I am the heroine's godfather!

Page 133

After much thought, it could only be her. Her ally, the seventh princess of Isnar, Anna's sister. The nobles of Enshia now follow her every command; there's absolutely no way anyone would bypass her to invite him.

I just don't know how far her plan has progressed.

But Lorraine guessed wrong. Caroline said, "No, it's the second prince."

"what?"

Chapter 226 The Troubles of Adults

Upon hearing Caroline's words, Lorraine looked thoughtful.

Isnar's second prince?

I have some impression of it.

Loran recalled the intelligence he had gathered: this guy was one of the crown princes, and seemingly one of the most competitive contenders. He controlled the military and had the support of an elector.

In a country without supernatural powers, controlling the military is almost equivalent to controlling the narrative.

Surely we can't have a scenario where someone says, "Even though I command a million-strong army, I'm handing over all my military power to the emperor so he'll spare the woman I love," right?

That's too abstract.

In short, if this were a world without supernatural powers, the second prince would have the highest chance of winning. Unfortunately, this world does have supernatural powers.

Although Isnar's seventh-rank Protector Duke did not participate in the struggle for the crown prince, currently, apart from Victoria, the other three strong contenders—the eldest prince, the eldest princess, and the second prince—are roughly equal in terms of extraordinary power. Each has a number of bronze and silver-rank subordinates, and each also has one or two fifth-rank gold-rank subordinates, making their overall strength roughly the same.

If we exclude Loran, Victoria's power is the weakest; she doesn't have any combat strength above the gold level.

Of course, we all know that if Loran were included, things would be completely different. Loran could single-handedly rape the entire nation!

That being said, Lorraine generally doesn't act rashly, and Victoria wouldn't be so naive. To her, Lorraine's greatest role is as a trump card and a deterrent, the key to turning the tide of battle, but once she uses it, it means that her abilities are not that sufficient.

The ever-proud Victoria would never do that.

For Lorraine, Victoria's struggle for the crown prince position was like child's play—or rather, at his level, most things in the world were just child's play. Lorraine agreed to help Victoria partly because the terms Victoria offered him were indeed quite interesting.

Although Loran didn't expect this guy to actually do it, Victoria was still better than those guys who didn't have any relevant information at all.

On the other hand, compared to other anthropomorphic crown princes, Victoria is indeed much more morally upright. After all, Loran's dear sister Serena will be living in Isnar, and the Antoya Merchant Guild's base is also in Isnar. If someone who doesn't look like a ruler were to take the throne, Loran would find it a bit annoying.

If an eighth-tier player gets annoyed, then Isnar will have to prepare for the Crown Prince competition again.

As for whether anyone will restrain Loran? You're kidding. The other eighth-tier members are responsible for their own territories, even Lundilan is responsible for his academy, but Loran isn't!

Acting first and reporting later, with the Holy Maiden's special permission! Do you even understand what it means for the Holy Maiden to act on your behalf?

However, Lorraine only regarded Victoria as a collaborator and an interesting pastime—if little Anna weren't so young, Lorraine would have supported Anna to become the emperor of Isnar.

I choose Anna; she has contributed to the club (referring to her good relationship with Charlotte).

"Sir, are you going?"

Caroline waited for Lorraine's reply, but Lorraine waved his hand and said, "Give the invitation to Victoria and let her handle it."

"Yes."

"This guy really doesn't know any better."

Lorraine sighed, "I just got home and haven't even had a chance to rest yet, and the invitations have already arrived."

"After all, in the struggle for the crown prince, being even one step behind can mean being completely behind."

Serena kissed his forehead, gently placed him on her lap, and stroked his hair: "However, they've slowed down considerably now."

"So next time, just hand this over to Victoria directly. Why send it to me?"

Loran looked somewhat helpless, while Serena smiled and brought up another matter: "Did you bring any gifts for the children this time you came back?"

"hiss......"

Loran was about to say that he had brought it, but then he realized a serious problem.

It seems, it seems, that the gifts Lucifer and the others gave were all for Charlotte.

Forehead......

This seems a bit tricky. I can't just go out and bring back a gift for Charlotte, can I? I didn't bring anything for Felicia and Olivia. They're practically family too, and even though Felicia is a bit more mature, she can't go without a gift, can she?

And Anna Laura and Daisy, although these three children are not our own, we don't need to prepare any expensive gifts, but we should at least have some local specialties, right?

Loran blinked, realizing that she seemed to be in big trouble again.

"You didn't come unprepared, did you?"

Serena asked a question, and seeing that Loran's expression was not good, she comforted him, "It's okay, it's fine if you don't prepare anything. Charlotte and Olivia are both very good children, and that child named Felicia is also sensible. They won't be angry if you don't bring a gift."

"No, that's not the question."

Lorraine had a slight toothache: "I did bring quite a few gifts, but they were all for Charlotte from my friends..."

If this were a gift that Loran bought herself, it wouldn't be a big deal; she could just give one to each person. But this was a gift from someone else, so Loran couldn't just take away other people's gifts.

Serena blinked upon hearing this: "So, you mean that although you didn't prepare a gift for anyone, you brought one that someone else gave you?"

"Uh-huh!"

"And all these gifts from others are for Charlotte?"

"Mmmmmmm!"

"Ugh......"

Serena couldn't help but sigh. If there were no gifts, that would be fine; the children were all sensible, and Loran might really be too busy.

But if only one person receives a gift, then there's bound to be family conflict.

Thinking of this, Serena couldn't help but feel relieved. Luckily, the children weren't around, otherwise things would have been really difficult.

"I can only prepare some more gifts while the children are away."

