Requesting an audience with Edmund was easier said than done simply because the guy was quite busy at the moment. He was within Lux but rarely at the manor. He was told that he was frequently out for business meetings which he had no idea what that was about. If Elias was here, it would have been easier. He did put in a request for an audience to a butler, and that was all he could do at the moment.

After that, He figured that he’d check out Raem and Co and he was making his way through the rear garden to the decoy house. By sheer chance, he ran into Loukia having a walk with a maid.

Pregnant noblewomen didn’t tend to venture outside often. The large belly was often seen as unsightly in noble customs. He was told by Emily that she was five months into her pregnancy, and it showed. Initially, she seemed surprised to run into him but soon beamed a smile and bowed lightly; Her maid followed the suit. Likewise, Ewald also bowed with a palm on his chest.

“Milady,” He said curtly. He was told that she had taken a U-turn in her personality, and it seemed to be true. She acted very tame and didn’t seem to want to talk. If she didn’t want to talk, neither did he. Thus, he walked past her and headed to the decoy house. Was he angry at her? No. The possibility of her giving birth to a son did not faze him. The position of the heir was forced onto him to begin with. He never asked for any of this.

I do hope that you give birth to a son. After what you’ve been through, I dare say that you deserve some peace.

Her daughter was gone. Her whole house was gone. Ludwig died right in front of her eyes. He felt Edmund did the right thing by taking her back.

Lord Ludwig…

In his mind, he made a respectable exit. He stood his ground and spoke his piece before promptly ending himself. He was right; He wasn’t getting out of there alive. Knowing the king, the Mesurii was doomed to begin with. He was naive that Ludwig might have been able to change his mind.

Upon arrival, he found that Raem was out and would soon find out why.

Rose Ros and Amy Wallen were there, trying to teach Lara the basics of etiquette. Karla was observing them curiously. He found that Raem showed some sort of allergic reaction when there was more than a pair of women he did not know were in his vicinity. This started after he experienced the cat fight between Lara and Esther.

Esther…, I wonder how she is doing.

He had heard nothing about her whereabouts in spite of spending a silver to post a “Looking for” poster at the guild. This was not a wanted poster, thus it was completely voluntary whether an adventurer reported it or not. Consequently, there was no reward for finding her, either. Perhaps, rightfully so, there had been no report on her whereabouts. If she left Lux with a traveling merchant, she was likely safe, but there was no guarantee. If she was killed by a monster in the wilderness, it would be impossible to find her body since the wild life would consume the body within days.

“Greetings, Lady Karla.”

His greeting startled her a bit. Rose and Amy showed respect to him. Lara meanwhile was still as a stone, looking clearly uncomfortable. It was then he noticed that she was literally held still by a pair of hands made of soil. The hands were grabbing her ankles. It looked like Rose and Amy were chosen for the job to educate her.

“Do not move, Lara,” Amy warned while visibly fuming. “You stay still.”

Lara was clearly sending a SOS signal via her eyes.

“What is that?” He pointed at the soil hands.

“It’s an Earth spell called grasp. It can hold someone still like this,” Amy replied. She was an earth mage with an affinity score of six.

“I see, but why?”

Rose replied, “Because she tried running away!” She, too, was fuming as if this wasn’t the first time Lara attempted to flee the scene.

“I … had tried to teach her etiquette before but she’d always run away…,” Karla chimed in.

He wondered why Karla didn’t educate her. He simply figured that she was unwilling to. It looked like she tried.

“LET ME GO!” Lara barked, trying to break free from the soil hands. Every time she attempted to free herself, small pieces of soil were falling from the hands, but those held firm still.

“Lara, listen to me,” Ewald told her.

“WHAT?!” She sounded really annoyed.

“Do you want to stay here?”

She was taken back by the question. “What? Yeah.”

“Do you want to stay with Raem?”

“Huh? Yeah.” Her reply came naturally as if she didn’t even need to think about it.

“Raem wants to become a noble. If you want to stay with him, you must act the part even if you don’t mean it.”

