Chapter 41: Meeting the Parents
A servant unfurled the stairs and opened the carriage door. Outside stood Butler Codwell, waiting in a slight bow beside the steps.
Neither of his parents moved, so Luke did. He unfolded the wheelchair and placed it on the ground, then went back to get Valeria.
During the process, he looked back at his parents, whose expressions had changed, but he didn’t spend time analyzing them. He gently set Valeria in her wheelchair.
The couple turned to face his parents. Unlike at the wedding, Valeria was much more lively, although still considerably more distant than when they were on their own.
Luke pushed Valeria within speaking distance of his parents. His parents both stood like nobles: backs straight, arms perfectly in line, and practiced smiles on their faces. For a moment, nobody moved. They simply exchanged glances. It was his mother who made the first move, walking around the wheelchair and pulling him into a warm embrace.
"We missed you, Luke. You don’t understand just how worried you made us."
The hug was awkward for Luke. Lucius wasn’t fond of his parents, but not because they were bad to him. Instead, he simply couldn’t handle the pressure and distanced himself. To Luke, they seemed like ideal parents, the kind he never had.
One of his arms wrapped around her back as mother and son reunited after only two weeks.
They pulled away from each other, and his mother’s nagging began.
"Have you been taking care of your wife? It looks like she has gotten skinnier than before. You couldn’t even feed her properly? Did you spend all of your time in rifts and neglect her? You are a husband before an explorer. You’d best remember that."
His mother stretched a piece of his skin, creating a small stinging sensation. She turned around and faced Valeria, who sat quietly in her chair.
"Seriously, Luke. We gave you some cooking lessons before you left, but did you cook even once? Am I going to have to come over and cook for you every night?"
Even though the nagging was annoying, he felt happy to hear it. Luke translated his mother’s words to Valeria to the best of his ability, relaying the most important information. In return, she signed back a response.
"Mother, she says that my cooking has been the best she has ever eaten, and that there is no reason to worry about us."
He made up the first part about how good his cooking was. Valeria had only said it was adequate, but it was just a little lie. Valeria noticed and gave him a stink-eye.
Luke’s mother stared at him after rising from her crouched position. His father’s eyes also met his.
"You know sign language?!"
They both asked in unison, shocked by the revelation. His father didn’t continue, but his mother did.
"How did you learn sign language in two weeks? I’m sure you never learned it before leaving. Did you sign a contract with a demon or something?"
"No, Mother. I guess I had a knack for it."
His mother shook her head at the answer, for one reason or another not believing him.
"Can you tell Lady Valeria just how happy we are to have her in the family and that we are always here if she needs anything?"
Luke knew what she meant by "anything," but translated the message to Valeria.
Valeria and his mother conversed, using him as the medium for translation. Their conversation wasn’t anything exciting, just his mother asking about her well-being and how dutiful he had been as a husband. Valeria answered the questions and made sure not to reveal much about her recovery.
It didn’t take long for the translation to tire him out mentally and physically. Luckily, his father noticed and put a stop to the women’s conversation.
"I’m sure it was a long trip. We have refreshments waiting inside."
Luke nodded, and his mother returned to his father’s side before walking up the path toward the stairs. He followed for a moment before turning the wheelchair into the grass and scaling the hill that way. There were more than fifty steps, and he didn’t want Valeria to have to bounce around as he dragged her up them.
They met back up at the courtyard and continued the walk into the estate. There were stone statues, large hedge fixtures, and flowers lining the pathway. Everything was familiar, but in a dream-like way. It was almost as if his surroundings were a product of déjà vu.
That was the effect of his memories from Lucius’s life.
Luke wheeled Valeria backward up a set of stairs, doing his best not to shake the wheelchair more than necessary.
They entered the estate and its large foyer. Two grand staircases led to the second floor of the estate, where the study and bedrooms were. They continued along the first floor, walking into a welcoming room. Lucius had only been in there a few times, most notably when the Chamberlin messenger had arrived with the marriage proposal.
It was a large room, with two couches opposite each other and a table in the middle. The table had plates and cups set upon it, while a teapot sat in the center.
"The cooks have prepared a few refreshments for us to enjoy while we wait for the guests to arrive."
His mother said before his father interjected.
"Your birthday party has turned into the biggest gathering the family has hosted in over four generations. Between the Chamberlins and the Gregorys RSVPing, along with the noble families we’re close with, there are going to be over a thousand people at the party. All because they heard of your feat during the practical exam."
Luke was genuinely surprised by the news. He had expected the Chamberlins and a few close noble families to come, maybe one hundred people at most, but one thousand? Honestly, he had never heard of a birthday party with that kind of turnout. There were kings with fewer nobles attending their celebrations.
The system had mentioned that he had to prove it to everyone in attendance. Instead of a few dozen people, he now had to prove to over a thousand nobles that Valeria had regained her mana.
Luke sighed inwardly.
’I guess I will have to rethink the plan.’
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