Zach admired her professionalism in his mind as he felt that this kind of treatment was hard to receive even in those five star hotels in the previous world.

“You all don’t need to stand outside my door every single time to guide me to the dining room. I have learnt the way there as well. I am not exactly new here anymore.” Zach said to the maid who had been waiting for him for quite some time. He felt bad that she had to wait on him every time he had to go to the dining room for the meal.

“Lord does not need to worry. We don’t mind since it is our job. Also, the master sent me specifically because the breakfast is not in the dining room today.” The maid replied in a matter of fact tone that wasn’t the least bit affected by what Zach had said to her earlier.

“That’s good. Lead the way to your master then.” Zach asked the maid as he pointed towards the direction of the dining room that he was familiar with.

To his surprise, the maid truly didn’t bring him to the dining room and instead took him to the garden that was close to the entrance of the mansion. This garden was a small part of the garden like forest that surrounded the mansion.

A large table had been set up amongst a clearing surrounded by beautiful flowers that were oozing sweet and mesmerizing scent.

Bruce was sitting on the head chair with various dished with their mouths covered spread across the entire table.

Zach felt that it was shameful of him to keep the host waiting for him on the breakfast table.

The breakfast was as lavish as always. There was nothing lacking in the overall arrangement and the ambiance especially added to the joy of eating good breakfast.

Zach had just finished his breakfast and was ready to start his day when he suddenly caught a glimpse of Diana at a distance. She was practicing her magic and he couldn’t help but observe her. Although he knew nothing about magic, he could tell that Diana was not a naturally gifted magician. Her movements were awkward and she struggled to cast even the simplest spells.

He noticed that her forehead was furrowed in concentration. Despite her efforts, the magic spells kept fizzling out before they could fully manifest. Every time she tried to cast a spell, she would take a deep breath and try again. But no matter how many times she tried, the spells would either fail completely or produce weak and inconsistent results.

Zach could see the frustration in Diana’s eyes as she continued to practice, and he could tell that she was putting in a lot of effort to improve. She kept practicing, even when it seemed like she was getting nowhere.

Zach could tell that Diana was determined to get better, but she still had a long way to go before she could master the art of magic.

Zach sighed and wondered why Diana didn’t choose to do something that she was capable of doing. Even though Luther family had fallen from grace, it wasn’t like they were dirt poor. She could afford to live a comfortable life without having to do anything. He wondered why a girl like her had to go through such an ordeal.

Bruce noticed what Zach was thinking from the look of pity that he was directing towards Diana unconsciously. He was all too familiar with this look since a lot of people looked at him that way after he lost his ability to stand.

Although, Bruce hated it when someone pitied him, but coming from Zach he didn’t feel irritated at all because Zach was a man who was actually willing to bet his future in order to help them out. His care was genuine compared to those who only wanted to make themselves believe that humanity still existed within monsters like them.

“She’s been like that ever since she was a child.” Bruce let out a heavy sigh as he said while approaching Zach who was busy looking at her sister with a gaze full of pity.

“I am sure the current state of your family had a part to play in her turning out like this.” Zach didn’t believe that a privileged child would opt to do something like this without talent. Therefore, he didn’t believe that this was a personality trait. To him it looked like Diana was trying to break free from her cage by hitting the walls of her cage time and time again hoping for a dent to appear someday.

“It’s not what you are thinking; at least not entirely. I am sure that some part of it is to be blamed on our family’s current condition. But Diana…she has been like that for as long as I can remember…stubborn as a dog’s tail.” Bruce explained with a slightly pained look as if he could not bear the disappointment that was evident on Diana’s face every time she failed to conjure the spell properly.

“I see…so it’s more like a personality trait rather than a way to escape.” Zach nodded in understanding as he tried to empathize with Diana a little.

“Diana thinks that she can do what any man can. She thinks that she can be better than or at least just as good as men at their jobs if she tried.” Bruce lamented like he already believed she couldn’t’ do it.

Zach on the other hand didn’t think so. He came from a world where feminism was already on the peak and women weren’t any lesser than men. They fought for equal rights and did the same jobs as men in order to earn money. Therefore, Zach at least didn’t believe that Diana’s efforts were totally futile. He just thought that she was putting in all that effort in the wrong direction. .𝘤𝑜𝑚

“Everyone has a different set of talents and capabilities since birth. Some have the talent to become warriors and mages while others can only become merchants, shopkeepers, stable owners, innkeepers etc. Even men have that division. So why is she trying to do something that not even all the men in the world can do. So what’s the reason for such stubbornness and competitiveness when even men can’t become mages just because they want to? I don’t think she has anything left to prove after what she did to save her followers. Ninety percent of men I have encountered in this world didn’t have the guts to do something like that despite being physically superior and better mages than her.” Zach told Bruce hoping that he might encourage his sister and hopefully change her mind regarding her fixation on being a mage.

“You might be right about that. But I think her thinking stems from the way our father treated me and her. Although she was the apple of our father’s eyes and he spoiled her a lot; he never involved her in the clan affairs. He wanted to let her play and do what she liked and taught me who was his heir everything he knew. Diana pouted a lot with her cheeks puffed up like a hamster whenever we sat down to discuss clan affairs and she was excluded from the meeting.” Bruce revealed his doubts regarding the root cause of her being such a training maniac.

Zach nodded in understanding as if all the puzzle pieces had finally been put in place and the full picture had appeared in his vision.

“Ah~…so she has daddy issues. No wonder she is being so stubborn about it.” Zach finally reached the root cause in his mind and understood her driving force.

She wanted to be acknowledged and her father had failed to do that. Instead he further diminished her confidence in herself by keeping her out of clan affairs which made her feel inferior to her brother unconsciously and she tried to be stubborn in her mana training. She never got to try anything else like children her age should in order to determine what they wanted to do. Instead she began thinking of herself as a failure and worked harder than everyone else just so she could raise her head in front of others who were more competent than her.

Suddenly Diana who had been practicing her magic messed up. While gathering her mana excessively, she failed to control a major chunk of it which resulted in the spell being unstable.