Leticia left the sleeping people behind and entered the adjacent room.

Of course, this room was also full of documents.

“Sit here, baby.”

Astrid cleared away the piles of documents stacked on the sofa and seated Leticia.

Leticia briefly raised a mental question mark, wondering if disciples shouldn’t be doing this for their masters, but Astrid moved faster.

In the end, seeing Astrid standing alone while only she sat, Leticia cleared the space beside her and said.

“Master, you should sit too…”

“Hmm? No. Your master will do this.”

Astrid, who had tightly embraced Leticia’s head as she sat, giggled happily.

At that innocent smile, Leticia momentarily decided to gently forget about the master who had criticized the sleeping people as “weaklings.”

After all, Astrid was always a kind and loving master to Leticia.

As for other people, well…

They say charity begins at home.

“What brings our baby here so early in the morning?”

As Astrid stroked Leticia’s hair and asked gently, she hesitated before answering.

“Nothing really.”

“Did Chamuka do something again?”

“…No.”

But Astrid’s hand suddenly stopped, already detecting something unusual from the brief silence.

Leticia, not wanting to see Chamuka being pulverized by Astrid’s hands, quickly changed the subject.

“Just. Luka seems a bit sad. About me returning to Basilinte after the revenge is complete. The fact that I thought of it naturally without any hesitation made him feel… even though he’s family too, it felt to him like he wasn’t.”

“So you want to stay here?”

“No! That’s not it…”

Astrid hugged Leticia’s head tightly again as she strongly denied it. So tightly she couldn’t even speak.

“You don’t need to deny it so frantically. Leti, my child. Wherever you are, you’re still my disciple. Of course, I was looking forward to returning to the Grand Duchy with our baby.”

“Masther…”

“Wherever you want to be is your choice, Leti. I dislike it very, very, very much, but if you want to stay here, that’s fine. If you’re concerned about your brother or whatever, you don’t need to give things up just because of us.”

She still looked at Luka as if he were a thief trying to steal Leticia, but if it was Leticia’s choice, Astrid was fully prepared to respect it.

However.

“If our baby isn’t going to return to Basilinte, I can just get divorced and follow our baby. So there’s no problem.”

“…That seems like a lot of problems.”

Leticia, who had escaped from Astrid’s embrace, muttered.

“But that would be my problem resulting from my choice. Not yours. Our baby needs to stop being so nice now. You need to make the choices you want and shout ‘Deal with it!’ to other people, you know?”

“….”

“It’s okay. I’m always on your side.”

“….”

Leticia took Astrid’s hand. And deliberately whispered very secretly.

“It’s a secret from others, but actually, I like you best in the whole world, Master.”

“I like our Leti best, too. Of course, everyone knows that, so it’s not a secret at all.”

Astrid stroked Leticia’s head and gave her a tight hug.

As Leticia left with a somewhat relieved expression, Astrid waved her hand affectionately.

And finally, the moment she confirmed through the window that Leticia had left Luka’s house.

She clenched her waving hand into a fist.

Trembling water droplets appeared, popping in the air and gently closing the curtains. Then, with a thud of something colliding, the door flung open.

“Chamuka, my not particularly lovable son who doesn’t listen well.”

A large, round water bubble containing a large, silver-haired, handsome man rolled up to Astrid.

She was furious at her son’s behavior, looking annoyed rather than anxious despite being unable to breathe underwater.

“I’m, certain, I, told you, not, to, follow, people.”

Bubbles rose from Chamuka’s open mouth inside the water bubble.

“I told you not to follow Leti around! Did you think our lovely disciple wouldn’t notice?! What did you do again! What did you do to make our disciple so terrified that she rushed all the way here!”

After opening and closing his mouth several times, Chamuka finally shook his head and banged the inside of the water bubble with his hand.

The bubble burst, and water flowed all over the floor.

Astrid dried the spilling water to prevent the documents from getting wet. Of course, leaving Chamuka completely soaked.

“Now, explain yourself, Chamuka.”

Wiping his wet face, Chamuka looked directly at Astrid and said boldly.

“…I asked her to marry me.”

“Oh my god.”

Astrid pressed her forehead. She hated this headlong rushing mentality of Basilinte.

Bulldozers who casually ignored common sense.

Surely they had her blood mixed in, so why had they turned out this way?

“Chamuka. Get a grip. You two aren’t even in any kind of relationship…”

They weren’t lovers, and they didn’t even like each other romantically, so why did the conclusion suddenly jump to marriage? How did it get that far?

“I heard she even rejected your confession of wanting to be lovers. Why did your rejected confession evolve into a marriage proposal, Chamuka? That’s the wrong evolution. No, it doesn’t even seem like evolution. It’s regression. No, it’s just madness…”

“Is that all?”

“The fact that our Leti didn’t call you crazy shows just how perfect our disciple’s character is. If it were me, I would have slammed you right into the ground.”

“But you ended up marrying Father.”

Astrid often slammed Ferik into the ground, hung him from the ceiling, or dunked him in water when she felt her common sense threatened during conversations with him.

But nevertheless, Astrid married Ferik.

Hallik’s grandfather, the retired former butler of Basilinte, was so moved that Ferik survived with limbs intact and married Astrid, considering how often they fought.

“You seem to forget sometimes, but I was your father’s lover. Not just nothing like you and Leti.”

Astrid heaved a deep sigh.

“What did I tell you? I told you to stop thinking with just your head. Ask people around you. Your family has no common sense. Relationships need to follow an order. Do you think you can skip steps just because you want to? Leti doesn’t even like you romantically, but you’re already thinking about marriage.”

She was ready to run away even after trying to think positively.

He was born with a polished exterior, but she couldn’t understand why he acted like an idiot who thinks about retirement plans just because he made eye contact with a woman.

“…But if we’re going to get married eventually anyway, why do we need to do all that?”

“Is Leti actually going to marry you?!”

“Not yet, but eventually…”

“There you go again with ‘eventually.’ Chamuka, having seen your father, I can clearly see what you’re thinking.”

“….”

“‘Since I won’t let anyone around who might romantically like Leti anyway, eventually as time passes, she’ll choose me.’ That kind of thinking.”

Chamuka remained silent, having been hit right on the mark.

Astrid clicked her tongue at her son’s obvious thoughts.

“What an utterly inconsiderate thought. Burying anyone who shows interest in the person you like right in the field. Hmm? Fields are for planting seeds, not burying people. Seriously.”

She was absolutely sick of Basilinte’s field series continuing through generations.

“That cursed tradition, let’s end it now.”

Astrid raised both hands.

Water droplets gathered cutely in her palms. Of course, the powerful magic contained within them was not cute at all.

“Chamuka, say hello. The right is common sense, and the left is consideration. Things you desperately need right now.”

Of course, the magic concentrated in her right hand wasn’t particularly sensible, and neither was her left.

But anyway, Astrid had decided to “educate” Chamuka about common sense and consideration with these.

“Learn well, and stay away from our lovely disciple.”

“…Mother. Do you remember that I am your son?”

“Of course. That’s why you’re still alive despite messing with my adorable little water droplet.”