Maxi placed his book down and opened the door.
Standing before him in her usual maid outfit, his maid puffed up her cheeks, her ears twitching slightly in annoyance. Her fiery red hair framed her face, and her tail gave the faintest wag—betraying her true emotions.
"I told you not to make me worry about you,"
she huffed, crossing her arms.
Maxi sighed, rubbing his temple.
"Yeah, I know. But I couldn't do anything in that situation. That was my brother—Techxin Bloodheart. I think even you've heard of him, right?"
A visible shiver ran through his maid's body. Her face paled as realization dawned on her.
"Wait… so you mean I met—"
Maxi nodded.
Her tail stiffened, and she quickly shook her head, as if trying to clear her thoughts. With a nervous laugh, she said,
"L-Let's just forget about what I said. We should get to your tutor now."
Maxi giggled softly but nodded.
As they walked through the halls, a thought lingered in his mind.
How did his mother know that Techxin had dragged him to the training grounds?
His eyes drifted to his maid, and he pondered.
Then, casually, he asked, "Were you the one who told her?"
His maid jumped slightly, startled by the sudden question. Unlike their last trip to Tangen's room, silence did not accompany them this time.
With a guilty look, she nodded.
"I ran to the King's room,"
she admitted.
"Lady Ray was cleaning while King was reviewing documents with his fourth wife. I just told her that a pink-haired man—which I assumed was one of your brothers—dragged you somewhere. She stopped what she was doing and ran out of the room immediately."
Maxi nodded in understanding.
But another thought crept into his mind.
Why does she know so little about my family?
She didn't even recognize Techxin's face.
He glanced at her again, suspicion flickering in his Crimson eyes before he quickly masked it with a neutral expression.
I mean, the only way to explain why she didn't recognize his face is if my sibling's fame is spread by word of mouth or legends. I mean, I can't really confirm or deny anything since I am stuck here in this castle.
But don't maids have to know each of the people that are working for, faces and names to, like, properly greet them? I mean, she says my name when greeting me, but that might just be a personal maid thing she does.
Maxi tries to think of any maids his seen greet, his brothers or sisters with thier names.
Now that I think about it, I haven't seen many maids at all except for my mom, the one that held me at birth, and my personal maid.
Usually, in fantasy settings, there are quite a lot of them, right? But even though I don't see lots of maids here, everything is still clean; even my wall got fixed weirdly.
Okay, even with the little time I spend at the main castle, did my mom call any of my siblings by their names when greeting them?
Gosh dang it, this doesn't work. First of all, I was a baby, and I could only focus on one thing at a time; everything else seemed like it didn't exist, and the only person I was focused on at that time was my mom.
I think one of the few times I wasn't focused on her was when I first met Techxin, and even though she greeted him, it doesn't really count because my mom is best friends with his mom, so I guess she could have had best friend privileges.
And my mom is also the king's personal maid, so she could have had those privileges as well.
Maxi sighed as he thought
This whole maid's business is confusing.
Before he could dwell on it further, they arrived.
His maid stepped forward, opening the door.
Maxi walked in first, his posture perfectly poised, his sharp eyes scanning the room.
The setup was… different.
Tengen sat on the table, just like last time.
But behind him, a blackboard loomed, and in the center of the room stood a new chair.
Unlike the old chest-like seat, this one was intricate. It had armrests, a red cushion, and was carved entirely from stone.
Maxi paused, staring at it with a raised brow. His fingers traced the smooth, cold armrest as a thought crossed his mind.
I need gloves.
Tangen's smug grin widened as he leaned against the blackboard, his arms folded across his chest.
"What's wrong, student?"
He teased.
"I brought out that chair just for you because today's lesson will be an exciting one."
Maxi's expression remained unreadable.
He sat down, and he put his leg over his other, putting his ankle on his knees, forming the number 4 as he interlocked his fingers together.
"What exactly do you mean by that, teacher?"
Tangen turned away, grabbing a piece of yellow chalk between his fingers.
Then, with a single fluid motion, he began to write.
The chalk scraped against the board, leaving bold, golden strokes.
Finally, Tangen stepped aside, revealing the words to Maxi.
His smirk grew as he spoke.
"Today, we're going to be talking about—"
Maxi read the board as Tangen finished the sentence aloud.
"The Blessings of the Gods."
And beneath it, in slightly smaller writing:
"And Their Powers."