Vol 4. Chapter 14: A Pleasant Time

In a certain garden within the Black Rose Family’s encampment in southern Skyvault.

As the first rays of dawn illuminated the earth, this comfortable and pleasant garden suddenly burst into life beneath the sunlight. Countless colorful flowers seemed to compete with one another as they displayed their most beautiful forms, each charming and graceful, each vibrant with life and dazzling with color.

A refreshing fragrance spread throughout the garden.

Beautiful flowers, combined with such a rich fragrance.

There was undoubtedly no better place to rest and recuperate.

......

Actually,

under normal circumstances, there wouldn’t have been a garden here at all. In southern Skyvault, gripped by the bitter winter cold, aside from a few plants capable of enduring the harsh climate, most vegetation would have long since withered and died beneath the freezing winds. Those delicate and beautiful yet fragile flowers had even less chance of surviving such bitter cold.

There,

a garden should never have existed.

However, when Saiboke, the Black Rose Family’s old butler, declared that even if they were ‘fleeing for refuge,’ they still had to allow Lady Yumo to experience a comfortable and elegant daily life,

the impossible became possible.

Indeed, the members of the Black Rose Family themselves had no ability to make flowers grow here. For them to accomplish such a goal would have been nothing more than a pipe dream.

But,

while the Black Rose Family couldn’t do it, the elves, who had an ‘extremely good’ relationship with them, certainly could~

Coincidentally, the elves had also sent a delegation this time to participate in Xue Tianao’s coronation ceremony.

And so,

under the enthusiastic invitation of Saiboke, Qiu Mingtong, and the others, Audom, the ever-so-warmhearted Prince of the Elves, came to the Black Rose Family’s encampment with a smile. As for why his smile looked practically identical to ‘crying,’ that wasn’t particularly important......

Nevertheless, under Audom’s superb control of life magic, the barren rear mountain of the encampment was transformed into an exquisite and beautiful garden filled with a leisurely atmosphere. Combined with the barrier magic Audom cast, the interior of the garden was completely enveloped in the rich warmth of spring.

And just like that, a garden filled with the atmosphere of spring had been forcibly created in the freezing southern reaches of Skyvault.

To be fair,

the elves’ spirit of selfless dedication was truly worthy of admiration. After selflessly doing so much work, Prince Audom not only asked Saiboke and the others for nothing in return, but even declined an invitation to have dinner with the Young Lady of the Black Rose Family.

In fact, to avoid being persuaded to stay, the prince immediately fled back to the elven encampment without another word.

......

......

To Saiboke, the morning sunlight was the finest alarm clock.

After completing the full routine of washing up, eating, and bathing, the old butler elegantly put on the Black Rose Family’s butler uniform and donned his signature monocle. Then, under the respectful gazes of the Black Rose Family members, Saiboke pushed a cart laden with a carefully prepared breakfast and headed toward the garden on the rear mountain.

As the highest-ranking authority on ‘etiquette,’

Saiboke should ordinarily have only needed to oversee matters rather than personally serving anyone.

But,

whenever something involved Lady Yumo, Saiboke always insisted on personally attending to her. Perhaps, in Saiboke’s eyes, none of the juniors he had trained possessed sufficient ability to properly serve that esteemed existence.

Besides, staying beside Lady Yumo was not work to Saiboke, but a form of enjoyment.

With such thoughts in mind, Saiboke slowly entered the garden. The garden was not particularly large, so Saiboke quickly found the breathtakingly beautiful black-haired girl resting within it.

And the instant he saw the black-haired girl, and the scene surrounding her, Saiboke couldn’t help revealing a gratified expression.

‘Looks like these little ancestors are getting along quite well.’

At this moment,

beneath the shade of a gigantic tree ahead of Saiboke,

Lady Limo, transformed into an enormous snow-white wolf approximately three meters tall, was lying beneath the tree with her back pressed firmly against its trunk. The white wolf’s mouth hung slightly open, her eyes tightly shut, while snores emerged one after another in a strangely rhythmic cadence—hoo, mm, ngh, haa~ Every now and then, she even slurped up some drool~

Clearly, our little Limo was currently fast asleep and had apparently even dreamed about some particularly delicious food. The joy of enjoying delicacies in her dreams must have made Limo exceptionally happy, because the enormous wolf’s tail was constantly swaying from side to side.

On the other side, the peerlessly beautiful girl with long black hair fading into crimson at the ends, dressed in a black gauze dress, had her eyes closed like an exquisite doll as she leaned against the giant wolf’s snow-white, fluffy belly.

