Okay, first thing first: this is a part of Chapter 5 and I'll have to split it to two parts since it's going to be a long one. I just got back to writing again and the reason why I wasn't able to do some writing is because of work and IRL issues but I finally got around and started to write once more. Anyway, this is Part A of Chapter 5. Anyway, please enjoy...

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It's been a week since Katarina's birthday celebration and so far, I'm having a blast here in this second life of mine.

First off, Katarina promised to visit us once a week, much to Keith and Remy's disdain. She just visited yesterday in order to see our greenhouses and even got some souvenirs from it. She also brought with her Keith and Mary Hunt during the visit.

I'm not really sure why she wanted to come along aside from spending time with Katarina but Father sent a notice to Marquis Hunt about her daughter spending time at our estate the moment he saw her stepping out of it. Last thing we wanted was a huge misunderstanding on both parties about their daughter ending up in our county. As for the notice's delivery method, Father used a clockwork bird golem that was enchanted to fly really fast to get to the Hunt Estate. It was fascinating to see it fly really and the trio who visited us agreed on how it flew.

I welcomed them of course and showed them the greenhouses that we had in our estate and what grew in them. Remy and I described to them what kind of plants and trees they were looking at… and as predicted, Keith was a bit miffed about me having mangoes. I told him that I promise to send him mangoes every harvest so that he can utilize the recipe I gave to him. Mary was rather fascinated at the flowers that only grew elsewhere that we grew in our greenhouses and asked how we managed to make them bloom. I told her that the greenhouses were adjusted to have certain climate conditions that the plants within them needed to grow. She commented on how expensive it must have been to build up what we had and I concur to that statement.

Mother and Father made a lot of money in the past as adventurers, treasure hunters and explorers and used half of it to fund Mother's research and the rest on the family's business ventures and investments.

Katarina got lost during the tour and it took thirty minutes to find her. We found her listening to Mister John on how to harvest pineapples and wearing an apron, long sleeves, long pants, boots and a pair of leather gloves to keep the prickly leaves from hurting her hands, arms and legs. Miss Anne, Keith and Mary were relieved that Katarina was all right and we helped out in harvesting the pineapples after wearing aprons, gloves, pants and boots to keep our clothes clean. I let Keith and Mary borrow my spares though since they didn't have any while Katarina, for some ungodly reason, brought her own work clothes.

Was she expecting to do some actual field work in our estate?!

Anyway, we stopped when more workers came in and Mister John told us that they'll take it from there. We get a bunch of pineapples in the process too which was prepared and made into snacks and juice by Miss Hermione. Remy mentioned how pineapples taste great and wished she could eat it all the time but I told her too much of the same thing could go bad in the process. Not to mention the fact that it takes 18 to 24 months to grow them made pineapples everyday an impossible dream… at least for now. Once we're properly changed, we enjoyed having snacks at the study room with Katarina asking Remy and myself for any recommendations for romantic novels. She was quite happy to get a lot of novels from foreign countries and Mary was quite intrigued about them as well. Me and Keith were left on the sidelines and had a small talk with each other.

He asked me if we were planning on selling those and told him yes. Pineapples are quite rare and expensive in Sorcier. There are some noble clients who made requests on getting their pineapples the moment harvest season hits and we sell them per head. When I told him the price per head, Keith's eyes widened and asked if they were going to be charged as well. I told him no about that since the pineapples we got were excesses so they're technically free. The first samples were always free to those who would try it out for the first time. Once we hook them up… hehehehehehehe… that's when we start charging them.

Keith looked a bit disturbed about what I just said and muttered about me being a villain. Anyway, when the snacks were there, we enjoyed eating them and as usual, Katarina ended up eating more than us… not that I minded since pineapples are delicious. Mary asked me what were the requirements to grow pineapples and I told her that Sorcier's climate isn't great for pineapples unless she was using our greenhouse setups. She asked how she could make such a setup and I told her that I'm not in the place to explain how it works. I'm just a beginner when it comes to rune magic and Mother's not there to give her instructions since she was visiting our brother and our brother's fiancee's family yesterday. I told her that I'll let Mother know that Mary wished to learn about rune magic.

