First Words

Austria, May 17th 1789

2:43 PM

Lukas slept inside his crib as he breathed calmly. His eyes were closed as the muscles of his angelical face relaxed.

Lukas started to move his hand as he woke up and his big, dark eyes opened slowly. As soon as he became more aware of his surroundings, he showed a wide smile.

'Today's the day! Hell yeah!' Lukas screamed internally.

Lukas quickly sat up and stretched. After that, he carefully took two sheets of paper from under the mattress of his crib.

That was another strategy Lukas had adopted in order not to feel bored while he waited for someone else to come to pick him up. Although he could always leave the crib and walk around, it was a bit too risky for Lukas.

And also, since Lukas now had a lot of other hobbies to do after he left the crib, he could draw once he woke up in order to get some work done already.

The hobbies Lukas usually spent time doing out of his crib were training his walking and reading. Those hobbies always filled a lot of his day because he had to be stealthy while he did them.

Lukas was already pretty advanced in both of his skills. He could walk almost as well as a three-year-old kid and he could already read perfectly.

Now that he was already very used to drawing on sheets of paper divided in six equal parts, he could easily draw inside each of them without major problems.

The things he usually drew were routine objects that were around him, like chairs, tables, doors, etc., just in case someone catches Lukas drawing.

'Like this, the worst that can happen if someone catches me drawing is me getting scolded a bit. Nobody would even imagine I've been drawing behind everyone's back all this time. They will just think that I happened to find a sheet of paper somewhere. Nobody will suspect that I may have a better memory than babies usually do as well... at least I hope so.'

After he had drawn all over his sheets of paper and hidden them properly, he waited patiently for Olivia. Not long after, she was already in the bedroom in order to take care of Lukas's needs.

"Good morning, young master! I can see you are already awake, as always." Olivia said with a kind smile.

Lukas rolled his eyes. 'Yes, and I can see you still insist on coming to pick me up very late.' Lukas glanced at the clock on the wall of his bedroom. 'Look. It's already 3:27 PM! Honestly, shake my head.'

Surprisingly enough, Lukas was already able to read the time. He still wasn't very aware of at what time it was day or night though, he only used it to measure how much time it had passed since a certain moment.

Although it was very surprising that Lukas was already able to read the time perfectly, he didn't struggle too much to learn to read it. He only had to listen to people talking about the time for a bit in order to figure out one hour had sixty minutes.

After that, he only had to do some calculations, and he would quickly figure out how to read a clock, it was actually pretty intuitive.

Olivia looked at Lukas's bored face with amusement. "Come on, young master, let us go."

After giving Lukas a bath, Olivia took him to Frida for him to eat.

'Okay, it's time to say my first words, let's go!' Lukas was about to open his mouth to speak, but then he stopped halfway through. 'Hold on... what should I say as my first words?'

Lukas now was showing quite a disappointed expression. 'For crying out loud, how didn't I even think about that?'

Lukas sighed internally. 'Okay, it's not that big of a deal, I'll just have to think about what to say as my first words!'

Lukas started looking around. 'Floor? Table? ...Chair? Nothing good comes to my mind.'

Frida stood up from her chair and started walking to somewhere.

'Way to go, mom! Perhaps I'll get some ideas if we walk around the mansion. Keep going!' Lukas thought.

Soon, Frida left the mansion and talked to a servant in the garden. He looked sturdy and was very-well dressed for a normal servant. He was the gatekeeper of the mansion.

"Morgan, I am sorry to bother you, but I would like to tell you that we are going have visitors today. Please, let me know when they arrive."

Morgan nodded his head. "Of course, Mrs. Von Neumann, I shall let you know right away."

Frida smiled at her servant. "Thank you very much, Morgan. I will not bother you anymore, goodbye."

Morgan bid his farewell to Frida as he went back to his work.

Lukas raised his brow. 'What? Visitors? Honestly, everything is plotting against me not saying my first words today. I bet that if I say my first words with visitors at home, even if they didn't listen, mom would tell them about it. ...And also, why did you take so long to let your gatekeeper know about the visitors? Well, I guess you like to procrastinate, just like me.'

Lukas thought a bit more. 'Stopping to think about it, I never know when there are visitors in the mansion. I always know where there are parties, but I never know whether there will be visitors or not... and that truly pisses me off!'

Lukas showed a disappointed expression. 'Now that my sleep schedule is shorter, I doubt I will be sleeping when they visit us.'

Lukas slept about 17 hours a day, from around 9:00 PM to around 2:00 PM without any break. The amount of time that Lukas slept was already abnormal, but the strangest thing was that he didn't take any break during his sleep, babies usually take little breaks between their sleeps

After Frida having her talk with Morgan, she went back to the mansion. When they arrived to the living room, Lukas had an idea.

'Perhaps the visitors will be from the Hügel house? I mean, I may not be their heir, but I bet I will come to be an important member of theirs, so I am pretty sure they will not just pretend I don't exist.'

Now that Lukas had thought about this, he was really excited for the visit. There wouldn't be any problem to say his first words in front of members of one of his own houses. 'Alright! Let's do this!'

-----

Austria, May 17th 1789

4:32 PM

As Frida stood in on one of the living rooms of the mansion holding Lukas, Morgan showed up. "Mrs. Von Neumann, they are here. Shall I tell them to come in?" Morgan asked.

