Your Mom

The day of my awakening ceremony has arrived.

Father and I have already ridden a carriage on its way to the imperial palace where the ceremony will take place. 

we arrive at the gate, and the gaurds see the Blackwood crest on our carriage and let us in.

Meanwhile, Nathan, Natalie and Lady Vanessa who are riding in the carriage behind us are stopped since their carriage doesn't have the Blackwood crest on it. 

hah, our carriage is a six-seater. There was no need to do this. 

They are not good enough to sit in the same carriage as us. They are too weak.

That's what my father said. But I still don't understand why the carriage doesn't have the Blackwood crest on it. 

As if he read my mind, Father looks at the gaurds and says, "Good. he won't let them inside. it should take them a while to prove their identity, so they won't be arriving at the same time as us, thankfully." 

Our carriage goes through the imperial garden on a beautifully paved road with hundreds of carefully assorted flowers on both sides. They are all very beautiful.

And very poisonous.

The imperial family seems to have very strange tastes in flowers.

"Oh, father. Look at these beautiful flowers, how I would love to make you a crown of them, befitting of your status." I say innocently.

I'm sure Father knows they are poisonous because he's been on many expeditions, but his 10-year-old son couldn't possibly know that and he likely wouldn't hold it against him.

Father flinches as if he intuitively felt threatened, but only for a second. He then immediately fixes his expression and smiles.

'How sweet. If only he knew they were poisonous, haha. ' I can practically read his thoughts written on his face.

You should have trusted your intuition, Father.

"I would love that, Cassius. But I think it would look better on your mother, Aurora. Flowers are very feminine after all." He smiled heartwarmingly with the love of a father in his eyes, then patted my head.

If I didn't know any better I could almost believe he genuinely loved me from the way he smiled and looked caringly at me.

But it would be foolish to hope he's anything other than what I know he is.

Aurora he utters my mother's name with such malice. I understand that as the master of the magic tower, she is his biggest rival, but if he hated her so much how did he make a child with her?

Speaking of which, My Mother will be at my awakening ceremony. I haven't seen her in 10 years.

I can't decide whether I hate my father or mother more. Father pretended to love me my whole life, only to abandon me.

And mother ignored me until the day of my awakening ceremony, only to go back to ignoring me once it was over. 

I don't even know anything about my mother other than what is basic knowledge like how she's the master of the magic tower. 

We arrived in front of the palace's inner gates and the carriage stopped moving. Father and I disembark from the carriage and enter the imperial palace.

We go to the throne room to greet the emperor who is sitting on a throne a few steps above the ground we are standing on.

"I greet the sun of the karavan empire." Father says bowing his head slightly

That bow would usually be considered disrespectful in the face of an emperor but father has almost enough power to rival the emperor so no one can really say anything about it.

I'm going to skip the bow entirely.

I don't want to lower my head to this guy at all.

Surely a 'Benevolent Emperor' such as him will forgive a 10 year old boy for his ignorance.

The emperor glares at me, annoyed by the fact I didn't so much as lower my head. "Is this the son that will awaken today, Lucas?" He asks.

"Yes. My son here, will be an S-rank." Father replies proudly.

"Really? He will be just like his mother then," the emperor snarks holding his chin while resting his elbow on the arm rest of the throne.

Both my father and my mother are S-ranks. Did he say that just to spite my father?

"Don't say such scary things, your majesty. I want my son to grow up to be a strong man." My father replies, smiling politely.

"Are you saying the master of the magic tower is weak?" The emperor asks, glaring at Duke Blackwood.

"Well, she's clearly not strong enough to control her urges otherwise Cassius wouldn't be here."

They silently glare at each other for a few seconds. Is this a staring contest?

The emperor breaks the silence with a laugh, "If I recall, neither of you were strong enough to control your urges."

Urges? I don't understand.

"Let's please change the topic your majesty. This isn't what we've come here to discuss." Father says, side eyeing me as if to signal to the emperor that I'm here.

"Of course, " The emperor looks at me, and grins.

Strange. Is there a secret behind my birth I don't know about?

"Young Lord, I have a son around your age would you spend time with him in the garden as me and your father talk?" The emperor asks, but he isn't actually asking, he wants me to leave the room and I can't say no.

He's definitely referring to prince Nero.

I don't know whether to be bothered by the fact I'm going to the garden or by the fact I'm going to Nero.

Actually, yes I do. It's Nero. Definitely Nero.

