"Seriously Santi, was this how you talk to your child? You talked as if she was your subordinate!" Lorenzo rebuked him as he was baffled by his friend.
"What do you know? Get lost."
"Wow, so much for thanks."
Minerva looked at Lorenzo and to the stone that he held. She also peeked at Cassie whose lips were pursed as if she had tried to suppress her laugh.
As she observed, Lorenzo, and her so-called father which was Santi, were close enough to exchange banters.
But she wouldn’t expect that they would be this close. And her ‘father’ was even a bit rude to Lorenzo.
‘Well, this was the banter between friends, I guess? This was what I read in the novels.'
Still, she didn't expect that they would be this close. She was already in disbelief when Lorenzo appeared and saved them. Minerva did not expect that her 'father' would ask a favor of him.
"Cassie," Santi called, "Make sure to do a clean-up in the mansion. When I return, I would personally oversee them and do a clean-up once again."
"Yes, Your Grace," Cassie said.
"Minnie." Her 'father' called her and suddenly, Minerva became tense.
"Wait for me to return, okay? I'll give you something that you'd like. If you were bored, you could stroll to the garden or the treehouse. There was also a music room near to your chambers. You could check it out with them later if you wanted to." Santi instructed.
"You talk as if Minnie could understand." Lorenzo mocked him.
"Of course. My daughter was intelligent after all. Not like someone's snotty child."
"Hey, Marcus was still a young kid. He was barely three!" Lorenzo defended.
Santi then snorted, "I did not name your son."
"Whatever."
Minerva's eyes widened in shock. Lorenzo had a son?!
'Right, he mentioned it earlier when he just arrived.'
But seriously, Lorenzo had a child? She did not expect it either!
Come to think of it, he was already at this age. He was few thousand years old now. It was normal for him to had a child on his own.
"I'll go now. These dumb mages that were sent by the old man have called me. They were already on my nerves as they continued to pester me as if we could find the beast on this forsaken land." Santi grumbled in annoyance.
"I'll tell Maureen later about this beast. When I return, I would surely shove this damned beast on the old man's throat."
Lorenzo once again laughed at him, "Yeah, Maureen could certainly help you with that. Why didn't you asked for her in the first place? You could have returned earlier if you did."
"I was in search of something," Santi said but did not elaborate further.
"Fine, fine. Suit yourself. I would also take my leave later." Lorenzo said.
"Don't forget about what I told you." Santi reminded him.
"Of course I wouldn't forget. Relax."
"Good," Santi mumbled, "I'll go now. Minnie, don't forget what I told you." He reminded once again and the stone that shone earlier turned back to normal.
Lorenzo shook his head as the stone suddenly disappeared. He then faced Minerva who was in the high chair.
"I would just engrave some protection spells on you. Don't worry it wouldn't hurt you at all." Lorenzo said as he smiled. By his index finger, he drew something on midair. When he was done, a rune was made and it flew back towards her direction. Suddenly, she was engulfed in yellow light. But it did not take too long as it vanished quickly.
However, Lorenzo did not stop. He drew something on midair once again but the one that was engulfed in yellow light was the chamber.
Lorenzo nodded in satisfaction when the yellow light disappeared.
"With this, even if they wanted to barge in this room, they would be unable to do so. They wouldn't trap you just like what they did earlier. You also don't need to worry if someone wanted to come inside and kidnap Minnie." Lorenzo told Cassie.
"I thank Your Excellency for your help," Cassie said as she bowed to him. Lorenzo waved his hand.
"It was nothing." He said, "Alright, so I'll take my leave. Don't worry, if you were both in danger, I would know even if I was away. Goodbye."
Lorenzo waved at us both and a yellow light surrounded him. When the yellow light was gone, he was also nowhere could be seen.
Wow, was that teleportation? Amazing!
Cassie sighed in relief when Lorenzo was gone. She went into Minerva's direction and took her to her crib to rest.
"Little Miss, I would lull you to sleep now." She said as she placed her comfortably. When she's done, she sat on the chair that was on the side and started to sing.
Meanwhile, Minerva recalled what happened earlier. She realized that a lot of things happened in just a single night. For the first time, she was attacked by assassins and a mage wanted to take her. She found out that the king was somewhat against her 'father' and intentionally sent him away so he could make a move on her. She also met the famed Lorenzo and saved her and Cassie on time.
But what the highlight for her was that she met her so-called father for the first time.
How could she say this? It was the first time that her father talked to her. Not only in this life but also in her previous one.
She thought that it was okay if her father did not like her at all nor if he ignored her just like everyone did in her previous life. But to her surprise, her father talked to her and even gave her a nickname. He even called her his daughter.
Well, she's indeed his daughter. Still, she did not expect that he would acknowledge her and even proudly said that she's intelligent.
