Chapter 64: Welcoming the First Lady
Unlike when the Serulians came to the city, the arrival of the first lady of the house wasn’t a big celebration.
The city acted normally even when they saw the knights and carriages of the Sungrade. For the people of the city, the Lords were not a high and mighty group but people of respect that they needed to serve.
They were kind to them. They did their best to help them. There were relatively very few crimes in this city, and whenever there were significant cases, they did not turn a blind eye to the problems of their people.
The public of the Oren were happy contrary to many other cities of this empire where murder, rape, theft, and falsehood were a common thing. They lived under the protection of the Sungrades, and as a repayment, they did their lawful duties here.
Thus, their presence wasn’t something the people of the city feared.
Different from how it may be in many of the other parts of the empire, the people were happy to see a carriage of the Sungrades.
They did not expect anything from the people that were arriving. For them, they were the elders of the family who were looking after them.
The people were their children and they were their parents. Even as Lady Mili looked out of her carriage’s window, the people who saw her, the people who had seen her many times before, greeted her with happy faces.
"Mother..."
"Look~. It’s Lady Red~."
Lady Mililian de Flameborn Von Sungrade.
She was called by many names including (Lady Red), the (Princess of Flames), (Master of Intuition), and such even as she possessed two of the most powerful names in this empire.
Smart, pretty, well spoken, and when it came to political matters, she was feared even by the dukes of the other houses.
At one point in time, she had also served as the direct advisor of the Master of the empire, the great Emperor himself.
She was a lot of things for the people of this empire, but, for the people of Sungrade, she was their first Lady, as well as some of the few people they genuinely admired.
"OPENING THE GATES!"
-Kraaaaaaaaaaa...!
As their carriage entered the castle, the knights on the horses scattered around the front yard.
Waiting for them were all of the Sungrades present in the castle, including the little ones.
-Ktak. Ktak. Ktak.
-Thump!
The march stopped with the carriage lining up in formation.
Then, a few servants who had been out already, laid out a red carpet for their welcome.
"Pam! PaPam~!"
As the trumpets rang in the house, the doors of the two carriages opened slowly.
"Oh? Seems like everyone missed me." Out walked from the first carriage was the Lady of the Sungrade patriarch, the person who increased the temperature around them with her mere presence.
She was pretty, she wore pretty clothes, and she was smiling while looking at her little kids.
"Mother Mimi~!"
Alex came running to greet her first.
"I missed you~!" The little girl hugged her mother, happy as a sunflower.
The mother embraced the child as well, happy to finally see her once again as well.
She was away for quite some time this time. Sadly, things became complicated and the small annual gathering turned into a complex issue.
Thankfully, she was back now. And, along with her, the eldest young master of the Sungrades was back as well.
"What do I see here, what do I see here?" The other carriage door opened, and a male voice spoke in a saddened voice. "Someone’s forgotten about someone?"
Jumping from the carriage in a dramatic manner, a masked man in what seemed like mage’s robes, addressed the young girl, looking at her with his silver-red eyes.
His right eye resembled the red of the Sungrades while his left eye resembled his mother’s. They were both different, and the two-toned mask that he was wearing right now highlighted them.
"A little girl I see. A little girl has forgotten. A brother is sad, sad, sad. What now, little sister? What now?"
As if he was really crying, he started sniffing his nose, no tears coming out of his eyes.
Still, the act was more than effective for the little girl.
"Nooooo!"
She ran to him and hugged her as well.
"I can never forget big brother Volcano!" She asked him to pick her up and hugged him gently, showing her affection towards the older brother.
"Ah. Forgiven, forgiven. The little girl is forgiven~."
He was happy to see her as well, and, the Lady in the blue dress that walked out of the carriage after him, the Lady with long ears and forest like green hair, could not help her joy as she witnessed this familial love.
"Huhu."
She was laughing, her face covered in a veil. Her elvan lineage was obvious from her ears, however, her deep brown eyes were more human-like than that of the elves’.
"Someone forgot their big sister too, it seems."
In her arms was a baby boy about half Alex’s age, sleeping like a prince of some fairytale.
His eyes were closed and his ears were pointed like his mother, however, his nose resembled his father and grandfather, while his hair had retained their elvan origin, long and lush green.
Not all elves had green hair, of course, but his mother did. And so did her mother, and so did their mothers’ family members.
"How could I forget Sister Lia! Little Mime would be upset if I did!"
The brother was Lord Volcanos, a high ranking mage of Sungrade while his wife, Leha, was of elvan blood: not a noble, but still someone he loved dearly.
She was older than any of them by centuries if they counted in human age, however, when compared to the age of elves, she was around the same age as his sister, Flora.
"You children. A child is sleeping, let him sleep."
They had just returned to their families after a tough journey. And now that they were back, a celebration was in order.
"Dear Wife." The Sungrade patriarch was here to greet his wife.
"Dear husband." She looked at him, weak deep in her heart and in pain throughout her soul.
She did not like hiding things from him, she wanted to tell him all that might befall their family.
She wanted to protect everything present here, but she could not tell him anything.
"You must be tired." As the Lord embraced her, her eyes glazed at the boy with blue hair looking at her warmly from the back.
There was a smile on his face. A smile that asked for her trust.
"Yes... too tired, in fact." She wanted to stay in his embrace. But they can do so after nightfall.
Right now, the long journey has taken much of their peace.
A soft bed and good warm food was something that they craved no more than a fresh bath and good tea.
Personally, she wanted to go and plop down on the bed.
Only some good sleep was going to remedy her endless fatigue.
"You’ll have to wait for the rest then, dear wife."
Sadly, it seems like those pretty dreams on that soft bed of hers would have to wait for a little longer...