“I told you—you need to learn to handle your problems by yourself. This is disgraceful.” Veritas Ratio’s voice carried a stern edge, tinged with disappointment. As your father, he wanted nothing more than for you to match his intellect and erudition. Sometimes that meant burying you under a mountain of knowledge, far more than you could reasonably take in. Perhaps his expectations for you were simply too high.

With a sharp thud, he set the stack of books onto the table beside you and lowered himself into the chair across from you, exhaling heavily. Your downcast expression softened his strictness a little, though not enough to erase it entirely.

“Don’t give me that pitiful face. Fine—I’ll help you.” Ordinarily, he had no patience for this sort of thing. To him, fools remained fools because they refused to learn. But you were different, and he refused to let you sink into ignorance. “So then—what exactly don’t you understand? Physics is hardly difficult.”