Chapter 283 - He Grew Up

While Fatima, Karen, and Rowan went to report their situation to Albert, Lucia and Serilla were relaxing at home. Quinn was serving lunch and they were enjoying themselves.

It had been a while since Lucia had cooked anything and this was because their butler, Quinn, had begun taking care of all the mundane chores in the house.

Of course, it wasn't like Quinn could take over immediately. He still had to learn about the peculiar recipes that Lucia would always cook for the party. Cecil hadn't divulged any of his secrets about him not being a human of this planet to Quinn or Ren.

He probably would never tell Ren, but he decided that he may tell Quinn about it one day. So for now, the butler still wasn't privy to any of the deeper secrets of Cecil's family.

"Madams, today's lunch will be Monte Cristo."

With his outstanding memory, Cecil was able to record every kind of recipe he had eaten after coming back from his training on his family's private island. After years of eating odd-tasting things, he was very particular about his foods. So anything that he found tasty, which was practically everything that didn't have insects in it, was worthy of him memorizing their recipes.

His mother had made this Italian sandwich for him before and it was very memorable because it was the first thing he ate after returning from his training.

While Lucia and Serilla were happily eating their lunches, someone knocked on the door to their wagon. Quinn opened it and upon looking at the person, he immediately let the young lady in.

"It's sister-in-law!" Lucia exclaimed happily.

"Did you have lunch yet?" Serilla asked while motioning for Quinn to hurry and make more.

"Come join us if you haven't!"

Lucia immediately patted the seat next to her and invited Fatima to join their lunch.

"Is that...Monte Cristo?"

"Yup!"

"Haha, Cecil loved that sandwich..."

"Yup! He said that it reminded him of his family a lot so we occasionally have it from time to time~"

Karen was also trailing behind Fatima and couldn't help but salivate at the delectable smell of Lucia and Serilla's lunch.

Seeing this, Serilla had them sit down before telling them to wait for a moment. It didn't take long before Quinn came back and served the two the same lunch menu as Serilla and Lucia.

After finishing their lunch, just as Fatima was about to excuse herself from the wagon after talking to Lucia and Serilla more about Cecil, a gentle knock was heard from the door before it was followed by a frivolous voice that Fatima knew all too well.

"Lady Fatima? Are you in here?"

Lucia and Serilla eyed Fatima and saw that her bright expression from earlier had somehow darkened by a few levels. Fatima looked at the two with a strained smile and explained.

"Lucia, Serilla, that's the Second Prince of Regulus, Armano Regulus. He's Karen and Rowan's older brother."

"Bleh, though I hate to admit it, but that pest is, unfortunately, my brother," Karen said with a look of displeasure.

"?"

"Is there something wrong with your brother?" Serilla couldn't help but ask.

"He's just an annoying fly who keeps buzzing around! He's also frivolous and naturally loves to engage in debauchery, he's a disgrace to the royal family's name!"

"Ahem," Fatima cleared her throat as she eyed the young lady who had just spoken.

"Hey! Ima, I am not like that! At least I take my relationsh.i.p.s seriously!"

"That's the only thing separating you from him!"

"But at least I'm better than he is! He changes his partners like he changes clothes! Yet, he still has the nerve to try and court you despite knowing you're brother Rowan's fiancée!" Karen said indignantly. It could be seen that she wasn't fond of this elder brother.

"He'll stick his face into anything that looks good...Ah! Lucia, Serilla! You both better hide! If he sees the two of you, there's no doubt that he'll come pestering you two later!"

Lucia only shrugged while Serilla smiled gently and thanked Karen for her warning.

"Don't worry about us...you should be more worried about your brother..."

"Eh? Why's that?" Karen responded in question.

Serilla eyed Fatima who was similarly confused and said with a strained smile, "Our husband, Cecil... he's the jealous and possessive type..."

"Oh?"

"Oh my, little Cecil grew up to be like that?" Fatima raised an eyebrow when she heard this.

"Y-yes, Sister-in-law... originally, he wasn't like this, but due to some events which led from one thing to another, Cecil's been particularly protective of us ever since..." Serilla replied.

"O-okay?"

Lucia eyed Karen and tepidly said, "You should keep your brother restrained, if Cel finds out. Just know that he wouldn't care whether he's royalty or not, your brother's ending wouldn't be pretty, he may not die, but..."

Lucia didn't finish her words, but Karen could already get the meaning of it. Fatima however was shocked, her little brother Cecil had grown to be a little scary.

"Just for reference's sake, Serilla had once been drugged one time and some people from the Empire nearly had their way with her... let's just say that an entire district was nearly razed to the ground and Cecil nearly impaled a duke when he was demanded to compensate for the damages. By the way, the duke's son was the one who drugged Seri and he didn't meet a favorable end~"

Serilla blushed when her sister recounted her embarrassing past. She wasn't traumatized by the event because her fear of it was immediately washed away with a night of passion with Cecil, so she only recalled it as an embarrassing event where she had let her guard down and caused her husband some troubles.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, but the Emperor had to take things into his own hands and even he had to concede to our infuriated husband who was only 15 at the time~" Lucia giggled when she remembered how Cecil threatened to raze even District 0 to the ground when the Emperor had initially sided with the duke from his Empire.