Also, the three of them met Raphael for the first time and Raphael was quite happy to interact with the three. Katarina tried to make him join us but Raphael told her that he's at work right now and has to help our manservants… then came back a few minutes later since Missus Walt told him that they just finished up on all the chores and he had nothing left to do.

By the end of their visit, I gave them all four pineapples (Anne included, though she tried to deny it first) as souvenirs. Miss Hermione had to teach Miss Anne and Mary how to peel pineapples since it was their first time handling such a fruit. I also added a warning to not eat too much pineapples or else it will hurt their tongues and leave a sour aftertaste on what they consume next. Katarina said that she'll visit again next week and promised Remy that she'll bring more books to share.

I teased Remy about her starting to warm up to Katarina as she denied liking the so-called seductress. She may try to deny making friends with Katarina but her expressions tell me otherwise. Raphael agreed with me that Katarina's not as bad as what Remy would say… something that caused Remy to ask if Raphael was enthralled. He denied having a crush on Katarina when I explained to him what Remy meant.

Second, I revisited the Artisan to learn more about him and his name was Albrecht Hasse, a former Berlitzian nobility who ran away from his home and lived here with his wife, Marla. His last name's not really Hasse but I'm not going to dig deeper into that since I respect the guy's wishes to keep things private and under the rug. All I know is that he married a commoner, ran off to Sorcier under a new identity and was said to be kicked out of his house. He came to Brent in order to start a new life and became a metalworker/artisan who took over the shop that was once owned by another person. He took up apprenticeship under the previous owner when he and his wife were out of their luck. Soon, he became a skilled crafter and is renowned for making intricate designs on his products thanks to his Earth Magic. Apparently, he was really good at Earth Magic to the point that he can manipulate metal in the most precise manner. He's also teaching his son on how to use magic.

It turns out that it's not illegal to have magic outside of the nobility rank but it will be very difficult for whoever has it. Not to mention the fact that there's a stigma that having magic carries such as being a bastard child of some noble. It's a good thing Mr. van Hasse told his son to not show his magic unless he had to.

He complained to me about my schematics since it cost a lot of money and kept him awake for two nights just to finish building my ballpen schematics. He thought that at first it would have been an easy build for him but he realized that it was actually a lot more complicated than what he expected. He showed me a box full of broken prototypes and blueprints that he kept as study materials and used them as references to complete the first pens that are actually working. It took a lot of time to finish it in two days too as he thought that he wouldn't make it in time and his reputation would take a hit but in the end, he did it and made the pens work.

He never really thought that he could work that fast but he managed to pull it off. Though he commented that working on an unknown schematic made him very nervous and swore that he'd only do that kind of work if he was given a lot of time and resources. Even if he was paid handsomely, the amount of pressure that came along with it was something that he hoped to never deal with again. I can understand his reasoning and empathize with it since in my past life, I had to deal with that kind of event. Working in a call center that once did not let us have a say when they assigned us to an 11/4 day work time in my past life made me very wary about companies that paid too much. Doubly so when those companies do not even post what conditions are there in exchange of being paid for that amount.

Two days to make an item that actually works, especially if it was made as a gift to a very important noble's child was pretty much something that got him thinking about what would happen if his product doesn't work and if he's going to be thrown under a bus if he did not deliver. He also said that since this was my patent, I deserve 50% of the proceeds but I asked if he could make my share 30% instead since he'll need extra money for emergencies if ever he made duds.

It caused us to have a long discussion on how much we'd receive and in the end, we agreed with 70/30 until further notice and that we signed a contract about that to make sure that it was a binding agreement.

Oh and he spoke to my mother about me threatening him to swear an oath of secrecy the day after the birthday party. Well, he blurted it out by accident when my name was mentioned in one

of their small talks and Mother made him speak (read: interrogated) about my business with him. Mother thought that it was odd that he had to sign a contract when he already signed one to the Florencia family but he mentioned that it was probably due to how we've met for the first time and that the contract he signed was more on keeping the patent a secret. He really thought that I was some snooty Lord's child from another village but when I showed him our emblem and told him who I was, he remembered that the Florencia family had three kids.

