After throwing those arrows to the ground, Beatrice took one more look at the battlefield, making sure that everything was going smoothly.
A few moments after that, Beatrice suddenly jumped down from the tree, disappearing into the forest.
...
As she stared out through the window of her estate, an Iris couldn't help but shake her head, letting out a faint sigh.
Suddenly, Iris slightly moved her ears, as she heard a set of familiar footsteps from behind the door, followed by a knock on the door itself.
"You can come in, William," said Iris as she raised her head, no longer holding it up with her hand.
A moment after Iris said those words, the butler, William, suddenly walked into the room and slightly bowed to her.
"You can ignore the formalities, do you have news from the front?" asked Iris as she looked at the butler, causing William to nod.
"Yes Lady Iris, great news in fact," said William, causing a faint smile to appear on Iris' face.
"Continue," said Iris as she got up from the chair she was sitting on and stared out the window.
"In a decisive battle, the Kingdom's army managed to defeat the Army of the Kingdom of Newan, causing its total rout, with his status, sir Renald will surely return home in at most seven days," said William as she looked at Iris, who was smiling at the moment.
"Good, call some of my maids here, I need to begin preparing for his return," said Iris as she looked at the old butler, causing him to nod once again before bowing.
"As you wish, my lady," said William, bowing whilst he walked out of the room.
After William walked out and left her alone, Iris merely stood there, staring in the distance with a smile on her face.
"Thankfully this battle was easily won," mumbled Iris, when suddenly, a hidden figure appeared next to her.
For a moment, shock appeared on Iris' face, making her want to scream out, but this was suddenly stopped as Iris took a closer look at the face of the figure, which, at first glance, was shrouded by the hood.
Without any warning, Iris suddenly leaped towards Beatrice, hugging her tightly, as if the latter had come back from death.
As Iris hugged her daughter, two small tails of tears appeared on her face.
"Beatrice, mother missed you..." mumbled Iris as he took Beatrice's hood off and stared at the latter's face.
Of course, even whilst she did so, Iris still continued tightly hugging Beatrice with one hand, making sure that she did not let the other go, as if she was afraid of losing her.
After a few moments, Iris turned her attention to Diana's face, as she then touched the latter's cheek, feeling its softness.
Looking at her mother, who seemed to be over the moon at the moment, a faint smile appeared on Beatrice's face.
"It looks as though you missed me quite a bit," said Beatrice as she touched her mother's cheek as well, as if in retaliation.
"That's true, but you can't imagine how miserable your father was when you were gone, he would worry every single day," said Iris, causing Beatrice to let out a small, chuckle.
"I could see that happening," mumbled Beatrice as Iris slowly but surely let go of her daughter.
Of course, even after she stopped her hug, Iris still hung on to Beatrice.
"Wait a minute, let me get you a chair so that we can talk," said Iris, causing Beatrice to suddenly shake her head.
Before Iris could even realize it, a chair had suddenly flew through the room and landed right next to Iris' own chair, causing the latter to freeze for a moment.
Staring at the chair, which had landed right in front of her.
"How dumb of me, I even forgot why you went away in the first place, maybe I am really getting old," mumbled Iris as she touched her forehead.
A moment later, Beatrice sat down on the chair she had bought out, causing Iris to also sit down.
...
Looking at the two white-haired women, who were sitting on their own chairs, one of them reading a notebook, whilst the other held a small boy in her hands, Renald froze, his eyes widening.
"I guessed that you would have liked this surprise, but I didn't expect you to be so surprised," said Iris as she looked at her husband, who was currently frozen in place.
Even though he heard the words of his wife, Renald was still frozen, merely staring at his daughter.
After a few more moments, Renald's demeanour suddenly changed, as the surprised look on his face disappeared, being replaced by a cold and serious look.
"It's very good that you came back home safely," said Renald, with no obvious emotion visible on his face.
Seeing this scene, Beatrice, who was currently holding her little brother in her hands, let out a chuckle, causing the small child to slightly freeze.
"Little Frederick, are you still afraid of your sister? I thought you would have grown that out," mumbled Iris, moving the attention of the group away from Renald's fake calmness and toward the kid.
Unaware that he had been used to move the topic of the conversation, right now, a confused look appeared on little Frederick's face.
"Don't worry, I was never the best with children," said Beatrice as she touched the forehead of the child, causing Frederick to once again freeze.
Right at this moment, a knock was heard on the door, causing Renald to look over.
"You can come in," said Renald, causing the door to open, revealing the old butler, William, who was walking in with a tray in his hands.
Seeing this, a frown appeared on Renald's face, as he quickly moved and picked up the tray from the old man.
"Uncle William, why didn't you have a maid take care of it?" asked Renald as he quickly placed the tray on the table.
Before William could say anything, Beatrice suddenly interjected.
"Although it would probably not be too much trouble, it's best if news of my return didn't spread," said Beatrice as she instinctively picked up one of the cups of tea.