Some things couldn't be hidden just because one wanted to and Angelina understood that.
Now that Claude was back, she had to tell her brother everything. No matter what, Claude was the person she could rely on the most.
After a moment of hesitation, Angelina spoke. The story had to start from the year Claude left home to join the army.
In the ninth month of that year, Maria came to Whitestag and first inspected Normanley Real Estate before meeting with Viscount Felidos, the city's governor. Finally, she returned to Normanley Wood to meet with Angelina, her mother and her brother.
It was probably because of Claude that Maria agreed to take Angelina in as her herbalism student.
But after spending nine months with Angelina, Maria realized that she had truly received a treasure. Just as she wrote to Claude to boast, Angelina was far more talented in both herbalism and magic than Claude.
That reminded her of herself when she was younger, so she spent a lot of effort on Angelina.
Had it not been for the fact that Angelina had to take care of her recovering mother and younger brother, she would have brought her back to the royal capital to teach her well.
But even at the wood, Angelina didn't disappoint her. She improved by leaps and bounds in herbalism on her own, much to Maria's surprise. The two of them communicated through letters. Angelina would ask questions and Maria would answer and give her pointers. Sometimes, they would send several letters in a month.
That was the first year after Claude left. By the end of the year, the four buildings Claude had entrusted to Borkal's father, Rubiwill, were completed and Angelina became the wealthiest landlady in Whitestag.
Apart from that, Tomas, the former chief of the town's police force, was elected as one of the three councilors of Whitestag.
Normanley Real Estate, which Luan was in charge of, also took over the other infrastructure projects for the naval base. Everything was progressing well.
In the ninth month of the second year, Maria returned to the wood for a holiday. She was very fond of her obedient and sensible sister Angelina. She hoped that Angelina would become her daughter-in-law and one day become the royal physician of the Stellin royal family.
Maria had a son and a daughter. Her husband was Stellin X's most trusted personal guard, Viscount Cuttle. He was the current vice-general of the imperial guard and was in charge of guarding the capital when the imperial guard was out on a campaign.
From a certain point of view, the excellence of parents did not mean that their children were equally outstanding.
It was the same for Maria's son and daughter. Perhaps it was because of the privileged life they had after they were born that the two of them grew up to be spoiled children of rich parents who were neither literate nor skilled in martial arts.
As a mother, Maria was deeply worried for her two children.
The eldest, Heltinger, was about the same age as Claude. He was expelled from military academy due to his poor results and had no choice but to transfer to Lausite Academy for civil servants. But after a year, he was fired for missing too many classes and was sent to the royal family's arts training center.
When the war broke out, he was conscripted into the royal guard as a new recruit. Naturally, his father had to put in quite a bit of effort to keep him in the new corps that was built on relationships and connections.
The second daughter, Christy, was two years younger than her brother and was a classic case of princess syndrome. She was arrogant, unruly, selfish and treated her servants harshly.
She thought that she was of noble birth and liked to bully others. Her uncle, who couldn't stand the sight of her, reprimanded her, "Your grandfather is just a shoemaker. What's so great about you? You dare scold and whip a commoner on the streets just because he blocked your carriage and caused you to be late for your appointment?
That's preposterous! "
Maria felt a headache for her two children. As a mother, she was too focused on her herbalism experiments and neglected her children's education. She felt guilty from the bottom of her heart and always tried her best to satisfy their requests. That also provided fertile soil for them to develop their dandy personalities.
Their father, on the other hand, was even busier and was often away from home. It was only when the two children grew up that they realized what they had missed out on.
In fact, both of Maria's children were very smart. Although her eldest son, Heltinger, was not good at martial arts or literature, he was good at eating, drinking, and playing. He was also very handsome, elegant, and talented. It was a pity that he was only good to look at but not useful.
But with their family background, it was enough for him to live a carefree life for the rest of his life.
The second daughter, Christy, wasn't a fool either. She could be considered quite scheming and was quite famous among the noble ladies in the royal capital. Her wish was to become the princess consort of Stellin X's fourth prince, Fredri.
