Chapter 207 - Mother And Son
We all sat down at the large dining table.
"This is a nice house." Mom started eating.
Apparently, this time mom cooked the food, meaning she came here at least two hours or maybe even earlier. So, all this time, she was alone in this house, just cooking for us…
Well, at least the food was good.
"Thanks. It was Marg\'s father\'s gift though."
"Yeah, I heard."
Just what the hell was I supposed to be saying? I didn\'t know.
Could I have comforted her?
I didn\'t know.
Mom was acting way too normal, and yet…
"Your maid isn\'t half bad either. I assume her being a bunny girl had a role in you choosing her?" She grinned. Mom and Elsa both had bunny ears and mom knew I had a thing for bunnies. She really did.
She also knew I didn\'t really feel anything of that sort towards the two of them- cause well- they were my family.
I grimaced. "I wouldn\'t deny that." I couldn\'t, even if I wanted to. She was my mother and she could probably tell through all my lies.
Marg cleared her throat. "Appointing her as a maid was my decision mother."
Wow, someone was bold today.
Mom giggled and almost spilled her food. "If you say so."
That was so like her. She was stern and beautiful but at times, she was also childish.
But today, she was faking it.
Elsa meanwhile, was a bit too quiet. Oh wait, she was just scared.
Marg\'s little brother was quietly eating and he had amazing table manners. Why couldn\'t I have little brothers or sisters like that?
Sigh.
"I had some things to discuss with you," I began.
"We\'ll have to finish dinner first then."
She really was putting up a front.
Her fake smile was only making me feel worse.
But I didn\'t complain and just ate. Mom\'s cooking really was the best. I guess this just made Marg\'s second for me.
***
"I\'m going to kill Hyora and make the Battlesuins our slaves. If I can\'t kill her, we\'ll banish her to the ninth dimension."
We were currently in the living, watching something on the Holo TV. No one was actually looking at the Holo TV though.
Mom was listening carefully as I told her my plans. She\'d fought that woman before, so she probably had a suggestion or two.
In the end, she sighed. "First listen to what they say. Your father\'s there. And though he\'s a good for nothing, I can assure you, he has his reasons." She looked a bit down. "Reasons I don\'t understand," She mumbled. She took a deep breath. "Though I want you to burn that witch to a crisp, hear them out first and try to avoid clashing as best as you can: though I imagine you\'ll still fight her regardless." She giggled but then looked serious for a second. "There was a reason why we separated from the main family. We made an oath to never tell you so I won\'t. But you should know, the Battlesuins- those monsters- can\'t be enslaved, at least not by you. You\'ll know why, very soon." She sighed. "Besides, that witch can\'t be killed."
"What do you mean, mom- I-" I didn\'t understand.
"Now." She smiled and stretched her arms upwards: it was almost like she was yawning, but she wasn\'t. "About that \'someone claiming him to be their son and you lounging around in your towel thing\'." She was smiling and yeah, she just remembered stuff. "Well?" Her gaze was totally darting between me and Elsa- but kind of focusing on Elsa.
Elsa just hid behind me, shivering slightly. "Do something!" She whispered vigorously.
Do what exactly? She was the one who caused half of this.
But as her elder brother, I tried to at least try. "So, I won the tournament and received 80 gold. Here\'s the cheque." I handed over my cheque. It stung a little to hand over money. Maybe, I really was a miser? But handing this over was just a ceremony. I\'d probably be the one using most of that money anyway. "And I also won a small box. I later found out that it was a core and apparently belonged to gramps. One of the judges had given it to me."
"Your grandfather?" Mom supported her chin with her arms. "We also have a core in our house, but-" She wondered. "It\'s possible to be the same…"
That\'s right, we had a core in our home. If it really was what I think it was, then-
"Well, we\'ll have to see it first. Anyway, this is Enira." But for the time being, I focused on the problem at hand.
Enira came out of the saber and stood next to me with a smile. She bowed before mom though, albeit slightly.
I continued. "She absorbed the core and for a brief second the core had overtaken her body and manifested. This new person had blue hair and looked a lot like a picture I once saw- I can\'t remember where. I felt like I knew her and as she came near me, she mistook me for gramps. She kiss-" I stopped. "Anyway, she realized I wasn\'t gramps and started to fade. But before leaving she said, \'live long my son.\' She really looked at me like a son: she looked exactly like you for a second."
Mom was listening very carefully and nodding along the way. But as I finished she just tilted her head and looked dull. "Wait, that\'s it?"
Huh?
What else did she want! Did she really have to be that disappointed?
Well, she was my mother… "Do we have any blue-haired relatives?" Because I sure couldn\'t remember anyone that fit the bill.
Marg did have blue their though.
Mom sighed. "It was probably my mother\'s," She resigned. "I mean she had blue hair, looked pretty, and died way before you were born. You probably saw her photo in my room back home."
"Um… Excuse me? Grandma is still alive!" Elsa complained before me.
Yeah, I had a bad feeling about this.
And mom was being frank, like way too frank.
"You see." Mom smiled awkwardly. "I\'m actually the daughter of his second wife. But dad was in love with this wife first and… it\'s complicated. "
Oh.
Oh!!!
It did kind of make sense though. No wonder we only visited our family mansion twice a year. And wait, gramps had two wives?
But grandma did always treat mom a lot better than uncle. And we if he gramps had two wives, shouldn\'t there have been more kids? \'He could have hated kids like me I guess.\'
My and grandma\'s relationship was kind of awkward though, as I was the one responsible for gramp\'s death. "So, basically both of my grandparents are dead and grandma took me to be literally her son? But if she was dead then-" Then did she have a son too?
"She died giving birth to me, so she probably didn\'t know." Mom was speaking way too frankly: something was wrong with this picture, and it was scaring me. "I heard she passed away from an incurable disease and I inherited that genetically but I was just a carrier. Elsa is also a carrier. She sighed and that\'s why your brother had died- and." She smiled, her eyes shimmered slightly for a second. "And I\'m glad you didn\'t."
"Aren\'t you sad? I mean- she was your mother." She did seem sad but that was because she was thinking about her dead kid which she rarely did.
"I am, don\'t get me wrong but- she may have been my birth giver but she wasn\'t my mom." She smiled faintly. "And you already have a grandma so, don\'t bother with the dead." Her smile didn\'t seem forced. She was serious. I already felt bad for my dead grandmother, but mom was right, the dead was dead. "Besides, though she isn\'t my real mother, she took great care of me and she really loves me. She\'s the only mom for me. She loves you two, though it might be a bit awkward."
Yeah.
And since her mother had a core- I could assume she might have been a half-Mutor or half- kin. So, this was why I had these Kin genes?
I guess that kind of made sense… somehow. Maybe?
I sighed. "Fair enough. For a second I considered that you-"
I paused. Apparently, if I said another word, I\'d have been executed.
"Wise choice," mom smiled. "Now, Elsa? About your towel." Oh, wow, she actually hadn\'t forgotten.
I felt like a stone being lifted from my chest: a gun being moved away from my head. Though I felt bad about my little sister, for my sake she had to deal with this conversation now.
\'You\'re on your own now, kid.\'