Emilio snapped his hand back and turned around … and met the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen.

Pink eyes the shade of coral.

The boy who’d been standing behind him had long, greyish pink hair tied into a side ponytail, with some strands framing his oval face. He looked prettier than any girl Emilio had ever seen. The boy’s eyes widened just a bit when their eyes made contact. But after a moment, he composed himself and frowned at Emilio.

“The instruments on those shelves are going through a special mana processing in order to be tuned. You can’t touch them,” the boy said as he walked up to him. Now that he was close, Emilio could see flecks of black in his irises.

The boy’s frown deepened when Emilio didn’t reply. He snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “Hello? Did you hear what I said?”

Emilio blinked and came back to his senses. He realized he had been staring at the boy, slightly open mouthed. He flushed in embarrassment. What was wrong with him? No matter how good one looked, one couldn’t just stare at them without any compunction.

He quickly averted his eyes and then stepped away from the shelf. “I apologize. I did not know.”

The boy’s frown eased at that and he nodded. “Just be careful, alright? Now, please tell me what business you have here? You don’t look like one of the students of musical Magic.”

“I’m not,” Emilio shook his head. “I am here to meet Aunt … I mean, Professor Clarent.”

“The Professor?” The boy blinked at him. “She’s busy repairing one of our instruments. Who are you? Does she know you’d be coming?”

Emilio nodded. “She should. She’s the one who called me here. I’m Emilio Florian, a new student.”

“I see,” the boy nodded. “I am Sebastian, Professor Clarent’s assistant.”

Emilio tilted his head slightly, frowning at the lack of his last name.

The boy’s lips curved into a soft smile. It was a beautiful thing.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “Yes, I’m a commoner. I was lucky enough to get into the Academy and Professor Clarent took me under her wing when she saw I had a talent for music.”

“Oh. That’s … good.” He said, a very intelligent response.

You idiot.

“Oh, look at me getting carried away.” Sebastian lightly hit his head. “Wait just a moment. I shall inform the Professor of your arrival.”

Emilio nodded. “Alright. I’ll be here.”

Once Sebastian left, Emilio turned around and began to explore the room once again, This time, he was careful not to touch anything in the room and instead admired the assortment of instruments from a distance. His eyes fell on an instrument carved from a piece of wood with what looked like three small chambers covered in … was that some sort of leather? There were steel rings between the soundboard and three main gut strings. It was a strange sort of instrument, one he had never heard of before.

“That’s a Sarangi,” a female voice spoke up from right beside him. “It is quite a unique instrument

He startled and turned to see a middle aged woman standing beside him. She turned to look at him as well. Immediately, there was a sense of familiarity in her appearance. Those grey eyes were his mother’s, the difference was that this pair was slightly darker and a lot warmer. Those high cheekbones and that cleft chin were things she shared with his mother as well. She had brown hair the same shade as Emilio. Yes, this woman looked like she was related to his mother. They looked similar but so very different.

This woman was smiling. He forgot when he saw his mother smile.

This woman had wrinkles around her eyes and smile lines around her mouth. He had never noticed a single line on his mother’s face.

This woman looked like she had feelings. His mother seemed like a statue carved out of stone and ice, with no feelings to speak of.

“Auntie,” he whispered, his breath catching in his throat for a moment. He wondered if this was what his mother would look like if she had been a warm, loving person who had a place in her heart for someone other than herself.

“Hello, little Emil,” she said as she smiled up at him and held her hands out. “Oh, how you have grown. Come, let Auntie take a look at you.”

The woman's expectant face and the spread out hands reminded him of the day he said goodbye to his mother. But this time, he didn't feel shivers running down his spine, didn't feel as if he was walking in pins and needles, didn't feel his heart thudding loudly against his ribcage.

He leaned down and she placed her hands on his cheeks. "You handsome boy," She smiled. "Last I saw you, you were barely a year old. Still clinging to your mother back then."

He blinked in surprise. "You … saw me?"

He hadn't been aware that he had ever met the woman. He only knew about her vaguely when discussing his family history on both sides.

"Yes," she nodded, letting him go after the slightest squeeze on his cheeks as if he was still a child. "I went to visit Edmund and Anisa. Did they not tell you?"

He frowned and shook his head.

She sighed. "I'm not surprised. That visit did not end well."

He didn't say anything, but in his gaze was a curiosity he could not hold back.

She sighed and turned around. "Sebastian, would you bring us some tea?"

Emilio blinked when he realized that Sebastian had been in the room the entire time, looking through some documents at tbe smaller of the two desks in the room. He looked up and nodded, smiling.

"Of course," He said softly and stood.

"Come on," the woman led him towards a low table with small couches on both side. "Sit. Now… where were we?"

"Your last visit. It didn't end well." He reminded her as he sat down opposite to her.

