NoGift

"YOUR cooking skill is really admirable, Lei Feng," Anthea complimented the stoic young man sitting beside her eldest daughter.

"Thank you, Your Grace," Lei Feng said humbly.

"Yes!  Black also like the dishes made by Feng," Black said while stuffing his mouth with another dumpling.  "Black thinks it's even better than Aurum's cooking."

Aurum knocked on the back of Black's head.  "You brat.  See if I let you eat my sweets again."

"It's okay.  Black will just ask Master to give him one," Black said with no guilty conscience.

"You—"

Anthea chuckled seeing the interaction between the two.  Even Argent showed a small smile.  Lei Feng looked serious as usual but there was a bit of exasperation in his gaze, as if he's embarrassed by Black's antics.  The only ones who didn't have much reaction were White and the elf – Janea. 

"If you continue feeding us with these delicious Xing cuisines, I might be tempted to keep you here," Anthea said to Lei Feng again before suddenly turning to Argent.  "Don't you agree, Argent?"

Argent who was suddenly named glanced at Lei Feng.  Because she was sitting beside him, she immediately noticed his reddish ear tip.  This guy was probably being shy again because of what her mother said.

So she turned to her mother and said, "Mother, don't tease him." Then she glanced back at Lei Feng.  "But the food you cook is really delicious.  As always."

"As always?" asked the Duchess, obviously intrigued.

"He's with me when I was searching for the dragon king's sword in Xing.  He took care of our meals," Argent simply said.

"So, not only is Lei Feng an amazing cook, he's also a very thoughtful young man," Anthea continued to compliment.  "Thank you, for helping my dau-  I mean, son while he was in Xing."

"No, Your Grace.  I didn't do anything.  Everything was because of Argent's quick thinking and excellent abilities," Lei Feng said seriously.

Anthea stared at the young man's expression, she could tell that he really meant what he just said.  But what's more interesting to her was that he didn't even bat an eye to her purposely almost saying the word 'daughter'.  Her gaze looking at Lei Feng became even deeper.

"Don't be too modest.  My journey in Xing went smoothly because you were there," Argent said.

Lei Feng only gazed down.  But if one would closely, they would see the happiness that sprouted in his obsidian black eyes.

Aurum looked at her mother suspiciously.  Why was she being so warm and accommodating to this stone faced general?  Even dragging her brother to the conversation every possible chance she got.  It's like she was pimping Argent to the general.  Wait- that couldn't possibly be the reason, right?

After dinner, Lei Feng and Janea went back to Hattori's villa while Black accompanied White back to the lab.  The only ones left were the ladies of the Blackbourne family.

The three were sitting in the villa's living room.  Somehow, the atmosphere was a bit tense and stiff.  As if all three were waiting for a time bomb to explode.

At the end, it was Anthea who broke the silence.  "I believe you two have a lot of questions for me?"

"Mother, that would be the understatement of the year," Aurum said.

"First, Mother, before we lost contact with you, you said that you found a clue about Father's whereabouts.  Can you tell us what it was that you found?" Argent said.

Anthea looked at her twin daughters and then let out a deep breath.  "A certain phenomenon happened on the same year your father disappeared.  A huge pillar of light that reached the sky appeared near the sea of the locked Mythos Continent.  The pillar was so big that almost everyone from the five continents could see it.  In my last communication with your father, he told me that they were sailing near that very ocean." And he also told her that after that voyage, everything would be alright.  That they and their soon-to-be-born child would no longer have nothing to fear.  A statement that even until now, she couldn't truly understand.  Until she read that letter.  "There's a high possibility that his disappearance had something to do with that pillar of light and most likely the Mythos continent."

So that's why their mother was so confident that their father was still alive, Argent thought.  It's one of the things that had been bothering her ever since she knew about their father's so-called disappearance.

"I worked on that assumption.  So I told the people I hired to search for your father that they should look into the whereabouts of the three ancient artifacts.  Because those were the only undiscovered treasures connected to the Mythos continent.  But for more than seven years, nothing helpful came up with their search," Anthea continued.  Maybe because none of those people really did their very best in searching for the three artifacts.  "And as you already know, seven years ago, I decided to lead the search myself."

It was hard, she couldn't even find any significant lead during the first year of her search.  Of course, she couldn't just spend all her days each year searching.  She had to come back to her daughters, spend time with them, teach them, care for them, give them the love that they should have.  So, in those seven years, she spent going back and forth between searching for her husband and then spending time with her daughters.

The only clues Anthea could find regarding the three ancient artifacts were those myths and legends surrounding them.  So like drowning person, she desperately clung to those stories.  But most of them were just that, stories.  There's probably only a handful that could really be considered credible.  Well, as credible as it could be.  Some led her to some useful information but nothing really concrete.

That was until five months ago.

"You know that before I was taken by those you called 'Apostles', I was at the Northern continent.  Specifically, at a small village located at the country of Sarmatia.  There was a legend there about the Elven Queen who gave her ring to a kind villager for saving her favorite fawn."

Argent and Aurum looked at each other at the same time when they heard that.  Because that was eerily similar to the story Clay told them about his family's ancestor.  But they didn't voice that out and just let their mother continue with her story.

"There, I found traces of your father."

"Traces?" Aurum asked.  "As in proof that he'd been there?"

Anthea nodded.  "The moment I stepped into that village, I felt a weird pull.  It led me to the center of the forest, towards the tallest tree.  There was a voice inside my head that I had to dig something buried near the said tree.  I followed my instinct and did as the voice told me.  I found a very simple and small carved wood box.  I was certain that it was a magical tool.  Something that would only react once I was near its vicinity.  Most likely, it was left by Dorian for me.  Hoping that I could find it one day." She looked up and stared at her two daughters.  "Inside the box was a letter."

Argent frowned a bit.  A letter?