The pressure exerted by the queen led the shadows hiding in the room to flinch and the maid to take a step back and kneel, but both Wendy and the old man remained unmoved and are as steady as before.
The old man said, "Harm! No, your majesty. I am simply saying it is induced by Lord Westwind."
"Old man! stop testing my patience and tell me what you want to say"
The old man stood up, produced a cane out of nowhere and started hunching his previous straight back, and walked to Arata's bed. Although the old man is perfectly capable of walking straight, he likes to show his age by acts like these.
Seeing this usual behavior of the old man, the queen scoffed. Although it did nothing to the old man, Wendy was again wearing her awkward smile seeing this.
The old man closed on to Arata and looked at him with affection and continued explaining his analysis while stroking his non-existent beard, acting like an all-knowing owl. This resulted in one more scoff from the queen.
"Your majesty, like I said, the shout was indeed related to Lord Westwind. A baby as young as the prince has no physical ability to talk even if he knows the words."
"Hearts Roar!" said the queen immediately.
"Correct! What I, the maid, and the shadows heard came from the heart of our young prince."
The old man turned around triumphantly to show off his deducting skills. While the maid is now relieved of her tension, the queen's irritation is rising sharply by the old man's pauses.
"So now we can say that our young prince might be a genius in activating the bloodline talent of Lord Westwind's Graham household. Ah! I guess like father like son."
This statement somehow pricked Aster, and Wendy can clearly see it in her lord's face, which now long lost its usual warm smile.
Seeing this, Wendy thought [this stupid old man is going to get killed]
Ignoring the concerns of Wendy, the old man continued, " I wonder if the young prince can also woo the ladies using that deep roa.."
The queen blinked in front of the old man, yanked the old man's cane, and started straightening his hunched back. The cane broke majestically, throwing the old man in the air. The queen caught the husk of the old man while still in the air and stomped him with her heal.
A two-minute wonderful combo after, Wendy said with a fake tearful face, "Your majesty, please don't kill my father. Punish me instead!"
This infuriated the queen even more. She lifted the husk to match her eye level, leaving his legs to dangle, and started slapping with her other hand.
"How dare you say my Arata will be playboy!"
slap;slap;slap
"My son needs no other women! he has me!!"
slap;slap;slap
"Look how you are tormenting that poor girl too!"
slap;slap;slap
After another two-minute combo, Wendy stepped up and poured a flask of liquid onto the old man's husk on the ground. The old man recovered and immediately shouted, "You incited her majesty, you fox!"
"Old man, Wendy is wasted on you. Unless you want me to free her of your bad parenting, I suggest you start talking and talk carefully."
[You are bad parenting!! you yander queen.]
"Did you say something, old man?"
"No! your majesty. I just think even if the young lord possesses immense genius, he could but only activate what he already has. The Heart's Roar is in his blood, but what about the knowledge of words? Neither you nor anyone in this room uttered those words before, separately or combined."
Although annoying, Aster will never doubt the old man's capability. If he said he could account for all the words spoken by anyone in front of Arata, he most probably can.
The queen then asked with concern, "then how does Arata know those words?"
The old man responded. " As the prince said, he might just be a reincarnation. Sometimes the words are exactly what they mean."
Haipher· May 16, 2021
