Gluttony

Austria, November 28th 1791

3:43 PM

Frida was sitting on a couch as she read a book. Despite 2 years having already passed, she hadn't changed at all. She still looked young and beautiful.

After a while, a servant showed up and walked towards Frida. "Mrs. Von Neumann, the carriage is ready. We can go whenever you want," the servant said.

Frida smiled and nodded her head. "Good job, Rambert. Where is Lukas? He said he would be coming too," Frida asked.

The servant looked around and then turned back to Frida. "I don't know where young master is. The last time I saw him he said he would be in the library."

Frida sighed. 'Always with his nose in the books. So similar to his grandfather...'

"Do you want me to call him, Mrs. Von Neumann?" The servant asked.

Frida shook her head. "No, thank you. Just tell Olivia to call Lukas. Please, go ahead and wait a little for us."

The servant bowed. "Very well, Mrs. Von Neumann, thank you."

Frida nodded her head with a smile and the servant retired himself.

-----

In the second floor of the mansion, a humble-looking woman walked around the mansion with a stressed out expression. 'For God's sake! This boy is always late! It is the third time this month!'

When Olivia was about to open the door of the library it suddenly opened on its own and a boy with blonde hair and big, dark eyes walked out of it.

"Hello, Olivia," the boy said calmly.

"Huh... hello, young master. I was here to tell you that Mrs. Von Neumann is waiting for you. Do you remember? You told her that you would be going for a walk with her," Olivia said kindly.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, I do remember. But it seems like you forgot something, Olivia," he said with a serious expression.

Olivia raised her brow. "Huh... I don't know what you are talking about, young master, could you please remind me about that?"

Lukas sighed. "Don't call me "young master" when we are alone, it's "Lukas"! L-u-k-a-s, how many times do I have to tell you that, Olivia?" he asked with a pout.

Olivia showed a relieved expression and then chuckled. "Oh, it's fine, young mas- I mean, Lukas. I promise that, from now on, I'll call you "Lukas" when we are talking alone, fine?" Olivia said with a smile.

Lukas smiled and then nodded. "Thank you, Olivia."

"You are very welcome. Now, please, hurry up, you are already late," Olivia said with urgency.

Lukas sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry for that, but I was arranging the books," he said.

"Lukas, I have already told you that you don't need to do it! That is exactly why you have servants."

Lukas sighed. "Fine," he said with a pout. 'Glad she believed it. Can't tell her that I fell asleep while I was reading. Got a reputation to maintain.'

After that, Lukas went downstairs to meet his mother. When Lukas arrived, Frida looked at Lukas with a smile.

"Hello, honey! Are you ready?" Frida asked.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yep. Let's go."

Frida chuckled at Lukas's answer. It was pretty funny to hear a three-year-old boy to say either very informal or very formal sentences, which were the sentence structures Lukas usually used the most.

After leaving the mansion, Frida and Lukas headed towards the carriage which was already waiting for them.

Upon seeing the carriage, Lukas hurried to greet the horses. He approached them and raised his hand as a way to greet them.

"Hey, pals! How's it going?" Lukas said with a smile. After that, Lukas approached them and the horses lowered their head, so Lukas could caress them.

The horses neighed in satisfaction as they received Lukas's caresses. After a while, they raised their head back.

Meanwhile, Frida was watching her son as she leaned against the carriage. Despite being smiling, she somehow had a sad look on her face.

Lukas turned to his mother and started walking towards her. "Finished greeting the horses, mom. Ready to go," Lukas said.

Frida nodded her head. "I see. Shall we get going, then?" She asked.

Lukas put his hands behind his back and started humming. After a while, he showed a smirk. "Not yet."

Frida raised her brow, then Lukas grabbed her hand and walked her closer to the horses. "Greet them too, mom," Lukas said with a smile.

Frida showed a hesitant posture. "L-Lukas, I don't think so..."

Lukas rolled his eyes. "C'mon mom! Even me! The Mr. 36 inches (90cm) tall didn't get hit by the horses!" Lukas said.

Lukas had already noticed that Frida was somewhat afraid of horses. It wasn't a very intense fear, even because Frida did approach the horses with Lukas when he was younger, but she still had some fright when it comes to horses.

Frida still hesitated a bit to caress the horses, but after looking at Lukas, she took courage and went ahead to caress the animals' head. After that, she took a deep breath out of relief.

"See? Didn't bite your hand off, did it?" Lukas said.

Frida smiled and nodded her head.

"Come on, let's go," Lukas said before walking towards the carriage.

After struggling a bit, Lukas managed to get in the carriage, right after his mother.

"Lukas, dear, I have already told you that I can help you getting in the carriage," Frida said with a worried expression.

Lukas shook his head. "There's no need for that, I can do it myself."

Frida chuckled. "Watch your pride, honey."

Lukas shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said. 'That's the worst of the deadly sins, right?' the blonde boy thought.

Lukas had recently started learning a lot by reading the books, and also figuring out many other things with that piece of information he had gotten.

Something that has been bugging Lukas quite a lot is the features that people inherit from their parents and other family members.

Lukas had heard lots of times that he was very similar to his father and even to his grandfather, the head of the Von Neumann house, in terms of personality.

'That actually is something rather interesting. What determines whether you are born with blonde hair or brown hair for instance? My mother has blonde hair, however, my father has brown hair, so I could've been born with brown hair too. Is that all just down to luck?' Lukas questioned.

Lukas turned his head to look out of the window. 'I actually really think that's all just down to luck.

However, I bet that, for some reason, people are more likely to be born with one feature than other, however, I can't wrap my head around what that reason can be.'

