Chapter 32: Chapter 25: The Lady of the Lake

Echoes of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 25: The Lady of the Lake

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I was walking around the village by myself. 

Since Auntie and Thiasis were still annoying each other, I decided to sneak out to take a stroll while they weren't paying attention to me.

It was still very early in the morning so only a handful of people were up and outside their homes right now. There's also the fact that it is still winter, so most of my neighbors obviously prefer to be inside thanks to the warmth of their chimneys.

I quickly adjusted my scarf to cover my mouth, since it was really freaking cold right now…

The winters in this world are waaaay harsher than the ones on Earth. I wasn't thrilled when I found out about that fact on my first winter here…

"Thank goodness that I can warm myself using magic…" I whispered to myself as I remembered the harsh winter from almost three years ago.

Truly, I had never felt so cold in my life until I experienced my first winter here…

"It was fun to play in the snow though." I smiled as I thought of the snowball wars I had with my sisters, Mia and Klein.

I couldn't help but remember all of the fun memories I had made in the last three years while walking through the plaza and looking around the village.

The last three years have been pretty uneventful… I have been doing my best to live my life to the fullest. I trained a lot with my dad and my Auntie, I spent time with my mother studying magic and cooking together, I spent even more time playing with Liliana, Luna, Mia, and Klein and I was also able to improve my skills and I was able to get some new ones. I even leveled up quite a few times!

I also spent a considerable amount of time just chatting with both Lia and Thiasis. She's been a big part of my life in the last three years despite not being physically here. She has really taken good care of me and has taught me a myriad of things about this world.

Also, because of Lia/Thiasis and me talking so frequently, my bio mother, AKA the Demon Queen Pyxis, has been able to relax a bit and she is not overworking herself or others to the point of exhaustion… Which is quite frankly, immensely relieving because I now remember a lot more about her.

Ah, that would be another thing I should dwell on for a bit... 

I have gotten back a little bit more than half of my memories from my early childhood as Crux. I only recovered the ones that were approved by Lia since we still don't want Agmos or anyone else to find out about the secrets of Gliosis (my homeland) in case they managed to bypass the spell Lia is using to protect my mind.

The memories I got back were about things like my first steps, my first words, the names of our servants, the names of some family members that were close to us, my birthday parties, some events I attended as the prince of my homeland as well as the training I endured under my father and my studies with my mother and my other tutors.

For the record, my first word was 'whore'… Yeah… That was the first thing I ever said while starting my second life...

I called my mother that word after hearing it from my father… Needless to say, she was not amused in the slightest. She forced my father to sleep in the garden like a dog for at least a week after the event...

In my defense, I didn't have my memories from Earth and I was basically a normal toddler, so it obviously wasn't a conscious action!

It is incredibly funny though, and it genuinely makes me smile every time I recall that memory.

Most of my memories from my early childhood are something that most people would consider mundane and pretty normal even after considering the fact I'm technically the prince of a country, but to me, as of now, those memories are incredibly important.

Yes, there are quite a few bad memories in there too, but the good ones vastly outnumber those.

The bad ones are mainly the ones where my parents were stressed and frustrated due to my lack of progress in magic and swordsmanship and I felt inferior because I wasn't able to fulfill their expectations and everyone else's… 

However, I have no reasons to feel like that… After all, my talents have finally bloomed in both of those areas and I still have room for growth!

I'm not going to sugarcoat things though… I am a bit resentful of my bio parents and even more so of my grandparents on both sides for forcing their heavy expectations on me, but I'm working on that.

I think it won't take long for me to forgive my mother and my father since most of my memories with them are happy ones, and I can tell that they were remorseful about everything.

My grandparents, on the other hand… I don't know if I'll ever forgive them... In fact, I even have few choices of words for them because of the pressure they put on my parents and me…

So far, I can only recall three times where I have seen either set of grandparents. Those were definitely NOT happy memories... They were neutral at best, hence why I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive them. Maybe there’s one happy memory about them along with the ones Lia has not unlocked for me yet, but I am not really optimistic about it.

As I was thinking about what I would probably say to both sets of my grandparents the next time I saw them, I was quickly brought back to reality by the voice of one of my neighbors.