Seriously, am I really that invisible to the society that even some people thought that Mother and Father only had two children?!

Anyway, Mother said that I did great on my first business venture and praised me for thinking things thoroughly to keep myself from being taken advantage of. She also asked me if I wanted to learn more about business management in the future since I'd fit right in and I told her yes. She's very delighted with my answer and told me that I'll do great in the business world in the future. I asked Mother if there's anyone else aside from Mr. van Hasse that I should be aware of since I don't want to sour our family's relations with people that are under our command.

I had to make a lot of notes during that talk and made sure that I remember what their roles were.

I learned that our family really has a lot of former nobles and bastard children on the horn and that the Frescan County is a place where some of the displaced and disowned nobles from within and without the Kingdom go to start a new life. It wasn't a public knowledge though since the belief of impoverished nobles never tried to work for themselves and they tend to die fast the moment their comforts were gone. Doesn't help that this is a thing and that there are noble households who impoverished themselves so hard that it became a public spectacle. In other words, people believed that nobles are either super rich or ultra poor after mismanaging their funds.

Third, I decided to visit Lady Marsha since from what I heard, they were assigned to a county and ordered to put it back on track. From what I remember, Marsha Catley and her family were assigned to a county far from the Capital because of her father getting into some really nasty corruption shit. There's also the fact that Geord sent her and her family here in order to keep Marsha from furthering her smear campaign against Katarina. It seems that this event also happened here as Marsha was blaming Katarina for being exiled from the Capital. She told me about how Katarina had her exiled just because she looked at the Third Prince so weirdly and spoke about the truth about Katarina Claes.

Ugh, I can tell that she's one of those delusional fangirls.

I know for the fact that doing that kind of thing is not enough to get her and her family kicked out of the Capital. I told her what I think of the reason why she lives in one of the border counties now. I speculated that there's a good chance that it wasn't what she mentioned that caused her family to end up running a county under the Claes Duchy.

I pretty much told her that it's possible that Lord Catley must have done something that the Capital did not like and decided to punish him and his family for it. I did hear from Father that he

was pretty much kicked out and was ordered to actually run a county instead of hanging out in the capital.

By the way, I noticed how many Marquis would rather be in the capital than actually do their job and have them delegated to their subordinates. I find this incredibly sickening considering that a Marquis should be managing their county instead of gallivanting at the Capital. This could be one of Prince Geoffrey's ploys to attract all the shitty elements of Sorcier's nobility to the Capital so that he can screw them over at a right moment. Mother suspected that this was the case here as she was disgusted at how other Marquis and Marchionesses were more than happy to let the Frontiers be run by someone else. The First Prince did try to offer us a nice place to stay at the Capital but was rejected due to their duties to Frescan County.

This really made me appreciate my parents a lot since they're not the type who would rather laze around in the Capital and pass his responsibility to someone else.

Anyway, back to Marsha and her family situation.

Marsha did not believe me at first but I reasoned with her that Katarina's too stupid to even plan something like kicking her family out of the Capital. She's the girl who is too dense to even think about doing such a thing to her. Hell, I've seen Prince Geord try to tell Katarina that he liked Katarina a lot but she did not even pay attention to those. Not only that, she doesn't even have the authority to do that kind of thing and Duke Claes would have said no to her if she even suggested to kick the Catley household out of the Capital for no good reason.

Hell, unless he had a good reason, he'd be in trouble if he abused his power just to help his daughter settle a grudge.

I had to comfort her when she cried on my shoulders about being separated from the person she's really smitten with. She wanted to hate her old man but I told her no since hating someone will turn someone into an ugly person. She said that she isn't ugly and I agree with her on that sentiment but I told her that she didn't have to look ugly to become ugly anyway.

She was confused about that statement and I told her that she should figure the meaning behind that to understand it better.