As for how he got away with the offense, let's just say that the party's teleportation and Cecil's destructive capability, which was already proven, had made them out more of a threat than the rebellion of a duke house.

There was also the fact that Cecil was an honorary elder of the Empire's Workshop and the current mentor of the Workshop's next head artificer. Sola had also sided with Cecil in the proceedings and her title alone was on par with that of a duke house, not to mention she was also a member of one of the 5 duke families of the Empire.

"Since Cel isn't afraid of the Empire's Imperial family, he wouldn't be afraid of your royal family~ and I'm not trying to sound arrogant or anything, but our Serilla here has similar status to that of a Princess~" Lucia ended her words playfully and meaningfully eyed Karen.

"A-a princess?! Really?"

"N-no! Nothing like that! Lulu!" Serilla yelled in embarrassment as she eyed her sister who was snickering at her. Her face was burning up so she couldn't help but take a pillow and hide away her face.

Karen wasn't stupid. After hearing Lucia's meaningful words, she knew that these people weren't ones to be offended. She wasn't sure as to how strong this husband of theirs was, but he surely wouldn't be any weaker than them and since he had the audacity and confidence to offend the Machina Reggio Empire and had the power to walk out of it unscathed, this alone attested to how threatening he was to the point that even the Empire had to concede to him. If their royal family offended these 3 powerful individuals, then only problems would arise later.

"Since that's the case, no worries then, I'll make sure I reel in that stupid brother of mine. I'll also ask Brother Rowan for support as well!"

"...okay..." Fatima was still a little shocked at the fact that her brother had offended an entire Empire just for his wife. It was admirable, but at the same time reckless. There was another thing that made her contemplate deeply. Just how powerful had her little brother grown to be able to offend such an enormous power yet have the ability to walk out of the conflict unharmed and, from what Lucia had briefly described, feared?

Through the entire recount, Serilla had her face buried in a pillow due to her immense embarrassment. In a sense, she had been the cause of all those events back in the Empire. It was something that she didn't want to remember.

"Lulu...you're so meaaaannn..."

"Eheheheh~ sorry Seri, I didn't mean to, but honestly, I find it beneath me to hide away from some weakling," Her words caused Karen to let out a strained and dry laugh.

One had to know that every member of the Regulus Royal Family was powerful in their own right. Her second brother, despite being such a flirt, was renowned in the kingdom for his swordsmanship and magic, which was unbelievably much stronger than Rowan's.

At least, that's the information on paper. Armano was stronger than Rowan, but if the two princes were to spar with each other again, Armano was bound to lose miserably. Sure, he was talented, but Rowan had undergone strict 'training' under the Silvarias.

He trained and normally sparred with Fatima's father bimonthly, so his combat prowess had spiked up in the recent years and Rowan was even ahead of his first brother, Albert, in terms of swordsmanship and magic.

Quinn was still waiting on the side and didn't move to open the door. When he heard the unfamiliar voice and the description that both Karen and Fatima had given about the one knocking, he was disinclined to let such a person into their house.

He'd be betraying his Lord's expectations and orders if he let such a flirt into their sacred haven. Quinn shivered at the thought of his master growing angry if he found out that such a person was let into the house.

However, the person was still the prince of the kingdom so he had to show some form of courtesy, else he offended the kingdom.

"Lady Fatima, should I open the door?"

Fatima looked at the careful butler and smiled at him, "No need, Karen and I were just about to head out. I'd rather not let that sc.u.mbag see my two beautiful sisters-in-law. They have no fear since Cecil is their husband, but I rather not let that fool pester them."

"Yes, Lady Fatima. Shall I escort both you and Lady Karen out?"

"Thank you."

"Lucia, Serilla, we'll be going now! I'd like to drop by for lunch next time I get the chance~" Karen happily bid the two girls farewell and exited the wagon with Fatima.

Once the two girls walked out, they immediately saw Armano waiting for them, or more like, he was waiting for Fatima. Before Quinn was able to shut the door in time, the prince was able to take a glimpse of the two beauties that were lazily relaxing inside the wagon.

"Lady Fatima? Who were those inside the wagon?" Armano inquired.

"What do you want, Sir Armano?" Fatima answered his question with a question of her own.

"Hmhm~ they were beautiful," Armano only said this before he turned around and walked away.

Fatima narrowed her eyes when he saw Armano act like that. She could only sigh and inwardly apologize to both Lucia and Serilla.

"Karen, remember what you promised my two sisters-in-law..."

"Don't worry. The consequences of offending your little brother seem to be very heavy and I don't want to become collateral damage because of my brother's thoughtlessness."

Fatima only nodded slightly before making her way over to Rowan who had just arrived.