Chapter 157: Signet Ring
Jacob thought of the most crazy reply he could give to this beauty standing before him, she was short compared to him, but that didn’t matter, as his height will compensate for it.
The Ironfell bloodline was very strong, as both his mother and grandmother were short but it did nothing to affect his height, and in the same way it won’t affect his children’s height.
"I think each and every one of them is a separate entity, looking down on us and mirroring every decision we make." Jacob said, confident that the answer would spark an emotion in her.
But she remained silent, looking up at them, there was a fountain of water just in front of them.
"That’s an interesting way to see it." She said without shifting her gaze. There was a smile on her face, one that caused the edge of her lips to twitch. Jacob did not know if she wanted to laugh or cry. But somehow she stayed in the middle.
"I hope we’re in the same class in the academy Jacob. You have a mind that I admire." She said again, her words were very coherent. They caused Jacob to smile and looke up at the stars, just the same as her.
They talked some more, Jacob got to know that Violet had six brothers, hence why she was very proficient with the sword.
From a young age, she was set aside from her brothers and taught how to be a proper lady, but all she dreamed of was being a very good swordsman—or swordswoman.
She worked her self to the bone in secret and ended up being the first in her family to be given an express invitation to study at the Mountain Elite Academy, an achievement her father considered to not only be honorable, but eerie, as he expected one of his sons to be invited instead.
But he welcomed it nonetheless.
Since that day, Violet had been allowed to train openly, she was even assigned a personal trainer to help her with her techniques, so she would fit in nicely at the academy.
Jacob listened keenly as she gave him a much needed backstory on herself. He found the girl to not only be extremely beautiful, but also very interesting, she would often make jokes, making him laugh. He had not yet met any girl who was capable of doing that to him yet.
"I know we might not see each other again until the first day of school, so I want to leave this with you." Jacob said as he handed her a signet ring. It was one that was engraved with the Ironfell insignia, he had one himself so he just used the Dao to create an identical copy and put it on Violet’s middle finger.
"W-What am I supposed to do with this?" Violet asked, stunned as she was not expecting to receive any sort of gift from Jacob.
"Keep it, you can give it back to me tbe next time we meet." Jacob smiled as he closed her hand, there was a noticeable flush on her cheeks now as she stayed silent.
They both enjoyed the silence for a bit before it was time to return to the hall.
Jacob escorted her back to her mother like the gentleman he was and then returned to the high table, fortunately no one was bringing gifts anymore. The entire room had focused squarely on discussions and food.
"Soo..?" Elena asked, bumping shoulders with Jacob as he sat down, she was woman who had seen many years, but sometimes she acted like a much younger woman. Jacob turned to her, confusion on his face.
"So what mother?" He said in a low tone, he knew what she was implying, but he would not give her the gratification she desired, after conspiring to play matchmaker behind his back.
"So what do you think about her?" His mother asked.
He turned to meet the gaze of Violet, who gestured a tiny wave, as she had already been looking at him as well. "She’s certainly interesting." He said with an unshifting gaze.
Elena knew that look all too well, she had been a victim of it herself, all she did was smile and gesture to the maidens to bring some food for her son.
"Now you’re going to eat, you understand, I don’t want you bony. Eat something."
"Yes! Yes mother." Jacob agreed as a plate of delicious food was placed in front of him.
At the end of the night, the festivities had ended, it was time for Jacob to return from whence he came. He base farewell to his mother and father, pulling them both into a group hug. The women was left crying again as she was on the day he first left the castle.
"Don’t cry mother, I can always come back home." Jacob tried to comfort Elena but Rhoarin tapped his shoulder, as if to say ’Don’t worry son.’
"It’s okay boy, it’s just her hormones, we’ll be fin—ow!" He yelped as Elena struck him on his chest.
Eventually, she had composed her self and was ready to send her son off.
In just a few seconds, he was gone from their sights, but not from their minds and hearts.
A black portal with flittering lights appeared in a room just on the east wing of the Wutherhorn manor.
Xenia slept peacefully as Jacob walked into the room, the portal closed with a warping effect behind him as he settled into the bed carefully so as to not wake her up.
Her back was turned to him but she wasn’t asleep, she blinked her eyes and closed them. She wouldn’t question him about where he went, because he had the right to go wherever he wanted.
However, she felt that he was keeping too many secrets from her, and one day she would have to find out what they were. She was starting to grow uncomfortable, not with him, but with his secretive nature.
She believed she couldn’t be effectively of assistance to him if he couldn’t trust her with knowledge. Knowledge of the events that were taking place in his life.