"Sometimes, having life go too smoothly isn't necessarily a good thing."
After listening to Alice's concerns about the future, Isobel sighed quietly to herself.
"If you ask me, just do whatever you want. There's no need to agonize over something like this."
After handing Alice a glass of iced coconut juice, Katrina, dressed in a swimsuit, lazily reclined on a beach chair beneath the parasol. Her gaze shifted from Ian surfing nearby to Albert, who was teaching Sophia how to swim.
"If you really haven't figured out what you want to do, you could try finding a boyfriend and having a romance."
Isobel glanced at Katrina before turning to her daughter. "Tell us what you're thinking."
"Well... I was wondering whether, after graduating from school... I could stay and help Dad."
After hesitating for a moment, Alice voiced her thoughts.
They exchanged glances. Though they were all somewhat surprised, they could understand Alice's reasoning.
It was just that...
"You'll probably have to ask Albert about that. We can't persuade him for you." Isobel supported her daughter's decision. There really were many things around Albert that could draw people in.
Whether it was knowledge or anything else.
"Would Dad let me stay?" Alice murmured as she looked toward the familiar figure by the beach.
"He'd probably rather see a fledgling spread its wings and soar, with skies and clouds of its own."
Isobel understood her husband very well, and she was more willing to see her daughter have a future of her own.
It wasn't that staying by their side was bad. In fact, countless people dreamed of it. But it also meant that Alice's future already had an ending in sight.
"But isn't every wizard's future just one of a few standard paths?"
To Alice, whether it was inheriting Albert's