"Loke, take a break. Look at you. You're all sweaty." Princess Sylvia thoughtfully used a linen towel to wipe the sweat off Lollister's forehead.
When Lollister insisted on marrying her, he didn't hesitate to fall out with the important ministers of his family. He even held a meeting to scold the civil officials and family knights who disapproved of the marriage, forcefully suppressing all opposition within the family. When the news reached Princess Sylvia's ears through the mouths of the female servants in the castle, Princess Sylvia was touched by Lollister's affection for her. She felt as if she had been rejuvenated, and the depression and resentment she had when she first arrived were swept away.
As her mood changed and her diet became normal, Princess Sylvia's sleeping habits also improved greatly. She no longer needed Lollister to stay by her side and watch her every day. He even had to hold her hand, or she would panic. She would only feel at ease when she saw Lollister. After all, she had a foundation of 2-Star Gold impetus. When Princess Sylvia discovered that her lover still loved her as always, she finally felt at ease. Once her psychological problems were gone, her body seemed to grow healthier by the day, and she quickly regained her stunning beauty.
However, Princess Sylvia's obsession with Lollister was still there. This made Lollister hate himself for getting caught in his own trap. It wasn't that he didn't have the chance to do it with Princess Sylvia. One night, Lollister kissed Princess Sylvia until she couldn't control herself. Her eyes became misty, and she willingly fell in love with him. Lollister could only blame his brain for restraining his desires. He said affectionately that he would slowly devour her after the wedding, and that the most beautiful moment should be saved for the most important and memorable night of their lives …
Hence, Lollister brought this upon himself. After returning to Monolith Castle, he had been holding it in for more than two months. Although Delia and the two concubines who had returned from the new year stayed in the castle, the problem was that Lollister didn't have the time to have an affair. He was now staying in the room next to Princess Sylvia's. They didn't share a room or a bed, but the two beds were facing each other. Every night, Princess Sylvia would only be able to sleep peacefully after saying goodnight to Laurist. Furthermore, she was a light sleeper, and she would wake up at the slightest sound to seek Laurist's comfort.
Once, an urgent military intelligence arrived in the middle of the night, and Lollister went to the study to deal with it. However, that was a false alarm. A newly established garrison of the Red River Plains had gone to the edge of the Black Forest for training, but they had accidentally entered the forest and lost their way. It was reported that they might have been attacked by the mountain barbarians. As a result, Monolith Castle prepared for battle overnight. In the end, after waiting for an hour, the guard came back from the Black Forest. Laurist heaved a sigh of relief and left the study, only to find Princess Sylvia in her nightgown and her maidservant curled up in the small guest room outside the study. The maid said that when Princess Sylvia woke up in the middle of the night and realized that Laurist was not around, she panicked and insisted on looking for him. When she arrived outside the study, she realized that this was a confidential area and that no one was allowed to enter, so she waited in the small parlor until now.
Looking at Princess Sylvia's panicked eyes that were filled with joy at seeing him, Laurist had no choice but to give up on the idea of finding two concubines for a night. He accompanied her back to her bedroom and watched her fall asleep again. Only then did he rest …
Every morning, he would see Princess Sylvia's smiling face. After accompanying her for breakfast, he would go to the study to deal with official business. During this time, the family was reorganizing and expanding the four guard corps. Even with Baron Freia and Baron Berhunek in charge, some of the family knights' promotions, the appointment of new commanders of the guard corps, the list of commanders, and other important matters still required Laurist's approval. Laurist also had to meet with the family knights who had been appointed to their new positions to understand them. There was also the construction of the Golden Ridge Fortress and the progress of the gold mining. There was also the planning, adjustment, and construction of the transportation infrastructure in the north. Laurist was so busy that he sometimes did not even have time for lunch.
No matter what, Laurist still had to accompany Princess Sylvia for dinner every night. Delia and the other two concubines, Daisy and Maria, accompanied her. There was also Fina, who had followed her sister Aridoli to Baron Dina's new territory in the province of Delemark. She had yet to return. Delia already had a son who was almost two years old, so she focused all her attention on the little baby and did not care much about Laurist. Daisy and Maria, on the other hand, looked at Laurist with hidden bitterness. It had been more than two months since he returned from the family, but Laurist had not visited them even once …
Laurist also had his own difficulties. He felt uncomfortable holding it in, but he did not have the time to cheat. He was extremely busy during the day, but he had to accompany Princess Sylvia at night. He could only blame himself for being too talkative and saving the best moment for the day of the wedding. Now, even Princess Sylvia had become reserved. Whenever Laurist uncontrollably touched and kissed her, she would ask with teary eyes, "Loke, don't you love me anymore? Didn't you say that you wanted to wait for the best day for the two of us?"