"Good morning, Julius!" A middle-aged man waved at me while clearing the snow from his roof.

"Good morning, Mr. Ragant. How's the family?" I waved back at him.

(I guess it is better if I stop thinking about them and just focus on living my life.) I thought after giving a reply to my neighbor.

"They're good! Thanks for asking!" He then focused back on his roof.

I was greeted by another neighbor immediately after this exchange had ended.

"Good morning, Julius. Are you sure you're getting enough sleep? You always wake up so early…" A woman suddenly started patting my back and spoke to me with worry.

"Thank you for your concern, Ms. Elia! I sleep more than enough, so you don't need to worry about that." I spoke to her politely.

"You don't need to keep being so polite! We have been neighbors for years now!" Another lady (Ms. Elia's sister) came out from their home, which was right beside Mr. Ragant's house.

"Lana is right about that, you know? I mean little Sophie looks up to you and considers you her big brother!" Ms. Elia said cheerfully.

Ms. Elia and Ms. Lana are sisters and they moved here alongside Ms. Elia's 5-year-old daughter, Sophie, when the first wave of settlers arrived in the summer almost three years ago.

They are a family of three. Just Ms. Elia, Ms. Lana, and Sophie. Both of their husbands were adventurers in the same adventuring party and both died after falling into a trap while exploring a dungeon near Norvek. 

Despite the deaths of their life partners, these two women are probably the most cheerful people I know after Thiasis and Mia. 

Even though they had recently become widows, they introduced themselves with a smile when they arrived and they have always been looking at everything with a positive outlook... I really admire them because of that.

"Hahaha… I'll do my best to not be so polite in the future. Take care." I let out an awkward laugh before I continued walking.

"Thanks! Please tell your mother to come by in the afternoon for tea. You and your sisters are also invited, of course!" Ms. Elia seemed particularly excited about having us over.

"I'm going to bake my famous carrot cake! So please come and visit!" Ms. Lana winked at me.

"We'll definitely come! Thank you!" I waved at them before I continued my stroll.

Ms. Lana's carrot cake is definitely one of the tastiest cakes I've ever eaten! I definitely won't miss the opportunity to eat one!

As I made my way across the plaza with Ms. Lana's cake in mind, I started thinking again about how much things had changed in the past three years.

We went from a small village of only nine people (my family and Mia’s family), ten if you count Auntie when she stayed here for a while, to a small town of almost seventy inhabitants.

This is all thanks to the reputation of my dad. 

Some of my neighbors are big fans of him, some wanted a new beginning in an exotic and dangerous new place, while a few others wanted to come here to test their survival and martial skills.

Their reasons for coming here are all different, but they all have the same thing in common... They came here because of my dad.

My dad might not seem like it, but he really does know how to inspire confidence in other people. 

If it wasn’t for him and his renowned strength, we wouldn’t have as many neighbors as we currently have, after all, there aren’t many people who would venture to live in one of the most dangerous and mysterious forests in the world… 

So I guess being a famous soldier really has its perks huh.

I was walking around the plaza, alone with my own thoughts... I couldn’t help but smile again as I thought of all the effort my family and I put into building up this village, our home, from the ground up...

It was a very fulfilling experience! Despite being a very strenuous job, I can’t deny that I had a blast while doing it!

You know? It is true what they say about making things with your own hands, there’s literally nothing more fulfilling than that! 

I couldn’t help but feel full of joy whenever I saw the fountain I had made and designed on my own with Earth Magic spouting the water produced by a small blue crystal which was enchanted with the Water Element and embedded right at the center of the fountain.

As I was getting more and more immersed in my own nostalgic thoughts, I was reminded of something I needed to do when I saw a few particular buildings in the distance.

"Guess It wouldn't hurt to check how things are going there…" I muttered while I walked towards my new destination.

I quickly followed a small cobblestone path that would lead me to a clearing at the eastern end of the village. There were only three buildings in this area, but all of them were quite large as they were extremely important... Those three buildings were the heart of our industry.

