Evin woke up and found himself covered in a soft and very nice smelling blankets, well rested and satisfied. The bed under his body was also quite comfortable, nothing like the hard and squeaky one he usually slept on. He felt that he should be more worried about these new developments, but for whatever reason, he just couldn’t make himself care.

Though of course… this state didn’t last very long, as Evin abruptly peeked his head out of the blanket and looked around his surroundings.

‘Where am I?’ his eyes went wide, as he observed the almost criminally luxurious room.

Two transparent windows on two of the walls, covered by a silky curtain; the whole floor which was covered in a fluffy looking carpet; a finely crafted desk and chair combo; and not to mention the gigantic bed, which was probably bigger than Evin’s whole room.

<Have you woken up?> the voice asked from inside his head.

“Where am I?” Evin murmured.

<Don’t talk to me so openly. I’m sure this room has a recording magic of some sorts,> the voice said with urgency and explained to Evin what a recording device was before he could ask about it.

Evin was a bit surprised by the revelation and the existence of such devices, but he still didn’t know what was happening.

“What’s happening?” he then murmured, genuinely confused.

<I’m sure the mage will be happy to explain everything to you. And if I’m correct, she’ll be sending someone towards this room pretty soon.>

As Evin was about to ask what it meant, he heard the door open and saw a young teen dressed in servant’s clothing appear.

‘Is there seriously such a recording device inside this room? Or else, how would they know that I just woke up?’ Evin thought, and turned a bit wary.

“Master Evin,” the girl greeted.

“Master?” Evin asked.

“Lady Leanne told me to bring you to her.”

“Lady Leanne? Am I in her house?”

‘The voice did mention a female mage…’

The girl ignored Evin’s question and had him wear some clothes from inside the wardrobe. Evin refused, as he saw that most of these clothes weren’t meant to be worn by him, but the servant explained that he didn’t have to worry about these things any more.

A few minutes later, Evin found himself standing in front of a brown lacquered door that emitted a weirdly calming smell.

‘Who knew mages had nice smelling doors…’ Evin wondered, as he waited for the servant to invite him in.

The house itself was fancily decorated, but it wasn’t as big as Evin had imagined at first. It was a simple two-story house as the maid described and the room Evin was staying in turned out to be on the second floor. The servant told Evin about the bathroom near his room, another guestroom and two other rooms which Evin wasn’t allowed in: Leanne’s bedroom and her study, in front of which Evin was currently waiting.

<You should probably greet Leanne with a ‘Thank you’,> the voice suddenly said, <She healed your body to the best of her abilities and also did her best to heal your mind.>

Evin didn’t need the voice’s instructions to say his thanks. But he was kind of interested in what it said next about her, trying her best to heal Evin’s mind. Did that mean that Evin’s mind was ill somehow? Was he seriously crazy? Did that mean that the voice wasn’t real? Most definitely not.

As he was wondering about these things, the servant from before opened the door and gestured Evin inside.

Inside the room, rows and rows of books were lined up on practically every wall. Each and every one of them seemed to be old and used, judging by the state of their covers and papers. Aside from that, there was a desk, behind which Leanne was sitting and reading through a file of some sorts. She was wearing a more casual dress compared to the one Evin saw her before, but as always, she looked beautiful in Evin’s eyes.

Though the woman didn’t seem to feel the same about Evin, as she seemed to frown before she covered her eyes with her hand.

“Bee, close the door behind you and prepare for lunch, alright?” Leanne asked sweetly, “And please don’t disturb us.”

“Yes, Lady Leanne,” the girl, who was apparently a slave, replied with a nod and left the two behind.

Leanne eyed Evin casually, before gesturing him to sit down. Evin followed the order and sat down on a sofa. At this point, Evin remembered that he needed to say his thanks, but for whatever reason, saying it now felt very awkward.

‘Damn it, I can’t just stand up again and thank her now…’ he decided, ‘The chance will come soon, I’ll just thank her then.’

Leanne awkwardly held a piece of paper in front of her face, hiding her expression from Evin’s view.

“How have you slept?” she then asked casually.

