The last few days at the Demiliore Castle were as lively as they could be, and though Keith planned on focusing on his Battle Art Training, he decided to postpone it to have some fun with his family.
It had not taken long for Ingvild to become everyone's favourite since she was the youngest of them all, and everyone had started doting on her a lot.
Since the little princess had not seen a lot of places in the world, Rebecca and Kiara showed her all around Sameran City and even took her to the Noxville Amusement Park, which had not opened to the public yet.
After four days of touring around the city, Kiara and Ingrid decided to teach their little sister horseriding, which she enjoyed a lot. Later thag evening, she happily narrated her experience at the dinner table to the family.
She was still a little shy, but she was always smiling as she talked with everyone. She got along very well with everyone, but Kiara and Rebecca were her favourites.
Perhaps it was because the two of them were the easiest to get along with, but this did make Qingyue feel a little dejected, so one day, she invited the little princess to try out Calligraphy with her.
Ingvild did not know a lot of languages, and once Qingyue realised it, she took it upon herself to teach her Netherian and Persian.
But Rebecca hit back at her by taking the opportunity and spending all the time with Keith whilst she stayed busy with Ingvild.
This did not sit well with the grey-eyed girl, who openly talked about it at the dinner one night, confronting Rebecca on trying to keep Keith all to herself.
However, what flowed was a round of laughter and a round of bickering between the two, which eventually ended up with Keith proposing something that took everyone by surprise.
"How about we hold a Football match?" He playfully said.
"You will take on all of us?" Rebecca mischievously asked back, but he shook her head.
"No. I will be on the Team with Qingyue, Nana, Ayesha, Ingvild, and Marianne." He said, and Qingyue immediately announced that she was okay with it.
Of course, it was because he was going to be on her team.
"So, it's me, Amelia, Kiara, Yingying, Ingrid, and Minami?" Rebecca exchanged glances with her team before they all nodded their heads.
They were seemingly at an advantage since Nana, Ayesha, Marianne, and Ingvild were not as strong or fast as the members of their team. The only one who could really carry the team was Keith, and maybe Qingyue.
"You are on!" His blonde wife smirked at him, and after a sleepless night, they arrived at the Football Stadium in the Sports City of Noxville.
There was no one else in the stadium, yhry had it all to themselves, and Amelia asked her maid Viola to serve as the Referee of today's game.
Viola had only recently started Cultivating after Amelia decided that she wanted to keep her by her side for a long time.
Rebecca had helped her with it, and though she was still in the Foundation Profound Realm, she was better than any ordinary Mortal to serve as their Referee.
The goals were left open without a Keeper, and the rule was set that the first person to reach the six-yard box from the defending team could stop the ball with their hands.
Qingyue offered to stay back as she did not want to risk letting Nana and Ayesha hold the defence, and from the other side, they put Kiara on defence.
As soon as the game started, the Blue Team, which was Rebecca's Team, started showing their superiority in speed as they toyed around with the Red Team.
It only took 15 minutes for Ingvild, Ayesha, Nana, and Qingyue to grow frustrated, but Marianne kept her cool.
"Come on, Keith!" Qingyue could tell that he was not putting in much effort, and though they had not allowed the other team to score a goal yet, they had not once attacked or threatened Kiara, who was leisurely standing in the other box, cheering on her team.
"Hey, Yingying, pass me the ball." Keith playfully said, but his Shadow did not fall for the trick and dribbled past Ingvild to rush at the goal.
Amelia was reaching forward to support her on the other wing, and Rebecca was in the middle.
There was no way Qingyue could have stopped the goal, and when Amelia put the ball in the back of the net, Qingyue stomped over to him angrily.
"It's because of you!" She complained. "You did not fall back!"
Keith planted a kiss on her cheek, which calmed her down a little, and then whispered something in her ear, an action that caught everyone's attention.
Qingyue pouted, but then nodded her head and obediently returned to her position.
At the end of the first half, the score stood at 4-0 in favour of the Blue Team, but they did not seem too comfortable with their lead.
They had sensed that Keith was letting them score those goals as he did not put much effort into defending, and they had also heard what he whispered into Qingyue's ear. He was asking her to wait for the second half.
