Chapter 96
At the sudden scolding tone, Alferen murmured with a meaningful edge.
“I thought you already knew.”
A faint smile followed as he rubbed his lower lip with his fingers.
The gesture carried a strange, decadent allure; I shrank my shoulders, and Davin frowned deeply.
For a moment, Davin’s lips moved soundlessly, as if he had been struck speechless.
His son’s behavior seemed utterly foreign to him.
“……Sit.”
The word came out reluctantly, and we took our seats.
The exchange between father and son felt oddly distant, almost hollow.
As an outsider, I was painfully aware of every awkward glance and silence.
Soon, the courses arrived one after another.
Alferen, as though he had been waiting for this exact moment, cut the food into perfect bite-sized pieces and placed them on my plate.
Davin, who had been watching the entire time, finally spoke.
“What are you doing?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m spreading butter.”
Alferen answered with lazy indifference, then lifted the buttered bread to my lips.
The motion was as natural as a mother bird feeding her fledgling.
Cold sweat prickled down my spine.
That’s not what he meant at all!
We were unwittingly putting on a display of affection right in front of his father.
“I-I can eat on my own.”
The instant I reached for the bread, Alferen slipped it into my mouth with a smooth, devastating smile.
“Please don’t take this pleasure from me.”
His voice sounded almost pleading; my mouth opened before I could stop it.
That smile was lethal enough to make me forget Davin was sitting right there.
I chewed in a daze, and Alferen asked softly,
“Is it good?”
“Yes!”
The moment the word left my lips, he offered another piece.
I stole a quick glance at Davin, then hurriedly accepted it.
Whatever. He said he likes doing this!
Meanwhile, Davin was thoroughly unsettled by the affectionate scene unfolding between his son and his prospective daughter-in-law.
The boy who rarely smiled was grinning helplessly in front of Rodellia.
And that act of feeding her by hand—truly…
I can’t believe it even though I’m seeing it with my own eyes.
His son had been called a prodigy since childhood, a genius magician without equal.
By sixteen, he had already surpassed Davin himself—an unprecedented talent.
Davin had always been proud of him.
His son possessed a strength Davin had never achieved.
Davin had endured countless trials to become Duke Ainluk, and he had desperately wanted his son to avoid the same path.
So he had drilled succession lessons into him with near-obsessive rigor from a young age, and Alferen had obeyed without a single complaint—an exemplary son.
When Alferen placed second at the academy for the first time, Davin wondered if rebellion had finally surfaced, but the very next term his son reclaimed first place. A son to be proud of.
Then came the news that Alferen had suffered humiliations he should never have faced—all because Davin himself had fallen.
Cold fury had piled up in Davin’s heart.
He immediately rooted out every elder who had opposed the succession and drove them out.
Especially the ones who kept visiting to torment his son—he made certain they would never come near again.
Even then his anger was not satisfied, and he had been on the verge of overturning every corner of the house.
“That’s enough venting.”
“They dared to look down on you. I have to make an example so they never dare rise again.”
“They were only acting for their own houses’ benefit. Excessive punishment will only breed greater resentment.”
To hear his own son tell him to stop had left Davin stunned.
He had drilled into the boy over and over that only overwhelming power could subdue an enemy.
“Because you showed such weakness, the vermin never stopped swarming.”
“Not everyone was like that. Do not force your ways on me, Father.”
Alferen had faced him head-on.
It was the first time his ever-obedient son had voiced his own opinion, and Davin had fallen silent.
A single word from him now could shake his son’s position.
The head of House Ainluk was Alferen.
Feeling that truth sink into his bones left Davin hollow.
In just six years, his son had grown far too quickly.
It had been an era that could only be survived by growing fast.
And so Davin no longer knew how to treat his son.
The child he had once needed to protect at all costs had become the one protecting him.
The unfamiliar distance made Davin cautious, always measuring how far he could go.
Then came the first thing his son had ever asked of him.
“Please send a marriage proposal to House Peris.”
“I heard the engagement was broken only recently.”
“You know better than anyone that it was a purely formal arrangement from the start, Father.”
“Hm. Very well.”
When it came to Rodellia Peris, Alferen refused to compromise.
Unable to withstand his son’s persistence, Davin had sent the proposal a week ago.
Barring unforeseen complications, it would proceed smoothly.
Still, he had invited Rodellia separately today to see what sort of person she was.
He had heard she helped manage the inner household at Alferen’s request.
Sophia and Isaac had praised her until their mouths wore out.
Not only them—nearly every servant spoke well of her.
That very unanimity had made him suspicious, prompting him to confirm for himself.
Yet seeing his son behave like a lovesick fool erased all doubt.
At this rate, negotiation will be impossible. He looks ready to hand over everything—heart, liver, and gall.
Watching this entirely new side of his son, Davin barely tasted his food.
When dessert arrived, Rodellia’s eyes sparkled.
“Is the food to your taste?”
“Yes! It’s so delicious! May I have more of this?”
The cake that had only just been served was already gone.
Surprised by her astonishing appetite, Davin slid his own portion toward her.
“Won’t you eat yours, Lord Davin?”
“I’m not fond of sweets.”
“I see. Alferen loves sweets, though. Then what do you like, Father?”
The word “Father” slipped out so naturally that Davin stared at her.
When their eyes met, Rodellia smiled brightly.
Seeing her smile so easily—unlike his stone-faced son—stirred strange feelings in him.
She looked soft, as though she could never say a harsh word to anyone.
Yet rumor had it she had gone toe-to-toe with Nanael and won. Remarkable.
With only her presence, the entire atmosphere of the house had softened.
“Something I like…”
Davin had never had strong preferences.
He had always put the family’s benefit above personal taste.
“I don’t particularly like anything.”
“I heard you like lilies.”
“My wife liked them.”
“She must have been a gentle person. That’s probably why Alferen is so affectionate.”
The compliment felt foreign to Davin, who had never been called affectionate.
Still, it did not displease him.
After that, Rodellia drew out old memories with light, seemingly trivial questions.
Most revolved around faded recollections—Alferen’s childhood, moments with his late wife.
Stories that had been buried since her death resurfaced because of Rodellia.
“Alferen once accidentally froze every flower my wife cherished. She didn’t get angry. She was delighted, saying she could admire them longer.”
“Goodness, how could anyone be that gentle? I would have given him a proper spanking.”
“Thanks to her, Alferen threw himself into his magic lessons even harder.”
Speaking of his wife after so long visibly softened Davin’s expression.
The deep crease between his brows, perpetually etched as though in anger, had vanished.
Alferen immediately recognized that his father approved of Rodellia.
He’s unusually talkative today.
The conversation Davin shared with Rodellia today was longer than everything father and son had exchanged since Davin’s awakening.
Sensing the warm mood, Rodellia was livelier than usual.
Alferen quietly focused every ounce of attention on her.
He did not want to miss a single word from the adorable guest who had arrived in the bleak Ainluk mansion.