The way she saw it, only royal blood could match up to her noble birth. For an 18-year-old girl, that was a rather crazy idea.
Maria had once set her sights on Claude. After Normanley Real Estate earned her an unimaginable amount of profit, she wanted to tie Claude to her family. For that reason, she had even considered betrothing her daughter, Christy, to Claude.
But when she thought about her daughter's personality, she gave up on the idea. It would be too easy for Claude to become enemies with her family.
Now, looking at her obedient and studious younger sister, Maria couldn't help but like her. She felt that it would be a good idea to have Angelina as her daughter-in-law.
Even though her son wasn't very promising, he was good looking and wasn't as arrogant and unruly as Christy. He was quite obedient to his mother.
Angelina, on the other hand, was soft on the outside but tough on the inside. If the two of them got married, her son's carefree personality would be controlled and she wouldn't have to worry too much about the future of her family.
However, Angelina was only sixteen at the time and was still in the second year of middle school. So, Maria could only put the idea aside for the time being. She would occasionally joke around with Angelina and ask her to become her daughter-in-law after graduation, which made Angelina blush.
It was the second year after the war broke out. The construction of the naval base was progressing smoothly and at the end of the year, Viscount Felidos, the city's governor, introduced an ambitious expansion plan. He planned to use the new city district in the east and the naval base in the west as the central axis to expand Whitestag to three times its original size. He also implemented a new round of land acquisition.
That didn't affect the peaceful lives of House Ferd. The only bad news was that the kingdom's conscription reduced the number of construction workers in Normanley Real Estate by a third.
In the first half of the third year, the construction of the naval base was basically completed. After settling the balance, they made a huge profit of more than a hundred thousand crowns.
Luther ignored the objections of the other shareholders and decided to invest the money into the expansion of the new city district of Whitestag. He planned to follow the old path of selling off the entire area of the naval base. He would buy the corresponding land from the city administration and build a well-equipped street district that he could sell to the public for a high profit.
In the middle of August, Maria came to the wood for a holiday half a month early. This time, she brought her two children along.
Her son, Heltinger, was transferred from the new division under the guise of being a guard. As a hereditary baron of the kingdom, Maria had the right to do so. Naturally, her husband also helped her a lot.
Maria's thoughts were simple. She wanted her son and Angelina to get to know each other and develop a good impression of each other.
She told Heltinger that Anna was the wife Mother had chosen for you, so you had to win her heart.
She told Anna that this was her son. What do you think? He's handsome, isn't he? Are you moved?
To her seventeen-year-old sister, Heltinger was indeed the prince charming of every girl's dreams. He was elegant, humorous, courteous, handsome, and had an extraordinary family background.
She was indeed moved by him and was very grateful to Maria.
However, her younger sister, Christy, was really annoying. She had her nose in the air and looked down on everyone.
But in front of Maria, she was still very obedient and well-behaved.
But in the beginning of September, Maria received an urgent letter from the royal capital saying that His Majesty's illness had relapsed. So, she rushed back to the royal capital and left her two children in the wood.
The moment she left, Heltinger and Christy lost their restraints and showed their true colors.
Heltinger went straight to the brothel of the naval base and didn't return for a few days.
Christy, on the other hand, was bossy and domineering in the wood, giving Anna a hard time.
Anna ignored her and minded her own business. She went to school, went home, did her potion experiments, and studied hard.
Heltinger, who had been missing for nearly a week, finally returned to the wood. His pale face showed that his body was weak and his kidneys were weak.
He came to find his sister, Anna, to get some potions for that, so that he could regain his masculinity when he fought two or three enemies at the same time. Unsurprisingly, he was rejected by his sister.
That was why the brainless Heltinger threatened Anna that if she didn't listen to him, he wouldn't agree to his mother's request to marry Anna.
This shocked Anna. Since when did I have to curry favor with your family and insist on marrying you?
You want to marry me in this state? Dream on!
Angelina had already given up on this playboy that she had a good impression of. The only thing she was troubled about now was how to reject Lady Maria.
It was night time and Anna was studying in Maria's potion lab.
