The quiet rhythm of the Hayes estate continued to move around Leon.
Every day was same for him. He spent most of his time eating, going around estate with his mother or sometimes with his father and then sleeping. He remained a silent observer during this period. It felt to others like he listened to their conversations attentively likely to learn or figure out what they meant.
He did not cry or scream when his clothes were wet nor did he make any sound when he needed something. Instead, he simply waited for someone to notice or used his hands to gesture toward himself.
Nowadays, Vera was resting from her main duties and had no immediate outside work to handle so she had decided to take care of Leon by herself. She had decided against hiring a personal nanny or maid for Leon, for the time being.
Still, on some days, she had minor estate chores that required her attention so she would assign a maid, mostly assigning Hanna, to ensure Leon would remain safe while she went to complete her tasks.
At first, Leon’s complete lack of normal baby noises made Hanna nervous and uncomfortable as she was used to infants who babbled or cried constantly. But as time went on, she adapted to his quiet nature.
And just like that, two whole months passed in a blur of quiet and identical days.
Vera had left early to oversee the delivery of household supplies in the storehouses, leaving Hanna to take care of Leon.
’I always wait for this day, it’s so relaxing. It’s like getting a day off,’ Hanna thought as she was mending a woolen sweater and watched Leon. He lay on his stomach upon a soft blanket on the floor.
Leon was focused on his own thoughts. ’I have memorized the words but can I say them clearly,’ he thought. ’I will have to start with small and easy words.’
He also looked down at his arms and legs. ’Am I strong enough to crawl yet? Mother said I am stronger than normal babies,’ he thought as he braced himself to crawl.
With a slight shift in weight, Leon pulled his knees underneath his stomach and pressed his palm flat against the floor. He began to crawl across the blanket with high focus and coordination.
The sudden sound made Hanna look up from her sewing. She froze in shock as her finger stiffened around the needle. She watched as Leon crawled smoothly across the floor without a single fall.
Leon stopped in front of Hanna and sat there. He slowly looked up and became confused at why Hanna was shocked. He steadied his breath as he was about to say something.
"Water. Please bring me water, Hanna," Leon said.
The words were not mangled but came out a little high as he didn’t have habit of speaking yet. Hanna let out a sharp shocked shriek. She stood up abruptly as the chair was knocked over. Without saying anything she ran out of the room as she screamed looking for the Viscountess.
"My Lady! My Lady Vera! Come quickly!" Hanna’s loud voice echoed through the corridors.
Leon was even more puzzled. ’She ran off without even giving me a glass of water, what a weird maid,’ he thought as he sighed. He crawled back to his blanket and sat calmly waiting for his mother’s arrival.
Vera was near the courtyard where the main warehouse of House Hayes stood. Inside she was with Roland. The workers were already guided towards the finance division to collect their wages.
They were alone in the warehouse re-checking the supplies. She was educating Roland on how to handle different household matters. It was Roland’s everyday routine to check or learn something from his parents or Butler Thomas.
As they were talking, Hanna came running, opening the warehouse doors. Her face was a little pale and her breath came in short gasps. She had run the entire distance from the room without stopping as she wanted to inform Lady Vera about this. Her hands were shaking so much that she could barely point back toward the main house.
Vera dropped the inventory ledger she was holding as her maternal instincts flared instantly. Roland moved fast, his body shifting to stand slightly ahead of his mother to shield her. He scanned Hanna for signs of an attack or any danger. He was reacting instinctively to a potentially serious situation and taking a protective stance toward his mother.
"What is it, Hanna? Why are you here and What happened to Leon?" Vera demanded. Her voice was sharp with a small hidden hint of panic as she walked towards Hanna, stepping past Roland.
"The young master... he" Hanna stammered as she gripped her apron tightly to stop her hands from trembling. "He is crawling, my lady! He crawled towards me and then... then he looked at me and asked for water!"
A bright and joyous smile broke across Vera’s face easing the brief moment of panic. She let out a soft laugh and turned towards Roland as she was showing how proud she was.
"He is crawling already?" Vera said as her voice was filled with pure happiness. "Oh, my clever little boy! He is only two months old and he is already moving around the room! But we have to check whether his bones are healthy enough or not."
Roland’s stern expression softened as a faint grin appeared on his face. He was impressed by his brother’s physical strength. "He truly has our father’s drive, Mother. It is quite a rare feat to crawl this early."
Vera turned back to the trembling maid. She completely misunderstood the water part of the story. She naturally assumed that the young infant had simply pointed his finger toward a cup or made a clumsy baby gesture toward his mouth.
"And he made a gesture for water, you say? He must have pointed at his little cup! He is so smart, Hanna. He already knows how to communicate exactly what he needs without throwing a tantrum."
"No... no, My Lady, you do not understand," Hanna whispered as her voice was shaking. She tried to correct the misunderstanding. "He did not just point. He spoke. He said the words clearly!"
"Of course he did, Hanna," Vera said warmly as she nodded with a smile. She patted the maid’s shoulder. She assumed Hanna was simply caught up in the excitement and exaggerating the baby’s cute babbling noises.
"Babies often make sweet little sounds that sound just like real words when they want something. Let us go see our little crawler."
Leaving the warehouse logs behind, Vera hurried back toward the residential wing with quick and eager steps. Roland also walked right alongside her to see his brother. His long strides easily kept pace with her as they made their way through the corridors to celebrate the baby’s new milestone.
When Vera pushed open the door, she found Leon sitting perfectly upright in the middle of his blanket. The knocked over chair and scattered sewing kit still lay on the floor but the room was completely peaceful.
Leon looked up at them, his face was entirely calm as he watched his family enter. ’It feels like he was waiting for us. My baby is so smart,’ Vera thought as she walked towards Leon. Roland and Hanna followed behind her.
Vera dropped to her knees on the edge of the blanket. "Hanna, you should have placed the sewing kit somewhere safe and out of reach. It could have been dangerous for Leon," Vera said sternly as she scooped up Leon with her arms and pressed a kiss against his cheeks.
"Sorry, My Lady. I will clean this up now," Hanna apologized as she began picking up the scattered needles.
"Look at you, my little champion." Vera cheered, holding him up proudly. "Hanna said you crawled all the way across the floor and wanted a drink, didn’t you? Let me get it for you."
Roland came closer holding a glass of water. "No need to bring it, mother. Here it is. A glass of water," he said as he was about to give the glass to his mother.
Leon looked at his mother’s joyful face and then glanced over at Roland who was nodding in quiet approval. He realized that they had misunderstood the situation completely.
’They probably thought Hanna was exaggerating the situation. I should clear up the situation now,’ he thought as he prepared to speak again as he took a short breath.
"Mother, Hanna did not misunderstand." Leon said, his voice came out a little high in the room. "I did not point towards the cup. I spoke to her directly."
Vera froze as her joyous laughter died and her hands locked tightly around him. She gently lowered him and stared at her little over two month old son in absolute shock. She was happy but was also thinking of consequences if any word of this gets outside. She briefly looked at the young maid then back at her son.
Behind Vera, Roland’s jaw dropped. His arms dropped heavily to his sides as the realization hit him. The glass of water remained in his grip. He was shocked to his core as he didn’t expect to hear this kind of speech from his baby brother.
Hanna was also shocked again. She paused her work as she stared at young master Leon. But she was also delighted and grinned looking at shocked faces of Lady Vera and Master Roland.