She slowly seized trying to break free with a set of surprised eyes.

“He wants to become noble? How?”

He pointed at himself. “I am the ticket. I can grant him a knighthood which is the first step.”

“You can…?”

“If you want to be with Raem, you must act the part. I am not going to let him be with a woman who acts unhinged. Such a woman will only disturb his reputation.”

His tone turned grave.

“Lara, I give you one chance. You either learn to be a proper lady or are going to need to leave. Don’t worry. I will give you enough money to restart. You can certainly go back to your parents’ farm also.”

They’d soon leave for Laufeld. If Lara wasn’t going to behave, she would be left behind. He wasn’t making an empty threat. Money was going to be really tight in Laufeld. He could not afford to bring someone who wasn’t going to pull their own weight.

“I am not going back to their place!” She barked angrily.

“Then you can become an adventurer or whatever. You must decide.” Then he looked at Amy.

“Lady Wallen, please undo the spell. It is time for her to make a decision.”

The earth hands crumbled into soil, freeing Lara’s ankle. She didn’t run away and sagged her shoulders instead.

“I, I won’t run away.”

He retorted, “That is not good enough. Let them teach you. I am not asking you to be a model noble lady. But you do need to learn some basic manners.”

“I agree with him wholeheartedly,” Karla added.

Lara looked completely defeated.

“Lady Ros and Lady Wallen, I leave her in your care.”

“You can count on us!” They replied in unison.

“Lady Karla, a word please.”

They left the decoy house and walked a short distance.

“We will soon be going to Laufeld. Raem will come with me. That means you should also unless you wish to stay here.”

“You are going to Laufeld? For what purpose?” She looked really surprised to hear the news.

“I am going to be the lord of Laufeld under my own house. I wasn’t joking when I said I can grant him a knighthood.”

At 15 years old, Raem was considered an adult. Thus, Karla was not obligated to follow him.

“Are you going to let Lara be with him?”

“Well, she clearly has feelings. I haven’t asked Raem but I have a hunch that he is willing. If both are willing, why not?”

Lara was twelve, the bare minimum age in the noble society to be able to arrange a future husband. Of course, both being commoners, there was no such a thing as arranged marriages. They’d simply announce their union, and that’d be it. That was how Tom and Fionara married as well. In fact, they were never officially married to begin with. They moved into the same house and shared the same bed. That was what a marriage was among commoners.

“I …, I guess I never saw them that way. She has been pretty much my daughter to me…”

He could certainly understand her point of view. Since she saw them as siblings, it never came to her attention that they might have feelings toward each other. And that indeed may be the fact; Raem and Lara may not have romantic feelings toward each other. But then, neither did Tom. He never loved Fionara per se.

“I will not force them to get together,” He explained. “But, from what I’ve observed, Lara has feelings for him. It may not be romantic, but it’s clear to me that she does not want to lose him. That is good enough for me.”

Karla nodded along.

“Moving on, are you staying or coming?”

“He’s still young and he is all I have. I am coming of course.”

She really had no reason to stay in Lux if Raem were to leave. It was a perfectly understandable decision. She probably wouldn’t need permission from the Fenchel, either.

“Start packing stuff slowly. I am going to let the Fenchel know that the decoy house will be empty.”

“Understood.” She walked back into the house afterward.

Someone new would move in. The decoy house functioned as a secret entrance to the manor. They wouldn’t leave it empty.

When he arrived at his study, he found Flora hurriedly closing a book. She looked flustered for some reason.

“Hello.” He threw his greeting casually.

“Ehm, hello.”

He wanted to ask what the book was, but it was clear to him that she didn’t want to talk about it. Thus, he proceeded to his own desk, sat down, and looked over a small file of papers in a corner of his desk. Taking a deep breath, and cracking his fingers, he took a piece on top of the file and began reading it. It was yet another land dispute. He had seen enough of these that it made him slightly sick by just looking at it. The number of disputes had decreased but it was still coming in now with new issues due to the clearer deeds. He considered this whole ordeal a lost cause at this point and decided to ignore them as per Cezary’s instruction.

