It's been three weeks and five days, almost an entire month, since I arrived at the Edouard castle. I've grown quite accustomed to this place; I've met new people; and I've even had the opportunity to make friends my age. I was treated as if I were a prince, provided with the same freedom as the owner of the place, but I still felt that there was something-or rather, I must say, someone-missing for this place to truly make me feel at home.

That someone was the one who took care of me since my birth: Maa.

Back in the manor, she had predicted that it would take her about three weeks to find someone to replace her, but there had already been a five-day delay between her prediction and today.

But that didn't matter anymore because today is the day she'll finally join us here at Edouard Castle.

"Hey Ronandt, Is it your mother or your governess coming over? Because I've never seen you so excited before, " Ramia said as we walked to the courtyard.

Me? excited?

Maybe

We were sparring in the castle backyard when Syrius informed us that Maa had entered the Beaufort City wall.

" Something between the two." I simply said.

"Huh?"

"Maa is the governess who has looked after the Young Lord since he was a very baby, so she is more of a mother figure to him," Syrius understandingly explained to Ramia.

"Oh...

We soon arrived at the courtyard, where we noticed a carriage that had just parked in the center of it. We got closer, and when we got to a certain distance, the carriage door opened, revealing a black-veiled woman inside.

The black-veiled woman was dressed in a long, plain black skirt and a long-sleeved white blouse.

"Good morning, Young Lord; I apologize for being late; the preparation took longer than anticipated," said the black-veiled woman in a voice I would recognize among thousands.

"Good morning, Maa, and welcome back."

I imagined a smile beneath her veil as she patted my head, even though I couldn't see it.

"I'm glad to have you back," Syrius said with a gentle bow.

Bow, to which Maa responded with a nod.

"Good morning. My name is Ramia, " Ramia ventured from behind me.

Obviously, Maa recognized her right away, but she had to pretend she didn't know who she was.

"This is Ramia, the Duke's granddaughter, and over there is Mael, Lord Emilien's grandson," I said, holding out my hand to show Mael, who simply and silently nodded in response to my introduction.

"Oh, what an embarrassment, I'm so sorry; I didn't expect the Young Lord to bring so many people just to welcome me."

"It’s nothing. We were just curious about what kind of person could cause Ronandt to wiggle around like a giddy baby simply by her arrival."

"I wasn’t..."

"It’s true, though," added Mael.

"Oh, I see. I'm glad the Young Lord missed me." She motioned silently to the carriage driver to take care of her belongings, before announcing, "This is just a suggestion, but I believe we should go inside the castle. During this cold winter, it's easy to catch a runny nose."

She was correct; winter had arrived, and with it, the cold.

"Okay," we agreed before heading to the castle.

"How did your stay in the castle go, young Lord?" Maa inquired as we made our way back to the castle.

"Very pleasant, I have so much to tell you."

"Oh, I can't wait to hear that."

***

The day Maa came back turned out to be very hectic. That very same day, she wanted a full report from me and Syrius about everything that had happened so far in her absence, so I told her about how well I was treated here, how I befriended Mael and Ramia (I believe I did my best to avoid mentioning anything concerning our slightly violent altercation, but with Syrius around, it was useless to even remotely try to bury the truth), and I also told her about my meeting with Luke, that he told me about everything.

Maa, being Maa, was concerned when I told her that I had passed out upon learning the truth, but with Syrius' help, we were able to assure her that I was perfectly alright now. After having calmed down, she immediately tried to comfort me about my mother's safety.

It seems that despite her being completely freed from everything, my mother is still under close watch, and the ones in charge of watching over her now are Maa’s family. Five years ago, when Maa was summoned over here to assist Luke’s wife with her birth delivery, after her duty was done, she took advantage of that time to pay a visit to her family and take a look at how my mother was, and she assured me that she was completely fine.

She even tried to give me some information about where she was and how she lived, but I asked her to keep that to herself for the time being.

Of course, I'd like to learn more about her, but not right now. I don't want to meet her or know too much about her until I've regained my ability to use my magic and gained a thorough understanding of how it works. Until then, the less I know about her, the better it is, and I had told Luke the same thing the day he tried to reassure me about her.

She seemed to fairly understand what I meant since she didn’t mention anything about it ever again.

"It is useless, this thing is impossible to do!" Ramia exclaimed, sitting cross-legged on the sofa with one hand holding a rope in midair.

"Then why can I do it?" I said while holding a similar but longer rope in midair.

The rope began to move around in a snake-like manner.

"There must be some trick that you’re hiding from me. You know what, I’m done with this. Who needs this worthless trick anyway, aina isn’t to be used that way but for fighting. "

"Really? And do you consider "this" worthless? "

The rope I was holding began to snake-like manner wrap around her hand, tying it to her waist. The rope had wrapped several times around her waist in less than two seconds, trapping her two arms and preventing her from moving any part of her upper body except her head.

I could tell she was enhanced on Aina, yet still couldn't break free from her restraint.

"Let go of me, Okay, I admit this isn't as useless as I thought it was, but I still can't use it, so it's useless to me!"

"I'm sure you'll be able to do this as well if you train yourself."

"No, I won't. You're the odd one out for being able to do that, right Mael?"

"Yes," Mael said, his voice sluggish.

That rope trick I used wasn't magic or anything, but rather a slight variation of how enhancing weapons aina works, which basically consists of changing the shape of things by enhancing them with aina, though calling it "changing shape" might be a little exaggerated, as all I can do is physically "possibly" bend things that tend to inherently bend by themselves or with very little effort, like the rope I used to restrain Ramia's movement. With this method, and by using the regular aina-enhancing technique on the rope, I can give it a toughness that a rope does not normally have.

