition isn't good."
Theo's pride took a direct hit. How dare she insult his art? Even if it truly wasn't anything amazing… perhaps she simply didn't share the same interpretation.
"It's not for you to understand."
Agnes laughed, fully aware it was the excuse of someone whose ego had been bruised.
"Sure, sure. Of course. Mind if I stay here and read?"
Theo's eyes shone like pure gold.
"You can read?! Like… aren't you a peasant? How do you know how to read?"
Agnes puffed out her chest proudly and flipped her wavy red hair back.
"The Duchess teaches me," Agnes said, showing him the book. "She gives me one book a week, and while you're here, she teaches me how to read and write…"
The arrogance in Agnes's voice annoyed Theo.
"So what? She teaches me every day. Reads to me, teaches me how to read and write, teaches me how to paint…"
As Agnes clicked her tongue, frustrated by her failed attempts to provoke the Young Master, Theo glanced at the cover of the book she was holding and smiled.
"Aaah, the book about the Incursion of Snegriya, right?" Theo commented casually. "Sergei Van Klanov decided to go there five hundred years ago to establish the Patriarchal community of the South Pole. Too bad the southern mana beasts, controlled by ancient shamans, wiped out the entire crew… Only Van Klanov's journals were found, sealed in bottles among the wrecks…"
Theo had just summarized the entire article Agnes was supposed to study. It infuriated her completely.
"You bastard!" she shouted.
"Ooh, ooh. How vulgar."
Waving his arms loosely and going limp, Theo mocked his mentor's granddaughter.
Grabbing a handful of dirt, Agnes threw it at the Young Master. She shoved the book at the base of a tree, clutched her dress between her legs, and started chasing Theo…
A huge mistake.
As a deviant, Theo was absurdly faster than Agnes—though she was a deviant as well. And even though he was only two years and ten months old, his physical maturity bordered on that of a child nearly five.
Dodging Agnes and making her slip in the dirt, Theo circled around, snatched the book about Van Klanov, and bolted toward the main road.
"Give it back!" Agnes screamed, struggling to get up as she chased him. "It's a gift from the Duchess!"
Theo ran down the road toward the wheat fields, which were low at that time due to the harvest. He left the main road and cut into a path running through the plantation.
The Young Master burst into laughter as he ran.
"Magnum!" Agnes shouted to a boy sitting on a wagon. "Help me!"
Magnum, drowsy, with a straw hat pulled down to shield his face from the sun, stirred slowly, yawning as he tried to open his eyes.
"Huh…?" he muttered through a yawn. "What is it?"
"Get my book!"
Pulling the hat from his face, Magnum straightened up and looked at Theo, who was still running toward him. Without fully understanding what Agnes was saying, he only noticed the book tucked under Theo's arm and decided to act.
Leaping off the hay beside the wagon, Magnum charged at Theo and dove at the Young Master's feet. Theo, however, jumped clean over the peasant boy, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Michel and Anton witnessed the exact moment Magnum fell. Seeing his son hit the ground carelessly, Anton immediately dropped the bundles of wheat in his arms and ran after them.
"And there he goes…" Michel muttered.
"Mag!" Anton shouted desperately.
"Hey, Theo! Into the fields!" Michel suggested, pointing ahead.
Without hesitation, fully trusting Michel, the Young Master dashed into the field and ran between the remnants of the harvest.
Irritated, Magnum did the same.
'Agnes woke me up just for this?! Now I won't be able to sleep again until I get that book!'
Though the field was harvested and low, it was still enough to hide the short legs of the two children. And even though Theo was faster and better prepared, his stamina was gradually running out.
He slowed to a walk, glancing around in search of an escape route.
Unexpectedly, Magnum clipped him from behind.
The moment Theo realized it, he shifted the book away and used his body to push Magnum back. The peasant boy, however, ran around behind Theo and tried to grab the book again.
Instead, Young Master Lawrence tossed the book forward, snatched it again, and shook Magnum off. It worked; confused, the peasant boy lost his grip.
They ran a few more meters until Theo lost his footing and tripped over the stalks.
Theo hit the ground first; Magnum tumbled down moments later.
The book fell open near Theo.
Both boys lay on their backs, staring up at the afternoon sky.
Panting, the exhaustion faded, replaced by adrenaline. Within seconds, they burst into laughter.
"That girl's crazy!" Magnum exclaimed.
"She really is!" Theo agreed.
"What did you just call me?!" Agnes shouted as she ran through the field, lifting her dress to keep from tripping, rushing to grab the book.
Anton sighed in relief.
Michel smiled and turned back to his work.
They were Theo's first sparks of happiness—sparks that would not be fed for very long…