It has been two weeks since he went back from the future and he was now facing his greatest challenge: Drinking this lemon tea he hated. As soon as he woke up, he was greeted by a smiling old man and was handed a lemon tea to drink. He looked at the cup of lemon tea intently, wishing that it will disappear which earned a snicker from the old man. He looked at the old man with a piercing gaze and looked back at the cup. He closed his eyes and braced himself from the incoming sourness of the lemon tea. He drank the tea in one gulp,  his face grimaced as he gave the empty teacup to his butler. 

"Well done, Young Master," the benign old man praised but Cale wasn't happy with that. He got up and washed his face and was helped to get dressed. He then went to the dining room to eat with his parents and they talked about important stuffs and some trivial things.

"Cale, I received a report that you stopped attending your classes. You didn't attend a single one starting from two weeks ago," Deruth said. Cale looked at his father and observed his expression. 

"I find the classes boring, Dad," he replied. Deruth and Jour looked at him and they met his eyes. They could see that their son was not lazing around and was telling the truth.

"I have learnt and understood the lessons by myself without problems, Dad," he continued.

"I-I see, I'll tell your instructors not to come anymore," his Dad answered. Jour looked at his son who was eating his meal slowly, and patted his head. 

"My son is truly a genius!" she cheered which earned a small laugh from the redhead boy. The three of them continued eating and once they're done, Deruth went back to his office to continue his work. Jour invited Cale to the garden to have some quality time together. 

They entered the garden and sat in the pavilion at the center. The servants then placed their snacks and refreshments and Jour told them to give them some time alone. No servants were present within their vicinity. The mother and son pair were talking about some stuffs, interesting and not-so-interesting things. From time to time, they were laughing from what they were talking. Cale also tells her some stories he came across their library and his mother just listened to him intently. She could see how bright his son was, the elementals around him were listening to him as well which amused her so much. She couldn't see them properly, but somehow she could hear them giggling next to her son. 

"Ah, I could see my son is enjoying his time in the library I could barely see him in the manor," Jour said in seemingly sad tone. Cale looked at his mother with a flustered expression which earned a laugh from his mother. Cale pouted from his mother's childish gesture, but laugh it off as well.

"Come here, Cale," she said as she gestured Cale to sit on her lap. He followed but was slightly reluctant to sit there.

"It's okay to act like a child, my dear," she said as she lifted Cale and placed him, securing him, on her lap. Cale looked at her mother with a questioning gaze, he didn't dare to speak. Afraid of what his beloved mother would react. Jour hugged the small child in her arms and gently patted his back, reassuring him that everything would be alright. That action made Cale gripped on her mother's sleeve.

"I know about your time but I do not know what had happened to you, I just knew that it changed. It wasn't just warped but it changed. I don't know the cause, but I guess it is for good?" she said, quite unsure how to phrase them properly. Cale just nodded and slowly lifted his head.

"Mom, may I ask about what Blood of Thames means?" he finally had the courage to ask about it. 

"I see, so you met him. You must have heard the gist about it from that individual, that is actually what I know about it. Not much information was shared to me when I was still living in the House of Thames," his mother answered. 

"But know this, my dear, whatever gift you might possess in the future, use it for what you think is for the best. The power you inherited from me is different from the gift you will receive in the near future," she added.

"So the gift isn't the thing that sprouts whenever we're happy or something?"

"Yes, it is different. I don't know why, but it is already in our nature, anyone who inherited the blood of Thames, to grow plants, vegetation and anything related to it."

"I see, does mom has a gift as well?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't get one. I was not the one who received it in my generation." 

"Oh, so your brother or your cousins received it?" 

"Nope, it suddenly stopped. The gift stopped from blessing our blood, and you might be the first after two decades." Cale was shocked from what he heard. They continued talking about the gifts that the Blood of Thames received until they finally switched to another topic. 

After having a fruitful teatime, Cale and Jour went out to stroll around their city. People greeted them and Cale finally was able to enjoy his time with his mother. 

Even though his mother's body was weak, Jour tried her best to spend most of her time to his son. They explored around the city, they read in the library, they had teatime together and sometimes with his father as well, they sometimes invaded the kitchen learning how to cook and many more. There were also times where the three of them slept together, much joy for their son. Everything went smoothly as Cale let his guard down.

One day, he woke up late and searched for his mother as soon as he opened his eyes. He was still wearing his night clothes, as he walked around their house. He suddenly had a foreboding feeling and it made him uncomfortable. He reached his father's office and entered without knocking, throwing aside the etiquette he was forced to learn. He was greeted by his father whose eyebrow was raised.

"What's the matter, Cale? And what are you wearing going around the house?" he asked, and continued to work on his papers.

"Where's mom?" Cale immediately asked, Deruth looked at his son and was surprised by the little boy's expression. He was paler than usual and he could feel, as a father, that something was wrong. 

