Blood and Lineage
"So, how's your training?" Vivian asked Duke as they ate dinner.
Duke looked at Vivian who was obviously holding in her laughter as she stared at his swollen face.
[Is she one of those sadists that like seeing their loved ones in pain?] Duke thought as he didn't really find his face being swollen like this as something funny.
Sadly for Duke, however, was that his bloated face was indeed truly something very funny to look at.
The Knights only forced themselves not to laugh so as not to discourage Duke from his training.
"Hehe, I guess you could say it went really well! I think I can even fight with Byran equally now even if I'm surrounded by other enemies!" Duke recounted his distorted recollection of this morning's training.
"You think he's dead- I mean down?" Dan, one of the old Knights, asked.
"He should be dea- down" Byran replied, (not) regretting his accidental show of force that lead to Duke's incapacitation.
"Well~ I guess that's it then. Time for lunch" Byran dusted himself.
"Raaghh!" But just as Byran turned his back, Duke suddenly came lunging in at him.
*Pak* "Yhes Ah didit! (Yes I did it!)" Duke victoriously said as he fell unconscious.
"""...""" The Knights pityingly stared at Duke who was incapacitated right in front of the rock he hit that was next to Byran.
Out of courtesy, love, and understanding (Pity) for Duke, the Knights decided it would be better to tell him he hit Byran instead so as not to hurt his feelings.
And so Duke's (false) tales of his great training exploits with the Knights continued.
"And that is how I learned my new secret move... I call it 'The Silent Killer'…" Duke bragged to Vivian who could think of nothing else but a fart due to the euphemism regarding the secret move's name.
[Oh, don't tell me you farted at their faces!] Vivian kept to herself whilst she listened in on Duke's surprisingly colorful storytelling.
"That's the move where I pretend to be incapacitated, then BAM! I attack the enemy's blind spot without him being the wiser!" Duke victoriously gestured as he described the new secret technique he called 'The Silent Killer'. This was the very same technique that managed to bring down the most 'evil' and 'infamous' rock that sat in the center of the Knight's training field.
"Hmm hm, I see" Vivian responded with a genuine smile on her face.
Although she already knew Duke was either exaggerating or greatly misunderstanding something, listening to him tell his fun little stories gave her a weird sense of happiness.
Maybe Vivian simply enjoyed the funny exploits Duke had in the training field or maybe it was the company she enjoyed, having someone to talk to was indeed better than what she had in the Imperial Palace where she was all alone.
In truth, Vivian herself didn't really know, and to be honest, Vivian didn't care... she was happy right now.
"Oh yeah! Vivian, I told you I'd show you my grandpa's sword right? Let's go right now... I mean we can rest for one day, right?" Since today was a day of Suvis, Duke hoped his time with Vivian would continue without the usual studying they normally did, since Vivian normally teaches Duke during Suvis-days, Satris-days, and Gwins-days.
On Brons-days and Frodis-days they would take a rest, but since they weren't having their usual lessons, they'd only meet during breakfast and dinner as Vivian was too busy sorting out their Household's books and accounts at her office in the Study Room.
Suvis is the fifth day of the week in the Empire's calendar. The Empire used a calendar different from that of Earth's Gregorian calendar.
Instead, The Empire of Brune used the Pese Calendar or as it's called in their native tongue: The Five-Day Calendar.
But it hasn't always been like that, before the time of Duke's grandfather, the calendar they used was still called the Kaeter Calendar or the Four-Day Calendar.
But it turned to 5 when the 46th Emperor, the previous Emperor's father (Vivian and Varhys' grandfather), honored Gwaine as The Empire's National Hero.
Hence why, Suvis day, Brons day, Satris day, Frodis day, and Gwins day: the five days of the week were named after the 5 National Heroes of Brune.
Suvis day, or the first day, was named after Vasuvius Alastor Brune I, The First (Emperor), Father of Brune, and dubbed as He, The Central Crown.
Brons day, or the second day, was named after Brandon Charlamagne, Light of Stratholme, Holy Shield of the West.
Satris day, or the third day, was named after Satrius De Midici, The Merchant of Medici, Golden Spear of The East.
Frodis day, or the fourth day, was named after Frodo Von Bizmach, The Iron Wall, Iron Hammer of the North.
And finally, Gwins day, or the fifth day, was named of course after Gwaine Pendragon, The Great Dragon (The Wych Ddraig), Blazing Sword of the South.
"Fine, I guess we can have a day off with your studies. I am quite interested in that sword after all…" Vivian relented, as she felt it was finally time to answer one of the many questions that constantly plagued her mind.
During their journey from the Imperial Palace towards Maine, Duke constantly mentioned his grandfather's name which was 'Gwaine'.
This interested Vivian as Duke's grandfather suspiciously had the same exact name as one of the national heroes of Brune!
And of course, since that name was on every calendar it incited Vivian's curiosity.
Vivian didn't really care much for the stories of Brune's National Heroes as she knew the biographies and journals she read of them were extremely censored or dumbed down by the Nobles and the Imperial Family to suit the general public.
But what made Gwaine stand out for Vivian was the striking lack of information about him.
[It was as if he was being erased from history!] Vivian thought at that time.
This was the reason why Vivian studied Gwaine a little bit more than the other heroes, but she quit midway as she couldn't find any more relevant information about him…
When they got up in the attic one thought entered her mind.
[Impossible…] Vivian thought.
Right in front of her was the very depiction of the sword and armor Gwaine once used that she had read within the Palace library.
Vivian already knew that the name Gwaine and Pendragon put together was too big of an accident to be a mere coincidence.
