Falling Star Manor lay peaceful and serene beneath the night sky. Unlike the almost deathly silence of the other nights that month, however, tonight the ceaseless chirping of insects that had begun with summer was joined by the clear clatter of pots and pans and the crackle of food simmering and frying.
Vivian, Liss, and Linda were carefully preparing a dinner that was at least two hours late.
The reason it was so much later than usual was that Xu Yi had made a rare trip back from Falling Rain Valley that day.
Although he was attending a banquet hosted by the City Lord, he had explicitly told Vivian and the others that he probably would not get much to eat there and would return to fill his stomach.
So Vivian and the others had simply postponed their own dinner as well. They estimated the time and only began preparing the meal when they thought the banquet at the City Lord's Manor was nearly over.
Although President Cruz had given Falling Star Manor to Xu Yi as an engagement gift for him and Stille, and the couple had made it their new home after their marriage, they had actually spent most nights over the past month or so in Falling Rain Valley rather than returning here.
Since Vivian was still studying at the Baron Rector Magic Academy, making a sixty-kilometer round trip every day to accompany Xu Yi to Falling Rain Valley would have been inconvenient. Xu Yi had therefore left her here and had also left Liss and Linda, the two female slaves he had brought back from the Stantin Duchy, to keep her company.
The three had lived in Falling Star Manor for over a month and had long since grown accustomed to everything here. Their lives were