As the morning rays shined through the castle windows, they shone onto Hester Thornton’s peerless hourglass figure with fair and glossy-smooth skin while she was soundly asleep.
Nevertheless, the dark bags under Hester Thornton’s eyes showed how exhausted she was from keeping up with Vaan all night.
Unless Hester Thornton’s body received a fierce shaking, she was unlikely to wake up.
Vaan slowly removed himself from the bed before gently draping the soft woolen blanket over Hester Thornton to keep her body warm from the morning cold without disturbing her sleep.
Afterward, Vaan walked over to the towel and wooden bucket of water in one corner of the room, which had a table and a large wooden tub of clean water for bathing.
Vaan wiped his face with the towel and water from the wooden bucket before shifting his focus on the tremors in the ground.
The servants living in the castle had woken up early and started doing their morning chores.
Vaan felt vibrations from their steps as they walked past his guestroom’s door and their brief pauses as he received subtle changes in the vibrations picked up with his feet.
Nevertheless, roughly every half minute, Vaan felt a tremor from the earth itself, which greatly expanded his tremor sense range to cover the castle’s entire ground floor for a brief moment.
‘That was… the pulse of the earth,’ Vaan’s eyes flickered.
It was standard knowledge that the world is spherical and rotates as it orbits around the sun in the solar system. But fewer knew that the world would shake at fixed intervals due to its subtleness.
However, Vaan’s tremor sense allowed him to feel the earth’s pulse.
‘I was going to call it Tremor Sense… but since I can feel the earth’s pulse, and it also enhances my tremor sense… Let’s go with Earth Pulse,’ Vaan decided.
His range might be limited now, but the scope of his ability will improve as he improves his Earth Spirit Body and sense of touch.
Ding!
<Tremor sense ability has been registered as Earth Pulse>
…
Shortly after Vaan finished settling on the name for his tremor sense, the guestroom’s door was softly knocked from outside.
“Are you up, Sir Vahn? I am here to change the water and towels and heat the bath for you,” a young lady’s voice was heard.
Vaan focused on the vibrations of the young lady’s body movements and voice and formed a mental image of her position and appearance outside of the room’s door with a woven basket of clean towels in hand.
However, Vaan could only cover the young lady’s lower body; her upper body, including her face, remained a blur to him.
‘It seems like I need to strengthen my tremor sense or improve my hearing to form a more complete image in my mind,’ Vaan mused.
“You can enter,” Vaan permitted without further thought into his newfound ability.
However, after the True Witch servant carrying the woven basket of clean towels entered the room, her body quickly froze upon spotting Vaan’s bare body.
The True Witch’s gaze made a beeline to Vaan’s family jewels, which were startlingly huge in her opinion before her gaze shifted to Vaan’s face. But a split second later, she looked down at Vaan’s proud manhood again.
The True Witch’s face temperature quickly rose as she blushed and covered her eyes with one hand in the next moment.
“I-I’m sorry, Sir Vahn. I didn’t mean to look,” the True Witch with long black hair and eyes apologized, but she was still clearly staring down at Vaan’s little brother through the gaps in her fingers.
Nevertheless, Vaan was unaffected by her stare.
“That’s something you don’t need to apologize for, my Lady. Feel free to take a good look before you change the towel and warm the bath,” Vaan casually said without shame.
The True Witch removed her hand and gulped.
Shortly after, the True Witch blushed with greater embarrassment when she peeked at Vaan’s calm face. She quickly changed the dirty towels and warmed the bathwater with Fire Magic before fleeing the room with a hot face.
Vaan smiled amusedly at the shy rabbit running.
If Vaan stayed another night in Helia’s Castle, he would be expecting the True Witch to visit him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t, so the True Witch can only be disappointed.
A few moments later, Vaan hopped into the wooden tub of warm water to clean himself.
After Vaan finished, he dried himself with a white towel, wore his black attire, and equipped his fang daggers and utility belt.
Vaan left his guestroom not long after.
…
…
…
Helia’s Castle, Great Hall
“I trust you had a pleasant experience last night, Sir Vahn?” Helia Ashenborn casually inquired with an amicable smile before adding, “Feel free to join us for breakfast before you leave for the academy.”
At the long table, which was already filled with spiritual dishes, only the addition of Cyrena Ashenborn was present and seated.
Vaan assumed the other daughters weren’t invited again.
Nevertheless, Helia Ashenborn and Cyrena Ashenborn were completely unaware of Hester Thornton’s moans, which caused some chaos in the hallway during the night. Their sleeping chambers were located on the upper floors.
“I had a very enjoyable experience last night. Thank you for your consideration and concern, Lord Helia,” Vaan replied with a smile before taking his seat and joining the two ladies for breakfast.
“Hester… She didn’t accompany, Sir Vahn?” Helia Ashenborn inquired shortly after noticing Hester Thornton’s absence.
“Lady Hester won’t be able to accompany me today, Lord Helia. She is exhausted from accompanying me all night, so she is sleeping now.”
“Oh?”
Helia Ashenborn expressed her surprise while Cyrena Ashenborn knitted her brows, wondering why she wasn’t aware of such a matter.
Cyrena Ashenborn slightly blushed at her naughty thoughts after recalling Vaan’s incredible yet simple massage.
Vaan engaged in idle chats with Cyrena Ashenborn and Helia Ashenborn over breakfast.
After they were done, Vaan and Cyrena Ashenborn bid farewell to Helia Ashen before heading to Redpine Academy with a company of True Witches and Aura Masters as their guards.