"Your mother went to Harris Village to do something, she said she will be back immediately after she's done, why?" his father answered. Cale suddenly felt his body heating up as he plopped down on the floor. Deruth immediately stood and went to Cale's side.

"Are you alright, Cale?" he asked and placed his palm on his forehead after seeing his son's red yet pale face. The redhead didn't answer, but heavy heaves of breathe could be heard from him. He was now certain that his son was breaking out a fever. 

"Ron, bring my son to his chambers and call the doctor immediately," Deruth ordered Ron which the latter immediately abide, he carried his Young Master back to his bedroom. 

The maid that followed them placed the basin with water and towel on his bedside cabinet. Ron wiped his sweat off his body and changed his clothes to a new one. Without much time passed, the doctor arrived and immediately examined the Young Master. His father was by his side, waiting for the result of the doctor's examination. 

"Count, the Young Master's condition is not severe but we have to observe him attentively. He might have been stressed out lately that his body gave out, I will be prescribing these medicine for him to take," the doctor said. 

"I see, thank you. Ron, take note of the medicine he'll prescribe," Deruth said. He approached Cale and sat on his side. He caressed his son's head, he could see crease in between his eyebrows and tears were visible in his tightly closed eyes. He's in pain, he thought, if only I could take his pain away from him.

Cale's brows furrowed as he gripped his chest, he was also breathing heavily as if he was having a nightmare. Cale wanted to prevent his mother's upcoming death but was being prevented by invisible chains all around his body to the point he could not move. The chains tightened whenever he tried to move, and it gets hotter the more he forced himself to move. He knew the reason why he was being chained like that and only one thought came into his conclusion: He was not allowed to interfere with his mother's fate. This thought hurt him the most, he couldn't let any sound. All he could do was close his eyes and cry silently as the most painful scene played in his mind.

That night, it was raining very hard and Jour arrived home but was gravely injured from the carriage accident based on the reports of the knights who accompanied her. Deruth found it weird that Jour was the only one heavily injured while the others only received light injuries. He was angry beyond belief, he was not angry at the people around him but to himself as he watched his wife and son in pain. He couldn't do anything but to wait for the good news to come. The servants kept coming in and out of the room where his wife was, he could see basins and towel filled with blood. He paled and worries for his wife and prayed for her to be safe. 30 minutes passed, all the noise coming from the other side of the door stopped. The people inside went out one by one with saddened expression, unable to look at the Count. Finally, the doctor went out and delivered the heartbreaking news. 

Cale woke up deep in the night and found Ron sitting beside him. He had a sad expression, and he already knew why. Cale's eyes shook along with his body. 

"Ron, did mom come home?" he asked. Ron took a deep breath before answering.

"Yes, Young Master."

"Is she alright?" Ron didn't answer. He already knew what was happening but he couldn't help but to rush to his mother's side. Ron followed him behind, and when they reached the Countess' room, what met them was the Count blankly staring at the door in front of him.

"Dad?" Cale called. The Count didn't look at his son, he didn't even know tears were already falling from his cheeks. Cale held his father's shaking hand and gestured Ron to open the door. Deruth flinched and they both saw their beloved wife(mother) lying cold and unmoving. They slowly approached her bed and looked at her. Cale held his mother's cold hand and placed it on his forehead. Unbeknownst to him, something broke inside of him as he cried loudly for the second time after waking up in the past. He couldn't do anything again to save his mother from her fate. Deruth crouched down and hugged his son who was crying uncontrollably, Cale instinctively hugged his father back. Both of them were crying their hearts out, and Cale released all the emotions swirling inside of him. Rain fell hard on Rain City that day as two people grieved from the lost of their loved one. 

What's the point of going back into the past if I can't even save the person I loved and treasured the most.

One week passed after the burial of his mother, Cale stared blankly towards the window. No energy was left from his small body. No matter how much he slept, he still felt tired. His father didn't visit him after that day, Ron was starting to get worried to his Young Master. He was currently eating alone in the big dining room.

"Where's dad?" asked Cale.

"He was currently working in his office," Ron answered.

"I see," Cale replied and continued to eat slowly. After five mouthfuls of food, he felt full and stopped eating. 

He walked back to his room and met his father along the way. Cale looked at him but his father avoided his gaze with a pained expression. Deruth couldn't bear to look at the child who resembled his dead wife so much. This, too, didn't change, Cale thought as he walked passed his father. He kept his tears from falling as he repeats what had already happened. It pained him to experience the same twice. Much to his heartbreak, he quickly ran towards his room and slammed his door. He threw himself on his bed and muffled his cries. Ron, who stealthily followed his Young Master, couldn't helped but be saddened by this.

Even though his mind and soul was older than his father, he still couldn't help but grieve over his mother's death. He thought he won't cry from this again, but he was wrong. His mother's death, and his father avoided him hurt him more than he could ever imagined. 

The next day, his father went on a vacation leaving him alone in their cold house.

//TBC

A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading again! I hope that I properly executed the scenes here. Kindly leave your comments and opinion in this chapter. See you next chapter!