The family estate of the Ronin was a twenty-minute drive from the palace. While they were on their way there, Kaida looked at the landscape, unfortunately it was too dark to see well.
"I am curious about the estate of the Ronin family. I have heard that his family is the only one as old as the royal family and that you have close ties "
Huli nodded
"That's right, Throughout history there has always been a marriage between the royal family and Ronin family. This generation there will be a marriage between Huan and Ringo, the brother of Ronin "
Kaida looked up in surprise and thought of the words Huan had said the night before Kyona's wedding.
"No, it's not a planned marriage, my parent actually planned a marriage between Hui and Ryo, the other brother of Ronin. But Huan and Ringo have fallen in love with each other so both have asked permission for marriage and the parents approved it"
Kaida wanted to ask more until her eyes grew wide and she looked out of the window in astonishment. In the distance she saw a path that was richly lit with torches. The path was leading to an estate that was almost as big as the palace, the heritage around it was large and there were several mansions on the estate.
As they drove into the estate, Kaida saw several foxes walking or lying on the heritage of the mansions. When they had driven past all the mansion, they came to a mansion that was larger than the rest. They stopped in front of the mansion.
The servant opened the door of the wagon and Huli got out. When he got out, he reached out to Kaida and helped her get out. When she got out, she looked at the entrance of the mansion and saw Ronin standing there with a woman.
The woman next to Ronin was small compared to him. She was approximately 1.65 cm while Ronin was almost 30 cm taller. She had dark brown hair that she had put up and dark brown eyes that looked kindly ahead of her.
This was the first time Kaida had seen the woman and wondered who it was. In the meantime, they had already climbed the large stairs and she and Huli stood before Ronin and the woman.
"Greetings King and queen of the foxes tribe, as the first son of Ryoichi and Sayuri I and my wife welcome you to the seasonal change ball"
Kaida looked surprised at the woman next to Ronin. She didn't know that Ronin was already married, and nobody told her. And he didn't talk much about his private life either.
the woman stepped forward and bowed
"Greetings your queen, my name is Yumako. I apologize for having u wait so long for me to meet you. But I am not in good health and unfortunately, after my third pregnancy, I have deteriorated so much that I am bound to this estate "
Kaida was still in shock , did she say a third pregnancy?
That means that Ronin is already the father of three children?
Kaida helped Yumaka up
"A bow is not necessary, I am happy to meet you"
Everyone saw that Kaida was visibly surprised and did not know how to react. Ronin stepped forward and grabbed Yumaka's hand.
"Your queen, I married her before the war. I am one of the few who got married immediately at the age of sixteen, but that was because I already knew that she was my soul mate. Lets go, if we are quick then you can still meet my three oldest children before being put to bed by their nanny"
Kaida nodded and walked in on Huli's arm behind Ronin and Yumaka. The mansion was beautifully and luxuriously furnished. As they walked toward the ballchamber, Kaida thought he heard something and a scent of delicacies met her.
Ronin and Yumaka stopped walking and both looked in the direction of a large closet. Ronin turned to Huli and Kaida
"Your queen looks like you are lucky and immediately get to met the twins, but it would be short since they are taken straight to their chamber as they cannot behave themself as usual"
Ronin walked quietly to the closet and opened it with a quick movement. When he had opened the closet door, they saw two little boys sitting, their cheeks full of cookies. The little boys had the appearance and dark brown hair of Yumak and the gray eyes of Ronin.
Their little hands were full of whipped cream and crumbs. Between them was a large plate with cookies, cakes and pieces of cake.
The two boys looked up with a start and stopped eating. When they saw that they were caught, they looked at the four adults with puppy eyes and climbed out of the closet. Their tailor-made suits were covered with cake and whipped cream.
"This is our four-year-old twin, Ryuichi and Ryuuji. We have our hands full with them "
The twins looked up and when they saw Huli started to shine. They ran to him and raised their hands
"Uncle Ice, Uncle Ice, help us!"
With their short legs they ran to Huli as fast as they could, and when they stood in front of him their hands lifted and they were waiting for Huli to pick them up. Huli looked down and picked them up before Yumaka could say anything.
"Your highness, your clothes will get dirty"
Huli looked at the two little boys in his arms and gave Yumaka a small smile
"It doesn't matter, I like to do it beside I haven't seen them for a long time"
The two boys looked at Huli in surprise and touched his face with their little Hands
"Look brother Ryuichi , uncle ice is laughing!"
"Yes I saw it brother Ryuuji"
Ronin turned to the twins and looked hard at them.
"Why where you two in the closet with a plate full delicacies ?"
Ryuichi drew closer to Huli and looked down
"Well what happened was that .."
