Xati glanced over, and Lianna smiled, waving at them.
"Your mom and dad don't live together?" he asked casually, noticing the two cars parked outside.
The question startled Sean.
"They're divorced," Sean said, lowering his head.
Xati wasn't the least bit guilty about touching on such a sensitive topic. He simply raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what divorce means?"
Sean nodded. "They don't live together anymore. But it doesn't matter. Mom said she loves me the most."
"My mom loves me the most too," Xati sneered, thinking Sean was bragging. Then he added, "You're lucky. You have your mom all to yourself."
Sean blinked, momentarily puzzled.
"Uhm... are your mom and Uncle Tristan divorced too?"
Xati scoffed. "No. There's nothing going on between them. Besides, Tristan isn't my dad. I hate that my abilities are sealed, and I can't do anything to stop my mom from marrying that madman!"
Sean became even more confused.
Sealed abilities? Madman? And why was Xati calling his dad by his name?
"Are you talking about an anime or cartoon?"
Xati paused, then he rolled his eyes. "Never mind."
But out of curiosity, he asked, "Why did your parents get divorced?"
Sean obviously didn't know the details. He only knew that his father had wronged his mother.
"Xati, do you think there's a chance my parents could get back together?" Sean asked. "Do you think my mom could love my dad again?"
Xati looked at him as though he were a fool.
"Why would you want them back together? Don't you want your mom all to yourself?"
"But most of my classmates have complete families. Their parents are still together. Isn't that normal?"
Xati clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Humans. You're still a child, but you're already a prisoner of overwhelming societal expectations and social norms."
"...A what?" Sean frowned.
Xati pursed his lips. "Never mind."
"Xati, you're very smart, so what do you think? Is there no chance for my parents to get married again?"
Xati felt annoyed.
He took another candy from his pocket, popped it into his mouth, and answered through a mouthful of sugar.
"I'm not a fortune teller. How would I know? What exactly are you hoping for?"
Sean bit his lip and looked around before finally speaking.
"There's a Family Day at school next week..." He hesitated. "I... It's okay if both of them won't come. I just want a photo of the three of us together so I can show it to my teacher."
Xati stared at him.
Why is this kid so pathetic?
-
Meanwhile, Zahn had just finished examining Elder Madam Keir and reached the same diagnosis as the estate doctor.
However, after checking her medication, he found it strange that she was still unwell.
"Is there something wrong with her medicine?" Allister asked.
Zahn was certain the medication hadn't been tampered with.
Still, he suggested, "I don't have the proper equipment here, but we could run more thorough tests at the hospital. Also, let me know about her diet. Anything she regularly consumes, especially recently."
"It's the tea."
Xati appeared at the doorway.
"Xati, your great-grandma is sick. You might get sick too if you keep hanging around here." Allister moved to carry him out.
Xati, however, ran toward the coffee table and pointed at the unused tea set.
"I remember her having some tea the other day, and then she suddenly felt unwell. I know because I tried it too. The tea was awful!"
Allister chuckled, not taking him seriously.
After all, some teas were naturally bitter, especially without milk or sugar, and children weren't exactly known for appreciating them.
"I'm not lying!" Xati insisted. "She suddenly got sick after she changed her tea. It was the tea Uncle Hiro brought."
Both Zahn and Allister exchanged glances.
Those words carried dangerous implications.
Allister crouched down and gently scolded Xati, reminding him to be careful and not go around spreading accusations without proof.
Even so, he agreed to let Zahn take samples of the tea, her pills, and anything else that might be relevant.
Zahn looked at Xati thoughtfully.
This child has Shin's instincts and wits.
"Is there something you want to ask me?" Xati asked, looking up at him.
Zahn "..."
"So... why are you divorced?" Xati asked innocently.
"Xati Keir, where did you hear that word?" Allister asked sternly.
He then turned to Zahn. "Don't mind him. It's just a child's intrusive thoughts."
Zahn didn't seem bothered and simply patted Xati's head. "Sean must've said it."
-
Lianna looked up from her phone when she heard footsteps and saw the three of them coming downstairs.
"Xati, weren't you playing with Sean?" She looked around not seeing her son.
Xati blinked. "He wanted to pee, so I pointed him toward the back kitchen. It's the closest."
Meanwhile, Sean, having found his way into the pantry, stared at the peach Xati had given him earlier.
In that big villa, a peach and all kinds of other fruits were easy enough to find in the pantry.
Xati had told him that if he wanted his parents to have a chance to spend time together, he was the best link between them.
He needed to create a situation where they couldn't leave him alone.
Meaning, if he was sick.
