A Keen Mind

Several months have passed—No, a year has passed ever since Aiden's birth.

There was no change in how they performed their tasks in taking care of him. The Maids are still cycling on each other while the others kept thinking of ways to make Aiden happy all the time.

Rena and Cian often leave the house for work so they didn't really have that much time to bond with Aiden. But when they do, they make sure that all of their attention is strictly focused on Aiden no matter what.

A week ago, Cian brought Aiden to a special place near the river that he always goes to when he wants to take a break. Apparently, it was actually a dating spot and Cian often take a stroll here with Rena when they were still young.

Aiden seemed to have liked the place so it made Cian happy and promised that they'll keep visiting it until Aiden's familiar.

And then last night, the three ate together at a fancy restaurant that Rena frequently visits. The restaurant was actually owned by her parents and it is pretty prominent throughout the capital.

Mrs. Miyano insisted that they should have a free meal but Rena said she didn't want to disrupt the business so she paid anyway. Mrs. Miyano then treated Aiden to a unique dessert and the three of them recorded Aiden's reaction.

There are a few more happy memories within the past year. Pictures of Cian and Rena are now replaced with Aiden in the middle.

They also traveled to another city for a vacation. Cian made sure that he brought the camera all the time to commemorate all of Aiden's first experiences with them. And before they knew it, one year have passed.

"Alright, let's try this again..." The head maid, Layla, is currently assigned to tend to Aiden right now.

"What are you doing, Miss Layla?" Millie asked.

"I'm teaching little Aiden to walk!" She answered. Excitement can be felt around her as she guided Aiden to pull himself up.

"Are you sure it is okay for him to stand up now? Isn't it dangerous if he suddenly falls?"

"It's fine. We're practicing on a soft bedsheet. Also, I've seen him stand up for quite a while so I thought maybe it is the time for him to take his first step." Layla explained.

According to a few specialists and doctors, our babies strengthen their muscles slowly to prepare for their first steps. Crawling usually happens between six and thirteen months and then they pull themselves up between nine and twelve months.

And between eight and eighteen months, they'll walk for the first time.

It might be a bit too early for Aiden but the fact that he can already stand up in his crib is evidence that he could probably take a step now, which is why Layla is fixated on guiding him today.

"Okay, slowly and steady... and..." Layla knelt down on the sheet as she gently raised Aiden's arms. Aiden tried his best to lift his chubby body while leaning forward to Layla's frame.

Once he established the balance, Layla slowly pulled Aiden toward her... And then...

"Layla, have you seen my bag—" As though fate was playing with them, the moment Rena entered the lounge room, Aiden suddenly took his step and left Layla's guidance.

"Ma... Ma!"

"—!" Rena gasped in surprise. Her tiny little ball of fire was finally beginning to take his baby steps while calling for her. She didn't even notice that tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

"Aiden!" Rena crouched down, her arms titled forward as if it was a finish line that Aiden needs to take in order for her to catch him.

"Ma! Ma...!" He took his time walking. Though his steps were as little as how small puppies move, the scenery that is happening right now is as important as how you celebrate someone's achievement. At least, for those who are seeing Aiden walk right now.

Layla, Millie, and Sarra cheered while Rena waited with a large smile on her face. It's like living in a blissful paradise, watching her son develop as he comes to her.

"Mama!" And then, after a few seconds, Aiden finally reached the finish line.

"Kya~! My baby boy, I love you so much!" Rena embraced her baby tightly. He kept on saying 'Mama' as he cling to her white coat.

"Mama! Mama!"

"This calls for a celebration, right?!" Millie asked.

"W-What should we do, Ma'am Rena? I didn't expect him to suddenly walk like that!" Even the head maid was panicking when she was the one who incited this in the first place.

"Hee hee~ We'll talk about that later. For now, I need to call my Love and tell him what just happened." Rena excitedly opened her phone and started calling Cian.

"This is really unbelievable, I thought Aiden would fall over so I was preparing myself but I guess I have nothing to worry about." Sarra heaved a sigh.

"Hmm..." While the maids are gossiping about Aiden's first steps, Layla seemed to be distracted by something as she looked over to Aiden's crib.

"What's wrong, Layla?" Millie asked, noticing the serious expression on her face.

"Hey, Millie. You're the one who gave this toy puzzle to Aiden, right?" Layla pointed to the box near the sheet.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I did. Why did you ask?"

"Well, look..." Layla grabbed the medium-sized toy box and showed Millie the assorted shapes and numbers.

"Wait!" She took the box and examined all sides when she realized what Layla meant. "T-T-They're all arranged perfectly!"

