"So, you want to know how me and your grandfather met? You know, if you do this with all of your grandmas, you'll be adults before getting to half right? Anyways..." spoke Ortenmia as she took a few moments to think about where to start.
"Okay... So, did you know that I am of nobility? Or at least used to, so at the time, I was living in this huge residence with lots of flowers everywhere, all year round, there wasn't a single day where the surroundings weren't overflowing with them" she described as she made wide hand movements, captivating the children.
"As you know, I had gotten severely burned on my left side in the past, it had actually happened only about a month before I met your grandpa, maybe a little less than that, the burns were still vivid, I had yet to get used to them at all, I could barely wear any clothes on top of the burns, so I spent most of this time holed up into my room" she explained and for some reason, the kids seem to be getting sad.
"No need to cry, these burns are exactly why me and your grandpa met actually, you see, it hadn't been a simple accident, I had burned myself when throwing an oil lantern at someone" she explained and immediately, they wanted to know more.
"You see, in the surroundings where my residence was located, a serial murderer was at bay, the 'mystery ripper' they called him, he had made his way into the residence and had tried to rip me, so naturally, I thought to solve my problem, I should use fire and thus, I got burned but I did get him too, he went screamind and yelling through a nearby window, which was unfortunately right above a fountain" she leaned back in the chair and seeing that they were too focused on the story to ask anything, she continued.
"So the mystery ripper got away this time and after trying to kill me, a noble, only then did the local authorities start going into overdrive, they had mostly been ignoring him since he had only targeted people that they would have already prefered seeing gone but now, it was another story"
"But since they hadn't done any investigation on the previous victims and now that he had been burned, the serial killer had gone into hiding, leaving them with no actual trail or guesses about the ripper" she raised her index finger up and smiled.
"That is when they decided to enlist the help of adventurers as well, by simply posting up a request with an ample sum of money as a reward, with adventurers flooding the streets day and night, the mystery ripper would have very little windows to act at all and everyone was fairly certain about one thing however, that the ripper had burn marks over his body"
"Amongst those adventurers was you grandfather, he was originally here about a dungeon nearby but I guess the reward was enticing enough or perhaps he was just curious about the mystery ripper" she wore a soft smile as she spoke of her husband.
"He wasn't exactly an experienced crime investigator but solving puzzles and enigmas was already something he did quite often, so he figured out that he should visit each of the crime scenes and search for any additional information instead of just wandering around and hoping to bump into the ripper"
She waved left arm in front of her with her visible eye closed.
"And voilà, this is how we first met, I thought he was quite the handsome man but I didn't believe that anyone would look at me as a romantic interest seriously due to my burns, however, your grandpa is very when it comes to things like love, so he made it quite clear that he was interested and offered to help treat my burns, which was his idea of a date I believe" she taped her chin as she reminisced the memory.
"So was it just like with grandma Malina?" asked one of the kids and Ortenmia slowly shook her head.
"Oh no, it was an actual date" she responded flatly.
"Because it wasn't in a barn?"
"Exactly, that is perfectly right, because it wasn't in a barn, absolutely" she said, looking into the distance for a second and shuddered before resuming to tell the story.
"Your grandpa had an edge over the other adventurers and the authorities, he could use an analysis skill and was able to figure out a few things about clues the mystery ripper had left behind, such as a piece of his coat and some blood he shed after jumping through the window"
"Because the window was closed, and one doesn't just jump through a closed window, in fact, don't jump through any window, you'll get hurt" she coughed a little bit as she got back on track.
"He determined the material used and how it had been made, as well as something about the blood, he said it was the type but I don't know much about this, he managed to pinpoint a location where the killer should reside based on his murders as well as where the coat had come from, then, he surveyed the area for a while"
"While he was doing this, he also tried linking the victims together, the one that had been killed where all poor women from the slums or just peasant women, there was no good lead there, so instead, he wondered why this killer attacked me all of a sudden when I wasn't his victim type"
She raised her arms as she watched the kids lean forward in await for the rest of it.
"And so, he soon found a certain someone that hadn't shown his face since the mystery ripper had been burned and it turned out to be none other than the son of the captain of the guards, who apparently had intense love for me, although I never knew he even existed and his previous killings were to prepare himself to kill me specifically" she revealed causing an orchestra of 'Ooohs'.
"And then what happened?" spoke one of them.
"Then? Well, at this point, me and your granfather was something official, (although he hadn't told me yet that he had another woman), so I wanted to marry him but he wasn't a noble or known at all, so my parents refused, especially so since I wanted to go back with him to his home with was actually in another country" she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"You aren't from Gloire?"
"No, I am from Mawlique actually but that doesn't matter because I went anyways and here I am, Grandmother to all of you, technically, since I would only be the actual grandmother of you three over there" she pointed at three distinct children, which her each from different parents, Ortenmia had had three daughters.
She looked up at a grandfather clock and since their parents weren't there to pick them up, she clapped her hands and got up.
"Alright, dinner time!"