The room was dark and the world outside the window was very much the same. The cold wind coming from the hills brought chills to Leon's skin, but he moved not. Rather than clothing himself in anything, he drank and he drank quite a bit. An empty bottle of wine at his feet and one half-empty in his hand, Leon wondered if he should send for one more.

He could see guards patrolling around his estate, once they would bring comfort and a sense of safety. Now they were a grim remainder of the limit of the freedom of the La Bor family.

To make things worse, Eamon had not awakened yet, the stress of the situation must have gotten to him, setting him back. Melissa was unusually quiet, which made things even more out of the ordinary. Leon was not sure if she knew something was happening or not, but she was sensitive to these kinds of situations.

All this turmoil, the result of a choice he made some time ago. He was…warned about what might happen. But Leon still thought his decision a good one, even if it did not work out. Everyone deserves a chance and he regretted not giving one to the young child. But Cormac was a name of someone who almost brought his family to ruin, someone who posed a threat to the stability of the life of his whole family.

But he was also someone with whom Leon had a plethora of pleasant memories. He had been inquisitive, curious. He was smart and he never did lack the effort, even if Melissa did not believe that. Leon thought for so long, that things would turn out good for both him and the La Bor family. But a good ending for both were not meant to be.

Leon gulped down around a third of the remaining wine.

He looked back at his bed, where his beautiful wife was finally sleeping. She had trouble falling asleep the last five months, which was surprising. Leon would have thought that the lack of Cormac's presence would make her more serene, but she seemed skittish and neurotic even more now. Maybe the illness was coming back, he would have to talk with the royal wizards when he had the time. Though to get the option to talk to them, he would need to make some progress on his man hunt.

It gave him no pleasure to structure the force to take down Cormac. It gave him no joy to teach a group of mercenaries how to outmaneuver a ruler. It made him sick to share the secrets of his family to them. There were so many of them and most of them incredibly talented. Yet another power the queen possessed. Yet another way to keep lords like him in line.

And he was the one that enabled it all to happen.

The royal enforcers, it was a joke.

The thought of the queen flashed through his mind and a chill ran through his whole body.

So many things, in so little time.

The bottle of wine ran empty and Leon got up to get more, though he knew, there were things he could not wash away.

Obscurno successfully hefted the sack containing over fifteen of the small rocks. His improvement was incredible. The first time they tried this, he had trouble with only three rocks and four were something impossible. Now, he was flying with grace, performing evasive maneuvers while Cormac threw sticks at him while he held onto the heavy sack. Safe to say, Obscurno was doing incredibly well.

The same could be said about Cormac too however. He learned how to express himself to the crow with much better flexibility. Honestly, he truly believed that he could make Obscurno make the tea in the upcoming days. He was also getting stronger and Erwin was pushing him further and further. The improvement was great. Though Carl and Cormac practically knew everything about each-others battle instincts.

Cormac knew where Carl would attack, as Carl knew the opposite. Their fights were much less about hitting and dodging and more about calculative avoiding and timing. In other words, the training was getting stale.

But today, maybe Cormac grew a little…overconfident.

"Tell me." he said as he looked at Erwin. He regretted his decision immediately as the will and power he focused backfired back at him. He fell on his butt, his head was spinning and the whole world decided to go for a spin.

"Uh, now that is awfully confident of you Cormac. I did not expect you to try this so soon. How long has it been? A month and a half? And you are already this brazen about your powers?" Erwin smiled as he was wont to do. When someone spent as much time with him as Cormac and Carl did, they realized that Erwin did not like to portray his emotions and standing on matters openly. He was a man that rather enjoyed leaving himself unknown and a mystery. But Cormac was sure that he saw hint of amusement from the man.

"Do not misunderstand me, this is jolly good. I was waiting for just this. For you to overestimate your abilities. It is a natural development truly and you did nothing than surpass my expectations thus far Cormac, but it is time to show you, just how far you need to get." Erwin nodded Carl to move over to Cormac and Carl followed the instructions diligently.

"Cormac, you managed to deepen your understanding of a strong yet alien bond. Now it is time for you and your first man servant, to do the same. This time you two, will face a single opponent." Erwin jumped down from his big rock to the ground where the boys stood. He put both his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest. "And that opponent, will be yours truly."

Carl looked at Cormac, worry clear in his expression. Cormac felt much the same, but one does not improve, if the odds are only in their favor.

He rushed from his spot, sending Carl a rough idea of what his plan was through their connection.

Erwin jumped…moved? Whatever he did, it was too fast for Cormac to catch with his eyes, since he felt the pain before he even saw the man. He fell to the ground panting, and heard Carl do much the same right next to him. The fight was over before it even began.

"Nice try. Now again." Erwin said and disappeared in a blur again. Cormac regretted his attempt more and more throughout the day and missed the sparring sessions against Carl with blood running down his nose.

Carl was seriously beat up. As he was every day since they started sparring against Erwin. His muscles all hurt and his head ringed, but it was different in other ways too. When he fought Cormac, the fights were enjoyable. Cormac was very resourceful, considering his size. He knew perfectly what he could and what he could not afford, but Carl still had too many advantages to make it a fair fight.

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Fighting against Erwin was definitely not fair. The man decided not to use both of his hands, nor did he use the magics that he knew. He only moved and attacked with his legs. And they had no chance. It was incredibly fun.

Carl and Cormac moved to the bench next to the kitchen table. Nery was allowed to speak with them since she was caught spying on Cormac and as Carl had heard, she spied on him too. But he never noticed her if she really did that.

