"Knock, knock."
I firmly knocked twice on the door as Emily and Aeloria moved back, leaving me alone.
"Come in."
A soft voice came from inside the room as I opened the door and walked in.
My eyes immediately fell on the woman sitting on the bed with both her hands resting on her lap.
She looked like a mature version of Emily, with her beautiful gray eyes fixed on me.
But unlike Emily, who still knew how to laugh, she had a stoic expression on her face that felt close to emotionless, but she quickly hid her expression as she smiled softly.
"Who are you?" She asked, waking me up from my daze.
"Eden," I replied with a light bow, "Eden Morton."
"You don't need to be polite; I am a commoner. Nobles like you don't need to bow in front of me," she quickly said as I also looked back at her.
"May I?" I asked, gesturing towards the chair.
"Yes," she replied, nodding. I sat down on the chair facing her.
"It must be something important for you to come alone and not even bring Emily inside the room," she said, smiling as I took a seat, looking at me curiously.
"Well, it is," I replied as I looked at her.
"Just so you know, I at least want three children," and before I could discuss the main topic, she said.
"Pardon?" I asked, not understanding her words.
"What?" She asked, frowning.
"What?" I asked, frowning as well.
"You're not here to ask for Emily's hand?" She asked, looking at me strangely.
"Why would... hah..." I let out a sigh as I understood her words.
I mean, the way I just walked into the room of a young girl's mother.
"Wait, did Emily say something that made you come to this conclusion?" I asked, not understanding her reasoning.
Even though I said I could, that's rather fast of her to come to this conclusion.
"I mean, Emily talks a lot about you, so I thought something might be going on between you two," she replied, blaming it all on her daughter.
"Yeah, there is nothing between us," I replied, shaking my head.
"Not now or never," she asked with a mischievous smile.
"Never," I replied, just so she could get off my back.
"Liar," she said, her smile still etched on her face.
The hell...
Am I getting teased here?
[Come to think of it, she is the first mother-in-law figure you ever talked to.]
'Hey, don't make her my mother-in-law out of nowhere.'
[Yeah, not yet.]
'...'
What's wrong with all of them today?
"Anyway, I need to talk about something serious," I said with a firm voice as I looked at her.
She nodded her head, concentrating on my words.
"
Eurynome
, does that name ring a bell?" I asked, and almost immediately her expression changed.
Swish.
With one swift movement of her hand, she quickly drew a knife with insane speed, tearing the air around it, and brought it close to my neck.
Using my legs, I pushed the chair backwards with the support of the side of the bed.
Clang.
And with one thought of mine, the bracelet in my hand turned into a large chain, blocking the knife while restraining her hand.
"Emily is in danger," and before she could attack me again, I said, halting her movements.
"What?" she asked with a frown while still glaring at me, the knife tightly clenched in her hand.
"You don't have much longer to live, do you? And once you die, Emily will be the direct target of your enemy," I said as I fixed myself on the chair again.
"That's impossible. I made sure they can never track us down to this place," she replied, her glaring intensifying.
"Yeah, about that, who was the one who saved you anyway?" I asked, as I am still not clear about it. It wasn't even explained in the game as well.
"Why should I tell you that?" she asked as she tried to break the chains free, but because she couldn't move her legs, she wasn't much of a threat.
"Calm down and listen to me," I said with a serious tone while I moved my body, looking into her eyes.
"First of all, it's true. Emily's life is in danger," I said, but she quickly interrupted.
"And how do you know that?" she growled as she calmed down a little after hearing me.
"Because she might awaken her bloodline anytime soon," I replied, which took her by surprise.
"What?"
"Yes, princess, you heard me right," I said, stretching the 'princess' part.
And now she fully calmed down as she looked at me seriously.
"How?" she asked, "how do you know all this?"
"Doesn't matter. All you need to know is that the moment she awakens her bloodline, your 'dear brother' will come to take her away, and there is nothing you could do to stop him," I explained, as now she had her full concentration on me.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at me. "How can you help her, then?"
"I will help her hide her bloodline and make sure her identity doesn't get revealed," I said, looking into her eyes.
"That's impossible. You can't bypass the eyes of a goddess, and neither can you stop my brother from taking her away. You aren't strong enough," she replied, shaking her head.
"There are a few places where
Eurynome
can't see, remember?" I asked, to which her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Anyway, I will add one more thing to it," I said before she snapped out of her disbelief. "I can help you with your legs and save your life, I can make you walk again."
"Why are you doing all this, what do you want?" she asked, looking at me suspiciously. "And by the way, Emily isn't included in the list that I can provide you."
"I will be honest with you. I want the wooden statue of Eurynome, and for that, I need someone of her bloodline. That's all the reason I have to save your daughter," I replied, looking at her with sincerity.
".....That's it?" she asked, strangely.
".....And I want to save your daughter from a lustful motherfucker who is after her," I replied brutally, without sugarcoating my words.
[Aron or Emily's uncle.]
'Both.'
[Again, come to think of it, aren't you a lustful motherfuc—.]
'Shut it, idiot.'
I looked at Emily's mother as she stayed silent, looking deeply at me.
Then she slowly extended her free hand, looking at her, I took her hand softly, holding it.
"Sofia la Medina, the princess of the Nereids race and the last pure-blooded of my kind. Well, former princess," she said as she showed me her knuckles.
"Eden Morton, son of Stephanie Frialna Thorja, one of the human kin," I replied as I softly kissed her knuckles.
"People usually use their father's name when they introduce themselves," she said as she moved her hand back to her lap.
"Well, I don't," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
"Can't you do something about it?" she said as she pointed towards the chain.
"Yeah, right," I mumbled as I thought of shrinking it, and it did as I thought, moving back to my wrist.
"That's an unusual weapon," she mumbled as she rubbed her hand while moving the knife away from the scene.
"Anyway, could you answer my question about who was the one who saved you?" I asked, looking at her seriously.
Her expression became dreamy as she remembered the distant past, and then a soft and tired sigh left her mouth.
"He was a man with the same hair color as you, who saved me and my daughter and trach her marital arts ," she replied, looking at me.
"Can you tell me something more about him?" I asked again as I looked at her.
"Well, he was an unusual one who didn't talk much, but he had some strange powers that he could use that helped us leave the kingdom even when we made quite a scene there," she replied with a soft smile as she remembered him.
Looking at her smile, I felt a sense of uneasiness.
"Just to be sure," I said, making her focus back on me, "you two didn't, right?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning, not understanding my words.
"I mean, you two didn't shower the rains together, right?" I asked again with an awkward expression.
"I still don't understand what you want to say," she asked again while frowning deeply.
"..."
Left with no other choice, I made an 'O' with my index finger and thumb and then put my other finger inside it.
"W-what, no!" she replied, finally understanding what I was saying.
Sigh...
"Can't you ask normally?" A blush crept on her face as she glared at me. "And why are you sighing?"
"I was trying to, but I don't know how to," I replied as I looked away from her.
Anyway, I am thankful he didn't do anything to her.
Knock, knock...