Capítulo 448: Ask of Favor
After a while, Malleus shifted his attention to the woman before him and frowned in confusion. It couldn't be, could it?
The woman turned to him curiously and voiced with a friendly smile, "May I help you?"
That smile...
Malleus hesitated in annoyance as she offered him a piece of unusual fruit and said with a curious tone, "They say these fruits were grown by the princess herself. The first time I had it, it reminded me a bit the foreign herb, ginseng. Bitter to the taste, but the scent soothes the bitterness. However, the fruit during that taste was raw. So, it lacked the sweetness. The ripe fruit however, was too sweet for my taste. Would you like to give it a try?"
Malleus was frustrated with her antics, but he took the fruit nonetheless and followed her instructions in peeling it. When he ate it, it was truly sweet! Perhaps a little too sweet...
Seeing him wince as he grumbled how sweet it was, the woman couldn't help but chuckle, "Sweet, is it not? I was warned that the sweetness of this may make it feel as though I was experiencing a mouthful of cavity. I had thought she was only making a silly jest. It was only until I saw the retainers and her stare at me in horror that I realized it was no jest. But, perhaps, to the children, it is not overly sweet?"
She was wrong. Malleus grimaced. In fact, it was so sweet that he wanted to drink an entire saucer of black coffee to dull the sweetness ringing in his mouth!
Seeing him unable to respond, the woman laughed again as he took a cup of coffee offered by Maisey.
As she continued with her trifle antics, Peony turned to her father, "I thought you were too busy to attend today, old man. What changed?"
The king snorted in annoyance and tapped her on the forehead, "Do not forget what you had said. Hearing that this would be the final gala you would attend, your mother had me come to attend with you, child."
"Since you plan to make this your last spring gala, of course, we must make this a grand event." The queen responded soothing the redness of the child's forehead.
As Peony scowled, she grumbled, "Oh..."
The king frowned, "Now, about that waiter."
"He should be waiting in the dungeons right about now. The quality of that juice was quite nice, but had no form of talent whatsoever. Did not even bother to be careful when distributing it. My guess is that the chef is waiting somewhere lower than the dungeons, like a perfect pawn."
"Enough." The queen huffed in dismay and pinched both of their ears.
"Ow!"
She scolded them, "Now, you two behave yourself. I do not permit daily usage of such ugly words in a bright and cheery event!"
"Yes..."
She hugged the girl and sighed, "Now, it's good that you have this pancea body, but you must stop doing this so often. That includes the usage of such scary words. It's rather unbecoming of a child of your age."
"But, I'm not-" Peony paused and quickly corrected herself, "Yes, mother."
"Yes, my dear." The king responded bluntly.
"Good. Oh! Look! The water fairies are creating a rainbow!" The queen gestured to the scene with a bright smile.
Now that the queen was distracted, the king whispered to the princess, "Do you think this is one of their tactics?"
"Not one of the surviving ones. I suspect it was the former one I took out. I'll hand you another report once I get to the bottom of this. However, with my master's request, I'll try to get it done before I leave. You will probably have to send Chili to Fleur City if you want to know anything else or take hold of a phone with my number."
The king sighed, "What a pain..."
"You know these are the responsibilities that comes with your position, father." She grumbled, "Speaking of position, why did you agree to give me the middle name of Aine?! I do not plan to take the throne. Even if you have to pick a middle name to bless me with, does it have to be one as grand as Aine?! That's the name reserved for crown princesses who would become the next ruler!"
"That was not my choice." He huffed, "The one who picked that name was your mother. Can you tell her you don't like her choice"
"Why am I not surprised..." She grumbled in annoyance.
Their conversation was cut short as an ominous voice cuts in, "Seeing that you two are getting along so well, may I take that as you like the choice I made?"
The two froze as a chill ran down their spine. They slowly looked up and saw the queen looking rather saddened or perhaps was my choice so 'grand' that both my daughter and husband did not like it?"
"No! That's not how it is!"
"Wait, mother! Why are you crying?!"
.....
As Malleus and Lilia were leaving the greenhouse, Peony was asked to see them off. As they walked through the greenery back to the gates, Peony opened her mouth, "The trip to Fluercity will be a bumpy one. Unfortunately, I will have to bother his highness this time."
"You want to ask something from me at Fleur City?"
"Yes. I am unsure what has happened to my master, but, when that time comes, I would like to ask you for a favor should things get out of hand. I am only asking this as this is the first time my master, who was always so capable and disliked reaching out to others, ask for my help. He's always seen me as one of the children he raises, so he never had me aid him in his problems, even once. Hence, I'm afraid the problem may have been too terrible for him to call for my family's aid."
"And you believe that it would occur during the festivities."
