The future is not a fixed thing. It is a process that is always changing as we travel through it. The future is hidden behind a veil of time.
***
Like every other family dinner in this house, this family dinner was the same. Haste's parents were talking about how businesses were going while asking for Jil's opinion from time to time.
They wanted him to be as polyvalent as possible so that he could achieve great things in his life. Even greater things than them.
They also asked about how went his hunt session today. And unsurprisingly, at least for Haste, it went smooth.
Haste knew that his brother was strong. So fighting against unintelligent monsters wasn't so big of a deal.
However, his parent's reactions truly shocked him.
"Jil, even though you are strong, you should never underestimate your opponent," Their dad said with a calm tone.
Jil made a weird expression hearing that.
"What your father wants to say by that is that you should be careful and not risk your life, no matter what," Their mother added with a soft smile after seeing his expression. "You are too precious, so don't act rashly."
The reason why Haste was actually shocked was that even though they knew how strong Jil was, they still asked him to be careful.
Whereas he never received anything of the sort.
Unlike his brother, he could die in an instant. He couldn't even defend himself correctly. But not once had they told him to be careful.
And this reaction from his parent shows him one more time the biter reality.
No matter what he would do, he would still have no value in his parents' eyes.
And even though he didn't want to show how empty he felt at the moment, his expression just betrayed him.
And it didn't escape Jil's attention.
"Even though I'm thankful for your worries, I don't think I should be the one receiving them," Jil said as his parents raised an eyebrow. "Haste's life is much more at stake when he is hunting than mine."
"Pfft, hahaha," Their father suddenly laughed. "Ah, seriously, Jil, do you really think a trash like him should receive our worries?"
"I mean, yes. Even though both of you don't see any talents in him, I actually do."
Her mother squinted her eyes and thought for a moment. "What do you mean by that?" She asked. Even Haste became curious. He never expected his brother to be worried about him. He just showed indifference toward him since they were little, so it was strange to receive such treatment from him now.
"Haste managed to kill a black dog on his own," Jil said as he immediately heard someone shouting beside him.
"What?" Surprisingly, it wasn't his parents, but Haste who shouted.
Their parents also had shocked expressions on their faces. They didn't expect that from such a low person. And even though killing a black dog was an easy feat, for someone such as Haste, it was something incredible.
"He even killed a giant black dog on his own. And it was a zone boss at that too."
"What are you saying Jil? I never did such a thing." Haste immediately said, not wanting his parents to know the truth
Even his parents agreed with his statement. They just couldn't see him fight and win against a boss zone on his own.
And this only made him even sadder to have such parents.
"Why did you have all this blood on your clothes then?" Jil pointed out what he saw in the hallway.
'No, why did he see that?' Haste thought. He even began to take a step back. He never thought that his clothes would show what he had done. But when he thought about it for a moment, he found something to answer. "It doesn't explain the fact that I killed a giant black dog," Haste pointed out. He was happy with his answer because he thought he could make them think that he never achieved such a great feat.
But the reality wasn't on his side.
"Jil, even though we want to believe in what you're saying, it is simply impossible. We all know how weak your brother is," Their mom said. Making Jil roll his eyes and Haste bite his lip a little.
"Well, if you don't believe me, then see it by yourself," Jil projected something like a hologram from his watch.
As time passed, technology had evolved so much that even things like this were now possible. And this watch wasn't something only he had, everyone in the world had these.
The hologram that he projected was Haste fighting the black dog, followed by the boss zone. But from Jil's point of view, not Haste.
And seeing that, Haste understood that Jil had followed him without even him noticing. And now that he thought about that, the noises he heard when he killed the boss were surely coming from him. But he never thought it was him who was coming to him.
And since he couldn't refute the fact that he didn't kill anything, he immediately ran away from the dining room. He didn't want to tell anything to his parents. They weren't there for him, and instead, they just disregarded him as trash for as long as he remembered. So he didn't want to expose his secret to them.
However, even though he was running, he didn't use his time manipulation. It would be a dead giveaway of him having a blessing if he were to use such a skill.
As for his parents, they didn't stop him. They continued watching the hologram until the end.
And after seeing it, even though they didn't want to believe in such a thing, they were obliged to.
Jil had just shown them concrete proof of what he was saying earlier.
And after a long moment of silence, Jil finally broke the silence. "I am not asking you to suddenly be good to him since it would just show how hypocritical you are. But at least, stop treating him like trash. Even the maids and butlers are seeing him as trash because of that and not listening to his orders," He said before he too went out of the dining room, leaving the Laborde couple alone.
Both of them were silent for quite a while. They didn't know what to do or say anymore. They never expected to see a day when their last son would prove to them that they were wrong. That he would be strong enough to slap reality into their faces by showing them that he wasn't trash, and instead, that he was capable enough, even without any tutor or things like this.
And in the end, they decided to end the night here by going to their rooms. They would discuss about that with a calmer head.