Minerva suddenly felt nervous. Her father proudly said to Lorenzo that she's intelligent. What if she did not meet their expectation? Would her father be angry at her?
If that's the case, then she would work hard to not disappoint her father. She would make sure that she'll act and do according to her father's wish. In that way, he would not be disappointed in her at all.
So her mission, for now, was to know what her father liked and disliked. With that, she could plan how to become the perfect daughter of the Duke of Ivrea.
'I could do it!' Minerva cheered herself.
When she finalized the plan that would commence later after her father returned, she finally relaxed her mind and fell asleep.
When Cassie saw that the Little Miss was asleep, she quietly left the chambers. She was greeted by Julia who paced from left to right. She only stopped when she saw Cassie and quickly knelt.
"Miss Cassie, please forgive this servant for the negligence." Julia apologized as she knelt on the floor.
Earlier, Julia was about to go to the treehouse to retrieve the toys so their Little Miss could play with them.
But as soon as she was in front of the greenhouse, a masked man pushed her inside the greenhouse and sealed the door. She tried to go out but was unable to do so. Julia only managed to get out when the flower on the center of the greenhouse emitted a pale blue light.
Cassie only grunted but did not say anything. The moment that the imposter asked to go inside the Little Miss' chamber, she knew that it was not Julia.
The Duke of Ivrea cast an identity spell on the four of them. Inside the chambers, aside from the Duke and Lorenzo, only her, Julia, Shirley, and Elise were allowed to enter. The others who would like to enter inside would felt like the door was locked when it wasn't.
So, when the so-called Julia wanted to get inside the chambers, Cassie already knew that it wasn't her. She hastily picked up the Little Miss and took her to the secret passage that connected to the Duke's chambers.
Unfortunately, the assassins and that mage knew the secret passage.
'It meant that the blueprint of the mansion was already on the hands of the King. And it was only a matter of time before they attacked once again.' Cassie thought.
She kneaded her forehead just by the thought of the "clean-up" that the Duke mentioned. These days, she was busy with this so-called clean-up. She thought that she was already done but who knew that the King's henchmen attacked? Now, her workload has increased!
'I would not be assigned to do this if Alvin did not leave. Seriously, when he came back, I'd surely smack him on his head.' Cassie thought in annoyance.
She waved her hand on Julia and said, "I knew that you weren't negligent. But next time, you should be careful. Especially now that we had uncovered 'his' plan. We had to make sure that this incident wouldn't happen again. Did you understand?"
"Yes!"
"You could go now," Cassie said. Julia expressed her thanks and quickly stood up and left together with Cassie.
Minerva nervously sat in front of the man. This wasn't the first time that she met him yet she still felt nervous. She was afraid to make a mistake yet she already made a few due to her anxiety.
However, the man in front of her did not seem to mind. With the wave of his hand, the fork that she accidentally knocked on the ground had now dangled on the midair.
'Wow! Was that magic?' She exclaimed in awe.
When the man saw her eye shone in amazement. He inclined on his seat and stared at her.
"You could wield magic on your own. Did you want me to teach you?"
Minerva glanced at him when she heard him said that. She could wield magic on her own?
"Why were you surprised? You're my daughter, of course, you could wield magic."
"Good morning, Little Miss," Shirley said as soon as Minerva opened her eyes. She just stared at Shirley for a bit before she turned her body to the other side. She was a bit disoriented as she just woke up but it seemed that she dreamt of something?
Strange. Was she that desperate to have a father that she would even dream of it?
But... Why did it not seem to be a dream at all?
