As Jash slept, his body twitched, causing his face to scrunch up in discomfort.
"Hooo... haah... haaa..."
Jash suddenly got up from his bed, waking up from his dream as he heavily panted for air.
Reflexively, his hand reached his forehead as a slight headache assaulted him, "Arghhh!"
To his surprise, it was gone just a few seconds later.
'What just happened?' he wondered, his hazy eyes darting around the room in confusion.
Finally, he got up from his bed and walked to the balcony, hoping to clear his mind by taking deep breaths of fresh air.
"Fuuuu..."
"Haaaa..."
After many cycles of breathing, Jash felt calm and returned to his room. 'Did I have a nightmare?' he wondered.
He couldn't quite recall what transpired after he slept and shook his head to get rid of his troubled thoughts.
"How long did I sleep?" Jash muttered, his eyes instinctively turned to look at the clock, finding it was almost 7 PM in the evening.
"It's already dinner time!?" he exclaimed in surprise, hurriedly changing his clothes as his current ones were soaked in sweat.
He left his room and saw Emma standing alert next to his room's door.
"Hmm? Did something happen?" Jash asked Emma, noting her unusual expression.
"Ah, that," Emma felt tongue-tied for a second before continuing, "Lady Sera has arrived and wanted to meet you when you woke up."
"Okay," he said calmly, but only he knew how nervous and anxious he felt at the moment.
'I don't know what kind of nightmare I had, but I sure as hell am going to have one even when I am awake soon.'
Jash shivered as his own thoughts turned against him, making him fear the awaited confrontation.
"Uhm, Young Master," Emma interrupted Jash's internal musings as he turned to face her with a questioning look.
"Young Miss didn't want to leave her room, so Lady Sera visited her..."
Jash didn't mind her trailing off at the end of the sentence, her words served more than enough as a warning. "I see."
Unable to shake off the uneasy feeling, Jash walked downstairs and headed towards the dining room where he saw no one.
"Huh? Where is everyone?" he asked, baffled by the food served on the empty table.
'Whatever. Maybe they are with Caera,' he made a wild guess and chose to sit on his designated seat.
His silent wait didn't last long.
Soon, Sera arrived wearing a black suit. She had just arrived from the office and hadn't changed yet.
As soon as she returned, she heard everything much more clearly and rushed to Caera's room after she refused to leave her room.
Unaware of the background things, Jash felt a chill run down his spine.
'Her mood seems off,' he noted, seeing Sera's frigid expression.
"Care to explain?" She asked in a cold, detached voice.
Jash met her gaze and nervously gulped his saliva, saying "What?"
"I heard you both went into the boss area of the dungeon despite signs of an anomaly," Sera said.
But her tone turned into one of scolding as she continued, "Jash, I'm proud of your talent, but there's a fine line between being daring and foolish."
"And such carelessness has led to the demise of countless geniuses." Carcel completed her sentence, appearing from behind her.
For them, Jash was indeed a genius. His talent had shown his capabilities so far, but as his parents, they couldn't help but worry.
He was still a 14-year-old child, after all.
He might act mature, but he was still a child who would continue to make mistakes and learn from them.
In the end, it was their job as parents to ensure Jash understood the risk.
"It was her who wanted-" Jash tried to argue, only to shut up as Caera arrived. 'What perfect timing!'
He was already feeling guilty inside, so there was no way he would shift the blame on her, at least not now.
"It wasn't supposed to have an anomaly, and we had good team coordination. Besides, both Emma and Kesha were following us."
Jash just spoke the truth, not wanting to argue about it meaninglessly. He couldn't just say that he wasn't a child and that it would've been safe.
'If only I didn't force her,' Jash regretted inwardly, but his determination quickly overtook his regret.
'No! It's better this way. At least that scum won't have this chance to get closer to her!' he had long resolved to keep Caera away from that guy.
On the other hand, Sera misunderstood the blazing determination in his eyes to be a sign of defiance.
She sighed and took a seat along with Carcel and Caera, but refrained from saying anything further.
"By the way, how's she feeling?" Jash changed the topic as the silence irked him for some reason.
"Not much better," Sera muttered, though her eyes were glued to Caera, who had her head hung low.
"It's no big deal. Everyone suffers from setbacks one way or another, but what matters is learning and improving from the experience," Carcel remarked firmly.
Sera nodded at his remark, wholeheartedly agreeing with it.
However, her eyes squinted at Jash, who had just started to place some food on his plate before it was served.
"Ahem," he coughed awkwardly after her fierce glare. "Mom, that's so unfair!"
"Is that so?" she jeered, cocking an eyebrow in intrigue.
Unfortunately, Jash swallowed his complaints and went quiet, inwardly irritated. 'Just serve the food already!'
He was literally starving after the tiring day, given how he had basically not eaten anything since the morning.
"Alright, alright. No need to make that face. And Sera, you should stop teasing him," Carcel intervened, trying to stop their argument.
Luckily, it worked.
"By the way, why did you seal the dungeon? You couldn't even enter it, right?" Carcel tried to make small talk till the food was served.
"Not just me, no one at the site could. It was strange. Too strange, in fact." Jash had a hard time explaining it appropriately.
"Well, father has gone to check it out, so maybe you'll get some results," Carcel added, trying to ease the atmosphere.
"That'd be great. Then we can re-enter and conquer it, right? Caera?" Jash dragged her into the conversation, startling her.
She had been looking down at her empty plate, fiddling with the cutlery, trying to minimize her presence, she wasn't expecting any attention.
"No! None of you is entering any dungeon!"
Surprisingly, it was Sera who directly prohibited their entry into any dungeon.
Before Jash or Carcel could rebut her, the food was served and she used it as an excuse, "Just focus on eating. No chit-chat during mealtime, remember?"
'Tsk. What kind of rule is that? We are a ducal family!' Jash cursed inwardly, but quietly began the meal.
It was a tradition he didn't want to break. He shivered at the mere thought of breaking it.
The last time he did it was an accident, and he was just a 5-year-old kid, yet the scolding from that day was still vivid to him.
With no other option, the family quietly finished dinner in peace with Sera feeding Caera a bit forcefully.
'Her mood is terrible, and it will impact her diet,' Jash thought, but he didn't dare voice it out.
Finally, the meal ended and the first thing he did was say, "Mom, I personally would like nothing more than not having to go into dungeons."
His words confused her, seeming contradictory to his previous statement, though it aligned with his personality.
Observing her expression, he smiled. "You were the one to suggest the dungeon raid in the first place, no?"
"So, after going through it, it isn't enticing anymore. It was boring and brought about a risk for no reason! Hence, no more dungeon raids!"
***
{A/N}
Yo!~
It's been a while, I guess?
As you all know, this novel participated in June WPC, and it won!!
Amazing, right?
This is all thanks to all the support and love from you, dear readers!
So, Thank you!!
Also, the book will soon enter premium, so I hope that you can continue to support it in any way you can!