As Lukas zoned out, Frida watched him with a smiley face. 'How can my son be so cute?'

Lukas suddenly felt some piercing eyes and looked with a suspecting gaze at his mother who watched him. "What is it?" he asked.

Frida chuckled. "Nothing, Lukas. I was just watching you."

Lukas raised his brow. "Watching me?"

"H-Hey! Why are you looking at me like I am some scary person?!"

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing, just trying to lighten the mood."

Frida tilted her head. "Hm?"

After a while, they finally arrived to their destination. It was the same village as Frida had given her speech a few years ago.

As soon as Lukas left the carriage, he was rather impressed with the state of the village. Not just looked the village to be in a better state, but also had the people from there a healthier face than before. Almost as if the food from the Von Neumann House was much better than the one they used to eat.

'It probably is though,' Lukas easily concluded. 'Despite looking silly, food truly is something that can turn our life upside-down. You just have to look at this instance to realize it.'

As Lukas watched the villagers, he felt his stomach grumble, followed by his cheeks going a bit red. 'Speaking of food...' Lukas thought as he clinged to his stomach.

Lukas sighed and started looking around. "Hey, mom. I'm going for a walk around the village. Won't take long," Lukas said.

Frida thought a bit, but then nodded her head. "Very well, Lukas, don't go too far away, fine?" Frida said.

Lukas nodded his head and started walking towards some trees nearby which were bearing some apples.

Lukas looked up and pouted. 'How am I gonna reach those?' he wondered.

After looking around a bit, he saw some stones scattered on the ground, after that, Lukas showed a smirk. 'Got an idea!'

Lukas took a stone and aimed at the apple. 'Got ya!' Lukas threw it towards the apple, but he missed it for quite a bit.

Lukas showed a disappointed expression. 'Shit.'

-----

Lukas was kneeling on the ground as sweat went down his face and he breathed frantically. "Shi... I will... hit... the apple... now..." Lukas said.

Lukas stood up and then took another stone. He eyed the glistering apple that was above him. 'You are mine!' he tossed the stone with all his power towards the apple... and missed. "SHIT!"

the blonde boy yelled.

Lukas walked closer to the tree and stared at its log. 'Why?!'

Soon, a female peasant walked towards the tree with a ladder and a basket. She placed it against the tree and started climbing the ladder.

'You gotta be kidding me!' Lukas thought.

After the woman gathered some apples, she put them in the basket.

Lukas raised his brow. 'Well, I guess that although the Von Neumann house gives food to the peasants, they still can get some themselves.'

After the woman climbed down the ladder, Lukas looked at her with begging eyes. "Huh... do you want some apples?" the woman asked.

Lukas showed a smile accompanied with his cheeks going red. "Thank you, miss! You didn't have to!" Lukas said as he picked a few apples from the basket and walked away. "See ya!"

Meanwhile, Frida was talking with a few peasants when Lukas showed up.

"Hello, honey. You took a while," Frida said with a smile.

Lukas nodded his head "Yeah, I had some..." he cleared his throat "...technical problems."

The adults looked at Lukas with a doubtful face. After a while, the peasants walked away, leaving Lukas and Frida alone.

Frida eyed Lukas, who was holding six apples with his left arm and eating one with his right hand.

"Lukas, if you were hungry, you could have just told me," Frida scolded.

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, mom. Pride," Lukas said. 'I did ask for the apples at some point though, but she doesn't need to know it.'

Frida rolled her eyes. "Fine, Lukas. Do you want to sit? There are some tables nearby."

Lukas nodded his head "Okay, let's go," he said.

The both of them went to sit at a table outdoors across each other. When they sat, Lukas was already eating his third apple.

Frida chuckled as she watched Lukas eating. "You sure eat a lot, honey."

"Gluttony?" Lukas said.

Frida laughed. "Stop it, Lukas."

"My bad," Lukas said with an innocent face. 'Now that I think about it, I've always eaten a lot. I wonder if it has anything to do with my abnormally developed cognitive capability?' Lukas thought.

"Mother, did you also eat a lot when you were pregnant of me?" Lukas asked.

Frida gasped as her cheeks went red. "Lukas! What kind of question is that?!" she scolded.

Lukas rolled his eyes. "Come on, mother. I always wanted to know whether or not it was true that pregnant women eat more than usual," Lukas lied.

Lukas actually wanted to know if his mother ate even more than most pregnant women in order to know if this unusual gluttony did have something to do with his cognitive capability.

"Huh... w-well, of course they do! Pregnant women have to eat for two!" Frida said.

'That's so obvious!' Lukas thought as he chewed on an apple. "Mother, I know this may seem like a weird question, but have you ever felt like you ate a lot? Even more than pregnant women usually do?" Lukas asked.

'I'm pretty sure that this cognitive development started when I was in my mother's womb. I have memories of quite a while ago. I would say that I have memories of six months before I was born, and I started being conscious at around one week before I was born, I would say. Just a hunch, though,' Lukas concluded.

Frida tilted her head. "Where are you coming from, Lukas?" Frida asked.

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "It's nothing, mom. Just sheer curiosity. I'm serious."

Frida sighed. "To be completely honest, yes, I did. I noticed that Olivia didn't want to say it, but it's obvious that she noticed that it was not something usual. I even got worried about it at some point."

'Well, that's interesting. It's possible that if I was born in a poorer household, I wouldn't have lasted much,' Lukas concluded as he finished eating his last apple. "I see," Lukas said.

Lukas sighed. "Well, shall we get going? Did you solve everything that you wanted already?" Lukas asked.

Frida nodded her head. "Yes. We can go now if you want."

"Very well, let's go."