Guilt

Austria, October 11th 1794

5:20 PM

Lukas and Herman were standing in front of each other as they held their swords.

Lukas was now six years old and he had changed a bit. Even though he was still pretty young, the training and diet Herman had given him paid off.

Lukas naturally grew taller, but his body also grew more muscular thanks to the diet and the intensive training.

Lukas didn't struggle a lot to get used to the diet since Herman didn't decrease much the amount of food that the blonde boy would eat.

Actually, he even increased how much food he was going to eat per day, which pleased Lukas quite a lot.

Another thing that had changed in Lukas was his hair. Since Lukas was focused on his physical training and other things, he didn't even have time to cut his hair, so he just decided to let it grow out and cut his own bangs every now and then.

Even though most members of the Von Neumann house had straight hair, Lukas apparently inherited the shape of his hair from his father, since his hair got wavier as it grew out, even though it didn't look that wavy when it was short.

Lukas took a deep breath and looked at Herman with a serious expression.

Herman smirked. "Okay, brat... get ready... commence!" the bulky man said, yelling in the last part.

The both of them darted towards each other. Since the two of them were using real swords, they had to be as focused as possible.

It was obvious that Lukas had gotten much nimbler and much stronger than before. Lukas's strikes hit Herman's sword very hard, which made the bulky man proud.

Herman pushed Lukas away with his sword and tried to hit the blonde boy, however, he blocked Herman's blow with guard of the sword.

'Great job, Lukas,' Herman thought, smiling for a moment.

Lukas had noticed that Herman had gone unfocused for a second, so he decided to take advantage of it to try to make him let go of the sword.

Lukas quickly fit the guard of his sword in Herman's and then pulled it wall his strength, however, the bulky man was already attentive and it was him who made Lukas drop the sword, since he was much stronger than the blonde boy.

However, even without his sword, Lukas didn't give up, he tried to deliver a kick to Herman's rib. Since Lukas has been training his flexibility since very young, he could say that his muscle elasticity was at its apex.

Despite Lukas's kick being quite strong for his age, the bulky man promptly blocked his kick with his arm. After that, he pushed Lukas into the ground, making him surrender.

Herman stood up and then laughed. "Great, Lukas!" he said.

Lukas sat up, panting and sweating. It was quite a cold day, but the training was so tough that the blonde boy was wearing summer clothing.

Herman then looked at the blonde boy in front of him with a proud smile. "Lukas, I don't have anything else to teach you," he said.

Lukas just widened his eyes at Herman's statement. "W-What?!" he asked in disbelief.

Herman nodded his head. "That's what you heard. I don't have anything else to teach you," he said.

Lukas quickly stood up and brushed his clothes off. After that, he walked closer to the bulky man. "So... it means that I graduated?" he asked.

Herman shrugged his shoulders. "More or less," he answered. "Do you remember when I told you back then that when I decided that I had nothing else to teach you, I would let you graduate? Well, I kinda lied," the bulky man explained.

Lukas raised his brow. 'I guess what you meant is that you forgot to finish the sentence properly,' he thought. "What? What do you mean?" the blonde boy asked.

"Well, it's not enough to just make you learn everything, you have to go go through a final test," Herman said.

Lukas crossed his arms. "What would it be?" he asked. 'I'm pretty sure that the duels we have in the end of the sessions are enough,' the blonde boy thought.

"Well, in the end of each training session, we will, as usual, have a duel, however, we are going back to the wooden swords," Herman explained.

Lukas frowned for a bit, but then he widened his eyes. 'Oh! I know where this is going! Shit,' he thought.

Herman smirked. "In order to graduate, you will have to hit me in one of those trainings," he said.

"You have limitless attempts, so you don't need to rush it, however, while you don't hit me, your training sessions with me won't end," the bulky man explained.

Lukas nodded his head in understanding. "I have a question," he said.

Herman gave a slight nod. "Go ahead," he replied.

"Does every kind of hit count? Or do I have to hit you only with the sword?" Lukas asked.

"Only with the sword, however, you can still use hand-to-hand combat. I taught you martial arts for something," Herman answered.

Lukas put his thumb on his lip. 'Okay, so I can use punches or kicks to stun him, but the final blow has to be with the sword. Alright,' he thought.

Lukas nodded his head. "Okay, Herman, I got it," he showed a smirk. "So, that means I'm graduating tomorrow. Make sure to bring my diploma," the blonde boy said.

Herman laughed. "That's what we are going to see," he said with another smirk.

After staring at each other for a while, Herman sighed. "Well, whatever, you may go. You have a date, don't you, boy? Hurry and get lost," he said.

Violett and Tobias were going to visit the mansion that day, so Lukas naturally had to be there too.

Lukas sighed and headed to the mansion. After taking his bath, he was approached by Klara.

"Young master..." she said with an awkward expression.

Lukas raised his brow. "What is it?" he asked.

"...Young master, your hair is quite beautiful, but... don't you think it's time to cut it?" Klara asked.

Lukas immediately grabbed part of his long hair. "What?! Why?! Father also has long hair and you don't say anything!" he said.

"W-Well, Mr. Hügel takes care of his hair. He doesn't just let it grow out naturally," Klara explained as she blushed slightly.

Lukas frowned. He didn't know why, but he just hated to cut his hair. Funnily enough, he had only cut it twice in his six years of life, which made it reach the blonde boy's shoulders.

"No way! I'll not cut it!" Lukas said.