To the black-haired girl’s left, an adorable gray-haired girl quietly lay on the grass, tightly hugging the black-haired girl’s left hand. Every now and then, she even rubbed her soft little face against the girl’s slender arm.

Compared with the somewhat ‘lively and restless’ gray-haired girl, the pink-haired little girl sleeping sprawled across the black-haired girl’s thighs seemed much quieter.

From beginning to end, she barely moved at all. The pink-haired little girl slept so peacefully that she resembled a tiny angel who had descended into the mortal world. That faint, enchanting smile was as clear and translucent as crystal, making her look like a sleeping princess, noble and beautiful.

It effortlessly stirred Saiboke’s protective instincts.

‘Yuan’er, huh? What an adorable child.’

Saiboke couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

Hmmmm, strictly speaking, Liyu was actually no less adorable than Yuan’er. But to Saiboke, who had been bullied by Liyu ever since she was little, no matter how adorable that girl looked, she would never stir any protective instincts within the old butler.

Not only would he have no desire to protect her, he would instead start wondering how he could trick her somehow.

......

But regardless, the sight of Lady Yumo sleeping together with these little ancestors was exceptionally warm and heartwarming. For a moment, Saiboke even regretted not bringing an imaging magic stone with him when he came here. A scene like this deserved to be recorded.

‘Sigh, what a shame.’

He hadn’t thought things through carefully enough.

Just as Saiboke was lamenting this,

perhaps sensing the bright sunlight and the disturbance caused by Saiboke’s arrival, the black-haired girl not far away slightly fluttered her eyelashes.

The next moment, Lady Yumo opened her drowsy crimson eyes and silently mouthed toward Saiboke with a faint smile,

‘Good morning~’

Presumably unwilling to wake the sleeping children, Lady Yumo chose to communicate with Saiboke through lip-reading.

But,

strictly speaking,

with the formidable perception possessed by Demon King-class existences, the sleeping children had already reacted the moment Saiboke approached. Uh, no, more accurately, aside from little Limo, who was sleeping far too deeply, everyone else had already noticed Saiboke’s arrival and awakened from their sleep.

“Good morning, Mother~”

Liyu was the first to sit up, smiling as she greeted Yumo. At the same time, while greeting her mother, Liyu secretly cast a dissatisfied little glance toward Saiboke in the distance, as though questioning why he had come so early to disturb her pleasant time with Mother......

Of course, faced with Liyu’s questioning gaze, Saiboke unhesitatingly activated his ultimate move—‘pretend not to see anything.’

Meanwhile,

our adorable little Yuan’er finally managed, with great difficulty, to defeat her sleepiness. She opened her lazy eyes, scratched her messy hair, stretched, yawned, and then revealed a bright and adorable smile:

“Good morning, Mama!”

“Mm, good morning.”

Faced with the adorable greetings from her two daughters, Yumo smiled with overflowing happiness.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Mm, very well!”

The two daughters answered in unison.

Seeing that Lady Yumo and the two little ancestors were already awake, Saiboke no longer had any reservations and slowly pushed the breakfast cart in front of Yumo and the others:

“Lady Yumo, you can prepare to wash up and have breakfast.”

“Mm.”

Yumo nodded slightly.

Upon hearing this, Liyu and Yuan’er immediately revealed expectant gazes. Although they had already enjoyed a delicious dinner with Mother last night, they certainly wouldn’t mind doing it again~

After all, being fed by Mother was genuinely quite a wonderful experience!

And so, beneath Lady Yumo’s indulgent gaze, the two little girls eagerly took the towels Saiboke handed them, preparing to finish washing up as quickly as possible so they could start eating!

“There’s really nothing I can do with you two...... Seriously, slow down, don’t rush. Be careful not to fall......”

Watching the somewhat reckless Yuan’er, Lady Yumo helplessly reminded her.

......

However, just as the two little girls eagerly prepared to go all out, an untimely figure suddenly barged into everyone’s field of vision.

??

Hm?

Sensing the rapidly approaching fluctuation of battle aura nearby, Yumo couldn’t help frowning.

What happened?

Why were they in such a hurry?

In the next instant,

under Lady Yumo’s astonished gaze, a Black Rose Family guard suddenly appeared amid a flash of red light and dropped to one knee before Yumo. Lowering his head, he spoke with utmost respect:

“Lady Yumo, there’s an urgent matter. The Child of Destiny from the Asumos Church wishes to visit you.”

The moment those words were spoken, the expressions of everyone present underwent subtle changes.

Yumo: Hm??

Liyu & Saiboke: !!

Yuan’er: ??

Limo: Meow? (Is it time to eat?)