Chapter 241: LEAVING FOR THE ACADEMY

"Goodbye, Ivan." Aristia waved.Ivan smiled, patting her head. "Goodbye, Tia."

He did the same to his sisters and to Alaric.

"I’ll miss all of you." He said.

"We’ll miss you too."

The day for her cousins to leave for the academy had arrived.

Ivan and Liam would leave together according to the arrangement. Paige would also join them.

The parents had come to this decision because it would be better for their children to be together during the long journey.

Liam and Paige had gone to the palace with their families and carriages containing their luggages so that the children would be able to leave together.

Aristia had bid farewell to Paige and Ivan. Now, only Liam was left.

While she was lost in thought, the family had just finished bidding farewell to their children, sister, and brothers.

Aristia stood in front of Liam. He was standing in front of the carriage they would leave in.

Liam gazed at her, smiled and patted her head. He has been happy to finally attend the academy, but now that it was actually time to leave, he felt conflicted. He had already begun missing his family.

Aristia felt a bit sad. [Ugh! I can’t believe I won’t see him again for a long time. Aish, they’ve grown on me.]

She suddenly hugged Liam. "I’ll miss you, Liam."

Liam hugged her back. "I’ll miss you too, Tia. I’ll make sure to write to you, just as I’ll do to my parents and sisters."

Somehow, the air felt a bit heavy.

Aristia nodded, releasing him. "And if the academy has new food that I’ve never tasted before, you’ll make sure to bring some for me."

She knew it wasn’t possible because it probably took weeks to arrive at the academy. The food would probably spoil before he could even make the journey back.

Her joke made Liam laugh. "Yes, yes. I’ll make sure to bring some food... because Tia likes food."

"Hey, I would take offense, but I won’t. Because I know it’s true." Aristia folded her little arms.

"When I come back, I’ll be with a daemon." Liam said.

Just then, Paige and Ivan came to stand in front of the carriage, ready to leave.

One by one, they entered the carriage, sticking their heads out of the window and waving.

"Goodbye!"

"Bye!" Aristia and the rest of the family waved until the carriage left the palace gates, out of sight.

As soon as the carriage could no longer be seen, Aristia saw Alistair turn around in Maxim’s arms.

"My baby boy."

[Is she crying?] Aristia was surprised to see the usually composed, cheerful woman looking so emotional.

Maxim could only pat her back and speak comforting words. Lilith had tears dripping down her eyes and Lauren was biting her lip.

Rowaine and Clarisse on the other hand, had their hands on their chests, as if they also couldn’t bear to see their children leave.

Looking at Beatrix, Serina, Nova and Juno, it was obvious that they also felt sad.

Aristia shook her head, her eyes landing on her parents.

[I wonder what their reaction will be when I and Alaric have to leave for the academy.]

Aristia and Alaric would leave at the same time because when she turned ten, Alaric would also turn eight, both of them qualifying for the academy at the same time.

Aristia and her family returned home after saying their good-byes.

After that, the rest of Aristia’s days went back to normal with the usual occasional tea parties she attended.

The Vanilla Courtyard was booming with hot meals for the cold winter.

The restaurant wasn’t cold because mana stones were used to heat the place. It was like a warm Haven for the commoners to have a warm meal while feeling warm despite the cold and snow outside.

"Mm. Willows Haven is my first known achievement in this world."

Whether it was The Vanilla Courtyard or Artsy, none in the kingdom apart from a select few were aware. But everyone within and perhaps outside the kingdom knew she was behind Willows Haven.

Right now, she had just finished with her last class for the day.

As soon as she entered her room, Millie jumped down from her bed.

’You’re back. You’ve been very busy these days.’ She said, coming to rub her head against the bottom of Aristia’s dress.

It was because the dress covered her legs so Millie couldn’t rub against her legs, settling for the dress instead.

Aristia smiled, bent down and picked her up, taking her into her arms.

"Yeah. It’s not my fault my classes take up much of my time." Aristia said with a small sigh. "I’m thinking of rushing my classes."

’Hm?’ Millie asked, looking up at her curiously.

"I mean to complete my classes so that I can have more free time. With my smart brain, it’s more than possible." Aristia explained.

’Oh...’ Millie nodded at her explanation.

"Then it’s settled." Aristia clapped, then muttered. "I wonder why I didn’t think of this earlier."

She left her room with Millie in her arms, going to look for her mother.

Catherine was embroidering flower patterns on a handkerchief. When she noticed Aristia, she paused her action for a second to look up at Aristia and smiled at her.

"What are you embroidering, mama?" Aristia asked as she took a seat beside her.

The embroidery wasn’t complete so she could see that it was a flower, but she couldn’t make out what kind of flower it was.

"It’s a Lily flower." Catherine replied.

"It’s beautiful. You’re so good at this mama." Aristia praised sincerely.

"Hehe." Catherine chuckled.

"Mama. I want to push my lessons forward."

"Push your lessons forward?" Catherine asked.

"Mm. I can study ahead of my class."

"But why would you want to do that?" Catherine asked. "It would make you even busier."

She was correct. If Aristia studied ahead of her classes, she would have even less free time.

"I know." Aristia nodded. "But later, I’ll have more free time than ever."

Catherine hummed, finally understanding her point.

She left an answer for Aristia.

"I’ll consider it."