"Amy, you and I will cover him." Rebecca proposed a plan, and the others agreed to it.
They were now going to put all their effort into making sure they defended the score.
The whistle sounded out, and Ingvild passed the ball to Keith, who rushed forward at alarmingly fast speed and twisted with the ball on his foot, getting past Amelia who had rushed in for a tackle and then dodged everyone before reaching the box from the left wing.
Everyone on the opponent's team was so focused on him as he refused to pass to anyone else and kept toying with them, that they did not pay much attention to the little Carmilla Princess, not until Keith suddenly passed the ball to her, and she put it in the back of the net.
"Yes!" Ingvild happily rushed up to him and jumped into his arms, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"Good job!" He nudged his nose with hers and then celebrated the goal with his team.
With the whistle, Rebecca passed the ball to Amelia, and then they charged forward, to their dismay, Nana, Marianne, Ayesha, and Ingvild all surrounded Amelia, and she was forced to pass the ball to Rebecca, which was Intercepted by Keith, who then charged at the goal.
Once again, he began toying with all of them, making them slide on the ground and nearly crash into each other as he dribbled, and all his team was now waiting for the ball in the box.
Keith, however, seemed to be in no rush and kept toying with the Blue Team, who were now hesitant to commit as that would leave Kiara at the mercy of the four people who were looking forward to putting the ball in the back of the net.
"Ayesha..." Keith suddenly called out, and everyone on the Blue Team was alarmed.
Ingrid disengaged and backed off to cover the girl in question, but it left an opening for Keith, which he utilised and cut in before shooting at the goal, narrowly getting the ball past Kiara's safe hands.
Viola's whistle sounded out as the Red Team scored another goal, and they happily cheered.
For the next several minutes, the Blue Team kept the ball as they decided to pass it to each other in their own half, but ultimately, a mistake was forced, and Keith was there to Intercept and charge at the goal.
This time, it happened to be Ingvild again who was passed the ball at the last moment, and she successfully managed to put it in the net.
The Blue Team changed their tactics again, and Amelia decided to guard the goal. A decision that proved to be very wise as it took the game to the late stages, but Keith still managed to find the goals, and with the Final Whistle, the Reds won the match by 5-4.
Qingyue felt like this was the happiest day of her life as she celebrated with her team, but the Blues were very upset with themselves.
"Come on, it's just a game," The grey-eyed girl smirked at Rebecca, who pouted, not even trying to mask that she was upset, and it brought more delight to Qingyue.
Keith then made the losing team prepare lunch for them, and everyone from his team did not hold back as they ordered whatever they liked, taking all the dissatisfaction from the first half out on them.
"We want a rematch!" Rebecca announced when they sat down for lunch.
"Nope." And Keith straightforwardly shook his head.
"Come on!" She pouted, but he shook his head again, much to Qingyue's delight.
"We will be leaving tomorrow." He said, and the table suddenly turned silent.
"When will you be back?" Kiara asked, not pleased that he was going to leave again.
"A few weeks." He lightly smiled as he watched her pout and nod her head. "And all of you have had enough fun now. Focus on your work and training." He seriously said, and they could only sigh in their hearts.
"Can I come?" Qingyue requested.
"Are you sure you want to come?" Rebecca smiled at her, which made her frown. "There will be blood and lots of deaths." She bluntly said, and this froze everyone at the table.
However, everyone, except for Qingyue returned to focusing on their meal, not saying anything.
Ayesha and Nana were disturbed and fearful after Rebecca's revelation, but they decided to keep quiet and behave as if they had not heard her words.
"You are going to kill people?" Qingyue looked at Keith and asked.
"We are going to a war." He nodded his head.
The silence reigned at the table for a good while before Kiara could not help it and worriedly looked at him.
"Be careful." She said.
"I will be fine. Don't worry." He promised, and his words finally eased the weight that was pressing on their hearts.
Qingyue finished her lunch before everyone else and then excused herself.
She was not feeling well after learning that her husband was likely going to kill people.
No one followed after her as they knew that she needed to be alone right now, and eventually, normalcy returned to the table as Keith engaged them all in miscellaneous conversations.
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