Chapter Six
As much as the Queen wished to speak with Karin, and as much as father seemed to enjoy his newly found 'libertine' inspirations with the King, and as much as I would have enjoyed disappearing to hunt down a hippogriff, life is unfair, and nobody gets what they truly want. Well, no. The queen did speak with Karin, Pierre did get his alcohol, but I was the only one without a hippogriff by the end of it.
Life's unfair. It has always been unfair, and it will always be unfair. Those who seek fairness should seek not life, but a videogame. There are people who enjoy the unfairness of it all though, and the more unfair it is, the more they laugh in the face of it and swim in the mud of unfairness to the point where they become happy pigs. While I enjoyed challenges, there was a point where 'Hard Mode' became 'Unfair Mode', and in that case, I called it quits too.
The return home happened without much fanfare, but with haste. I reckon mother was secretly worried about Cattleya, or perhaps she was escaping the advances of the Queen in whatever way she preferred. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortuitously as I would later realize, there is just so much speed you can put into a carriage before it abruptly decides to 'fuck it' and break an axle.
Thus there we were, stuck on the side of the road. Mother could, of course, fly ahead with her wand and perhaps even reach home in time, but doing so openly would be uncouth. She was a noble, and nobles did not 'walk' or 'fly' when they had a carriage just waiting to be repaired. Honestly, the only reason we had all descended from the carriage was because it would be unnecessarily cruel to have the peasant fix the carriage with us aboard -father was helping him with magic to keep the carriage lifted while he worked beneath it, using tiny columns of water that kept it up.
Apparently, the 'Permanency' spell set on the carriage itself to keep it repaired had worn off somewhere down the line, and nobody had bothered replacing it.
"Do not stray too far," Karin said sharply. "There are orcs in the forest."
I raised an eyebrow, but then aptly did not comment on it. It made sense that she didn't want us trudging across the forest due to wolves and orcs, but she was kind of tense in her own personal way. I had an inkling of what had transpired. When you put a drunken father with a hot and bothered mother, you get a baby sister somewhere down the line. Or maybe Karin actually wanted to go back home to show 'Pierre' her appreciation.
I regretted nothing of my shameful thoughts.
"When are we going to learn magic?" I asked instead.
"When I deem you will be responsible enough not to misuse it," Karin answered.
"So why isn't Eleonore already learning?" I asked offhandedly, "She's the most responsible person I know. She did great yesterday-really something worthy of praise."
Eleonore turned her head away from the sight of the carriage being repaired to glance in mine and mother's direction. Mother's lips twitched slightly. "Oh?" she said. "I have a feeling, Henry, that you want something from your sister."
"Not really, mother," I answered honestly. "I would be a poor noble if I used such an underhanded mean to obtain something-nobility must be direct, stern, and swift." I brought my chin up and half-closed my eyes.
"Eleonore," Karin said calmly, "What did you do that your brother's so keen on praising you?"
I looked towards Eleonore. She wouldn't betray me now, would she? She would say something like 'I helped him a bit yesterday', right? She would say that, and everything would be fine-
"N-Nothing, mother," Eleonore said with a slight stammer at the beginning of her answer. This, in turn, made Karin suspicious. I did not come to her aid, because if I did, she'd simply grew more suspicious and press the issue. I hoped she'd rest the inquisition with that, but unfortunately, what Karin did was simpler.
She kept staring at Eleonore firmly in the eyes, until the poor girl had no choice but to crack under the stare.
"He...He wants a hippogriff," Eleonore said in the end. "He saw them from the windows of the palace, and-" Et tu, Eleonore? I will remember this. If this were a Telltale game, in the upper right corner of the screen, a 'Henry will remember this' would have most definitely appeared by now.
"Out of the question," Karin said, bringing to an end the argument before it could even be born.
"Is this a 'no' for the moment, or a 'no' forever, mother?" I asked hesitantly.
