It had been exactly six months. Cain stepped into the room. Seren had been waiting for this day.
He moved with deliberate grace, every step echoing dominance. His black coat swept behind him, crimson waves of hair catching the light. In his hands, he held a small bell.
He looked at Seren. "Can Keal crawl now?"
"Yes, sir," she replied. "He can crawl. Though he's blind, I've learned he's very sensitive to sound and touch."
"Good. Nice work noticing that," Cain said.
He gently lifted the child from his cradle and placed him in the center of the room. Lowering himself to Keal's level, Cain whispered, "If you hear the sound, you follow, okay?"
He knew Keal didn't understand yet, so he rang the bell softly and guided the boy toward the sound.
Once seated again, Cain moved to the far corner of the room and rang the bell.
Keal turned his head slowly, trying to pinpoint the direction of the ringing. This was exactly the challenge Cain had planned—echoes from the corner would confuse the child. Keal needed to learn to focus beyond the reverberations.
Keal struggled to pinpoint the bell's location. Time and again, he crawled to the wrong corner. Each time he missed, Cain tapped Keal's palm sharply with his finger—a quiet punishment for not getting it right.
After several attempts, Cain decided to stop for the day but made it clear he would return every day at 3 p.m. for this training until Keal succeeded.
Days turned into weeks.
By the third week, Keal's concentration was improving—slowly. He no longer moved immediately; instead, he paused to listen carefully before crawling toward the sound.
The training continued without pause.
Then, in the fourth week, everything changed. The moment Cain rang the bell, Keal snapped his head in its direction and rushed straight to the sound without hesitation.
Seren looked at Keal and smiled softly. Yes, his life might get messy in the future, but these small victories they were achieving together helped her forget the cold hardships of her own childhood.
Sure, his father was distant, but Cain was still there—strong enough to burn the world down for him, even if Keal couldn't see it yet.
But then Seren paused. Mrs. Sia… Why did she have to leave? She knew it would always pain Cain—that he had lost his wife.
Quietly, she whispered to herself, Don't worry, Keal. I'll make sure you're ready for this world… and for the training your father will want you to undergo in the future. For you to survive this harsh world.
It was finally a year later, and Keal could stand—then walk. Seren watched in quiet amazement at his growth.
She introduced new exercises, like placing aromatic foods around the room to help him sharpen his sense of smell. Sometimes she'd leave a scent nearby while he slept, then check if he could notice it upon waking.
Slowly but surely, Keal's senses grew keener—his hearing more acute, his smell more refined.
Cain stepped into the room, his presence as commanding as ever. Seren stood, hands behind her back.
"How's his progress?" he asked
"He's growing steadily," Seren replied. "His instincts are sharper. He notices details quickly now—even subtle changes."
Cain gave a short nod. "Good."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small glass bottle of perfume. Without warning, he walked to the door and sprayed a soft mist onto the wood.
Keal, seated on the floor, turned his head almost immediately. He sniffed once, then again—face focused, alert.
Silently, he stood and began walking toward the door.
But halfway there, Keal paused.
He turned—not toward Seren—but toward Cain.
Cain raised an eyebrow.
The boy tilted his head, sniffing the air again. Slowly, his expression shifted—curious, thoughtful. Then his small hand pointed toward the bottle still in Cain's hand.
Seren's eyes widened slightly. He noticed the source… not just the scent.
Cain clapped once—sharp but not loud.
He crouched beside Keal and gently tapped the boy's head with his hand. "Good boy," he said quietly. "That's the kind of instinct you need."
Keal smiled. Not because of the words, but because his father had touched his head—soft, deliberate, and almost… proud.
Cain stood back up, studying his son. "He needs to keep developing these small skills," he murmured. "They'll matter later—when I train him to perceive the world without sight."
He looked at Seren. "For now teach him everything, from subtle temperature shifts, to sensing movement… even recognizing a shift in the air when someone enters the room."
Seren nodded. "Understood."
Cain turned to leave, but paused at the door.
"Let me know when he starts noticing emotions."
Seren raised an eyebrow. "Emotions?"
Cain didn't elaborate. He just gave a faint nod—almost to himself—and walked out.
Seren thought to herself How could a kid learn that so early? He just turned one. I guess Boss didn't mean right away… maybe in a few years.
***
Five years later.
Keal woke up on his bed and stared toward the window, hearing people working out—from lifting weights to training with blades and even aiming with guns. He had been hearing them since he was two. At first, he didn't know what it was, but gradually he understood. Through the education he received from Seren, his awareness had expanded a lot.
As he stared and thought, he turned his head toward the door. At that moment, Seren opened it and saw him staring back.
"How are you, Keal?" she asked.
"I'm doing alright," he replied with his usual expressionless face.
She went beside him and asked, "You can hear them, right?"
He nodded.
"Can you tell me exactly how many are out there in the courtyard?" she asked.
Keal replied, "There are twenty in total."
Seren smiled. "Okay, that's nice—you tried. But that's not exactly right. Yes, twenty are producing some kind of noise, even through their breath, which I'm surprised you guessed. But there are actually thirty-five. The remaining fifteen are top-level people—that's why you couldn't sense or hear them at all."
He stared at her in surprise and told her to use his fingers to trace on the window where the fifteen were. Then he added, "But I have a guess."
Seren asked, "What exactly did you guess?"
He pointed to a part of the window and said, "This area is unusually quiet compared to the rest."
Seren smiled. "Wow, that's actually where the fifteen are. Nice job figuring that out, but a little too late in actual combat though."
Keal nodded. Then he said, "It's time."
She replied, "Yes, their training time is over. I guess you can tell time accurately without needing a clock. But how do you do it? Do you count or just guess?"
He said, "I don't really know, but I can tell when an hour is up."
Shortly after, Cain entered the room and said, "Keal, follow me."
Keal was surprised—he hadn't even felt his dad enter, not even the slightest. For Keal, following his dad would be the first time he'd leave the room without Seren for maybe learning how to cook or do house work.