Leona

"Okay."

After training for another hour, it was time for Raimon to return to the surface.

As he gathered up his notebooks and basket, Eclipse lay back down on the ground, scratching his leg.

"Ah, also, baby."

"When you come tomorrow, be sure to fill that basket to the brim with strawberry shortcakes. If you don't, I'll make sure you stick to the consequences."

Eclipse warned Raimon as he started to walk away.

"The strawberry shortcake you ate earlier was the last one, do you have any idea how many strawberries you've eaten in the last six months?"

"Damn it, then bring me another kind of pie that your babysitter makes!"

"Then how about a rat pie?"

"Drink wretch, come here and try my fist... Hey, hey! Hey!"

Swosh!

Raimon ran out through the hole that connected to the subway passageway.

"Something more than animals! Please! I beg you!"

When Raimon returned the next day, his basket was full of apple pies and chocolate cakes.

Eclipse was satisfied and stroked the baby's head.

A year passed. Today was Raimon's ninth birthday.

Spending birthdays in Castle Blood which was stormy and damp all year round was not good for the children's mental and emotional growth.

As a dozen servants and Reineza, along with five knights and two warriors, placed the candles on the cake, the fierce gale outside battered the castle windows.

"Happy birthday, Young Master Raimon."

"Happy birthday!"

"Thank you all."

As the 9-year-old blew out the candle flames, everyone gathered around him and clapped.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.

As the knights and warriors wore gloves, their mighty "clapping" noises overpowered everyone else's. The birthday party was dreary and desolate as if they were mere commoners who could not afford a hearty meal.

The conditions of the Blood Castle were not very good, when he took the power of the family he would try to improve them.

Despite this, Raimon was glad and felt blessed. In his previous life, he had not even received greetings from people for his birthday, apart from his mother and younger brother.

As Raimon cut the cake and gave everyone a piece, the one knight guarding the main entrance of the Blood Castle suddenly burst into the room.

"Young Master Raimon!"

It was the guardian knight named Sebastian.

"Sebastian?"

There weren't many situations where Sebastian dared to run through the castle's corridors.

Raimon's intuition told him that someone from the family's main house had come to visit.

"The senior knight has come to visit!"

"The senior knight Leona...?"

Raimon exclaimed as he stood up.

The senior knight Leona, Leona Scanor.

The first of the thirteen knights of the Flower family. It was a well-established fact that she was the strongest of them all. At her current age of 29, she became a 9-star warrior, which proved the above assumption.

However, despite her strength and fame, she never participated in family affairs, she was the one in charge of all the Flower family problems in the Solar Empire always moving on her own.

She was not in Raimon's ritual because the family had had certain problems with the royal family when they tried to get information from Raimon.

She's not the kind of person to come to congratulate the eldest son of the family on his birthday.

"Why is she here?"

Raimon ran to the window and looked outside. Leona was striding up the stairs leading to the Blood Castle.

On her back, she carried her signature sword: the huge sword with an engraved lion, "Leonidas".

****

Leona and Raimon had an age difference of 20 years.

With such a large age difference, there are many cases where the older knight adores and serves the young master of the family. But that was not the case in Raimon's family in this life.

So with Leona's sudden visit, Raimon felt more panic than joy.

This is somewhat worrisome. Has Leona ever shown interest in matters other than the family image?

Despite rummaging through his memories, Raimon could not recall a similar event in the past.

The nickname by which the public called Leona was "Leona of the North".

She was distant and difficult to contact, like the "Leona" of the myths. And since there was only one Lion in the north of the demigod rank on the continent, the nickname also reflected her antisocial tendencies.

"Greetings to the older gentleman!"

"Hail to the senior knight!"

All the knights and warriors gathered for Raimon's birthday ran out and shouted in unison. Although he had not yet entered the castle, the servants in the dining hall also began bowing in advance.

"Let's go down and say hello to Leona, Reineza."

Reineza gaped and stared blankly.

Having the opportunity to meet the eldest gentleman in the family was rare, but at the same time extremely unnerving and memorable.

"Ah, yes, Young Master."

Raimon and Leona came face to face in the central hall. It was the first time the boy had seen the older gentleman since the third day he arrived in the family after his birth.

Dazzling red hair, porcelain skin, and deep ruby eyes seemed to pierce everything in his vision.

Leona's deep gaze contained an inexplicable sense of danger and menace. They were the eyes of someone who had slain myriads of mighty warriors and swordsmen from all over the world as she slowly approached the realm of a sword emperor.

When they made eye contact, Raimon's heart began to beat furiously.

So this is the look of someone close to being the strongest in the world. However, Raimon did not have time to admire her beauty eternally. He could not put aside the possibility that she had come all this way because she had somehow sensed Eclipse's awakening.

If that was the case, Raimon had to devise a solution for her pinch.

As he racked his brain, Leona appeased the gentlemen around them by speaking first.

"You've grown up a lot."

A cold, dry voice. It was not an appropriate tone to address her young master whom she had not seen in nine years. However, Raimon sensed a slight amount of goodwill within that dry voice.

Nevertheless, it was too soon for him to let his guard down.

"Thank you for coming all this way. We would have prepared a much more suitable feast and banquet if you had given us advance notice."

"How nice, thank you. But there is no need for such hospitality when I am simply visiting the young master."

Leona replied as she stroked her young master's head.