Chapter 11 - Killing Intent

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Ava's (Atlas'/Pandora's Birth mother) POV

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The woman in Infront of us is Laura the Fleming family. They are a well-renowned noble family that we are on neutral grounds with.

Due to my family's up-and-coming status as a potential minor noble family, we were invited to a picnic party by my old friend, Elaina Starnight. She's an old friend of mine, who, however, failed to mention the fact that there will be so many people attending.

Yes, we had prepared well which meant we didn't look out of place, but it still took me by surprise to see so many nobles in one place.

"If it isn't the Ravens. Long time no see" Laura stated, making a few heads turn to stare at the confrontation.

"Yeah, been busy these days haha," I said

"I heard your lovely daughter Has finally turned 14 this year and is now going to one of the prestigious Schools" Laura commented

Even though it was supposed to sound like congratulations, it sounded more like an insult.

"yes, she is quite good at magic too" I mocked back.

Just when the woman in front of me was about to reply, Elaina had come to the rescue.

"I see you have finally met after such a long time. oh, where are my manners" said Elaina while covering his mouth with an open palm and a shocked face behind it before giving a curtsey, which we promptly returned.

"It's been such a long time Ava, how are you? oh, and i see you have had a little girl while you were away. What's her name?!" Elaina said energetically

"Pandora," I replied with a bright smile.

"What a beautiful name, all gifted huh. Maybe one day she can share her gifts and marry one of my boys, what do you say?" said Elaina with a small chuckle, yet I knew she was being serious.

"Well that's up to her to decide when she becomes of age. Anyway, I have 3 others to worry about so I should be fine for a while" I said while chuckling along.

"What Nonsense! If you leave your daughter to marry whoever she wants, not only might she bring someone unworthy, but there's a chance she might not bring anyone at all. When they reach the age of Aroura you should start arranging marriages before it's too late" argued Laura

"I agree" chimed in Elaina. "you should at least secure an heir before allowing them to make whatever decisions they want"

A few of the people eavesdropping nodded in unison, not because they were agreeing with her statement fully but because they wanted to have a chance to marry her daughter into their families.

I was in quite the tough spot here, I felt like any second now, the men around us would swarm me and ask for my daughter's hand.

Thankfully, Elaina seemed to recognize my worries so she changed the subject to Pandora instead of carrying on the topic.

"Isn't she a cute one?" Elaina said in a loud commanding voice which sent a message to all those who were about to make their move.

Pandora was in her moving chair that had two handles and two four small wheels on the bottom. It had a cloth in the middle which made it look like a miniature stretcher with wheels.

Elaina bent down and pinched the small cheeks of the asleep Pandora before kissing her on the forehead. This caused her to wake up immediately with half-open eyes, staring directly into Elaina's light brown eyes.

Pandora's Golden eyes shimmered in the light of the blue sky. She had silky golden hair that went down to her ears, just like her sister's.

When they made eye contact, Elaina tensed up for a bit which I'm guessing is because of the golden eyes, while Pandora looked at her in annoyance rather than confusion.

"Oh she doesn't like anyone other than Aroura and me, so she is probably annoyed by your advanc-" Before I could even finish my sentence, Pandora got out of the grip on her cheeks and bit down on Elaina's finger.

"You're a cheeky one huh," said Elaina while rubbing her finger

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry. Did it hurt? Are you bleeding?!" I asked in quick succession.

According to everyone who had been bit by Pandora, her bite hurts quite a lot. only me and Aroura haven't been a bit but when others like Zack and Deros were bit, they either started bleeding, or in Deros' case, they screamed in pain.

"No, I'm fine. It's my fault for touching her without your permission so I should be apologizing" said Elaina with a bow before saying "But damn did that hurt''

We both laughed it off and went throughout our day talking to different people and walking catching up with friends.

It was almost dinner when the butlers came and set up tables and chairs before getting the food. Elaina was at the front and we were invited to sit with her family.

Aroura didn't have many friends in the area so she spent most of the time with Pandora or catching up with some girls her age.

Before dinner, I quickly breastfed Pandora before putting her on her moving chair and putting her next to our table with a few more babies.

Speaking about Pandora, I thought she would be more excited to see more people and especially babies her age, yet she looked as bored as ever until Aroura started playing with her.

I'm always so worried about her because

since the day she was born, she had cried enough times that I could count it on two hands. Unlike her siblings who used to trouble me all the time by their cries, Pandora seemed to be extremely quiet, and even then there were so many anomalies since she was born.

She had only started to urinate recently, And even though the doctor said she was fine, I brought a few more to check on her just for them to say the same thing.

I don't think she had ever defeated a single time she was born, nor become sick. The thing is, I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with her yet I kept it a secret from everyone except Aroura after the last doctor's visit. Since no one else changes her Cloth Diapers, I decided to tell them she was just fine and had started to urinate in normal amounts.

Anyways, now that we are at a party/ picnic I have to get rid of those worrying thoughts, for now, I don't want to ruin anyone else's evening so I'm just going to relax a little.

The moment we started eating, Deros and Sebastian, Elaina's husband, started to speak about marriage again and how much they wish to have grandchildren.

Elaina spoke about magic while Aroura and Argenta spoke about their respective Academies and their experiences. The only ones left out were the twins since Ambros was still a toddler who wouldn't understand anything the twins said to him. They had their own company anyway so I didn't worry much.

After everyone finished their luxurious meals, 30 minutes later the desserts came, and with it came the musicians and mages.

The mages quickly created a Platform 500 meters tall wide in a square shape. Then they created lights in the sunsetting sky using fire and air magic-making blue lights.

For the first time since this party/ picnic had started, Pandora's eyes were wide open and were full of excitement and amazement. She had a thing for magic that no one knew about.

Men from all around asked their wives to dance with them while the younglings asked their preferred female to dance with them in hopes of an engagement or even a date.

Many parents of different families used this chance to send their children to dance with certain girls like Aroura, or if the child was a girl, they would be sent to seduce one of the young boys like James, Laura's son.

While I was dancing, I could see many boys being rejected by Aroura and Argenta before a familiar boy went Infront of Aroura, kneeling down and forcefully grabbing her hand, not giving her a chance to reject.