After pulling Roman along and calling out ‘Mother’, Luo Xiya made no further move.
She stood silently in front of Veronica, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on her.
“Sit down.”
Veronica waved her hand and spoke, her eyes meeting Luo Xiya’s briefly before looking away.
However, Luo Xiya refused to ‘let her go’.
She gripped Roman’s hand even tighter and continued, “Are you speaking to me and Roman?”
Such a tactic—retreating in order to advance, pressing step by step—was hard for Duchess Kelden to believe her frivolous and proud daughter could pull off.
If she admitted it, then she’d basically be publicly acknowledging Roman’s legitimacy.
If Luo Xiya pushed just a bit further, everything she’d said that morning would be as good as nonsense.
“Mm.”
Veronica gave a light hum, then said no more.
Veronica’s quick ‘softening’ left Luo Xiya dumbfounded on the spot, even making her suspect whether this unusually easygoing mother before her was really the same person.
Wary of any tricks waiting for her, Luo Xiya led Roman to the sofa and sat down slowly.
All the lines she’d prepared were now completely thrown into disarray.
Just as she was wondering how to speak up next, Veronica beat her to it.
“I misspoke this morning. I apologize.”
It took Roman several seconds to react.
Was Veronica speaking to him?
Even though her apology still carried a hint of superiority, this Duchess was indeed apologizing to him.
Roman cleared his throat, wanting to properly speak with Luo Xiya’s mother—this Duchess—but Luo Xiya squeezed his fingers, forcing him to swallow his words.
“Are you speaking to Roman?”
Lady Catherine, listening from the side, couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
Elise looked at her own Miss with a mix of worry and amusement.
Miss, you’re so forceful—aren’t you afraid the Duchess won’t be able to keep her composure?
But thinking about how Miss had gone this far for Roman, it was truly unprecedented, like a big cat cautiously testing a seemingly gentle old tiger.
Thinking this, Elise couldn’t help but feel a bit envious and longing.
After all, Luo Xiya was the Duchess’s daughter and could try this kind of thing.
Someone of her low status could never dare talk back to the Duchess, let alone hope to protect herself afterward.
Veronica shot a sidelong glance at Luo Xiya, and at Roman behind her, who was staring at her in confusion.
“That’s right.”
Now it was Luo Xiya’s turn to feel uneasy.
Had her mother taken the wrong medicine just now?
Why was she suddenly as agreeable as Auntie?
“Shouldn’t an apology be made in person, face to face?”
Luo Xiya couldn’t help but swallow as she said this.
Even she couldn’t help but feel proud of her own boldness.
Veronica was silent for a while, then, under Luo Xiya’s gaze, stood up.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, she actually walked slowly up to Roman and earnestly apologized to him.
“I said some very harsh things to you this morning. I’m sorry.”
Roman stood up at once upon seeing Veronica before him, indicating he accepted her apology.
Seeing Veronica extend her hand in a friendly gesture, Roman didn’t hesitate to reach out and clasp her hand.
As Veronica held Roman’s hand, she unconsciously narrowed her eyes, her magic probing as her thumb brushed over the back of Roman’s hand.
Luo Xiya saw this and her eyelid twitched.
She quietly inserted herself between the two.
“Mother, are you daydreaming?” she couldn’t help but laugh.
Duchess Kelden frowned and seemed dazed for a moment before coming back to her senses.
She gave Roman a meaningful look, then nodded, admitting she had indeed been distracted just now.
Luo Xiya returned to Roman’s side and suddenly let out a soft laugh.
“What is it?”
Roman turned his face, curious.
“My mother was actually staring at you in a daze,” Luo Xiya teased, leaning in to whisper in Roman’s ear.
In her memory, Veronica had always been strict and self-disciplined, sometimes so cold she didn’t seem like a woman at all.
Her relationship with her father was superficial at best, and they’d barely spoken over the years.
Who would’ve thought this old woman could also be entranced by a man?
As expected of her Roman~
Luo Xiya had once even felt a twinge of jealousy toward Lady Catherine, but now, seeing her mother staring at Roman and even getting a bit handsy, she found it mostly funny.
It just showed how little Veronica seemed like a woman in Luo Xiya’s eyes…
Fortunately, Veronica was preoccupied with her own thoughts and didn’t notice Luo Xiya’s odd reaction, or she’d have been angered as well.
Seeing Luo Xiya trying to stifle her laughter, Roman’s earlier anxiety faded, and he didn’t say anything more to her.
But just as he was about to take a sip of water from the cup on the table, he suddenly felt a chill run through his body.
In the reflection on the water’s surface, Veronica was quietly watching him.
He put the cup down and looked over at the now-seated Duchess Kelden.
Nothing seemed amiss—she was simply discussing important matters with Lady Catherine.
Maybe he was just too nervous earlier?
Roman tried to reassure himself.
Before long, Duchess Kelden called Luo Xiya over again.
“Are you still not going this time?” she asked directly.
The annual Holy City Ceremony was a grand event across the continent.
If the Holy Light Church wanted to promote something, the ceremony would be held with even greater fanfare.
For instance, this time, the Saintess of Judgment herself, who had awakened the highest-tier Sacred Seal, had publicly confirmed she would attend the young transcendents’ Exchange Conference.
The highest-tier Sacred Seal referred to the most fundamental laws.
For example, Milis’s ‘Judgement’ was, simply put, ‘a flame that can melt everything.’
A saintly figure like that might not appear even once in a hundred years on the continent, and their emergence was always astonishing.
Milis, for example, had once been a girl born and raised in a remote village, completely unremarkable.
Then, during a monster invasion, her village was unable to resist and was bathed in blood.
By the time the Church’s Knights arrived, what they saw was not a horde of monsters or a field of corpses, but a golden sea of fire powerful enough to incinerate all things, and a ‘New World’ that burned away all impurity.
After that, Milis lost everything except for her awakened High-tier Sacred Seal.
She was safely brought back to the Holy City by the Knights and, before the whole continent, was named the Church’s sole Saintess by the Pope.
It was hard to say whether Milis’s experience was a blessing or a curse, but one thing was certain—she was strong, unbelievably strong.
And ever since she was a child, aside from the Church’s missions and hunting heretics, she had never participated in any sparring among transcendents.
Her agreeing to attend this Exchange Conference made the whole thing all the more intriguing.