Celine exhaled softly and folded her hands in her lap. "I will start. Abella… I know you are Lith's true love. I have always known. But I am his wife, and I am the mother of his children. That will not change."
Abella looked down at her cup, almost shy despite her strength. "I understand. And I have no intention of taking anything from you," she said. "I am not here to destroy your home or cause trouble between you and Lith."
Celine studied her for a long moment. "When I first saw you, I felt my stomach drop," she admitted. "It hurt. I thought I would be replaced the moment you truly returned to his life."
Arria raised a brow. "Yet you chose to sit here and talk instead of throwing cups at each other. That is progress."
Celine gave a faint smile and nodded. "Arria convinced me that we should at least try to be friends. And… Abella, I want that. I want peace in this house. Our arrangements will stay as they are. I will not fight you unless you give me a reason."
Abella straightened and met her eyes. "You have my word that I will not interfere with your relationship," she said. "Lith loves you. I respect that."
Celine listened carefully, searching for any hint of deception. She found none. The tension in her shoulders eased.
"Then I will leave you alone on this matter," Celine said quietly. "I will not make your life harder."
Arria smiled to herself and reached for a cookie.
But behind Celine's calm expression, a single thought remained sharp and unmoving.
"I should tell Luci that he needn't press Ikurus too hard, now that we've reached this understanding, there's no need to be a bully, besides the boy seems nice though reserved."
The quiet in the garden shattered as a deep boom rolled through the air. It sounded almost like thunder, but it came from the direction of the training grounds. All three women looked up, startled, and saw a large crowd rushing across the estate.
Abella stood, frowning. "What was that?"
A young servant girl hurried by with a tray, and Abella gently stopped her. "Excuse me. Do you know what that sound was?"
The girl bowed quickly. "Yes, my lady. The young lords are about to have a sparring match."
Abella relaxed for a brief moment, letting out a breath. "Oh, ok then."
But then something clicked in her mind. Her eyes widened in horror, and she bolted from her chair.
Arria raised her brows and laughed softly. "Why the fright, darling? It is only a light sparring match between the boys."
Abella slowed only long enough to look back at her, a nervous smile twitching on her lips. "Yes, but Ikurus does not know anything about light sparring. The forest lords never taught him to be gentle. He's strong enough now to fight them too."
Arria stopped laughing and blinked. "He can do what?"
Abella turned and sprinted toward the crowd. "Please hurry. If they pushed him, he might not hold back."
The moment the words sank in, the other two women shot to their feet and ran after her.
Celine's heart pounded as she ran across the garden path. Her thoughts tumbled over each other.
"Strong enough to fight a forest lord? No one even knows how powerful they truly are. What have they been letting him do out there?"
Her breath caught.
"My baby. Please let me reach him before someone gets hurt."
The three women pushed through the gathering crowd, praying they were not too late. Abella calling out to stop the fight.
The tension around the training grounds grew thick enough to feel on the skin. Servants, knights, and even a few curious mages had gathered, forming a ring around the dirt arena. The morning sun glowed overhead, but the air seemed to dim with the pressure rolling off both boys.
Lucien lifted the wooden greatsword with casual ease, but his eyes never left Ikurus. There was calculation in them, confidence, and the faintest spark of excitement.
He rolled his shoulders, letting the blade tilt downward. "You better take this seriously, little brother. I think we are going to be rivals for a long time."
Ikurus exhaled with an unimpressed sigh. "Rivals with who? You? You dragged me into this. And it is supposed to be light sparring. I don't need a weapon for that. Just my fists."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. A few chuckled. A few gasped. But everyone leaned forward.
Lucien quirked a brow. "You sure about that? A weapon keeps distance. A fist doesn't. If I catch you slipping, you're going to regret it."
Ikurus stepped forward and raised his hands. His stance was low but relaxed, balanced, coiled like a spring. "If you want distance, then run. I'm not here to chase you. You said you wanted to fight, so fight. Unless you're scared of losing to a kid?."
The crowd reacted with a collective gasp and a few loud laughs.
Rokash slapped a hand over his face, grinning. "By the gods, this brat is going to give me a heart attack one day. I love it!"
He raised his voice enough for both boys to hear. "Boys, listen well. You grew up in different worlds. Lucien, you trained under structured drills and technique. Ikurus, you grew by instinct and pressure. Today is not about pride. Show each other what you have learned. Grow. Challenge each other. Fight to your hearts content."
Lith nodded beside him, arms crossed. "And mind your limits. This is sparring, not war."
But everyone watching knew that the heat in the air felt far from sparring. Something dangerous was coiling up behind Ikurus, even if he looked outwardly calm.
Lucien smirked again. "If you get hurt, don't cry to me later. Mother will scold both of us if you limp to dinner."
