(Flynn's POV)
"Were you trying to break my spine you devil! Did you want to paralyze your only brother again" I said with a pained wince while getting up and sitting on the moist damp grass.
"First off, that's impossible. Healing potions remember?" Aiden replied as he sat next to me.
"And secondly, mana strengthens our body in this world so injuries like that are not exactly prone to happening, that is unless you get hit by a bloody magic spell, but still, healing potions." Aiden concluded.
"Still, you sure didn't hold back huh" I said as I gazed at the wide field ahead of me.
"Considering how you're planning to catch up to me, I needed to show you just how much of a wall you're going to need to climb" Aiden replied.
"I wasn't even able to land a single punch" I said while sulking.
"Oh come on. You landed a few solid hits. Did you want to punch my face that badly?" Aiden asked while squinting his eyes at me.
"As a matter of fact, I very much did" I said while smiling as I shrugged my shoulders.
"Unluckily for you, I quite like this face. It is technically mine after all" Aiden replied as he continued.
"You on the other hand seem to have a bit of an aversion towards your own face. What's up with that?"
"You very well know that I quite dislike flashy things. This face, well my face technically, screams flashiness and attracts attention without me even trying" I replied while frowning my face.
"Tell that to most of the other nobles and they'll immediately think of you as a weirdo" Aiden responded.
As my brother and I kept discussing and talking about relatively mundane things, the door to the backyard opened.
Aiden and I both turned our gazes to the door due to the creaking sound it made, and we were immediately met with Butler Frank's pristine appearance. He gracefully walked towards us until he was a few meters in front of us before giving a slight bow, to which he then spoke after.
"Young masters, would you like your breakfast prepared now or are you still planning to spar for a few more hours?"
I was the first to reply as I got up from my spot while moving a few meters away to another spot.
"I don't think I can spar with this monster again today" I said while pointing to Aiden before continuing.
"But I do need to train my mana core"
"Same here Frank" Aiden replied while shifting into a meditative position.
'Mana vein training is important but mana core training is just as important' I thought to myself as I also sat down in a meditative position while taking a deep breath.
"Very well then. I shall prepare your meals a few hours from now, preferably two hours?" Frank inquired one more time.
"Sure" Aiden and I both replied.
"Very well. I shall take my leave now" Frank said while leaving both of us to our training.
After taking a very deep breath, I began to pull the surrounding mana into my body through the pores on my skin while siphoning them into my core. I then tried to form a ring around my core as I poured all of my concentration into doing that for the next one hour.
After about an hour and a few minutes, I opened my eyes feeling refreshed but I was drenched in sweat. A very thin but faint line was forming around my core which indicated that I would become C-rank very soon, although at low-tier. I also looked around and saw that Aiden was gone.
'Guess he must've been really hungry huh' I thought to myself as I got up from the spot I was while moving into the mansion.
As I got into the mansion, I immediately made my way into my room to take a cold shower, of which I then got out after a few minutes. I opened my wardrobe and picked a plain white shirt with black pants and black sneakers.
After dressing up, I made my way into the dining room expecting to be the only one there since I came down quite late but both my parents and my brother were all there. They seemed to be discussing something as the table was full of laughter.
"Whatever it is you're all laughing about, I hope it has nothing to do with Aiden whooping my ass this morning" I said as I drew out my chair to sit on it.
"Oh sweetie, it wasn't about you. Speaking of you, how are you feeling? Your back especially?" my Mum said as she instantly threw a glance at Aiden.
Realizing the opportunity, I had to one-up Aiden, so I immediately feigned some back pain as I said.
"Oh it hurts Mum. Aiden was so brutal. Such a barbarian. Can you believe it? He really wanted to crush my spine!"
"Did not!" Aiden replied as he tried to defend himself but everyone just burst into laughter.
"I'm glad to see you two getting along again" Leopold said as he wore a smile on his face.
"Yeah. It's been so long since we've seen you so lively Flynn" my mum chimed in.
"It feels very nice" she added.
I smiled at that and we continued eating in a tranquil but warm silence. After a minute or so, Aiden threw a question at Leopold.
"Dad, why aren't you at work? Doesn't the The Tower usually have a crap ton of work for rankers to do on a daily basis?"
"Dad?" Leopold replied with a bit of surprise in his tone.
"Oh. Sorry about that. Traditions and all. If you'd like me to call you Fath-"
Aiden was about to correct himself before Leopold intercepted.
"No! It's alright… Ahem… I quite like it" Leopold responded with a small cough and a slight smile tugging on the corner of his lips.
Anna who saw this just kept eating but she also had very happy smile on her face.
'My sons are growing up nicely' she thought as she mused to herself.
"So about work… I do have a backlog of tasks I need to handle but their mostly just documentation. Obelisk has been very quiet lately so it's been quite peaceful". Leopold finally answered Aiden's question.
'They're quiet alright, for now at least…' I thought to myself.
"That's understandable then. What about you Mum? Aren't there new paintings to be auctioned off?" Aiden proceeded to also ask Anna about why she was still at home even at this time.
"Oh most of the older paintings have been sold off but the new batch hasn't been concluded. I'm still adding the finishing touches to it" Anna responded while taking a sip of the wine in her cup.
My Mum, Anna Belmont, and also the Duchess of the Belmont family was a low-tier S-ranker who instead of joining the Tower or a guild to fight against monsters in the fissures, decided to make her hobby and passion her job.
Her paintings usually sell like hotcakes so her works are always requested for at various museums and auction houses and sites.
Come to think of it, even the paintings in every corner of this house seem to have been done by her. I doubt that the Belmont Family whose ancestors were absolute muscle heads would have ever thought of beautifying their homes.
As I continued eating while thinking of my mum's very many qualities, my Dad turned his attention to me. I also realized that he was staring at me so I immediately asked what was wrong.
"Dad, is there something on my face?"
"No, nothing of such Flynn. It's just… haaa…" My dad said as he trailed off with a small sigh.
"What is it Dad?" I asked again with a bit more seriousness in my voice.
"The White Family have sent another annulment letter for the engagement between you and Amelia"
There was a bit of silence around the table as both parents knew that Flynn had a bit of a thing for Amelia but Flynn's response was not something both of them had expected.
They'd realized that their son was becoming more confident and his response shouldn't be too surprising considering how he'd been behaving these past few days but nevertheless, it was still unexpected.
"Let's give them what they want then" I said after a short pause.
"The engagement, let's have it annulled" I said one more time to ensure that they knew that I meant it.
"Are you sure dear?" my mum asked with a bit of concern in her voice.
"Positive" I replied affirmatively.
"Okay then" my mum said as she continued eating her food.
"It's been in our tradition to have the Belmont Family wed one of their sons or daughters to the White Family and vice versa for a very long time whenever they can but with this, that tradition will become officially over" Leopold said as he continued speaking.
"I shall have Frank take you to their residence later today to do what must be done to have the engagement annulled"
"Thanks dad. Besides, traditions are meant to be either broken or forgotten at some point or the other" I said in reply to my dad's speech.
"Yes. That is true. Also, would you like Aiden or anyone else to accompany you?" My dad asked, to which I replied.
"No. Not at all. Just me is fine"
"Very well" Leopold concluded as he called out to Butler Frank to make preparations.