It's... her. She has some stray White hairs, and just the slightest bit of wrinkling beginning to show, but there's no doubt about it - This woman is Ella Grimheart, my mother. And that man, the one that called her by name... Taking a look at him, I'd be hard pressed to not recognize my father just the same. He's... aged a lot more than her. I wonder how that works? She was always the beauty of our village, but it's not like dad wasn't on par in terms of handsomeness. In comparison to her, who only had some stray White hairs, dad's was the opposite, as it was only those very few stray hairs that still held his jet black color to them. He didn't show that many wrinkles, but the sort of unkempt stubble he has going on probably doesn't help in making him look any younger. Ah, he noticed me staring. Yeah, all this silence must be suffocating them, so I'd best strike up a conversation, and fast. Remember Lune, you're the one that's mad at them!

"What the hell...?" I couldn't help but smirk, "Well, well. I see someone's got their priorities in check!"

"L-Lune?" Dad was still in disbelief, "Y-You are... him, right? Gulp, m-my... s-son...?"

Huh, I'm surprised he's not lunging at me and causing a huge scene to unfold in the restaurant. Usually he'd be the type to do that. Well, he probably wouldn't hurt me, but I'd expect a ten hour long lecture at the very least. He must've mellowed out in his old age... not. It's obvious if you take a closer look, but he's digging his claws into his seat. What poor manners, doesn't he know that's gonna leave a mark that the staff is gonna have to deal with?

"Hey, I'm the one that's asking the questions here!" I still kept the memory of their empty seats at the wedding fresh in my mind, "I get you're mad, but what the hell was that lett-?!"

"Lune!" Both mother and father lunged at me as they showered me with hugs and kisses, "It's you, our baby boy! It's really, truly you! Oh, Prylos above, thank you! Thank you for answering our prayers! Our son's alive and well!"

"E-Eh?" I just took it all with great confusion as Cene looked on at the three of us, "T-This is unexpected..."

"Lock, this isn't a dream, right?" Mom asked just to make sure, "He's here, standing right in front of us, right?"

"He is! I'm touching him, he's real!" Dad couldn't get enough of me, "Dammit, you really made us wait, ya brat!"

Seriously, am I missing some crucial piece of information here? They're... not mad at me for running away? Don't get me wrong, it'd be stupid if they were, given how long it's been since that day, but... seriously? The most I got was dad just calling me a brat, and whilst he's chuckling at that? Who are these people, cause I'm kinda vibing with them!

"So..." Cene finally decided to put a stop to all this madness, "AWE you my gwandma and gwandpa?"

As if they were experiencing the most severe case of tunnel vision ever to be recorded in history this entire time, they both finally seemed to acknowledge his existence as they slowly craned their heads down. Glancing back and forth between his innocent gaze and my awkward smile, it finally clicked in their heads that they're grandparents now. Granted, they were grandparents ever since Nelly got adopted, but this is the first grandkid they actually met, so I'll let it slide.

"H-Hold on." Mom could barely curb her joy and wonder as she asked to make sure, "Son, this wouldn't happen to be...?"

"Yeah, say hello to your grandson!" I lifted him up to meet their Eye level, "Go on, son! Introduce yourself!"

"Hello." He spoke as if reciting, "My name is Cene Gwimheawt. Nice to meet you."

"Oooooooooh~!" Mom couldn't help but jump for joy, "He's precious! And he can't pronounce his Rs just like his daddy when he was a toddler!"

Oi, I don't remember that. But well, nice to see my mom still likes to embarrass me in front of everyone with stories of my past. Guess that truly proves she's the mom I know...

"He's quite skinny for his age." Dad instead took the moment to inspect his physique, "You too, son. Both of you should be double your weight!"

"That's it!" Cecily slammed the table on the other side of the room as she stomped to where we were, "What kind of a display is this!? Lune said you were kind of difficult to get along with, but you're just plain horrible!"

"Huh?" They looked on, bewildered, "Pardon?"

"To hell with that!" Cecily tossed them the scrunkled letter of reply they sent us, "You send us this after we invite you to our wedding, and you just act like nothing ever happened now that you actually have to face your son head on!?"

"Cily, just calm down." I tried deescalating her rage with a light chuckle, "I'm sure they had their reasons to..."

"This..." Mother inspected the letter close up, "Sweetie, we didn't write this letter."

"Huh?"

"Honey, you don't think..." Dad thought about it some more before grunting, "Tch, he took it way too far this time, dammit...!"

"What?" Cecily tapped her foot on the ground in irritation, "Scrambling for excuses won't work, y'know!"

"N-No, we genuinely didn't even receive this letter." Mom hastily tried to fix the misunderstanding, "It's just... Ugh how do I explain this...?"

"We'll explain everything when we get back home." Dad sighed as he handed us back the letter, "For now, you all must be starving, so why don't we kill two birds with one stone and have you introduce yourself over some food, missy?"

"Hmph." Cecily had them scoot over to make way for us, "You better explain whatever it is you're hiding after, though."

