The atmosphere in the study was a bit heavy.
Lady Elsa took out a small glass bottle from the drawer, filled with a pale blue liquid.
Leo’s heart skipped a beat as he looked at the potion.
‘She’s going to scold me like before, for getting myself all banged up… maybe even make me copy “Noble Demeanor” nine times.’
But surprisingly, his mother didn’t scold him.
Leo clutched the cold potion bottle, opening his mouth. “Mother… I…” but he didn’t know what to say.
Lady Elsa sighed and gently reached out to stroke Leo’s blond hair.
“You must have been pushed to the brink, or… or you overexerted yourself doing something beyond your abilities again, right?”
Leo stared at his toes, his fingers tightly gripping the bottle.
‘What should I say?’
‘Should I tell her that after falling into the mine, I was forced by our head maid to be free labor for half a day, digging a whole bag of Blue Fluorite with my wand until my magic power was completely drained?’
‘That’s way too embarrassing!’
Besides…
The image of Ailiya jumping down without hesitation to save him flashed through his mind, making him even more unsettled.
“I… I’m fine, Mother.”
Leo looked up, forcing a relaxed smile.
“I just used a few extra spells when I ran into a goblin pack. I’m a bit worn out. I’ll be fine after a few days of rest. Please don’t worry.”
Lady Elsa gave him a long look but didn’t call out his clumsy lie.
“Alright. Drink that, then go wash up and get a good night’s sleep.”
Lady Elsa waved her hand.
“Don’t go running around for the next few days. Focus on recovering your magic power. I don’t want to bring a sickly-looking you to the Main family, just to give them something to laugh at.”
“Yes, Mother!”
Leo, as if granted a pardon, quickly bowed and scurried out of the study.
After leaving the study, Leo didn’t immediately take a bath.
He clutched the pale blue potion bottle and started searching for Ailiya as usual.
Finally, in the marble gazebo in the garden, he spotted the familiar black-and-white figure.
Ailiya was sitting quietly on the stone bench in the gazebo.
This peaceful scene was a world away from the “demonic overseer” who had spanked his bottom and forced him to mine in the cavern.
“Hmph!”
Leo let out a heavy snort, strode into the gazebo, and unceremoniously plopped down onto the stone bench opposite Ailiya, making an exaggerated racket.
The air was silent for a full minute.
Leo stared at her, fuming.
“What’s the matter, Young Master?”
Ailiya’s calm eyes looked at the golden-haired boy who seemed like a sulky little grump.
“If you’ve come to show off your mud-caked, tattered robe, I believe I’ve already fully appreciated it.”
Leo said nothing, just slammed the mana recovery potion onto the stone table with a loud thud.
Ailiya glanced at the small glass bottle, then at Leo’s pitiful yet stubbornly silent expression. A faint glimmer of understanding flickered in her eyes.
“I see.”
She folded her hands on her lap, her tone as steady as if stating a simple fact.
“It’s because I made you work too hard in the mine, causing your magic power to become severely depleted.”
“And just now, in front of Madame, you didn’t tell the truth—probably for the sake of pride, or some other reason.”
“So now, you feel you’ve been wronged, you’re holding a grudge, and you’ve come here to protest silently?”
Leo flushed at being called out, but he remained stubbornly silent, turning his head and letting out a cold snort.
Seeing him so hard-headed and childish, Ailiya let out a silent, helpless sigh.
‘To be fair, forcing a half-baked mage who had just survived a life-threatening fall and already had low mana to use a wand to chisel that hard rock in the mine was indeed asking too much.’
‘Though the result was him mastering a finer mana Infusion technique, the cost of the depletion means he can’t even produce a single water droplet now.’
“Fine.”
Ailiya tapped her fingers lightly on the stone table. Her tone, though still cool, carried a rare hint of seriousness and concession.
“While you did smear your dirty hand on my face in the mine, I did give you a good scolding back then. So on that matter, we’re even.”
“As for later forcing you to mine Blue Fluorite as free labor, which led to your magic power depletion…”
She paused briefly, looking at Leo’s profile.
“What if…”
It seemed she wasn’t used to saying such conciliatory words; her voice even turned a bit stiff.
“What if I apologized to you for that? Would your already limited pride and pent-up frustration ease a little?”
Hearing this, Leo froze.
He turned his head sharply, staring at Ailiya in disbelief.
‘She… she’s actually willing to apologize to me?!’
A mix of grievance, shock, and a strange joy he couldn’t name surged from his heart and rushed to his eyes.
Leo’s eyes instantly turned red, and his voice trembled with a clear sob.
He covered his face with both hands, his shoulders shaking slightly, as if he had finally found an outlet for all the wrongs he had suffered.
“Talking like that with no sincerity at all… you just say it so lightly!”
“Do you think a simple apology can erase all my grievances…”
Seeing the boy suddenly “cry” and tremble while covering his face, a rare look of surprise and bewilderment flickered in Ailiya’s ice-blue eyes.
‘What kind of development is this?’
‘Did I speak too harshly and hurt his fragile heart?’
‘It’s just an apology, isn’t it?’
‘Is this brat really that upset?’
Ailiya took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to rub her forehead, and asked in a helpless tone:
“Then what do you want?”
Leo’s fingers parted slightly behind his hands, his voice still carrying a sob.
“Unless you promise me one thing… as compensation!”
Ailiya looked at him like this, feeling it was troublesome, but she also didn’t want to keep dragging this out.
“As long as it’s not something excessive and falls within my ability and scope of duty.”
Ailiya gave a precise boundary of permission.
“I… can consider it.”
Hearing that promise.
The “sobbing” Leo’s shoulders instantly stopped trembling.
He quickly lowered his hands from his face.
On that face, though dusty, was handsome—there wasn’t a single trace of grievance or tears.
Leo’s gaze darted rapidly over Ailiya’s beautiful face.
“Heh heh heh…”
The corners of Leo’s mouth uncontrollably curled up like a little devil who had just gotten his favorite toy.
“This is you saying it! No backing out!”
Leo slapped the stone table excitedly, his eyes shining like stars.
“I can really ask for anything?”
Seeing this brat’s instant transformation from tears to laughter, a perfect act.
Ailiya’s eyes instantly turned cold, a flash of unprecedented disgust in her gaze.
‘I actually felt sorry for this brat?’
‘He’s basically a sly golden retriever in human skin, tricking people into sympathy.’
“In that case, forget it.”
Ailiya said flatly, her tone carrying a light jab.
“Given Young Master’s history of faking misery to gain sympathy, I withdraw my previous words.”
Leo’s smile instantly collapsed.
“No… you can’t do that!”
“You made me dig so much ore in the mine, drained my magic power like that, and you can’t even agree to one thing?”
He plopped down on the ground, spreading his limbs and rolling around like a brat throwing a tantrum.
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