"We were playing," Four stood up straight and looked his father in the eye. Reginald did not look impressed. "Honest, sir, we got distracted from reading. It was my fault, not theirs."
"I am not here to listen to you make excuses for your insolence," His father sighed. The Monocle's usual tone of disappointment was nowhere to be found. Recognizing that made Number Four take a steadying breath and relax his posture.
"Sorry," Four offered a nervous smile. "Then why are you here?" His father sighed at that.
"I overheard half of your conversation," He admitted and raised an eyebrow at his son. "You have never been particularly good at lying so I suggest you get your explanation over with."
Four opened and closed his mouth. He pressed his tongue against his cheek while he tried to come up with the best way to explain what happened without giving away the whole story.
"I saw a woman but Two and Six said no one was there," He looked thoroughly confused while explaining it. "She spoke to me and then she disappeared. I— There's something wrong with me, isn't there?"
Four would have caught a rare smile thrown in his direction if he wasn't focused on the carpet beneath his bare feet. He looked up, visibly shocked, when Reginald stepped forward and gently squeezed his shoulder.
"There is nothing wrong with you, my boy," His father murmured. "You and I will have to look further into what happened but that has been enough for today."
Number Four stared at his father, uncertain about how to handle the sudden change in speaking to him. Most days were spent being reminded that he needed to learn to behave and stop being a bad influence on his brothers and sisters.
Reginald gave one last squeeze then stepped away. "Go upstairs and finish reading the lesson that was assigned."
"Yes sir," Four murmured and ran out of the room. He nearly took out Number Two in the process. The siblings hadn't gone very far since their father was unpleasant most days. They weren't exactly eavesdropping but they wanted to make sure Klaus wasn't left crying or anything.
"What was that about?" Two raised an eyebrow as the three of them made their way upstairs.
"I don't know," Four glanced at his brothers and brought his voice down to a whisper. "But he was nice. He's never nice to me."