Chapter 78: The Family Dinner

That evening’s dinner had an air about it that was a little more strained than usual.

On the long wooden dining table were bread and soup, with herb-baked horn rabbit and boiled vegetables set alongside them. The usual table.

Ren sat down in his own seat and gripped his spoon, feeling somehow unsettled.

His father opened his mouth, low.

“Tomorrow morning, Ryan sets out for the royal capital.”

With that one sentence, the air at the table changed unmistakably.

Ren looked up before he could stop himself.

“Huh… tomorrow?”

Ryan had turned twelve, and he would be leaving the Cream barony’s territory to enrol at the Royal Capital Academy. Ren was supposed to have known about it—both that Ryan would be going to the academy and that he would be leaving soon. And yet, being told “tomorrow,” it suddenly took on reality and dropped into his chest.

Ryan nodded, composed.

“Yes. My packing’s already done.”

(Ah… so that’s why he was training with Lewis-niiue, because he’s leaving…)

Working out the reason the two of them had been training, Ren’s spirits sank at the thought that he should have gone over and spoken to them.

His mother lowered her eyes a little.

“Take care of your health, Ryan…”

“Yes, Mother.”

Ryan straightened his posture and looked round at the family again.

“As the eldest son of the Cream baronial house, I will apply myself so as not to bring shame on it.”

Something like resolve bled through the words. Ren was thinking about the Royal Capital Academy. His father had said he would not pay Ren’s fees for the Royal Capital Academy. Ryan was setting off for the royal capital. Next year it would be Liese. The year after that, Lewis. But…

He had got that far in his thoughts when a voice bounced up from beside him.

“I trained with Ryan-niiue earlier!”

Royce said it, leaning forward over the table.

“I made a wall with earth magic and blocked the arrows properly!”

A triumphant face. The energetic voice, still with childishness left in it, rang out over the table.

But another voice cut straight in.

“Those were practice arrows, though.”

It was Yuan.

“The ones with the protection on the tip. Getting hit by those is nothing much.”

The way he said it was flat, but there was a faint barb in it.

Royce’s face twisted in irritation.

“But…! I blocked them, and that’s a fact!”

“You don’t know how it’d go with a real arrow. If it were my sword, it’d go straight through.”

“What did you say?!”

“Stop it.”

The one who cut in was Lewis.

“We’re eating. Don’t squabble.”

The words were short, but enough to settle the table.

Royce closed his mouth, dissatisfied, and Yuan only shrugged and said nothing more.

Ryan looked troubled.

“…It’s good that you’re both lively, but.”

His expression tightened slightly.

“Do things properly after I’m gone, all right?”

At those words, his siblings’ eyes gathered on him for a moment.

In the middle of it, Yuan spoke up at once.

“Leave it to me.”

For someone who had only had his skill a few days, there was an odd confidence in his voice.

“You’ve got me here.”

Ren drew a deep breath. The air at the table felt heavy somehow.

“Mm! Yuan, I have expectations of you.”

His father, in a good mood, tipped up the goblet of wine.

Royce hung his head, and Lewis said nothing and watched how things went. Both Liese and Yona were staring quietly at the table. Yuan was puffing his chest out proudly.

Ren looked round at his siblings one by one, then dropped his gaze to his own hands.

Tomorrow, his brother Ryan would go to the royal capital. One of the family he had lived alongside all this time was setting out.

This house, too, would change, little by little.

Ren slowly carried a spoonful of the slightly cooled soup to his mouth.

The Cream family’s dinner, with all of them gathered, passed quietly away.