Monster?

"Want to play Wizard's Chess?"

Wizard's Chess was a strategy game with somewhat unbalanced rules, but it made up for that by being quite fun.

Its pieces were especially interesting, resembling constructs with limited intelligence. It made captures vivid and entertaining—your pieces really would charge forward and smash the opposing pieces to bits.

In Manus's view, this game was highly helpful for introducing tactical thinking and sparking children's interest in magic.

Compared with the toys other children his age enjoyed, Wizard's Chess was one of the few that Manus could convince himself to spend time on and cultivate into a hobby.

After all, children ought to like at least one kind of toy, shouldn't they?

"Okay."

It was not Severus's first time coming over to play with Manus. He nodded and took the initiative to fetch the chess box from the bookshelf.

Though he had agreed readily enough, once the pieces were laid out, Severus was visibly not paying attention to the game.

"Checkmate—let's end this game."

Waving at the queen, Manus looked at Severus, who was still staring blankly at the board and ignoring his king as it waved its scepter at him.

"If you don't want to play, you don't have to force yourself."

If they kept playing, the first thing Severus's king would do after repairing itself would be to lead the pieces in rebellion.

Yes, shattered pieces naturally repaired themselves, and when faced with a terrible player who always got them smashed to bits, the pieces might even refuse to obey orders.

"Ah—I lost again."

Only then did Severus snap out of it.

"It can't be helped. You're too good at Wizard's Chess. I've never beaten you."

The compliment itself did not make Manus particularly happy, but the sincerity in his friend's words did raise his mood slightly.

"You're actually trying to flatter your way out of this... Fine."

Manus folded the board. The various parts of the upright chessboard instantly flipped over and returned to the shape of a chess box, while the pieces automatically returned to their places, including those still repairing themselves after being shattered.

This had definitely been designed for playing Wizard's Chess during work hours, in case colleagues or superiors suddenly appeared.—According to Griffin King, Manus's father, who worked at the Ministry of Magic.

After stuffing the chess box back onto the shelf, Manus flopped backward onto his bed and tilted his head to look at Severus.

"Is there something you want to tell me? It can be anything."

"What? There's nothing I want to say."

Severus turned around in his chair and hugged its back. His sideways face was hidden behind the black-painted wooden slats running across it.

From Manus's perspective, he looked as though he were locked in a prison.

"Fine, then."

Manus blinked, kicked off his slippers, and rolled over on the bed. After wrapping himself in the blanket, he closed his eyes.

"Then how about we rest for a while? This weather is just too perfect for sleeping..."

If the fireplace at home had not been fitted with several heating channels extending into the room's walls, Manus was certain he would have seen white mist whenever he breathed out in his room.

He really did not know what kind of courage it took to go outside in weather like this.

Before long, Manus's breathing became even and slow.

"Um... Manus?"

Severus spoke tentatively, only to find that Manus gave no response at all.

With a sigh that was impossible to tell whether it was relief or disappointment, Severus spoke softly.

"Why... does Dad say that Mum and I are monsters?"

Manus had been studying the glowing "system" before him in the pitch-black darkness when he heard Severus's words. He opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Monsters?"

"Um?!"

Severus straightened up in shock, leaning back so sharply that he nearly toppled out of his chair.

"You, you weren't asleep? Then why didn't you answer when I called you just now?"

"Huh? Did you? I was almost asleep. Maybe I didn't hear you clearly."

"Manus?!"

"All right, all right. Since I've already heard it, it's okay to tell me now, isn't it? So what exactly happened? Start from the beginning, including what caused it."

Manus threw off the blanket and sat cross-legged on the bed, listening as Severus told him about what had happened at his home that morning.

As far as the events went, there seemed to have been nothing unusual. It was snowing heavily outside, so Severus's mother lit the fireplace, and then Severus's father suddenly began swearing furiously.

He cursed Severus's mother, then Severus, calling them monsters and such... Severus repeated the specifics vaguely, but he remembered the word "monster" with perfect clarity.

"Was the turn that abrupt?"

Manus propped his cheek on one hand.

If that had happened, then either Severus had deliberately or unconsciously concealed something, or another factor was hidden somewhere even Severus did not know about.

In truth, Manus was not particularly surprised that Snape's father had suddenly flown into a rage and verbally abused Severus and his mother.

Snape's father, Tobias Snape, was a failed man who could practically serve as a textbook example.

He lived in a shabby house in the suburbs, had neither education nor ability, no steady job, and earned money doing day labor around town.

A person whose social standing was only a little higher than that of a homeless vagrant living on the streets could only barely recover a shred of self-respect in front of his family.

Going on and on about how hard-earned his wages were, how exhausting his work was, then using alcohol as an excuse to throw his weight around before family members unable to fight back...

People like that really existed in every world.

"But monsters? Why use a term like that?"

Under what circumstances would one person call another a monster?

When the other person possessed some unusual trait.

Then what unusual trait did Severus and his mother both possess?

Manus suddenly thought of something and raised his head in surprise.

"Severus, is Mr. Snape... a wizard?"

"Huh? No, my dad's a Muggle... Wait? You mean...?"

With the implication so obvious, Severus naturally understood what Manus meant. Yet aside from the lingering sadness on his face, there was also deep confusion.

"But that can't be possible, can it? Didn't Dad know Mum was a witch before he married her?"

"Then it's no mystery."

Unlike Severus, Manus understood at once. Tobias Snape's self-esteem was already fragile; seeing Eileen Prince use magic to light a fire had naturally provoked him even further.

Not only that, but the last remaining mist surrounding Severus's parents' relationship also dispersed.