She was just making them dinner, as she did most of the time. Carl had volunteered to cook a number of times, but she always shut him down. She said she enjoyed having someone to cook for and since she was really good at it, Carl had no room to complain.

Today, they she cooked them chicken with some potatoes she herself had grown. It was delicious.

"Thank you, it was incredible, really. This is the best chicken I have eaten so far."

"You are welcome. I am glad that you enjoyed it so." she replied with a giggle.

"It was…incredible." Carl felt heat rising up his cheeks.

"Thank you." replied Nery softly.

"What have you been up to today?" asked Cormac, interrupting the eye contact that Carl and Nery maintained. Carl thought about stabbing Cormac with a fork, at which Cormac looked at him with a puzzled expression. Something must have slipped through their bond, so Carl decided to listen to what Nery was saying, instead of wishing death and suffering onto his lord.

"…and then I came home. So not anything eventful unfortunately. What about you? Father was smiling even brighter than usual today. So I guess you did well?"

"Not really no." answered Cormac shyly. "Honestly, we got our ass handed to us again. The man did not pull any punches."

"He still…did not…use hands."

"You know what I mean. He roughed us up pretty good. We didn't manage to hit him once."

"I…did."

"You were lucky," replied Cormac after, his tone growing a with a little frustration. "And a traitor too by the way. You let him kick me twice only so you could punch him in his thigh."

"Sorry…thought it'd be…clever…unexpected."

"Well, it was the only hit we managed to land and I am alive, but still. Let's try to hit him without having to sacrifice me ok?"

Nery laughed sweetly at the remark and Carl's day brightened yet again.

"You know Cormac, your mother actually taught me this recipe."

Cormac froze. He completely forgot about his family. Not his father's side, but his mother's. That was why he began searching in the first place. He got so caught up in training and the progress he had made, that he left the most important bit out. The answers to his family.

He must have been silent for far too long, since Carl looked at him with worry and Nery wore a terrified expression.

"You knew my mother?" he asked.

"No…I-I must have…It was just a…a…"

"You knew her?" Cormac stood up abruptly. He heard something telling him of injustice. Of how he should be the one to wield this information, not her. That she had to say it all."And you did not tell me anything?"

"I shouldn't have…I wasn't supposed to tell you."

"Supposed to tell me? You weren't supposed to tell me about my family?" Cormac's voice grew in volume as did his anger. She dared to keep secrets? She dared to lie to his face? She dared to pretend she knew nothing? "All this time you have been keeping something like this for me? Why? Why would you not tell me?"

"Because you are not ready." replied Erwin from behind them.

Cormac quickly turned around and continued shouting.

"I have had enough of this 'not ready' bullshit. You will tell me this. You will tell me of my mother!"

"No, I will not. And neither will my daughter."

"You will! You have no right to keep things from me!"

"Now you sound like a true ruler." Erwin replied sarcastically. His smile turned cold and his face hardened.

Cormac was still seething. The mention of his mother sending him into a fit he did not know he could be in. But he could not think, he could not stop. They were keeping everything from him.

"What are exactly you thinking about I wonder." Started Erwin again, while pacing around the room. "It probably does not matter. I do not intend to keep this information from you, but only after I have reason to tell you. But I will tell you this now. Neither your father, or your mother would ever shout at a fifteen year old girl."

Cormac felt his anger subsiding, felt the emptiness that followed it. He saw the tears that flowed slowly from Nery's face. The expression that she wore. He felt the surprise of his companion. He wanted to run, he wanted to escape the situation he got himself into, but a pair of strong hands held him in place.

Erwin's face was close and he looked straight at Cormac's eyes. He was not angry. He had an emotion that was hard for Cormac to discern.

But all Cormac felt was shame. Shame at how he felt, at what he had done. Shame, shame, shame.

Erwin's mouth quirked into a small smile again, but he held Cormac's shoulders still.

"Now, I will explain what happened. Cormac, what you experienced right now, is known as the royal temptation. As your powers will grow, they will threaten to eat at you. Try to turn you into nothing else, but a power hungry sovereign. They will grow in power, they will promise great things and they can give you a lot of that, for a price of course. It all comes with the gift you had been given. I apologize for not warning you before-hand. But I needed you to experience this without knowing about it first. So you can see what it can do with you, if you leave it control."

It was sickening, the way he felt. At least that was what Cormac saw now. In the moment, it felt right, it felt so right…

The shame was a little much to handle and Cormac looked to the ground, he wanted to cry again. Cry as he always did, cry as was his way. But he stopped himself in the middle of it.

His old ways still threatened to come back to him. Even now, with all that happened. He wanted to cower and hide for just a second.

Now, instead he picked his head up and looked at Nery. She did not cry anymore, though her tears left a trail across her cheeks. A trail of tears of his own making.

"I am so sorry Nery. I don't know what came over me. I did not mean…I am sorry." he decided to say. Excuses were just that and he did not want to rely on them anymore.

"It's okay. I-I understand. Believe me, I do. Everyone has something that they…they need to keep track of. And I can understand why…why it would make you angry to know that…well, I was lucky enough to know your mother, when you wasn't."

"Still, I should not have lashed out like that. You have been nothing but kind to me and I…Really I…I apologize."

"I forgive you, really. Let's just forget about this? Alright?"

Cormac just nodded at that and exhaled loudly. But he still felt the hands hold him tight, but when he looked forward at Erwin…

"Now that, that was the true way of nobility. I am proud of you." he said to Cormac.

And overwhelmed with emotions as he had been, he could not help but cry. This day proved taxing in more ways than he could have imagined.