Sister Lina

When Ye Wei'an pushed open the bedroom door once more, his mood was unexpectedly heavy.

Logically speaking, as a transmigrator, he shouldn't have had much of a connection with this man who was like a candle flickering in the wind.

Yet, in that brief moment just now, the man's somewhat clumsy display of fatherly love caused his breath to hitch.

He had to admit that as a lord, Baron Harandir was truly mediocre. But to the original owner of this body, he had indeed been a decent father.

Cain, who had been waiting outside the door, straightened his posture and stepped forward the moment he saw him emerge.

As a knight of the Xiaxing House, having completed the mission of bringing Ye Wei'an back, he would normally be expected to return to report his success.

"Young Master," he asked in a lowered voice before they entered, "what should I say when I go in to report? Should I inform the Baron about Lady Selina sending people to assassinate you, and the dirty work she had Gray Crow carry out in town?"

Cain's thinking was simple: strike while the old Baron was still lucid.

Once the Baron issued a warrant, they could rightfully take down that poisonous woman.

Ye Wei'an remained silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on the shadows at the end of the corridor.

"No need." He finally shook his head, his tone flat yet brooking no argument. "There is no need to make him face these filthy truths before he dies. Bishop Orion is right; let him spend his final days in peace."

"But if we don't expose her, that woman will surely continue to stir up trouble!" Cain reminded him urgently.

"That is my concern, Cain. I do not need a dying old man to solve these problems for me." Ye Wei'an turned around and looked at him earnestly. "I will handle matters as I see fit. Since she enjoys playing the role of the 'devoted mother,' I will play along with her."

He did not explain his deeper concerns to Cain.

He was not afraid of Selina, but he had to be wary of the Amarisk Family behind her.

This family, the Wardens of the Eastern Border, were top-tier nobles of the kingdom with significant influence in the capital. Even if he managed to deal with Selina now, he would be unable to face the Amarisk Family.

Conversely, his younger half-brother was also a Xiaxing.

Although Selina was ruthless, as long as she hadn't lost her mind, she wouldn't truly ruin the Xiaxing territory, if only for the sake of her own son's future.

"I understand." Though Cain was reluctant, he bowed his head in submission.

"Go in and report," Ye Wei'an signaled. "I'm heading down first; the air here is thick with the smell of medicine, it's suffocating."

"Oh, right," he reminded Cain before leaving, "remember to take our 'captives' to the family dungeon later. Do it openly, there's no need to keep their identities secret, but ensure our own people handle the guarding. Don't give anyone a chance to interfere."

"Yes, My Lord." Cain bowed solemnly, then turned and pushed the door open to enter the bedroom.

When Ye Wei'an reached the stairs, he found a young maid waiting at the landing. Seeing him come down, she hurriedly bowed in a flustered manner: "Young Master, Head Maid Lina has already finished tidying your room. Please, follow me."

Ye Wei'an nodded slightly and walked through the west wing of the manor along the red-carpeted corridor.

When the maid pushed open the familiar wooden door, a strong sense of dissonance washed over him.

He had assumed that after four years of absence, the room would be either piled with clutter or draped in cobwebs and smelling of mildew.

Yet, what lay before him was a setup identical to the memories of the original owner:

The introductory magic books on the shelf were arranged neatly by the height of their spines, the brass inkwell on the desk was polished to a shine, and even the creases on the smoothed-out bed were exactly as they had been on the morning he left four years ago.

What surprised him even more was that there wasn't a speck of dust in the room, and the air carried a faint, pleasant scent of soap and lavender.

"Young Master, Head Maid Lina comes to clean your room every few days." The young maid couldn't help but chatter as she pulled back the curtains for him. "Even though she's the head maid now and could just order us to do such chores, she insists on doing it herself. By the Goddess Waukeen, she's more devout about it than cleaning the temple altar..."

"Is your tongue wagging again? Have you finished cleaning the corridor!"

A voice tinged with embarrassment and annoyance came from behind the living room screen.

Immediately after, Lina stepped out quickly. Her signature gray hair was slightly disheveled, and a faint smudge of dust marked the tip of her nose.

Her curvaceous figure was accentuated by her apron, and she glared at the young maid with feigned anger before waving her away.

Once the young maid scurried off with a playful tongue-poke, Lina turned around, looking somewhat flustered as she met Ye Wei'an's meaningful gaze.

"That... Young Master, don't listen to her nonsense." She subconsciously twisted the rag in her hands, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "I just felt that the other maids were clumsy and feared they might disturb the precious books you couldn't take with you. Now that you're back, see if there's anything not to your liking, and I'll adjust it for you."

Ye Wei'an looked at the flustered Lina, and the detachment in his eyes completely dissolved.

Even without using Detect Thoughts, he could feel the genuine kindness from the girl before him.

"Sister Lina, it's been a long time." He said softly.

Hearing this long-lost address, Lina's eyes instantly turned red.

Seeing this, Ye Wei'an didn't say more; he simply opened his arms wide and offered her a gentle smile.

Lina could no longer maintain her reserve. Just like that morning four years ago when she saw him off, she threw herself forward.

