Delphina swiftly moved on from this thought as they finally made their way into the Head of the Family's private study. Unlike the Gothic Victorian exterior, the study was considerably more modern, and unfortunately, the Georgian patterned wallpaper had made a reappearance.
Nodding to herself, she knew her earlier guess about Elvira's behaviour had most likely been correct.
"Is it okay to redecorate the Family Heads' study like this?" she thought as she looked around. It was a very old room, with very large wooden-braced windows rising to the very ceiling. Of which, it had similar wooden engravings to the Heirs wing.
The desk sat in front of those windows, with a cushioned reading seat ledge running along their entire width at the base, making the desk seem recessed into the floor. It wasn't too dissimilar to her conversation pit set up.
Carpets covered the stone floor walkways towards the desk from the door itself, and along the edges of the room, where multitudes of books were present on the ancient wooden shelves. There was even a tucked-away spiral staircase that led to a second floor, where a similar number of books and parchments were visible.
"Do we even need the library if all these are here, Father?"
Medinador actually snickered at that remark. It wholly did not suit his face, but what Delphina had said did seem lackadaisical.
"They're confidential documents or books that truly can't risk being exposed to the public. Come now, Delphina, I would have assumed you could ascertain that much."
She was offended by that statement; she had wholeheartedly been sarcastic when she said that. It wasn't her fault he obviously hadn't picked up on that. As such, a look of derision flickered across her features.
Unfortunately, she saw Medinador had picked up on it before she could settle into a more neutral expression. Mainly, the fact that his face had gone slightly pale was what had given it away.
"Ah, I'm sorry, sweetheart, I misunderstood, didn't I?"
At this point, you could call it a traumatic reaction. Should she just coin these kinds of reactions 'mother wounds'? Because this was definitely something Elvira had trained into him. This, however, meant admitting that Delphina looked very similar to Elvira at certain times. So instead, she decided to gloss it over like it had never happened.
She'd never admit that she and her had similar reactions.
"I was being sarcastic, truth be told…"
As Delphina admitted this, an awkward silence made its way back around, practically gesturing at Delphina to do something lest it become pregnant again. Luckily, Medinador seemed to have a small coughing fit as he turned to seat himself behind the desk. Delphina decided to seat herself on the sofa that wasn't too far away.
"Ahem, so what did you want to talk to me about in private like this? I could tell it was serious…"
"Ah, so you could tell that much."
Delphina almost slapped her hand across her mouth at this acerbic comment. Luckily, she stopped herself, but the damage to Medinador was already done. He looked like a wet puppy in the rain at her response.
"Good Heavens, Delphina must have originally been a proper queen-bitch that was just so natural a response. No wonder in the Game she didn't get on with her family members." Though the current Delphina did echo similar sentiments, she just rolled her eyes, trying to think of how to diffuse the situation.
But Medinador beat her to the punch. As he slowly slid one hand down his face dryly, he uttered another apology.
"No, Delphina. I should be setting a better example. Whilst we're in this study, we should be nothing more than the Head and the future Head of the Family. Not Father and Daughter. Some of my childhood experiences make me… A little snappy when I am in here."
"I don't want you to have any similar experience, so I won't be harsh. But I will keep that line from now on in here."
Delphina truly wasn't sure what to make of this. So being in here made him on edge, made him snappy toward her, and then he immediately regretted it. Maybe the reason he went so pale earlier and his wet-puppy-like reaction to what she said was due to this, rather than it being related to Elvira. Well, at least not completely related to her.
However, she had to say something before they carried on. Just cutting it off there would be unhealthy for their future relationship, and she needed it to be smooth-running.
"Father, I didn't take it to heart. So please don't feel too bad. Didn't you almost immediately realise what you did and try to rectify it?"
"Whilst I respect a line being drawn, I want you to know I'm respecting it not because I'm angry at you or want to distance myself. But because I agree that this conversation is just that important."
Medinador took in a deep breath and looked more relaxed after she said this. She knew he'd understand what she was trying to get across.
"Let's try this again. Delphina, what did you want to speak to me about as the Head of the House?"
This was it, make or break. She had figured out what she was going to say, and she had an idea how he'd react.
"Duke Medinador. I read some interesting things whilst I was settling into the Heirs wing. And I encountered something that concerns me."
"Hmm? Go ahead."
"The de Velasques don't usually become Sword Masters until around their mid-40s to 50s. Now this is still half a century faster than anyone else. But combined with the other Families characteristics, I drew some conclusions about why this may be."
"Essentially, those that remain after The Darkening all have traits passed down from Past Livers. And we, the Velasques, have inherited certain traits which make us best suited to become Sword Masters over anything else."
Medinador furrowed his brow at this point, as what Delphina was pointing out was just common sense that didn't deviate from what she should already know. Especially after being in the Heirs wing, but this was nothing revolutionary.
"So at this point, around 800 years later, why am I the first to become a Sword Master before even becoming an adult? Isn't becoming an adult a prerequisite to the path to becoming a Sword Master?"
"Why is the coming of age routinely celebrated on a national level? Why do we change our perspective on time after 'adulthood'?" But what if something were to appear that was only visible to 'adults'?"
Medinador started gripping his desk chair's arms tightly in his hands, to the point his knuckles were beginning to show white.
It was time for her to bring the main point to the fore as she saw this reaction.