Though not as sophisticated as Grandfather Emilien's ability to levitate objects with just mana or the Reality Figer's ability to float on its own, this trick does the job of making me feel somewhat unique.

"Hey Ronandt, say, let's get back to training in the backyard; I'm done training myself inside those four walls. It's been nearly four days already. I'm done with this. " Ramia begged.

"No, Maa isn’t spiritually ready to witness our training," I said as I tightened the bind that held her in place.

It's been four days since Maa arrived, and while I've told her about my aina training with Ramia, I haven't dared to do it in front of her yet. After all, we were using real swords and all, not wooden swords like we did in the manor.

One thing leading to another, Ramia, Mael, and I ended up, the three of us, holed up in the castle library.

Of course, Ramia wasn't here for the same reason Mael and I were; she was here because, as she put it, "it's no fun to train alone anymore."

I kept her from whining by teaching her how to do the rope trick I did. At first, she was quite determined, but after three days of unsuccessful attempts with no results, she had lost all sliver of motivation.

"You told her, didn't you?" Why are you still keeping it private from her? Even Leonore has been caring for me since I was a baby and has become used to my training. It's time for your "Maa" to face and accept the harsh reality."

Truth be told, Leonore, in contrast to what Ramia said, seemed far, really far from accepting the truth; every time she watches over Ramia and me while we practiced, she looks as if she's about to have a heart attack.

I’d rather avoid that for Maa.

"No. You can’t understand? It’s-" My words were interrupted by a loud sigh.

Ramia and I both turned our attention to the source of the sigh.

Under normal circumstances, we would have dismissed it without giving it a second thought, but it came from someone I'd never heard sighing this way before, let alone in this library.

Mael took a deep breath as he sat at his desk, one hand on his brow and the other fiddling with a pen.

"Wait, what?" Mael inquired after noticing Ramia and I staring at him.

"Look, Mael, you've had enough of this place. If this isn't a sign from the Seven, I don't know what is. We need to get out of here before one of us loses his mind."

I didn't pay attention to what Ramia was saying and instead asked Mael. "Is there a problem?"

"Not really. I was just- No, in fact, Ramia might be right, I think I’m just bored. " Mael announced as he put down the pen he was holding and began to lean heavily on its chair.

"I think I need a little change of air… To be honest, there is something I want to do, I know I shouldn’t do it, yet I still obstinately want to do it."

Ramia abruptly rose from her seat on the sofa.

Upon being released from her shackle. She dashed over to Mael and placed her hand on his shoulder as soon as she was freed.

"What is it?" She asked with a big smile on her face.

Mael stared at her in silence, wondering whether to tell her or not.

He ultimately chose the former, "Have you two ever visited a common district?"

Every city and sometimes towns on the human continent are systematically divided into two districts: the noble district, where nobles live, and the lower or common district, which houses the commoners' dwellings. Beaumont was no exception.

Beaufort had five noble districts, each named after one of the four noble families, while having four commoner districts located at the city's four cardinal points.

"Huh, never," I replied truthfully.

"Neither did I. Why would you ask? "

"It’s nothing, I was just asking, like this."

It was clear that he had something to say, but he was hesitant to say what it was.

"What exactly is it?" Ramia solicited a firm tap on his shoulder and a menacing smile on her face.

He finally said it after a short while.

"When I was seven years old, my parents took me to one of the family's hospitals."

A hospital, you say?

"And?" Ramia questioned.

"That hospital was not in the noble district, but rather in the lower district."

I think I see where this is going.

"And?" Ramia insisted.

"I returned to the location a year ago with my attendants; it was very different from when I went with my parents."

"And?" Ramia insisted, even more, this time, fully expecting Mael to make a final confession.

"I've been thinking about going there without my attendant watching over me lately."

"Are you certain it's the hospital that you're interested in?" I wondered aloud.

"No, I admit the hospital was merely a pretext; what I really want to see again is the Lower District." When I went there with my father, we weren't blatantly displaying our noble status, and people didn't react the same way they did when I went with my attendants.

I've never been through anything like that, but I believe I understand how he felt. While I can't blame the commoners for their reaction, one must admit that Mael was not your average noble for them to not treat him reverently upon seeing him.

"So, if I'm correct, you want to go to the place?"

He looked at me, somewhat ashamed, then muttered,"Yes."

"Why don't you just ask Grandpa to join you?" Ramia asked.

"Grandpa is...I think he has no time for that, "

He was right about that. Lately, we only see Grandpa early in the morning for breakfast and late in the evening for dinner. There was a rare exception when we were given the chance to see him for lunch, but even then he was mostly in a hurry to finish.

"What if we were the ones who were accompanying you?" I suggested

"We?"

"Ramia and I."

"That’s it. Let’s do this. " Ramia rejoiced, visibly pleased by my proposition.

"I don’t think Grandpa will accept letting you two wan-"

"Who said anything about telling him anything?"

"You want me to lie to Grandpa?"

"Not lying, just not mentioning."

"With Ronandt and I around, you’re completely safe." She boldly declared, showing off her muscles.

"You were already envisaging this possibility, weren't you?"

He slightly avoided my gaze when I spoke those words, which instantly confirmed my earlier assessment.

To be honest, I was expecting to request Syrius' presence, which wouldn’t be out of character for him, since he seems to appreciate Syrius more than many of his attendants, but since he didn’t mention him, then neither will I.

"We will be ready for your undercover visit to your lower district in two days." I announced, "Let me take care of everything."

"I'll leave it up to you then."