You want drama? Fine, have it at your leisure.

“I didn’t know commoners had so many disputes,” Flora remarked after noticing him clearly being frustrated. From where she stood back when she was in Dido, her perception of commoners was nothing more than a footnote. They’d be obedient when told, and that was it. To be honest, Ewald didn’t recall there being so many issues as Tom in his previous life. His past memories were hazy now. The only aspects he recalled clearly were things that were related to Fionara. Still, he could swear he didn’t have problems with his neighbors. But Bronn was a small community whereas Lux was a city of 25,000 people.

“Anyways…” He drew the file closer to him and started to look over them swiftly, picking out specifically land disputes and placing them in another corner to discard them later. By doing so, one third of the file was gone. Other reports seemed more genuine, such as a suspicious price increase in certain goods, spotting a damaged city wall, and such. While he was going along with the paperwork, he felt that Flora was glancing at him from time to time.

“Is there something you wish from me, Milady?” He casually asked with his eyes fixed at papers.

“It’s about the book…,” She said after a moment of hesitation. She was talking about the book she shut as soon as he walked in. Initially, he figured that she was writing a diary. On second thought, the book cover looked too fancy to be a diary.

“What about it?” His eyes were still fixed at the papers, showing little interest.

“I’ve been writing a … short story. It’s my first book.”

He took his eyes off the papers slowly and turned his direction toward her.

“A book, you say? What kind of story is it?”

“It’s a … romance story.”

He figured as much. He did recall her silently claiming that all she read was romance novels. She may have thought he didn’t hear it, but he had really good hearing which was due to his close connection with wind elementals. This was something he was unaware of at the moment.

“Do you want me to take a look?”

Blushing hard, she nodded. She didn’t really have anyone else to take a look and evaluate what she wrote. It wasn’t something she could show it to anyone, given the fact that literate people were in a very limited supply. Avina, her maid, could probably read it but she was her maid.

As he stood up, she also stood up with the book in her hands and handed the book over. She was taller than him by about half a head. He would probably grow taller than her. He was just eleven at this point while she was fifteen. Anyway, taking the book, he went to a window and opened it to see its first page. As he flipped more pages to read, Flora was back at her desk with her face covered with both of her hands, apparently embarrassed.

Hmm?

The story was about a boy and a girl who worked under a fictional noble house. They were both orphans, and their relationship at first was nothing more than an acknowledgement of each other’s existence. Despite being employed by a noble house, they were still underaged and, therefore, they weren’t paid a lot and had to earn their own food. The boy was to be trained as a butler, and the girl was to be trained as a maid. However, their training wasn’t daily, and they weren’t fed when they weren’t trained. Since not being able to bring food to the table daily was too harsh, the boy and the girl eventually decided to hunt, initially individually. Not having much luck on that front, they decided to team up to hunt down local rabbits nearby, which proved a lot harder than expected. After days of trial of error, they eventually managed to catch -

Huh?

A rabbit at last which made the boy cry his eyes out. Their miserable life started to turn better from that point on. As time went on, the bond between the boy and the girl became stronger. It took a few years, but they started to see each other as the opposite gender. At the same time, as their training progressed, the distance between them became further apart which created a dilemma between them. Do they run away together?

Wait. Hang on. Is this about…

“Did you write a story about Raem and Lara?”

Her muffled and embarrassed scream was heard behind her hands that covered her face.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“You can tell?”

“I could but then I know too much about them.”

Not to mention that he was trying to hook them up together. She collapsed on her desk, looking really really embarrassed.

“I wanted to write a romantic story but I know no one. The only boy and girl I know outside of my inner circle is them. Besides…”

“Besides?”

“They looked like they were into each other.”

Really?

“How do you figure that?”

“The time we had dinner back at the decoy house? They were silently exchanging looks. I don’t think they were flirting with each other but were clearly communicating with just eye signals.”

She noticed that? Impressive.

She confessed that she was writing a story about them way before that event. The story wasn’t over; there were only about a hundred pages.

