Chapter 268: Memories of a Distant Past

When Mark walked into the meeting room, the first thing he saw was his wives eating around a new table.

They had replaced the one Ely had destroyed with a bigger one, and on it sat a considerable amount of food.

Aria was serving Alice a portion of stew, while Ely was shoving an enormous piece of meat into her mouth.

And Rose, though she had barely touched her plate, held a glass of wine between her fingers and took small sips every now and then.

Mark stayed by the doorway for a moment, watching them, and as always when he saw them like this, he couldn’t help finding the scene a little curious.

None of them needed to eat, and yet they still sat down at the table, tried new dishes, and enjoyed food like any normal person.

They didn’t get tired or need sleep either, but that never stopped them from taking a nap or lying down for a while whenever they had the chance.

Rose was the only exception, and not even entirely, because what she needed wasn’t food, but blood.

His, specifically, for quite a while now.

And yet, there they were. Having dinner as if their lives depended on it, pouring wine that had no effect on them, and arguing over the last piece of bread as if it actually mattered.

At first, when he was just getting used to what they were, that had struck him as absurd.

However, as time went on, he ended up understanding it.

They didn’t do it because they needed to, but because it was a habit they had carried over from when they were still alive.

For years, sitting down at the table had been part of their everyday life, a moment shared with the people who mattered to them.

And habits like that didn’t disappear just because their bodies stopped needing them.

Sharing a table, serving each other, toasting to something, arguing over trivialities with their mouths full.

They were small gestures that kept them tethered to something resembling normalcy.

So instead of announcing his presence, Mark stayed still for a moment, simply listening to the conversation.

"...but seriously, Rose," Aria was saying, leaning toward her. "You don’t have even one preference? None at all?"

"None," Rose replied with a calm smile, holding a glass of wine. "Boy or girl, makes no difference to me. I’ll be happy either way."

"That’s because you’re way too boring!" Aria protested. "I have preferences, and pretty clear ones, too."

"Oh really? And what are they?"

"A boy with magical affinity," Aria declared as if it were the most important decision in the world. "If he’s born like that, the two of us will turn him into the greatest mage on the continent."

Ely scoffed from the other side of the table.

"Magic? Please... that kid is going to be born with a sword in his hand, I guarantee it," she said, shaking her head. "He’s going to be a prodigy with weapons, and I plan to start training him the moment he can stand on his own."

"You are not putting a sword in a baby’s hands, Ely!" Aria said.

"A wooden one. At first."

"Ely!"

"You’re both wrong," Alice cut in, crossing her arms with absolute confidence. "What that child is going to have is physical strength."

A proud smile appeared on her face.

"He’s going to be able to shatter a rock with a punch before he turns ten, and guess who’s going to teach him how."

"Nobody asked you!" Aria protested.

"And nobody asked you to fill him up with spells!" Alice shot back.

Rose rested her chin on her hand and listened to them argue, clearly entertained by the direction the conversation had taken.

"I see you’re already dividing up the baby," Mark said.

Hearing him, all four turned instantly.

"Master!" Ely greeted.

"Well, look who finally showed up!" Aria said, crossing her arms. "You were supposed to take a quick shower. That was over an hour ago!"

"Yes, that took quite a while, my lord," Alice seconded, narrowing her eyes.

"I relaxed a bit too much," he replied, walking toward the table. "I hadn’t had a decent shower in days, and I completely lost track of time... you know how it is."

Mark sat down at the table without giving the matter any more thought, and Aria, almost by reflex, grabbed a plate and started serving him.

"Anyway," Aria said, setting a generous steak in front of him and filling his glass with wine. "Now that you’re here, give your opinion. What do you prefer?"

"About what?"

"About the baby," she replied. "Magic, weapons, or brute strength. Decide."

"And choose wisely," Ely added.

Mark took the glass, took a sip, and looked at the three of them.

"Sorry, but I’m going to have to side with Rose."

"WHAT?!"

"None of that matters to me," Mark confessed with a shrug. "Whether they have magic or not, whether they’re strong, whether they’re hopeless with weapons. Makes no difference to me."

He set the glass down on the table.

"As long as they’re born healthy, I’ll be the happiest man in the world... everything else is just details."

"Thank you, Master," Rose said, giving him a warm smile from the other end of the table.

And before he could react, Aria got up from her seat and hugged him from the side.

"You’re definitely going to be a great father, Master," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I guarantee it."

"Agreed," Alice added.

"Totally," Ely continued.

Mark let out an awkward laugh, not quite sure what to do with all that unanimity.

"I really hope that’s true..." he replied, looking at his glass of wine. "Because, honestly, it’s always been one of my goals."

"One of your goals?" Aria asked, somewhat confused. "Really?"

"Yeah..."

"So being a father was always part of your plans?" Rose asked, tilting her head slightly with genuine curiosity. "Even before coming to this world?"

"Long before that, actually," he admitted. "Though not for the reasons you’re probably imagining."

"What do you mean, my lord?" Alice asked.

Mark stayed quiet for a few moments, absently spinning the glass between his fingers.

And when he finally spoke, he did so with a calm that contrasted completely with what he was about to say.

"I always wanted to be a father because I wanted to be a better father than my own were," he confessed. "Nothing more than that."

The mood at the table shifted subtly.

"Your parents?" Ely asked, frowning. "You never talked to us about them."

"Because it’s not something worth telling..." Mark replied with a shrug.

"Tell us anyway," Rose said gently.

"Seriously, it’s not a big deal," he said, downplaying it. "We just never got along... not when I was a kid, and even less as adults."

"Why not?" Alice asked.

"Because to them I was a disappointment..." Mark replied calmly. "I was never the son they wanted. I didn’t have the ambitions they wanted for me, and no matter what I did, they always saw it as more proof that I’d turned out defective."

"That’s not—"

"And then there was my brother," he continued. "He was exactly what they’d always wanted..."

He let out a dry laugh.

"Honestly, it never bothered me that they preferred him," he confessed, taking a drink of wine. "It just would have been nice if they’d tried pretending otherwise every once in a while."

"..."

"Anyway, the moment I turned eighteen, they made it clear it was time for me to stand on my own. And that was pretty much the end of it."

Mark shrugged slightly.

"I packed my things, left home, and after that we talked... what, a couple times a year? And only out of obligation. I don’t even remember the last time we—"

However, when Mark looked up, the words caught in his throat.

The whole table had gone silent, and looking at Aria, he understood why.

She was staring at him fixedly while thick tears rolled down her cheeks.

Ely’s jaw was clenched so tight she had bitten through her lower lip, a thin red line running down her chin that she didn’t even seem to have noticed.

Alice had simply frozen.

She was looking at him with wide eyes and parted lips, as if she were still trying to process what she had just heard.

Rose looked at him in silence, an expression of surprise slowly mixing with something far sadder.

"...Hey," Mark said, raising his hands. "Don’t make those faces."

"..."

"Seriously, it’s not that big a deal," Mark insisted, scratching the back of his neck. "That’s all in the past now."

"Master—"

"I’m fine, really," he said with a smile. "I’m not telling you this for pity, I’m telling you because you asked... I got over it a long time ag—"

Mark barely had time to react before all four of them closed in around him.

Aria was the first to catch him in her arms, clinging to his neck with unexpected strength.

Ely positioned herself beside him and hugged him in silence, while Alice finally snapped out of her shock and ended up hugging him from behind.

And Rose, with far more composure but with the same determination, circled the table, crouched in front of him, and took both his hands between hers.

"...Huh?"