Page 86

Days continued to pass.

Without the presence of the power holders and relying on poxy nobles to run the government and economy of the region he was responsible for, Marquess Rommel stretched his stiff body after sitting for hours to take care of his region’s document reports.

Marquess Rommel’s escape took them to the border area between the Aurora Kingdom and the Bizan Empire.

Their mansion was a closed place in a village surrounded by trees and settlements that relied on the forest to meet their daily needs.

With the area directly adjacent to the forest and settlements of residents who did not recognize the Marquess Rommel family as one of the Aurora Kingdom’s nobles, they blended in by disguising themselves as a merchant family on vacation looking for forest products that could be used as a sales business to boost the economy of the surrounding population.

Sebastian, who had been standing beside Marquess Rommel, immediately prepared a cup of cold tea.

"My lord, would you like to take a short break after taking care of the document reports given by our noble proxy?" Sebastian asked while pouring a cup of cold tea by adding a few ice cubes to make it look fresh.

The mansion located on the edge of the forest had cool air and felt cold from the shade of the leaves that gave freshness during the day, but it could not ward off the sweat produced by the heat and the heavy workload that had piled up.

"I need to work a little more before the document report for the next month begins, I need to get used to this kind of heavy work condition," replied Marquess Rommel who leaned his body on the soft chair that was his loyal friend when working with full concentration.

Takkk... Taaakkk...

"Please enjoy the tea I made that has followed the guidance of Lily-sama’s advice, my lord," Sebastian placed a cup of cold tea with lemon slices and lemon leaf decoration floating on top.

"This tea is a bit different from usual, did Lily find something new while exploring the forest with her little sister?" Marquess Rommel observed Sebastian’s tea which gave off a fragrant aroma of fresh and sour lemon.

"About that, Lily-sama seems to be taking up a hobby of creating new dishes to fill our uncertain vacation time. Some time ago, I saw Lily-sama using lemon juice mixed with tea to make lemon tea. I immediately asked Lily-sama to teach me how to make it and unexpectedly it tasted so refreshing like this. Especially with wild forest lemons like this, we can take advantage of the locals around here to develop refreshing beverage products like this from Lily-sama’s experiments!" Sebastian suddenly spoke at length about himself following Lily’s guide to making fresh lemon tea.

"It seems like Lily has enjoyed her vacation which would be boring if she did nothing. How is Lily’s condition now?" Marquess Rommel asked while raising his cup of lemon tea.

Slurrppp...

Gluuupp...

Marquess Rommel’s eyes opened wide when he felt the taste of fresh, cold lemon tea in his mouth until it passed through his throat.

The refreshing lemon tea from his mouth made the spirit in his body recover to finish today’s work.

Taakkk... Takkk...

With just three sips, Marquess Rommel had finished the cup of fresh, cold lemon tea.

"This is very refreshing. Lily’s idea is indeed amazing, it makes me want to praise her as a father. Do you have any ideas for that, Sebastian?"

Even though Marquess Rommel’s status is Lily’s biological father, he doesn’t understand at all how to be a father in front of his own daughter. Unlike Marchioness Amagi who has naturally become a mother because she gave birth to Alice and Alyssa, their instincts are very different when it comes to communicating with their own daughter.

"Perhaps My Lord could spend this short break together with Lily-sama by having a small snack after lunch," Sebastian said to advise Marquess Rommel as a father who spends his break time with a small snack after lunch.

"I think that’s a good idea, can you call Lily with a snack to eat?"

"I can do that, My Lord," without waiting any longer, Sebastian bowed his body as a sign of respect before leaving Marquess Rommel’s office which was filled with piles of report documents.

Kraaakkk...

...

...

...

In the silence, the Marquess’s gaze returned to reading the report document from the proxy noble who worked as his subordinate before a small breath touched his ear.

"My lord, I would like to report about Princess Anastasia who is trying to track us," said a Maid who suddenly appeared.

"Ahh!!" Marquess Rommel was surprised when he felt a breath in his ear and heard the words of the Maid who suddenly appeared behind his body.

"Hey, can you not appear suddenly like that, Noel?" said Marquess Rommel who tried to calm his surprise when a Maid named Noel appeared from behind his body.