One of them was the workshop of our local blacksmith, Urfathy. Another one of the buildings was a simple warehouse for storing raw materials. And finally, the last building was the headquarters of a local business.

I was headed to the last building.

As soon as I reached the wooden door, I stopped and caught a glimpse of the sign that was right above my head.

“The Lady of the Lake… We really have come a long way huh….” I muttered with a slight grin on my face before opening the door and heading inside.

After a lot of the incessant pestering of my dear gambling-addicted father-in-law, I decided to establish a business about a year ago.

“Good morning everyone.” I waved to everybody in the room as the scents of wood ash and many kinds of oil reached my nostrils.

The insides of the building were just an enormous rectangular room with a private office at the end. There were dozens of tables, all perfectly lined up all the way towards the private office. On top of the tables, there were numerous trays filled to the brim with metallic molds, some others with the finished product and others with a familiar gooey substance as well as lots of raw materials. 

“Good morning, boss!” My fifteen employees replied cheerfully almost in unison.

I smiled warmly at them before I made my way towards the office while also making sure I would not crash into one of my employees since they were all running around in order to take care of their daily tasks.

The wood beneath our feet was creaking non-stop thanks to their frantic footsteps, all the while their loud and cheerful voices reached my ears.

(Truly… I really enjoy spending time here. The atmosphere of this place is simply something else!) I thought while smiling thanks to the sight in front of me.

Before I was able to reach the private office, I stopped walking after I saw the figure of a very particular tall rabbit woman in one corner of the large room.

“As I said before, if you put that much Abudlae Oil, you’ll turn the Lancelot Variety into an Arthur Variety! You need to be careful with the ratios.” Natalie, my mother-in-law, was training one of our newest recruits.

Natalie was wearing her usual revealing attire… A black cropped top, shorts, and a pair of sandals despite the season we are in. The only saving grace of her outfit is that she has a small jacket wrapped around her waist.

“Yes! I’m very sorry about that! I’ll study twice as hard! I’m really sorry!” A young blonde-haired girl apologized and bowed profusely to Natalie.

On the contrary, the young girl was wearing layers upon layers of winter clothing which made her look a little bulky despite how small she is.

“As long as you understand your mistake and learn from it, there’s no need to apologize so much.” Natalie patted the shoulder of the young girl.

I was pleased to see that Natalie was acting like an exemplary manager and treating our new employee with respect despite the fact she had made a mistake.

I guess I should explain myself a bit more about my business… As you can tell, I opened a soap factory. 

I was able to improve my recipe waaaay more after that incident with those goblins three years ago…  As a result, I was able to make several types of soaps and named all the different varieties after several characters of the Arthurian Legends. My business is also obviously named after one of the most important characters of those legends.

Like I said before, Harold pestered me incessantly for two years about setting up a business in order to sell my soap… 

He was eventually able to convince me and I ended up establishing this business, although it wasn’t with him like he originally intended since I established this company with both Natalie and my own mom.

We left Harold entirely out of the business because he simply cannot be trusted, neither with our profits nor with the recipes of our soap. After all, he does have a serious gambling problem…

That wasn’t my decision though. Natalie actively chose to leave her husband out of the business and even warned me constantly that he wasn't precisely a good role model when it came to being a merchant... My mom and I simply agreed with her decision. 

I mean I like the guy, but who says that he won’t gamble our earnings or our recipes away? Because of that simple thinking, I had to agree with Natalie. She even went as far as forbidding us from giving her any money other than her salary just to prevent Harold from trying anything funny with her share of the business.

It is not like Harold doesn’t get any money though. Natalie gives him an allowance just like she does with Mia and Klein, so at least his gambling needs are fulfilled without having him gambling their entire savings AGAIN like he did back when they lived in Norvek.

Of course, Harold obviously wasn’t happy about being left out and the small allowance, but he quickly forgot about it once he and Natalie went into heat a week after we got the business up and running.

Thank goodness I was able to develop a spell to soundproof my room… 

Anyway…

Most of our employees are people from the village. The ratio of men to women is even and the majority of our employees mostly consist of young people. There are a few elderly as well, but those are in the minority.