Laurist slapped himself hard in the face. Alright, let's not say anything and just turn off the fire first. Seeing but not being able to eat made Laurist's heart itch. Sometimes, after seeing Princess Sylvia fall asleep, he wanted to crawl into the bed of the two maids next door. If it wasn't for the fear of waking Princess Sylvia up, he might have really done so.
He could not live like this anymore. Laurist counted the days with his fingers. How could he be so stupid as to choose the day of the wedding in November? It was only July now, so he still had a long way to go.
However, today was a rare day of leisure. After accompanying Princess Sylvia for breakfast in the morning, Laurist went to the training grounds at the back of the mountain. Today was Shi Huade's first official day of training in the Pellet Sea Qi-Gathering Method. Since he had Redi as a model, Laurist was able to teach with ease. He guided Shi Huade on some key points of training and only left after confirming that there were no mistakes in his training.
Beside Laurist now was the eldest son of the Maritime Legion's Commander, Senbarwood. He had just turned sixteen this year and had just awakened impetus at the end of last year. Senbarwood had written a letter to remind Laurist that he had especially forgotten about his promise to take his son as a disciple. Shi Huade had brought him around for a month to familiarize him with what he needed to do as Laurist's attendant.
Although Genolio was only sixteen years old, he was very tall. Laurist was about 1.86 meters tall, but Genolio was 2.06 meters tall. He was a good twenty centimeters taller than Laurist. He wasn't thin either. His bones were thick, and he looked very strong. This made Laurist a little unhappy. Shi Huade was less than 1.8 meters tall, so it was convenient for him to stroke his hair and pat his shoulders to express his admiration. Damn, Genolio was so tall. Did he have to weigh his feet if he wanted to stroke his hair?
However, no one had expected that the burly Genolio would have such beautiful handwriting. He had overturned Lollister's previous suspicion that his mother had written all the letters to Howard. Furthermore, he had discovered that Genolio's literary standards were very good, so good that Lollister felt ashamed of his own inferiority.
Laurist curiously asked him how he learned, and the honest Genolio told him the truth. It was his teacher who taught him. It was actually very simple. When Senbarwood was serving the Norton family loyally, he remembered Laurist's promise to take Genolio as a disciple. Of course, he also knew that Laurist had said this to reassure him. But he knew that he was a pirate and was afraid that he would be looked down upon in the family, so he set his sights on this son of his. Senbarwood was very smart. As long as his eldest son became Laurist's disciple, his position in the family would be truly stable.
Thus, Senbarwood wholeheartedly wanted to train Genolio so that he could gain Laurist's favor. Since he was young, he had trained his body, sharpened his will, and trained him in traditional knight etiquette. It could be said that he had put in a lot of effort. When Genolio was 12 years old, Sunbarwood heard Boddinger boast about how much his son, Shward, loved to read and learn when he was young, and how much Lollister loved him. That was when Genolio realized that apart from training his body, his son was only at the level of literacy.
No, he had to make Genolio a person who was well-versed in both the pen and the sword. Only then would he be able to gain Laurist's favor. Thus, Senbarwood began to look for knowledgeable people to teach Genolio. It was just that he couldn't find a suitable person after looking for a long time. They were either too young or too old. If they were too old, Senbarwood felt that they had no talent and were here to earn a living. If they were too young, Senbarwood couldn't trust them. His wife was a beauty, and these young, pretty boys made him uneasy. As the commander of the Navy Legion, he would be out at sea for a month or two. It was too dangerous to ask these young, pretty boys to be his son's private teachers and spend time with his wife at home …
In the end, Senbarwood found a female teacher for Genolio. She was only eight years older than him, and she was very young and beautiful. It was said that her father was a very famous scholar, but unfortunately, he died of illness during the empire's civil war, leaving his daughter and wife to depend on each other. When Senbarwood heard that this girl had 80% of her father's knowledge, he was tempted. He hired her with a high salary to be Genolio's private literature teacher.
The female teacher's standards were very high. After teaching Genolio for four years, she made him a very cultured literary talent. After four years of being together, Genolio went from respect to admiration, and finally fell in love with his own teacher. He could write beautiful calligraphy because he had practiced imitating his teacher's handwriting for a long time.
"Your female teacher's standards are really good to be able to teach you like this. By the way, Genolio, do you really like your female teacher? Actually, it's not a problem to be eight years older. I'm your teacher now, I can help you think of a way. "Laurist was teasing him.