But since Vivian simply could not connect the figure of a Legendary War Hero and the figure of the fat chubby man in front of her that couldn't hurt a fly even if he wanted to, it never crossed Vivian's mind that...
[Yes, it must be a coincidence... Yes, a coincidence! A lot of people in the Empire are named Gwaine! And Pendragon's a pretty common last name too, right? I know at least 5 random Noble families with Pendragon as their last name!] Vivian tried to rationalize the irrefutable truth being slapped right in her face.
"Duke, can I see a picture of your grandfather?" Vivian tried to ask for more evidence to relieve her itching curiosity.
"Oh, okay? Sure why not…" Duke showed her a painted picture of his grandfather.
*Phew* Vivian sighed when she saw the picture of his grandpa.
The painting looked exactly like Duke except older and had long white hair and a magnificent glorious beard. To describe him in two words would be that he looked like 'Santa Claus'.
But then her healing rationale was broken once more when Duke took out another painting.
"This is a painting of my grandpa when he was younger. Look he could even fit his armor back then!" Duke showed Vivian a painting of a younger Gwaine gloriously wearing his armor.
Vivian looked at the gloriously handsome War Hero in the painting, then she looked at his older chubby painting, then she looked at his grandson.
Vivian was visibly shocked even though she already subconsciously knew that she had married right into the family of The Great Dragon himself!
Sadly, Vivian's brain still couldn't connect the two as if the two ideas were too foreign from each other to even be included in the same sentence.
Duke saw her puzzled face as he explained: "Yeah, I know it's quite hard to believe that they're the same person, but grandpa said he became fatter as he grew older!"
"No one can beat old age, I guess…" Duke sighed at the inevitability of old age.
[Duke... if that's his older version, then you grew old too fast!] Vivian cried in her head as she thought:
[Would Duke be handsome if he was younger?... No, no, he might look like that but he's only one year older than me, right? Or is he?!] Vivian began to wonder if Duke was actually secretly 50+ already.
"My grandpa's cool right?" Duke enthusiastically asked Vivian.
"Yes, he is... 'cool' would be an understatement. I mean he is an international Hero of all Humankind, after all…" Vivian explained to Duke.
"Yeah... my grandpa was indeed my hero!" Duke misunderstood as he sighed, remembering his sweet loving grandfather.
"No no, I meant he's literally a 'National Hero' of you know: 'Brune' and everywhere else!" Vivian explained in even more detail.
"Wait, what?!" Duke asked as his eyes suddenly began inquisitively imploring Vivian to tell him more.
And so, Vivian, a person unrelated to Duke and his lineage, had to narrate to Duke his own family's history…
"W-WHAT?! Gwins day came from my grandfather's name?!... Like literally from my chubby old grandpa's name?! So that's why he always flinched every time I said 'I hate Gwinsday'... I thought he just didn't like me hating on school is all... I'm so sorry grandpa!!!" Duke lamented.
Gwinsday was just like the Monday of the Gregorian Calendar, It's the day of the week where school started for every Noble child in the Imperial Academy.
While Duke was talking, Vivian's sight drifted towards a painting of a beautiful couple.
"Woah~…" Vivian couldn't help but gasp at the looking perfect couple.
[It was like they were made for each other!] Vivian thought.
The woman had black straight hair and a very serious face, but even that unsmiling visage didn't subtract at all from her beauty. No, in fact, it even added to it making her look like the Cold Ice Queen of the North from the Northern folktales Vivian had once read about, looking down on everyone from atop her icy Frozen Palace.
While the man, on the other hand, had eyes so piercing and a smile so confident that anyone who saw him might mistake him for Emperor Gaiseric - Considered as the greatest Emperor-Warlord in history, whose Empire, to this day, is still considered to be the largest ever in Human history by many scholars and historians.
Yes, that was how dashing the man in the Painting was with his silky black hair and the roguishly criminal vibe he exuded. It was as if, like Gaiseric, he could own three continents and maybe an extra Kingdom to boot simply with that sly yet confident smile of his.
Duke noticed Vivian staring at the Painting behind him as he stated: "Oh those are my parents…" indifferently pointing it out as if what he said was nothing to be proud about.
*Flinch* Vivian staggered as she heard Duke speak out the foreign words: "My parents"
Vivian simply could not put the couple in the painting and Duke together in the same plane of existence, heck even putting them in the same species was already stretching it too far.
[Wait! You had parents?!] Vivian truly wanted to sarcastically ask as she almost genuinely believed that Duke *poofed* out of existence from the great void, hence his overtly corpulent and fleshy stature. (He fat!)
"Yeah yeah, I know. They look too beautiful to be my parents... Maybe I was adopted?" Duke sighed as he lamented his current obesity.
[Adopted is an understatement! You're like a different race altogether!] Vivian shouted in her mind.
Vivian looked at the three men: The legendary hero grandfather, the roguishly dashing father, and the weird obese son whose face was currently swollen like marshmallows. And a new dream welled up inside of Vivian's heart.
[Looking at Gwaine and his father, it's simply impossible that Duke's genes would be this bad! Then It must be the fat!] Vivian realized.
"Duke…" Vivian sternly called out, her voice weirdly hung up on something.
"Y-Yes?" Duke stuttered.
"Duke, I think we need to make ALOT of changes in your diet..." Vivian said with much conviction.
"Y-Yes ma'am…" Duke stuttered once more, fearing the maniacally fanatic aura that Vivian was exuding.
This was the day that Vivian vowed that she would forcibly continue the Pendragon's lineage of producing beautiful people!
[At all costs!] Vivian swore.
Even if she dies, Vivian will do all she can in her power to make sure that she erases Duke's moniker of 'The Fat'.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JPJaphet
JPJaphet Hello~! Japhet here!
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