Chapter 84 - No Rest Yet

Chapter 84: 84 - No Rest Yet

It had been a long time since Adrien had felt the way he had that night. Unfortunately, nights like that couldn’t last forever. Both of them had homes to return to, and Adrien still had several things to deal with before he could think about traveling to the elven kingdom.

The first was returning to Greymoor and explaining everything that had happened in the capital. Quite a few things had changed during the meeting, and House Clairmont would have more responsibilities from now on. Adrien probably wouldn’t handle most of them directly, but that didn’t mean he could simply ignore them.

Adrien and Amelia traveled together through the teleportation network until they reached the station closest to Greymoor. From there, they hired a carriage and continued by road. Vikir had left before them, but the difference wasn’t particularly large. In the end, he reached Greymoor only around a day earlier.

Even then, Adrien didn’t immediately return home.

He accompanied Amelia to Elyndor first. The settlement was close enough that it barely added anything to his journey, and after everything that had happened between them, leaving her halfway there didn’t feel right. Once Amelia was back safely, Adrien finally turned toward Greymoor.

By the time he entered the main house, Evelyne was already waiting for him. Several documents had accumulated beside her, but she pushed them aside when Adrien approached.

"Vikir told me you’d be arriving a little later," Evelyne said, looking at him for a moment. "Well, I think you’re old enough for these things by now. He also told me what happened, so I’m already aware of everything."

Adrien could hear the faint amusement behind her words. He wasn’t sure exactly how much Vikir had figured out, but apparently his mother had reached her own conclusions regardless.

He simply sat across from her. "What do you think about the situation?"

"Which one?"

Adrien stared at her.

Evelyne laughed quietly at his expression. "I’m joking. Going back to the actual matter, it’s normal that Sylvamir doesn’t want to maintain relations with the human kingdom as though nothing happened. Considering the circumstances, the solution they proposed is probably the most logical one."

Her expression became more serious as she continued. "You were the one who rescued their princess, so naturally they trust you more than they currently trust the Crown. Vael also trusts you, and that matters. From Sylvamir’s perspective, seeing someone like him willing to work with you gives them another reason to accept House Clairmont as the intermediary."

"Yeah." Adrien nodded slowly. "That’s the conclusion I reached too. In this case, it isn’t only me either. They’re placing some of that trust in House Clairmont itself."

"Exactly."

Adrien leaned back slightly before remembering another detail. "There’s one more thing. I don’t know if Vikir mentioned it, but I received an invitation to Sylvamir."

Evelyne didn’t appear particularly surprised. "You should go. A king invited you personally, and having connections outside Valebrand is always useful. Just because relations are good now doesn’t mean you should trust them completely."

"Don’t worry. I’ll be careful with what I do there." Adrien paused briefly. "Although I doubt they intend to do anything to the person who rescued Laurent’s daughter. He also said he wants to reward me for what happened."

"That’s good to hear." Evelyne released a long sigh and looked toward the documents beside her. "Honestly, I thought we’d have a little more peace after everything that happened with your father. It seems the work never ends. Every time one problem is finished, something else appears."

Adrien watched her for a moment. Evelyne had been handling almost everything related to administration since House Clairmont began recovering, and their responsibilities had only continued growing.

"Does it bother you?"

"Not exactly." Evelyne folded her hands together. "Keeping myself busy helped at first. I appreciated having something to focus on instead of constantly thinking about everything that happened. But if much more gets added to what I’m already handling, I’m not sure I’ll be able to manage all of it."

It was rare to hear her admit something like that. Evelyne normally dealt with whatever appeared in front of her without complaining, but the territory they controlled now was much larger than the Greymoor Adrien had first awakened in.

"You know I can help with whatever you need," Adrien said. "We also have Ariane."

"Your sister is still very young for these things."

"She’s getting closer to adulthood. She only has a few years left." Adrien didn’t see much reason to keep Ariane completely separated from it forever. "She’s a Clairmont too. At some point she’s going to have to learn how all of this works."

Evelyne considered his words for a few seconds. She clearly didn’t like the idea of placing responsibilities on Ariane yet, but Adrien wasn’t suggesting giving her control over anything important.

"She can start learning," Evelyne eventually said. "That doesn’t mean I’m handing her administrative work immediately."

"That’s enough."

There was no reason to rush it. If Ariane spent the next few years learning from Evelyne, she would already understand far more than Adrien had when everything had suddenly fallen onto him.

Adrien then remembered the other thing he needed to mention. "By the way, Vael told me to stop by Elyndor. I’ll go tomorrow and see what he wants."

"Thank you for letting me know." Evelyne paused, and the faint amusement from earlier returned to her face. "Give Amelia my regards while you’re there."

Adrien understood perfectly well what his mother meant by that. He didn’t become embarrassed or try to deny anything, though.

"I will."

Evelyne seemed almost disappointed that she hadn’t gotten a stronger reaction, but she moved on. "Before you go, Adrien, when are you planning to leave for Sylvamir?"

"Not anytime soon. There are still things that need to be done in the territory first. I told them I’d visit after taking care of a few things here, and Laurent said they would wait."

Evelyne nodded approvingly. "True. There’s no reason to rush. We already have enough changing here without you immediately disappearing into another kingdom."

Adrien agreed. Between the former Arquenay territory, the new arrangements with Sylvamir and everything else that had accumulated recently, there was plenty to settle before he left Valebrand for any significant amount of time.

Evelyne looked at him once more before reaching for the documents beside her. "Well, rest a little. The capital must have been exhausting."