Chapter 445: Grim
"Since you have pleaded your innocence, I will use whatever influence I have to support you against Dawncrest’s accusations if it comes down to it."
"Thank you," Elion answered. "I doubt I will need your help in the matter, but I suppose it would not hurt to try to solve the issue peacefully first."
Elion said this shamelessly, even though he knew he had long since given up on a peaceful resolution.
William would be dying soon, and it would not be far-fetched if the Duke decided to accuse Elion of murder afterward.
He would be right, of course, but Elion would deny any allegations as long as there was no concrete evidence to work against him.
Mistress Moon, who had been silent until now, cleared her throat. All eyes turned to her as she sat there elegantly.
"Gentlemen," she said, smiling calmly with her eyes closed, "are you not going to take a mother’s opinion into consideration?"
For some reason, a bead of sweat formed on Lord Moon’s brow.
"Haha," he laughed awkwardly. "Of course, dear. We would very much like your input on the matter."
The beautiful older woman giggled with one hand covering her mouth, "I am only joking, my dear. There is no need to get so tense."
She got to her feet, "I will let you lovely gentlemen speak. Let me make some tea in the meantime."
Soon enough, she returned with some fragrant tea, and they drank it slowly.
Aria refused to have any. Instead, she sat comfortably beside Elion, nestled in his arms while humming a happy tune.
Her mother watched the scene with a disbelieving look.
It was hard to believe that this Aria was the same one from only a few hours ago, the same girl who had been acting as though the world itself had ended for a while now.
Mistress Moon shook her head in defeat. In the case of her daughter, it really seemed that love had turned her into a lovestruck fool. Whether that was a bad thing or not, only time would tell.
She was still happy that Aria had found herself a powerful, reliable young man. A troublesome one, certainly, but Aria was one lucky girl.
The only problem was that someone of Elion’s strength would rarely, if ever, keep only one woman at his side. Elion took one last sip of his tea and cleared his throat, finally addressing the next agenda for coming here.
"Would you mind if I take your daughter off your hands?"
Lord Moon’s expression turned grim.
He spoke through gritted teeth, "It is not enough that you took her virginity before taking your vows; now you want to take her away from her family before marriage as well?"
Elion chuckled awkwardly. He was more shocked by how they knew Aria was no longer a virgin, but he quickly defended himself.
"You misunderstand, Father-in-law. I only meant for the day. I will return her to you as soon as I introduce her to some people."
Lord Moon’s eyes narrowed. "So you are not denying that you already took her virginity?"
A rare bead of sweat formed on Elion’s brow.
’Wait.’ Had he just been tricked into admitting something they were not sure of?
"Haha," Elion laughed awkwardly. "Of course, I will make sure that we go through the proper procedures before taking her away."
Lord Moon narrowed his eyes further. That confirmed it, but in the end, he only sighed. He would not fault the boy for something that had already happened. Such was youth.
Mistress Moon seemed to be enjoying watching this particular scene unfold.
"A proper engagement announcement will be made first," Lord Moon said firmly. "I do not care what plans you have for your other women. As long as my daughter is happy, I am happy. But if she ever comes to me with complaints, there will be hell to pay."
He warned him gravely.
Elion gulped, "Understood." Why were fathers so scary?
"You can have her for the day," Lord Moon finally said. "But return before evening. We will speak more as time goes on."
"Of course." Elion smiled and breathed out a sigh of relief.
Lord Moon would be lying if he said he had not considered refusing to let Aria go with him. He was truly worried. Plenty could go wrong with Elion being hunted and so on, but this would be his first test for the boy.
If he could not do at least this much, what was the point of placing his trust in him?
Besides, if anyone dared harm his daughter, regardless of whether she was with a supposed heretic or not, he would kill them with his own hands.
Aria fixed herself up and prepared to go out. After that, the two of them bid goodbye to her parents and little Aurora.
"Bye-bye, Brother-in-law!"
Aurora waved her hand enthusiastically with a wide smile on her cute little face. It was even cuter because it looked like she was using her whole body, swaying back and forth while waving at them from the door in the corridor.
Elion smiled as he waved back at her. She really was a jolly, innocent young girl. He could see himself getting attached to her in the future.
He wondered if perhaps this was what it felt like to have an adorable younger sibling.
Well, it was finally time to go and find Mira, "Hey, Aria," Elion asked as they walked out of the inn with Aria in his embrace. "Have you spoken to Mira as of late?"
Aria pouted. She clearly did not like the mention of another woman when she had only just reunited with him, but perhaps she also understood that now was not the time for such things.
"Not since we left the academy," Aria said. "She did say she would see if she could come and visit me in a few days."
Elion nodded.
But that made no sense. If Mira was planning to come here, then why was her presence already so far away from this place?
This district was much closer to his manor than her current location. Under normal circumstances, she would have dropped by Aria’s place first before heading wherever she intended to go next.
Unless something had happened. Elion’s eyes narrowed slightly as he remembered something.
During the tournament, Mira had been avoiding her parents. And after everything that had happened with him, it would not be strange if her family had decided to take matters into their own hands.
"Aria," Elion said again.
"Hm?"
"After I left, did something happen between Mira and her parents? Something that may have caused a serious problem?"
"I guess you could say that, she did have a minor confrontation with her father after he tried to contact her repeatedly to no avail, but Sister Esme took care of it," she said.
It was good that Aria had also gotten acquainted with Esme, but his expression still turned grim.
"And?"
Aria sighed, "Mira never told me the details, but she was not in a good mood afterward."