Ryuuji looked at his father and looked at him
"Someone put it there in the closet"
Ryuichi nodded and then also looked at his father
"Yes Yes dad and when we wanted to get it out of the closet ..."
Ryuuji then started shaking his head as if he didn't understand something
"The door suddenly closed, and then we were locked up"
Then they both said in unison
"And we got hungry, so we ate the delicacies"
Ronin frowned and looked at them with raised eyebrow
"You know it is not okay to lie. As soon as we reach the ballchamber, your nanny will take you two to your chamber. Tomorrow we are going to talk extensively about the fact that you two are lying
"
The twins looked down and nodded
"Yes father and mother we are sorry."
Then Ryuichi looked up beside him and reached out to Kaida. When Kaida did not pick him up, he moved his hands back and forth until Kaida realized what he meant and picked him up.
Ryuichi looked closely at her face and was silent for a while. Then he grabbed a string of her hair and looked surprised.
"Wow You have her like fire, but it doesn't burn!"
Ryuuji was now also curious about Kaida's hair and looked intently at it. When Huli turned him towards Kaida and he slightly touched her hair with his little hand, his eyes grew wide.
"Wow you are right!"
Kaida smiled at the twins and found them terribly cute. As they walked on, Kaida introduced herself to the children and Huli told them about the birth of the triplets.
When they came to the door of the ballchamber they put the children down and Ronin called their nanny. The twins gave the nanny a hand and before they left they looked at Huli
Ryuuji asked him
"Uncle Ice, Uncle Ice, why are you so hot today?"
Ryuichi nodded and said
"Yes, uncle ice, you are normally as cold as ice!"
Ronin's face slightly frowend, but he recovered quickly and looked at the twins
"Time to go to bed, up you go"
It was true that Huli's temperature for someone of the foxes tribe was very high, because he did not have enough energy to use his cold, in fact he was not allowed to use it so Taka had suppressed it with herbs. Ronin did not expect the twins to notice this.
When the twins were gone, they turned to the door of the ballchamber and a servant opened and the doors and they walked inside.
Guests were already present in the ballroom and everyone turned around when they walked in. When the guests saw Huli and Kaida coming in, they all bowed
"Greetings king and queen of the foxes tribe"
Kaida felt uncomfortable every time they received such a greeting because she was not yet used to such a greeting. In the dragon tribe it sometimes happened that the king gave a greeting first instead of receiving first.
After Huli and Kaida had answered the greeting of the guests, everyone in the ballchamber continued what they were doing. Huli and Kaida followed Ronin and Yumaka to a table.
A little girl with Ronin's chestnut hair sat at the table. When she looked up you saw that she had the appearance of Ronin and the dark brown eyes of Yumaka. When she saw who stood at the table, she stood up.
She walked elegantly to her parents.
"Good evening father and mother"
Then she turned to Huli and Kaida and with her hands she grabbed at her skirt and made an elegant bow.
"Greetings king and queen of the foxes tribe"
Kaida looked at the girl with a pleasant smile, it was clear that she had the Character of Ronin and the twins that of their mother
"Greetings, little lady may I have the pleasure of knowing your name"
The little girl looked up, but remained bowed
"My name is Reina, your highness"
Huli, who knew Reina, helped her up, otherwise he was afraid that she would remain in her bow until she had clearly heard that she could come up.
"Uncle ic...I mean Uncle Huli, how do you do? "
Huli rubbed her head and knelt before her
"Reina even though it's a special occasion you don't have to be that formal"
Reina first looked a bit dubious at him and then relieved
"Fortunately, Uncle Ice, I wanted to retreat because everyone is so tight and I didn't want to make mistakes on my first seasons change ball"
after meeting Reina, Kaida and Huli made their rounds in the ballchamber. When they started to play music, Huli extended his hand to Kaida
"may I have the pleasure of being your first dance partner of the evening"
Kaida answered his question by putting her hand in his hand and together they walked to the dance floor.
Everyone watched Huli and Kaida while they were dancing. many were surprised to see the change in Huli's attitude.
Soon the rest of the guests followed and the dance floor was full of couples dancing. When Huli and Kaida had done two dances, they walked down the dance floor.
When they arrived at a table, Huli wanted to grab two glasses of drink, but he was approached by a servant
"your highness, your aunt requests your presence"
Huli wanted to walk after the servant with Kaida when the servant said hesitantly
"I'm sorry your highness, but your aunt wishes to talk to you separately and you first"
Huli looked doubtful and then turned to Kaida
"then I'll be the first to leave, I'll see you soon my queen"
Kaida nodded and released his hand
"see you, my king"