Genolio smiled bitterly. "Thank you, teacher, but there's no need. She's already become my father's concubine …"
Uh … this was really an unexpected ending. Laurist was speechless. He could only pat Genolio's back to comfort him.
After returning from the training field, he accompanied Princess Silvia for lunch and strolled around the garden. Soon, it was time for afternoon tea. Princess Silvia really liked the son that Delia had given birth to for Laurist. She kept teasing the little guy. Laurist was very happy that Princess Silvia was getting along well with his concubines. The three maids also knew that Princess Silvia would become the matriarch of the Norton Family, so they were very happy to have a good relationship with her. However, she had been dominating Laurist, not allowing him to interact with the three concubines in private. This gave Laurist a headache.
Since he had nothing to do, Laurist let Genolio practice some basic swordsmanship and pointed out some of his shortcomings. He was satisfied with being a teacher. He personally demonstrated a few more times and was covered in sweat.
"Sir, Baron Cordin requests an audience." Just as Princess Silvia was wiping the sweat off Laurist's forehead affectionately, a guard came to report.
Ever since Head Hansk became the governor of Sirovas, Head Cordin had taken over his statistics department. Along with the human resources department that he was originally in charge of, he had always been very busy. Could it be that something had happened in the family territory for him to meet Laurist today?
Head Hansk, Head Spear, and Head Cordin were all veterans of Maple Forest Manor. They were the three administrative talents that Clancy, the former head of the Norton Family, had nurtured for the family. After Laurist took over the family's territory and title, Head Cordin was the first to express his loyalty and closeness to Laurist.
Out of the three heads, Cordin was the only one who didn't object to Laurist's decision to marry Princess Silvia. After bowing to Laurist in the study, he revealed a bitter smile and a helpless expression. "Your Highness, Madam Elina asked me to remind you not to forget the promise you made back then …"
Hmm? What did this have to do with Lina? Was it worth Head Cordin coming here personally? Laurist began to ponder.
In the past two years, the relationship between Laurist and Elina had deteriorated rapidly. As the only maid that Laurist had taken to bed after returning to the family's territory, and the first concubine that bore two sons for Laurist, Elina should have been trusted and loved by Laurist. Unfortunately, Elina had a strange habit. She would rather die than leave Maple Forest Manor. On the other hand, Laurist had been running around to expand his forces and develop his territory. As a result, Maple Forest Manor's importance in the Norton Family's territory continued to decline. Now, the original castle and manor in the Norton Family's territory had almost become a forgotten corner, and it seemed to have become Elina's private territory.
Laurist and Elina had a falling out because of their eldest son, Lescott. The eight-year-old Lescott had been spoiled by Elina and had become a lawless bully. Laurist was so angry that he beat him up and took him away from Maple Forest Manor to Malek's house for his wife to be in charge of teaching. However, Elina cried and wouldn't let it go. After Laurist severely warned her that he would strip Lescott of his title as the first heir, she finally stopped.
After that, Elina cried in Maple Forest Manor. She hated Laurist for taking her precious son away from her. At the same time, she ate too much, and in less than two years, she had doubled in weight. Last year, Laurist went to Maple Forest Manor and found that she had become a big ball.
"Your Highness, Elina's father was also a knight of the family. He took good care of us when we were young. After he died in battle for the family, the family adopted her. Because of this friendship, Baron Hansk took the lead in opposing the marriage between you and Princess Silvia. I'm here at her request to remind Your Highness of the promise you made back then, that you will not change Lescott's title as the first heir, "Manager Kordan explained helplessly.
Laurist suddenly understood everything. It turned out that Elina was worried that if he married Princess Silvia, their future child would be a legitimate son, and she would strip Lescott of his inheritance rights. After all, she was Laurist's concubine. Although Lescott was recorded in the family, his status was much lower than that of a legitimate wife's child …
"Sigh …" Laurist sighed. What was going on? He was still alive and well, but someone was already worried about his inheritance rights. After all, if he became a Sword Saint, he would only live longer than his son. To put it bluntly, it wasn't strange for a Sword Saint to send off his seventy or eighty-year-old grandson.
"Go and tell Elina to stay in Maple Villa and not let her imagination run wild. At the end of this year, during the New Year's celebration, I will confer her the title of a life baron. Maple Forest Manor will become her fief, and the family will take it back after she passes away. I hope she can live the rest of her life happily in Maple Forest Manor. As for my son, he has changed a lot. When he turns twelve, I will send him to Nicole Academy. At that time, I will ask him to come back to Maple Forest Manor and reunite with his son. Now that she has the little one with her, I hope he won't be spoiled like Lescott. That's all, Baron Kordan. "
"Yes, Your Highness."
…
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