“We have finally arrived.” I uttered once I stepped out of the carriage. “I have not been here for years.”
“You are not alone, Raphael.” Mom responded, still inside the carriage. “I haven’t visited here for years since only your Mother visited the Imperial Capital annually.”
“Yes, Mom. It has been so long that I forgot about the huge temperature drop between here and our home.”
After a few minutes on the road, we reached the main gate of the city and smoothly passed it since we were aristocrats. Another few minutes from the gate, we finally arrived at our destination, our manor in the Imperial Capital.
Since the empire was situated on the northern portion of the continent, the temperature here surely was colder than in Raevender territory. The winter just started, and the snow had not fallen yet, but the temperature here almost hit zero and was chilly.
We were used to the warmth of the carriage, which was enchanted to maintain the temperature inside, so we felt a significant temperature drop once the imperial air burst into the door.
Apparently, this manor in front of us was formerly owned by the family of Mother, the household of Lavender. This was where Mother was born and raised until she was adopted by the Raevens.
When Mother regained the glory of her family and became a baronetess, Mom and her used to live here. But it was only for a short time, as they got promoted to the rank of viscountess after the monster invasion and moved to the now-Raevender territory.
Right now, the manor is used as our vacation home whenever we visit the empire. Having our own estate was great since we did not have to book nights at expensive hotels.
“Take my hand, ladies.”
“What a gentleman.” Gabrielle said as she was taking my hand. “Thank you, Raphael.”
I then assisted the others one by one, including Mary, of course. Once everyone had stepped outside, we proceeded to enter the mansion.
“Welcome to our secondary residence, Gabrielle.” Grabbing her right arm, Mother happily told Gabrielle as soon as we got inside. “Please feel at home.”
“Thank you for having me here.”
Even though she had my memories, this was the first time Gabrielle physically stepped on our imperial estate. But even with that, Gabrielle calmly retained her composure as they marched our way to the living area of the mansion.
The servants who were taking care of the estate gave us bows as we passed through their spot. Though some of them gave us strange looks once they caught a glimpse of an unknown woman walking along with us.
Mom and Mother occasionally introduced Gabrielle to them as we passed by, clearing up their confusion and misunderstanding.
They were shocked and surprised when they heard that Mom and Mother would be taking a new wife, but they eventually digested it and gave their blessings to their marriage.
After chatting a bit in the living area, things became so busy since each of us had many things to do this day regarding various matters. But we managed to take care of them before evening.
“I really wanted to see Louise and hugged her tightly right now. Too bad that the academy set a curfew for the students during school days.”
Mother pondered as we were eating our dinner after this day’s work. Not only Mother missed Sister, but anyone on the table as well. Gabrielle joined us at the table; of course, she would become a part of our family not long after.
As for our seating arrangement, Mother was still at the head of the table. Mom and Gabrielle took the first column as they were Mother’s partners, while I sat beside Mom.
“I totally understand your feelings, Mylene; not everything is under our control after all. But she could visit us if she had enough time. Moreover, the school year is about to end next week, so she will be spending her whole time with us when that day comes.”
“You are right, Claire. Perhaps I stressed myself out so much that my eagerness to see my daughter suddenly escalated. It seems I need to take a rest physically and mentally.”
“Please do that, Mother, and the same for everyone here so that we can visit Sophia and her family tomorrow without a hitch.”
“Oh, right.”
One of the reasons we were at the empire was to attend the fifteenth birthday of Sophia, my cousin and fiancee, that would be held a few weeks later. I had not personally seen her for a few months, so I was excited to see her once again.
Before she left our home a few months ago, she gave me her permission to create my own harem. I had been updating her about my women by occasionally sending her letters about them and my current status with each of them.
I genuinely did not know how she would react to my women since I did not send any of my remote visions to observe her to respect her privacy, though I was always watching Sister.
There were many of them, so she must be shocked, especially since I wrote even their races and levels on the letters. But I truly hoped that she would not feel disheartened by them and think about her superiority as one of my official spouses.
“But, Raphael,” Mom said, then turned around and took a glance at me with a mischievous smile. “I think we won’t be able to rest probably tonight.”
“…Yeah, you are right.” I immediately understood what she meant by that. “I guess we will be going to have an all nighter tonight?”
“Oh my. My body will be aching tomorrow for sure.”
Of course, I could not forget to enjoy my very first night here in the empire with Mom and Mother, featuring Gabrielle. I would be spending nights with them while Sister was not here yet, as well as visiting the dungeon every afternoon.
“Hey, Mom.” I called her out as I was intently looking at her face. “You have some food on your lips.”
“Really? Can you tell me where?”
“Sure.”
I slowly pulled my head closer to hers, and she pulled hers as well. We lessened the gap between our faces until our lips met and pressed. Soon after, we involved our tongue, and then we entered our own world.
“Ahem. No indecent acts on the table, please.”
“I am very sorry, Mylene. Raphael was just getting rid of the food.”
“We are sorry, Mother.”
Mother’s voice brought us back to reality, so we decided to end our kiss and go back to eating. It was too good that there were no other people around, and the barriers had been deployed, so no one knew what was going on in the dining room. 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩
“We are terribly sorry for showing you such an inappropriate scene, Gabrielle.”
“Ah, well. I actually do not mind it, Mylene.” Gabrielle put on a smile. “Besides, I love seeing a family loving one another. I probably should get myself used to it since I have a feeling that it will continue anyway.”
“Gabrielle herself said so.” I said. “That is why we have to finish our plates so that we can have more time feeling one another’s warmth.”