"Ah, yes." She nodded. "You do know that I was engaged to your father, right?"

Emilio nodded slowly.

"Well … things happened," She said. "And my younger sister ended up marrying him."

He nodded again. He knew all this. The things being his mother getting her grandfather, the then Viscount Clarent, to pressurize his father into marrying her.

"Well … I went to visit a fee months after I got the news of your birth," She said. "You were around 10 months old back then. Such a happy little child." She chuckled. "Now, you must know, even before our engagement, your father and I were great friends. He was a bit clumsy, had trouble controlling his mama and his power over the Earth element was great but unstable. I, on the other hand, preferred the subtle and calm magic of music. So, I sometimes helped your father calm his mana. Perhaps I was a bit infatuated with him…"

Her words were interrupted as Sebastian came back with the tea. She smiled and thanked the boy. "Sebastian, have you met my nephew yet?"

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Sebastian smiled sweetly and nodded. "I have, Professor. He seems like a lovely young man."

Emilio knew it was perfunctory and shallow praise but he still couldn't help but feel a bit… embarrassed? Shy?

"He is, isn't he?" His aunt said with an almost smug smile before looking up at Sebastian with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Sebastian but would you mind leaving us for a bit? I'd like to catch up with my nephew."

"Of course," the boy said. "Just give me a moment to take my work with me."

He then turned to Emilio. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Emilio. I hope we will meet again soon," He said, every word sounding soft and sweet.

"Me … me too," Emilio replied in kind.

He watched as the boy went back to his desk and picked up some of the documents before leaving the room.

"That was the look I used to have when staring at your father." Aysha's amused voice pulled his gaze back to her.

He flushed a bit. "Auntie, that's …"

She chuckled and waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I'm not a prude. This is the age to have an infatuation or two. And Sebastian is quite handsome."

"Auntie!"

"Alright, alright!" She raised her hands in surrender. "I'll stop teasing you. Now where was I? Ah! Your father and I were good friends. Your mother and I …" She trailed off a bit and frowned, "... are you sure you want ot hear this? What I am about to say about your mother … it's not anything good."

Emilio paused at that. He had half expected this. It seemed his mother had made an enemy of her own sister as well. After a moment, he nodded. After all, what could be worse that what he saw for the past seven years?

"Are you sure?" His aunt asked again, her brows furrowed in concern. How strange. His aunt whom he did not even remember was more concerned about his feelings than his mother ever had been. He took a deep breathe before nodding with determination.

She sighed. "Well, she always hated me, for some reason. She was … I don't like to say this, but she was a bit jealous of me. She didn't want me to be happy. She always wanted to have what I had. From dresses, to shoes, to possessions, to friends … to fiancè. That's… where her obsession with Edmund started. She called it love, but it was mostly her stubbornness to possess him."

Emilio frowned. It all made sense. But there was one thing that bothered him. If Auntie Aysha had already remained engaged to his father, there would have been no reason for his grandfather to pressurise his father into marrying his mother, since no matter which of the sisters married, the Clarent Family would have a relation with the Florian Family. He knew the engagement was broken … was it because of his mother?

"Oh have your tea," his aunt said, interrupting his thoughts as she handed him a cup.

He took a sip before looking up at Aysha, who continued. "Anyways, once I had some time and met your father, we sat down and spoke, reminisced about the good old times, laughed and ate. We were sitting a bit closer than was perhaps appropriate. But we had been friends for years and we had always been close. We saw nothing wrong. Your mother, however, did. Long story short, she threw a huge tantrum, threw out all my luggage, threatened to burn them with myself and told me in no uncertain terms that I am to never come back to the Florian Barony. I haven't been there ever since."

…. Yes, that did quite sound like his mother.

He looked up at her and finally spoke the question in his mind. "If you were good friends, then why did your engagement break?"

"Oh, I was the one to break it off."

Emilio frowned at that. "Why?" He asked. Didn't she say she had been infatuated with his father?

She smiled at him. "Because he fell in love."

He looked at her in surprise. "With my mother?"

His aunt threw her head back and laughed. "No. Oh gods, no," She chuckled, "He fell in love with Isabella."

He blinked at her. "Isabella?"

Why did that name sound so familiar?

"Wait one moment," She said and stood, before she walked out of the room.

Emilio was burning with curiosity and bad no choice but to wait. He didn't have to wait long, however. Aysha came back soon with what looked like a large file in her hand. No … Emilio looked closer, and soon realized that it was an album.

She sat opposite to him and put the album on the table. "Sorry to keep you waiting," She said before opening the album. She passed a fee pages before stopping on one and then pointing at the picture on the upper right side of the page. "He fell in love with her."

