97 – Luden(4)

The first meeting with my mother-in-law, who was so worried, ended successfully.

Just as I thought of Elena after seeing Adelia, the conversation proceeded in a relaxed atmosphere, as if Adelia saw her father through me.

Thanks to that, more than 80% of the topics of conversation were about my father’s school days, but what about it?

In order to lubricate the conversation, I could hear about my father’s dark history over and over again.

There are some parts that I enjoyed while listening to it, so from the middle I encouraged it a little bit, but it’s okay because what happened inside doesn’t go into my father’s ears anyway.

Could it be that the mother-in-law, who started the story first, and no one else, should be arguing with the father?

Adelia seemed to be happy to find a companion for the first time in a while, and Hailey and Elena were happy to hear it, so in conclusion, everyone is happy.

“That’s right! At that time, Arthur and Yohaim grabbed the professor’s pants and suddenly!!…Ah, did I talk too much? I left the people who came running without even having time to rest.”

“No. I didn’t hear anything about my father’s student days, so I enjoyed listening to it. By the way, the duke and the professor my father took off are still in the academy, right? I thought I’d be in trouble.”

“hahahaha!! That’s not going to happen. You left the academy because of that. But it would be a big deal if you met him. Damian looks exactly like Arthur. Maybe he’ll pick up his sword and run at you as soon as he sees you.”

As Adelia said, our conversation took a long time.

Still, as you can see by the way Adelia treats me now, I think it was worth it.

The honorific that I used at first disappeared after some time, and seeing that the name is also called Confucius comfortably without words like Confucius, I also feel at ease. It may mean that the distance has become closer, but there were things that approached me in a slightly different way to me with a better affinity than I thought.

If you think of Elena, it’s not that easy to connect, but I think Elena resembles Joachim in this part.

Even though the Duke of Joheim seems very kind to his father, it’s because the two of them have been friends for a long time.

“Then, let’s wrap up today with this. Let’s start touring the imperial city tomorrow, and let’s all take a good rest at the mansion today. It’s a place to stay for a while, but getting used to it is also important.”

Adelia, conscious of how late it was, advised us not to leave the mansion after dinner.

After sitting in the carriage for a long time, I tried to loosen my stiff body by looking around, but there was no reason not to follow her, so I replied that I knew what she said.

Seeing that she allowed her to go out, saying that she could go out the next day, the words she just said earlier must have been because she thought of us, who would be tired from the carriage trip, rather than saying that she didn’t believe in Luden’s security. Hagiya, it doesn’t look like Luden’s security is so bad that he can’t be trusted by the aristocrats residing in the ecliptic.

Afterwards, we split into our separate rooms after a simple dinner.

During the meal, there wasn’t as much conversation as before, but instead, it seems that Adelia got more attention than during the interview. To be precise, I was alternating between me and Elena, and every time I heard a strange laugh coming out of her mouth.

I couldn’t tell what he was laughing at, but he seemed in a good mood, so I was a little concerned, but not too uncomfortable.

“Helena, please stay for a while after the meal.”

Adelia was the only one holding Elena, and Hailey and I were all sent back to our rooms.

Could it have something to do with why she laughed during the meal?

It might have been simply a conversation between a mother and daughter who hadn’t seen each other in a long time, but I intuitively knew that the conversation between the two of them would also include the meaning of the smile from earlier.

“Well, ask Elena later and you’ll find out.”

As soon as I got out of the space I was with them, I wanted to throw myself into bed right away. It wasn’t as much as he thought, but it wasn’t unreasonable since he spent a lot of energy facing Adelia.

Still, unlike the first time I set foot here, what dwells in me now is not worry and anxiety, but a small sense of achievement that calms my mind.

That small sense of achievement was enough to get out of the heavy pressure that was weighing down the whole body.

With weak steps, I moved my body to the room I was guided to in advance.

I feel like I’m going to sleep deeply tonight.

***

Left alone at the dinner table with Adelia, Elena’s face was the same between when people were around and when they weren’t there.

Usually, when an older adult sings it separately, she will think a little about why she was called, but Elena doesn’t show that kind of sign at all.

Even though it was a reunion that took place after a long time since they met after being apart for several months, it is impossible to feel the exchange of emotions such as longing between the two.

However, the first thing to know about this part is that these two have been in regular contact with each other using a crystal ball for communication. So, it is natural that the feeling fades to some extent in longing.