Loran pinched the bridge of his nose: "Charlotte received four gifts, so Felicia and Olivia should receive the same... Let me think, I could make Felicia an alchemical robe, but Granny Baren has definitely already prepared the other spell-casting tools for her... I'll find a few more alchemical tools I've collected before, and what about Olivia..."

The mention of Olivia gave Loran an even bigger headache. Did this child really want anything?

You can't just send a few pretty clothes, can you? That would be too insincere.

Lorraine realized once again that having too many children in the family wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Chapter 227 Calm daily life

In Enshiya, it is customary for nobles to hold a social banquet upon their return from a trip, to announce their reunion. It is generally accepted that no one would invite a noble to a banquet before the noble has hosted it; this is considered a long-standing tradition.

After all, when people return home from being away, they inevitably want to rest for a while. Holding a social banquet is generally a way of announcing that they have finished resting and can now engage in meaningless social activities.

Therefore, before nobles returned from their travels and held social banquets, people would at most visit them in a private capacity, and would almost never invite them to social banquets.

So the second prince, who sent an invitation as soon as Lorraine entered the house, really has absolutely no emotional intelligence.

For most nobles, this period of time is not long. Some minor nobles will not even give themselves time to rest. They will hold social banquets on the same day to obtain information from the upper class in time, so as to prevent themselves from falling behind and being left behind.

But for Loran, there was no need to rush. He couldn't be bothered with such banquets; they were too boring. In previous years, he had never held one when he returned, and most nobles didn't dare invite him if he wasn't hosting a social event.

Last year, when he brought Charlotte back, Lorraine hosted a banquet.

Actually, a celebration was held when Olivia arrived, but Olivia was no ordinary person, and no one would disrespect her—after all, a fourth-tier being was considered a powerful figure, and with the added pressure of the dragon race itself, few would be foolish enough to provoke her.

Although Lorraine wasn't home at the time, Serena, as Lorraine's sister and the de facto head of Morgan Fleur, carried the weight of her words just as much as if Lorraine had said them herself.

That banquet not only introduced Olivia but also announced Charlotte and the others' return to Enshia's social circle. However, as the year was drawing to a close and the Seven Gods' Birthday was approaching, social activities became less frequent.

As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight filtered through the curtains and fell upon Loran's bed. Serena frowned and opened her eyes.

"You can sleep a little longer."

Loran stroked Serena's long hair and said with a smile.

Normally, there would be personal maids to attend to the couple's daily needs, but neither Caroline nor Mia came.

It was a tacit understanding, in a way. Loran didn't believe that the two of them hadn't noticed something.

After all, every time he returned, neither Serena nor he needed the two of them to serve them. It was so obvious, even a fool would have seen it. However, neither of them said anything, as these kinds of things were not easy to talk about.

How long will you stay at home this time?

Serena snuggled against him, her voice slightly muffled, as if she were still half asleep.

"I'll stay for a few months, and when Charlotte and the others start school next semester, I'll go with them."

"I see... So you're not going to hold a social banquet?"

"Let's postpone it for now."

Lorraine, naturally, didn't want to deal with these things: "We'll talk about it when little Charlotte comes back."

"You."

Serena knew that Loran didn't like these things, so she didn't say anything more.

The two lay there until the sun was high in the sky, skipping breakfast and going straight to lunch.

Oh, no, Serena ate it.

Loran touched the two sharp teeth marks on his neck and sighed.

Given his physical condition, the mark wouldn't have left a trace at all. However, Miss Serena seemed somewhat displeased that he hadn't written a letter for so long and wouldn't allow him to heal on his own.

Well, there's nothing we can do about that then.

At lunchtime, only Caroline was serving them, while Mia seemed to be cleaning the garden.

It seems she found out about Caroline secretly catching crickets yesterday.

Sigh, if things continue like this, even when Caroline becomes the housekeeper, you'll still be just an ordinary little maid, Mia.

Why is Mia still cleaning?

Let's rewind a bit.

"Caroline! I can't hold it in any longer!"

Mia bit her lip, looking like she was really holding it in: "Lady Serena and Master, those two are too unreserved!"

"What's there to hide?"

Caroline's expression remained calm: "Miss Serena and the master's personal maids are the two of us. Apart from that, no one else can find out."

"Um, yes, but!"

Mia looked very conflicted: "This feeling of having a huge secret but not being able to share it with anyone is so painful..."

"If you're not afraid that Lord Loran will throw you to the bottom of the river, you're welcome to share it anywhere."

"Ugh... Well, forget it then... I don't know how to face Lady Serena and Lord Loran right now. No, I'll just go to the garden this morning."

Caroline was puzzled: "Didn't you already know? Why are you acting like you can't accept it now?"

"Well, this..."

Mia looked embarrassed, and after a long while, she muttered softly, "When I went to the kitchen to sneak a late-night snack yesterday, I passed by the master's room, and then..."

"You went to the kitchen to sneak food again... Wait, you didn't... eavesdrop, did you?"

"Gurgle..."

Mia immediately lowered her head, and after a long while, she softly hummed in agreement.

Caroline: ······

It's fortunate that Loran doesn't turn up his senses too high when he's at home unless he senses danger, otherwise he probably would have been caught on the spot.

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After lunch, Loran stretched. It was rare for him to have such a free time, but for a moment he didn't know what to do.

Perfecting the laws is not something that can be done overnight. Now that we have taken the first step, the rest can only be done slowly and naturally. We cannot rush it.

So, researching new magic?

I didn't have any inspiration either.

When people get lazy, they don't want to do anything at all.

Lorraine slumped on the sofa, like a lump of mud.

"You."

Serena sighed, picked up a plate of fruit, forked a piece, and brought it to his lips: "You can't just lie around like this all day."