From then on, the atmosphere between Shien and Anxi completely changed.
It became as though a father-in-law were making small talk with his son-in-law—extremely harmonious, with both of them thoroughly enjoying themselves as they constantly chatted about all sorts of trivial matters.
Originally, Shien and Anxi should not have had much in common to talk about, but one of them was marrying off his daughter while the other was taking a wife.
Thus, their conversation naturally shifted to Roxie, and they began discussing all manner of things about her.
Though it sounded like they were having a lively chat, the two of them were actually more like competitors.
It all began with an offhand remark from Shien.
"I know Roxie very well—better than anyone. You needn't worry that I'll bully her."
For some reason, those words stirred Anxi's competitive spirit.
"Are you saying you know Roxie better than I do, her father?"
With that as his opening statement, Anxi began endlessly recounting all sorts of things about Roxie.
From when Roxie was born, to her childhood, to her gradual growth, Anxi brought up countless amusing stories from the seventeen years of Roxie's life. He spoke with great animation, growing more enthusiastic the longer he went on.
That convinced Shien of something.
"This guy is definitely obsessed with his daughter."
That was the extremely firm conclusion Shien reached after learning that Anxi had an entire warehouse full of magic items that recorded images—photos, in other words—containing records of every stage of Roxie's growth.
To be honest, Shien really wanted them.
According to Anxi, Roxie was beautiful now, but she had been even more adorably cute as a child—so cute that everyone who saw her loved her. The title Kingdom's Treasure had supposedly first appeared because of that world-class cuteness.
"You cannot