“Ivena, in your eyes, what kind of person is my mother, Karina?”
After returning home, El asked this question to the elven maid.
“I haven’t spent much time with Madam. But in my impression, she is an intelligent, dignified, and gentle woman. The way she manages such a vast county so efficiently shows her resourcefulness. Why do you ask this?”
As Ivena answered, she bent down and placed a white porcelain plate in front of El.
“Here, the caramel pudding you asked for.”
When she stood up, the softness of her chest bounced slightly, much like the pudding itself.
“Thank you.”
El picked up the small silver spoon and scooped a mouthful of golden pudding into his mouth.
The sweet sensation coursed through his body like an electric current from the tip of his tongue, making him almost moan in delight.
“Young master, how is it?”
Ivena blinked her emerald eyes, looking at El with a face full of anticipation.
“It’s delicious. Have your skills improved again?” El was quite surprised.
“Yes, just today, the Panel showed that my ‘Dessert Making’ officially leveled up to LV8. For you, young master, this should taste even better than the other dishes now.”
Ivena had a Panel that displayed her proficiency in various skills. Because of this, she learned everything far faster than ordinary people.
Normally, only legends could grasp an Authority of the world. But there was an exception—Witches. They were born with an Authority, only awakening it at different times.
Notably, no male had ever been found to experience this.
Ivena was a Witch. After being taken in by El, she awakened the Authority of Growth. El suspected it was her strong desire to become stronger that triggered this awakening.
“Ivena, if one day you found that I might have another side unknown to others, would you feel afraid?”
El responded to the maid’s curiosity with a question of his own.
Ivena’s face bore a gentle and graceful smile: “No matter what, I will always love you. Because the care you have shown me is not false, so why should I mind your secrets?”
Her words woke El up. He believed that at the very least, his mother truly loved him. He shouldn’t doubt the mother he had lived with for so many years just because of the words of a story.
However, Mother must know something… El decided to write her a letter in hopes of getting some useful information.
But that could wait until after he finished the pudding. Ivena wouldn’t let him leave so easily.
El chatted about some amusing things that happened at the academy, and Ivena poured him another cup of steaming hot tea. Most of the time, she just listened with a gentle smile.
The maid wasn’t interested in campus trivialities; what she enjoyed was simply spending time with El.
After soothing Ivena, El went to the study and wrote a letter to his mother.
Besides the necessary pleasantries, he mainly mentioned the demon within his body, and subtly asked about the cause of his father’s death.
He sealed the letter, then found the Magic Array used for communication in the mansion. Placing the letter on it, he activated the array and began chanting an auxiliary spell.
The Magic Array glowed purple as a flame consumed the envelope, turning it to ashes. If all went well, it would soon appear in his mother’s room.
If he wanted a reply, he’d have to wait until tomorrow, since Karina wasn’t a particularly skilled magician.
She needed help from the other magicians at home to activate the array, and teleportation magic also needed to cool down.
That night, El had a pleasant dream. It seemed not every night would be disturbed by the demon.
The next morning, before El had even washed up, he climbed straight to the Magic Array to check for his mother’s reply.
The letter’s content was simple; Karina didn’t mention anything else. It could be summed up in just a few words: “Wait for me.”
His mother wanted to speak to El in person, which also showed she truly had clues in hand.
It would take about four days to travel from the Regis territory to the Royal Capital. El estimated that his mother should arrive on the third day.
After washing up and eating the breakfast the maid had prepared, El left the house. At the mansion gate, he saw a man squatting on the ground.
The man stretched out an arm, feeding meat to a hawk perched on his hand.
“Good morning, Young Master.”
The man greeted El proactively.
“Cerys, long time no see. What are you doing here?”
Of course, the Regis family’s power in the capital wasn’t only supported by Ivena. It was just that El had too few servants (in fact, only Ivena), which made the mansion seem rather empty.
“Working.”
Cerys was a trusted aide whom El brought from the county. He was the adopted son of the Old Druid, and had inherited all the Old Druid’s skills.
But since the forest in the county didn’t need a second druid, and they owed much to Karina’s care, they took the initiative to have Cerys serve the county.
On most days, Ivena was responsible for El’s personal safety, while Cerys took charge of the mansion’s security.
Cerys possessed the strength of a gold-ranked warrior, and could also communicate with his animal friends, setting up many spies around the mansion.
It was more than appropriate for him to be responsible for the mansion’s safety.
But he was usually as elusive as a dragon, so seeing him here surprised El.
“Well… I found this on the outskirts of the mansion.”
El followed his finger and saw a corpse wrapped in a black robe, its face twisted as if it had seen something utterly terrifying before dying.
“Whoa!”
Anyone would be startled to find a corpse at their front door early in the morning.
“Shh… I’ve already taken care of it, so there isn’t even a smell. It took me quite some effort to convince Miss Maid to let me bring it here for you to see, Young Master.”
Cerys quickly signaled El to keep his voice down, afraid of attracting the attention of some terrifying being.
“This guy was sneaking around, circling the mansion perimeter for two days. He was careful, never getting close, but he was still discovered by Han.”
The eagle on Cerys’ shoulder let out a happy screech.
“I was planning to catch him for interrogation, but unexpectedly, he committed suicide. Judging by how he died, I’m pretty sure he was from the Demon Cult.”
“I brought the body here so you would understand how serious this is. I suspect you might have caught the attention of the Demon Cult. Sigh… Looks like my workload just increased again.”
Cerys muttered softly at the end.
El bowed his head in thought. “Why would they target me…?”
He truly couldn’t understand; in theory, none of his actions should have anything to do with the Demon Cult.
The only possibility was… Unconsciously, El placed a hand over his heart. Could it be the demon’s fault?
In Cerys’ eyes, this looked like fear. He quickly reassured him: “No need to worry, Young Master. The Demon Cult is nothing with us around; there’s no way they can harm you.”
He added silently in his heart: mostly because of that maid. If it were just me, I couldn’t make any such guarantee.
El sighed. He hadn’t expected to catch the attention of those pests so soon. He had long anticipated this possibility, but it was happening earlier than expected.
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