Ironically, his greatest source of relief came from the consequences of intentionally holding himself back. At every meeting, Ingrid stood a little straighter, the tension gradually fading from her eyes.
During the brief moments they spent together before Kastor arrived, she spoke to him more often now.
Usually about the same things.
How he trained. Whether he was still trying. Sometimes she even subtly encouraged him not to give up or become discouraged by how far behind he seemed to be, though she always did it in her own strange way.
Zephyrion usually responded with little more than a nod. Yet one night, he found himself frozen.
"How many hours do you train?"
"...Most of the day."
"Hm." Ingrid frowned. "Then your problem probably isn’t effort."
She fell silent for a moment.
"...Come to my mansion sometime. I’ll show you how you’re supposed to train."
After saying it, she seemed to realize how that sounded. A moment later, she cleared her throat.
"Not because I care. I just don’t want the Calderalth heir humiliating himself at the academy."
Zephyrion’s silence came less from shock and more from not knowing how to respond. Still, under her expectant gaze, he found himself nodding.
"...Alright."
The next day, he went to Ingrid’s mansion.
Clad in fitted light armor and loose cargo pants, she strode onto the training grounds. A small notebook was tucked beneath one arm while she dragged a whiteboard behind her with the other.
There was an unusual excited glint in her eyes, one Zephyrion found difficult to place. Without a word, she fashioned a chair from metal and motioned for him to sit.
"Good. Listen carefully." Ingrid placed the whiteboard down. "I’m only going through this once."
She immediately began writing Titan Armor across the board.
Then she drew a rough sketch of the human body, labeling every part that needed to be connected to the armor for perfect assimilation. Afterward, she moved on to explaining the metal itself, which she called Remembrance Metal.
Zephyrion thought his name was better.
She explained the importance of the different properties, how they interacted with the Remembrance Metal, then moved on to how multiple properties could be combined to create what she called Titan Forms.
Zephyrion had called them specialties. Zephyrion thought her name was better. So, he decided to start calling them Titan Forms
After that, she began talking about how she trained. In complete silence and emotional detachment, ensuring her focus remained entirely on the armor.
It was the most Zephyrion had ever heard his sister speak. He found himself watching her as she moved around the training grounds. Her gait was confident and assured.
They were about the same height. Had she always been this tall? He hadn’t noticed. He found himself comparing her freakishly tall stature to Lumi’s almost nonexistent one.
Soon, however, his attention drifted toward the notebook tucked beneath Ingrid’s arm.
She had referred to it countless times throughout the lesson, and Zephyrion had long since realized it contained practically everything she had learned about the Titan Armor.
Yet she read from it to him without the slightest hesitation, a faint excitement in her eyes whenever she explained something she found particularly important.
It was strange.
Who in their right mind treated a rival heir this way? He found himself wondering whether he would do the same.
He would not.
"So, try implementing everything I told you. You should see improvements."
"...Okay."
Then he inclined his head.
"Thank you."
An awkward silence settled between them as their gazes met. After a few moments, Ingrid abruptly cleared her throat and busied herself wiping the board clean.
"Save it for when you actually improve."
"Yes."
Zephyrion turned and started toward the exit.
"And..." Ingrid cleared her throat again before fixing him with a stern stare. "If you run into problems, you can come train here. As long as I’m not busy. And inform me beforehand."
"...Okay."
Zephyrion left feeling more confused than when he had arrived. His sister was weird.
The routine continued over the following days.
At their next meeting with Kastor, he displayed noticeably more improvement than either of them had expected. Ingrid gave an approving nod. Zephyrion frowned as he felt a strange warmth stir in his chest.
By that point, Kastor’s stare seemed capable of boring through steel. Still, the man said nothing.
Kaiden and Fiona visited the mansion not long afterward, mostly to offer their greetings before leaving again. They, too, were preparing for the academy.
Even after all this time, the rod remained silent. At this point, he had tried everything and had begun resigning himself to attending the academy without its advantages.
The first break in the routine came one night.
Zephyrion jolted awake to a deathly silent room.
’No sound.’
He rose, only to freeze as his gaze landed on Lumi’s pale, cold body lying on the bed. Again. It was happening again.
This time, Zephyrion didn’t panic. He had spent the past weeks considering how he would handle this if it happened a second time.
’There’s no choice.’
Lifting Lumi’s lifeless body into his arms, he left the mansion. Minutes later, he found his target seated alone in a tavern.
There was a gloomy air around Garrick as he stared longingly at the cup of rum sitting on the table before him.
"Garrick."
Garrick turned toward the voice with reluctance, then froze.
Whether it was the sight of the growing crowd beginning to gather around them, or perhaps the panic he saw hidden in Zephyrion’s eyes, he wasn’t sure.
But the moment their gazes met, his expression hardened.
He rose to his feet and gave a single nod.
"Let’s go."
They left the tavern and headed toward a secluded section of the instructor’s cave where Zephyrion had hidden Lumi’s body.
Throughout the entire walk, Garrick didn’t say a word. Zephyrion found himself trying to guess what his uncle was thinking. He failed.
Garrick’s serious expression never changed, even after he was shown Lumi’s pale, lifeless body. Instead, he simply looked at Zephyrion.
Zephyrion immediately understood it was his turn to explain.
He fell silent for a moment. He would have preferred to lie. Unfortunately, he understood so little about what was happening that he couldn’t even begin constructing a believable story.
Rule Eight and Rule Twelve of his mother’s rules.
Never reveal everything you know.
Weakness invites predators.
Two rules he had followed for more than a decade. Yet as he looked at Lumi’s lifeless form, Zephyrion found himself breaking both.
He told Garrick everything.
How he had suddenly found her lifeless. How a strange light had emerged from her throat. How everything had eventually returned to normal.
And now it was happening again.
Garrick placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod.
"I’ll see what I can do."
His uncle had seen the desperation in his eyes. Zephyrion looked away, emotions churning within him.
After a brief discussion, Garrick decided their best chance of getting to the bottom of this was to wait for the light.
Zephyrion silently hoped it came.
A minute later, Lumi’s body suddenly jerked. Light traced along her throat as she slowly rose into the air.
A low hum rippled through the cave as Garrick dipped into the world pulse. Zephyrion immediately felt a strange weightlessness settle over the surroundings.
He remained silent, watching as Garrick’s eyes rapidly flickered across Lumi.
’He’s watching runes.’ He realized. The power of a Dominion Rank. Soon, he told himself.
The light continued for several moments before gradually dimming. As Lumi began to fall, Zephyrion stepped forward and caught her. Then he looked up.
Garrick was staring at him. Or rather, staring at Lumi. His eyes were slightly widened.
Zephyrion frowned.
"What happened?"
Garrick didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he continued staring at Lumi, his expression shifting several times as though he were sorting through everything he had just witnessed.
Eventually, he turned toward Zephyrion, staring with a serious gaze.
"I think... the kid’s an heir."