645 Being helpful can make you the bad guy in another’s eyes

“Haha.” Lucas laughed. He turned around to face Vincent and continued, “It appears you had company waiting close to the door for a long time. Hehe. I wonder who they could be.”

After Lucas joked and heard the footsteps sound more erratic than before, he playfully told Anna, “Shall we leave, your highness?”

“See you next time, Vincent. I hope you will feel better after spending some time in nature.” Anna gently frowned and continued, “But remember to return before the match starts. It will bring shame to my name.”

[Hmm... is Anna going to do more than we are expecting?]

-Maybe. But could Anna have plans to announce sponsoring me publicly?-

-Hmm. The promised quest revealed the Sponsored By Royalty title. This was the reason the title appeared as a reward.-

[I have to agree with your guess.]

[If what we think is correct, then we can not run away. Furthermore, if we bring shame to Anna, her father, the king might decide to hunt us even if he doesn’t know you are the seventh hero.]

-...-

.....

“Ahem.” Vincent cleared his throat. He raised a forced smile and responded, “Thank you. We will welcome you always, so visit when you want to.”

“Humph! Stop smiling like that!” Bilka told Vincent in an angered tone. She spoke as if Vincent had said something she didn’t like.

Bilka went behind Anna and continued, “Can I push you, your highness?”

Anna gently shook her head and placed her hands on the wheels.

Anna turned the wheelchair as if she had been used to moving with a wheelchair for years. Anna’s keen eyes and wisdom were remarkable.

“No need when I am on a flat surface. ” Anna said cheerfully. She was delighted to move without anyone helping her. Manual movement felt wonderful to Anna instead of always being a passenger or, now, being pushed forward.

Bilka glared at Vincent and moved her lips to silently say, ‘Gosh, I want to punch you right now. I need to punch you at least once.’

Bilka had her reasons for hating Vincent as if he was her enemy, even if they were on friendly terms because of Anna.

Previously, Bilka served as both guard and Princess Anna’s legs. However, Vincent and his Lionheart family were going to take part in Anna’s protection. Additionally, Vincent had also given Anna a way to move with minimal assistance.

Thus, Bilka felt Anna might have no more use for her. The usual closeness Bilka had with Anna was in jeopardy because of the variable called Vincent.

Some people might like to work less, but not Bilka. She didn’t want to help Anna as minimally as possible.

About seven years ago, when Bilka was eight years old, Anna and Bilka had a fateful encounter.

Their positions were like day and night. One was a weak princess being carried by Lucas, and the other was in a cage.

Bilka was sold by her parents because of gambling debts. On that same day, Bilka saw her parents shackled and a slave collar around their necks. They probably went to gamble in hopes of winning and paying their gambling debt.

The distrustful eight-year-old felt miserable for the entire day until a group of soldiers from the Lusterfall Kingdom passed by her cage.

The group of soldiers stopped. A strong old man had a frail little girl sitting on a cushion he held for comfort.

Anna pleasantly smiled and asked one question, “Can you be my legs and my friend?”

Bilka took some time to answer with a “Yes.”

Bilka was bought by Anna to be her legs and friend. Bilka later learned how Anna saw a spark of hope in Bilka’s eyes. That was the moment Anna thought Bilka could become her best friend.

The more Bilka now thinks about this situation, the more she desires to return back to the past and tell her past self to agree immediately without a shred of hesitation.

When Anna entered Bilka’s life, she felt happy and felt she had a place to belong without a sliver of doubt of being betrayed again.

In the end, the more Vincent provided Anna with his assistance. The more Bilka was going to dislike Vincent. Only a miracle could make Bilka accept Vincent, but it was probably going to be far, far in the future if a miracle were to happen.

Lucas, Anna, and Bilka left the bedroom. They looked on both sides and saw Ester, Lupa, Iris, Lilith, Sakura, Plow, Sofy, and Jun Ye Rim on the sides of the wall. They all acted like they were caught red-handed.

Sofy and Lilith looked at each other. After a gentle, brief nod, Sofy went in front of Anna. She made a curtsy and respectfully offered to guide their guests.

Sofy was going to take them to the entrance if they wanted to leave now. If not, Sofy would guide them to an empty living room or guest room.

