บท 87: Explain!
Meanwhile, Ivan too left the campus and went to Lara's villa. Even though he didn't know what her reaction would be, he couldn't imagine it to be a good one. Sadly because of Jane, there was no way for him to escape.
When he opened the door of the villa, the little girl, that had been reading one of her favorite books, while laying on the comfortable couch, jumped up to greet him.
"Daddy you are home.", she ran towards him and hugged him, which he reciprocated with taking her in the air and swirling her around.
"I'm home.", he replied. And to his own surprise, he meant it. Coming here and being greeted by his cute little daughter really felt like coming home, coming to a place he belonged. Of course, there was still an ice woman living here, but this didn't impact his feeling in the slightest.
Lara, having heard her daughters happy greeting, then appeared at her office door on the second floor, looking down on him. Her icy eyes made him shiver.
"Darling, let me have a chat with him first and then the two of you can play together.", she then softly said to her daughter.
Looking a bit dejected, Jane nodded. Usually, her mother didn't take up much of the time she had with her father, so it was ok if she waited for a bit more.
"You, come here.", Lara then ordered Ivan. The difference between her tone, while talking to Jane and Ivan was like the difference between heaven and earth.
Not daring to oppose her, he slowly made his way up the stairs, trying to delay the inevitable as much as possible, but sadly the distance wasn't that far, so he soon reached her office.
After both of them were seated, she put her right hand onto the table and pointed at the ring.
"Explain!", just this one word, but it was infused with an easily detectable fury.
Ivan knew that there was no way around it, so he simply told her what happened. During the whole time, there was no change in her expression, which stopped him from understanding her thoughts.
"Hoho, so you just signed that contract? Without even thinking about Jane?"
"I told you, why I did that. And besides, what does this have to do with Jane?"
"Are you just playing dumb or do you really not understand?"
Ivan shook his head. He really didn't know how this would affect their daughter. It wasn't like there would be a difference in their relationship.
"Right, you have no clue as for how the family relationships work.", for the first time, she showed some emotion, when she sighed in exhaustion. "A long time ago, there were many fights between the children of different wives. Not only them but these wives too fought against each other, to gain the best position for their own child. In a normal family, the effects were negligible, but for those families that were rich and powerful, it often ended in disaster. After one especially bloody war, triggered by such a fight between the sons of a king, which nearly lead to the extermination of mankind in this realm, the system decided, to once and for all get rid of these fights.", she made a pause and Ivan waited patiently for her to continue. He hadn't heard about this before.
"After some experimentation, there are two main rules that have been implemented. One is that one is incapable of killing one's siblings. The system just wouldn't allow it. But it is much more difficult to stop bullying this way, so special emotional bonds have been created by the system. These bonds apply for everyone in a family, which in our case means the Hope Family. These bonds will lead to Jane seeing that new woman as a mother, while she will see her as a daughter."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"Fundamentally it isn't. It's just that to archive this bond, because of some universal rules, something has to be inherited. And it will be the descendant, that will inherit. If this happens before birth there aren't any problems, as long as all the wives don't have any huge problems. But in cases like this, there will be some change to Jane, and we don't know how it will affect her."
"But this should happen quite often, right?", Ivan asked. It couldn't be a rarity that someone would marry someone else after already having children.
"Yes, it happens frequently. And normally it wouldn't be a problem. But Jane is a bit special. So the results may differ."
Ivan had to agree. Jane really was special. And now he understood Lara's concern. It really was a bit irresponsible to just agree to the marriage, without even talking to them before it.
"Then has there been any sign of change?", he asked in concern.
"No. It would normally take a while for there to be any. So in the next days, we should keep an eye out for it."
"Alright. I don't have anything else to do this week anyway. So I'll spend it with Jane."
"That would be great, there is a big project coming up, so I won't have that much time.", Lara readily agreed.
This was the first time that she mentioned her work, which he knew nothing about. But to be honest he wasn't that interested in it either.
"Oh, right. I have arranged for Jane to transfer to Central High."
Central High was the best school in the Capital, where only geniuses and children of rich people could study. It was hard to even get a normal spot there, but to transfer into it was even harder.
"Did she enter because of her talent?" Ivan didn't want her to enter this school because of the power of the Berg Family. Even though it may improve the treatment she would receive, it was his firm belief, that it would be better for her, to be treated like just another student.
"Of course, don't you know how talented she is.", Lara answered him, with pride filling her voice. Whenever they talked about their daughter, the atmosphere between them completely changed.
"Of course I know. So she isn't admitted under her own name right."
"Yeah. I created a fake name and background for her. Or else it would be impossible for her to live a normal school life."
"Then is there anything for me to do, or have you already finished everything?"
"I have arranged for everything. The only thing left is to meet the teacher.", remembering that he only visited a low-grade school, she then continued to explain. "The upper-grade schools, require the parents of their students to meet their teachers regularly, so they can better coordinate. Most children that go to these schools have already been taught by private instructors, so it is imperative to find out what they already know."
"Oh, so that's how it is. Then what has Jane already been taught?", he asked curiously. He hadn't met her that long ago, and even after that, she spent most of her time with her mother and not with him, so he really had no clue.
"So you are finally interested in our daughter's education?", she asked snappily.
In reaction, he laughed, embarrassed because he really hadn't thought about it before.
"Sorry.", he could only apologize, but just when he did, he saw some amusement flash through her eyes. It seemed like she had made fun of him, and in reality, wasn't angry at him for not showing interest. Maybe she was even happy, that he hadn't tried to interfere, without understanding everything.
After that, she patiently explained to him the training their daughter had already gone through, which wasn't as much as he had thought. Of course, there was the basic stuff, like reading, writing, and calculating, but there was basic magic, which he already knew about. After all, he had thought her his way of fire control. Then there was etiquette, which to a child had to be the worst of it. Basic fighting styles too had been taught to her, but mostly as a way to keep her fit and healthy.
"Then how does this compare to what the others at school have been taught?"
"It's quite a bit less. But she is after all much younger than them and I don't think it is a good way to grow up if one has to spend all of one's time with learning."
Ivan couldn't agree more. When he started training his mentor had told him that it was important to have enough rest between training sessions. Of course if one was doing extreme training, this wouldn't apply. But the body and spirit would be unable to endure extreme training for extended periods. Both needed times, where they could relax and recuperate. For children, this was even more important, or it could stunt the growth of them. Both emotional as well as physical.
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