Chapter 22

"I don't consider myself worthy of her Patriarch Burgess nor do I think my rank or wealth would make her happy but I believe that Lady Alida has the right to choose for herself. And I also believe I left a good impression on her and she won't reject me."

Seeing his confidence, Nicola was fuming inside.

' This bastard!' If looks could kill, Cain Moonlight would have long been a few meters deep underground.

" And what if I don't give you permission?" This was his last battle. He already knew from what his knight Darius said that Alida seemed pleased with their meetings.

"I would still pursue her . I won't give her up." Cain's eyes turned cold. He was like a predator ready to pounce on everyone that dared to take what was his .

They both stared each other in the eyes, neither of them backing down. After a full five minutes, Nicola Burgess relented, albeit unwilling.

"Fine! You can pursue my daughter Alida but you better be prepared for the consequences of you dare harm a strand on her head."

Saying this , Nicola rose from his seat and returned to his desk not giving Cain any more face.

Cain's face twitched at this blatant disrespect but decided to let it go since he was Alida's father.

"Then, I won't take any more of your time. Have a good day Mister Burgess." And with that he turned around and left.

The butler's face kept twitching. Not only did these two not wait for him to serve them some refreshments but they also ignored his presence completely.

And this is where we are right now. Nicola Burgess still had that scrunched face on. Even after half an hour passed, he still remembered that annoying face of Cain's Moonlight informing him of his intent.

He really wanted to hit that confident and handsome face.

Knock knock

While still lost in thought a knock was heard.

"Come in."

The door opened and Patricia Burgess, his lovely wife came in. In an instant his face brightened and a smile form on his face.

"Dear..what brings you here?" Nicola quickly rose from his seat and approached his wife with open arms.

"I heard the heir of the Moonlight Family came. I wanted to ask you what it's about but why the long face?"

Instantly all the happiness on his face vanished.

" Myy...did something happen?"

Seeing her husband's face fall like that Patricia instantly became worried.

"That..that scoundrel...he..he wants to take Alida from me!"

" What?" Stunned for a moment , Patricia was lost for words but it didn't take long and a charming laughter followed after.

"Hahaha..." Patricia was now laughing with tears in her eyes.

"Why are you laughing?" Perplexed at her sudden outburst.

"Oh ...huff ...my dear husband, but that's a good thing no? " With a soothing voice, Patricia replied to her husband.

"How is that good?" Nicola still failed to see his wife's point.

"Hmmm? You tell me? How is it not good? His very handsome, his status is higher than ours and he likes our daughter. I fail to see what's the problem?"

Mumbling some words of displeasures, Nicola didn't want to agree with his wife.He knew she was right but still refused to accept them.

Patricia stayed a while longer in Nicola's office trying to calm him down and help Cain Moonlight score some points. She already knew about Alida's meetings with him and also saw her daughter's face and happiness every time she got a letter from him.

Alida was unaware of Cain's visit since he didn't stop to greet her. He was quite busy to clear a spot in his schedule for his next meeting with Alida.

And just like that a few month passed and autumn came. With Autumn , came Jane's birthday and with it the big announcement.

Every employee was overworked for the past two weeks but they didn't complain since their patrons were good people( translation: they doubled their salaries for this month) and we're doing their duties diligently.

Alida made good progress in her training. She could light up to six circles on her training stone. Her mana control got better and could now summon lightning on her fingertips at will , even increase or decrease the voltage. Also her spell's proficiency increased, from a simple spell of summoning a small lightning she could now do a big one that did more light damage to a wide area or three small ones used to attack in a small area but with a fatal damage. She also increased her stamina and learned some combat techniques from a knight assigned to her by the patriarch. If one didn't know better,he or she would think that Alida was training to be a warrior. Of course this did not even cross her mind, she was just so excited about magic and her knew life that she couldn't stop herself from wanting to learn more. She read all the books in the library about magic and even visited the Royal Library a few times.One might call it obsession but she called it passion or hobby.

Of course she also had dates with Cain a few times. They didn't go further than kissing and holding hands but their relationship and understanding of each other was deepened. Alida also invited Cain to be her partner at her sister's birthday and since it wasn't a secret anymore in their house that she was dating Cain he readily agreed. Except for some rumors about them in the nobles circles , nobody knew they were actually dating. Most people took it as a misunderstanding or jealous girls talk since everyone knew Cain Moonlight never shows interest in women no matter of their beauty and status and since Alida never joined any of their parties since she didn't have any friends, they couldn't confirm their suspicions.

Alas, some hearts and dreams were about to be broken in a few days. It couldn't be helped since there was only one Archduke in the Misstryne Empire and he only had one son.