Everyone turned their gaze to Millie as she shout.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Millie?" Rena carried Aiden and stood up to look at the box.

"Ma'am Rena, look! Aiden was able to solve this ridiculously difficult puzzle by himself!"

Rena checked the toy and it was indeed sorted like how the puzzle was supposed to work.

The wooden box that Millie gave was actually a variant of a wooden 3D-tile game where you have to put all of the pieces in accordance with how they fit in order to create a square block. There are a lot of pieces including T-shape pieces, L-blocks, cross blocks, etc.

These blocks also have printed numbers and letters on them which will form a word or a set of numbers depending on how you put them together.

What makes it a bit difficult is that there are a lot of iterations in solving the block so in order to solve them perfectly, you would have to memorize a certain set of patterns and moves while taking into account the remaining spaces for the pieces to fit in.

So even if you randomly put the pieces together, the result would just be a jagged and convoluted block shape and the letters and numbers wouldn't form anything.

However, despite the difficulty, a one-year-old baby was able to solve the toy puzzle like how professionals do it.

"T-This is..." Even Rena was speechless about the discovery, and yet there is a large grin on her face as if she was also excited about it. "Mmmphh! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! My baby boy is so smart!" She then kissed Aiden multiple times on the cheeks and they both giggled in joy.

"This is just a guess but..." Millie started. "Do you guys think that maybe baby Aiden is a genius?"

"""Oh..."""

"Yeah, I think that might be the case here..."

"I guess it's not that surprising? I mean, Ma'am Rena is the smartest woman I've ever met. And Sir Cian can do almost anything... He's multi-talented!"

Everyone responded as if they'd just realized it.

"Hee hee~ Thank you, everyone." Rena bowed down while Aiden waved around. "Thank you for taking care of my son. Without everyone, I bet we wouldn't be able to discover his talents early..." She added.

"No problem, Ma'am Rena! We'll do our best to keep supporting your son until he's all grown up!" Millie pumped her chest, confident about her declaration of support.

"M-Ma'am Rena, would it be possible for us to take care of Aiden even when he grows up?" Sarra asked and a couple of maids nodded in question.

"What do you mean by that, Sarra?" Rena asked, her eyebrows raised.

"L-L-Like u-um... when that 'time' comes... um... when he reaches that 'age'... we would like to... s-s-serve him and take care of his n-needs..." She was a bit clumsy but she managed to direct the question.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Huh?" Rena's scarlet eyes flared up, her eyes narrowed as she exuded ferocity to the whole household. She knew exactly what they are talking about and she was not really fond of the idea.

"Eeek!" Sarra and the other maid shook in fear as they embraced each other.

"Absolutely not. I will not let anyone take my boy's purity until he's married. Although he might get curious about the education behind it, I will make sure that he won't get swayed by the others. Understand?" Rena growled as she pointed at them.

"Y-Yes!" A quick response from the maids.

"I will allow everyone to serve him but if I caught anyone seducing my child, I will not hesitate to burn you alive..."

What an overprotective mother, indeed. If Cian was here, he would've gotten scared as well.

There were actually quite a few stories about maids having to attend to their Master during nighttime to serve them or to sleep with them and deal with their lust. It mostly happened during the old times when nobilities are still present. At the very least, some books do have that kind of scene.

It wouldn't be a surprise if it was also noticeable in the present times.

"Don't worry, Ma'am Rena. I'll make sure they don't get to touch Aiden." Layla cracked her fingers, exerting her force as the Head maid.

"I'm counting on you, Layla."

"Yes, Ma'am."

It might be weird to think about it but the Maids that Rena and Cian hired are actually a bunch of beautiful and youthful girls. Their age only resides between fourteen-sixteen with Layla being the oldest at the age of eighteen.

The younger maids are tasked to do simple things while the older are to be expected to keep track of everything.

What's the point? Well, if Aiden reaches puberty, somewhere around the age of nine to fourteen, he may begin to develop some sort of feelings and be curious about the opposite sex so the issue about the maids tending to his needs including "that" is inevitable.

That's why Rena had to establish that boundary as soon as possible before it becomes an issue in their household.

Since their house is full of these beautiful young girls, Aiden is at risk of getting pampered for sure. Which might be uncomfortable for a boy when he reaches that age.

(I might have to discipline Aiden as well when gets older...) Rena thought as she looked into the future of her son.

***

Aiden's rapid growth continued.

From being able to solve a complex block puzzle to being able to distinguish different sounds from each other through a hearing and memory test.

Millie tried to play different notes using a glass and a spoon while Aiden is looking behind. As soon as she gave the spoon to him, Aiden played the notes exactly as she played them without any mistakes.