Sean had once accepted that he didn't want his mother to be forced to stay with his father for his sake.
But after all, he was still a child. Seeing other children with their parents made the jealousy and unhappiness in his heart grow.
There was a voice in his mind telling him that it was only once.
He wasn't asking them to get married again. He only wanted one family photo for Family Day.
Just one.
Sean looked down at the peach in his hand.
-
"Sean?"
Lianna's voice echoed through the hallway as she searched for her son.
She came across a maid, who also wasn't sure if she had seen the child.
Just then, Butler Steve came over, holding Sean by the hand. "He's here. I found him by himself in the pantry."
Lianna thanked him and looked at her son, whose head was lowered. "Were you lost? Xati said you wanted to pee. Did you?"
Sean nodded, still keeping his head down.
Back in the living room, Zahn said goodbye along with Lianna and Sean.
Xati simply sat on the sofa, watching Sean and wondering if he had actually done it.
Soon, he got his answer.
Sean suddenly began having difficulty breathing as red spots appeared across his skin.
"Sean? Baby, what's the matter?" Lianna crouched down while holding his hand.
Then her eyes widened.
"Zahn!"
Zahn, who had been chatting with Allister, immediately paused. Hearing the terror in her voice, he turned and saw Sean suddenly collapse.
"It's an allergy attack. Do you have any allergy tablets with you?"
Lianna shook her head.
Memories of the past came rushing back. There had been times when Sean suddenly suffered an allergy attack, with Madam Neri screaming at her and blaming her for not looking after him. The helplessness, along with Zahn's stern, cold look that seemed to fault her as a mother, came flooding back.
Lianna burst into tears.
"It's at home. I didn't bring it with me," she said, her voice trembling.
Zahn calmly picked Sean up and patted her reassuringly. "It's okay. I should have vials for his allergy shot in my car."
Lianna followed him, completely panicked and frightened.
Sean, who was weak but still conscious, saw his mother crying and began to cry as well.
He regretted it.
He hadn't meant to make his mother cry.
The others present were also shocked and hurried to help. Butler Steve quickly followed them. "Do you need any assistance? Should I call an ambulance?"
Allister frowned, his gaze shifting toward Xati, who was playing with a toy on the sofa. To be more precise, he was dismantling it.
"Xati, do you know how Sean suddenly had an allergy attack?"
Xati shrugged. "I remember him saying last time at dinner that he's allergic to peaches."
Allister's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't suspect Xati. Instead, he simply ordered a maid to check the pantry.
After all, Sean was only a child. He must have eaten a fruit without knowing he was allergic to it.
---
At the hospital, Ellis had just gotten his leg plastered and was advised that it would take at least six to twelve weeks for a full recovery.
"Dad, what happened to you?" Hiro arrived quickly after receiving his call.
"Are you blind? What do you think? I fell down the damned stairway at Tristan's."
Hiro looked like he had something to say, but he seemed skeptical about whether he should say it.
"That sly little brat. Doesn't he remind you of Shin and Tristan when they were kids? So hateful! If he wasn't talking nonsense, would I be in this situation?" Ellis continued scolding.
"So you thought it was a good idea to act crazy and traumatize him?" Hiro asked.
"Was he traumatized? Better if he can't sleep from now on!" Ellis exclaimed, then he frowned. "What do you mean by acting crazy?"
Hiro massaged his temples before finally taking out his phone.
In the family group chat, or more precisely, the Keir clan group chat, Tristan had posted a short clip.
The video showed Ellis pointing at a frightened Xati, who was hiding behind Allister, before Ellis tried to slide off the railing and ended up falling halfway down in the most embarrassing manner possible.
Ellis stared at the screen.
"..."
At this point, the group chat was already exploding with messages from relatives.
Everyone was shocked, bewildered, or deeply skeptical.
Others were asking whether Ellis had suffered some kind of mental breakdown.
And a few were genuinely asking if the video was AI-generated.
Ellis's face turned dark.
"Who posted this?! This is edited!" he exclaimed furiously, tapping at the phone as if he could somehow find an explanation for the humiliating footage.
"Dad, you scared his son in front of Uncle Allister and everyone else who was there. It's not surprising that Tristan retaliated," Hiro said. "To be honest, I don't understand why you did that either. Don't you know other ways to scare a child? Did you really have to do something so embarrassing?"
Ellis glared at him, his face burning with utter humiliation.
What had he been thinking at the time?
Right. He had only wanted to scare the boy. He wanted to make him too frightened to speak, make him withdrawn.
He wanted to make his mother, the old matriarch lose interest in him, to leave her disappointed enough that she would no longer favor the child.