Aiden's stepbrother joined in on their conversation. "Trouble?" he said, his jet-black, neatly combed hair, prompting to get pulled. "That can't be true, Aiden is too nice to be in trouble. I was so happy he introduced me as his brother to everyone at the lunch hall yesterday."
Lord Greyson froze halfway in slicing his steak, his face flushed as if in fear of having a dirty little secret of him exposed. He faced Aiden. "You told everyone you're related?"
Aiden's eyebrows furrowed at Lucius' relay of his father's words. "Are you serious?" he wanted to ask him. "I can't even utter a single word. How am I supposed to let everyone know we're related?"
He glanced at his evil stepbrother who appeared to be eating heartily but was actually grinning like a devil on the sly. Little did he know he was doing Aiden a favor.
Aiden faced his father and nodded his head, and the look on Lord Greyson's face almost made him sick. Hints of embarrassment were apparent in the lord's aging eyes, as if his greatest fear was to be associated with a screwup son.
"Even when the dean clearly instructed you not to?" Lord Greyson's voice was gradually picking its volume. "Why can't you follow a simple instruction, Aiden?!"
Aiden sat there in silence, his empty eyes meeting his father's glares. He couldn't control his expression and let out a bitter laugh, thinking how a grown-ass man should feel more embarrassed yelling at an invalid child who couldn't even speak—like a lunatic punching a brick wall.
The silence deepened at Aiden's reaction. Even the maids shifted uncomfortably in their places, and Lord Greyson had to pick his jaw off the marbled floor, wondering if Aiden's chuckle was a trick of the mind.
"It's not Aiden's fault, father!" His stepbrother intervened once again, his eyes tearing up a little. "I-I went to greet him first because I wanted to introduce my friends. Please don't blame Aiden."
Lord Greyson dropped his spoon. His eyes softened at the sight of his son's tears. "You don't have to speak for him, Mason," he leaned forward and brushed Mason's head. "If only he were as sensible as you..."
The wisps had their commentaries while they hovered at Aiden's shoulders. With Lucius and Caelum spewing profanities, and Riven murmuring about wanting to slap Mason for quelling Lord Greyson's anger.
Aiden thought of ways to revive the situation and get his father madder to get everything over with. This was not an enjoyable setting to eat in any way. But how was he supposed to set his father off when he had no words saved up? "Hey, ugly" was surely off the table, so he had to find other ways to offend his father instead.
While his father was busy praising his son and degrading Aiden, the maid who always tormented Aiden poured him a glass of milk, her face so grim he wouldn't doubt if she had poisoned it, before silently walking away to become another unrecognizable face among the crowd of servants.
"There's no way I'm drinking that," Aiden thought to himself. Then an idea popped into his mind. What better way to use something served by a demon than to serve it to another demon?
He grabbed his glass of milk and splashed it on his stepbrother's face.
"Good grief!"
The entire mansion almost collapsed within seconds from the way everyone panicked. As if in slow motion, Aiden's stepbrother jumped up his seat, his innocent facade shattered as he threw a bunch of crunchy curses the lord of the mansion would not have dreamed of hearing his good son utter—if he hadn't been just as surprised himself. Even the maids failed to suppress their gasps, their wits startled from Aiden's sudden rampage.
"Oooooh!" Caelum cheered in a completely different vibe from inside that mansion, his form twinkling like the stars. "Nice one! Haha!"
Riven bobbed himself in pride, and Lucius joined Caelum in twirling around Aiden's stepbrother to marvel at the crime scene.
"Aiden!" Lord Greyson yelled his name with much anger, his veins almost popping from his neck. "You've lost your mind!"
The man pushed himself out of his seat, fumes blowing off his head as he confronted Aiden. One step closer and Aiden closed his eyes, ready to get slapped by his own father for the very first time. Strangely enough, he didn't feel anything, and when his eyes opened, the lord of the mansion was on the other side if the table, wiping his wonderful son dry as the maids stumbled and fumbled in handing him towels.
"You! You're grounded!" Lord Greyson yelled, aggressively shaking his finger at Aiden. "I'll deal with you later!"
Aiden watched everything in silence, almost fascinated by the chaos he had caused. On the other hand, his stepbrother took advantage of the situation. He put on a pathetic expression to salvage his slip up and looked at Aiden with teary eyes, letting the entire mansion feel bad for him.
"W-what did I do wrong, brother?" He sobbed terribly, "Why would you do that to me?"
Everyone looked at Aiden as if he were the enemy, but he simply stood there, trying to reassess the situation. If only he could speak the mortal tongue, he would have busted out some lines that would secure a slap. But sadly, he can only imagine the look on Lord Greyson's face if he were to say the words, "I hope you rot in hell like this milk."
"What happened?!" Lucius flew back to him, the excitement slowly dying down. "You didn't get slapped?"
Riven nodded. "And he's grounded."
"Great! You didn't get slapped, and now you're grounded!" Caelum complained, acting as if he wasn't the first to start clapping with his entirety. "I mean, good move, but you should have thrown milk at your father instead!"
Aiden shook his head. "But this one's more satisfying, isn't it?" His gaze browsed past his stepbrother's drenched face, to the look of terror on the maids' faces, and to his father's angry-red eyes. A smirk played on his lips, the satisfaction of a petty revenge evident in his eyes.
"I agree with that," Lucius chuckled. "Indeed, that was satisfying. That boy's been eyeing you like a gnat. Take that!"
Riven simply flickered his light as if he found their antics crazy with little disagreement. "From the looks of it..." he said. "You'll be starving for a week..."
Aiden nodded to that. While the entire mansion was busy drying the young master, getting him a new set of uniform and whatever, Aiden took his time to grab food from the table. He stacked a whole roasted chicken, an entire bowl of salad, a few pieces of bread, and three apples into his arms. If he were to get grounded in his room, might as well feast before the famine.
. . .
After all that commotion, Aiden managed to sneak into his room rather easily. Before they could lock him inside, he'd done the deed and locked the doors himself.
"So..." he turned to the wisps. "What are we gonna do while we're here?"
Caelum hovered closer to him. "What do you mean here?" He said. "You've never snuck out of this mansion after all they put you through?"
Aiden shook his head. "There's nothing for me to do outside either," he said. "Hearing them babble gibberish all days makes my head ache so I sleep everything off when I'm grounded."
The three wisps nodded. For an isolated and battered boy like Aiden, being grounded did seem like a rest from an entire mansion of hecklers.
"Well, you don't have the time to rest now," Caelum said. "You'll have to climb yourself out of this mansion."