After that meeting, I told Marsha that she could send me letters or visit the Florencia Estate if in case she wants to talk to someone. Marsha nodded and said that I could visit her as well. She also added that she'll have to get answers from her father as to why they were sent to the Frontier in the first place.

I doubt that she'll enjoy the answer but at least she wouldn't end up in the harem's shit list when she tried to drug Katarina. Hell, she'd be lucky to be alive after whatever she will be sentenced for had she done that act here. My family would have advocated to have her beheaded for poisoning Katarina if we did exist in the novels and anime.

Finally, I've begun to learn about magic and so far, I can only summon a simple breeze, make myself move fast by enchanting my body for 20 seconds and inscribe a few runes that allows me to make things light. Father and Mother were the ones who are overseeing my studies on

runecraft but on wind magic, the former invited a lady who was once a noblewoman from another country until she was banished (I'm not prying as to why she was banished) to teach me wind magic. Her teachings about my wind magic were very easy to understand. She gave me concepts as to how to utilize wind magic and what I could do with it. She even showed me some neat tricks on how to use wind magic to enchant herself.

She moved really fast when she told me to play tag with her while she was enchanted with wind magic. Seriously, the way she moved reminded me of Avatar: The Last Airbender and parkour. She dodged, flipped, jumped, zip past and spun away from my grasp multiple times until her body's no longer enchanted.

It was a very interesting application of wind magic and it made me very eager to learn more about it. I really want to know more about it as seeing how this could greatly help in case of emergencies.

As for runecraft, I'm quite excited about learning another writing language aside from English, Filipino and Sorcerian really. Basically, runecraft draws out power not just from the will of its writer but also from the history and power of the glyph, symbols and letters we use to fuel the magic. Right now, I'm learning old Rumanic to help me out with learning how to be good at runes. Normally, this type of language is something that a few scholars would know about and there's a good chance that I might join those ranks as well. I had success in writing my first string of runes and made a rack of weapons be light enough for me to carry with one hand for ten seconds. Father tried to teach me advanced combat runes but Mother put a stop to it since I'm just a beginner.

The older, historical or esoteric it is, the more powerful it could get. I have no idea on how to write Egyptian Hieroglyphs. I have no idea what Nordic Runes mean. Hmmm… looking at this, I want to see if I can use Baybayin to fuel the spells.

Either way, I will enjoy learning from the former noblewoman and my parents about magic and our family craft.

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"Maria, I've been wondering about something." I asked Maria who was seated across the table and having tea with me.

"Oh? What would you like to know, Edwin? Did something bother you?" Maria was a bit confused as she took a piece of the strawberry cream cake that I brought here.

"Yeah, I find it odd that you guys were able to afford sugar. Normally, that stuff's pretty expensive but for some reason, you guys were able to bake a lot of sweets without any problem." Maria doesn't seem to get what I'm asking but I continued to ponder loudly, "How are you guys able to afford such a luxury product?"

"I… I'm not sure really. Father would usually bring a barrel full of golden brown liquid that Mother would cook into sugar." Maria answered meekly as she recalled what her parents were doing, "Father said that he had been doing this since grandfather introduced him to it…"

Brown liquid? I wonder what that could be. Did Mr. Campbell find a viable source of sugar? We have our own source of sugar back at home thanks to mother's greenhouses but those are only good for personal use, not for exportation. Sugar is pretty much a luxury product that is hard to come by after all and the trade from it comes from outside. The colonies outside of Sorcier cannot produce sugar since sugar canes couldn't be reached in the new world and the amount of dangerous monsters that dwell in it.

What Maria's family found might potentially open up a lot of options for the county and the kingdom as a whole. It could also help Maria in the long run too since having a disposable income could give her a better future as well. Light Magic can carry her a lot but having money can make things a lot more easier for her too.

"Maria, may I have a look of what kind of sugar you use for baking? I might have an idea as to what kind of sugar it is." I asked Maria as I gulped my tea after chomping on a biscuit.

"Ah, sure. I'll go and get the jar, Edwin." she went to the shelves where they kept their cooking ingredients and took the small clay pot and brought it back to the table, "Here you go, Edwin."