We pay them all fifteen Des an hour and they have a thirty minutes break that they can use whenever they please after they have worked for two hours or more. They all work one eight-hour shift per day. There’s only a morning shift, so they have all of the afternoon free after working their shift.

Though at first, Natalie called me crazy and she said that we would bleed money if we were to implement such a thing... My mom also agreed with her. 

Of course, that was to be expected since they don't have anything resembling worker's rights in this world…

Well, guess who proved them wrong after earning more than enough to pay our workers while also getting solid profits in our second month? It was me, of course! Our workers were also pretty happy with this arrangement, so our business has been a great success because of that!

I don’t know if I should pity our employees for the lacking working conditions they might have had in the past, or be glad that my policies were a success because of those very same bad working conditions… Either way, the employees seem to be happy with how things are and that’s what matters.

“Good morning, Natalie. Is everything going well over here?” I got close to her and started pulling her sleeve to get her attention.

As soon as I did that, I was quickly raised from the ground and pulled into a tight hug by the rabbit woman who was almost as tall as my dad. Her long blazing red hair was covering my vision and made me unable to see my surroundings…

“Good morning!” She said enthusiastically while I was trapped in her embrace. “I didn’t expect you to show up so early today, but everything is going well! How’s my favorite son-in-law doing today?” Just like every morning, Natalie seemed very happy to see me.

"I'm good. I had some time to spare and I decided to come by. I'm glad that things are going well." The sound of my voice was muffled due to the fact that she was holding me very tightly…

"Saying that things are going well is an understatement! Our sales have gone through the roof ever since we introduced the Guinevere Variety into the market! We are going to be swimming in money soon, my dear boy!” Natalie sounded ecstatic. She started moving around restlessly, making my lower body swing limply from the right to the left, over and over again.

Like I said before, I named all the varieties of soap that I made after a character of the Arthurian Legends. So far, we have six varieties and they all have different uses… Those are:

• Arthur Variety: Works as an industrial cleaner. Capable of cleaning even the most persistent stains! Especially those made by the blood (and guts) of goblins! (Warning: ABSOLUTELY do not use this soap on clothing!)
• Guinevere Variety: A soap made with several of our finest aphrodisiacs, exclusively crafted for people who want to reignite the spark with their partner!
• Lancelot Variety: A soap for general cleaning. It works best for washing dishes and any surfaces made out of glass.
• Bedivere Variety: This one is for general hygiene. This is the most common one and the easiest to produce.
• Gawain Variety: A soap especially made for young children and infants.
• Merlin Variety: A carefully crafted soap for laundry that will definitely make any stain disappear from your clothing! Yes! Even those made by the blood of goblins!

We have scented and odorless versions of each variety, so we can easily satisfy the needs of our customers! That has been one of our biggest appeals in the current market, which is why we have been successful.

After a short while of Natalie running around our workshop while carrying me around, she finally put me back on the ground after enthusiasm had died down a bit...

"Jeez…" I looked at her with a blank look, but she didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"Hehehe! Mia really struck gold when you proposed to her, didn't she?" Natalie showed me a wide teasing smile. "So? When am I gonna meet my grandchildren?" She asked playfully.

"In thirty years, give or take." I gave her an exaggerated reply.

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"What!? That's way too long! I will be way too old to enjoy them!" Natalie, for some odd reason, took my reply way too seriously… She even started pouting and everything… "I absolutely cannot wait that long! I want to meet them as soon as I can!" She then grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me repeatedly in order to make me change my mind...

I simply ignored Natalie and her antics and changed my focus to our new employee.

"Your name was Sandra, right? How are you doing? Is there anything that you need help with? I'll be happy to answer if that's the case." I smiled at the young woman.

Sandra moved to Marenna barely a week ago. I haven’t had much of a chance to interact with her, but I have been told by a lot of people (mainly my mom, Natalie, and other employees) that she’s a kind, honest and hardworking person, though she's apparently a bit too clumsy.

"Yes! I'm a bit confused about a few things, and I had a few problems with the equipment earlier, but Mrs. Natalie has kindly explained everything to me several times!" Sandra replied nervously.