Minerva hugged the plushie as she stared at the ceiling in her chambers. Because of what happened last night, she decided to not go outside for today. She did not want Cassie and the others to be worried. Besides, she was also afraid of what transpired. Although she looked distracted when she heard her father last night, it still wouldn't change the fact that she almost lost her life at the hands of the king’s henchmen. Even Cassie got injured. It was a good thing that Lorenzo appeared and saved them; albeit a bit late. Right, about Cassie, she heard from Shirley that she and Julia were extremely busy as they did the "clean-up" that her father mentioned. Seriously, Shirley had the gossip that she needed. If she wanted to know something, it was better to ask Shirley as she knew a lot of things. Unfortunately, she was incapable to utter coherent words as of now as she was in the body of a child. At most, she could only blabber some nonsense and pointed things i
Santi sat on the sofa as Minerva was on his lap. Across him was Lorenzo who leisurely sipped on the tea that Julia made. On the side was Alvin, Cassie and Julia.“So, care to share what happened?” Lorenzo asked. It was obvious that he wanted to catch the news first-hand.On the other hand, Santi took the tiger plushie on the side and gave it to his daughter before he answered.“I almost shove it on his throat.” He said nonchalantly. But deep inside, he was extremely pissed by the old man. It was a good thing that he came home and his mood lightened when he saw his Little Crybaby.The truth was, they should arrive two weeks at most. Teleportation was the easiest way for the to arrive sooner but these dumb mages that were sent by the king insisted that they did not know how to teleport. Thus, they could not accompany him on the return.Did they really think he was a saint? He left as soon as they uttered those nonsense. He was
Minerva stiffly sat on the high chair beside her father in the dining room. It was time for dinner and her father insisted that he would be the one who'll feed her. Before, it was Elise who fed her. But now, Santi declined Elise when she tried to feed her as he wanted to do it himself.Lorenzo already left. He only did so when he was filled with the gossip that he wanted. Not only that, he even shamelessly brought the cookies that Julia baked. Santi gave him a mouthful of insult before he let Lorenzo take them."Was there a particular food that Minnie liked to eat?" Santi asked the four maids who were in charge to took care of his child while he was away."Your Grace, if there was something that the Little Miss liked to eat, it would be strawberry, banana, and minced avocado with sweetened milk," Elise answered. As she was the one that was assigned on the Little Miss' food, she was the one knowledgeable the most about
"Ysmael! I'll kill you! You son of a bitch!"Everyone inside the room was silent as they knelt in front of the presence of the king. As his anger shot up, so as his mana thus made everyone inside the room tremble.A loud crash was once again heard. Afterward, they heard the loud breath of King Vicente IX.Silence engulfed the whole room until the king broke it himself."If any of you could eliminate the Duke of Ivrea, I would, without a doubt, pass the crown to any of you."The princes and princesses that were inside the room were shocked by the declaration of their Imperial Father. No, it wasn't a declaration anymore. It was more of an ultimatum!"But of course, that wasn't an easy feat." The king continued, "That's why his daughter was there, wasn't it?"Silence once again ensued. But it was broken down when the Second Prince answered.
Minerva didn't know how to ask her father about this. Where should she start?Before she could open her mouth, Alvin, who silently left the study room earlier, knocked on the door."Your Grace, the Crown Prince asked for an audience."Minerva widened her eyes in surprise. The Crown Prince was here? Why was he here of all places?She glanced at her father whose left brow was arched."Escort him to the reception room.""Yes, Your Grace."Santi stood up with Minerva in his arms. She thought that he'd leave but she didn't know that her father would take her to the reception room.Logan, who calmly sat inside the reception room, sipped the tea that Alvin brewed. He glanced at the door when he noticed some slight movements. Then, the door was opened and Santi, with his daughter in his arms, went inside."This subject g
Minerva glimpsed at the forest-like in front of her. However, she could not see anything aside from some trees as the area was covered with thick mist.She glanced at her father who nonchalantly walked into the forest. Despite the thick mist, it seemed that her father knew which direction to go.As the both of them were silent on the entire walk, Minerva furrowed her brows as she recalled how almost nobody could be seen while they were on their way here.Right, she remembered that Shirley mentioned that there was a specific part of this estate that was forbidden from everyone. Even Alvin and Cassie didn't have an idea of what was inside this 'forbidden place'.Shirley mentioned that two accidents happened inside this estate. And these two were connected to the forbidden place.These two people, who tried to trespass the forbidden place, were found dead while their corpses laid on the
Minerva swallowed when she saw the books that her father placed on the desk in front of her. She glanced at him but she shrunk her neck when she saw his stern face.“This was the language that was been used here. For now, we could communicate with each other as I used magic spell despite our language barrier. However, it would be different thing if your body was finally born. Thus, you need to learn our language early. In this way, you could somehow understand what the people around you say.” Santi explained to his daughter.“Okay…” Minerva answered in a small voice.Santi softened his expression and patted her head, “I don’t want you to had difficulty to adjust in this world. Hence, as we waited for your body to be born, I wanted you to prepare.”“I understand, daddy.”He smiled and pinched her nose, “It’s good that you know.”Minerva rubbed her eyes as she stare
“Hey, Kristofer, you didn’t call just to say those, right?” Santi asked. The man on the other line, which was Kristofer, hummed in agreement.“Yeah, I would like to ask Little Minnie about the gift that she wanted to receive. I didn’t want to repeat about what happened on Serena’s birthday.”When he mentioned about Serena’s birthday, Maureen couldn’t help but to laugh. She did not know what Kristofer gifted Serena. All she knew was that Serena cried so hard when she saw the gift and left early together with Constance. Kristofer was ashamed of what happened and Lorenzo, as a jerk that he was, wouldn’t stop to tease him about it. He only stopped when Constance was pissed until she hit him.“Baby, your Uncle Kristofer asked about the gift that you wanted. Did you have something on your mind?” Maureen asked Minerva in her soft voice.Minerva grasped her Aunt Maureen’s clothes as she