Anna was a different monster from her husband. She was not gifted with brawn, strength, or even a particular beauty. Malnutrition during her childhood had stunted her growth, leaving her shorter than most women her age. Her constitution had never been good, leaving her prone to bouts of sickness or ill-health. Many of the serfs in the village below the keep feared she would not survive the childbirth. Like her husband, however, she had shown herself to be a woman capable of great stubbornness. One month, that was how long it had taken her to recover from the birth, and still she clung on defiantly.
To believe that Anna was worse off than others was to greatly discredit her. Despite her many disadvantages, she was gifted in a department that had many more advantages than things like beauty that would rot with age. In a time when Women were expected to be mere showpieces for their household she was something more. Ignoring the cultural norms, she had taught herself to read and write in multiple languages, from the elegant Fiedian spoken at court to the ancient tongue of the Oresteia city-states. In two years spent at court in the capital city of Dalry, she learned all the intrigues, gossip, and plots. She made the perfect teacher for Edwin to learn how a Noble must behave and act.
Edwin bowed low, almost toppling over in the process. Luckily, he caught himself, avoiding a Wack on the hand from his mother's stick.
Anna circled around, her eyes caught every imperfection in the bow, anything that even slightly affected how Edwin would be viewed in court, from his was a target for her to fix. Not even slight mannerisms would be saved from her.
"Better, but you can still improve, remember, keep your legs and back straight, only a hunchback is allowed an arch like that, son." Anna pointed out multiple other issues with the stance, but after a handful more attempts, she allowed a brief break.
"Who would have known it was so hard to be a noble? We aren't even a rich and powerful family. We border on becoming serfs ourselves." Edwin knew the real reason they worked so hard to teach him was so that one day he could potentially improve the situation of the house Sonder. Even on Earth, it was the same idea: raise a child to be better than yourself. Still, it was hard not wish for some free time to rest or explore the surrounding land. Once, he asked his father to take him to the village below the keep. At first, Robert had agreed, but his mother forbade it. Despite being mentally much older than his body betrayed, Edwin longed to have someone of his age to play with. On earth, he hadn't been the most popular person, but he always had a core group of friends he had known since he was young.
On the rare days he managed to find some free time, he reminisced about the trouble they would get into. He missed his family too, but he would never see them again; it was a hard pill to swallow.
"Alright, break time is over, time for writing lessons." Anna's words dragged Edwin from his thoughts. He had come to love his new family as much as his old; they loved him, he knew.
Anna produced a wax tablet and laid it on the table right in front of the only glass window in the whole of the keep. The room doubled as both an office space and a throne room for the keep. Being small and not a true castle, it did not contain a proper throne room or even a throne. It was the place where his father met with guests (rarely) or settled disputes among his serfs. Reality dictated that it was the only proper space to learn dance, reading, writing, and proper etiquette. Which worked fine as Robert rarely ever personally handled matters, most was left to Stuart, his right-hand man and sole priest of the village.
Sitting in the well-worn chair of his father, Edwin took the wax tablet in hand and began transcribing the words on the parchments laid out in front of him. He didn't have an issue with reading and writing since he had experience from his former life, though the fact that it was a different language initially caused some issues. Some similarities did exist between Old French and the Fiedian language spoken in this world. This gave him a leg up, even if only by a little.
As the hours grew, boredom threatened to overwhelm him; only the constant threat of a whack kept him in line. An answer to his prayers came quickly; Robert barged into the room with a wide grin on his face. The door banged against the wall, startling both Edwin and his mother.
"Robert, what are you doing?" Anna asked, her face soft but serious.
Robert didn't respond; his grin only grew wider until all his teeth were showing. He was almost shaking from trying to contain his laughter. Held in his hands was a squirrel much more obese than it had any right to be. It struggled to escape Roberts' gloved hands but failed.
A shriek left Anna's lips, who backed away nervously from her husband. "OUT, GET IT OUT OF HERE." Edwin had never heard his mother so frightened before. With a laugh, Robert lunged at his wife, squirrel outstretched in his arms. Frantically, Anna ran around the room screaming while being chased by the squirrel in Robert's hands. Edwin burst out laughing at the comical scene unfolding. Anna nearly flipped the table to get away from the great furry beast. Seeing an opportunity, Anna made a dash for the door, the whole way being chased.
Half an hour was how long the chase lasted, only ending when Anna threatened to take away her husband's 'heir-making privileges'.
With the chase at an end, Edwin was delighted to learn that he was dismissed from further lessons for the day. Edwin, using the sun's position in the sky, knew there were still three more hours of light left for him to exploit how he wished.
Edwin slammed to his feet with an idea.