Chapter 471 Conversation At Dinner
Nicholas sometimes felt sad for his mother. As he grew older and understood more about what happened between his parents, he could have more sympathy for both his mother and father. He could feel his mother's suffering, but at the same time, he also couldn't blame his father. Both just tried to do what was best in their condition.
It was not ideal but there was nothing they could do. The heart wants what it wants.
"Will you join us to attend the festival?" the queen asked Nicholas with a beaming face. "It will be fun."
"Yes, it will be fun," Sophie said. "The festival is one of my favorite days of the year. I can't wait to take the kids to experience it."
Nicholas looked at Sophie and her enthusiasm got to him. He nodded.
"We can go."
He knew security would be a headache with the king, queen dowager, Sophie, and five children going out together, trying to disguise themselves as commoners. However, what Sophie wants, Sophie gets. That's Nicholas' motto.
How could he say no to her? She looked really excited about the harvest festival. Come to think of it, Nicholas realized Sophie needed the distraction. She had been cooped up in her apartment in the royal palace for almost three weeks. Her recovery took much longer than when she gave birth to lycan pups.
So, the queen managed to convince Sophie to stay longer, at least until her baby was one month old and could be brought outside the palace. Queen Marianne said human babies were so fragile that this new baby might get sick if she took her on a trip - indirectly scaring Sophie into thinking her baby could die if she fell ill around this age.
Finally, Sophie relented and stayed. Max came three times a week to report the tavern's income and the situation there. At the end of the week, Sophie would review their business together and make new plans if needed.
Now, it's been over three weeks and Sophie had been feeling restless. She wanted to go back to her own home. She was worried that she would be too comfortable staying at the palace and so would her children.
Life at the royal palace was too good, too easy... she didn't want her children to get used to such a life and then resented their own home.
If they liked the palace better than their home, Sophie wouldn't have the heart to take them away from there.
"We should go home after the festival," she muttered. She looked down on her baby daughter who just finished nursing and was now playing with her nipple. Sophie clicked her tongue, realizing her baby was so naughty and had an outgoing personality. She pretended to scold the little one. "Don't play with your food."
Sophie covered her breast and got up from the chair. She placed the baby in her crib and then took Anne and Jack to her big bed. She felt a bit sleepy after the meeting with Max earlier that day and then taking care of her children. She wanted to take a nap and hugged her pups while she was sleeping.
She felt lucky that lycan pups only drank milk for a year max. They started to eat solid food after six months and she could wean them completely when they turned a year old. Jack and Anne were now sixteen months old and they were very easy to care for.
Anne was still weak, much weaker when compared to her male twin, but she was a happy pup who loved spending her time to herself and with Sophie. Sophie was counting the days until the twins' fifth birthday and she could see them transform into humans.
She believed Anne would look really beautiful as a human girl. Her wolf form looked very much like Leland's, and Sophie could imagine when Anne shifted into a human she would look like her father too, but she would be the feminine and meek version of Leland.
"Come here you two," Sophie lay down on the bed and hugged her pups. She hugged Anne in her arms as the little wolf curled up into a furball, while Jack lay behind Sophie's back and soon placed his paws around her head after they all fell asleep.
***
Sophie woke up to something heavy pressing her head and back and she realized that they were her son's paws.
"Gosh, Jack, you are so big now... so heavy," Sophie shook her head and removed Jack's paws from her head. Then she sat up.
Sophie let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. She must have taken around one hour nap. It was still bright outside. She got down from the bed and checked her baby. The little one was playing by herself in her crib.
Sophie couldn't help but gush as she looked at her youngest child with adoration. Meanwhile, Jack woke up too from his nap, followed by Anne and they immediately jumped down from the bed, to follow Sophie.
When they reached the dining room, Nicholas and the boys were waiting for Sophie to have dinner together. The queen was there too. Today, Nicholas looked especially tired and Sophie was wondering if the man had been working so hard lately.
She realized now she only met the man during dinner time because they always had dinner together with the queen. It almost felt like they were having a family dinner as if they were a real family.
Sophie wondered if Nicholas had been extremely busy with work or if he had intentionally been avoiding her. She didn't know what to think. She no longer knew the man as she did in the past.
They ate dinner and the atmosphere was more silent than it normally was. The oldest children shared with Sophie what they learned from their teachers that day. Jack was enjoying his own bowl of raw meat on the table while, beside him, Anne was eating cooked meat that was more tender, specially prepared for her.
"Their teachers said they are really smart," Nicholas commented. "I am so proud of them."
"Yeah, they studied in Cow Dung for several months," said Sophie.
"Cow..." The queen knitted her brows in confusion to hear Sophie's words. "Cow... what?"
Sophie pressed her lips and suppressed her laughter. She cleared her throat and said, "I mean, Cawden Academy. It's a school in Hastings. I went there when I was younger and the boys wanted to study with kids their age. So I signed them up to study in Cawden. They liked it there. The teachers also praised them as really smart students."
The queen looked at Sophie with widened eyes and she couldn't hide her laughter when she realized Sophie called her school cow dung.
"That is a funny name," she commented.
"I am sorry, Your Grace. I was just joking. All students called it Cow Dung," Sophie looked so embarrassed. "My children don't call it cow dung. Fortunately, they are better persons than I am."
Everyone at the dining table laughed at the school's name and the children excitedly told their father about their experience studying in the academy for human children.
"We are taught by Catherine before Cawden," Luciel explained. "She was great. However, we wanted to have friends our age."
"Yeah. Catherine helped us a lot in navigating life in humans' school," Jan added. "I wonder where she is now."
"Ah... about that..." Nicholas had heard the report from Noel several hours ago regarding Catherine and he wondered if he should tell his sons about what happened to that woman.
"Do you know Catherine?" Sophie asked Nicholas.
The king shook his head. "No. Only from your stories when you were young. I remember when I met you in Hastings, you told me a little bit about the teacher who was so kind to you and helped you with the entrance test to enter Cow Dung. It was Catherine, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Sophie nodded. "I haven't seen her since I moved from Riga. She didn't want to join us in Lievstad because she had other things to do. I don't have the time yet to search for her. It will be nice if she could help teach Luciel and Jan again as she knows them best."
Nicholas shook his head and said, "I am not so sure about that. There is something I need to talk to you about her."
Nicholas' words made Sophie feel so curious. What was it that he knew and Sophie didn't?
"Catherine?" She asked him to confirm.
Nicholas nodded. "Yeah, Catherine."
"Can't you tell me about her now?" Sophie asked.
"No, let's wait until after dinner," said Nicholas. He poured more wine into his cup and downed it. "It's important."
Sophie really wanted to know what happened to Catherine. She was worried about her friend. Catherine was a witch and she had her own life which Sophie didn't know about. She just hoped that nothing bad happened to Catherine.
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