Damian does not know anything about this, so he knows that the letter sent to the castle this time is the first contact, but to some extent, this was also what Adelia intended to make Damian think that way.

According to her, it was to add some tension to the prospective son-in-law.

However, just because he didn’t contact me first, he wasn’t a great person to stay still saying that Damian is like that and that he’s very busy.

Naturally, Damian sent several letters to the villa in Luden.

No matter how busy Adelia was, it wasn’t that she didn’t have time to reply to letters from the family with whom she had a relationship. However, he hinted through Elena that he would not be able to check the letter because he was busy beforehand, and deliberately did not reply.

The reason he treated him so coldly was to see how Damian reacted when he met his mother-in-law.

Although it seemed a bit harsh, this was like testing her son-in-law in her own way.

Although it was called a midterm marriage, it was an engagement that did not reflect Adelia’s intention at all, so she usually did not think very well of this engagement.

Someone gave birth to a child with a stomachache, but after all, it was anger at Yohaim for deciding the child’s future at a bar without a word of discussion.

This accounted for a large part of the reason why she went to Luden following her son, who should have been left alone.

The earlier meeting and engagement had softened her anger a little, but not completely.

Elena had heard about Damian several times through the crystal ball, but Adelia chose to meet and confirm on her own.

I didn’t reply to the letters that I didn’t reply on purpose, but I read the contents, so I could guess what kind of mentality Damian had, but in the end, it was her grumpiness that chose this method in the end.

If it was originally written for her, Adelia today was going to play the worst mother-in-law she could imagine. He tried to see the end of Damian’s patience by pushing the prospective son-in-law, who would have been nervous otherwise, to the edge of the cliff.

However, as the results already showed, this plan was wiped out of her mind as soon as she saw Damian’s face and behavior.

Before Damian and Elena entered the drawing room, Adelia watched them from inside.

Numerous familiars created with phytochemicals were hiding all over the mansion, so it was easy to do by borrowing the eyes of one of them.

A young man who looks exactly like his old friend and his beloved daughter are walking towards him, standing side by side.

As much as they resembled each other in appearance, their talents were also identical. Who was Arthur’s son? As soon as Adelia borrowed her eyes, Damian noticed the gaze watching them.

As each other’s gazes intertwined over the familiar, Adelia seemed to stiffen at the moment of Damian’s life as he rode in the familiar. However, whether this was temporary or not, life was quickly taken away, and when she looked into her eyes again, all that was reflected in her eyes was Damian with a nervous face.

It didn’t look like smoke. Damian was still conscious of his gaze, as if it wasn’t an illusion just now, but every time her gaze became stronger, Damian’s trembling became stronger.

Seeing that, Adelia felt a strange feeling.

As if Arthur was afraid of his own eyes, he was strangely excited, but at the same time, he began to feel sorry for Damian. If you think about it, the child in front of you was suffering from a heartache because of his grumpiness.

Adelia’s heart weakened when she saw it with her own eyes, but it was only after this that she completely erased the thought of the test from her mind.

Elena held Damian’s hand a short distance from the drawing room.

Adelia, who was well aware of her daughter’s passive personality, was amazed to see Elena stepping out and holding Damian’s hand.

I knew that a lot had changed in Elena as we talked through the crystal ball each time, but it was the first time I had ever seen such an action.

In addition to that, from the time Elena opened her mouth while looking at Damian with warm and playful eyes, the plan and everything had already disappeared in Adelia’s mind.

Adelia couldn’t take her eyes off the two of them until they reached the drawing room.

“So much has changed.”

“You said that before, and then again…”

“No, she’s changed a lot. I wonder if this is really my daughter. But my mom really likes seeing Elena’s changed look.”

Adelia looked at Elena who was sitting in front of her and said.

She knew full well that love could change so many things, but even so, the change that happened to Elena was dramatic. It’s like a person has been changed.

When he heard the news that Elena had personally subdued the monsters in the raid that took place in the south, he didn’t believe it at first. There was no doubt about Elena’s ability. However, he was well aware of how passive his daughter was and hated being looked at by others.

But seeing Elena like this today made me think that what I thought was impossible might be possible.

After checking over dinner, Elena saw that almost all of her eyes were on Damian, except for a few conversations with Adelia. Elena’s eyes, looking at the young man warmly, showed affection that could not be hidden.

Seeing Elena with the eyes of a girl completely in love, Adelia could not help but understand the change that had taken place in Elena.

“is that so.”

Elena smiled, not hiding her joy at Adelia’s words.