"I see... Well, don't hesitate to ask for help whenever you need it. The equipment can be quite tricky to use if you haven't used it before." I smiled at her before I looked at the tools that were on top of the table.

With the help of our neighbor blacksmith, Urfathy, I have been able to get my hands on some tools that have made our production of soap far easier and more efficient.

Things like molds, funnels, larger pots, measuring tools, and even containers for the soap with our logo… 

The guy has really been able to make whatever has come to my mind! I literally cannot thank him enough for his help!

I have been trying to get him to teach me his craft, but I haven't been able to achieve that, mainly because he already has an apprentice…

That won't make me give up on learning blacksmithing though! There are quite a few things from Earth that I could make if I learned how to use a forge!

Things like silverware, better tools, and even some weapons! I mean, making a sword sounds really exciting!

Oh!

Maybe I can name one Excalibur and hang it on the wall, that way the workshop will finally have the necessary decoration that has been missing all this time!

"Of course! I really cannot thank you enough for hiring me! I have been having a lot of fun and I have learned a lot from my senior coworkers!" Sandra bowed politely before she grabbed my hand and started shaking it vigorously, dragging me out of my fantasies and bringing me back to reality once again…

I was now being shaken by the two women…

“I’m glad that you’re happy with this job. I genuinely hope that you stay with us for a long time.” I smiled at her a bit awkwardly while trying to make them both stop shaking me.

“Yes! I’ll do my best!” Sandra smiled back before letting go of my hand.

I simply nodded at her before looking at Natalie. 

"I'm going to the office. Are you coming?" I asked Natalie, who was still touching my shoulders but she had finally stopped shaking me.

"Maybe next time. I still need to look after our new employee after all~." She suddenly pinched my cheek before she walked away from me.

"Very well. I'll leave you two to it." I waved at them before making my way towards the office.

Both Sandra and Natalie waved back while I was walking away from them.

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-----Lilia's POV-----

"Sigh… This guy is seriously getting annoying…" I let out a heavy sigh as I read a letter which almost appeared to be an exact copy of a letter I had received last week. “Rejected.” I ripped the letter apart without even considering replying.

I was currently buried in paperwork… The desk was completely full of towers of letters, documents, and my own notes.

Despite the huge amount of work I currently have, I genuinely enjoy working like this. Managing this business is an easy job to do and it keeps me entertained.

"Next one is… Another fucking buyout proposal… Dammit…" I said with annoyance after quickly skimming through the letter. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose.

The only annoying part of this is the absurd amount of merchants and their incessant attempts to buy the recipes of our soap or buy the business as a whole… 

“If you’re going to try to buy our business at least write down how much you’re offering… Rejected!” I shouted at the letter before burning it with magic.

Sigh… This is the bad part of having a successful business… For the better part of last month, we have received at least 250 buyout proposals. Most of them belong to a very famous (and extremely annoying) nobleman from the capital… 

Even though I have rejected all of his offers, the man does not know when to give up…

“And the next one is… What a surprise! It is another buyout proposal…” I was getting increasingly annoyed by these letters, especially after reading the name of that man. 

Without a second thought, I turned a letter into ashes for the second time today.

“Klaus Rastek Caletro… Seriously, how many times do I need to tell you that we are not going to sell the business!?” I stood up and hit my desk with my fist several times due to my frustration…

I have never met this man in my life, but dear gods… He really irritates me beyond words!

"Maybe I should just burn all the letters… It is not like there anything of value will be lost…” I don't want to read his name again…"I muttered as I raised my hand and prepared myself to burn all the letters on the table with my magic.

However, before I could even manage to produce a spark, someone knocked on the door a few times before coming in.

“Good morning, Mom.” It was Julius. As soon as he came into the room, he smiled warmly at me.

His cheeks were painted in a deep red thanks to the cold, something which only made him look even more adorable than usual. 

He was wearing a light brown coat made out of the fur of a Draken Deer, which was still a little too big for him, so it fitted loosely. He also had a long red scarf wrapped around his neck with one end of the scarf hanging almost all the way towards his lower back. His brown trousers seemed to have a few cuts here and there, those were surely a result of his sparring with Tiria. His boots seemed to have seen much better days...