The sugar in question was definitely not cane sugar. If it was, it would have been a lot brownish and granulated too. This looks very light brown, somewhat more fine and there are some large lumps in it too. I took a clean teaspoon and tasted the powder to see if it's a substitute. The results were that this was sweeter than the cane sugar used back at home and the ones exported from outside.

"This is definitely sugar…" I couldn't help but to be very excited at what I'm looking at, "Maria, we need to talk to your parents about this!"

"What? Why's that?" Maria was baffled at my enthusiasm about sugar.

"Because your family might be sitting on something that can make you rich!" I smiled as I closed the small pot, "Do you know how rare sugar is? It's something that only nobles and some rich merchant families can afford on a daily basis! What you have here is a luxury item that many nobles would pay to have instead of waiting for the next fleet to bring them sugar."

"I… I don't get what you're saying but if we get rich, does that mean that we can get better stuff that we can use for baking?" Maria asked with enthusiasm and a glimmer in her eyes, "Like those nice ice boxes that Lord Florencia had been selling out?"

The refrigerators or ice boxes as what commoners would call them began to circulate in the markets of Brent recently. They were large wood and metal boxes that can house a block of ice and a number of food in it, depending on the size. It can keep things inside it cool for a week considering that the ice blocks being sold are the kind that would melt in seven days thanks to a special solution. It's not comparable to the magical ones we have back at home but I did suggest it to Mother and Father to sell ice boxes to further supplement the family's income. The magical variety though, can be bought but it will be commissioned and priced on the size and runes put on it.

Some commoners and servants of the nobles who bought the ice boxes were very happy about them since it keeps their food from rotting and does wonders to people who sell perishable goods.

"Well yes! You can buy those as well if you have enough money!" I couldn't help but to be happy to see Maria's excited face too, "I…"

"Master Edwin!" Miss Hermione tapped on the window and made me and Maria look at her, "Master Edwin, we need to go back right away." she showed me a perched clockwork bird on her arm.

Father's clockwork golem bird is usually sent if something happened. I was immediately worried when I saw that next to Hermione.

"What? Did something happen?" Normally, the clockwork messenger is sent when something urgent or unexpected happens. Whatever this might be, I hope it isn't that bad…

"I don't know, Master. We need to get back to the manor right away." the tone of urgency that she had when she mentioned that we are needed.

"Maria, let's continue this conversation tomorrow instead. Please let Mister and Missus Campbell know that they're also needed to be there when I visit." I got up from my seat and headed to the door, "Let them know about what we talked about today, all right?"

"I will! Please take care, Edwin." Maria nodded as she followed me to see me out.

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When I made it home, I immediately went inside the house and asked where my Father was. The estate's butler, Walter mentioned that they were at the First Floor's Study Room and began to run there to see him. Many of the manservants, maids and Mr. Walter tried to calm me down when they saw me running since I wasn't supposed to overstrain myself.

Once I made it there, I opened the door and…

"Edwin~!" I was not prepared for what happened next.

First, I got caught in surprise by a pair of muscular arms and got pulled into a hug. Next, I felt a hand petting my head vigorously as my hair got messed up. Then I got picked up in the air and got spun around for a few seconds. Then I felt the face of someone cuddling my head and the hug somewhat got a bit tight. I can hear my parents snickering, Remy's laughter and two unknown voices that I recognize somewhere.

"AAAAAAAH! My baby brother's not just all right but he's also cured!" the voice of a guy was filled with adoration, something that got my gears turning inside my head while I was being turned into a teddy bear, "Look Mira, my baby brother's okay now!"

"Uh… Anthony, I think Edwin wants you to let go of him now…" the voice of Anthony's fiancee and also one of my friends spoke as he put me down… "Ah, I just can't resist it~!" … then I got enveloped with a pair of soft arms and got drawn into another hug, "Little brother-in-law is so cute~! I wish he could stay like this!"

"Hey! Let go of my brother already!" Remy protested as I am unable to see anything aside from the carnation pink dress worn by someone and being cuddled like a teddy bear again, "Mira, stop acting like Tony and let go of him!"

