Silly, Im Not The Villain!

Chapter Thirteen: You're Grounded

The next day came and again Hope was waking Alex up from his deep slumber. She wondered how he learned to sleep so well. Alex woke up to a beautiful bedroom like the one in the duke's home but not quite the same. The gold yellow and white color scheme, jewels were used for decoration, and there was luxurious furniture used were for the most part the same, but the patterns and placements of different objects were the main difference. He still didn't like the look, but he did like the expensive things.

When he was fully dressed by Hope a knock alerted them someone was there, likely for Alex. He moves to go and open the door, but his trustworthy maid beat him to it, so he remained seated on the now tidy bed.

"Good morning, young master Elias, -" he began.

"Morning." Alex cut him off to greeting him, this caught the butler off guard, but he regained his composure and smiled kindly at him.

"I am Henry, the head butler of the mansion and I've come to guide you to the dining hall for breakfast." he bowed deeply to show respect.

"Mn." and with that he was led to the dining hall with Hope behind Alex, glaring daggers at Henry that he defiantly felt. 'Again with the long hallways? Seriously, no one needs this much space.' but this journey was shorter than the last (lucky Alex) because his bedroom was much closer to the dining hall, so he was there before long.

Henry held the doorknob ready to open the door, but he stopped himself to ask Alex a question, "Are you excited to see your grandparents young master, I heard it's been a long time since you last saw one another?"

'Grandparents? Oh, thank god!' he relaxed his shoulders which both Henry and Hope picked up on. "Yes!" he said with clear hippieness in his voice.

On the other side of the door at the far end of the table sat two elderly people patiently waiting for their youngest grandchild whom they haven't seen in years. His misbehavior being the reason he got him kicked out of family events on multiple occasions. This morning they had heard from their butler about him, unfortunately he didn't have much information for them, only saying that he looked adorable and if it was ok to tease him a little bit (they said yes). Now they are waiting to finally see him after a long, long time.

The door opens to reveal Henry, their ever-loyal butler, a maid, and more importantly, the now Alex Elias.

Alex smiles in a friendly way, though he felt disgusted by his actions. The old man at the end of the table had black and grey hair and prominent wrinkles, but overall looked like the duke, same grey eyes, tall nose bridge, thin lips and handsome but older, much older it seemed. The elderly woman was also beautiful but didn't share as many features with the duke. She had brown and grey hair, blue eyes and fuller lips than the man but still thin.

The older man was surprised at how pretty the child was, he really looked like his mother. When he was younger, he expected him to slowly but surely look more like his son, but it seemed that he only looked more like what he remembers her to look like. He glanced at his wife to see her reaction and it seemed like she was charmed by the beautiful child, though she didn't show it he recognized the signs.

"Goodmorning grandmother and grandfather." he greets them politely.

"Goodmorning Elias, come sit next to me." she was quick to invite him, and Alex complied closely followed by his personal maid as the butler went to aid the old man.

When he sat down next to her, the older gentleman spoke. "It's been a while since we last saw you, and you've grown quite a bit."

"But not as much as I expected, at thirteen your brothers were much taller than you, have you been eating enough?" now she was beginning to dote on him the grandfather noticed.

"I'm sure I'll grow soon, I just hit puberty too." he was dreading going through it again, once was one too many times. So, no thank you.

"Yes, that's true, but even still you are smaller than most 13-year Olds." Alex was getting flash backs to when he was teased for being the shortest in his friend group, but he grew out of it. Eventually.

"You'll need to start eating more from now on then." her husband agreed with her as he began eating.

Hope set his plate in front of him as they began eating breakfast. Alex's plate consisted of bacon, eggs, bread, salad and a sausage. Lately he's been appreciating small things like food a lot more, in some weird turn of events, anything that he's experienced or knows well has suddenly become nostalgic in this unfamiliar world, he's clinging more to anything that is familiar to him, even the smallest things, and is now relishing things like food a lot more. Plus, he's been eating premade travel-friendly food and going to restaurants during the trip, this would be his first breakfast at sort-of-home. So, when he takes a bite of the familiar breakfast, he is filled with bliss and delight, a smile breaks through him as his cheeks get ever so slightly pink, and for a moment, all his worries fade away and is instead replaced with calmness and happiness. The savants opposite him on standby ready to aid the three couldn't help but crack a smile at his delight and the elderly pair along with Henry, Hope and another maid helping stare in awe as Alex takes another bite and sinks deeper into his happy place.

Henry leans down to share his thoughts with his master "Master Conall, please give me permission to pinch his cute cheeks." though he had permission to tease all the grand children of the elderly couple he couldn't really touch them as he liked and never really needed to, but this was different, at least for him. Conall waved him away, and he pouted slightly to show his discontent.

"You seem to be enjoying the food." Conall pointed out.

"Mn!" Alex hummed in agreement.

"Then you should eat more." his wife said as she put another sausage on his plate.

This breakfast went much better than the first breakfast he ever had in this new world, so much so that he hoped for more breakfasts like this in the future. The couple finished their meal first then waited for Alex to finish his meal.

"I'm sure you already know that you are grounded and will be restricted for the duration of your stay, but I'll go over the rules one more time before you go. You cannot leave this mansion unless absolutely necessary, you cannot invite guests for any reason, and you have to study for a minimum of three hours a day until the last week of summer." He added that last part in deciding to be a bit more lenient towards him. "Are we clear?"

"Yes." This was more convenient for him anyway.