Serin nodded, her hands resting on her lap, watching intently. She would not touch anything until he told her.
Min-jae moved to the small flasks again. "When I pour the extract, I do it slowly with a steady hand. Watch closely. Pour here first, then into this one. This keeps the sll clean. If you rush, the perfu becos weak and muddled."
He then demonstrated how to combine a little flower extract with a little fruit essence in the flask. "See how it sits? That is how you control the sll. Without being too fast or slow. You only need patience."
He glanced at Serin. "Do you understand so far?"
"Yes, sir.." she said softly. "I think I do."
"Good." Min-jae set the Alembic aside and picked up a small glass bottle. "This is for keeping the finished scent. Nothing more. Pour from the flask here. Keep it upright. Cover it. That is all. When you use it, shake just a little so the sll spreads. Not too much, or it will escape."
Serin repeated his motions silently with her hands, trying to mimic him without touching anything.
Min-jae watched her, satisfied. "That is all for now."
Even though he had not told Serin everything, he had written what he needed.
All that was left was to find suppliers that would deliver him fresh goods everyday.
Maybe he could even start a little brewery on the side.
He didn’t know how common iced drinks we’re or how easy it would be to find ice.
If not selling so ice fruit juice wasn’t a bad idea.
He was done with the shed now, his mind drifted off to ical, he hoped for a little bit, his family would be lenient with him.
But it was far from that.
The garden was peaceful, with roses scenting the warm air. ical and his mother sat at a small table, tea and biscuits untouched. The maids waited silently nearby.
Tatiana sipped her tea with a detached elegance that had always unsettled ical. He fidgeted, feeling a growing dread. He had to ask, even though it might hurt.
"Did you co to see ?" he whispered. "Did I an anything to you? Was I ever part of your world.."
Tatiana laughed coldly, like glass shattering.
"You think I ca for you?" she said finally, voice light, cruelly casual. "Do you think your existence has ever mattered to ? That for one second, I felt anything toward you?"
Pain flared in his chest. It was a sudden, deep, hollow ache that seed to expand with every heartbeat.
"I... I..." ical’s throat tightened, his words failing him. He wanted to ask more, to protest, to plead, but he could not find the sound.
Tatiana’s next words were worse.
Words no child should ever hear from a parent.
Words so cold, so precise in their cruelty, that they crushed any fragile hope he had clung to for decades.
"You were a mistake. From the day you were born, a burden I did not want. Every breath you took was mine wasted. Every hope I saw in your eyes was foolishness. You should have died the mont you ca into this world, but I allowed you to live... for no reason but my own rcy."
The weight of them struck him in the chest like a hamr.
His hands shook.
His vision blurred.
And his knees threatened to buckle.
"Why?" he whispered, his voice breaking. "Why did you let live if you hated so much? Why... why did you let leave if I was nothing to you?"
Tatiana’s eyes did not soften. Her smile was faint, but it carried a hint of disdain.
"Because even then, I knew I could leave you to your own failures. I did not need to watch you waste what little potential you had. I gave you a chance to survive, though you should have known better than to expect love from ."
ical’s fists clenched until his nails dug into his palms. Tears stread down his face like a damn that has broken loose.
Thirty years of indifference, of neglect, of veiled insults and silent contempt, had culminated in this mont.
Her words quenched the tiniest flicker of hope he had that maybe, just maybe she had loved him in the slightest.
Tatiana sipped her tea again, unbothered by the storm of grief unfolding before her. Her eyes flicked once toward him, briefly, but held no warmth.
Only the cold acknowledgnt of a mother who had spoken her hatred freely, without pause or guilt.
ical’s vision blurred further. He could not look at her. He could not even begin to process the sheer cruelty of it.
Thirty years of yearning for a fragnt of love, thirty years of hoping for approval, for even a glance of care, had been extinguished in a few, rciless sentences.
ical’s hands trembled at his sides. His chest heaved, a storm of emotion crashing through him. The coldness, the cruelty, the laughter, it all collided into one unbearable weight.
He stood abruptly, knocking his chair back.
The sound rang sharp in the garden, startling the maids who stood silently in the background.
"Why?" His voice was low, rough, breaking. "Why didn’t you... love ? Why couldn’t you love ..."
Tatiana raised an eyebrow, tilting her head slightly, as if this was the most absurd question in the world.
"Why did you... choose Aleksandr over , over and over again?" His voice rose, cracking with a mix of grief and fury.
"He was—he is—the son you cherished the most most."
ical stepped closer, his chest heaving with emotion. "I’m better now.." he said, his voice shaking. "I’m richer, stronger, a governor... I’m twice the man Aleksandr will ever be. But you... you’ll never look at with anything but disdain."
Tatiana’s expression didn’t change. Her lips curled into a faint, mocking smile. As though ical’s words didn’t get to her.
"What did I do?" ical’s voice cracked with desperation. "What did I do to deserve this? You cursed with your hatred the mont I was born... why? Why didn’t you.."
His voice caught. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "...Why didn’t you just kill in a corner when I was born? Why let live if every mont of my life was going to be filled with your loathing?"
The words hung in the air between them like knives. Tatiana’s eyes narrowed slightly, the first sign of any shift, but her lips remained cold, her posture unmoved.
"I gave you life," she said finally, voice cutting and deliberate. "That was rciful enough. Do not mistake it for love. You have never been loved by , and you never will be."
ical staggered back as if struck. His knees nearly gave way beneath him. Tears stread freely down his face.
His mouth opened, but no words could co.
Only ragged, broken breaths escaped.
For thirty years, he had harbored a fragile hope, a single spark that perhaps, even in small ways, she had cared.
That perhaps, beneath the cold, beneath the disdain, a mother’s heart had existed for him.
It had been a lie. A cruel, malicious lie he had unknowingly cherished.
His fists pounded the air helplessly. "Why?!" he cried, voice echoing across the manicured garden. "Why?! Just why!"
ical understood now, his mother would never love him, he wasn’t part of her world
He was foolish to ever consider himself her son just because she gave birth to him.
ical swallowed hard, a tremor running through his chest as he stared at her, this woman who had given him life and nothing else.
His tears still wet on his cheeks, his voice cracked open again, but this ti no longer in pleading.
All he felt was rage now.
"I hate you.." he said, the words leaving him in a whisper that trembled but did not break. "I hate you and I hate the fact that you’re part of my life."
Tatiana blinked once, slowly, as if mildly inconvenienced.
ical took a step back, his fists clenched at his sides, his breathing sharp and unsteady.
"Don’t ever co to my house and demand respect again. Don’t ever sit here and act like you’re owed sothing from ."
His voice rose, filled with years of swallowed pain.
"This is the last respect I’ll ever give you as my mother. The very last."
Tatiana’s lips parted, but she remained silent.
ical shook his head, a quiet, bitter laugh escaping.
"Get out when the sun rises. Leave my estate. Leave my life."
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