January 25.
In the blink of an eye, winter had reached its end. Across the world, everything showed faint signs of spring returning to life. After the bitter, bone-cutting winds had passed, the air finally carried a refreshing crispness that lifted the spirit.
The temperature was warming now. Gentle sunlight spilled down, bringing with it an indescribable comfort.
Today's sun really was nice.
Luke lay on the rocking chair in the courtyard, feeling the sunlight bathe his entire body. Crisp birdsong came from the trees, but it did not feel noisy. Instead, the atmosphere only made his mood even more relaxed.
On the other side, Katarina stood under the sunlight with a watering can in hand, watering the flowers. As she watched the water spray continuously from the spout, she could not help falling into a brief daze.
She lifted her gaze toward the sky. The mild sunlight was just a little dazzling, bright enough to make her narrow her eyes.
Everything around her was peaceful, and her mood was peaceful too.
What did I come to Demacia for again?
The thought flashed through her mind. For a moment, she was so dazed that she almost failed to recall the answer.
Soon, her mind cleared. She looked around, and slowly, a strange sense of dissonance rose within her.
Especially when she looked at Luke, who was lying on the chair with his eyes closed, enjoying his sunbath.
She felt that this kind of retired old person's vacation life should never have anything to do with Katarina, no matter what.
But what kind of life was she living now?
It was basically no different from that. Though she was this guy's maid in name, in reality, it was not hard at all. On the contrary, it was unbelievably easy.
The feeling that she was slowly getting used to it, gradually adapting to it, made Katarina suddenly feel a burst of fear for no reason.
She felt as if she had fallen into a swamp, sinking deeper and deeper, becoming more and more unable to pull herself free.
During this period, every night of sleep she had gotten had been unbearably peaceful, and every moment she lived had felt unbearably long.
She no longer had to think before sleeping about what tomorrow's training would be, or whether there would be a new mission. Even after falling asleep, she no longer had to stay alert against danger that might occur at any moment.
She realized that the rhythm of her life had already slowed down. For an assassin, that was an absolutely unacceptable state.
She did not hate her current life. In fact, she had even immersed herself in it for a while.
But this was not the life Katarina wanted.
The sudden urgency in her heart made Katarina look at Luke and ask, "Are you actually looking for that man?"
Her voice rang through the empty courtyard, carrying a few traces of naturally cold sharpness.
On the chair, Luke heard her and opened his eyes, looking over. The red-haired girl's expression was cool and distant, and her stern eyes made her gradually overlap with the image of the assassin she had been at the very beginning.
Though she was usually very cool as well, the feeling she gave off right now was clearly different.
It was as if she had suddenly returned to the original Katarina.
"Of course."
Luke answered, then said, "But how high do you think the chances are of finding an experienced assassin who wants to stay hidden?"
Katarina fell silent.
She knew Du Couteau's strength. He was, after all, the man who sat at the very top among assassins.
The fact that he had silently infiltrated the capital already proved his ability. If he truly wanted to keep hiding, he really would not be easy to discover.
After all, even knowing that such an assassin was in the capital, searching house by house would be no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.
Not to mention, doing that would only alert the target.
"So being anxious is useless. I want this resolved as soon as possible even more than you do."
After Luke finished speaking, he calmly closed his eyes again.
He believed his father and Xin Zhao were also putting in effort. But if even they had not found him, then that could only mean this assassin was hiding extremely deep and had been secretly searching for an opportunity all this time.
Or perhaps he had some other unspeakable goal.
But there was no point guessing. After all, they would only know once they caught him.
Katarina also knew that was true. If she went looking on her own, it would be even harder than climbing to the sky.
It was just that the more she lived these peaceful days, the more uneasy she became.
She was truly afraid that she would sink into them.
"Yurna, practice blades with me for a while."
She turned around and went to find Yurna.
Hearing this, Yurna did not refuse and gently nodded.
Katarina had discovered earlier that Yurna was also highly skilled with short blades. She was adept at fighting with that black short blade of hers, and her strength was no joke.
