The party was, as expected, fairly simple and enjoyable. Even though milady kept on pestering master Bo and Master Roshi for her presents, she didn’t manage to get anything out of them until the very end.

Me and the other aides took our chance to enjoy the party as much as possible, exchanging gossips and getting our fills of the tasty snacks that we had prepared for today. We took this as a chance of relaxing a bit before the ‘True’ party that would happen next week, when we would invite the nobles and such, having a lot more work to do than the usual.

Thus, even though I spent most of the time near milady, I ended up taking more time to enjoy myself rather than serving her.

“Here you go, Little Lia.” “Is this what you wanted?” “Doesn’t she just make you want to spoil her?” “Here you go, big sis got you a sweet!”

“Thank you, big sis!” I said with a wide smile as the other aides helped me get the food I wanted.  The aides all let out a squee of happiness.

Well, after so long working in here, pretty much everyone in the house already knows that I’m not so innocent as I appear, and that sometimes I simply act cute to get the things I want. However, this still doesn’t stop them from spoiling me, so I usually end up giving them a smile as a thanks.

It’s a symbiotic relationship. They spoil me, and I give them cuteness. Everyone wins.

Well, sometimes I wonder if they don’t take it too far, after all, some time there when I left to grab some more sweets from the kitchen, someone took my seat, and before I could search for a new place to sit, one of the aides picked me up and put me in her lap so she could hug me.

After that, the other aides started complaining, and it took them no more than a few minutes before they had to pass me to the next person. It wasn’t all that new to be honest, however…

“Don’t  you already get to do this everyday, milady?” I asked confused as I noticed Milady putting her name on the list..

“I fail to get your point, cuddly aide.” Milady replied confused.

“You already get to have her  all day long, Milady.” Miss Ping said with a frown while tightening her hug around me. “You should let us have little Lia a bit longer for ourselves.”

“Muu. Don’t give me that! I barely get the time to cuddle with her anymore!” Milady complained while pouting. “We usually are either training, studying, working or doing something of the kind, so I almost never get the chance to snuggle with her recently!”

Hmm… Thinking about it, it has been some time since I last sat down and let Milady pet me.

“But you still get to touch her during your spars.” An aide said while pouting.

“Sorry for listening in to your talk, but I feel I must defend my student.” Master Roshi said as he approached us, with a glass of wine and a red hand-marking in his cheek. The aides all stopped in surprise while turning towards him. “Not that I am denying that Lady Tian is extremely talented, and not only that, but she also had a head-start in her cultivation.” Hmm… I think I see where he’s going with this. “But young Lia is no slouch either. in fact, she uses her… talent to great uses during a spar.”

“If Cuddly aide wants it, she can get really difficult to touch.” Milady said with a pout. “Ever since she had her breakthrough, I haven’t managed to land a single hit.”

“Indeed.” Master Roshi nodded while making a proud expression. “Since she can read her opponent like no one it’s almost impossible to outsmart her when it comes to sheer skills.” He sighed a bit tiredly while looking at me with an awkward expression. “Even I have to resort to overwhelming her instead of trying to hold back to her level.”

“Huh? Really?” The aides said surprised while turning to me in awe. I blushed embarrassed while looking down. “Hee. Little Lia is incredible!”

“I must say that if it wasn’t the fact that she suffers from her condition, she might have been the scariest of all disciples I’ve seen recently.” Master Roshi let out a proud laugh.

Well, while he was proud, I was actually pretty annoyed by that. Since my control was pretty much limited to the inside of my body, and inside only, it was pretty difficult to deal significant damage when landing a hit.

As I pouted annoyedly, I heard as the other aides started complaining to Ping that it was time for her to pass me around, and after a brief resistance from her, I was finally lifted by another aide and taken off her.

Hmm… it’s difficult to eat sweets while being carried around…

…

“Well, I guess it’s time for me to stop dragging the matter.” Master Bo said suddenly while looking at me. “Could you go fetch it, Lia?”

