Volume 16 Chapter 7: I Will Never Give Him A Chance

“Hmm~”

“What happened to him?” After training, Keith and Tharaziel returned to the garden house; Scarlet was playing with Eri during that time. She carried her to greet Keith, but then she caught the goofy smile Tharaziel had. She did not know why, but it annoyed her.

Tharaziel jeered, “I just had an amazing training session with Father.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened, “You did?”

“Well, it’s more like him being used as a training dummy; he was flung around.” Keith retorted: Tharaziel received guidance from Alastair. Afterward, he faced him again only to be sent into the sky. It happened ten times.

“Hey!”

“I’m only saying what I saw.” Keith watched the two practice against one another. The first thought going through his mind was: Could this be considered practice? Tharaziel was being rag-dolled around. He had seen some things before. But this was the first time he saw some bounce up and down in the air for quite some time. He was about to tell Alastair to stop, but seeing Tharaziel’s face so happy, Keith said nothing.

“…”

“I wonder if I can do the same?” Tharaziel mumbled as he remembered how Alastair launched people.

“If you want to be like King Alastair, you need to work out more.” Keith sighed; his gaze soon directed to Scarlet and noticed the oddity. Her body was frozen in place as if someone had cut the strings of a doll.

“Scarlet?”

“I see,” Scarlet mumbled as she walked off with Eri.

“Hah,” The one to let out a groan was Selk as she shook her head. While that happened on one side, Alastair was having tea with Elyndra. Spending some time with his son, it was time to spend with his wife.

“…Our son is weird.”

“Hmm?” Elyndra blinked, “What do you mean?” She told him to talk with Tharaziel first since he was more amicable compared to Scarlet. How he did it was up to him. But to hear that Tharaziel was weird…

“I went to the barracks to get accustomed to my arm.” Alastair sipped his tea, “But is it normal for people to laugh while getting hit?”

“Eh?”

“Why I sparred with him; Tharaziel was smiling while he got hit in the face.”

“Ahh.” That was the logical conclusion to come to. Elyndra shook her head, “No. Tharaziel is happy he could spar with you. He wants to earn your acknowledgement.” Ah. She shouldn’t have said that.

“My acknowledgment?”

“Mmhmm.” Since she said it, there was no need to hide it as she explained, “Tharaziel looks up to you as a role model. He wants you to acknowledge his abilities; he tries to be like you, but…I don’t think that’s the correct way.” It wasn’t just that he was bad at copying Alastair; he shouldn’t be like him.

“…I see.” Alastair’s expression was mute, completely unreadable.

“…If you can, can you spar with him from time to time? I think he would like it,” Elyndra would never request something like this before. But witnessing how much Alastair had changed in a day, she wanted to take the chance.

“…I will when I have time.” He didn’t mind training with his son. Moreover, he found it interesting. Elyndra smiled, “Then what about Scarlet?”

The atmosphere instantly died down.

“…That bad?”  

“Mmhmm.” Alastair nodded, “…I don’t know what to say to her.” He wanted to say something, but it was difficult to talk with her as well. Whatever words he spoke, she would still be angry.

“…Just keep trying. I think you will eventually crack Scarlet.” But what she didn’t know was that it would never come.

“Tch!”  

“…” I was horribly wrong. Right now, Lilith, Elyndra, and Selk were having tea with the demon princess. However, the princess only had a dark look as she sipped her tea.

“Dear, how about you give him a chance?”

“I don’t want to.” Scarlet looked away, “I will never give him a chance. Not after what he caused.” All those times he neglected them, he prioritized his work. Now, he wanted to spend some time with them?

Elyndra was silent. She wanted to say more, but she knew Scarlet was a special case; nothing would get her to change her mind.

“I will never forgive him.” Scarlet’s eyes darkened as she held her teacup. Slowly, they could hear a little snap from the handle. The three were helpless against the rage she had; that was when Keith walked in, “Why are you so angry?”

“…Nothing.”

“…” What she got next was a flick to the forehead, “Is it really nothing when there are cracks on the teacup?”

Scarlet looked away. But that caused Keith to sigh as he gently placed something in her mouth. Scarlet’s eyes widened before she savored the tangy treat, “What did you make?”

“Oh, it’s tarts. I used the spicy fruit and incorporated some apples to make an apple jam tart.” He thought it would make a refreshing and light snack. The spice gave the tart a light jolt while the sweetness from the apple slowly mingled, satisfying the palate.

“…One more.”

“Okay,” Keith fed her another one before patting her head, “Now, don’t frown like that; you’ll get more wrinkles when you grow older.”

“…I won’t.”

“Good. I will prepare the ingredients for dinner.” Keith smiled as he returned to the kitchen to work on the other food. But that was when Scarlet waved her body back and forth.