"Come on, Remy! We're going to be family in three months so he should get used to having a new big sister too!" my brother's boisterous voice was then followed by a room wide chuckle while a hand was once more patting my head vigorously.

-0-0-0-0-0-

The reason why I was called home early was to meet with Anthony Roa Florencia and his fiancee, Miranda Berg. I was expecting an accident that happened or maybe a critical family meeting that requires every Florencia family relatives to come and discuss something. This is not the type of emergency I was expecting and Mother wasn't happy about Father using the clockwork golem to send the message.

I became a teddy bear to Mira and Tony when they caught me off guard.

Anyway, Tony could be what Father looked like as a teenager but with less muscles (for now), blue eyes and inherited some of mother's facial features. He's also very popular according to Tony's retainer since he looks rather manly and has a reliable and friendly personality. The day that Tony decided to make his love to Mira a public news followed by plans of marrying her after school had caused a lot of lamentations from girls who were looking forward to getting engaged to him. Apparently, they thought that since Tony never signed any marriage contracts with Mira, he was free game and can still worm their way into his heart. The only reason why Tony never

did that was because he wanted to court Mira and not feel like he was forcing her to marry him… not that Mira would have minded the latter since she had a huge crush on him. They were both really into each other ever since they hit their teens to be honest and had been planning out on getting together after school. In addition to that, he also loves his sibling just as much and became good with handling children too since he was the one taking good care of me and Remy when we were still toddlers… and isn't shy from showing off how much he loved us both.

Mira on the other hand, is a dark brown haired girl who kept her hair long and tied it to a ponytail. She was a head length shorter compared to Tony but for a lady, she has a lot of strength hidden underneath the nice dress that she wore. She might be described as tomboyish but she can be very feminine if she wanted to. Mira's one of our usual visitors since I was three years old and despite living at the Capital, it did not deter her from visiting and even staying for the night at our estate. The Bergs became one of our family's friends as well and they are also one of the Second Prince's supporters. While I don't mind Mira and consider her as a sister, I really hope that her and brother's marriage will not cause our family's standing to change from neutral to leaning to a certain prince's side. I did overhear Father talk to Uncle Luigi about not wanting to support any of the Princes and would remain neutral to the whole heirship talks.

And I really hope that it stays that way. Our family never took any sides when it comes to the royal succession lines ever since the Stuarts ascended as the new royal family two centuries ago. The last time we supported a royal line to succeed, it ended with Light Mages being wiped out to the last man by the Salamancan Crusaders.

Anyway, right now, I'm currently trying to continue my writing while I still could at the Study Room. There's a good chance that tomorrow, I'll be out of the estate for a while in order to see where the Campbell's sugar is coming from. Sugarcanes only grow in a tropical climate and Sorcier doesn't meet those conditions… unless you go south but sadly, those parts are falling to neglect thanks to whoever is assigned there.

I'm finally able to get away from the celebration going on downstairs. I'm rather full after eating a lot thanks to Tony encouraging me to eat so that I can also have muscles like him. Then again, I am planning on getting enough exercise to have the same physique like Father and Brother anyway. I do want to be healthy this time around and not die of overwork and stress.

"My, that's a lovely looking draft you have there, Edwin." I heard Mira's voice from my back, causing me to panic and cover my work before she reads more of it.

"Mira, what are you doing here?! Better yet, don't just pop out of nowhere!" I was very flustered as Mira repositions herself in the hopes of seeing more of what I'm covering with my body.

"You know, we were very worried when you got sick all of the sudden, Edwin." she decided to take a seat next to me while I keep my draft away from her reach, "Tony was afraid that he would lose you and wanted to go home to see if you're okay. I had to calm him down and keep him from doing something really rash."

"Yeah… I've heard from Mother that Tony nearly got into trouble because of that. Thanks for not letting him go too far, I guess." Mira smiled as I muttered those words. I really did not want Tony

to get into trouble just because he skipped classes to see me, "Also, could you please stop trying to see what I'm writing? It's not yet completed and I don't want you to read an unfinished draft."

