The Prince Secret Wish

Interlude 3: The Worries of a Father

Ha... I'm a failure of a father.

Ever since Andrew returned to the main mansion, I have been trying to find a way to get closer to him. But since his arrival, they have been surprise after surprise.

The first was when Rosina discovered that Andrew had mana in his body. Something that we knew for a fact was impossible. Some time later, we ran an attribute selection test to confirm whether Rosina's suspicions were unfounded.

To my surprise, we discovered that Andrew had quite a bit of mana. And not just any kind of mana, Andrew has the water attribute, just like his mother. The fact that Andrew had mana was already ridiculous, he also possessed an elemental attribute that normally only women possess.

Nothing has gone according to plan.

For the first few days after Andrew's arrival, I didn't have time to see what he was doing. I had to make sure that person didn't make any suspicious moves now that Andrew was in the main mansion.

When I was finally able to take some time with Andrew and Xander, Andrew just made a strange request. I thought that being ignored and neglected during his first years of life, I thought he would ask for things like money or jewelry. I was very surprised when Hector informed me that Andrew hadn't ordered anything so far.

But what surprised me the most was what he asked for.

Ricons and honey?

Those are things that even commoners have no problem getting, even commoners despise Ricons and horned bee honey, which unlike normal bee honey, this is much less sweet.

But there he was asking for them like he was a national treasure. How much had to be neglected for you to consider those things valuable?

The next thing was when the Marchioness Douglass informed me that Andrew had asked to have a private meeting with her. We decided it was best to find out what he was up to. I never imagined that he proposed such an idea that would bring such benefits.

A trade route behind the secondary mansion?

Sure, the fact that such a route existed was surprising, but the fact that Andrew discovered it while hiding breaks my heart. But I had decided to make my way into my son's heart, whatever the cost.

I made an effort during the following days to spend as much time as possible with him.

What I enjoyed the most was watching Xander train with Zack while Andrew and I watched them.

Zack suggested that Andrew trained too. What an absurd idea. I think it would be good for Andrew to learn to defend himself, but for now I just want him to enjoy himself and let himself be pampered.

But again another unexpected event happened. Andrew used healing magic on Xander. I quickly closed the state completely and called Rosina to check on the status of things.

We then checked how strong Andrew's mana was and how he had learned to use it correctly.

To add more surprises, according to Rosina, Andrew's mana production capacity is immense, so much to rival the High Bishop of the temple. And according to Andrew he just figured out how to use the mana. Which makes me wonder, how strong would he be if he had proper training? Faced with such an idea, I decided that the best option was not to let Andrew out of the mansion.

If that person was able to find out that Andrew not only possesses water attribute mana, but also has enough capacity to break one of the temple's curses, I can't even imagine what that person would do.

As a consequence, Andrew flatly refuses to talk to me.

I can't blame him, he has been deprived of his freedom without knowing why, what is that different from how he lived before?

But I can bring my self up to tell him the real reason. According to Xander and Rosina it would be better to tell him the circumstances of why he was sent away to the side mansion and why he wasn't let out of the mansion.

But I'm not so sure.

Just when he had decided to be a good father, we went back to how we started. But I can't tell him the truth. I feel like if I told him, it would just sound like an excuse for why he was neglected for so long. The fact that my idea of protecting him caused such injuries fills my conscience with guilt. If Alice was still here, I'm sure she'd beat the crap out of me.

But this time I'll make sure to protect him. No matter what. I won't let that person interfere with Andrew's happiness ever again.