Eight

"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?