She nodded, "Fleur City's festivities, topsy-turvy, have been held back for a couple of years now. It was after the disappearance of my master and he had a high standing position in Fleurcity. Though he was in not position of being able to join in on the fesitivities for long periods of time, he was a strange one who would rather enjoy the warmth of the festivities rather than being surrounded by it. It was be strange for him to discontinue this event for a prolong period of time. Now that it is suddenly being restarted in a season that isn't even Halloween, it is even stranger. He would always say there is a time and place for everything. Why would he derail from his own beliefs?"
"So the festivities would not be his doing." He frowned.
Peony shook her head, "No. If anything, consider this favor payment for remodeling the device for you."
Malleus remained deep in thought before nodding his head in agreement.
Thus, the deal was sealed.
.....
"Speaking of which, have there been any discoveries on your end?"
As the king shook his head, he turned to her and questioned curiously, "What of your side, your majesty?"
The queen sighed, "We are not sure at the moment. It's safer to say that we do not have luck either."
As they watched the children and faes dance around the flowering tree, the queen opened her mouth, "It is interesting to say the least. By now, you'd think we would continue to dislike the presence of other humans after so much loss and pain. Yet, those things ease whenever she appears."
"I have heard." The fairy queen nodded, "Those horrible days are over, yet the pain is still there. Horrible scars that never heal, even with time. Yet, around the princess, they ease and some even shown signs of healing. Sometimes, I fear the princess may be too mature to be able to enjoy the experience and enjoy her time as a child to the fullest. We had hoped this enrollment would be a blessing in disguise. It was our luck that this is the school where Briar Valley's crown prince and his retainers attend. We felt that, if the prince had even approved of entering this school, then our daughter should be very safe. Yet, now with those people figuring out a way into the school as soon as we made the decision..."
The veil woman nodded, "It would seem that someone dares to have thoughts as to target the young ones."
"To think they would even target a child of royalty. They are very audacious." The king nodded in agreement, "Maisey has informed me that the princess has kept them at bay, but, even within their hierarchy of this group of slaughterers, there is definitive proof of those who experiment and utilize blot in their practices. We should be careful. The more powerful we are, the more likelihood that we will experience the overblot."
"Yes..." The woman responded was hesitation, "Then, we can only leave the safety of the school in the princess's hands. However, for overblot..."
The Fairy Queen hesitated before shaking her head, "Even if the way things are going are difficult now, let's not lose ourselves."
The king nodded, "Then, we shall provide aid should it occur."
"I fear there will be conflict between the two heirs." The woman frowned, "Despite her human lineage, the princess's attachment to fairies is stronger than that for her blood."
The king nodded. He knew that the woman would bring this up. If the prince were to harm the fairies in the midst of his outburst, the princess would jump in to retaliate in response. What would happen to the state of their relations then? The woman took in a deep breath and looked up to the large tree before responding, "Then, it shall be as long as the child is not mortally harmed and brought back to us."
Surprised, they looked to her in response but she did not look back to them. In terms of power, she was still far superior than them, yet she ultimately decided that it would be better to have her grandson back alive than unharmed. Perhaps, it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise. However, it was still a surprise.
"On another note, I heard the princess is starting another project." The queen responded, "We were the first they contacted."
"A new project?" The two looked to her in surprise.
"Have you perhaps not been made aware of?" The woman frowned with a troubled look, "The princess is interested in patches of foreign land."
.....
Not long after the fairy gala was officially over, Lotus returned to Ramshackle dorm alongside Yuu and Grim. Ren and a few of their friends aided them in moving back into the dormitory. The dormitory looked a lot better than before with pristine paint and clean walkway. Even the interior got a new upgrade with more equipments and furnishing. However, she knew that was all but an elusive illusion. Upon turning off a special mechanism in Yuu's room, the dorm would return to its old shabby exterior and interior. The repair was not good enough that he would refurnish everything. However, the walls have been repaired as well as the necessary utilities to making the place habitable. Though the appearance was not as good. It was still better than what she had imagined it would be in the worst cases. She was more fortunate to have evacuated all of her belongings prior to the attack on their dorm. All she had to do was put everything back into place. However, as the days passed, everyone had gotten bored once again. It was during these days of supervision that Lotus had her room barged into while she was reading a message from Huo Wei. She quickly hid away the paper and got up, "Ever heard of knocking?"
"I did!" Grim shouted, "I knocked once and you didn't open!"
"You're suppose to knock three times." Yuu clarified wearily before turning to her, "The headmaster is calling everyone for a meeting."
"The headmaster?" Lotus raised a brow curiously. It was unfortunate as she was just planning how to best prepare for her departure back to her birthworld. Not only that, but she was also preparing to leave for Fleurcity.
What it could be...
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