Damn, she's furious. This really isn't how I expected their meeting to go. I was sure she would be way more defensive and shy about meeting her in-laws, but it seems she's actually the one berating them. Seriously, girl, calm down! What if they get a bad first impression of you? I want my family to get along, not throw stink Eyes at each other, geez!

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

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"Ah, there you are." The waiter found all of us sitting around the same table, "I see you've decided on merging. Well, no matter, enjoy your food!"

"Hn..." Cene made a disgruntled face as soon as he saw the waiter hand him his serving of fries with a generous side of pistachio paste.

"What's the matter?" I egged him on, "You said you wanted pistachios with your fries, right?"

"Fries with pistachios?" Dad raised an Eyebrow, "Is this like, a new fad or something?"

"Heh, nah." I stifled my laughter as I saw Cene nearly tear up from forcing himself to partake in it, "He just wanted to experiment a bit."

"Just as curious as you were, Lune." Mom smiled before turning that smile over to Cecily, "And you, dear? I'm sorry this meeting of ours had to be so difficult, but I do hope you can understand once everything's all cleared up. In spite of what you may think of us, we really do just want to get along as a family again."

Oh, good! Nice going, mom! That's a gold star play if ever I've seen it! I forgot just how amicable and straightforward she can be when it comes to apologizing first to calm the other party down. After this, I doubt even Cecily would have it in her not to at least talk things over smoothly before making any rash decisions.

"Mn..." Cecily sighed, "Oh, alright. To start over then, I guess - My name is Cecily Grimheart, I am Lune's wife and Cene's mother. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

"My, how courteous." Dad seemed pleased that she was so well-mannered, "I'm glad our son found someone to help set him on the right track in life."

"Right?" Mom agreed, "With how wild that boy was, I was almost certain he'd either grow up to find an equally wild girl, or none at all, but I'm glad I was wrong."

Ha-ha, about that... W-Well, let's not tell them about Marina just yet. Though I did send them a letter when we were getting married that time as well, the entire situation was just so rushed that I could only remember to send one. That letter probably got lost somewhere in transit though, which would explain them both not having attended as well as not mentioning it now. Usually I'd send about 5 or so copies of the same letter if it's something important for this exact reason, but if I'm gonna be honest, I could barely think about them at the time. The business, the children, the wedding and Marina's wellbeing were all occupying my mind space, so I really just couldn't fit them in at the time. Looking back, I was a horrible excuse of a man back then to be able to just put such important pillars of my life to the side as easily as I did...

"But tell me, Cecily." Mom smiled, "Where exactly did you meet, and when?"

"Ah, that was a while ago, actually." She glanced over at me with a nod, "We met in Bilgam when we were fifteen. W-Well, we both loved reading books at the time, so we spent a lot of time together in the library. I guess you could say that lit the fuse."

"Mhm, that's our boy, alright." Dad nodded proudly, "I guess I was right to not burn that book of his, in a way..."

Rude. You make it sound like you're the reason I learned how to read, when in reality - Mom bought Schnell's Handbook, and Schnell's words taught me everything I needed to know at the time. Seriously, take that parental pride back, I don't need it.

"But hmm..." Dad continued, "I don't quite know where this Bilgam is, exactly. Tertis, perhaps?"

"Eh?" We both froze for a sec, "H-Huh?"

"Sorry, your old man isn't really good with maps, don't make fun of me too much..." He chuckled, "Then I guess it's in Primis. Y'know, I never really liked leaving Secundis all too often. I only go to those places if it's for business, so..."

"Dad." I shifted my gaze around in disbelief before saying, "Bilgam is in Great Hiana."

"......." They both looked shocked after hearing that, "O-Oh. That's... wait, no! Heheh, don't take us for a couple of fools, son! Yeah, I heard the girl state it loud and clear! You met at fifteen, and minors can't leave the country without a guardian!"

"Yeah." I nodded, "Ed and I signed up at the ITA so we could travel outside Trivis Numerica, even back then."

"Is that how it works?" Mom glanced over at dad, "Sweetie, we've been searching for you inside the country all this time."

"Wow, you really thought I never left the country?" I kind of got offended, "Damn, thanks for believing in my abilities, I guess..."

"If he left home, why would he stay in the same country for the past two decades without ever talking to you?" Cecily raised a valid point as well.

"Well, you can't really blame us for thinking like that, can you?" They chuckled, "Trivis Numerica is a pretty big country all in all."

"I don't quite get what you mean by that." I replied.

"Oh, well, y'know..." They elaborated, "Between all three subcountries, the area is pretty big. Lots of towns, villages, lakes and rivers... Oh, and the people! The people are so diverse, you know? Like how people in Primis are just kinda snobby and elite, or how those bastards in Tertis sold themselves off to the west..."

"......"

"But hey, look at you!" Mom finished it off with a bright smile, "Traveled aaaaallll the way to Great Hiana and back! That's so far away, I'm surprised you even made the trek! Haha!"

Do these guys... think I only went to Great Hiana and back after meeting Cecily? Is that like, far for them? Well, they did say they thought I never left Trivis Numerica, so maybe, just maybe, they're so out of touch with the scope of the world that they think it's actually super huge? I mean, just look at the map, dammit. You can pass the entire length of this country in just a single day of traveling by transport wagon!