Emilio looked down. There were two young girls in the black and white photo, pressing their cheeks against each other as they hugged and looked at the camera. One of them was clearly his aunt in her younger years and the other …. His breath caught in his throat.

Those eyes, that smile, those dimples … those were Jeremiah's.

"He … he met her in the Academy?" He whispered. He hadn't realized that the person his father found in the Academy was the very same who had borne Jeremiah.

"Do you recognize her?" His aunt asked.

He looked uo at her and nodded slowly. "This … this is Jeremiah's mother, isn't it?"

She nodded. Emilio's eyes dropped back to the picture. She was beautiful. He could see Jeremiah in her. He bit his lip. "I … I always thought he met her in his business travels. I know father kept himself away from the Barony most of the time after his marriage, busying himself in work. I thought that's where…"

"Oh they did meet again," She said. "That's where your … half brother-"

"My brother," He interrupted immediately, "Jeremiah is my brother."

Aysha looked at him in surprise before smiling at him fondly. "Yes, your brother. Your brother was conceived during one of your father's business travels, when they coincidentally met while she was working as a healer in the locality. Before that, however, they met here, in this very building, for the first time."

"Here?" He looked around.

"Yes. She was my classmate, you see. My best friend." Aysha smiled wistfully. "She was from a fallen noble family. Although she had an amazing talent for the Healing Arts, she also loved music. So she took this class with me. We were roommates too. One day, your father came to me go calm down his rampant mana. That's when he saw her first. At that moment, I saw my childhood friend fall in love with my best friend at the very first sight."

She sighed. "What happened after is a long, long story. I'll summarise it. They fell in love. I broke off the engagement so they could get married. But at this point, Anisa was obsessed with the thought of having Edmund at any cost. Our family was quite powerful back then, since the current Emperor who had just ascended showed a lot of favor to the families that supported him. She used grandfather's power to cause so many problems in Edmund's businesses and Barony that it was all slowly starting to crumble. Edmund refused to give up. But Isabella could see him destroying himself and his beloved home. So she decided to leave him. She left the Academy after graduation and never met him again… until 12 years ago."

Emilio listened with rapt attention. Until now, he had never really known what had happened in the past. Why his parents were like this, how Jeremiah came to be, who the secret lover of his father was. Now, it was being slowly revealed in front of him.

"That was the first time in a long time that Isabella contacted me," She continued. "I went to her then. And I found out she was pregnant. She said it was a moment of impulse, loss of control. She couldn't bring herself to regret it. She moved away from that small town to a village in the countryside and gave birth to Jeremiah. She raised him for four years. I used to visit her sometimes."

She paused, a frown starting to form between her brows. "She came down with mana infection. Her core was being eroded slowly. And … she knew she couldn't survive. She sent a letter to both me and Edmund. By the time we got there, she was taking her last breath and Jeremiah was sobbing his eyes out beside her. Edmund felt the grief of losing the love of his life and the happiness of having a child at the same time. He … broke a bit, that day. He took Jeremiah with him, insisting he would raise the boy."

She sighed as she finally finished her story. "How is he?"

"Jeremiah? He's… well," Emilio said softly. "He's doing well. He deviated into fire core a year ago and is now practising diligently."

"That … that's good." She sighed in relief. "I had heard Edmund buried himself even more in work after Isabella died. I'm glad he raised both of you well."

Emilio frowned, a rare sort of bitterness rising in him. "He didn't," He couldn't help but whisper.

"What?" She blinked at him.

He bit his lip, hesitating. All these information left him feeling a bit raw and clogged at the same time, as if he just had to get his emotions out.

"He …" He started slowly, "He didn't raise us… not until I was around 13 and Jeremiah 7. My mother… she doted on me … until Jeremiah came and… and I decided to raise him. She… she didn't like that … especially since I turned out to be a Laik."

"Oh," She whispered. "Oh, child. She… did she hurt you?"

He averted his eyes, silent. That was answer enough.

"That bitch!" She growled. "I knew she was vicious but to hurt an innocent child! And what was Edmund doing?"

"Father … was busy …" He said softly. "He didn't know… until I was 13."

She scoffed. "You mean he couldn't be bothered to know. That bloody coward! After he promised me that he could raise both his children well! I ought to-"

"Auntie," Emilio interrupted her. If this went on for long, Emilio felt he might break down. He had suppressed those old memories. His work and his training had kept him busy and his midnight away from all of that. But today, this conversation - just like the conversation with his mother - scratched and opened that box of memories, making him feel weak and vulnerable.

"It's … it's fine." He said softly. "Father took care of it. And now he's involved in our lives. I'm fine now. We are fine." He took a deep breath. "Can … can we talk about something else?"

The woman looked utterly unconvinced. But after a moment, she sighed and sat back, an indulgent smile upon her lips.

"Alright, let me tell you some embarrassing stories about your father."