"Shit, Ross, I was just with the girls..."
Splat...
Before Leon could finish, a snowball slammed squarely into his face, stuffing the unfinished words right back down his throat.
When the snowball slid off naturally, Leon ground out each word:
"We were training. Super. Sense."
Hearing him say they were training, Rosvisser hurriedly put down the second half-formed snowball in her hands, stood up, and patted the snow off her palms.
"I thought you were just having a snowball fight, hahaha~"
"I bet you were aiming for my face on purpose."
"Busted. Which reminds me, I hereby declare a new family rule in the Melkvey household."
Leon blinked, lifted a brow, and asked curiously:
"What new family rule?"
"Every winter during our snowball fight, youâre not allowed to dodge the snowballs I throw."
"...That counts as mild domestic violence in the Empire."
Rosvisser crossed her arms under her chest, a faint smile curling her lips. She stepped softly across the snow to stand before him, lifted her eyes to his, and said gently:
"What? Donât you want me to be here with you every winter from now on?"
So thatâs what this is about. Leonâs cheeks flushed. It was more than ten degrees below freezing outside, yet his face burned hot.
He turned his head away, scratching his hair to change the subject.
"If youâd said that earlier, Iâd have married you sooner."
Rosvisser folded her arms and glanced at the daughters.
"As if Iâd ever let you get off easy listening to my sweet talk."
She had never been someone who liked trouble or winding paths, but when it came to Leon, Rosvisser would go to any length, pay any cost, to wrest some advantage from him.
After a few jokes, Rosvisser asked softly:
"So the first step of training is just dodging snowballs? Isnât that too simple? With Noaâs reflexes, dodging what Moon and Aurora throw should be childâs play, right?"
Hands stuffed in his coat pockets, Leon looked at his daughters alongside her.
"Dodging snowballs alone would be too easy, true. But I told Noa just now, she has to let her body react instinctively, without the brain thinking first. Thatâs the foundation of supersense."
Rosvisser nodded.
"Mm. Alright."
After a bit more watching, the couple noticed something very interesting.
They exchanged a glance. Rosvisser smiled.
"You saw it too?"
Leon nodded.
"Yeah. Noa can dodge Moonâs snowballs, but not Auroraâs."
Rosvisser agreed:
"Exactly. To be precise, if Moon throws ten snowballs, Noa dodges almost all of them. But if Aurora throws ten, Noa dodges maybe one or two."
Moon tended to get caught up by Aurora, and her physical ability was a bit weaker, so technically speaking, Aurora should have a lower hit rate.
But Auroraâs accuracy wasnât just higherâit was frighteningly higher. This wasnât coincidence or just that Aurora had a knack for throwing.
"Youâve guessed the reason too, havenât you?" Rosvisser asked with a smile.
"Mm... Same as how Orion said Aurora had never seen her, but somehow already knew her name."
Leonâs gaze narrowed, eyes falling on the little pink-haired girl.
"Aurora... is using the power of time."
...
After practicing all morning, Noa still hadnât grasped even a shred of supersense technique.
Looks like Dad was rightâitâs about awareness, it canât be rushed. Try too hard, and youâll never learn it.
Leonâs warning before training had worked. Otherwise, even though Noa no longer pressured herself as harshly as before, she would surely have felt dejected and lost.
After lunch, Noa took Moon, Muse, and Xiaoxue to the backyard to build snowmen.
Aurora ate slowly. Once she finished, she hopped down from her chair, ready to join her sisters.
"Wait a second, Aurora."
Leon called her back.
She froze and looked back.
"What is it, Dad?"
"Sit down first. Mom and I want to have a chat with you."
The pink-haired girl blinked, brain racing at full speed.
Three seconds of silence later, she snapped to attention, eyes squeezed shut, standing ramrod straight like a soldier heading to execution, and declared with great force:
"Iâm sorry, Dad! Iâm the one who took the anti-magic stones from your bedroom!"
Leon & Ros: ...
Rosvisser pressed her lips together, looking away, too embarrassed to clarify.
Leon pursed his lips awkwardly, then forced himself to explain:
"No big deal, Aurora. Your mom and I have plenty of those anyway..."
"Aah!"
Rosvisser pinched his waist hard, hissing under her breath:
"Talk. About. The. Point."
Leon quickly nodded and looked back at Aurora.
"Ahem. Actually, your mom and I didnât call you here to talk about anti-magic seals. Itâs something else."
Aurora blinked in confusion.
"Something else? What is it?"
As she asked, she climbed back into her chair.
"Itâs about the power of time," Leon said.
"The power of time..."
She thought a moment and asked:
"Did something happen?"
"Remember the joint exam a while back, when you teamed up with that guard captain from Blazing Sun City, Orion Pyx?" Rosvisser asked.
Aurora nodded.
"I remember. That super cold, really pretty big sister."
"Mm. When your dad and I went to Blazing Sun Clan, we had a short chat with her. So we do know her. After the joint exam, she came to us, saying you somehow knew her name without ever meeting her. She found it strange. So, Aurora, did you use the power of time to learn her name?"
At her motherâs question, Aurora didnât ⧠NĐŸvĐ”Iight ⧠(Original source) hide anything. She admitted readily:
"Mm. To be precise, it was the Web of Time."
Hearing this, the couple exchanged a look. So Leonâs earlier guess had been correct. It wasnât so much precognition as insightâan observation into the Web of Time, which recorded all possibilities.
"I glimpsed part of the Web and saw events unfold, including me asking Orion-sis her name."
Aurora explained in detail:
"So in the real timeline, I didnât need to ask her. I just already knew. Why, Dad, Mom... did I do something wrong? Was I not supposed to use the power of time so freely...?"
"Ah, no, nothing like that. Seeing you handle timeâs power more skillfully makes us happy," Rosvisser said. "So this morning, when you were throwing snowballs so accurately, that was...?"
"Mm-hmm. I searched the Web for the possibilities where I hit Big Sis, then threw each snowball with the angle, force, and timing from those strands."
After a pause, Aurora rubbed her own butt.
"But maybe I got too carried away playing, and ignored the strand where my butt gets punished tonight..."
The couple frowned, then chuckled helplessly, and went on,
"So Aurora, can you already observe the Web of Time at will?"
This time, Aurora shook her head.
"Right now... I canât manage that yet."