Her tall, fuller frame collided solidly into Ye Wei'an's chest. Due to the momentum, her striking curves pressed firmly against his mage robes. Ye Wei'an could feel her slightly rapid breathing from the excitement, along with that scent of soap and a familiar fragrance from her hair.

The two embraced for a moment until an untimely complaint came from the side.

"Hey, hey, don't act like I don't exist!" Ailian suddenly interjected, handing over a cup of tea.

Lina snapped back to reality, quickly pulling away from Ye Wei'an's embrace and hurriedly straightening her apron.

"Sister Lina, how have you been these past few years?" Ye Wei'an sat down in a chair, asking with concern. "Is life in the castle... still going well?"

Lina smiled, masking the turmoil in her heart. "It's fine, just the same as before. Still handling the trivial matters of procurement and cleaning. Under the protection of the Silver Mother (the Moon Goddess Selune), there haven't been any major disasters."

Lina continued to chat about the recent situation in the household: which old servant had retired and returned home, how the roses in the garden had bloomed exceptionally early this year, and how the people from the Amarisk Family were coming and going more frequently, leaving the manor in a state of unease...

As she spoke, Lina suddenly stopped, lowering her head with a touch of embarrassment. "Look at me, once I see you, I just go on and on, only talking about these dull little things."

"You've worked hard, Sister Lina." Ye Wei'an smiled slightly.

Lina studied Ye Wei'an with some surprise, unable to help teasing, "Young Master, you really have grown up. If it were the old you returning, you certainly wouldn't have the patience to listen to my nagging. The old you would have burst through the door shouting, then dumped everything you saw in Suzar—the wizard towers, the flying carpets—all over me, just like you did in your letters. Not like you are now..."

"Now I'm as steady as an old scholar?"

Before Lina could reply, Ailian, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but chime in, the young girl twisting her sleeves in a huff:

"Sister Lina, you only know how to say nice things to coddle the Young Master! You're clearly in trouble yourself, so why aren't you saying a single word about it?"

"What trouble?"

Ye Wei'an's gaze turned cold in an instant, and the air around them seemed to solidify.

Lina's expression shifted, and she hurriedly pulled at Ailian. "Don't listen to a child's nonsense..."

"I am not talking nonsense!" Ailian spoke up loudly, "That viper Lady Selina has been using Sister Lina's 'age' as an excuse for years, trying to force her to marry some knight or manservant in the house. She calls it a 'favor,' but it's really just a way to drive Sister Lina out of the estate! And there's more..."

Ailian added, filled with righteous indignation, "Your younger brother, Lord Xiaxing, has tried to demand that Sister Lina serve him several times. If Sister Lina hadn't stood her ground and refused, he likely would have had his way by now!"

Lina glanced at Ye Wei'an's face, which was even more striking than it had been four years ago, her eyes suddenly filled with a touch of desolation. She sighed, half-joking and half-earnest, "Indeed, Ailian is right. I really am getting on in years... Young Master, do you also think it's time I just found someone to marry?"

How could Ye Wei'an have failed to notice she was putting on an act?

He feigned a serious look as he studied her face, which was currently in its prime, and said in a measured tone, "Hmm, looking at it that way, Sister Lina is indeed not young anymore."

Lina's expression froze instantly, a flash of irrepressible gloom crossing her gray eyes.

Just as she was about to force a laugh and make a self-deprecating remark, she heard Ye Wei'an's tone shift, becoming overbearing:

"--So it's perfect. This age is the most suitable for being by my side and helping me manage everything."

Lina was stunned, her heart skipping a beat, and she hurriedly averted her gaze in a fluster.

"Young Master... there's no need to say that just to comfort me. My father still holds some status in Xiaxing House. As long as he doesn't nod, Lady Selina and the others can't force me for the time being. I don't want to become a burden to you."

"Your father?" Ye Wei'an caught the key information. "I don't recall you ever mentioning your father to me. Who is he?"

"My father is Morey Sebastian." Lina straightened her back slightly when she mentioned him. "He is a Great Knight in the territory. Although he hasn't seen eye-to-eye with the Lady for years, the hundred-man guard under his command still listens to him. It is precisely because of this that the Lady has not dared to go too far."

"Sebastian?" Ye Wei'an recalled the knowledge the original owner had learned at the academy regarding the geography and culture of Faerûn. "This surname... are you a descendant of the Rashemen people?"

Lina looked at him with surprise, then nodded. "By the Silver Mother, the Young Master's knowledge is truly far beyond the ordinary; no wonder you could become a mage. Our family migrated from distant eastern Rashemen three centuries ago, back when that land was suffering from the invasion of the Red Wizards. To escape the flames of war, our ancestors crossed the Endless Waste before finally settling in Cormyr."

Ye Wei'an was no stranger to Rashemen.

It was a wild kingdom in the northeast of the continent of Faerûn, with a culture somewhat similar to the Slavic regions of his old home, famous for its fierce berserkers and mysterious witches.

No wonder Lina's physique was taller and more athletic than the women of Cormyr, and her personality so unyielding that she dared to defy the pressure of the mistress and the legitimate son.

It was no wonder that in the original owner's memories, Knight Morey's attitude toward him, the unfavored illegitimate son, was actually quite decent and never snobbish like the others; it turned out he was looking out for his daughter's sake.