All this time, Katarina had often taken the initiative to spar with Yurna.
Even now, she still had not managed to test Yurna's true strength.
Her instincts told her that in this courtyard, Yurna was absolutely hiding her real ability.
Only Luke remained in the front courtyard.
Luke yawned and silently muttered in his mind, Check in.
This check-in has been changed to a monthly check-in.
Check-in successful.
Congratulations, Host. You have received Vitality Pills x3.
Congratulations, Host. You have received Advanced Skill Upgrade Card x1.
Congratulations, Host. You have received music score, Celestial Music Score.
Congratulations, Host. You have received Intermediate Skill Upgrade Card x2.
System rewards have been placed in your inventory. Host, please check them yourself.
Several system notifications rang out one after another, reminding Luke that today was indeed the monthly check-in day.
His gaze turned to the system inventory, and he began checking them one by one.
The first thing that entered his sight was the Vitality Pills.
Vitality Pills, as the name suggested, had a similar effect to Vitality Arts. Their practical results could be said to be quite impressive. They had no side effects at all and could even strengthen the body.
They were practically an essential daily health supplement.
However, after seeing this reward, Luke still fell silent.
As a man, he did not want to rely on external things to strengthen his performance in that kind of battlefield.
He disdained them!
Silently moving the Vitality Pills to a conspicuous slot, Luke looked at the next reward and said, "Use the Advanced Skill Upgrade Card to upgrade Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship."
As soon as his voice fell,
Upgrade successful.
Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship has been raised to LV9.
A powerful wave of wind intent immediately gathered around Luke. In an instant, the slight breeze in the entire courtyard turned into a fierce gale. The fresh buds that had just sprouted on the trees shook constantly in the wind, and an unstoppable sharp momentum suddenly surged upward.
Within the gale, sharp sword intent whistled, causing the air all around to swiftly grow heavy and oppressive.
Luke immersed himself in this sword intent that felt like a breakthrough. His thoughts seemed to appear within a sword arena, where he continuously tempered his Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship.
In the backyard, Katarina, who clearly sensed the abnormal situation, stopped swinging her dagger. Her surprised eyes turned toward the front courtyard.
In her field of vision, a faint yet enormous tornado had coiled above the front courtyard. The sword intent howling within it was so intense that even she could feel it from the backyard.
A trace of shock rose in her eyes.
The direction that sword intent came from was clearly that guy's location.
At that thought, she no longer cared about her spar with Yurna and quickly walked to the front courtyard.
As soon as she arrived, she saw Luke sitting there, surrounded by an oppressive pressure that made it hard to breathe.
"Sword intent at this level..."
Katarina's eyes narrowed slightly, and uncontrollable shock filled her heart.
She had never seen the scene of sword intent breaking through before. Now that she was seeing it for the first time, she was deeply shaken.
Just the sword intent lingering around that guy made people feel as if they should not approach.
Although she knew this guy did indeed possess decent strength, this sword intent now filling the front courtyard with violent wind did not look simple at all.
What did this guy do? His sword intent just broke through out of nowhere?
Katarina felt somewhat confused, then somewhat unwilling to accept it.
How could she not know what this guy had been doing?
He was only a little busy every night. During the day, he was either lying down or lying down. Maybe his skills in bed had been trained well enough, but when had he ever shown even the slightest trace of training in daily life?
And yet after lying around and lying around, his sword intent broke through?
Why?
Katarina looked at the scene before her and nearly ground her silver teeth to pieces.
What she did not know was that in this exact same spot, there had once been a certain duelist who had felt the exact same thing.
After a while, the whistling sword intent in the courtyard finally began to fade. In the end, it disappeared without a trace, turning into a light breeze that gently brushed across Katarina's cheek.
Luke opened his eyes, looking quite refreshed, and then immediately saw the pie-chart-like expression on Katarina's face.
She walked over and looked at him with a complicated expression. "Did your sword intent just break through?"
