"Elder Ace, Mrs. Maeve, Miss Gracie" 2 guards bowed perfectly as they greeted Ace and his family.
Ace merely nodded and Maeve questioned, "Is Maya inside the Sect?"
"Y-Yes, Miss Maya is inside the sect, should we go and inform her about your arrival?" Although flustered, the guard questioned. His eyes never left the floor since he didn't want to offend Ace by staring at his wife.
"No, that won't be necessary, we'll meet her ourselves" Maeve replied and the three walked inside the sect.
A few disciples quickly noticed their presence and ran away before returning with some other disciples. Before long, many disciples gathered while Ace and Maeve walked into the sect.
"Ahhh! He's so good-looking!"
"I know right!? How is it even possible for someone to be so perfect"
"He's not alone, look at her. She's so beautiful. She may very well be the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life!"
"They look so perfect together!"
"And look at that little girl, She's so adorable! Ahhh! I wanna touch those cheeks!"
"She's Gracie, right? She's grown too much!"
"Yeah, now she is even more adorable~"
While the girls chatted happily, Ace and Maeve who were listening to everything had a smile on their faces.
Of course their Gracie is the best! She deserves even more praise! Sure, she might be a sly little devil sometimes but that only adds up to her cuteness. Also, she is a very obedient and well-mannered girl when required.
"B-Brother Ace! Sister Maeve" As Ace and Maeve were walking, they heard a familiar voice and turned around.
"Sister Maya!" Gracie exclaimed as she ran towards Maya before hugging her waist.
Maya patted her head lightly before questioning, "Little Gracie~ How are you? Did you miss me?"
"I did!" Gracie answered excitedly while she looked at Maya with stars in her eyes as if expecting something. Ace and Maeve shook their heads with a wry smile. Yup, she is really a sly little devil...
"Alright, Alright, don't look at me like that, I'll give you the cookies I made a few days ago…" Maya quickly understood what the little devil wanted and replied.
"Sister Maya! You are the best!" Gracie exclaimed before hugging Maya again.
Maya hugged her back before glancing towards Ace and Maeve, "Brother Ace, you could have told me you were coming, I would have received you personally"
"And I would have gotten more time to get ready…" She mumbled in an almost zero voice.
"Oh, well, it was pretty random, Gracie wanted to meet you and we wanted to ask you about something" Ace replied.
"We can leave if you are busy though, don't force yourself" Maeve spoke with a smile.
"NO! Not at all! I am completely free! I-I don't have anything to do! Please, let's talk more in my room" Maya answered quickly, so quick that it almost sounded desperate.
"Oh… It's alright then" Maeve replied as the four walked towards Maya's courtyard. Maya, as a personnel disciple of the Sect Master, had her own courtyard in the sect and was well respected by other disciples. Even the elders are impressed by her hard work and dedication and see her as the Sect's future.
She has been winning the Annual Sect Competition for 8 years straight and each passing year, her victory seems even easier. Due to that, Gracious Flower Sect's reputation has risen and even surpassed the other 3 Sects.
"Brother Ace, Sister Maeve, little Gracie, please come in" Maya gestured her hands as she opened the door of her house.
"Sister Maya, you are back?" Just as Ace and his family were about to enter, a 14-year-old boy appeared in front of them. The boy's features matched with Maya, and he wasn't wearing any disciple robes. The boy's movements froze as he glanced at Ace and his family, or particularly, at Gracie.
'She… She's so cute!'
"Stephan, in case you don't know, he's Great Elder Ace of the Inferno Sword Sect, she's his wife and this cute little girl is his daughter. Brother Ace, he's Stephan, my little brother. He is 14 years old and is one of the best talents in my family's recent generation. He has Mid-Level Intermediate Tier affinity with Water Element and is very close to forming a core"
Maya introduced and Ace of course, completely ignored it. He was rather focused on the boy, who had raised his head high in pride while he kept glancing at Gracie again and again. He then bowed in a noble way and with a confident smile on his face. His eyes were more on Gracie than on Ace and Ace didn't like that at all. The boy's smile widened even more when Gracie glanced at him and he started introducing himself.
"Hello, Elder Ace, I am step-"
"Yeah, I heard her. Don't bother" Ace interjected, stopping him from repeating everything again, it was more like Ace was trying to shooing him away from her precious little treasure.
Stephan's eyebrows twitched as he quickly glanced at her sister but was surprised and horrified by what he saw. Her sister, Maya was looking at him with a dead expression which clearly stated, 'If you offend him, I will kill you'. He, of course, didn't have the courage to go against her sister and quietly stepped back with an unwilling look.
"So… why is he here again? Will he keep living with you from now on?" Ace questioned.
"No! It's just temporary. As I said, he is about to form a core so he will be needing a Sect where he can hone his skills, since my Sect isn't exactly the best place for male disciples, my family pressured me to let him live with me for a few days so that he can understand the working of my sect and decide if he wants to join it or not" Maya explained and Ace nodded before glancing back at the boy, who kept his head down.
"Brother Ace, Sister Maeve, please have a seat" Maya gestured towards the Sofa, and Ace and Maeve nodded.
"Gracie, sit with your father, I will bring your cookies, kay?"
"Okies~" Gracie answered cutely while she quickly sat on the sofa, right between Ace and Maeve.
"Oh, so you like those cookies too?" Stephan questioned Gracie, he was glad that he finally found a topic he could use to talk with the girl.
"I do! The cookies Sister Maya makes are soo good!" Gracie exclaimed with stars in her eyes while Stephan gulped audibly.
Obviously, the boy was taken aback by her cuteness.
'I need her to be mine' Stephan pledged inwardly while Ace's eyebrows were twitching.
How could he not know what that shitty brat was thinking? He dares think about HIS daughter!? He sure got balls of steel!
Ace then turned towards Maeve who was looking at him with an amused smile. It turns out that she has been enjoying his irritated expression for quite a while.
"You never look so irritated when someone glares at me..." Maeve commented with a smile.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Do you really think it is time to talk about that? Didn't you see the look on that little rascal's eyes?" Ace snorted.
"Hey, little Gracie, you know, I just bought this new game, would you like to come and play it with me?" Stephan questioned.
'You little shit! How dare you!?' And just as Stephan asked, Ace raged but before he could speak, Gracie turned back with those cute starry eyes and questioned.
"Papa! Can I go play with Brother Stwapan? Plwease?"
"O-Of course, you can, my little angel… Hahaha… go play… Haha…" Ace replied with an awkward laugh while he glared at Stephan through the corner of his eyes.
"Papa! I wuv you!" Gracie's eyes brightened as she gave a peck on Ace's cheeks and Ace's anger melted away.
'Ahh… how could you be so precious…' Ace thought inwardly.
"Alright, brother Stwapan, let's go!" Gracie exclaimed and Ace came out of his reverie and realized that that brat managed to take his daughter away from him and his face twisted in rage and,
"*Chuckle* You know, you look kinda cute like this" Maeve chuckled.
"You… It's not the time to laugh, that shitty brat is trying to take our daughter away from us!"
"Ahaha~" Maeve laughed out loud as she never saw Ace act like that. It was really funny to see him act like that.
"Don't worry, no one can take our little nightingale awa-"
"So, Gracie… What kind of boys do you like?" Just as Maeve was about to complete, Stephan questioned. Maeve's then quickly glanced towards Ace whose worried look disappeared and was replaced with an oddly calm look. But, since she knew Ace so well, she was more worried about this calm look than the other one.
*Exhale*
Ace exhaled deeply before he glanced towards Stephan and a slight smirk appeared on his face.
"I don't think that little shit wants to see tomorrow's sun,
neither do I want him to"