"This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah. Still good." –Stitch (Disney)
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Aden's Study
Greenfields
...
"What about the tax revenue statistics from the third month?" With an amused gaze in his eyes as he stared down at a stick drawing of a woman, Levi asked running his fingers through the hair of a red-haired Lolita, seated writing at Aden's desk.
"Its continuation is on the fifth page my lord, please refer to the bottom," Robert who returned from Gena two days ago pointed to the bottom of a booklet and said.
"The increase during that period was coincidental, the farmer's harvest was in surplus so lord Aden raised the tax briefly to deal with the overflow. The following two sessions however were lower hence the difference." Robert said before hesitantly asking "However, is this okay, My Lord? Reducing this session's tax by this much would seriously affect your financial capabilities during the first months of the coming year."
"Just do as I said. The town is still stabilizing after the influx of new members and resources have become very scarce. Let the people have some breathing space, and we can always get these back at a more suitable time." Levi dismissing Robert's concerns with a light wave looking back to drawings on the oaken table.
"Any progress on the residential area?"
"Yes, Three more building were completed yesterday." Robert nodded and said. "But I was informed that we might not be able to complete construction before the first snow, we'll probably be about a dozen buildings short."
"Fair enough, I did not expect this much to be done anyways," Levi said walking to the window.
Looking at the withered trees backdropped by the clear ocean blue sky he murmured to himself.
'Winter is coming.'
Chuckling, he turned back to face a yet again confused Robert.
"Gilbert? Has he cracked yet?" Levi asked mirthlessly leaning against the windowsill, his expression oozing boredom at the mention of the name.
"Yes milord, but he says he wishes to see you first." The butler replied.
"Oh? Why?" Levi asked with a crooked brow while the lolita also looked up curiously.
"I'm not sure milord, he refused to say anything."
Nodding Levi replied. "You may leave. I'll check it later."
Watching the butler leave he turned back to the lolita seated across the table from him.
Seating on the edge of the furniture, he pointed at the drawings and asked peering at the artwork with a perplexed expression." Javi? Who in the world are you trying to draw?"
Lancelot's only child looked back down at the shallow pile of paper on the table, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry about wasting so much paper, I got carried away. I'll ask Mother to send you another bundle later when we get home."
Chuckling Levi stared amusedly at the ten-year-old apologising to him. Until a few days ago James had never truly meet Lancelot's family. Although he had inherited memories of them from Levi he had only until recently truly met them.
After the incident with Sean, the over-protective Viscount hadn't let his family near the castle once and he even sent them away to some hideaway in the forests when Levi decided to attack Redwater.
It was just about five days ago did they return to tide out the winter in greenfields and after which they would return until the issue with Duke Hera was solved.
Pinching Javi's nose Levi replied.
"I am not angry about the papers, just tell me what you were drawing."
"Really? But you always got angry if I wasted too much paper and always made me bring more whenever I came over as punishment." Javi said, peeking up at him.
Levi smiled remembering how his predecessor could go on forever, lecturing on the importance of these 'scholar materials' and how to efficiently use them. Although James knew Levi cared for Javi as one would with a sibling, he was still baffled by his obsession with efficiency.
Shaking his head he got rid of those unnecessary thoughts, then he said smilingly. "Don't think too much, just tell me what you were drawing."
"Are you sure?"
"Hmm."
"Okay. I was trying to draw a portrait of lady Luna, mother showed me a painting of her she received when she was younger." Javi said, a colour of excitement gradually flooding her face.
"She was so beautiful, just like Mother! I want to be just as beautiful as her when I grow up and marry a valiant sir just like Father." The young girl continued animatedly. "That was why I was drawing a picture of her, but..."
Looking down at her crude drawings a colour of embarrassment stained her face. With a smile, Levi sorted out the pieces of parchment with charcoal drawings on them.
Checking the earlier pictures, he realised that they were not that bad for someone of her age, the only problem was that as she continued her attempts to redraw the image she got sloppier with each new drawing until the images devolved into stick drawings.
'Her talent isn't bad, this little girl was just being lazy.' He muttered with a smile until he realised he currently not much different, being only six years older and twice as unreliable (1).
With a forced smile, he turned to Javi and picked the charcoal nib she dropped on the table. Pulling out a plain sheet of parchment paper, he scooted to a more comfortable position on the table before he started to draw.
With an avid fascination, Javi watched as clean flowing lines quickly appeared on the paper. Soon the outline of an effeminate face and features appeared, becoming clearer by the second.
James was never an artist, in fact, he sucked at even sketching having his expertise lie more in the realms of memorizations and logical analysis.
For this reason, he was unsurprisingly a straight-A student who eventually won a scholarship to one of the most prestigious higher institutions in the country, afterwards from which he graduated and spent his last few years imparting his knowledge to others.
But yet there he sat on Aden's treasured table, shading in realistic features that started looking ever more beautiful by the second. This didn't come to Javi as a surprise however since she had seen Levi doing things like this for a very long time now.