"What? But I don't mind reading ahead~. When Remy mentioned that you were writing a book, I was very excited to see what you were writing about and came here to see it." she's pretending to be a bit down in order to manipulate me. I know your game, Mira and that trick won't work on me after you got us a couple of times to play house with you, Tony, me and Remy by using that face, "Can't I have a single peek on it, please?"

"Nnnn… No! No, absolutely not! I don't want you to read it and that's final." I refuse to fall for those puppy eyes ever again! "You'll have to wait, just like Remy and Katarina!"

Uh oh… Mira's looking at me like a cat finding a mouse. That smile she's making is the kind she makes when she and Remy are planning to dress me and Tony up like a girl. Having those flashbacks are not great at all. I don't want to remember those!

"Katarina? Are you referring to Katarina Claes perhaps? Are you fancying another girl now, Edwin~?" she said in a sing-song manner that horrified me to a great degree.

Why horrified you ask? It was a sign that she's never gonna let me hear the end of it as she teased me about things. The last time she did this, it was when Hermione started working with us three months ago and before I got horribly sick. I can't help it, okay?! She's just as pretty as Mother on a different level and I'm already over that childish crush stage with Miss Hermione.

"No! I don't like her! She's a weirdo, I say!" I immediately denied it in the hopes that she will drop the subject.

"Oho? Is that denial I'm hearing from my future brother-in-law?" she began to poke my cheeks and smile like a Cheshire Cat, "Don't you worry Edwin, I'm going to help you get the girl that you like!"

"No! I don't want it because she's already engaged with Prince Geord! I'll get into trouble if I do go after Katarina!" God knows how much Geord doesn't like me when I first met him and the first thing he did was to attempt to crush my hand.

"But why? That engagement is not yet assured my dear Edwin." Mira is aiming for the kill here and I don't think that I'll be able to put a stop on her teasing. Hell, she'd likely go on about this for nights and she'll be unbearable because of that.

Good thing Father taught me a technique that could help me out if I were dealing with troublesome women like Mira. First, I clutched my draft and my pen close to my body. Then I empowered myself with wind magic to cause a gust that would distract Mira long enough for me

to bolt. After she was distracted, I ran as fast as I could to my room and lock up the door to keep her from following me.

In other words, I ran away from Mira before she started planning on ways to "help" me. However, I ran with the grace of Marquis's son… and with some wind enchantment on me. I know how fast Mira could get if ever she went after me.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Mother and Father did not come home.

I locked up and did not go out since I have to make sure that our house won't have people coming in here without any permission.

I didn't go out of the house and peeked from the window from time to time to see if they did come home. By the end of the day, they both did not come home...

Edwin visited me a while ago with Miss Hermione cooking food for me. I couldn't thank them enough when he came by to visit and Miss Hermione making sure that I won't be hungry. Sadly, he had to leave early since there was something going on back at his home. I hope that his situation wasn't that bad when he had to go home due to an emergency.

I hope that nothing bad happened to them both…

Not only that, I'm starting to see dark dusts coming out of nowhere when the sun's setting hours ago. I tried to clean them up but they just stayed there. It's also making a trail that leads to somewhere...

I'm getting worried and scared…

-0-0-0-0-0-

My daughter is alive… my daughter is alive!

Not only that, she has a husband!

I brought them here in my manor in order to get to know them.

At first she did not recognize me but soon, she finally did and convinced her husband to come with me.

It's unfortunate that my manor in this forest is a bit dusty and dirty and I wish I had my servants with me. My daughter and her husband are doing the cleaning, something that I disapprove of since they do not have to do that kind of work.

It's sad that my house is in such a state that my own daughter would help in getting it in order with her own bare hands.

One thing is for certain: the damned Ibarra failed on taking my daughter away from me and now she lives! I will make sure that the Canaver family shall rise once more after being stuck in this forest for centuries! Once the family returns…

All of Salamanca will be burnt down to the ground! I will personally butcher every last Ibarran bastard that I'll meet!