Luke gave a faint smile. "Just a tiny breakthrough."
The corner of Katarina's mouth twitched. Looking at the upward curve of this guy's lips, she knew perfectly well that he was showing off. But even though she was annoyed, she had nothing she could say.
Damn it. I shouldn't have given this guy a chance to show off.
After thinking for a moment, Katarina asked in confusion, "You usually don't even touch a sword. How did it break through just like that?"
She still could not figure out this question.
Luke asked back, "How do you know I haven't practiced swordsmanship?"
"Because anyone with eyes can see it." Katarina let out a cold laugh. "I'd like to ask, when have you ever practiced?"
"At night?"
"Enough. Shut up."
Katarina took a deep breath, gave this guy a disgusted look, and turned to leave.
Only, her steps were a little forceful, clearly expressing the imbalance in her heart.
In the past, she had never believed that talent could truly so easily crush effort.
But now that she had seen it with her own eyes, she had no choice but to believe it. So the heavens really would favor one person this much.
Damn it, are they blind or what?
Watching Katarina turn and leave, Luke placed his attention back on the system inventory.
Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship had broken through to LV9, and the level of his Wind-Wielding Sword Intent had also risen to perfection. Naturally, this was no small improvement.
Luke's gaze moved to the next reward.
Celestial Music Score.
A trace of curiosity flashed through his eyes, and he directly took it out of the system inventory.
This score was not a skill, but a music book. After opening it, he saw one piece after another inside.
Luke, who had learned music from Sona for a while, could still understand some of it. However, the farther he flipped, the less he could understand. He also knew that these pieces had to become harder and harder as they went.
A reward from the system was clearly not ordinary. However, aside from having learned a little music from Sona, Luke was basically clueless.
So if he gave this music score to Sona, she would probably like it.
Thinking of Sona, Luke calculated the time. She should be close to returning by now.
A while ago, Sona had gone outside to hold concerts. That had also counted as giving Luke a few days off and a wave of time to rest and recover.
His gaze returned to the inventory.
The final reward was two Intermediate Skill Upgrade Cards. He currently had no use for them, so Luke stored them in his inventory.
After dealing with the rewards, he lay back down again and leisurely closed his eyes to rest.
The wind in the courtyard today was not strong. It blew by gently, making one phrase flash through Luke's mind, like bathing in the spring breeze.
It was extremely comfortable.
This morning was also quite peaceful. Lux and Kahina had taken Poppy to the Church of the Illuminators, and it was not yet time for them to return.
Time passed second by second.
A burst of light footsteps from the courtyard entrance made Luke slowly open his eyes.
Then he saw that Sona had already tiptoed over to him. Her gentle, delicate face looked at him with joy, and her water-like eyes shimmered with lovely light.
"Your Highness is awake."
Her voice sounded in his mind, ethereal and pleasant, carrying a little disappointment, as if she had wanted to do something mischievous.
"Half-awake."
Luke closed his eyes again, using his actions to prove that he had only fake-woken.
Sona looked at Luke, who was pretending to sleep, and a blush rose on her soft pink face. But thinking that the two of them already knew each other intimately, she summoned her courage.
Even so, she still looked around first. After confirming that no one was there, she leaned down and gently kissed Luke on the lips. Their lips touched and parted.
Even so, the girl's delighted expression was already written all over her face.
After several days without seeing him, she had naturally missed Luke very much.
Luke opened his eyes, looked at the soft and charming blue-haired girl, and smiled. "Welcome back. I prepared a gift for you. Want to see it?"
Sona's eyes lit up, and her curious voice came through. "What is it?"
Luke then took out the Celestial Music Score he had just checked in for. It was a book with a blue cover, which made Sona even more curious.
She sat to the side, took it from Luke's hands, and then opened it.
"A score?"
Sona was slightly stunned. Then she began flipping through it page by page, and the expression on her jade-like face grew more and more serious.