Lucas, Anna, and Bilka visited the mansion in the royal carriage. Thus, the news of their entry had surely been made public by now.

Staying the night would bring various bad rumors because the royal carriage was only used by royalty, such as the king and the princess. Only on certain occasions could the royal guards and royal mages of the highest rank use the royal carriage.

It meant, whoever visited the Emerald Lionheart Mansion with the royal carriage, the person inside was influential. Furthermore, the person was on friendly terms with the Lionheart family to stay the night.

Lucas and Anna decided to leave. They couldn’t stay even if they wanted to. Rumors set aside, Anna’s father, the king, could become highly suspicious of his daughter’s activities.

The king was already asked to give the recently married Lionheart couple a golden identity card. The king was also suspicious about Anna visiting the Emerald Lionheart Mansion as well.

The chance the king would send his shadow guards to gather information about Vincent was gradually increasing the later Anna was going to arrive at the royal castle in the north district.

Out of the other three guests, Aceon left while Teresa and Leonis were going to stay for the night.

Leonis spent a lot of time chatting with Ganni while Teresa was taking care of the situation with Maid Xu. The two felt at home in the Emerald Mansion.

historical

In front of an open bedroom door were multiple women feeling relieved. Lucas nor Anna showed signs of being annoyed to be overheard.

“Phew.” Lilith exhaled her built-up stress away. “I thought Duke Lucas was going to say a joke about us being here.”

“Yeah. Lupa over here was afraid to be scolded.” Ester teased while glancing at Lupa’s ears lowered like a puppy knowing she was caught doing something bad.

“Humph!” Lupa stomped her foot and pointed at Plow. The little fox’s ears were lowered apologetically like Lupa’s.

“The sly fox also overheard what they said. Look how guilty Plow is!” Lupa said, trying to make herself look less bad by placing Plow in the spotlight.

*Pho!* “Bad wolf also moved ears.” *Pho!* “Bad wolf also heard everything.” Plow complained.

“Ahem. Are you going two fight here, or are you going to enter?” Questioned Ester while the index and thumb fingers of both hands moved to signify pinching their ears.

“No!” Both Lupa and Plow exclaimed before rushing inside.

Ester, Iris, Lilith, and Sakura looked at each other. After sharing a brief giggle, they entered the bedroom.

Sakura poked her head out of the door a few moments later. “Aren’t you coming inside?” She asked.

“I was going to leave. But it looks like I have to enter.” Jun Ye Rim said before her legs moved her body forward as if she was waiting to be invited.

“Vincent, how are you?” Ester asked.

“I want to come with you, my mate.” Requested Lupa.

“Do you need a healthy drink, or will you sleep soon?” Asked Iris.

“You look spent. I hope her highness and Duke Lucas didn’t demand impossible-to-do requests.” Lilith nervously asked.

“Did the human princess say anything about the wheelchair?” Sakura cheerfully asked.

*Pho* “Plow wants to come too.” Plow begged with a cute puppy-eyed gaze.

“Humph! I am here because I was begged to enter. It is not like I am interested in how you are faring or anything.” Jun Ye Rim bashfully said.

Vincent blinked a couple of times quickly. Hearing everyone talk at the same time made him feel slightly dizzy.

“One at a time, please.” Vincent requested.

The girls in the room became quiet after realizing Vincent had recently woken up and had a long talk with two important figures.

“How about you start first?” Ester suggested.

“Okay.”

After Vincent accepted, he began retelling what was discussed.

Vincent began by talking about signing a new magic contract with Anna to the time and date of the judgment by combat.

Vincent also mentioned their opponents and opponents’ familiars were going to be transported to the city. The match was successfully delayed by one day. After putting two and two together, it meant they were going to arrive from a far place.

Vincent noticed Jun Ye Rim was acting distant. She didn’t nod or show an expression to signify she was interested.

Vincent recalled how he had noticed Blemish peeking at them from the corner of the room. Their eyes met, and Jun Ye Rim averted her gaze.

Vincent chuckled after watching Jun Ye Rim look away. He moved his head from left to right to look at his wives. Then he lowered his head to look at Plow sitting on his lap.

“I have an announcement to make. ” Vincent announced.