“So…, what do you think?” She asked carefully.

How should I know? I never read romantic stories to be honest.

“It’s okay,” He lied. It didn’t mean it was bad. It simply had no idea. “I do have a question.”

“Yes?”

“When you are done with the book, where is it going to go? To the library? It’s going to have a title and an author’s name, yeah?”

He asked because the hardcover of the book was simply blank. It didn’t have a title and author’s name. He was simply curious.

“I haven’t decided on the title yet. As for the author's name, I am going to go by Ruta.”

Ruta? Ruta? I swear I saw that alias before.

Indeed, it was years ago, but he did see novels written by someone named “Ruta”. The alias couldn’t have been her. The timeline simply did not match up.

“Ruta is an alias, right? Why did you decide on that alias?”

“Sir Waszak said I could use it to hide my real identity.”

He felt like he was hit by something heavy in the head. What she implied sounded like Cezary was using an alias, Ruta, to write books. If his memories were correct, he saw tens of novels with “Ruta” as its author.

How long has he been in Lux? And what the hell is he?

He had to rub his temple at this point. The guy was mysterious in more ways than one. Perhaps, a rephrase was necessary: The guy was weird, period. Ruta was a feminine name as well.

“Personally, I’d like to sell my book if possible,” She said. “I want people to read my story.”

“Copying books is a real pain,” He retorted. There was no printing machine in this world. Copying books would need to be done by hand, which was time consuming and expensive.

“I do understand that. Sir Waszak said he may be able to come up with something.”

Something, eh… I haven’t got the slightest clue here. Let’s see what he can come up with. Anyway, he sure has his plate full.

At the same time, he felt a bit irritated that she was listening to him.

“Flora, is it possible for you to talk to me first when dealing with matters before talking to another?”

She looked confused. “I beg your pardon?”

“I do understand that I am four years younger. But we are to be married. I am to be your husband. I would like you to treat me like one.”

She looked shell-shocked to hear such a statement from him. This was coming from an eleven year-old boy. She had been aware that he was far more mature than his age, but this was on another level. He was trying to assert dominance which was within his rights as the future head of the house. She was educated fully as a noblewoman. Therefore, she knew immediately that he was within his rights. An unmarried noblewoman would not initiate a conversation with an adult man outside of her inner circle unless permitted, her inner circle being family members and butlers.

“O, of course, my apologies.” She stood up at once hurriedly and curtsied.

“Please, don’t take me the wrong way. I am not ordering you. I just would like to be informed of what you do. You can have Avina to inform me even.”

For the first time in her life, she felt genuine fear. Her father, Baptiste Flissing, was easy to read. When he was angry, he acted angry. When he was pleased, he laughed. Ewald was different. In her eyes, he was clearly displeased with her talking too much to an adult man, but both his face and tone were devoid of emotions; It made it hard for her to read what he was really thinking. She felt by instinct that such men were more dangerous than those who showed clear emotions.

“I shall.” Her tone was business-like, devoid of emotions.

It was true that she may have been relaxing a bit too much. He did give her more freedom than she ever experienced before, which made her lax. A noblewoman pursuing a dream such as writing? That would generally never happen. She was clearly aware of that.

As for Ewald, he simply did not like someone who was supposed to be very close to him working behind his back without letting him know. An uneasy silence dominated the study afterwards which made both of them somewhat uncomfortable. Thankfully, a knock saved them the trouble.

“Young master, are you in there?”

A butler inquired.

“Yes, I am here.”

“Lord Fenchel is available. You may speak to him now if you wish.”

“Very well, I shall.”

Time to get the show down the road.

“I will see you later,” He told her as he stood up and proceeded to exit the study while Flora was frozen with her eyes fixed on the floor.

Edmund’s study had seen better days. There were numerous files of paperwork here and there on the floor. Some files appeared to have been untouched for a while as he could see a layer of dust. He was told that he was out frequently. Whatever he was up to, he had been busy clearly. The man himself looked fine and healthy.

“Alright, what is it there to talk about?”

He wasn’t at his desk but at a window, looking outside.