The further she looked, the brighter and more captivating the light in her eyes became.
Luke did not speak and disturb her from the side. Seeing Sona's entranced expression, he knew this music score was definitely good.
After a while, Sona quickly finished browsing through it once, then raised her head. "This score..."
Luke smiled. "How is it?"
"It's amazing. The pieces in it are extremely varied, with all sorts of styles, and they are all things I've never encountered before."
When Sona said this, her tone carried an unconcealable excitement. Her happy expression made her look as if she had received some kind of treasure.
Just from briefly understanding this score, she could already feel how extraordinary it was.
"As long as you like it."
"I really like it."
Sona smiled brightly and could not resist leaning over to give Luke a loud kiss on the cheek. Then she hugged the score, stood up, and returned to the house, planning to study it.
Luke continued lying there, and his mood was also quite good.
Elsewhere.
House Crownguard.
After returning from the Church of the Illuminators, Lux first returned to her own home.
In the living room, Augatha held a towel in her hand and was earnestly and attentively wiping a newly bought vase.
Hearing footsteps behind her, she glanced sideways and saw Lux humming a light tune as she walked in.
Ever since her coming-of-age ceremony, this girl had indeed become much more sensible. Not only had she joined the Illuminators, she had even taken the initiative some time ago to propose going beyond the borders.
As her mother, this made Augatha feel rather gratified.
However, in her eyes, this girl was still that same little troublemaker, and there were still far too many things about her that made people worry.
She tossed the towel in her hand over and said, "You continue wiping. I'll rest for a while."
After catching the towel, Lux did not dare disobey. While wiping the vase, she carefully asked, "Mother, did you specifically call me back for something?"
As she said this, she mentally went through everything she had done recently. Only after confirming that she had not caused any trouble did she feel a little more confident.
Augatha glanced at her. "So I can't call you back unless something is wrong? I see. I'm old now. I can't order Lady Lux around anymore."
Lux's small body trembled. She did not know why she had to face her mother's passive-aggressive tone as soon as she came home.
She began counting her mistakes again, and her expression grew more and more confused.
Augatha sat on the sofa, her bearing dignified like that of a noblewoman. She did not speak. The silent air was like a whip, lashing at Lux.
Recently, this girl had spent more time at the neighboring prince's place than she had in her own home.
She went there early in the morning and came back at night right before curfew. The time mother and daughter had to talk had grown shorter and shorter.
Although this had already continued for quite some time, it was precisely because so much time had passed that the house felt a little lonely without this troublemaker stirring things up.
However, Augatha soon came to terms with it. After all, when this girl had first started running next door, Augatha had turned a blind eye.
Children grew up. Sooner or later, they had to spread their wings and fly.
Just like some time ago, when Lux had proposed going beyond the border together to assist the soldiers stationed there.
That time, Augatha had truly realized that her daughter had really grown up.
So she could not keep watching her forever. It was also time to let go and allow her to handle some things herself.
Thus, Augatha finally spoke. "How old are you this year?"
This question stunned Lux for a moment before she answered, "Eighteen."
Augatha continued asking, "Do you still remember when you last went to pay respects to your great-grandfather?"
This time, Lux thought seriously. After tilting her head for a while, she said uncertainly, "When I was twelve?"
"It was eleven. That was already seven years ago."
After correcting her, Augatha's expression became serious. "You haven't gone to see your great-grandfather in seven years."
The image of a small border town flashed through Lux's mind. Some blurry memories gradually grew clear, and she nodded. "It seems that way..."
Augatha looked at her. "So you know you should go visit him."
Lux shrank her neck and weakly said, "Can I not go?"
"What do you think?" Augatha asked back. "In previous years, you didn't want to go, so we didn't bring you. But now you're already an adult, Lux."
At this moment, Lux suddenly remembered why she had not wanted to go.
Back then, Garen had just left home and entered the Dauntless Vanguard to begin training.
The rest of the family had gone north together to pay respects at the tomb of their great-grandfather Fossian.
