Time flew by, and several days passed.
Ever since he was beaten by a brush at the training ground to the point of doubting his life, Leo had been unusually well-behaved and never provoked Ailiya again.
Not only that, but in the corridors or the hall, as long as he saw Ailiya walking over, this kid would immediately turn around and walk the other way like a startled cat.
Occasionally, while Ailiya was working, she could feel a gaze sneakingly staring at her from behind corners, pillars, or flower beds.
She didn’t need to look to know who it was.
As for this young master’s awkward behavior of being both afraid and unable to resist peeking.
Ailiya couldn’t be bothered to point it out; as long as it didn’t delay her farming experience, she continued to ignore him as if he were air.
Because he was holding back his anger and his pride had been wounded, Leo had recently started acting out.
He often locked himself in his room, refusing to let any servants enter to clean, and even when it was mealtime, he would often leave the trays delivered by the maid untouched by the door.
When Lady Elsa found out, she decided to hand the task of delivering meals to the most efficient person in the estate.
At this moment, in the second-floor corridor.
Ailiya pushed the food cart to the door of Leo’s room, raised her hand, and knocked on the door with neither too much nor too little force.
The room was silent for two seconds, followed by Leo’s somewhat guarded voice: “Who is outside?”
“It is me, Ailiya, Young Master.” Ailiya replied calmly.
A strange silence followed inside the room.
Before Leo could speak, Ian’s amused voice came from the room first: “The door is unlocked, come in.”
“Hey!” Immediately after came Leo’s flustered protest, “This is my room, you should wait for me to speak first, how can you speak for me!”
Click.
Ignoring the arguing inside, Ailiya pushed the door open and wheeled the food cart in.
“Wha… why are you the one delivering the food?” Leo stammered, pretending to be calm as he asked, “Where are Anna and Sasha?”
He stiffened and subconsciously moved backward.
“Greetings, Young Master. Greetings, Mr. Ian.”
Ailiya first gave a standard greeting, then placed the food from the cart onto the table one by one.
She turned around, her tone as cold as ever, and businesslike.
“Young Master. Because you have recently been extremely uncooperative with the servants’ work and even resorted to the childish behavior of a hunger strike.”
“Therefore, the Madame specifically ordered that starting today, your meals will be delivered by me personally.”
At this point, Ailiya paused slightly, her icy blue eyes staring directly at Leo.
“Furthermore, if you choose to lock the door and refuse to communicate in the future…” Ailiya paused, her gaze sweeping over the thick solid wood door.
“I can break in, and I will not be responsible for the repair costs.”
“The method might be a bit rough, so I hope the Young Master can forgive me in advance.”
“Huh??” Leo’s eyes widened, as if he had heard something incredibly terrifying, and he pointed at Ailiya and shouted, “You can’t do that, there is no such thing as a maid smashing her master’s door!”
He did not doubt that this cold-blooded woman would absolutely kick the door to pieces.
Ailiya replied expressionlessly, her tone devoid of emotion, yet every word stung.
“Young Master, this is permitted by the Madame, and the repair costs will be deducted from your allowance.”
Leo completely withered. He swallowed, retreated two steps in fear, and pointed at the food on the table while mumbling: “Fi… fine, you can leave the food, you can go now.”
“Very well, please enjoy your meal.”
Ailiya performed a standard curtsy again. “Then, I shall take my leave.”
After speaking, she turned and pushed the cart out of the room, closing the door behind her.
As the door closed, the air in the room was no longer so tense.
Leo let out a long sigh of relief. When he turned his head, he saw Ian sitting in a chair with his lips pursed tightly, his shoulders shaking as he struggled to suppress his laughter.
“What are you laughing at?!” Leo glared at him in annoyance.
“Ahem… nothing, I am professionally trained, I am absolutely not laughing.”
Ian hurriedly pushed up his glasses and coughed twice to hide the smile on his lips.
“Ahem, ahem… Young Master, don’t take it to heart, Miss Ailiya is just doing her duty. Alright, hurry up and eat, and we will continue our lesson after you finish.”
***
After another period of tedious study.
“…In short, when constructing the magic circuit for fire magic, you must maintain a high concentration of spiritual power, otherwise, it is easy to cause elemental backlash.”
Ian closed the heavy textbook in his hand and gave a long stretch.
“Alright, Young Master Leo. You have mastered the basic theory of magic.”
Leo, who was dozing off on the desk, suddenly raised his head, his eyes brightening: “Really? I don’t have to memorize those hellish spell analyses anymore?”
“Really.” Ian nodded with a smile, “Theory must be combined with practice.”
“Actually, the Madame agreed a long time ago. Your period of confinement is over. Now, you don’t have to stay in your room all the time.”
Ian stood up and picked up the wand placed to the side: “Let’s go, I will take you to the training ground now for your first practical guidance.”
“Awesome! I can finally go out!” Leo jumped three feet high with excitement, grabbed his practice wand, and dashed out the door.
The training ground was still empty, and the cracked blue stone floor looked somewhat blinding under the afternoon sun.
Ian chose a relatively flat area to stand and began to explain the key points of mana mobilization in actual combat to Leo, and personally demonstrated how to stably condense a small ball of fire elements.
Leo learned very earnestly, or rather, he was holding back a drive to prove himself.
He imitated Ian’s movements, focusing intently. Faint red light began to flicker between his palms; although it was dim and extremely unstable.
Compared to the previous situations where it either misfired or lost control, it was already a huge improvement.
“Yes, that’s it. Feel the existence of the elements and guide them instead of forcing them…” Ian instructed patiently on the side.
Just as the training was reaching its peak, a noisy sound suddenly came from the direction of the front courtyard of the estate.
“Madame! Madame!” The butler shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing in the corridor, “The guard team… the returning guard team is back!”
“The guard team is back?” Leo was stunned for a moment, then his curiosity was piqued, and he didn’t even care about the training ground anymore. “Let’s go, Ian, let’s go see.”
The two immediately turned around and hurried toward the front courtyard of the estate, following the butler.
When they arrived, the front courtyard was already a mess.
Several carriages full of mud and scratches were parked in the yard. The horses pulling the carriages were panting heavily, and there were even streaks of dried blood on their bodies.
Several guards wearing the Castian clan uniforms were helping each other off the carriage. Almost everyone was injured, their armor was damaged, and they looked exhausted.
Leo scanned the crowd and immediately locked onto a tall man leaning against a carriage wheel.
“Uncle Garick!” Leo exclaimed, and hurriedly ran over.