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He deliberately chose to ignore her. But why? Did he know the purpose of her visit? Did he know that she was pursuing Ethan and had spent the previous lifetime with him? Was Richard a wandering soul?!

"Miss Eli?" Her train of thought was broken as she heard Ethan\'s concerned voice.

She brushed away all the thoughts of that assh*le for now and focused only on her man.

"Yes, Ethan." Haaa, how good it felt to call him. Ethan~

Ethan looked slightly troubled seeing her complicated demeanor. It felt like she was stressed about something and this change appeared ever since Lilia arrived.

\'Is she jealous that the master is now only paying attention to her daughter?\' This could be the reason. Ethan deems Eli as a girl who admires Cristina just like he does.

However, it was natural for Cristina to spend some time with her daughter, whom she had met after so long.

Under such circumstances, Ethan can only comfort her by saying, "Don\'t worry; while she is busy with Miss Lilia, I will accompany you. I might not be as good as Master Cris, but I surely know some martial arts to train you, haha." He laughed awkwardly near the end since he felt he was asking her to stay by his side.

Not good. What was he even thinking about, proposing such an idea?

Ethan thought Eli might be looking at him suspiciously, that\'s why he hesitantly turned his eyes in her direction...however, the moment his eyes landed on her, he was wonderstruck.

With her cheeks turned rosy pink and literal hearts appearing in her eyes, she clasped her hand and muttered, "I can\'t tell how much I would love to be trained by you, Ethan."

----------***-----------

In a different room, currently four people sat.

Richard was sitting alone opposite the man of the house. And on the right side, the resting sofa was shared by the beautiful duo of mother and daughter.

Cristina has been asking continuously if Lilia was okay or why she was so thin. And as a recorded tape, Lilia was uttering the same answer again and again.

"Stop bothering her already," Henry complained before he turned his eyes toward Richard and said, "Lord Richard, you didn\'t have to escort Lilia from Duchy," Henry spoke in a polite tone.

For some reason, Heney had a feeling that this sudden arrival of the heir of Scarlette\'s house kept a deeper meaning...and Henry dreaded hearing that.

Richard shared a glance with Lilia, and after crying near the entrance Lilia showed an emotion for the second time. She was nervous.

"What is it? Please tell us, Lili." Cristina urged; feeling more nervous than her daughter now.

Suddenly a conclusion struck her as Cristina raised her voice, "Wait! You are pregnant?"

"Huh?!" Henry exclaimed with his eyes stretching in both shock and fret.

Lilia blushed and instantly retorted, "No, ma! How can you jump to that conclusion just a moment later after asking the question?"

"Okay, then, you tell me, what happened for you to trouble Lord Richard?"

This time Richard spoke up, "Actually, I insisted on coming here, Ma\'am. And please call me Richard."

The last few words of Richard stunned the two elders as they glanced at each other.

Since Richard had already hinted at the motive behind his arrival, he didn\'t hesitate to reveal it bare,

"Actually Ma\'am, Sir...I have come here to ask for your blessings to let me have Lilia as my wife. I have brought the dowry and formal proposal from my mother for the engagement."

Cristina already anticipated hearing such a request from Richard but it didn\'t abate her uneasiness.

For someone who was going to become a Duke in the future and whose mother was the most renowned witch in the world, to be asking Lilia\'s hand in marriage?

Even though Cristina tried to think about it, she couldn\'t discern if they had any hidden meaning behind the marriage proposal. After all, what could a duchess gain from a retired adventurer?

However, just because there was no ill intent, doesn\'t mean Cristina would let this engagement happen without inquiring about things.

Politely, she asked, "If you don\'t mind, Richard, then can I talk to Lilia in private for a moment?"

"Yes, sure." Richard expected much.

Soon the duo left the reception, only after Lilia whispered to her dad, \'Don\'t trouble him, Pa.\'

Henry grumbled; now being bossed around by his daughter as well.

Once they left the atmosphere between the two men became a little awkward.

Richard had experience conversing with older people, so he didn\'t hesitate to initiate a conversation, "So you were a fisher, sir?"

The sudden question made Henry a little flustered but he answered soon after, "Yes...I used to work as a fisherman until I injured a disc of my backbone."

"Oh, that\'s sad. I heard from Lilia that you and Lady Cristina met when you were catching fish one morning."

Henry chuckled, "Yeah, that\'s right. I still can\'t believe that I pulled her out of the water using a net. She was attacked when she was sleeping at her home, and in an injured state, she was thrown into the water." His tone became a little sad near the end.

Richard remained silent for a moment before, with a smile, he said, "I can see why Lilia admires you and her mother so much. You both are just amazing in whatever you do."

Henry couldn\'t stop his lips from curling in elation hearing a person of his status being so polite and appreciative of such a poor man like him.

"You sit here, I will brew some tea for you," Henry suggested but Richard silently followed him to the kitchen.

Just when Henry was about to pick up the teapot, he noticed Richard—only to hear him saying, "Sorry... I just wanted to see where Lilia spent her childhood, so I followed you."

At that moment Richard didn\'t seem like a person of high social standing or someone who holds great strength and wealth. Rather, Henry could only see a curious child who wanted to know things about the person he adored.

Henry was moved by the initiative.

"Come here." Inviting Richard inside the kitchen, Henry took out a small book from the shelf below the station.

He gave it to Richard and urged him to open it.

Upon flipping the hardcover, Richard was met by some scribbling, which seemed to be a child\'s drawing. However, despite it being scribbled, he could make out the outlines of a flower.

"This was the first time Lilia held a pen at the age of two."

"At two she could draw this?!" Richard exclaimed, really surprised and looking at the sketching in a new light now.

Henry grinned and nodded as he said, "She has always been a brilliant child. Despite not having tight guardianship, she became diligent and mature really early and realized her life goal at the age when other children started to realize that fairies are not real."

Richard went through the sketching which slowly improved page by page, and by the fifth last one, it was already a beautiful painting of a valley with careful outlining and beautiful shading.

Along with it, he also heard what Henry told him about Lilia and her childhood. Seriously, Richard couldn\'t believe that his lover was such an amazing person from the beginning.

And that person...was going to become his wife.

-----------***----------

"What I have heard from you, it seems Richard indeed loves you and has a commitment to be with you," Cristina said once she heard everything from Lilia, regarding how Richard got the permission of his mother and also how he was all excited about gifting them things.

Cristina was her mother so she would have known if Lilia was lying. But until the end, she sensed no dishonesty.

Lilia smiled and was about to say something when suddenly,

*SHAKE*

The water inside the glass which was on the table tremble and Lilia clearly saw it.

With a frown, she got up, and a confused Cristina followed her daughter outside the room.

Lilia was in a rush, and that\'s why it didn\'t take more than a mere two blinks for her to reach the source of the collision.

Henry was also startled as he came out from the other side and everyone saw two people currently in a deadlock.

Ethan, with an agitated look, was pressing Richard under his sword. While Richard defended himself using just his arm.

Lilia drew her dagger and marched towards Ethan, only to be stopped by Cristina who directly pulled Lilia by her shoulder and slammed her on the ground,

"WAIT!"

Lilia narrowed her eyes and quickly moved her hand to press some pressure points—numbing her mother\'s arms, and escaping the hold.

Cristina panicked and so did Henry. However, before Lilia could have cleaved Ethan\'s throat, Richard called out,

"Lilia, stop. This is a misunderstanding."

------------***-----------

A/N:- Uh-oh..this is fucked up.