"Bell did a great deal of work on this, too!"
Her words made Romon glance at Eileen. In the past, her feelings toward Bell had always been complicated, marked by a certain distance. Hearing her say this now, Romon could not help admiring her maturity.
This was not so-called "wifely virtue," merely maturity. Over these three years, everyone had grown!
Romon smiled. "Eileen, thank you for all your hard work these past few years. Bell, thank you for yours, too."
Though his words were simple and repetitive, they carried a sincere weight that made both women feel their years of toil had been worthwhile.
"My lord, let's go downstairs. They must have been waiting for some time," Eileen said, coming to her senses first.
The people downstairs had arrived one after another, but none had come to disturb them. They knew they had to give Romon time with his family.
Still, as a lord, he could not remain absorbed in private affections forever. He also had to let his subordinates pay their respects and offer their congratulations.
"Of course. But there's something important I still need to discuss with you," Romon said with a wave of his hand.
"Please go ahead, my lord."
"You noticed the boy I brought back with me, didn't you? He's Cassil, my new apprentice," Romon said. In this world, the bond between master and apprentice was not as close as it had been in ancient Huaxia, but it was still a fairly intimate relationship.
"I saw him." Had their ages not been so close, she might have thought he was Romon's illegitimate son!
"Now that I'm back, I imagine the territory's basic infrastructure is more or less complete. Our next task is developing ecological agriculture-finding ways to bring farming into harmony with nature, or at