Lux still remembered how she had sighed and groaned the entire way back then. The drizzle fell endlessly, the gullies were rugged, and broken stones were everywhere. The ancestral tomb had seemed impossibly far away.
She had been jolted around so much by the carriage that her butt hurt the whole way. Later, they started climbing the mountain on foot, and her legs became horribly sore. She had been cold and tired.
At eleven years old, little Lux had gone through countless hardships before finally arriving at the destination.
She had originally thought she would see a marble mausoleum comparable to the Hall of Valor. But in the end, what greeted her was only a low grave mound overgrown with wild grass, with a towering cliff beside it. Her expectations had plummeted like they had fallen straight off that cliff.
In front of the grave was a marble slab engraved with her great-grandfather's glorious deeds, Fossian had fallen from the cliff together with that demon. Her great-grandfather suffered fatal wounds, while a Demacian steel sword pierced the monster's black heart.
But the scene before her had shattered all her beautiful fantasies.
She had grown up listening to her great-grandfather's heroic stories, but she had never imagined that her great-grandfather's home would look like this...
After that, except for her father, who stayed behind in High Silvermere, House Crownguard moved to the capital.
Since then, she had not been very willing to go pay respects to her great-grandfather.
In other words, she had a bit of trauma from it.
So whenever this time came around, either her stomach hurt or her head hurt. She tried every possible way to stay in bed, and then successfully avoided going.
So many things had happened this year that she had already forgotten about this matter.
Looking at her mother's calm expression, Lux could not help testing the waters again. "My stomach might hurt in a few days. Can I not go?"
Facing this absurd excuse, Augatha smiled gently. "Paying respects to your great-grandfather with a stomachache, or paying respects to your great-grandfather with a sore backside. Choose one."
Lux: "..."
So she had to go this time no matter what?
"I choose going with nothing hurting." Seeing that she could not avoid it, Lux sighed. "Then I'll go with you this time."
"No, no, no." Augatha shook her head, correcting Lux's wording. "Not with us. This time, you're going alone."
As soon as these words fell, Lux's hand trembled while wiping the vase. She hurriedly steadied the swaying vase. "I'm going alone?"
"Yes." Augatha looked at her confused little face and said, "You can even go beyond the borders. What's so hard about going to see your great-grandfather? House Crownguard has always had the tradition of paying respects to our ancestors. As long as someone goes, that's enough."
Lux could not help saying, "What about you all? Great-grandfather will be disappointed if he doesn't see you."
"He'll only be disappointed in you, his descendant who hasn't gone to see him in so long. He has seen our sincerity in previous years."
Augatha smiled faintly. "Your aunt has matters to handle. I also have matters to handle. Garen also has matters to handle. And your father goes without saying."
Lux said, "But I also have things to do."
"What things?" Augatha narrowed her eyes at her. "By things, you mean playing mahjong with that boy Luke every day?"
She knew about mahjong. In fact, she had also become a seasoned mahjong player.
Half a month ago, she had gone to Luke's house by chance and just so happened to see them playing mahjong.
Out of curiosity, she watched from the side and discovered that those square little tiles were genuinely interesting.
So she asked Luke to make her a set of mahjong tiles and teach her the rules as well.
Then she taught them to her friends.
And just like that, word spread from one friend group to the next. Now, mahjong had completely spread through the noblewomen's circles and become an essential part of every day.
Right now, Augatha's addiction was at its peak.
Her luck was also quite good, and she was currently raking in money from her friends. How could she possibly free herself? So she simply decided to let this troublemaker go pay respects to the ancestors in her place.
Meanwhile, Lux was speechless. Thinking about it carefully, she really did seem to be the most idle person in the family.
"Think carefully and see if you have any other reasons. If you can't find one, then pack up and get ready to leave. Don't miss the ancestral memorial day."
Augatha gave her daughter a kind smile and issued the final ultimatum.
Lux knew that it seemed she absolutely had to go on this ancestral visit.
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