I nodded happily before squirming my way out of Milady’s grasps and jumping down to the ground. For a moment Milady looked at us confused, but once the meaning of his words finally sunk in, she widened her eyes in shock.

“Wait, father… You don’t mean that...” She said while looking at me and her father.

I gave her a teasing smiled while sticking my tongue out. Taking my chance as she was still staring at me in shock, I slipped out of the dining room and went towards my bedroom. To not end up dragging this for too long, as soon as I was out of sight, I channeled some chi into my legs and sprinted away.

Enjoying the pressure of the wind against my body as I ran through the hallway, it took me but a moment for me to reach my room, and after making sure that there was no one peeking at me from the door, I reached for my wardrobe and pulled out a drawer. After that, I put my hand deep into the drawer slot and pulled unlatched a lock that I had installed. This unlocked the fake-bottom on the other side of the wardrobe.

Under the fake cover of the wardrobe, I pulled out the present that Lord Bo had bought for milady.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Who’d have known that making this fake bottom to hide my shorts would have another use?

The other aides are probably still wondering where I keep pulling them out from if they can’t even find them in my wardrobe any longer.

He he. I put my woodworking skills to its best uses with that. It was a pain to get it done without the other aides finding out about it. Had to make the pieces whenever I was out in the city, then try to install them in the middle of the night without anyone finding out about it.

Well worth the investment.

Sadly, if my thoughts are correct, I’ll probably won’t see much use of it in a few months.

Locking away the fake bottom once again, I put everything back together and walked back to the dining room. While in part I was wondering what kind of expression milady would have once I got back to her, on the other I was trying to wonder if master RoshI’s present was what I had in mind.

It most likely wasn’t anything physical, or if it was, it wasn’t big, seeing how he arrived straight to the party without carrying anything in his hands. On the other hand, he could just have left it somewhere else in the house, but that wouldn’t exactly fit the image of his I had in mind.

“Cuddly aide...” I heard milady’s voice once I reached the dining room as she pouted.

“Here you go milady!” I said with a wide smile as passed her the box.

“...You know what is this, right?” She asked me in with an incriminating tone. I nodded with a smile. “...Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked me.” I replied teasingly. “If you had asked me, I’d have told you. After all the one who I answer to is you.” I said with a smile.

“That’s unfair! You should have told me if you knew something!” She complained while pinching my cheeks as I tried to not giggle at her reaction. It is rude to laugh at your lord, after all.

“Hmm. You may be talented with politics and such, dear. But there’s still a few tricks you need to learn.” He said to her with a cocky smile. “Sometimes, the best place to hide something is right under the nose of the one who should not find it.”

Milady sent an incriminating glance towards me and her father for a couple of seconds, but soon enough she couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer and picked up the box that was resting on her lap.

Everyone on the room gathered together to peek on the box, and even though I had already done some peeking myself, I couldn’t help but follow along with the others.

“Waaah. So pretty.” “Beautiful.” “Looks expensive.” The others said amazed as they peeked into box.

Indeed, a beautiful and expensive looking necklace was resting within the box. Made entirely of gold, being fairly thick and durable in appearance, with a coin-sized jewel enshrined in its middle. The jewel had a beautiful blue coloration with a single darker, purple fragment in its middle, as if a shard from another jewel had been locked inside it.

“Oh, a Thunder-head Lynx eye.” Master Roshi said surprised. “Quite fitting.” He said amused.

“Is that a type of spirit beast?” I asked curious.

“Yes. It’s mostly found on the west where’s there’s a high amount of feline animals.” He explained. “And while this is called ‘eye’, in truth it’s a strange gem that seems to be found near the hearts of some of the thunder-head lynxes.”

I stared at him wide-eyed as he explained the details to us. While I had seen the gem before, I didn’t know exactly what it was, so now I was a bit more interested. However, after a moment I felt as a jolt in my memory came along, and widening my eyes in shock, I asked.

“Then… Then… Is this some kind of monster core that can be used to imbue the things we craft?” I asked excitedly.

