I Refuse To Be A Character In A Novel - Chapter 35

“… Father?”

Noticing the grim expression his father had as he walked absentmindedly, Jonas called out to him in a careful voice.

“It’s nothing.”

At his call, Zachary left his baseless thoughts behind and resumed his pace.

“By the way, father, when will I start real sword training?”

Emphasizing the word real, Jonas pulled his father’s sleeve to draw his attention.

“When Thomas says you’re ready to.”

His hand fell again in disappointment.

“But he doesn’t take me seriously. All I do is wave a wooden sword while the knights train intensely.”

“No laps?”

“Father! I’m serious.”

Zachary smiled faintly as he patted his son’s head.

“Don’t be in a rush. He is taking you very seriously. Which is why he is working you hard to perfect your posture.”

When they reached his room, Zachary turned the handle, opening the door.

“In the meantime, don’t lose focus on other aspects.”

“Of course! I have already mastered archery.”

He declared proudly.

“I know.”

“Sir Thomas told you?”

Jonas asked in a disappointed tone.

He wanted to be the one to boast of his achievements to his father.

“No. I watched you from up the training grounds as you repeatedly hit the bullseye.”

The plump cheeks were slightly tainted red at his words.

Looking down at him, Zachary thought he resembled her quite a bit.

Everyone who met his son for the first time expressed their amazement at how much he resembled the duke.

Zachary simply agreed as he was a boy and he also had the same hair color as him.

Today however, that description didn’t fit well.

Perhaps because he never appreciated their eye color before, he never noticed.

His son held quite the resemblance to his mother.

“How about Magic then? Did you practice what I asked you to?”

Zachary already knew the answer.

Precisely why he brought his son back to his room instead of leaving him with his mother.

✰✰✰✰✰

Like speech and walk, if magic wasn’t mastered at a young age, controlling it later would be difficult.

This was even more so for his son, who was born from two magic users.

Although Jonas had full control over his mana and even manifested his ability, Zachary increased his practice rate.

The reason was that he had yet to fully mature.

Children born from parents who were both mana wielders, would usually have two different types of mana.

Yet his son only possessed one type that resembled his own.

The fact that his mother had lost her magic during his birth shouldn’t have been an issue as it was still passed through blood.

But that didn’t happen.

Which led Zachary to think of only one possibility.

The ability passed down in the Tersia bloodline required the previous wielder to die in order to be inherited by his first born.

Very few abilities of that attribute were known, as most of them had gradually disappeared with the last member of each bloodline.

Thinking so, Zachary became even more curious about his wife’s ability which she herself didn’t know of as she had never properly manifested it.

Perhaps she already had, but he had no idea of it.

As proven repeatedly, he didn’t know much about her.

All he knew was that she somehow became a handful who stirred his emotions and had him needlessly think back on her actions.

Yet even amidst his irritation, Zachary never wished for the person she had become to disappear.

✰✰✰✰✰

“That…”

Jonas swallowed his words.

The time he usually practiced what he lacked was now spent with his mother.

“You have been spending quite a lot of time with your mother recently.”

As though he had read his mind, his father answered in his stead.

Afraid that he would be disappointed, Jonas avoided his eyes as he entered the room.

“Do you like her? Your mother.”

The unexpected question brought him to look back at his father, standing by the door.

His father had once asked him how he felt about Catherine, but never about his mother.

He only told him to respect his mother, no matter how he felt about her.

Zachary faced his son’s surprised eyes with a smile.

It was a very unbecoming question for a father to ask his son.

She was his mother.

It was only natural that he would like her.

But simply defining it as such because they shared blood was an abuse of the word ‘Mother’.

And Zachary was earnestly curious.

Just until recently, his son, who had no friends around his age to play with, preferred spending his free time with his nanny.

Or even his father whom he only got to know by the age of 5.

The resemblance Jonas had to him regarding his stunt feelings towards his mother had Zachary worried for a while.

Although he had no complaints about his own life, Zachary didn’t want the relationship between the two of them to fall so early on.

For if another war would break and he had to leave again, his son who grew up in the secluded north would truly have no one by his side.

Helplessly, Zachary could only try to compensate for it through his own approach.

Fortunately however, his son’s mother turned out to be better than his own-

“Yes. I like her.”

As though he had just come to realize that fact, Jonas answered in a slightly high tone, his ears gradually turning red.

“I won’t slack in my training though.”

“Good.”

—Perhaps his son would also turn out better than himself.