"A no is a no," Karin said firmly. Explaining why it was a no would have gone great lengths, you know, 'mother'? Saying because it's a dangerous animal, because you don't want it to eat your roses, or something like that- "Also, you won't be needing a Hippogriff in the Manticore corps."
"Mother-I do not like manticores," I said quite calmly, only to receive an equally calm reply that left me shivering in fear.
"That is something that I will endeavor to fix, like your newly found habit of answering back to me, Henry. My word is final," she said firmly, ending all possible discussions. I could insist, but I was sure I'd end up with an even harsher punishment than what already awaited me once we were back home. Make no mistake, mother wasn't as harsh as fanon might have portrayed her, but she wasn't a piece of butter either.
Case in point, once the carriage was fixed, and once the travel came to an end a day later than mother would have liked, I wasn't allowed to enter the mansion immediately, differently from Eleonore who didn't even stop to consider what was about to happen but simply walked inside -casting just a glance back to realize I wasn't going anywhere yet. Father sort of worriedly hung back as Karin guided me with a hand on my shoulder to a corner of the gardens of the la Valliere estate, and as I realized we were in a patch of land where the grass didn't grow, it forebode pretty well what my punishment was going to be.
Karin let go of my shoulder, and then walked a short distance away, and as she pulled out her wand, I knew what was about to happen. I had had days to think about it, so I was pretty sure she would use the 'Heavy Wind' attack at minimum power. It was going to suck, but it wasn't going to be anything inherently hurtful. It was Karin's way of 'throttling' someone, I reckoned, and it was heaps better than using a whip, a stick, or something similar.
"Karin, dear," Pierre said from the sidelines, easily holding on to the title of 'best father of the century' by mere act of trying to persuade his wife not to go through with her idea of punishment, "Perhaps you could leave him without dinner?"
"He is a growing boy. He needs food. Punishment is simply food for his discipline, Pierre," Karin replied flatly, her wand already in her hand. It was nice to know she valued my eating habits more than she valued my skin, you have quite straight priorities, mother dearest. "This will be just and fair. Also, it won't even draw blood." I would sincerely hope so, Karin! Like-are you really going to do it? I mean-yes, I answered back, but it was just a little thing! You could have easily glossed over it, be the bigger person! It was the first time I actually asked for something, well, no, not even 'asked' since I never got around to it, but-come on! I don't deserve to be thrown into a tornado because of this!
"Now, Henry," Karin said. "There are rules that must be respected. These are the rules you need to be a successful noble. These rules, they are unquestionable-firm as steel, and are important. Now, which rules did you break?"
I swallowed, and then looked ahead with my back straightened. If this was to be my execution pillar, then I would 'die' fully aware of the reasons. At least, I could think that was 'mother's' thought. I would not give her the satisfaction of seeing me plead for mercy though.
"A noble must always obey the crown, and respect those who are superior to him. He will not disobey orders from his betters, and he will endeavor never to want for things that are beyond his status to have. What he has, he has by grace of the Gods, the Royalty and his parents-and he shall not disobey them when they ask for that which they have freely given upon him, nor will he ask them for more than what he is due-"
"You are repeating yourself," Karin said. "The first two sentences would have sufficed." She held her wand in front of her, and then concentrated. I snapped to attention, my eyes firmly fixed on the tip of the wand.
Be it as it may be, I have lived a happy childhood.
The small gust of wind that left the tip of her wand hit me in the face, making me close my eyes as it ruffled my hair and slightly crumpled my clothes. It was-it was perhaps-that was all?
"There," Karin said. She had practically done the equivalent of 'spraying water' on the face of a dog, only it hadn't been water, but air, and it hadn't been a dog, but me. "Now what do we say?"
"T-Thank you, mother, for disciplining me?" I hazarded, honestly shocked I hadn't been sent through the wringer of a hurricane, receiving a nod in reply from the woman. By the sides, Pierre exhaled in relief.
Unfortunately, my woes had yet to come to an end.
How was I supposed to know Cattleya wanted a gift when we came back from the capital?