“I slept fine… thank you,” Evin replied and added awkwardly, “And also, thank you for letting me stay in your house… and everything else.”

“Don’t mind that. I have such a big house; it would be a shame if I couldn’t use it to its fullest,” Leanne smiled as she put down the piece of paper that she was holding near her face. It revealed her to be wearing the same expression that she held when she was talking about King Roland to Evin and the other children.

“I’m sorry… Could you tell me what happened? I’m very confused,” Evin asked.

“Ah… Hmm, do you not remember?”

Prompted by the question, Evin was reminded of the series of events that happened after he was declared as a mage.

The conversation with the voice, his father’s beatings, him being stubborn for a while, and eventually giving up. As for whatever happened next… he couldn’t really remember much. It was as if a wall of some sorts blocked those memories, not allowing Evin to access them.

But suddenly, his back started to sweat a bit at the thought of this incident. He felt a strong sense of fear at the thought of these memories, as if there was something unthinkably dreadful behind these walls inside his head.

“I remember my father beating me… telling me to refuse the Academy. But other than that, I can’t remember much,” Evin replied honestly, his voice shaking a bit.

Leanne heard the answer and frowned slightly.

“You do remember how I asked you to come meet us in ten days, right?” she asked.

Evin thought a bit and nodded in agreement.

“Well, your father came to us, dragging you along. You looked extremely out of it, so I checked your head to see what was wrong…” Leanne said and grimaced, “What I felt inside it wasn’t a feeling that a 10-year-old should have. To think that a parent would do this to their own child is… it is unthinkable to me.”

Evin listened silently, wondering what his father had done to him, trying his best to remember what happened. But the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that something terrible must’ve happened to him. Without his control, teardrops started to form in his eyes and he started to pant a little.

Leanne noticed this and quickly dashed over to Evin’s side. She pulled him into a hug and silently started weeping alongside him.

“It’ll be alright…” she chanted in Evin’s ears, “I’ll be here for you.”

Evin didn’t shy away from this hug, as something inside him was telling him he deserved and needed it. But that didn’t change the fact that he was confused. 

<Remember how she tried to fix your head using magic? Well, apparently that doesn’t come without risks,> the voice explained, <I believe if she fails or stops abruptly during it, it forces her to sympathize with you on a level much deeper than what’s considered normal. I might be wrong though, so don’t take it at face value…>

‘Huh?’

<But it doesn’t really matter much. It just means that she’ll be doting on you quite a bit these next few weeks, or maybe a few months. It’s definitely not something permanent. She said she’ll grow out of it sometime in the future… For now, just cry your heart out. You deserve it.>

As Evin was already tearing up, these words were enough to break the dam he was holding inside his heart for so long.

<Even without your father doing those… things to you ten days ago… you deserve to cry for living through his abuse for so long.>

…

Half an hour later, Leanne was using her magic to heal Evin’s bruised eyes, as she spoke about what happened to Evin’s father.

“We’ve warned mister Edmund to stay away from you from this point on. He’s been added to our blacklist for his transgressions against a minor and a mage. Sadly, we couldn’t really push for his arrest, as he’s still your father. But if you are fine with it, you can disown him and try to become independent.”

Evin heard about what’s happened and realized that he didn’t really know what to think about the matter. Now that he’d cried, his head had cleared up a bit so he could think about things more calmly. Since he didn’t know what his father did to him, he decided that it was best to not get scared of the unknown so much.

“Isn’t it usually the parents who disown their children?”

“Not necessarily,” Leanne chuckled, “There are many cases where the child disowns their parents for various reasons. Especially so if the child is a mage or a noble.”

<It’s alright if you decide to disown Edmund, but remember that will probably put you firmly under the kingdom’s control.>

“It’s okay. I don’t want to disown him or anything,” Evin replied.

His statement made Leanne frown for a brief moment, but the woman quickly returned to her normal expression.

“Well, that’s fine as well… I think it’s not something you should decide on without properly thinking about it either.”

An awkward pause ensued between the two, before it was broken by Leanne.

“Ah, we should talk about your enrollment in the Academy.”