Dai Hao pushed open the heavy mahogany door. The sight that greeted him made his steps falter slightly, and his brows instinctively knitted.
Dai Youheng was brazenly sitting in the seat of honor that symbolized his authority as duke, leisurely holding a steaming cup of fragrant tea. When he saw Dai Hao enter, he merely lifted his eyes, the corners of his lips curving into something that was almost a smile.
"You're here."
Those two casually spoken words held none of the reverence or deference a junior ought to show an elder. Instead, they carried the easy familiarity of an equal-or even someone faintly above him.
The corner of Dai Hao's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
That posture, that tone-are you the father here, or am I? For a moment, he even had the absurd impression that he had come to report to a superior.
Suppressing that strange discomfort, he walked to the guest chair opposite the desk and sat down. His gaze flashed like lightning as he stared straight at the son who seemed to have been reborn, and he said in a low voice, "You've changed a great deal."
"Oh?" Dai Youheng sipped his tea, looking willing to hear him elaborate.
"Although we rarely spoke before, I wasn't entirely ignorant of you." Dai Hao's voice was steady, but probing. "You were so infatuated with Princess Xu Jiujiu that you nearly lost yourself. Your progress in cultivating your martial soul was disappointingly slow, and Huabin often bullied you within the mansion. Your disposition was rather weak. But now..."
He paused, his eyes sharp. "You're calm, decisive, powerful-even arrogant."
"Heh." Dai Youheng chuckled and set down his teacup, lightly tapping the desk with his fingertips. "What a rare occasion. To think I'd hear you praise a son born to a concubine.