It had always been his way to intimidate those around him, the only way to stop people from giving in to their foolish tendencies of trying to kill him on sight was to put so much fear in them that the thought of acting against him would give them an instant seizure.
Even while looking up, he held his composure, "Are you, Bob?"
By now everyone had noticed the one and a half foot tall Lirian, and his standoff with their boss.
Lirian could already hear them whispering to each other, "How old is that kid?", "She's so cute?", "She's so small."
Lirian felt his face twitch, the other problem with this body was that every bloody person mistook him for a girl. "Yes, I'm Bob," the plumber answered and crouched down, even crouched he towered over Lirian, "Who are you, little girl?"
Lirian could make out a smile behind the beard, but it did nothing to calm his fury, his hands curled into little fists as he shouted, "I. Am. Not. A. Girl."
"I am Lirian named after my mother's late father, and son of the empress." he heaved a heavy breath.
"How old are you?", one of the workers suddenly asked, he couldn't hold back his curiosity, everyone turned to look at him as if he did something wrong, ", uhm, sir Lirian?" he added hastily.
"Six months old, do you have a problem with that?" he asked while puffing out his small chest.
"Nope, nope... no problem at all," he looked around before adding, ", Sir Lirian."
"How may we be of service Sir Lirian?" Bob asked hastily trying not to show his surprise.
"I need a toilet," he answered instantly.
"Uhm, sure I can have someone take you to the toilet," Bob said, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was talking to a toddler.
"Do I look like I need someone to take me to the toilet!", Lirian shouted frantically.
The workers wisely avoided the question, well all except for the one that asked him his age, "Yes!" he said and quickly slapped his hands over his mouth.
Lirians eyes twitched, "You're walking on a thin line buddy!" he shouted.
He took a step back, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that it just slipped out of me, please forgive me... sir Lirian," he added after a pause.
'Deep breaths Lirian, deep breaths.' he thought to himself to calm down.
"I need you to put in children's toilets in the bathrooms."
"Our plans have already been approved by the empress," said Bob, he pulled out a piece of paper and showed Lirian the seal, "This is her majesties seal..."
"Yes, I know," said Lirian and he pulled a ring he had tucked into clothes out, the ring had the same symbol as the wax on the plans, ", and with this, we can change the plans, my mother lent it to me." he lied through his teeth.
Bob thought about it, "Okay everyone let's take a break while I contact the boss to make a couple of changes to the plans."
Even though they had been dismissed they still stood around the sight of Lirian was just too shocking for all of them, they had all heard about the empress adopting a child but the news hadn't given them any details, it also wasn't very often that one got to see a six-month-old child talking.
"Which bathrooms would you like us to change?" asked Bob.
"All of them, every last one. When the plans are ready send a servant to me so that I can come to approve them." he turned around and strutted away with his hands tied behind his back.
When he got back into the mansion, he found Anya standing in his way and a smirk on her face.
She had seen the whole thing and watched in fascination as Lirian pushed the plumbers around, she was very impressed with how well he prepared for the task, he even stole one of the empress's seals, a pity it was a fake while being processed the fake seal would be discovered, it was a trap left for any ill-intentioned staff members and the details were identical to the real seal, and would only be discovered in a scanner.
"That was well done but your seal is a fake, I never thought I'd see you using it though."
Lirian realised he was still holding the ring; with a little sleight of hand, he switched the ring with a biscuit. "I don't know what you're talking about.", he knew that the ring was a fake and that the plan probably wouldn't go through, but he was going to continue disrupting the plans until he got his way.
Anya raised a brow at his skilled fingers, "You aren't supposed to be eating that?"
"It's delicious and baby food is bland, if you want to take this away from me, you'll have to fight me for it."
Anya stepped closer before Lirian could blink the biscuit was in Anya's hands, she took a bite out of it, "Delicious," she said with deliberate emphases.
Lirian looked at her with teary eyes and aimed his hardest kick at her shin, the moment his leg hit hers, it felt like he had kicked a wall and he fell flat on his butt, "Stupid, Anya." he cried out.
