CASSIUS POV

"Mother, if father did not want to take you, you can share a horse with me" said Killian reassuring her as if he was afraid that she would be hurt by my curt reply.

she looked at him as if she wanted to pinch that sweet puffed up cheeks all the time. He finally looked at her after glaring me enough, and furrowed his brows. how did this boy got attached to her so much!

"Mother what happened to your clothes?" he asked and only then? did she remember I had.. Oh! she controlled hard to stop glaring at me for her unkempt look.

"Nothing, son. The water fell over me." she replied and I coughed, this was the lamest excuse i had ever heard from her mouth.

"It's alright, this dress is not appropriate for horse riding anyway. Why don't you go and change. We will wait for you." he replied sitting there. Really, did he just believe her!

"It would be difficult once the sun is up completely, the weather is still warm, why don't we both go, she will join next time" I said cutting him, but Killian shook his head.

"I am not that weak father, and a little sun is good for my health." he replied looking expectantly at her, "right mother?"? I knew His eyes were so big and bright that it was just impossible for her to deny him, and as i had thought she nodded.

"I will come in a minute, why don't you go and choose the horse till then?" she added ruffling to his hair and his smile brightened a lot.

She stood up and walked away as we both looked at her retreating figure, then my eyes turned back to him who had already started glaring at me.

"Why do you always torment mother, father?" he asked with an accusing voice.

"Do you think your mother would let me torment her, she would rather create havoc and fight back?" I replied and he nodded with a proud smile, and I was sure he would be very happy if she would beat me.

"Killian, how are your studies going?" I asked , trying to sound nonchalant.

"It is going well father, i learnt dance, history, geography, etiquettes, only horse riding and archery need a bit more practice and soon i will start music class too." he replied seriously.

"Very good, but these days you were rather busy with your mother, so you must have missed a few classes, right?" I asked and he felt guilty but nodded.

"But i am giving 3 hours further, to cover up the syllabus on time." he replied meekly

"Son, tell me how are your teachers, are they supporting you well in it, or are you facing any problem in dealing with them?" I asked again, and he shook his head.

"All the teachers have been teaching me since I was a long time father, we both are well adapted to each other's behavior and working methods."

"Killian '' is called pinching the space between my brows. Both mother and son are so good at talking in a roundabout manner that you could not expect them to tell you the truth easily.

"Yes father"

"Are your teachers giving you severe punishments for small mistakes?" I asked , cutting to the chase but he shook his head.

"No father, why did you even think so?" he asked and I looked at the file that was still on the table.

"Son, your reports tell me that you are kept out in the rain for almost night, when you have created sound while eating dinner." i paused to gauge his expression and when i noticed he did not shook his head like before i continued,

"And you were asked to practice painting for continuous 17 hours without even a break to eat meals because you were not able to draw well," 'why did he even need to learn drawing, he was not going to be a painter in the future.'

"Are these reports true" i asked and he nodded,

"And you still say that you were not severely punished?"

"Well, I did not hurt my father, and it only increased my strength. Standing in the rain increased my immunity and then working for long hours would increase my concentration skills." he replied as if this was the most obvious thing to do.

"Oh really, then why don't you go and do manual labor at the stable, i think it would improve your stamina too.'' I mocked but the boy seriously pondered over it.

"That can be done father, I do need to improve my physical strength anyway." he replied nodding his head and I sighed.

"You do need to improve in every way, Killian, but you are just 11 and there is a lot of time for us to do that. And there are proper ways to do that. Like we do fencing, exercises and practice combat, but staying in the rain at the age of 10. You will only be sick of developing terminal illness. Why do you even need to train so hard anyway?" I asked and he furrowed his brow.

"But mother said that bearing pain is the best way to learn. The more we would bear and the more we would learn to endure and it would increase our strength." he asked and I wondered if the woman was sick with her mind, Killian was just 8 by then.

How could she even talk like that to a mere kid and here I blamed myself for thinking that I had separated Killian from her mother and her family, a bunch of mental retards.

"Killian if that would be a way to learn then we would all be having whips on our body, self inflicting pain is nothing but mental sickness. We don't need to learn to endure it in any way, we are part of the administration, not soldiers who had to go to war.

We should be strong, yes, that is the reason I am training you in fencing, but it does not mean age can be neglected, that is the reason I had not started your training in close combat yet." i tried to explain but i could see he did not agree well, her teachings were long ingrained in his small mind.

"Killian, why not i transfer your teaching right to your mother, she is asking for that since a long time"