Can the sadness that magic cannot take away be offset by love?

tick... tick...

The hands on the clock moved slowly and regularly. Gracia Ramirez's eyes were like sharp blades as she examined the heir she had personally nurtured. Finally, she stopped tapping her knuckles on the table and smiled in an ambiguous way:

"Ok."

At the same moment, Ernest felt that the miniature monitors that had been surrounding him all year round dispersed like birds and beasts, and soon a clean place for breathing was cleared around him.

The chains and thorns clinging to his heart loosened, and although he still controlled his even breathing frequency, the lightness and freedom at that moment still swept through his heart like a cool tide, spreading through his whole body beneath his calm appearance.

Gracia pressed her belly against the reports and moved them in front of her:

"I will be responsible for tracking them down, and the affairs of the experimental subjects will be handed over to you. But I hope that without my attention, you can still give me a satisfactory result in the end as far as the Novello family is concerned."

"You don't need to question me on this, it's my job."

Gracia didn't know what she was thinking of, and her smile became more and more strange:

"That's right, you have always been very reassuring. By the way, you can also take care of the Dongdian matter. If there is no suitable candidate, it is not too late to look for a suitable candidate in the exchange competition. I don't think many families are still interested before the competition. You have the mind to deal with these things - you just put it off for too long."

After saying that, she rolled up the report and left without looking back.

Ernest felt better for a short while before his headache started again.

Originally, he was tasked with finding an engagement candidate for the Winter Ceremony a few days later. Gracia now said that it was a good thing not to rush, but she could never fully believe what she said. It was probably a lie that the other families were going to compete and didn't have the time to make arrangements. It was true that Gracia had his mind set on other contestants in the exchange competition - this meant that he needed to see more, more information.

She disliked him for keeping putting off the engagement, but he really didn't understand why there was such a rush on this matter. He didn't think Gracia was the kind of "mother" who was interested in urging her younger generations to get married and start a family. If she still had the simple thoughts of an elder, she wouldn't get rid of the daughter of an old friend just for the sake of family interests.

He didn't know much about the previous generation, but it was true that the Ramirez family had a good relationship with Iris's parents. Before those two people died, he had never heard of Gracia and Iris's parents. What conflict did Elleix have with them? This shows that there is no old grudge. Gracia wants to get rid of Iris just because she is disobedient and will bring risks to the plan. It is just a risk.

She had never tried to communicate properly with Iris. Of course, Ernest himself was only willing to listen to Iris after the "little baby" incident, or it could be said that it was Iris who forced him to listen to her - if she was still powerless to resist as before, she would not be the one alive now.

Unknowingly, Ernest's thoughts fell into another person's story. When he realized it, the setting sun had already hung on the window lattice, and the tea in his hand had already gone cold before he took a few sips.

...How much official business did he forget about this afternoon?

He composed himself, stood up, and stopped after taking a few steps.

What about her?

*

After sneaking out of the Ramirez family, Iris ran to the Kakar Underground City and ordered a super large cup of tri-color ice cream.

She was already thirsty watching them drink tea.

Later, Alexia woke up and slipped into the dungeon dragging her teddy bear. Iris refused to treat a child to eat ice cream when winter was coming, so she gave the pouty Alexi Ya ordered a cup of hot ginger water.

As the saying goes, ice and fire are two completely different things - but the cold ice cream and the steaming sugar water are somehow harmonious when placed together.

Autumn slowly faded away in such a misty time. When the first ray of light piercing the darkness fell on the statue of Andrew in the city center, accompanied by the clear and distant bell sounds in the central square that rang throughout Kakar, early winter arrived.