Chapter 166 - Pendent

"By the way, Father since when has she been staying here? And how come I never heard about Maxim family before." Irene asked as she looked at Raymond who was sipping his jasmine tea.

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"Hmm, that's probably because I was too busy with the family matters so I never got the chance to introduce both of you to the Maxim family. Leaving Benjamin only Luke was the one who stood beside my side through thick and thin." Raymond said as he looked at Bill who nodded his head and after a while bought a small box with him.

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" See,this is one of our younger day picture which I have treasured since Decades." Raymond said as he handed those pictures to Irene and Ashton who looked at it closely and the man beside Raymond was a exact copy of Samira.

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"Wow, Lady Maxim has taken a lot after Lord Maxim." Irene said as she looked at Samira.

"I hear that a lot~" Samira said as she took another slice of cake on her plate.

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"Thats enough." Ash said as he took away her plate and gave her some tissue paper to clean her hands and mouth.

"But---"

"No but, the more you eat, the more traning you have to do later so better control your diet now." Ash said making Sam to sit quietly.

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"Training? What kind of training are you doing?" Irene asked as she looked at Ash.

"Just the normal knight training." Samira said as she smiled and looked over Ash.

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"Yeah, she has been influenced by Sister Molly a lot and since the day she came here she has been persisting me to train her...although I can't do much I still try to do my best." Ash said as he drank his tea.

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"I see, that's a good thing." Irene said as she smiled.

"Seems like Lady Maxim wants to become a knight too." Raymond said as he looked at Samira whose ears turned red due to shyness.

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"I haven't thought that much yet but yes I would like to give it a try." She said while playing with her fingers.

"That's great, I bet Luke would be happy to hear about this." Raymond said with a smile on his face.

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Just like that their summer afternoon tea time passed with laughter and comfort talk.

"Ha, finally I am back to my own room!" Irene said as she laid down in her bed.

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"Ha, so comfortable~~" 

"My Lady, May I come in?" A familiar voice said as the door slightly opened and Irene jumped out of her bed and hugged the person who just entered the room.

"Hana! I missed you!" Irene said as hugged her tightly.

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"My Lady, I missed you too." Hana said as she patted her back.

"Really?" 

"Of course."

"Where is the proof?" Irene asked as she pouted.

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"Proof, here is the proof." She said as she clapped her hands and the junior maid entered the room with a tray in which a glass with closed lid was kept.

"What is that?" Irene asked as she looked at the cup which had skem water droplets in his surrounding.

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"This is something, I have been trying to make for the lady. You can say this is a welcoming gift from my side made with the upmost sincerity." She said while.giving that glass to Irene.

"Wow!" Irene said while touching the glass which was as cold as Ice.

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Irene then opened the lid and a smile came on her face immediately.

"This!" 

"My new creations. The lady loves hot chocolate a lot but you can't have it in summer so I thought of using the hot chocolate with some milk and ice and the results are in front of your eyes." She said as Irene took a sip of that cold hot chocolate which tasted both cold and richer then before.

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"Hana this is amazing! I really appreciate your sincerity." Irene said as she took a sip of.the cold chocolate.

"But my Lady, why do you look so thin? Did you not eat properly?" Hana asked as she stood near Irene as she drank the drink.

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"I did eat a lot but maybe beacsye of homesickness the food didn't react to my body and just got digested." Irene said as she handed her the glass and cleaned her mouth with a napkin.

"I see, then what would you like to eat today? I will tell the chef to cook it right away." Hana said as she took the glass from her hand and kept it on the tray.

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"I will eat anything as long as it's made by our family chef. You don't know how much I missed his cooking for the last 1 month." Irene said as she stretched her arms and legs.

"The chef might reach cloud 9 after hearing all this." Hana said as she giggled whereas Irene slowly covered herself with the blanket and closed her eyes.

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"My Lady, are you sleeping right now?" 

"Hmm, I am a bit tired...."

"I see then please rest well, I will wake you up for dinner." Hana said as she tucked Irene into the blanket nicely and left the room.

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"Young Master? Are you waiting for the lady?" Hana questioned to Ash who was waiting outside Irene's room.

"Yeah, but why is she not out yet?" Ash asked as he put both of his hands behind his waist.

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"The Lady said she is tired, so she is taking a nap." 

"I see, no wonder she is not out yet. Anyway you continue your work. I will come back later." 

"As you wish, Young Master." Hana said as she walked towards the kitchen and Ash too looked at the door for a bit and then walked towards the other direction.

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"Hey! Ashton! Why do you look so gloomy? Now that Lady Winter is back shouldn't you be happy?" Samira who has been following him asked as she nugged at his shoulders.

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"Lady Maxim, please leave me alone for a bit." Ash said as he walked towards the garden.

"Ashton, you know I can't do that and how many times have I told you that there is no need to be all formal with me." Sam said as she kept following him.

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"Lady Maxi---I mean Sam do you really have no other work to do?" Ash asked as he stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her.

"What do you think?" Sam asked as she shrugged.

"You look too free to me." Ash said as he finally sat down on the fresh green grass and looked at the orange sky with the sun about to set.

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"So, now that you have given up on running away form me...would you like to enlighten me with your problem so that I could help you a bit?"  Sam asked as she looked at Ash who was looking at his closed fists.

"Sam, you are the only child right?" 

"Yeah, I am."

"Then there is no use of telling you my problems." Ash said as he put his hands inde his coat pockets and leaned against the tree closing his eyes.

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"Hey, don't think so low of me! Who knows I might really help you out so don't be all cocky and tell me what is the problem." She said as she shook him from head to toe.

"Sam---" Just when Ash tired to take his hands out of the pocket and thing fly out of his hands and landed on the grass.

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"What is that?" Sam asked as she picket up the thing which turned out ot be a necklace with a pure blue crystal in between and a sliver chain to balance it.

"Wow! This is so pretty. And this blue crystal looks so much like....Lady Winter's eyes." Sam said as she looked at Ash whose ears were getting all heated up.

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"I never thought the Ashton who acts all cold and cool infornt of others would be such a caring and sweet brother." Sam squeeked as Ash took that pendant away from her hands and put it inside his pocket again.

" First, you better not tell anyone about this and second, *takes soemthing out of his pocket* don't think much about this, my playmate." He said as he handed her another pendent which had a butterfly hanging in between with golden wings.

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"Is this one for me?" Sam asked not believing he eyes as she gently and carefully touched the butterfly and kept glancing at Ash.

"Of course, since you are similar to a butterfly, tiny with bug dreams." Ash said as he patted hr head.

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" Thank you....I will treasure it forever." Sam said as she held the pendent close to her heart and gave out a bright and pure smile.

" No worries, then shall we head inside its getting dark." Ash said as he stood up and dusted off his clothes.

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"Sure but...hey you didn't tell about your problem yet." Sam said as she stood and held on to his jacket.

"Silly Samy there are things which ones need to deal alone. So let me be.." Ash said as he removed her hands and pushed her forward towards the mansion.