"Fine, stop crying and I'll let you have one."
"Really?", Lirian looked up with large watery eyes.
"Yes, but only one," she said, those eyes were damn cheats in life she thought to herself.
"Perfect," said Lirian as he got back up, his fake tears gone he pulled another biscuit from his clothes and began nibbling on it.
"How many of those do you have?", Anya asked, she felt sour at how well she had been played.
"It's my last one." Lirian lied and began to eat happily.
"Don't get happy so quickly kiddo, your mom ain't gonna let you off the hook after what you've done."
Sure enough, when he got back to his room his mother was sitting on the bed looking at him with a serious face, 'Oh no, I really did it this time,' he thought to himself.
"Mommy I can explain..." but before he could say anything he felt himself floating in the air and he landed on her lap.
"Fine, but I'll still explain myself afterward," he said and crawled over her knees. A burning sensation soon filled out his bottom.
He only received a few shots, but he knew that it would be unpleasant to sit down anytime soon, his mother obviously held back a lot, if she accidentally used even a little of her real strength the only thing left of him would be Lirian paste.
"What did you learn today?" Taliyah asked.
"That using mothers ring without permission is wrong," he said while standing up straight, he didn't let his voice shake even slightly as he spoke which earned him his mother's approval as well as Anya's, while he was mischievous, he never tried to shirk off taking responsibility and even as he got his butt paddle, he didn't let out a single cry.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anya looking into his cot, she pulled up the mattress and found an assortment of biscuits, "I knew all the jelly-jams couldn't be finished." she cried and looked at Lirian with a wronged expression.
Taliyah's lips twitched, "Lirian have you been stealing food from the kitchen again?"
Lirian slipped his hand over his butt afraid of getting another shot, "I can't help it, it's delicious.", he said righteously.
"Now, Lirian I've told you many times that food is for grown-ups."
"I am like a grown-up, I can walk by myself, I can speak," he thought silently, ", better than some adults I might add, and I can go to the potty by myself, so how am I not like an adult," he said proudly.
Taliyah and Anya both tried their hardest to stop their lips from curling into a smile and it resulted in a slight twitch. Watching him stand so proudly made them proud but also confused at the same time, after all, his point was completely flawed but coming from a toddler it seemed almost convincing.
"You are only one and a half feet tall; your average adult is at least five feet tall.", said Anya.
"That's a superficial reason." he immediately retorted.
"You don't even have any teeth," she snapped back.
"Ha," Lirian barked and opened his mouth wide, and pointed to his two little teeth that started to poke out of his gums, "I do have teeth."
"You lack manners and your etiquette is non-existent," said Taliyah after some deliberation, it might be a little harsh to say but she couldn't afford to start losing to her son in arguments when he was still so young.
Lirian grimaced, that was very true, after all in all his past lives the entire world hated him, he didn't care to learn such useless things, and his mannerisms were like a barbarian, it was pretty hard to unwind trillions of years' worth of bad habits in a few months.
"Secondly, you are uneducated and last but not least you are still only six months old."
He wanted to retort to both of those, but that would completely blow his cover as an immortal reincarnator.
"If you can learn to behave yourself, then when you turn two, I will get you some instructors to begin your basic education before you start school," said Taliyah, in truth she had been planning to begin his education at two all along, but his learning speed was far too incredible.
"I'll behave if you teach me how to read and write mommy."
Taliyah raised her eyebrow at his attempt to negotiate with her, "Just a few minutes in the morning and in the evening before I go to sleep," he pleaded, learning the new runes and sentence structure would take him some time the sooner her started the better.
"If you teach me then I can spend my time in the library reading books, if I'm reading books, it will give me less time to... do other things." he shrugged helplessly.
"You drive a hard bargain young man, but very well we have a deal.", a beautiful smile appeared on her face and she offered Lirian her hand.
Lirian grabbed her hand and shook it which startled her, then she laughed, "You really don't know any etiquette, you're supposed to kiss my hand little-one."
"Oh, I forgot," he said and quickly kissed her hand.