14 Claire is the...

"Father! Mother!"

Claire runs towards her parents and hugs them tightly. She cried in her mom's bosom. Her mother is also a beauty but not as beautiful as her, but even though they are mother and daughter their faces are kind of a bit different. After watching them for a bit, I move my eyes away from them and look to the old man. For some reason, I saw him also looking at me. I move my eyebrow upwards like saying 'What's your problem old man? Do you want to say something?'. He quickly averted his eyes and continued to pat Claire's back to comfort her.

I move my eyes back to Claire. She seems good, but to make it sure that there's no injury or abnormality in her body, I appraised her.

!? I got surprised when I saw her status.

"What the... So that's why... I see."

It looks like my guess is right on the butt. All the questions popping in my head in the past few days is now solved. I approach them and join their happy reunion.

"As I said earlier, I will take her back."

I spoke in front of the old man with a smiling face. He twitches seeing my smile and responded hastily with tattered words.

"O-of course! I knew t-that you can d-do it! Thank you very much f-for saving my daughter!"

"I also thank you for taking my daughter back!"

The couple bowed to me while thanking me.

"It's alright, you can now lift your heads. Claire is my frien- *cough* Claire is my lover, so it's obvious that I'll save her from that perverted Viscount. I'll not let anyone take my Claire away from me."

All the people in our surroundings surprised and their mouths are agape. The old man's body froze, It seems his soul is leaving his body. Her mother is blushing while holding cheeks with both hands. Claire's mother also muttering 'oh my, oh my,' while watching us. After a few seconds, the old man recovered in her daughter's critical attack and spoke.

"B-but Claire! I have not yet agreed to what we are talking about earlier! What this guy talking about?!" The old man shouted.

The blushing Claire cutely tilted her head and spoke.

"But Father, you said that your decision will make me happy, right? so I thought you're already agreed because being Jun's wife makes me happy."

"B-but Claire! that man is- Ouch! What are you doing Teresa! Ouch, it hurts! stop pinching me!"

"You're the one who needs to stop, Dear. Our cute and precious daughter is now an adult and a full pledge lady. She can now decide who's the man she wants to spend her life with."

"B-but Tere...sa."

"What is it? Dear..."

The old man stops talking when his wife smile at her. That smile is kind of eerie and the old man also felt it with a pale face.

"N-nothing..."

"Good, that's why I love you, Dear."

It seems the old man got dominated by his wife. Women are truly scary even in another world. Ms. Teresa spoke.

"Now that my husband the village chief agreed in Claire and Jun being lovers. Let's celebrate and have a banquet tonight!"

WoooOoooohhhh

The villagers loudly and happily cheer. The old man can only do is hang his head in defeat. Ms.Teresa approach me.

"Once again, thank you very much for saving my daughter."

"Thanking once is already enough, Ms.Teresa."

"Ms.Teresa? don't be so formal, you can call me Teresa or Mother in law."

"M-mother!" Teresa laughs from Claire's reaction.

"Claire, come with me and help us prepare the food tonight."

"Yes, Mother! See you later, d-darling!"

"Oh my! Oh my! I didn't know that my lovely daughter is a bold one."

"M-mother!"

The Mother and daughter walk away while chatting lively. Well then, I want to know about the information that I saw in Claire's status. I move towards the old man and grab his shoulder. He turns around and shivered when he saw me.

"W-what is it? B-boss?"

"Don't call me like that. Just call me by my name. Also, don't be that scared and act normally."

Calling me boss makes me feel superior but those who'll hear it may feel suspicious about it.

"O-okay, what do you need from me?"

"I just want to know the whole story about Claire. I know that she's not you're real daughter."

The old man turns his head in my direction and grabs my arm. He moves closer to my ear and whispers something.

"Let's talk about it inside the house. Someone may hear us."

We move and go inside his house and sit on the sofa in the living room. The old man with a serious face spoke.

"How did you know? did Claire said it?"

"No, I got a skill that can see the status of anything."

The old man faces distorted in shock and fear.

"So you're an Appraiser huh. A super-rare skill that only full-blooded nobles can obtain. It means that I can't hide anything from you from the very start." He sits properly and spoke.

This old man seems to misunderstand something about me being a noble. But I'll let him be to not interrupt our conversation.

"As you already know Claire is not my blood-related daughter. Listen carefully, From now on I'm going to tell you the story about how we became Claire's parents." And the old man starts talking. The story ends after a few hours.

"I see..."

This is the summary of his story. He and his lover Ms.Teresa is hunting in a forest in the border of the Phona Principality and the Ashbourne Kingdom. Phona Principality territory is in the East. While they're hunting a loud death cry of the horse suddenly resounded. They quickly run in the direction of the sound and saw a fight between the Ashbourne Kingdom Knights and Tristan Kingdom Knights and soldiers. They watched the fight and immediately understood what was happening when they saw a carriage in the middle of the Ashbourne Knights. It seems an ambushed is happening, but the Tristan Empire and the Ashbourne Kingdom are in a ceasefire. Looking at them clashing, it seems that the Tristan empire is the one who broke the agreement.