“I congratulate you on the news. I’ve heard that Lady Fenchel is pregnant.”

He turned around slowly from the window to face him.

“I am sure you didn’t come here to do that. We are both busy men. Get to the point.”

“Very well. I will get to the point; I would like you to grant me Laufeld.”

“What?” He sounded utterly confused. “Do you mind telling me what is going on?”

“It is my intuition that Lady Fenchel will give birth to a son. Need I tell you more?”

Edmund furrowed his eyebrows. “You are banking on the possibility that she is going to give birth to a son? What nonsense is this? I cannot change my heir that easily. Even if she does bear a son, you will remain my heir.”

I think not. You went as far as killing your own daughter to make me the heir. I am sure you will go as far as killing me to make your own biological son your heir. Your mind will change with time. I am certain of it.

He was that kind of a man. To get what he wanted, he’d do anything. He did not feel he was evil. Rather he considered him ruthless to a fault, a trait required to be a leader perhaps.

“Another reason for asking you to grant me Laufeld is that I’d like to experience governing. I personally believe that there is no harm in granting my request. If a daughter is born, it will be business as usual. I will remain your heir and will simply be governing Laufeld to earn experience.”

He gauged Edmund’s reaction. He remained stoic by the window.

“Should a son be born, however, you can cast me away slowly. I will remain in Laufeld under my own house. In other words, I will remain a vassal house to you.”

Edmund folded his arms at this point. “Do you not have ambition?” He asked gravely.

I do, but it’s not the kind of ambition you think I should have.

“Let’s say that I know where I stand.”

“Under the Fenchel, huh…,” Edmund trailed off while stroking his chin.

Now, it was time to use Cezary’s advice.

“It is my understanding that I could draft up to 500 men for the Fenchel.”

Edmund’s left eyebrow flinched upon hearing that.

“I also plan to do whatever I can in order to develop the settlement. It has been brought to my attention that Laufeld has largely been neglected.”

“That is true,” He admitted flatly without giving an explanation.

“Then put me there. I wish to learn governing first hand. You really have nothing to lose by letting me go. I have no ambitions to rise against your future son.”

“You keep saying as if you are certain that she is going to give birth to a son.., why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You’ve had how many daughters? Don’t you think it’s going to be a son?”

Edmund retorted bitterly, “I’ve never had luck in getting a son.”

“I say the circumstances are different now. You wanted sons back then. I wager that this is the first time you conceived a woman without the intention of having a son. Am I wrong?”

The truth was that Edmund did not intend to impregnate Loukia. In fact, he did not even plan to sleep with her in the first place. His original plan was to isolate her somewhere safely in the manor and let her spend the rest of her life in peace.

What happened was that she threw herself in his arms, crying that he was her savior. She did mean it. It was an indisputable truth. If he didn’t take her with him on that night, she would have been cut down by guards. One thing led to another, they ended up rekindling their lost passion toward each other. In the end, he could not deny Ewald’s points. The circumstances were indeed quite different. In fact, he was starting to be convinced by his words that it was indeed going to be a son, which was something he had desperately wanted but had given up at this point.

“A son…,” He whispered to himself.

“Yes, a son. You are going to have a son. Would you still need me when you have a son?”

Ewald was smiling in his mind. It felt like he was a little too easy to manipulate. Granted, he was manipulating him with the grand prize he had always wanted but it felt a little too easy.

“Laufeld, you say?” He changed the subject which was an indication that he had come to a decision.

“You lose nothing. If it’s daughter, consider it as me learning the ropes first hand. If it’s a son, nothing will change. I will be your vassal. It’s Laufeld. What could I possibly do?”

A town of 5,000 people with no natural resources. What could he possibly do indeed.

“I am going to have to discuss this with Elias. It is not an easy decision. Creating a vassal hasn't been done in … as far as this kingdom existed.”

That was because of the fact that they didn’t have enough land back then. Rarely any houses had more than one fief and, even if they did, it was just two.

“That is fine. Do take your time, please.” Showing respect, Ewald gracefully left his study.

