Cieran's lip curled from the waste of food and the General hurriedly wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
"The two of you are so obvious. Why doesn't the young master know? Are you ashamed?"
Harsh and nasty, the child's words prodded their weak point. While Randell responded with a lowered head, the General responded with anger.
Ignoring the frail limbs and young age, he pulled Cieran's collar forward with subdued fury. Almost nose to nose, the General lifted the child up so that he could hear well. "Listen, kid. You may have had a hard life, but you do not get to speak to us like this in our own home."
Cieran's eyes didn't fluctuate one bit as he was lifted up and stared down by the towering man. Tilting his head, he showed an utterly confused expression as he asked, "Is it disrespectful stating the obvious? Or asking questions? I'm just wondering why the two of you don't tell the young master? I didn't know the almighty General Lovel was so afraid what others thought."
The General's eyelid twitched angrily. Setting down the child, he huffed, "What would you know? We aren't speaking of this. Don't try to change the topic."
"Fine... Change the topic back to something I don't want to talk about," Cieran scoffed. "As long as it doesn't affect you, why do any of you people care?" The challenge was evident.
Just like this, the two men were left speechless once again. Why was this kid so damn eloquent. They've interrogated suspects, confronted criminals, and punished prisoners. How could they let a ten-year-old control the conversation?
Putting other thoughts away for a moment, Randell sighed. Pity wouldn't go anywhere with a boy like Cieran, but there was no other way he could respond. "The reason we are asking about this is because we do care. Whoever hurt you might be the same people who are kidnapping the other children. In order to help you and them, we need more information..."
The two adults waited for an answer and just when it seemed that they were going nowhere again, Cieran opened his mouth. Crossing his arms with the remainder of his resistance, he grumbled, "There were more... A lot more."
And like this, the afternoon was spent vexatiously. Even with all the teeth pulling behavior from Cieran, the two men finally received the information they asked for...
As well as many insecurities that neither realized they had.
~~~
The table was quiet... Only the sound of the occasional munching of food and scrape of utensils could be heard. An odd occurrence considering how the family would typically disregard the etiquette before.
After a day full of reading, Jamie was a little tired. He'd been in this world for some time now and had almost forgotten the joys and woes of being a good student.
"Never stop learning and never stop thirsting for knowledge." That's what his grandpa would say. Even as a farmer in the countryside, his grandpa was a learned man that would read up on various topics. So, no matter how hard it was when he was on his own, Jamie would study just as hard as he worked.
Believe it or not, in his past life, he wasn't interested in being a doctor, but he did have a strong science background. He didn't know how many times he had to explain to other students that their department didn't just dig dirt and plant seeds, not that there was anything wrong with that - in fact, that was his favorite part.
Majoring in both horticulture and nutrition required that he took courses that were the fundamental foundations to all branches of science. In fact, the last class Jamie took before he died was the second semester of physiology. With the help of a few mnemonics he found online, he successfully could name every bone, organ and muscle in the body.
The books that were Doctor Imire's prized possessions actually couldn't compare to the molecular structures and cellular knowledge that Jamie had to memorize during his freshman year in college...
They did, however, give him a better understanding of the unique ways of herbal medicines and their odd magical and non-magical functions of this world.
After one sitting he gained a lot and was looking forward to chatting with his father and uncle about it.
He didn't expect neither man would look at him let alone each other...
Did they fight or something?
While moving around the peas on his plate, Jamie thought about what the problem could be... These past few days, the General had been working hard outside and this morning, he attended his first court meeting since returning to the Capital.
While they ate breakfast together, his Uncle assured Jamie that the General was going to be okay. Jamie tried to hide the fact that he knew the truth about the prominent Marquis of Claudius' reputation in the court. The people may love him, but many people in higher positions were threatened by this man who refused to drink the wine they were serving.
At present the best thing he could do for his father was to do nothing.
The General had been on leave long enough and there were many things that he needed to get back to. Not being in office would only make things harder later on.
According to the book, Jamie knew this was true. Because of his long leave which included the time he was recovering, the return time to travel to the Capital, and the time to solve the various incidences that the MC caused, the General had taken way too long to be reinstated.
And thus, six months passed in which many things happened in and out of court that might have been been prevented should the General been there instead of playing clean up crew to a 10-year-old boy with the soul of satan in him.
But now... because of the silence, Jamie was wondering if something did go wrong. The poor boy didn't know that he was thinking too much.
~~~
After the meal, the adults were about to flee with a few simple words when their son unconfidently stopped them with simple conversation.
"I went to visit the clinic today! I think I told you before that I was planning on raising a few medicinal plants," he began.
Unable to deny their child, the two fathers returned to their seats and sat down with open ears.
Seeing he had their attention, Jamie went on. Turning to the General, he admitted, "I know about the injury on your right hand... I noticed how you never take off your gloves."
Both men were shocked by this. Currently, the General's injury had been condensed to one section of his body. Through months of treatment, he was now able to freely move his arms and wrist, leaving only his right hand immobile. Luckily, he was fairly ambidextrous and could fool the casual onlooker.
"I heard that treating your injury will take a lot of medicine... and since I'm going to be raising something anyways, I thought it'd be good for me to grow something useful..." As he went on, the child's face started to redden. "There's a flower merchant that is selling a lot of different medicinal seeds... I won't tell anyone what I'm using them for but.. Would it... I mean... could I... Um.."
Jamie didn't think this was a big deal, but if his father didn't trust him growing the medicinal herbs, how embarrassing would it be?
At this point, Randell and Jedrick understood where the child was going with this. The lovable, little face was as red as a pomegranate, softening their hearts and distracting them from whatever chagrin they were hung up on earlier.
"If I could know the prescription, Isla and I could grow things that are needed... They say it's far-fetched but I'm confident that-"
"Sure."
"Of course!"
Before Jamie could awkwardly babble on, Jedrick and Randell synchronously agreed. For the first time since the conversation with Cieran, both of their eyes collided. A flood of reassurance assuaged the apprehension between them.
Things still weren't perfect, but the small exchange would surely soften the conversation they would have later.
"Really?"
The lovers' eyes parted and refocused on their son.
"Yes. Thank you for thinking about me." Warmly, the General used his good hand to pat the small head. The boy was thoughtful and filial. How blessed was he to have found such a good child?
"Then, I'll be sure to work hard!"