"Hmph! Forget it. I'm not talking to you anymore. You'll only laugh at me!"
With that said.
Hestia turned around in a huff and ran out the front door on her short legs without looking back.
Bang.
The front door closed.
Just a second earlier, the enormous mansion had been filled with the clatter of pots and pans and the girls' chattering laughter.
Now.
The mansion fell silent.
Only the steady ticktock of the tall grandfather clock in the corner could be heard.
Sunlight streamed through the opening above the central courtyard, casting long shafts of light across the floor, with tiny specks of dust slowly swirling within them.
Haimo stood beside the dining table.
He looked at the empty hall.
He walked over to the sofa and sat down, picked up the still-steaming cup of black tea on the coffee table, and slowly took a sip.
The warm tea slid down his throat.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth somewhat helplessly.
"They all ran off just like that?"
That feeling of everyone leaving in an instant, with only him left to watch over this big house.
That stark contrast inexplicably gave rise to a strange illusion.
Haimo tugged at the corner of his mouth and set his black tea back on the coffee table.
"Oh well."
"In their eyes, I've already become some old monster who's lived for who knows how many years anyway."
There was still some time before the appointment that afternoon.
He might as well use this gap.
To take care of a few things.
With that thought, Haimo stood up, casually picked up the coat draped over the back of a chair, then turned and pushed open the front door.
And so.
[I Am Ganesha].
-the headquarters of the [Ganesha Familia], known