That went well, I think.

He was surprised at himself. The way he carried himself didn’t feel like him. He was smooth as butter. He was certain that Edmund would grant him Laufeld. He had no reason not to. In fact, he may be glad that he was gone once a son was born.

While he was the heir to the Fenchel, he didn’t really have a vision for the future. He was just an heir and did not have any authority on his own. Without any authority and money, he couldn’t plan anything other than trying to alter miscellaneous aspects, such as helping Raem with food, diving into tax collection issues, and whatnot. For an ordinary child, it would have been fine. He’d spend his time learning and growing up. For Ewald, however, the latter part did not exist. Perhaps, that was not entirely true. He did mature but that was wisening up instead of maturing.

Finally, something clicked inside of him when he observed Ludwig’s last moment. He really did not feel that he deserved such an end. Guilt by association? Fine, he could accept that which was why he wasn’t appealed when the whole Strobel house was massacred. He wasn’t pleased but he could at least see why. Edmund explained such: Let’s say a woman of the Strobel somehow escaped and bore children to educate them to rise against the kingdom who somehow enticed peasants. It was a far-fetched story to begin with, but it was possible. History books had examples which was why “guilt by association” was created. But punishing a man in the 70s? Yes, he used to be the head of the house but he was a loyal subject that proved himself over 50 years. He was not faultless however. After all, it was him who chose the specific successor who ultimately chose to rebel. At the same time, he didn’t have much of a choice. His own time was running out; He was past 70 years old.

Ewald took a deep breath at this point. Thinking about him angered him. He imagined what he might have thought in his last moments. Was he angry? Probably. What else would he have felt? Regret? Sadness? Despair? Sighing and shaking his head, he made his way to his study.

When he was back to his study, there was Avina instead of Flora. It was a rare occasion. She’d visit the study only to clean up. She bowed deeply as soon as he noticed him.

“My apologies,” She said.

“What’s there to apologize?” He played a fool; He had a hunch that this was about the little incident with Flora a moment ago.

She wasn’t falling for it and continued, “You must understand that this was the first time she was given any form of freedom.”

“I do understand. I did not scold her.”

“I became lax as well. I was so happy to see her taste some freedom at last.”

Just what kind of life did she live anyway?

Flora vaguely told him that her father tried to kill her and that she hardly left the Flissing manor.

“Pray tell her childhood and what she went through.” He stood by a window, just like how Edmund positioned himself a moment ago.

“As you wish. However, I was assigned to be her maid at the age of five. Anything before that, I do not know much. I was her wet nurse but that was a part time job at that time.”

She started with her father, Baptiste Flissing, who attempted to find her a suitor.

“At five?”

“Yes, it was a preliminary search to see options.”

“And I assume it did not yield a good result.”

“No, and Lord Flissing values prestige over everything. As the first daughter of the Flissing, she must have the finest suitor - was his logic.”

In that case, would he accept her going to Laufeld? Or is it out of his hands now?

“Go on.”

“Since he couldn’t find a suitor, then she was better off dead - That was his decision.”

He wasn’t too surprised, given how Icilia ended up. A common trait among high ranking nobles was ruthlessness.

She continued, “Lord Flissing’s attempt at her life went on discreetly which admittedly foiled by me one attempt after another.”

“I am surprised that Lord Flissing did not get rid of you. It would have been so much easier, wouldn’t it?”

“I think that…,” She smiled bitterly, “He felt that his daughter should have at least some chance of survival. Without me, the chance would have been zero.”

It would have been a piece of cake to have gotten rid of her if Baptiste truly wished to remove her. Instead, he played around. Perhaps, his mind wasn’t completely set or perhaps it was his twisted way of showing love. He wasn’t sure which.

“I think, when he decided to send a horde of werewolves at us, he was fully intent on getting rid of her. I am sure you know what happened next.”

Then he came along.

Hmm?

The event reminded him that he dealt with the werewolves during daylight. He was under the impression that monsters came out at night only but he realized that he had seen werewolves during the day as well.