However, the only response I got was an awkward and curious look from the others as I tilted my head confused.

“I don’t know where you had that idea, little Lia, but no.” Master Roshi shook his head. “Even though these gems have been under study for quite some time, their only use as of now is for storing chi outside of one’s body and facilitating the absorption of worldly spirits.”

“Oh...” I nodded weakly, feeling a bit disappointed. “Then it’s kind of like my robes?” I asked while looking at my dark robe.

“Not exactly.” Master Roshi nodded. “Your robes makes it easier for you to practice, while the gem actually aides you.”

“Hmm… I see.” I said impressed. “Then this is really good, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Master Roshi said with a smile as he watched milady jumping into Master Bo’s chest and hugging him tightly. “On the other hand, since it’s extremely rare to come by, you don’t see it as often in the market.”

I nodded in amusement while seeing milady happily put on the necklace around her neck. It looked a bit heavy, but it probably didn’t make much difference for milady, thanks to our training. Smiling amusedly at the not so common scene of milady acting like a child her age, I silently took the necklace from her hand and helped her put it on.

Despite its size, it fit surprisingly well with milady, matching her noble look. She enjoyed the feeling of the jewel against her body for some time before thanking her father a few more times.

“It looks good on you, dear.” Lady Sui said with a smile before turning to one of the aides and nodding. The aide approached the duo while carrying a large piece of cloth. She probably fetched it while I was fetching master Bo’s present. “Still, a good lady should have a fitting dress.” She said while motioning gently towards the aide, making sure to not wake up her younger son.

Turning towards the dress, me and Lady Tian widened our eyes in surprise at the sight of the dress. Made with a cloth as dark as the night and embroidered with a shining purple lining.To add a bit more of a flair, small silver buttons ran down the sides of teh dress, going all the way to the legs.

Milady quickly beamed a smile as she thanked her mother, meanwhile I took the clothes from the aide and folded it nicely. I considered whether to take it to her room immediately or leave it for later.

But since I had just gotten back, in the end I decided to take it later, so I neatly folded the clothes and held it in my arm so as to not let it get dirty. After that, all the aides brought their presents, being mostly small trinkets and such. She happily received all the presents with a wide smile.

Only after all the presents had been given that the Master Roshi approached her.

The two of us approached him curious, as his was the last present left, and he had made quite the scene by refusing to tell her what exactly it was.

“Well, young lady.” He said with a smile. “My present to you is this.” He said with a smile while pulling something from the sleeve of her robe.

Me and milady leaned in to see the present, and what came out, thoroughly surprised us.

“...A letter?” I asked confused.

“More specifically, this is an invitation letter.” He said with a proud smile. “An invitation to Silversong Academy.”

“Ah… I see.” Milady said with a polite smile and nodding.

Well, that was a bit disappointing.

“...You two just thought that this was disappointing, didn’t you?” Master roshi said annoyed.

““...No. We didn’t”” We replied immediately.

“Haah. Don’t the two of you know what going to Silversong means?” He asked us disappointed, and for a moment, me and milady simply exchange confused glances.

“I did hear that it was a prestigious academy, but it was pretty much a given that milady would go to one of such academy.” I said our thoughts, and master Roshi sighed in disappointment.

“The two of you should be a bit more mindful of things beyond politics, you know?” He said, and while I looked away embarrassed, milady nodded with a serious expression. Master Roshi cleared his throat before continuing. “Well, going back to the present, Silversong Academy is also a major gathering spot for spiritualists country wide, which also means that not only the smaller clans, but even the four great clans keep an eye out to the students in the academy.”

“Ah.” I said surprised as the meaning behind his words started to dawn on me.

“So you mean...”

“I’ve already taught the two of you all the basics, so from now on, it’s time for you to choose your own path.” He said while smiling towards us and gently putting the letter on milady’s hand. “The two of you are full blown spiritualist from today forth. Anything that I would teach you from today forth would be already the teachings from the tortoise clan, and I believe that you should choose your own destiny rather than simply following the words of an old man like myself.”