"Your ability to sneak up like that almost made me have a heart attack!" continued Marquess Rommel while calming his pounding heart.

"This is very strange, my lord. Why do you look so surprised when Lily-sama greeted me so easily while hiding behind the bushes?" Noel asked as she walked towards the center of Marquess Rommel’s office and took out a crystal ball containing a recording of someone trying to track them down.

"Don’t compare this old me to my sweet, energetic, and lovely daughter. Wait, how could you hide behind the bushes and be greeted by Lily?"

"Humm? Oh, that’s because Lily-sama was playing hide-and-seek with Alice-sama and Alyssa-sama with the prize of sleeping together for one night. I was assigned to guard Mio who went out of control after hearing about the prize. So, I tried to hide Mio behind the bushes and coincidentally was greeted by Lily-sama."

Hearing the answer from the Maid who was assigned to his Shadow Maid unit in secret, Marquess Rommel could only wipe his cold sweat as he slowly understood that one of the Maids who served as Lily’s personal Maid had such a high level of possessiveness and obsessiveness.

"Then what happened after that?"

"Lily-sama noticed the tied-up Mio and gave me a gentle smile as if she didn’t know anything and continued playing hide and seek with her twin sister. That gave me more time to restrain the out-of-control Mio before she fainted in my restraints."

"That’s a relief, then what about someone tracking us?"

"About someone trying to track us, we’ve already prepared a false trail that makes them think we went to the Bizan Empire’s territory."

"Good job, but... why is it Princess Anastasia?"

"Yes, my lord. We’ve already confirmed their identity as they are registered with the royal family’s special forces for infiltration and espionage activities in enemy territory. And they was a private property for Princess Anastasia."

"Make sure to continue covering our tracks, the Princess Anastasia I know will definitely notice the false trail because her intelligence is beyond common sense. That genius mind will definitely notice the oddity, sooner or later, we will definitely be tracked."

"I understand, my lord. I along with the Shadow Maid troops have been in a combat condition to hide our tracks. Then, allow me to stay in this room for a while."

"Huh? What are you going to do in here, Noel?"

Kraaakkk…

When the door to Marquess Rommel’s study opened wide, Sebastian and Lily entered carrying a tray filled with snacks and refreshing drinks.

"Father, I heard from Sebastian that you wanted to take a break and enjoy the snacks I was making!" Lily exclaimed, showing her body shape as a fox girl with her nine tails hanging up like a fan.

"L-Lily?" Seeing her daughter spreading her nine tails like a fan, Marquess Rommel felt uncomfortable when he saw his daughter become a cute and charming little fox girl.

Lily’s appearance was wearing a white apron and simple clothes that featured a long ponytail hair tie hanging down. The food stains that stuck to her white apron indicated that Lily had just finished making small snacks to eat.

"Yes, Father? Is there something wrong? You’re looking at me like you want to tell me something," Lily said while moving her nine tails.

"Ahem! It’s okay, I was just surprised to see your cute fox girl form," said Marquess Rommel to praise Lily.

"T-Thank you, Father," Lily’s fox ears bowed when she heard her own father’s praise, her nine fox tails were fanned out like a fan suddenly disappeared, and one tail moved right and left like a shy fox girl after receiving praise.

Pooofff...

"Ugh, this makes me happy to die in peace," Noel muttered which was heard in Marquess Rommel’s ears.

Lily immediately entered Marquess Rommel’s room and took off her white apron to reveal simple clothes that fit her body size.

Explore stories on empire

Lily sat on one of the sofas and patted her tail.

"Father, do you want to take a break while touching my tail?" Lily said with her red eyes that seemed to beg Marquess Rommel.

"I don’t know if Father likes this or not but Mama, Alice, and Alyssa like to touch my tail when I’m a fox girl like this. Do you want to try touching my fox tail?" Lily’s thick and soft fox tail caught Marquess Rommel’s attention.

"Is that okay?" asked Marquess Rommel who got up from his desk to sit beside Lily.

"No problem, Father," replied Lily with a cheerful smile.

Marquess Rommel immediately sat beside Lily and watched the movement of Lily’s soft and thick fox tail. After Marquess Rommel sat on the sofa, Lily immediately put her tail on her Father’s palm.

For a moment, Father and daughter enjoyed a peaceful afternoon break.