Does that mean wolves are not werewolves?

He felt some research needed to be done on monsters.

So much to do that, it excites me actually.

“I see. I thank you for telling me.”

“Once again, my apologies.”

Just as she was about to leave the study, he stopped her. He would need to inform them of what was going to occur soon. He felt this was a good time.

“Could you call Flora for me, and I need you here as well. I am going to make an announcement.”

Avina looked equally confused and afraid, fearing that he might be calling the whole marriage off.

Reading her, he added, “Fear not, it’s not what you think.”

He was going to reveal the truth behind his birth. If he stuck with the legalized bastard story, he would not be able to interact with his real family freely in Laufeld. With Raem, he could always tell later or it wouldn’t be as hard to evade his eyes. In contrast, she’d find out sooner or later anyway.

Once both of them were present, he opened up by stating bluntly that he was not Edmund’s biological son. Both of them looked utterly shocked.

“I am his sister’s son,” He quickly added. This was a rather important detail. Upon hearing that, Avina looked significantly relieved while Flora looked still shocked. If he had nothing at all to do with the Fenchel, it was going to be an issue because, under the marriage contract, Flora was marrying a Fenchel man. By having some blood of the Fenchel, it wouldn’t be an outright violation of the marriage contract.

“Why are you telling us this now?” Avina questioned. He could have kept it to himself. They didn’t need to know truthfully.

“Because I am going to Laufeld.”

“Laufeld? For what purpose?”

“In order to govern.”

She tilted her head in confusion. “I am sorry?”

“Lady Fenchel is pregnant. Are you aware of that?”

She furrowed her eyebrows.

I see.

She was unaware and wasn’t informed, meaning the Fenchel maids did not consider her as their own which was perfectly understandable. It was clear as day where her loyalty was at.

“That does not mean she is going to give birth to a son,” Catching on quickly, she argued.

“I have a feeling that she will. Therefore, I am withdrawing myself.”

“You are in a position to fight for your seat. You should be fighting for your rightful spot!”

While Avina was arguing, Flora remained silent with her eyes downcast.

“I do not have that kind of fight in me.”

“Do you not wish to rule?!”

I do not have that kind of ambition. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have ambition at all. Mine is different. I want to live in peace and make those around me live in peace. If anyone dares to encroach on my peace, I will show them what I am made of. I swear.

He lost his life in a conflict that had nothing to do with him. His life crumbled down in flame that wasn’t his. He vowed to exact revenge, but that didn’t mean he wanted the whole world to burn down. His target was just one specific person after all.

“I am happy with small things. I do not want any attention on me. As long as those around me are happy, that’s good enough for me. As long as those around me are happy, the rest of the world can burn down for all I care. That is my ambition.”

Avina heaved a long sigh with a look of clear disappointment.

He continued, “I am telling you this now so that you have a choice. You are free to leave -”

“We do not have a choice,” Avina interjected. “My lady does not have a choice. She has to be with you or that is it for her.”

“Will Lord Flissing accept this development?”

“This is out of his hands. You may inform him to show courtesy, but he no longer has authority over my lady. Only you do.”

Well, that’s convenient then.

“Then prepare to leave. I warn you that Laufeld is a small town. Luxuries will be behind you.”

“Who else is going?” It was Flora who asked.

“Raem, Lara, Karla, Cezary, and Marat.”

Her face brightened up at once. “It will be like a big family then,” She replied blissfully. It looked like she didn’t care about luxuries. She cared more about whether her friends were going or not.

“My parents reside in Laufeld as well. That is the primary reason why I am going there voluntarily. They are Macomaco farmers.”

“Ah-!” Flora covered her mouth, immediately realizing how Ewald knew how to farm the tea.

“You will be drinking Macomaco tea anytime you want,” He said with a grin. That was one luxury no one could have in this world. Avina beamed a grin as well.

“Well, perhaps that alone is enough for luxury,” She replied.

His grin vanished on his face at once, and he told them with a firm voice. “Prepare to leave.”

Avina and Flora nodded with neither showing any displeasure.