Watching the image gradually come to life Javi suddenly remembered something.
"Levi, I heard father tell mother there was not enough money to run the town, so why don't you want to take more from the townspeople." The red-haired ten-year-old muttered cocking her head to the side in a bid to make sense of Levi's choice.
"Mother once said that it is the people's duty to pay the tax, just like it is the lord's to defend his people. So don't feel guilty about anything I'm sure our wonderful townsfolk wouldn't mind.
Smiling, Levi pinched her cheeks.
"Javi, the town's situation has been very precarious recently. All the recent news had heavily agitated the community. If I suddenly increased the tax a lot of people won't be able to survive through this winter and when they learn of that a lot of them would probably want to rebel, We don't have enough resources so I have to make so concessions."
"But father told mother you were probably just bluffing and that the possibility of a rebellion happening is very low. He said the real reason you reduced the tax was probably that you were feeling guilty and being a wimp about it."
Pausing to raise his head from the portrait he was working on, a vein popped on Levi's forehead.
'This old man really loves to court death doesn't he, is this how to talk about one's lord?'
With a cough he replied.
"Don't mind that old man he doesn't know what he is saying. his old age is probably starting to affect him."
"But Father is just twenty-nine years old,"
"..."
Cough
"Don't just mind him."
"Hehe... okay!"
Levi looked at the mischievous girl giggling craftily at him. Although she didn't know why she felt elated, just seeing his downcast expression got her mood up.
With a giggle, she snatched the nearly complete drawing from the table.
"Woah! so pretty!"
Looking at the picture he had to admit his mother was one fine catch. With a gently symmetrical face, soft eyes and most probably limpid brown eyes like his, she was indeed an absolute stunner.
Although neither iterations of himself had never met the said woman he had seen a few well-preserved paintings and had heard descriptions about her countless times which was why he could so easily recreate her portrait.
Watching Javi run around the room, holding the picture to the light and giggling made James slightly nostalgic. Images of his childhood with his cousins on his aunt's farm flashed past his eyes leaving him with a tender feeling in his heart.
But Levi's nostalgia didn't last for long. A soft knocking sound at the door interrupted his thoughts, dragging him back to reality.
"Lord Levi, may I come in." A soft feminine called from outside.
"Oh no! It's Mother!" Javi panicked rushing to block Levi's mouth with her hand. "No!"
"Come in!" Levi called before she could stop him.
The door opened and a beautiful woman walked in. She had a face very similar to Javi's. Her eyes were green with a bluish tint and her hair was a crimson red, also similar to Javi's.
"Good afternoon Lady Junita, How was your day?" Levi asked with a light smile.
"Wonderful my lord." She replied with a curtsy and a soft smile. Although it was not obvious, her left brow was crooked up in a questioning manner as she stared at Javi's right hand positioned precariously on Levi's chin and her left on his chest as she leaned in on him.
The woman's eyes hovered on the scene for a brief second before shifting towards the messy pile of paper covered with Javi's handwriting, littering Aden's favourite table.
Seeing this her smile grew wider and she turned to her daughter with crescent eyes.
"Javi? Won't you greet your mother?"
"Mo-mother." Javi stuttered collecting herself.
"Sorry milord, I will have a servant send some fresh sheets."
Watching their interaction a light of mischief danced in Levi's eyes. Finding the scene funny he almost didn't want to intervene.
Almost.
"What for? Don't bother. I was using the sheets to teach something to dear Javi."
Lady Junita stared blankly into Levi's eyes but he returned the gaze unflinchingly.
He knew such a shallow lie could never fool the lady but he never planned on fooling her in the first place and she knew. His message was clear for all to see.
Lady Junita stared at him for a second longer before sighing resignedly. Gently retrieving her daughter's hands she curtsied once more.
"I came to pick Javi for her afternoon lessons, we'll be taking our leave now milord."
"Take care." He nodded.
"Bye-bye Le... I mean Lord Levi." Javi said peeking at her mother's poker face before sticking out a tongue on her way out.
Smirking with self-satisfaction, Levi thought.
'At least I gave you a little trouble to deal with when you get home. Even though you probably didn't mean to call me old, such an offence is just not tolerable.'
'Now, it's just to find a way to deal with that your old man later for calling me a wimp.'
Walking towards the window he looked outside the window one last time, this time rather than at the deep blue sky he looked at the townspeople busily going about in preparation for the coming winter.
With an exasperated sigh, he spoke seemingly to himself.
'I hope you are happy now. Because of you that musclebrain barely two years older than me gets to call me a wimp. Raising the taxes just a little bit would have been fine, you know.'
Although he said this, looking at the slightly more animated expressions on the faces of the peasants and common people, James felt for a moment that maybe being called a wimp this one time wasn't all that bad.
Turning away from the window, he made his way to the castle's dungeons.
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A.N.:
(1) In case you didn't get it I was referring to the fact that neither James nor Levi could be considered that reliable.
Also, the map of Udoris is available on our discord channel. the link should be in the description.