"Wakey wakey, mom's back home."
Recognizing Mary's voice, Alex slowly opened his eyes, only to see himself lying on a soft bed, completely different from the living room's sofa.
"Sophia, wake up. Mommy is back," Mary whispered as she gently shook her shoulder next.
"Hm?"
As Sophia got up from the bed next, Alex was already out of the bed, trying to find his shoe.
"When did we sleep on the bed? Weren't we sleeping on the sofa?" Sophia murmured as she shook her head a little.
"Mary, when did Mom come back?" Alex curiously asked as he finally located his shoe to walk with.
"Um, I think it was during the morning..."
"You're up that early?" Sophia asked with doubt in her voice as she found her shoe on the other side of the bed.
"I-I was the only one awake when mom moved us to bed! You guys fell asleep when I saw her come home."
Mary crossed her arms in anger, causing Sophia to bend down to pat her head gently as she began apologizing.
"My bad, you did a good job, Mary——"
"Ahem, let's go check on Mom." Alex interrupted the two, not wanting to waste any more time.
"Okay!"
---
When the three left the bedroom and arrived in the living room, both Katherine and Miss Amelia were sitting on the sofa.
Katherine was wearing a black robe that none of them had ever seen, with a pointy hat similar to Miss Amelia's.
Her face had lines of tear marks that were barely visible, looking a little exhausted, as if she hadn't slept all night.
"Mom, are you okay?" Sophia nervously asked as the three walked up to the two of them on the sofa.
"Hey, Sophia, you guys hungry?" Katherine asked as she leaned down to hug all three of them at once.
The sadness on Katherine's face disappeared within seconds as she smiled back at the three, almost as if she were perfectly fine.
"Mom, is Dad not here with us anymore?" Alex straightforwardly asked, not wanting to hear her lying to them.
Katherine hesitated for a second, then looked over to Amelia's face, who gave her a look and a nod.
"Yes... Your father is not going to be with us anymore."
Mary looked a little confused, as if she couldn't understand what it meant, but Sophia suddenly burst into tears as Katherine gently patted her on the back.
"It's okay, Sophia. Just let it all out."
As Sophia continued to cry on her mom's shoulder, Mary still couldn't understand what was happening.
But no one had the time to explain it to her as Alex and Amelia both fell into silence, unable to speak up at all.
---
The next day...
Everyone in town was in the house's backyard, standing in silence as a tombstone was erected right at the edge of the fence.
The tombstone had the name 'Paul' right at the top, with no family name written anywhere near it.
After a short funeral speech by the town's chief, the wooden casket was lowered into the freshly dug hole.
As two knights started filling the hole back up with dirt, tears began falling from the villager's face.
Even Mary started tearing up as she finally realized what was happening after Alex explained it to her.
"You don't have to hold it in," a female voice suddenly traveled into Alex's ear.
Turning around, there was no one talking to him. Everyone around him was either silent or crying in their sorrow.
"I have to be the man... I have to tough it out."
As Alex held in the urge to cry, deep inside, he had long viewed Paul as his father, even though he was usually never home.
Paul was the only male figure he could look up to—the person who kept his mother happy and taught him how to swordfight.
Seeing someone so close suddenly die felt almost unreal. Someone whom he had just been talking to a few days ago was now gone forever.
---
After who knows how long, the funeral ended.
Everyone began leaving their house and went back to their lives. Life moved on as if nothing had happened.
Despite Katherine's attempt to appear as if she had moved past it, Alex could tell something was always on her mind.
But there was nothing he could do. He had never even had a relationship, let alone comfort someone who had lost their loved one.
After staying for a few days to ensure Katherine wouldn't try something stupid, Miss Amelia had also left the house.
The house was back to the four of them living together, but without a longtime guest who appeared at least once a week to teach them about swordfighting.
---
In the bedroom, since Mary was now too big for the crib, the three of them were all sleeping on the same bed.
"Hey Alex, have you noticed Mom feeling a little different the past few weeks?" Sophia quietly asked.
"Past few weeks? She's been different ever since Dad was gone." Alex replied as he closed his eyes.
"There must be something we can do to help her. Come on, you're the genius in the household."
Sophia suddenly grabbed Alex's arm, shaking it as if it were some sort of genie lamp.
"There's nothing we can do to heal someone who has lost their loved one. Only time can heal those traumas."
As Alex rolled over to the other side of the bed, Mary was now in front of him, sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed.
"But Mom looks so alone every day, even when she's with us... She just sits there staring at the wall."
Alex didn't respond to Sophia's question, but he couldn't fall asleep with the question inside his head.
There has to be something he could possibly do for her. He wanted to do something about it.
He really wants to see Katherine be happy as well. But nothing in his past knowledge could fix this issue for the past few days.
"Mom's birthday is coming up too... I was thinking of——"
Before Sophia finished talking, Alex immediately turned back around to face her directly in the dark.
"When is it Mom's birthday?" Alex urgently asked as he held onto her shoulder, making her flinch a little as she scooched back.
"Next week... Ouch, let go of my shoulder. It hurts." Sophia complained as she tried to push his hand away.
"You're a genius, Sophia! I got it!" Alex excitedly hugged her as an idea began to form inside his head.
"Okay..."
---
Days quickly went by as Alex and Sophia began preparing for their mom's birthday.
Mary eventually caught on to what the two were doing and joined in, serving as the distraction to get Mom away from the house.
As the day finally arrived, Sophia and Alex both sneaked out of the house to the town's bakery early in the morning.
After paying for the cake they had ordered in advance with the money they had earned from selling their toys, the two quickly ran back home.
Slowly, the two put the cake into their now-emptied toy box, running back out to the kitchen as they get ready to prepare breakfast.
"H-How do I cook?" Sophia nervously asked, looking a little lost, holding the kitchen equipment.
"Move aside. I can do this. Just cut the ingredients... Don't cut your hand."
As Alex lifted the pot with both hands, he quickly moved it to the fire pit before dropping it onto the rack.
"Shit, I can't start a fire," Alex murmured, realizing Katherine had always started a fire from her fingertip.
"Wait, I can do it."
Sophia pushed Alex back a little as she put her finger on the wood, murmuring something as if she was casting a spell.
After a while, a small spark appeared before disappearing. But it was enough for one of the sticks to catch on fire.
"You know how to use magic?" Alex asked with a hint of jealousy in his eyes.
"A little bit... Just a little... Ahem, the fire started."
Alex quickly snapped back to the moment as he repositioned the pot right above the fire, letting it heat first.
He instinctively reached over for butter on the counter, but he stopped at the last second after realizing he wasn't on Earth anymore.
"Right... There's not even butter or cooking oil in this house." Alex murmured as he ran back outside to grab a bucket of water.
After returning with the water, he poured it straight into the pot, waiting for it to heat up a bit.
"What do we do now?"
Sophia asked curiously as she handed him the chopped meat in small square chunks and vegetables that resembled potatoes.
"Just wait. We'll add the meat after the water isn't freezing, and then we'll take it back out to season after it boils."
"Season? What's that? Is that something that we can eat?"
"It's adding a different flavor to the meat... It's what makes boiled meat taste good since we don't have cooking oil or butter to fry it."
Despite Alex patiently explaining to Sophia, she still couldn't understand the word he was saying when combined into a sentence.
"What's butter and oil?"
"It's something that makes a sizzling sound when you cook meat with it... I'm sure you'll see it in the future."