He woke up the next day, just like any day. He was determined to find out about the meaning of fun today. So he waited in his room, knowing that Beatrice would probably come there by herself in a few hours. She usually came to bring him breakfast and eats together with him. But her cheerful attitude often irritated Yamato while eating. For example, she would excitedly tell him about her life, even though he didn't ask. He didn't really hate it though.
At exactly 9 AM, she entered his room, surprised to find him there. She usually had to wait for him, as he would normally sit in the library and only come back to eat. But today he never left his room, and instead waited for her.
"Where you that excited for breakfast, Young Master?"
"I wanted to ask you something about yesterday."
She was just done setting the table and set down waiting for him to do the same, which he quickly did.
"And what is it that you want to ask me?"
"You said you enjoyed when we played, but you didn't win even once. Then you said it doesn't matter if you win or not."
"That's what I said, yes."
"But don't people usually get frustrated when losing?"
She stayed quiet for a moment so they started to eat as he waited for her answer.
"Well… I suppose so. I guess you wonder how I have fun losing when it usually makes people frustrated, which sounds contradictory, right?"
"Something like that."
"You're a bit too young to understand that, Yamato. But if you think about everything competitively, you never really play right."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I told you that you wouldn't understand."
"Because you just say something without elaboration."
"Maybe you'll figure it out on your own when you grow up."
"Maybe I'll figure it out now when you explain it."
"Patience is a virtue, Young Master~"
"And secrecy is annoying."
"I'm sure it is for you."
"…whatever."
"You give up so easily…"
"You seem to take amusement out of my attempts."
"Of course I do~."
"You are no help!"
"With what do you need help exactly?"
He stopped at that, unsure if he should outright tell her about what exactly he is curious. He always chose not to speak about his lack of understanding emotions. But he also never got asked directly about it.
He could conjure up some lie about writing and needing help to describe emotions to the reader, but that'd be annoying and a lot of work to keep up. So he ultimately chose to just ignore her question and finish up eating, deciding that she wouldn't be of any help to him in that matter.
He decided to go to the library, and left the room. Beatrice would clean up the table and do other things around the mansion so he wouldn't have to bother with anything.
When he arrived in the library, he headed to the psychology section. He already went through most of the books there, but oddly enough, none of them described the concept of emotions in detail. Not that surprising considering how most people already understand emotions by default. So why explain them in books?
After a while it became apparent that no book here would be useful to him. It was an issue that would keep him up many nights. Days past. Then weeks. Then months. His monotonous lifestyle going on without finding anything helpful to him. Years eventually past by, and he was eight years old now. He still never went outside, unless it was into the garden. When he was younger he looked outsithe windows of the mansion into the green garden that had flowers everywhere. Now, when he stands there in the midst of the flowers surrounded by the green grass, he looks over into the forest surrounding the garden of the mansion. It was like a maze, but also not really. There was only one direct way out, not multiple ones. Just one road, leading directly through the forest to the outside world. One could think it was some sort of gate to freedom. Yamato often thought about what he thought of this place. Was it heaven? Was it a prison? Was it just a place without any meaning to it? Wondering about it never lead to anything. It was just where he was, and he couldn't say if he wanted to go somewhere else instead. But he also couldn't say if he wanted to stay here forever or not. Technically, he had no reason to go. Everything he could ever wish for was here, and if it wasn't it could get there in less than a day.
In the past few months, there was a group of people showing up at the mansion every now and then. He saw his father talking with one man in particular. Tall, muscular build, wearing a suit, always looking serious. Or at least Yamato never saw him laughing. He seemed passionate about his work. Never married, which he could tell by him not having a ring or a mark of a ring on his finger. While he never talked to him, he did walk by close enough to hear him talk about how hard police work is nowadays. So he seems to be working in some kind of law enforcement field. The people with him consist out of four more people. Two women and two men. They however seem more relaxed, laugh every now and then and actually are all married. Not to each other though, as far as he could tell. He also asked Beatrice once, but she didn't seem to know anything for certain. However all that didn't really matter. It was more like a hobby for him to observe what they did here. They seemed to argue with his father but most of the talking happened in his room so he couldn't really tell what goes on. And he didn't care enough to spy on them.
So there he sat, in the garden, drinking tea. He loved tea. He thought it made him look cool. A little childish, he admitted. But he didn't like it just because of that. He liked the flavor, and it felt fitting to the atmosphere. He drank with Beatrice, who was about to lose to him in chess. Sometimes he would intentionally play bad to give her a chance, just to get her hopes up and beat her anyway. She never won until today.
Right when she had another childish outburst of frustration about losing again, one of the man who had been visiting lately walked towards them. Yamato had noticed him from afar a while ago. He had been watching the two of them, which Yamato found to be rude and annoying, but he chose to ignore it for the time being. But since he walked over now, he considered mentioning it to mock him.