Thankfully Mirra, Sebastian, Luna, and some maids came to their side soon after what she did to him. She quickly asked Frei to put her down and pretended nothing happened.
After explaining what happened, she apologized for falling asleep.
"I'm deeply sorry for inconveniencing you." Frei also apologized to the maids.
All of them blushed and quickly shook their heads, telling him they didn't mind it. One of them dared enough to say that he should inconvenience her more, which Frei replied with his gentleman smile. That maid got struck by a cupid's arrow and fell weak to her knees.
He also successfully charmed little Luna.
"Hello, Luna. Last time we met, you were still learning to talk. Here's the present I promised you before."
He gracefully bowed and placed his fingers on his lips, doing a Valian salute like the one Jean gave to Rena before. His elegant movement wasn't lost to Jean. Only, when Frei did the bow, it was followed by a background sound of girls' screaming. Behind the wall, the rest of the maids were peeking, wanting to see him.
Frei gave Luna a present, a doll which had similar characteristics to Luna; curly pigtails and pink hair strands, ruby red eyes and rosy cheeks.
His sincere smile and gentle tone he said to Luna made the other two maids got struck by a cupid's arrow and fell weak to their knees.
I
Rena tilted her eyebrows.
(He just arrived a moment ago and three women had been his victims already?)
Frei wasn't even flirt with them.
(Geez, women in this world are so defenseless!)
The rest of Jean's family members had come home when Rena fell asleep in the garden. And they were invited to eat dinner together. Rena was honestly surprised learning that these people were affiliated to Jean. Excluding their hair color, nothing else was similar to Jean.
"Frei, Jean can be hard to deal sometimes, but I'm sure you are aware of this already. Are you really sure of this?" The man who sat at the end of the long table said.
"Yes, for the tenth time I said it." Frei was speaking politely, but nothing in his words was polite. It could be misunderstood for sarcasm if it's not for the fact that his expression and tone of voice showed that he was happy.
The dish in front of him was different compared to the rest.
The specifically made food for Frei and their easy-going interaction also proved he was closed not only to Jean but to Jean's relatives as well.
"But, we still need to win The Silver Blade Tournament to get permission from the King." Frei said.
"I knew this day would come! My Jean would finally be taken away!" He didn't listen to Frei's last sentence since he was busy wiping the tears in his eyes, just like a father who soon walked his daughter to the aisle.
"Shut up, Father." Jean stabbed his fork to the steak on the plate.
Jean's father, Marquis Jaunice, was the head of the house and a famous general in the Valia Kingdom. A man with flamboyant hairstyles like he was following the latest trend, full of vigor and virility, and had a good smile with shiny teeth.
"Our little Jeanie is just being shy. Older brother will miss you so much." Another guy who looked sad as if his beloved pet would be taken away.
"I'm not." Jean sliced the steak with his knife repeatedly like he was in trance.
The man who sat in the same row with Jean and had a short hair, neat stubble, and muscular built was Clovis Jaunice. He worked as the head of royal guard in the palace. Despite his manly appearance, he was a soft-hearted guy who had a bit of brother complex.
"Hahaha! Don't worry, Jean Bean! I will take care of your father and brother while you're gone!" She punched her chest with her fist while saying those words.
And the manliest of them all, with her laughter and voice filling the dining hall, was Eleonore Jaunice. She was a knight who worked as the queen's private bodyguard. She had a marigold hair as she was entering this house as Clovis' wife.
Rena only watched in dumbstruck how this family combination reminded her of the ugly duckling. A bunch of happy go lucky individuals who exuded the aura of manliness and Jean was a complete opposite of them. She looked at Luna who was so far the normal 'normal', she wondered if Luna would grow like one of them someday.
"Luna doesn't want Uncle Jean to get married!" Luna stood up from her chair.
"Who is marrying who?!" Jean finally lost his patience. His plate broke because he kept slicing it with force.
"Listen, Luna, I'll just be working with Frei for a while. I'm NOT marrying him."