She then increased the number of notes she played but Aiden was still able to memorize it.

It was terrific, a bit scary for a child to actually do something like that. If this is not enough evidence to call him a genius then they don't know what is.

One night, Layla suggested they give Aiden a three-by-three Rubik's cube to which the maids agreed in a response.

They thought that maybe if they increased the difficulty of the puzzle, Aiden might start crying as he won't be able to solve it. However, it seems like their expectation was already broken.

In a span of midnight, Aiden was able to solve two layers of the Rubik's cube with the opposite side having all of the colors. Just solving the first layer of the cube is already difficult even for a normal person and yet a child could do it in a few hours.

Surprised by this discovery, Layla freaked out and almost lost consciousness as Aiden laughed.

Two years after that, Aiden is now three years old and is barely speaking words.

Although he couldn't form a decent sentence for now, he was able to communicate through one-three word figures and gestures which made him really cute according to Layla and the others.

Rena and Cian also dedicated their time to trying to teach Aiden some words during nighttime after they get home.

"Say, Papa!"

"..."

"Say, Mama!"

"Mama!"

Cian fell down to the ground, losing motivation. He doesn't know why but for some reason, Aiden only respond to Rena, and that made him a bit sad.

"Haha! Listen here, Aiden. This is your Papa!" Rena pointed toward Cian as she taught him.

"Papa?" He asked cutely.

"Mmm! Papa!"

"Papa!"

"Aiden!" Happy to be called by his son, Cian embraced him tightly as tears go down on his face.

"I wonder why he only listens to me..."

"I think you spoiled him too much..." Cian replied.

After a bit of playing, Aiden finally fell asleep. Cian gently raised Aiden and moved him back to his crib just on the opposite side of their room. In order to make sure that he is safe, they build a few spaces next to their room so that they can access Aiden if something happens.

Rena has also set up some kind of alarm that would trigger if someone breaks in. Cameras are also set outside the hallway. The security system was proposed by Cian when they moved here but it was enhanced by Rena as she thought they needed to improve it because of Aiden.

"Hee hee. Looks like he's tired for the day..." Rena moved to the side of the bed, waiting for Cian to join her.

"Yeah, I can't believe two years have passed already. I remember him being this small when we got out of the hospital." Cian replied, recalling his past impression of Aiden.

"Hey, Love. Are you happy?" Rena asked.

For some reason, Cian thought the question was a bit out of the blue but he answered positively. "Of course, I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just thinking that... it's been a while since we did something enjoyable." Rena leaned closer to Aiden, her face flushed and there was something different in the way she breathes.

"W-What? Aren't we enjoying our life every day—"

"That's not what I meant, silly..."

Her tone shifted. It wasn't the playful and bubbly tone that was present just a second ago. Rena then started licking her lips seductively as she preyed on the man in front of her.

"I, uh... L-Love?" Cian gulped. He knows that there's definitely something wrong with his wife tonight. His mind and body scream trouble and exhaustion but he couldn't escape. It was like his body was charmed and he couldn't move an inch.

"Hold still..." Rena took advantage of Cian's petrified state and pinned him down on the bed.

(W-What's happening? Is she going to do that again?!) Cian panicked but no words escaped his mouth. Rena slowly moved on top of him, leaning her head until her mouth reaches his ears.

She was blushing. Her breathing becomes heavy as seconds passed by. Now that Cian thinks about it, Rena wasn't wearing her typical sleepwear this night. Rather than her pajamas, she was wearing her black nightgown that is a little bit see-through.

It took him a long time to realize that she was already eying on him the moment he placed Aiden back in his crib.

"Say, why don't we give Aiden a brother, or perhaps a sister?" She asked, a feral grin can be seen on her face as she whisper the question to Cian.

"W-W-Wait?!"

"Hmm? You don't like it?" Rena tilted her head, her tone still sounds lascivious.

"I-It's not like that, but umm... Isn't it a bit sudden?"

Indeed. The mood was just wholesome just a moment ago so how come Rena got in that state?

"Well, hmm... I guess you're right. I shouldn't probably force you if you're not feeling into it..." Realizing what she was doing, Rena unlocked Cian. However...

"Phew, alright... Well then, let's go to sleep—"

"Just kidding~!"

"E-Eh?! W-W-Wait! Nooooooo!"

He underestimated her. His wife is a genius engineer who can manipulate and trick others with her cunning will. He should've expected that this kind of thing will happen even if he likes it or not.

And so the rest of the night was spent into another "creation".

When Cian woke up the next morning, the servants noticed how exhausted he looks. Almost as if his soul was drained by something and only Rena woke up feeling better than ever.