As I think of my future plans, I reach home fairly quickly. I’m greeted upon getting off the carriage by my mother.

“Are you injured anywhere? Do you need Mom to call a healer over? Oh, my poor boy.”, she asks concernedly.

“Mother, it’s only some scratches, I’ve been healed in the infirmary at school already, don’t worry.”, I answer quickly.

I didn’t think that mother would find out so quickly. I expected the Duke to find out quickly from his sources, but for my mother to notice this quickly, she must hold some degree of power in the Kingdom.

I’ve heard that the Duke has been silently encouraging competition among his children, but competition does differ from outright fighting. Hence, I’m fairly interested in his stance on this.

As expected, soon after I meet my mother, the Duke orders everyone in the family to gather in the main hall. I head there directly along with mother. For an instance, it seemed like she showed an annoyed expression, but she quickly reverted to her concerned face.

“Don’t worry, it’ll all be fine. Mother is here.”, she whispers to me before we enter the hall.

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We enter the hall, to see the Duke’s 2nd wife, or my 2nd mother, and her sons already seated by the side. The Duke has yet to arrive himself. As the steward notices that we are all gathered, he rushes off to inform the Duke.

Amidst the tense atmosphere, mother and I get seated, ignoring the heated gazes on us.

Soon after, a gallant looking middle-aged man steps into the hall. He has thick eyebrows and a stubble on him, and is dressed in his noble robes. His eyes aren’t particularly big, but they exude an aura of sharpness.

As the Duke steps into the hall, all of the family stand up in greeting to show our respect to him. I simply followed the rest in doing so. He walks with momentum towards the seat in the middle reserved for the Duke himself. He gets seated, motioning for us to be seated too.

He lets out a rugged breath of air, beginning, “I trust that you all know why I called all of you here. To make it clear, I don’t disapprove of the fighting. In this day and age, strength is everything hence naturally this old seat of mine belongs to the one with the largest fist.”

Mother and 2nd mother seem to already be aware of this stance of his, seemingly unmoved.

He continued, “However, what I am against, is anything that is detrimental to the family. This family is a prestigious one, and this reputation was fought for by your grandfather and me. I shall not stand to see anyone, and I mean anyone, destroy this name of ours while I remain alive. You can fight, you and scheme against each other, but know that none of this should be known by outsiders. I won’t ask you all to be united in this, but there is little point to obtaining a destroyed kingdom. I shall state this only once, I am to hear no bad rumours about this family stemming from any of you, regardless of circumstance. Do I make myself clear?”, he proclaims as he stares right at us.

“Yes, Husband/Father.”, we affirm at the same time.

How pragmatic. I guess I won’t be able to get much advantages from him.