“And it’s not like we expect you to just dive in and get everything from the beginning!” Kedrin added, his nerves growing more obvious as he rambled. “We have a very large teaching staff that is more than willing to assist with questions! All academy resources are at your disposal! I’m sure our library has books that even you haven’t—”

Kedrin was still rambling about job benefits when Aldric cut him off. “You really thought I’d go for this?”

The question came out sharper than he’d intended, and Kedrin’s mouth snapped shut at the anger in his voice. Zasia finally looked Aldric in the eye, wearing a glare to match his own.

“It’s not like we’re interrupting a busy time in your life, Aldric,” she answered curtly. “You can’t just spend the rest of you days wallowing in regret and self-pity. It’s time to grow up and actually live for once. This will be good for you and give you something to work towards.”

Aldric didn’t like the haughty and domineering tone she was using, like this was all already decided for him and he just needed to get with the program. “Since when has it been up to the two of you how I should live my life?”

“Since you became entirely reliant on me for finances.” Zasia’s facade of a polite noblewoman was slipping in the wake of her obvious frustration. “Aldric, I’ve been remarkably patient with you, but you’ve become little better than a vagrant. I’ve given you seven years to pull yourself together, doing absolutely everything in my power to help you get there, and yet you still refuse to change for the better. Now I’m going to make you. Either you can take a job here at the academy as a professor, or you can find someone else to coddle you. Good luck finding someone more patient than I am!”

“Zasia, maybe that’s a bit—” Kedrin began, but Zasia talked over him, finally losing her composure. This had obviously been building up in her for a long time.

“No, Kedrin, I’m done making excuses for him! Aldric, every night you come home stumbling drunk or covered in bruises from some stupid brawl you got into, and that’s on the nights that you come home at all! If I had a gold piece for every night I spent up late, waiting and worrying and wondering if you had died in a ditch somewhere, I’d own the entire Rhagian empire! Do you really expect me to just watch you wither away into nothing? Do you think I took care of you all this time just to let you become a degenerate with no future?”