Being alone in a room made Heltinger have evil thoughts and he decided to do it with Anna on the spot. This way, she wouldn't go against his wishes and would listen to him obediently. Even if they were to get married according to their mother's wishes, he would have the final say …
It was a beautiful dream, but the ending was tragic.
Heltinger, who had been emptied of his body, was no match for Angelina. When Angelina was attacked by Heltinger, she panicked and allowed him to grope her body a few times to take advantage of her.
However, his younger sister, Anna, who quickly reacted to the situation, was both embarrassed and furious. She did not hold back at all. Heltinger could only beg for his life after losing control of his strength.
When the servants heard the commotion and rushed over, Heltinger was already in a terrible state.
Bleeding from the head was considered light, but his right hand and left foot had been fractured by his younger sister Anna, causing him to scream in pain.
No one would have thought that under the gentle and obedient appearance of his sister Anna, there was actually a violent she-T.R.O.R.O.s …
Their mother was naturally worried. No matter what, Heltinger was Maria's beloved son. How could he be so badly beaten up by Anna?
Now that the Ferde Family was under the protection of the Normanley Family, no one was sure if this matter could be resolved.
But soon, Miss Christy came to their door to denounce them. She told them to get out of Normanley Wood.
Anna retorted that the wooden hut and the surrounding 300 acres of wood belonged to them, so why should they leave?
But Miss Christy's words were so harsh that Angelina wasn't willing to repeat it in front of Claude.
But the gist of it was that Miss Christy accused House Ferde of stealing Normanley's private property. First, Claude deceived Maria's trust and swindled the 300 acres of wood and the wooden hut from her.
Now that he had died as a soldier, he had asked Anna to deceive his brother's feelings in order to marry into the Normanley Family. When Heltinger rejected Anna's seduction, he had been so angry that he had beaten Heltinger up badly …
Anna didn't want to recall that night. She had never thought that the clear facts could be reversed in such a way, without distinguishing right from wrong.
Her mother fainted on the ground and her brother was so frightened that he cried. Her sister, Anna, said that she wanted to shoot Miss Christy with a Magic Missile, but she held it in when she remembered how much Maria loved her.
Miss Christy's goal was to take back the wooden hut and the surrounding 300 acres of wood. She didn't know why her mother would give them to Claude.
In her heart, Normanley Wood was her inheritance.
In the future, her brother Heltinger would inherit her father's viscount title, and her mother's hereditary baronetcy would be passed on to her. Normanley Wood would also become her private property in the future.
So, Miss Christy thought she was being merciful by letting Anna go. After all, she was her mother's favorite disciple and she couldn't push her too far or her mother would lose face.
Her request was for House Ferde to hand over the ownership of the wooden hut and the 300 acres of wood and leave Normanley Wood. In exchange, House Ferde wouldn't pursue the matter of Anna injuring Heltinger.
That was the reason why her mother, sister, and brother moved back to the old red brick house.
"After I moved back, I wrote a long letter to Madam Maria and told her everything. I thanked her for her meticulous teaching and nurturing and that I would always see her as my teacher. At the same time, I rejected her request to stay by her side in the royal capital after I graduate from high school.
She expressed that she was confident in getting a beginner herbalist certificate on her own. "
What Anna said meant that their relationship as master and disciple had come to an end. Maria wouldn't be able to hold herself back after such a thing happened. One was her beloved son and the other was the disciple she admired.
But no matter what, the relationship between mother and son was above that of master and disciple. Anna did that to avoid putting Maria in a difficult position.
What she didn't know was that Maria had given Claude the wooden hut and 300 acres of woodland as compensation for the five spells he had taught her.
Anna gave it some thought and said, "But what I found strange was that Madam Maria didn't respond to my letter. She only sent Ludian over at the end of the year with 1,200 crowns worth of gold coins. She said it was compensation for the wooden hut and the wood.
I didn't understand what she meant by that, so I could only store the money in the national bank to prevent them from going back on their word. "
"She could have used the money. Back then, I taught her five rune spells, which are currently forbidden by the kingdom. She didn't have the money back then and could only use the wooden hut and the wood to exchange for them."
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