A servant takes me out of the room and to a garden that's different from the one I saw on my way in. I don't know why I assumed I'd be going to the garden full of poisonous flowers.

This garden is full of beautiful but non poisonous flowers, swings and slides. It's the type of garden children would play in.

I see Nero sitting beneath a tree reading a book. It seems weird to me, the Nero I knew wasn't much of a reader. Though, it's not as weird as the fact the garden isn't on fire.

Is this how Nero was like before he awakened? A normal person who wasn't crazy about fire?

In my past life, I only met Nero after he awakened. Did I meet him earlier because I didn't bow my head which caused the timeline to change?

Such a small thing changed so much. I need to be careful what I change if I want to have the advantage of knowing the future.

I watch Nero for a few seconds, he looks so peaceful while he's reading. I like how he isn't trying to set me on fire. Or anyone on fire.

In my past life, anyone who crossed paths with Nero regardless of their status, gender, or race would be met with fire.

Seeing him like this makes me curious, about how different he is before awakening. I go up to Nero, and just as I'm about to introduce myself, I notice the book he's reading.

The Journey of Fire: 10 ways to burn

...

Yeah, I take back everything I thought about not being crazy about fire.

That seems like a complicated book for a 9 year old, though. I can't decide between being impressed by his reading level, and being worried for the future of the empire.

Nero looks up at me, and I realize that I was blocking the light from the sun, which must have made him notice I was there despite him being so immersed in that book.

"Greetings, I'm Cassius Blackwood. The youngest son of Duke Blackwood." I say putting my hand out for a handshake.

Nero looks at my hand for a second, then smiles "Nice to meet you, I'm Nero. " He reaches his hand out and shakes my hand.

And before I can exchange the gratitude I see small sparks appear near his hand, which make me instinctively let go and take a few steps back.

"Oho, you have fast reflexes, Cassius." Nero laughs loudly, tilting his head back.

He's not even awakened yet! Where are the sparks coming from??

I look at him confused, but then he rolls up part of his sleeve.

"It's called a lighter. It sets things on fire. " He says, showing me a small metal magic contraption that I've never seen before. How do the mana crystals fit in that?

"It sets things on fire without even using magic. "Nero says proudly, as if he read my mind.

"How?" I ask amazed by the lighter. How can it set things on fire without magic?

"It was made by a powerful craftsman from another world where magic isn't needed." Nero says, causing the lighter to make sparks fly.

Another world? If he didn't want to tell me, he could have just said so. No need to lie about it.

"Ah, yes. And I suppose people travel in steel eggs on wheels instead of carriages in that world?" I retort.

"If you don't believe me, that's fine. Suit yourself." Nero grins "but, hey, want to play a fun game with me?" Nero asks.

"No." I reply without hesitating. I'm quite sure I know what kind of game Nero wants to play.

He's going to chase me around the playground trying to set me on fire like he used to.

I thought I was safe since he hadn't awakened yet, but seems that's not the case.

"Suit yourself," Nero laughs, tilting his head back in amusement and looking at me as if he just found something very interesting.

I leave Nero to his book, and head back inside to the imperial palace, before bumping into a woman wearing a hooded cloak.

"Oh, sorry." I say, trying to shrug off the person I bumped into, but then she grabs me by the wrist before I get to walk away.

I turn around to look at her, and she takes off her hood.

"Cassius. It's me." A woman with purple eyes just like mine and silver hair says coldly but with a hint of warmth in her voice.

Mother?

In my past life I rarely saw her, she didn't show any interest in me except the day of my awakening ceremony.

I've seen photos of her, and I'd see her on formal occasions sometimes, she's also the only person in the empire with silver hair, so I can't really pretend not to know her.

"And you are?" I ask arrogantly as if dirt just touched me. Yeah, I'm a bit petty sometimes.

"..." She looks at me sorrowfully as if sad I didn't recognize her "I'm your mom, Cassius." She says before turning around and putting her hood back on.

Your mom

That's an overly familiar way of introducing yourself. She could have said 'your biological mother' or 'the master of the magic tower' but instead she chose to say this.

Why? Doesn't she realize what she sounds like ? You can't say that after abandoning me, 'mom'.

I grit my teeth. She is just as two-faced as my father.

I watch her walk away, and then see her disappear into thin air. Right, she's an S-rank mage. Teleportation is nothing to her.

But if she could teleport just like that, why did she even bother walking in the hallway?

...

There's no way, right?