Klara showed a disappointed expression. "Young master, your betrothed, Lady Violett, is coming!" she said.

Lukas sighed. "I'll cut it once I graduate, okay? I just haven't done it so far because I have been very busy," he said.

Klara sighed. She knew it was pointless to argue with Lukas. "Fine, then, young master. It's a promise, right?" she asked.

Lukas hesitated a bit to answer. "...Yes," he said.

Klara smiled. "Very well, then, young master," she said as she patted Lukas's head.

Lukas sighed and eyed the clock. 'There's still time,' he thought. 'I guess I can still study a bit,' the blonde boy concluded.

Lukas headed to the his room of and closed the door behind, after that, he sat at a table in his room. He then picked a book and a sheet of paper and started reading it out loud and pointing out a few things.

His book was in Italian, Lukas had started to learn foreign languages about three years ago.

Since Lukas was quite fast at learning, he was already proficient in both French and English. Now, he was studying Italian and Latin at the same time.

'I can spare time when I study two languages simultaneously,' Lukas thought.

If Lukas wanted to bring light to the whole world, he had to be able to communicate with as many people as possible, that's why he was studying so many languages.

'At first I took a while to figure out how to learn foreign languages, but now I finally got the hang of it. What languages should I study next? Perhaps Ancient Greek?' Lukas wondered.

Fortunately, the library had a lot of books in a lot of different languages, which made it easier for Lukas to study.

After a while, Lukas and Elias were waiting for Tobias and Violett in the living room. They were sitting beside each other in silence.

'This is kinda awkward,' Lukas thought.

Finally, Violett and Tobias arrived. Lukas could only be relieved by their arrival. 'Thank God! Finally!' he thought.

All of them greeted each other and Elias and Lukas sat across Tobias and Violett.

'Violett seems to be less shy, that's good... I guess,' Lukas thought.

"Well, why do you not go to play outside while me and Elias talk about adult things?" Tobias asked.

Violett's smile immediately lit up. "Yes! Let's go!" she said as she jumped out of the couch. "Come on, Lukas!" the blonde girl said.

Lukas could not say no to her enthusiasm, so he just jumped out of the couch and walked with her to the garden.

Tobias could only smile at the two children. "Violett doesn't stop speaking about Lukas," he commented.

Elias drank some of his wine and then spoke.

"Well, Lukas is not an unpleasant person after all... for most people, of course," he replied.

Tobias chuckled. "I'm glad. This is helping her to overcome her mother's state. She got worse last week," he said.

Elias raised his brow. "Why do you play the good father when it's just the two of us, Tobias?" he asked.

Tobias smirked.

-----

With Violett and Lukas, they were sitting on one of the benches of the garden. Violett was looking at Lukas beside her with a smile and a slight blush.

"You let your hair grow out? It looks nice," Violett said.

"Thank you. I don't like cutting my hair very much," Lukas replied.

Violett chuckled. "Can I touch it? Your hair?" she asked with a shy expression.

"Sure, go ahead," Lukas said with a slight nod.

Violett gently took a strand of Lukas's hair and caressed it as her blush got deeper. "How can it be? Your hair is silkier than mine," she said before giggling.

'Well, if you washed your hair more often it would get silky too... not gonna lie, though, I feel your pain, it's hard to wash and dry long hair, besides, I get taunted a whole fucking lot because I take a bath everyday. It's unbearable! I'm gonna kill Herman because of it someday!' Lukas thought.

"Do you wanna touch mine now?" Violett asked as she picked one of her strands.

'Mine looks nicer, though,' Lukas thought. "Yeah, sure," he answered.

Violett then smiled and blushed once again, Lukas picked a strand of her hair started caressing it. Violett closed her eyes.

'We really look like two six-year-old lovers! I feel so bad for this!' Lukas thought.

Lukas liked Violett a lot, but he didn't see her as a lover because of the things about inbreeding that he had found out.

After a while, Violett rested her head on Lukas's shoulder, which made him stiffen. 'Calm down, Lukas... empty your mind,' he thought.

After a while, Lukas managed to relax. 'Good. All I can do is not disappointing her anymore,' he thought.

"Don't ever cut your hair, Lukas. It looks so much better like that," Violett said.

'Are you reading my mind?! Just trying to make me feel guiltier for another that I can't do!' Lukas internally complained.

Despite that, he still answered calmly. "Sorry, Violett. I was obliged to promise that I would cut it in a few days," Lukas said.

"Oh, it's a shame," she said it as she kept resting her head on his shoulder. After that, she put her hand on his arm.

After a while, Lukas got used to it and decided relax with her. He couldn't do anything about.

'I bet that she doesn't want her children to be born sick either! It's a win-win situation... probably,' Lukas thought.

The both of them stayed there for the whole time of the meeting. Lukas gently woke up Violett and told her that it was already time for her to leave.

Violett pouted. "What? Already?" she complained in disbelief.

"Well, time goes by faster when you are sleeping, that's normal," Lukas said.

Violett smiled and raised her head. "You are right... like always," she said as she stared at his eyes.

'What are you doing?! Are you trying to gouge the truth out of me?!' Lukas wondered.

After a while, Violett just kissed his cheek. "I guess I'd better get going," she said with a smile.

'Oh, it was just that. What a relief,' he thought.

"I'm going with you too. I have to bid farewell to Tobias too," he said.

Violett nodded her head. "That is true," she said.