Compared to Liliana and Luna, Julius has barely changed in the past few years. He's just a few centimeters taller than when we adopted him and he is still pretty thin. His cheeks have gotten a bit chubbier, but that just makes him look more childish. He's still my small and cute child!

"Hey, sweetie!" I immediately smiled back at him and made my way towards him to give him a warm hug. "How was your training with your Auntie?" I asked before giving him a peck on the forehead.

"I lost to her again…" He said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. Despite his annoyance, he was hugging me back.

"Let me guess... She broke one of her promises, didn't she?" I asked him while patting his head.

He simply nodded in response.

"You'll definitely get her next time. I'm sure of it!" I started patting his back in order to reassure him.

I definitely needed this… After all the stress produced by that annoying nobleman and his letters, I deserve to have a break to pamper my son!

"Mom… Are you okay?" He asked with worry in his voice. "You have a lot of paperwork on the desk… Do you want me to help?" He immediately offered his help as soon as he noticed my workload.

"Only if you promise to spend time with this old lady after we are done." I said with a grin.

"Mom, you're definitely not old… You're still pretty young." He retorted.

I simply winked playfully at him a few moments after I stopped hugging him. 

I then walked towards my chair and took a seat in front of my desk. I quickly started tapping my legs to encourage Julius to sit on my lap, something which he did without any complaint.

He immediately started skimming through the tower of letters, while I started to examine a few documents about our trade route with Norvek.

"Mom… Is he seriously still going on about buying our company...?" Julius turned his head around and frowned. He had just read one of the letters of Klaus.

"Unfortunately, that man does not know what giving up means…" I almost let out another heavy sigh but I was able to stop myself in time.

"He's persistent, I'll give him that…" Just like I had done, Julius fastly burned the letter with magic. Not even a single speck of dust remained. 

Julius then started going through the tower of letters, skimming through them one by one and burning them if they weren't important.

Hehehe! That's my boy!

"Hmm?" Julius suddenly looked a bit perplexed after picking up the last letter on the desk.

"Is something the matter, Julius?" I leaned in so I could read the contents of the letter.

"It is a letter from Eliana…" Julius turned around and looked at me with a very serious expression.

Oh, would you look at that? It turns out that I was right! There wasn't anything of value in any of the letters!

"It is a letter to inform me of the date on which the tournament will be held." Julius paused for a brief moment. "It says that the tournament will be held in the spring when the snow melts." Julius looked at me in the eyes, as if waiting for my opinion.

"Wasn't the tournament originally scheduled for the summer? This seems a bit too hasty…" I was intrigued.

"Yeah… In the last letter I received from Marina, she mentioned that the tournament was going to be held in the summer right after the Festival of Flares... That was a month ago though." Julius nodded. "But in this letter, Eliana says that the tournament will be held early due to the fact that the princess is going to graduate sooner than expected." Julius changed his focus back into the letter.

Hmmm… That’s a bit of a problem… If the tournament was in the summer, the trip to the capital would not be an issue since I was already leaving everything prepared for that.

If the tournament is going to be held so early, I will now have to do at least five times the work I currently have so we can depart without having to worry about our business. Something which, honestly, is probably going to suck… 

Natalie will stay in charge of everything and I would like to leave her with as little work as I possibly can while we are gone.

“Does the letter say anything else?” I asked Julius with a little bit of curiosity.

“Not much. The rest of the letter is just details about the tournament, things like the rules and such.” Julius examined the letter thoroughly. “She says at the end that she expects a lot from me and to make sure not lose since I’m going to represent the future empress in an official tournament. Paraphrasing her literal words: ‘No pressure’...” Julius looked at the letter with a blank expression.

Hmm… What in the world is she planning this time…? Whatever it is, after the stunt she tried to pull three years ago, I have a few choices of words to tell when we go to the capital…

I know for certain that my Julius will definitely not lose!

"Well, I guess I'll have to go and tell dad about this so we can prepare everything for the trip… I guess I should ask Auntie for another sparring session." Even though he had a serious expression on his face, I could tell that he was looking forward to the tournament. "But before that, I'll help you finish all this paperwork." He turned around and smiled at me again while he was folding the letter and saving it in his pocket.

