After a week of traveling, the group finally returned to Caer Wydion.
To everyone's surprise, there was a beautiful lady who was waiting for them in the wide open space in front of the castle, where the Flying Ship would land.
As soon as the ship had safely landed on the ground, Joanne cried out and flew towards the lady with tears in her eyes.
"Mom!" Joanne shouted, as her mother, Lady Catherine, opened her arms wide and caught her daughter in a loving embrace the moment the young lady jumped into her arms.
"Joanne, I missed you," Catherine said as she held her daughter tightly.
The young lady, on the other hand, cried in mother's arms because it had been more than half a year since she last saw her.
Ethan, who had seen his mother in the past, watched this scene from the deck of the ship with a smile on his face.
"Aren't you going down there as well?" Wallace asked.
"Not right now," Ethan replied. "Joanne has been bottling up a lot of heartaches in her heart. It would be best if she monopolized her mother for now."
"You talk as if Lady Catherine is not your mother," Fortuna commented with disapproving gaze.
"Of course she is also my mother," Ethan replied. "I was able to meet her once before this, and we talked a bit during that time."
Fortuna and Enzo, who were about to introduce Ethan to their Lady, looked at the young man in surprise.
They thought that this would be his first time meeting his birth mother, and it would be an emotional reunion.
However, Ethan looked calm and collected, as if everything was under his control.
While it was true that he also wanted to hug his mother, he believed that, right now, Joanne needed their mother more than him.
Wallace watched the two ladies with his arms crossed over his chest.
This was his first time seeing Ethan's mother, and a glance was enough to tell him that Ethan had inherited her eyes and aesthetic features. seaʀᴄh thё novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
'And where is that bastard?' Wallace thought as he glanced in the surroundings, looking for the man with long black hair and red eyes, who had met with him before Ethan's adoptive father started his journey towards the Magdar Kingdom.
It was Wallace's first time to meet Ethan's biological father and, back then, he didn't hesitate to punch the latter to the face.
Surprisingly, Ethan's Father didn't even bother to dodge his attack, and allowed the punch to hit him.
"I deserve that and more. I feel ashamed that I was not able to protect him shortly after his birth. But, if you are going to punch me, can you not punch like a woman? Put more strength into your punch next time."
Those were the words that Lleu Valentin had said to Wallace during their first meeting.
Wallace was annoyed by the man's arrogance so he punched him over and over again until his knuckles bled.
However, the most he managed to do was give the black-haired man a bloody nose, which the latter healed in a span of a few seconds.
After that, Lleu disappeared, leaving Wallace with another strong urge to beat the crap out of him.
After what seemed like forever, Catherine raised her head and made a gesture for Ethan to come to her.
She was still hugging Joanne, but she wanted to hold her two children at the same time.
"Go," Wallace gave Ethan's back a slight push.
Ethan nodded and jumped off the flying ship.
He landed perfectly on the ground and walked towards his mother, who reached out one of her hands towards him.
Ethan smiled faintly as he hugged Catherine and Joanne at the same time, making the family of three bask in each other's warmth.
Fortuna wiped away the tears that were flowing from her eyes because the scene felt so emotional to her.
Enzo, on the other hand, just smiled and crossed his arms over his chest.
As the Patriarch of one of the Protector Clans, he was very happy that Ethan had been reunited with his family again.
After hugging her son and daughter for several minutes, Catherine pulled them towards the palace doors, so that they could talk and catch up on many things.
Once the three were safely inside the palace, Wallace sensed a gaze aimed in his direction, which made him raise his head to look at one of the towers of the palace.
There, he saw Ethans' father, Lleu, looking at him with a calm expression on his face.
The two stared at each other for a brief moment before they exchanged a nod of acknowledgment to each other.
"Tonight, we're having a feast!" Fortuna declared. "Enzo, you go and inform the others. I'll go home and tell everyone to prepare."
"Understood." Enzo nodded before jumping off the Flying Ship, and disappearing into thin air.
Emma and Lilith, who were left on the Flying Ship, glanced at each other before nodding their heads at the same time.
They would also return to their families and return later to celebrate the reunion between Ethan and his family members.
Wallace, who had been left alone on the ship, took out a pipe and started to smoke.
He had accompanied his son to meet his parents in a far away land, and now that he had done his duty, he felt that the thorn that had been lodged inside his body for a long time had finally been pulled out.
'I'm sure that mother would have a lot to say if she was here,' Wallace thought. 'I'm sure she would have beaten up that bastard using that spiked bat she likes to carry around with her.'
The thought of her mother shouting abuse towards Lleu, while bashing him with her spiked bat made Wallace chuckle.
However, since Agnes wasn't there, he could only imagine the what if's if she had traveled with them.
***
Inside the Palace of Caer Wydion…
Ethan and Joanne sat beside Catherine as she continued to hug the two of them at the same time.
Joanne was currently talking about her best friend, Princess Ramona, and sharing her experiences in the Magdar Kingdom with her mother.
Ethan, on the other hand, remained silent, and would only talk whenever Joanne asked for his confirmation about something.
Catherine listened to her daughter's story without saying a word.
She felt happy and sad at the same time that her daughter managed to recognize someone as her best friend.
Happy because Joanne seemed to love her best friend very much.
Sad because she had to part with Princess Ramona, who had helped melt the ice in her daughter's heart, allowing her to open up to other people aside from her family.
They talked and talked, not knowing how much time had passed.
Only when they noticed that it was dark inside the room did they realize that it was already evening.
As if waiting for that moment, they heard a knock on the door, and Fortuna's words reached their ears.
"Mistress, Young Master, Young Miss, dinner is served," Fortuna said. "Please proceed to the Dining Hall."
"Thank you, Fortuna," Catherine replied. "We will be there shortly."
Ethan's mother then held her children's hands and stood up from the couch.
"I'm sure that you're hungry, and tired from your journey," Catherine said. "Let's eat together, and continue our chat. I want to hear more of your stories, especially about Princess Ramona and Illumina."
"Un!" Joanne happily nodded because she had lots of stories to tell.
She spent half a year in the Lands of Alastor, and had traveled to many places alongside her best friend, whom she believed had lived her life to the fullest.
Ethan also nodded and followed his mother towards the Dining Hall.
However, as they walked inside the Hallway of the Palace, the young man couldn't help himself from sensing the gaze of at least three powerful individuals, who seemed to be aware of the changes that were currently happening inside his body.
'Ignore them for now, Ethan,' Ethan's Other Half commented. 'I'm sure they will show themselves sooner or later. Also, they are not your enemies, so there's no need for you to be guarded against them.'
Ethan nodded in understanding and relaxed a bit.
He didn't know where these gazes were coming from, what one thing was clear.
All three of them were incredibly powerful.
Now that he had gained the power of Faith, his senses had become sharper and stronger.
Because of this, he was able to tell that one of the three gazes that were observing him from a place that he couldn't reach belonged to a Progenitor.
A Progenitor, who was waiting for him to return to Caer Wydion, so that the two of them could talk, and Ethan could finally come to understand the true reason why his family was forced to abandon him in the world of the Ordinarius.