"I heard you went on a little camping trip."
Aris Reschelburg set down the pen he had been using to sign documents and looked at Sai with a small smile on his face.
Scary.
Sai could see the faint light from the window behind his father illuminating his blonde hair, giving him an almost radiant appearance. Under normal circumstances it might have looked dignified or even heroic.
But to Sai, it looked like the smile of a demon.
"That's not very nice, you know. Calling your own father a demon."
Aris continued smiling as he spoke. At the same time, the light behind him seemed to grow even brighter, and Sai began to suspect that what he was seeing was not just a trick of his imagination.
Wait.
Before that…
Could his father read his mind?
"It's not mind reading," Aris said calmly. "I'm simply observing your facial expressions, using analysis magic, and predicting what you're going to say. Judging from your reaction just now, I'd say my guess was fairly accurate."
Sai felt sweat begin to trickle down his back halfway through the explanation.
He stared at his father with growing amazement.
The way Aris seemed capable of reading people so effortlessly made him feel as if he were standing in front of an open book.
At this point, Sai suspected that if his father casually claimed he possessed mind-reading abilities, he might actually believe it.
"But this method is still inferior to the real thing."
Sai blinked at that statement and immediately opened his mouth.
"Mind-reading magic actually exists?"
"Yes," Aris replied without hesitation. "I encountered someone who could use it when I was younger. Defeating that person required everything I had."
Sai's curiosity instantly flared.
"How do you even defeat someone who knows your every move?" he asked. "Don't tell me it's something like the 'empty your mind of all thoughts' approach."
"In a way, yes."
Aris leaned back slightly in his chair.
"You stop trying to calculate your next move. Instead, you move according to your instincts. Your plans become rough and spontaneous, and you allow your body to react naturally."
He motioned toward Sai with a small gesture of his finger.
Sai walked over and sat down on the small chair beside him.
"If we had more time, we probably could have found a better method to defeat him," Aris continued. "But in that situation, that was the best option available to us."
Sai quietly filed the information away in his mind.
Advice from someone as capable as his father was not something to ignore.
"By the way," Aris added suddenly, "don't think I've forgotten why I called you here."
Sai cursed quietly under his breath the moment the subject he had been trying to avoid resurfaced.
Immediately, he switched strategies.
Plastering the most innocent and adorable smile he could manage across his face, he looked up at his father.
"Daddy," Sai called softly.
Even though Aris clearly understood that the performance was nothing but an act, Sai could sense his resolve wavering slightly.
Encouraged by that reaction, Sai decided to press the attack.
"Sai knows what he did was wrong," he said in a meek voice. "Sai will accept whatever punishment Daddy decides to give."
Then he delivered his ultimate move.
Climbing onto his father's lap, he wrapped his small arms around him.
"Please forgive Sai," he said quietly. "Don't be mad at Sai again."
Aris Reschelburg held his head and groaned as conflicting emotions clashed inside him.
Sai silently prayed that the maneuver would deliver the decisive blow.
"Fine. You got me."
With a defeated sigh, Aris gave in.
Sai immediately smiled brightly and hugged him tightly, rubbing his cheek against the faint stubble on his father's face.
"Thank you," Sai said happily. "I love you, Daddy."
He threw in the final line as a surprise bonus attack.
Aris froze for a moment, visibly stunned by the unexpected statement.
…
"Anyway, I have something important to tell you."
After the playful exchange ended, Aris repositioned Sai comfortably on his lap. Sai leaned back against his father's broad and muscular torso.
It was solid and sturdy, though Sai couldn't help comparing it to the physique he had possessed in his previous life.
"This is serious," Aris continued.
"You have a fiancée."
Sai froze.
"Eh?"
That single syllable was the only response he could produce to such an unexpected declaration.
"The king contacted me," Aris explained awkwardly. "We made an agreement to… sell— I mean, engage you to his younger daughter."
He coughed midway through the sentence, clearly feeling a little guilty about his wording.
But Sai had already understood what he meant.
"You sold me out?!"
Sai immediately jumped down from his father's lap and glared at him.
Aris Reschelburg visibly shrank back under the glare.
"No wonder you forgave me so easily," Sai continued accusingly. "I should have known something suspicious was going on."
With a long sigh, Sai tilted his head upward and stared at the ceiling, ignoring his father who was now hurriedly attempting to explain himself.
He wasn't exactly proud to admit it, but even in his previous life he had spent his entire existence as a single man.
A very lonely one.
He had barely interacted with women at all.
Never in his wildest imagination had he expected to receive news about a fiancée—
Especially at the age of four.
"I said I'm sorry," Aris insisted. "But refusing a royal engagement isn't easy."
Sai exhaled slowly and finally turned his attention back to his father.
"This engagement is partly political and partly personal," Aris continued. "The king and I were close friends when we were younger. One night, while we were drunk, we made a promise to betroth our children to each other."
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Apparently he remembered that promise. And now he wants to follow through with it."
"I see."
Sai nodded slowly.
At the same time, he made a firm mental note.
Under no circumstances would he ever drink alcohol in the future.
He had no intention of creating similar problems for his own children someday.
"Sigh… I guess I don't have much choice but to accept it."
Aris's eyes brightened the moment Sai said that.
Relief washed over his face, and he immediately began talking excitedly about various details.
Sai, however, stopped listening after a few seconds.
Instead, he began thinking about his own future plans.
Political engagements were not the kind of arrangements someone could simply break on a whim.
At the same time, Sai didn't have anyone he liked anyway.
What annoyed him most was the fact that such a major decision had been made without even consulting him.
"When am I going to meet her?" Sai suddenly interrupted.
Aris paused mid-sentence.
"Anywhere from tomorrow to three years from now," he replied.
Sai grinned slightly when he heard that answer.
Good.
That meant he still had plenty of time to carry out his plans.
…
Three years later, a girl with black hair stood before him.
She wore a pure white one-piece dress that gave her an elegant and dignified appearance.
She bowed slightly in greeting.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sai Reschelburg," she said politely.
"My name is Katarina Farses, the third princess of the Farses Kingdom."