The couple doesn't want to join in their clash but Teresa saw someone getting out of the carriage. A maid gets out with a baby in her arms. The maid run with some knights guarding them, but they are outnumbered and got cornered by the Tristan Empire soldiers. One of the enemy soldiers tries to slash the baby but the maid uses her own body to protect the baby. The old man said that Teresa suddenly jumps in and helps the maid to escape, because of it he also has no choice but to follow his lover.

After an hour of running and fighting, they successfully escaped from the enemies but the maid has a severe wound in her back and died. But the maid said something before she passed away,'This baby is a very important person. She will become a great person in the future, that's why take care of the young lady Claire.' that's what she said. The couple moves away from Phona Principality where they're living and travel until they got in this far village of Tristan Territory. I got surprised why they went and live in the enemy territory, but the old man said that the Tristan Empire would not think that their enemies would hide in their territory. And after that, they leave quietly here with Claire and their two other children.

"Do you know the true identity of Claire?" The old man throws a question.

It seems that they only know that Claire is a very important person, but didn't know who she really is. As Claire's parent, he has a right to know the truth. I open my mouth and spoke.

"Claire is the First Princess of the Ashbourne Kingdom. Her true name is Claire Angelis Ashbourne."

This is what I saw in her status.

[Name: Claire Angelis Ashbourne

Age: 17

Level: 9

Race: Human

Title: The First Princess of the Ashbourne Kingdom, First in line for the Throne]

"What did you say?! is that the truth?!" The old man shouted in doubt from what he heard.

"Yes, what I said is the truth. She the Princess of the Ashbourne Kingdom, and the worst thing is, she's first in line for the throne."

"W-what?! I didn't know that my lovely daughter is a future queen!" This old man's reaction makes me laugh.

"Is Claire know that she's an adopted child?"

"Yes, I and Teresa told her about it when she becomes 10 years old. She becomes crestfallen when we revealed the truth, but we comfort her until she understands that we love her as our own child."

That's reassuring that she knows it. The thing that she only doesn't know is she's a princess. I don't know how to tell the truth to her.

"Are you thinking of revealing everything about herself? If you do, Let's tell it to Teresa first before Claire." The old man said. He's right, the mother is good at these kinds of things. He really has a sharp mind.

"I don't mind."

The old man gets up and quickly walks out of the house to call his wife. After waiting for a few minutes the old man arrived with Teresa. We tell her all about that we talk earlier.

"I know that my daughter is a Princess but I didn't know that she's first in line for the throne."

"What! You knew that Claire is a princess?! How?!" The old man said.

"Yes, I knew that Claire is a Princess the moment I saw the carriage. Didn't you see the symbol on the carriage door?"

"No, I didn't. At that time I'm just enjoying watching the fight."

"As expected of you, idiot. I didn't know why I love you so much even though you're an idiot." Teresa said with a sigh.

"What?! wait, is that a compliment or an insult?" this old man has a sharp mind but also an idiot sometimes.

"I want to tell all of this to Claire. Teresa, can you help me?" I spoke with seriousness.

"Of course, I'll help you."

Teresa calls Claire and told her everything about herself.

"I see." That's the only words she says.

She's calm and seems not surprised about her being a royalty.

"You seem calm, are you not surprise?" I said to her.

"Well, Mother said that I'm an important person when I'm still a child. I thought I'm a daughter of some rich noble but that assumption vanished when a caravan of merchants visit our village 5 years ago."

5 years ago? So she's 12 years old at that time.

"One of the merchants said that my face kinda resembles the queen of Ashbourne Kingdom. He said he saw her at the parade when they introduce the hero in the Kingdom Capital."

'What?!' I shouted in my mind. They introduce the Hero at that time. It means that he got summoned here 5 years ago. tsk! He got ahead of me in those years.

"um... Jun, do you hate me now because I'm a princess?" Claire said with a sad face. It looks like my feeling of anger against the cheating hero is showing in my face.

"Of course not, why would I? my lovely Claire being a princess makes me very happy. From now on, I'll become your knight and protect you with all my might." Oh, f**k! that line makes me cringe in embarrassment. But seeing the red face of Claire makes it worth it.

"Oh my, oh my."

"Tsk!"

Teresa and the old man have a different reaction. Well, the old man is only bitter because I got her precious daughter. Alright, now that all the problems have been solved, it's time to continue my journey. Teresa gets up from her seat.

"Now that everything is okay. Let's come and go to the feast. They can't start without us." Teresa said and walks out of the house while dragging the old man with her. I also get up and gently hold Claire's hand.

"Let's go."

"Yes, darling."

And we followed her parents as we walked holding hands. it is not bad to have fun before resuming my journey.