Frida nodded her head. "Please, Morgan, let them come in." Morgan nodded his head and quickly went to tell the visitors to come in.

Lukas looked around. 'Where are dad and uncle Karl? Honestly, talk about antisocial people!' He sighed internally. 'Yes, they apparently aren't from the Hügel house.'

Soon, a brown-haired man with brown eyes showed up in front of Lukas and Frida. He was accompanied by a boy who looked to be around six-years-old. He had blue eyes and also had brown hair.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Von Neumann. It is a pleasure to see you after so long." The man said with a smile. "I would like to introduce you to my son, Josef."

The shy boy blushed slightly as he spoke. "H-Hello, Mrs Von Neumann, my name is Josef Tonsburg, it is very nice to meet you."

Lukas showed a disappointed expression. 'Confirmed. Not from the Hügel house.'

Frida smiled. "Good afternoon, Josef. It is very nice to meet you too. I am Frida Von Neumann." The boy just nodded his head slightly.

Then, the adult noble glanced at Lukas. "I can see your child was already born, Mrs. Von Neumann."

'Congrats, dude, you are quite an observer.'

Frida nodded her head with pride. "Yes. But before, please, let us have a seat. Do you want anything? Tea? Cake?"

The noble nodded his head. "Yes, me and Josef would like to have tea and a slice of cake, right, Josef?"

The boy shyly nodded his head. "Yes, please."

Frida gathered her hands. "Very well, then," Frida looked at Olivia who was already there. "Olivia, please bring us the cake and some tea."

Olivia nodded her head. "Very well, Mrs. Von Neumann. I'll bring it right away," Olivia then left.

The noble smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Von Neu-"

"No, no, please, call me Frida, our houses are partners now!" Frida said with a smile.

The noble nodded his head. "Very well, then, please, call me Mikel too." Mikel said.

Frida nodded her head. "Very well."

Soon, everyone sat down and Olivia appeared with everyone's orders.

Frida smiled. "Thank you, Olivia, you may go."

Olivia nodded. "Very well, Mrs Von Neumann, excuse me then." Olivia walked out of the living room.

Mikel looked at Lukas. "It's a shame that I don't have a daughter yet, otherwise it would be my pleasure to betroth her to your son, Frida." Mikel said.

Frida chuckled. "Oh my, that would be amazing, Mikel."

'I don't even have to say how uncomfortable this is to me, right? Well, anyway, apparently this dude is a true friend of the Von Neumann house's, so I guess it wouldn't be a problem for me to say my first words here. I am in the normal age to say them anyway. I'm overthinking things.' Lukas thought.

Lukas kept looking around. 'I don't even know what I should say, anyway! God damnit, this is so frustrating! Okay, the next word that calls my attention I hear will be the one! I won't hesitate!'

Mikel nodded his head. "Indeed, hopefully my wife will give your son a betrothed soon enough."

Lukas raised his brow. 'Why are you insisting upon that so mu... wait, betrothed? That is a word that called my attention... but that's too complicated, next!'

Frida nodded her head. "That would be great, but I heard that you had another son recently, right?"

Mikel nodded his head back. "Yes, that is true. Now I have two children. You could give a sibling to Lukas, don't you think?"

Lukas showed a curious face. 'Maybe? But that won't happen, I mean, look at the relationship my father and mother have! ...Wait! How do you know my name?!'

Frida showed a sad expression, but she soon disguised it. "I don't think that will be possible anytime soon, but I really would like to give him a brother or a sister."

'Brother and sister, huh? Perhaps one of that words may be my first ones? Nah! I don't like them, next!'

Mikel smiled. "Well, there are children who prefer to be a single child, so don't think too much about it if you don't want to have another child."

Frida shook her head. "No. I do want to have another child, but... I do not think it is the right time, just that."

'Great answer mom, 1 out of 10.'

Mikel nodded his head. "I see."

"What's your new son's name, Mikel?" Frida asked, trying to change her subject.

"His name is Johan. He was born a weak child, but fortunately, he is already fine now." Mikel said.

Frida smiled. "I am so glad to hear that!"

Lukas raised his brow. '"Johan"? "Josef"! You are not very good at choosing names, are you? Wait, "Johan"? I wonder if... nah!' Lukas, however, was struggling internally. 'Well, I don't care, I'll just say it! I will go for it!'

Frida smiled. ""Johan". What a beautiful name."

'It's not,' Lukas thought.

However, he finally went for it. Although he did train his speaking a bit, he still had trouble while propelling his voice.

"Iii... oooh..." Lukas cringed at his failed attempt of speaking as a slight blush appeared on his face. 'What the hell was this?!'

Frida looked curiously at Lukas. "What is it, honey?'

"Jooooo... Jo... han... Johan!" Lukas finally said it successfully. 'Heck yeah! Let's go!'

Frida gasped. "Lukas! Did you just say "Johan"?"

'Yes, I guess it was pretty obvious, didn't I say it well enough?'

Mikel laughed. "Was that your child's first words?" The noble asked.

Frida nodded her head as her eyes widened. "I am so happy! However, why did you choose "Johan", Lukas?" she asked. "It should have been "mama"!"

Lukas pouted. 'No way in hell! That's too cliche!'

Mikel smiled. "That boy is intriguing. He spoke all of a sudden and his first word was quite random."

Frida smiled awkwardly. "Hehe, you have no idea how intriguing he is." Frida said.