"Thank you very much, my sweet little devil~." I gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Don't mention it. After all, this should be my job since I was the one who wanted to set up a business." Julius grabbed a stack of documents and quickly started going through them.

"Nope! Your only job is to enjoy your childhood." I quickly took away the stack of papers from his hands. "Thank you for your help, sweetie. I'll handle the rest of the paperwork. Go outside and play around with your sisters for the rest of the day." I smiled warmly at him.

"Mom? Are you sure?" He looked at me with a bit of confusion.

"Of course! I can handle a few stacks of papers on my own, silly." I patted his back before giving him a light push so he would get up from my lap.

"Alright then… Though, it is still too early… Liliana and Luna must still be asleep..." He hesitantly accepted to go to play.

"Ah, right…" I said awkwardly. "Oh, I have something better in mind then! Why don't you go and tell Mia how you feel about her?" My awkward expression soon became a teasing grin.

He visibly froze where he stood... In just a few seconds, I saw Julius go from a pale complexion to him being completely red in the face thanks to his embarrassment.

"I-I-I-I don't know what you're talking about…" He refused to make eye contact with me.

"Right~." I spoke with a playful tone.

Jeez! He seriously thought that I wouldn't notice how awkward he gets whenever Mia is around? It was impossible not to notice!

"I think I will just go and look for dad…" He said before walking towards the door. His cute tender cheeks were still painted in a deep crimson.

"Tell Natalie to come here for a minute, please!" I waved at him even though he wasn't looking at me.

"Yes, mom…" He replied with a lot of embarrassment before leaving as quickly as he had arrived.

I simply smiled as I looked at his back while he left the office.

“I wonder how he will react when Liliana and Luna confess to him though? Hehehe! I bet he will be left speechless!” I giggled as I thought about a future event I’m looking forward to witnessing.

The door of the office was suddenly opened again while I was busy staring into the empty air, lost in my own thoughts.

“Lilia, just what did you do to your son? I have never seen him so embarrassed before. He was so red in the face that he almost looked like a strawberry!” Natalie had come into the room. She had an oblivious and innocent look on her face.

 “Don’t worry too much about him~. It was just a silly thing I told him~.”  I replied while hiding my playful grin with my hand. “Well, let’s leave that for another time. You see, something came up and it seems like I will have to be grinding at the office for a while... Care to help me with that?” I pointed at all the papers at the table with a pleading expression on my face.

“Only this? This amount should only take you a few hours to finish.” Natalie looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Not only this. We will have to do at least two or three months' worth of paperwork in the next few weeks.” I smiled bitterly.

“Two to three months’ worth of paperwork!? What the hell!?” She looked at me as if I was out of my mind. “Why do you need to do so much paperwork!?” She slammed her hands on the table. She looked pretty pale.

 “Well… In short, Eliana sent us a letter explaining that they changed the date of the tournament. It will now be held in the early spring instead of summer like they originally intended... As you can already tell, I need to do get ahead and leave everything prepared so I can accompany Julius.” I explained the situation to her.

“In the early spring…? You do know that at best we have five weeks left of winter to do all that work...?” Natalie was hit by the same realization I had a while ago.

“That’s right! So we should better get to work, don’t you think?” I smiled innocently at her.

If I’m going to suffer through this, at least I am not going to do it alone.

“Fine… It is not like I have any other choice since that paperwork was eventually going to fall on me anyway…” Natalie agreed with a defeated look on her face. “However! If I have to suffer, you have to at least promise to take Mia and Klein to the capital too! Klein has been hounding us to take him there since forever!” She was quickly reinvigorated as she laid her conditions for helping me.

“Very well.” I nodded in agreement. “Now, let’s begin... That paperwork won’t do itself!” I said with a fake look of excitement on my face.

“Yay…” Natalie had already fallen into despair even though we hadn’t even started yet.

Although I know I will have to suffer for a bit, I know that in the end, it will be all worth it. After all, I’ll get to see my son shining like the diamond he is when he is crushing the competition at that tournament!

---

Chapter 25: The Lady of the Lake

END

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