It was unusual for Jean to speak loudly and emphasizing the word he said.
"Uncle Jean is a strong wizard and our family is prosperous. Why do you need to work for a merchant?!" Luna didn't back down. "It must be because you love him, just like what Cissy and Abigail said!"
"Cissy, Abigail!" Jean glared at the maids who were standing in the corner of the room. Thunderbolts was raging behind Jean.
"Hieeeee!!!" The two maids screamed.
"It's okay, Jean. You don't need to hide it." Frei smiled meaningfully at Jean.
"You are only worsening the misunderstanding!" Jean threw a water orb which Frei dodged quickly.
(Are they a sitcom family or what?) Rena looked at them, speechless.
Mirra who sat next to Rena was trying so hard to hide her laugh.
Rena's image of a noble family shattered. Furthermore, Jean's family didn't differentiate status, commoners or not, they sat at the same table. Just looking at a glance like this, they were warm individuals who treasured their family a lot.
She smiled, looking at Jean who was sitting in front of her with a vein appeared on his forehead, thinking what a fortunate guy he was.
"Serena, is it?" Marquis Jaunice called her.
Rena nodded, looking at Marquis Jaunice nervously.
"I have a feeling that Jean's sudden decision has anything to do with you." He said it with a big shiny smile confidently, making that straightforward assumption he just spoke was as innocent as a baby laughing after shooting his pee to his parent.
Rena didn't know what to say because it was true. Her impression of Marquis Jaunice was despite looking like a doting father and an easy going person, he was a sharp person who couldn't be underestimated.
"Hmm..." Sitting behind the table, Eleonore leaned her body forward excessively, just to examine her. "I wish you have more muscle, but I understand Jean Bean has his own preference. Say, is it possible that you can do magic? That purple eyes of yours..."
Rena forced a smile, looking as calmly as possible, but cold sweat starting to appear on her face when their innocent guesses were getting closer and closer to the truth.
"Stop bothering her. She has nothing to do with this." Jean spoke.
"Oooo..." His family uttered the sound in unison like they were singing in choirs.
Another big vein popped in his forehead, but Jean managed to hold himself.
"Whoever you choose, Big Brother will support you. Just allow me to sing the ballad for your first dance." Clovis said sincerely. "Actually, since I heard Jeanie is going away, I have made ten songs for you. I don't know which one is the best for you..."
The chandelier and the windows in the room started shaking, reacting to a certain vibration from the man known as the strongest wizard in the Valia Kingdom.
But none of them seemed to care, except Rena.
(Isn't this dangerous?!) She stared at the shaking chandelier above her head, concerned that it might fall anytime soon.
She didn't know that this family loved stepping on landmines, especially the landmines called Jean. This had become their habits ever since Jean started holing up in the room all day to focus on his magic research and study. The servants of this house called it the test of courage. And when Jean finally exploded, that's how they ended their dinner.
The dinner ended up more entertaining than fulfilling for Rena.
---
After the dinner was done, the maid led them to the guest room. Rena and Mirra walked to the opposite direction of where the men staying. Rena glanced at Frei and Sebastian before leaving, she hadn't seen Senka after he left the garden.
When she entered the guest room provided for her, she went to the bed right away to feel the mattress. She closed her eyes feeling the softness of the bed, and also to protect her eyes from everything in the room was also decorated in pink, just like inside a dollhouse.
As her body finally able to relax in a comfortable bed, Neel appeared from her shadow.
"Rena... Be careful with that man."
"Who?" She frowned as she sensed Neel's wariness.
"The man you called Frei. He is every magician's nightmare. No... Not just magician, but every creature that has magic power."
She opened her eyes again, she was alert again. "I don't understand?"
"He can nullify magic. Magic is useless against him."
"It doesn't mean that he is bad or dangerous..."
"I lost contact with you when he touched you. Just a warning from me, I can't save you if you get involved with him."