Ikurus shrugged. "I'll be walking fine. You might not. That sword looks heavy. Sure you can swing it?"
Lucien scoffed. "I can swing it well enough to knock you flat."
"Then do it," Ikurus replied.
That simple line made the entire crowd go silent. For a heartbeat, it felt like the world froze.
Lucien lowered into his stance, resting the Ricasso on his shoulder. Ikurus mirrored him, weight shifting forward.
Everything held its breath.
The boys launched themselves at each other with explosive speed, the crowd erupting in shouts as the ground cracked beneath their feet. Lucien swung first, bringing the wooden greatsword down with all the practiced strength of a trained heir.
But Ikurus was faster.
His hand snapped upward and caught the blade mid-swing, fingers locking around it like an iron trap. Lucien's eyes widened as Ikurus twisted sharply, ripping the weapon straight from his grasp, hurling the sword aside with a single arm, sending it spinning through the air until it smashed into a stone pillar and stuck there halfway in.
The entire courtyard went silent.
Ikurus stepped in close, leaning forward just enough for only Lucien to hear. His voice was low and calm. "Clench your jaw, boy."
Lucien barely had time to register the words.
A sound like cannon fire cracked across the training grounds as Ikurus drove his fist square into Lucien's stomach. The impact blasted the older boy downward, slamming him into the earth with such force that the ground cratered three feet deep under him, his body bouncing once before finally resting in the crater.
Dust exploded upward. The shockwave rippled across the courtyard. Servants stumbled. Knights gripped their swords turning their faces away at the sound of the sickening crunch. Several people screamed.
Lucien did not.
He lay at the bottom of the crater, unconscious on impact, eyes rolled back and body limp.
Ikurus stood at the edge of the hole, exhaling once, shoulders relaxed, as if he had simply tapped him.
The entire estate stared in frozen in disbelief.
The boy had ended the fight in a single blow.
Just outside the training yard gate, the three women arrived at a brisk pace. The explosion that shook the ground a moment earlier echoed in their chests. Arria and Celine wore clear panic, but Abella… Abella just sighed with mild irritation.
"That was definitely him," she muttered. "I really hope he didn't kill the poor boy…"
They pushed through the large crowd forming around the training field. The dirt shifted beneath their feet, cracked and uneven. When they reached the front, the reason became obvious.
A three foot crater sat in the center of the field, dust still drifting from its edges.
Kealith and Rokash were down inside it, hauling the limp body of Lucien back to solid ground.
Celine cried out and sprinted forward. "Lucien! What happened to him? Someone tell me what happened!"
Arria followed right behind her. "He is not even moving. Rokash, what did the boys do?"
While they panicked over Lucien, Abella simply walked around them and approached Ikurus, who was standing calmly with his hands in his pockets, as if the crater had nothing to do with him.
She stopped in front of him, gave him a flat look, and said, "Well? Are you happy now?"
Ikurus nodded instantly. "I mean it's not like I killed him, I hit him with the lowest strength possible but yes, I am. This defeat will make him train even harder and get anyone who thought I was an easy score to back off. I can have a proper rival and people will leave me be…for now anyways." His eyes darted around the field until they found a hooded figure hiding behind a pillar at a far end of the estate, as if noticing his gaze, the figure turned and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Abella blinked slowly. "…Right." She decided that questioning him would just lead to a headache.
She pulled out a small pouch of cookies and held them out. "Here. Eat. And please try not to demolish anyone else today."
Ikurus happily took the cookies and started munching.
"Don't worry I don't plan on doing anything else like this again, I'm gonna devote myself to studying for a while."
At the same moment, a squad of healers rushed into the crater, robes fluttering as they knelt around Lucien. Green and gold light flared as healing spells activated in layers. Lucien's breathing steadied, swelling shrank, bones mended.
Celine dropped to her knees beside them, hands trembling. "Please heal him. Please…"
"He will be fine, Lady Celine," one healer said calmly.
Ikurus, still chewing his cookies, glanced over. "See? Told you he wasn't dead."
One of the healers looked up at Ikurus with wide eyes, studying him with a mixture of confusion and concern… then quickly went back to work.
Within moments Lucien gasped awake. The healers helped him sit up, his injuries almost entirely gone except for a smear of dirt on his cheek.
Celine wept with relief and pulled him into a hug.
Ikurus stood a little ways off, cookie in hand, watching the scene with mild interest.
Rokash finally exhaled and chuckled under his breath.
"A seven year old broke the ground open like that," he said quietly. "And he's just… eating cookies."
Kealith nodded. "Gods help whoever actually makes that child angry."
Ikurus took another bite.
"I hope you get stronger kid," he said, smiling faintly. "A real rival would be nice."