Neel paused for a while before continued speaking, "Never in my wildest dream that I imagined I would make a contract with otherworlder. I guess it's expected that people around you are unusual too."
Rena stared at the empty ceiling, blinking a few times. But her mind wasn't with Neel anymore. She thought about Frei's secret. She just found a thing about him, but it only added more question marks.
After her mind was quiet once again, her thought returned to what happened before dinner. She woke up abruptly and held her head. "Gyaaa!!!"
She sprang out of the bed and banged her head on the nearest wall.
"Owwie, owwie..." She rubbed her forehead.
"What a daring move I did! I kissed him! This must be a curse! I've been possessed! Oh, right! I do get possessed!" She kept moving in a circle when she spoke those words, sometimes looking above, sometimes looking down. As if she had reached conclusion by the last words, Rena calmed down.
"Hah... What a helpless contractor..." Neel shook his head. "Stop blaming for what you did."
Rena was restless that night, but mentally and physically, she had reached her limit. The feather bed was soft and comfy and she had a long deep in sleep that night.
---
"This is more than I expected. Thank you, Senka." Frei said.
Senka shook his head, her gaze was wandering a little.
"What's the matter Senka?" Sebastian noticed he seemed like wanting to say something.
Senka pulled a small notebook and wrote something on it. He tore the paper and gave it to Sebastian.
"He said it's all thanks to Miss Serena. She made a high-class potion and trade it with the slime jelly from an adventurer they met."
"Oh? She made a potion?" Frei couldn't hide his surprise.
He frowned a little. "Where did..."
But, his words stopped as if he realized something. "Ok, thanks for telling me this, Senka."
Senka nodded.
After Senka and Sebastian left the room. Being left alone in the room, Frei took a glass of champagne and sat on the sofa.
During these few days, his days were dull. After the Fort Forenza's Guild Master announced the conditions from the Valia Kingdom to contract Jean. He went out with Theresa for a casual fling that night. It's been a month since the last time he went out with any woman.
But something amiss, he kept thinking about her. He didn't understand why. So, the next morning, he quickly rushed to go to Ladylake.
After arriving, tired after a long trip in the carriage, he heard she was missing. At that moment, his heart felt like being squeezed tight. He remembered a terrible illness called heart attack, he was afraid that he was sick. He's scared, he couldn't die yet, not now.
In a panic, he quickly told Sebastian to traced her contract. They found out that she was still in the garden. He ran to where she was, finding out she was sleeping under the bush. Then the suffocating feeling that grip his heart was gone. Never in his life, he felt something weird like that.
He touched her cheek, pinching it a little, but she didn't wake up. Then she mumbled unclear words which made him smile. Not wanting to wake her up anymore, he carefully slipped his arms under her body to lift her up.
When he placed her head on his chest, he noticed the bruise and scratch on her neck. Somebody tried to kill her. A surging wave of rage like that night filling him. He left her for a few days and looked what had happened to her.
"Why did you send me here?"
Rena's words resounded in his mind.
It was fun playing and teasing her, however, he wanted more from a woman. She was still innocent, and foremost, unwilling to give it to him.
A good opportunity as Jean returned to the capital, so he sent her away. He just didn't want her to know. He thought everything would be okay with Senka and Jean with her, those two had the power he could never have, yet this girl who loved stepping on danger still managed to get hurt.
He felt bitter, it was all his fault.
Frei gulped his champagne in one go. He held the glasses tightly, blaming himself. After all these years, he finally found his strongest chess piece. And, this was how he treated her. Not only once, but twice, she almost died. He swore in his heart, he wouldn't let her go anymore, not only as his chess piece but also, as his woman.
That half-hearted kiss she did had removed all his doubts. He had kissed many women, but this was the first time a kiss gave him a warm fluttering feeling. He didn't know what that was, it wasn't magic certainly, magic didn't have any effect on him. The only thing he knew, he wanted more of that feeling.
"Really, you couldn't underestimate her..." The corner of his lips curved upward as his finger touched the place Rena planted her kiss.
---