Seven

Lorenzo…

He was the first-ever jeweled eye possessor. There were tons of legends that surrounded him. Whether it was about his life or the deeds that he had done, it had circulated the Larin Continent, as per Shirley.

However, she did not expect that she could see this famed person right in front of her.

In the books, they described Lorenzo as a gentle and kind man that lived in solitude. He achieved his dream to live in the mountains away from the people.

A lot of people tried to find where Lorenzo resided. However, they still could not find it no matter what. Until they decided to give up as they knew that it was all for naught. After all, Lorenzo was a known powerful archmage. He might have used concealment magic for his home to prevent from being disturbed.

During the war with the devils that happened every hundred years, he would always stand as the vanguard. He slaughtered countless devils and protected the humans against them. His fame around the continent was immense that he was even included in the folklore and songs that were sung either by the commoners or the nobles.

Even the Imperial Families of different kingdoms would be forced to concede in front of him as they knew that if they disrespected Lorenzo even for a bit, the commoners would surely wreak havoc.

Although they could use their Imperial Power to suppress the commoners, they were too traumatized by the thought that during the time of the commoner's oppression, jeweled eye possessors were born. And the kingdom would be overthrown within just a day.

It wasn't always the case as it was different now from before. It had been long since the last time that a jeweled eye possessor was born and the kingdom they resided in disappeared. Still, the Imperial Families were on guard to prevent the destruction of the kingdom they governed. They did not want history to repeat itself.

'At least they had awareness.' Minerva thought.

'Wait, this was not about those nobles or whatnot. I need to focus on Lorenzo! What was I distracted anyway?'

Minerva shook her head and once again stared at Lorenzo. He looked like he was in his late twenties. But she recalled on the book that Shirley read her that two thousand eight hundred years after his legend circulated the continent, her so-called father was born.

She did not know her so-called father's age. But she knew that Lorenzo's age was far from what he looked!

At first, she thought that he would be liked some old guy that secluded himself from the world. But when she saw him for the first time, it quickly debunked her assumptions.

He's too handsome! He didn't look like a man that lived for thousands of years!

Lorenzo chuckled slightly when he saw that his friend's daughter stared at him full of curiosity. He moved in her direction and leveled himself to her so she wouldn't need to raise her head high. He's worried that her neck might felt numbed.

He tapped Cassie's wrist and cast magic for her to be healed. Although the wounds in her back and leg were poisoned, it was nothing but a child's play to him.

When he saw that Cassie has now recovered some of her strength. He focused his attention on the child in her arms.

"Can I carry her?"

Although his attention was on Minerva's, he still asked Cassie's approval.

Cassie on the other hand knew the close relationship between His Grace and Lorenzo. Hence, she let him carry her.

Minerva became nervous when Lorenzo carried her. He was just someone that she read from the book. She didn't expect to see him on the person and be carried by him!

"Truthfully, I couldn't believe that Santi had a child," Lorenzo said as he patted the child's head.

"After all, among the jeweled eye possessors, he was the least likely to have one." He continued.

Minerva continued to stare at him but inside, she couldn't help but wonder.

Who was Santi that he mentioned? Was he her so-called father? Was his name Santi?

Wait, why was that name sound familiar?

'I think I heard that name before. But I couldn't remember where.'

Lorenzo turned around and looked at the three who trespassed the house and attempted to kidnap his friend's daughter. Until now, they were in the same position as they had before to prevent their possible escape. He did not need to interrogate as he already had an inkling of who was the proprietor.

"You had guts. I would give you that." Lorenzo began, "Too bad, not everything could be solved by guts alone."

He hugged the child in his arms and covered her eyes to make sure that she won't see what he would do.

"Goodbye." He muttered under his breath and waved his hand. Within just a second, the three turned into a speck of dust and disappeared out of thin air.

Minerva did not know what happened to them as Lorenzo pressed her face on his chest. She did not hear any sound nor the protest of the three.

"Let's go." Lorenzo smiled. Cassie, who has now recovered, stood up and paid respects to him.

"This servant thanked His Excellency. This servant would not forget about His Excellency's grace." Cassie said as she bowed into Lorenzo. He just waved his hand onto Cassie.

"It's nothing. It was my fault that you were in that condition since I did not come sooner. You don't owe me anything at all."

Cassie pursed her lips. She wanted to resist but she did not dare to refute him. She did not like to owe anyone. But she could not say this directly on his face, right?

Although Cassie tried to hide the struggle on her face, Lorenzo still managed to understand it.

Who was Lorenzo? He lived for thousands of years. He met different kinds of people and understood their intent and real emotions despite them that tried to hide it from him.

"If you truly want to repay me, then make sure that you would serve this child with utmost devotion."

Cassie was a bit stunned for a second. But still nodded her head and agreed.

"Yes, Your Excellency. I would make sure to serve the Little Miss with utmost devotion."

Lorenzo just nodded his head and walked back to Minerva's room.

While they were on the way, he continued to rub her head. Minerva wanted to remove his hand but she was afraid Lorenzo would be angry so she just let him be.

"Was this child always like this? She did not even cry."

Of course, she wouldn't cry. She was already this old. Why would she cry over such trivial things?

Well, she did not mean that the attempted murder and kidnap that the two assassins and a mage did earlier was something trivial. She just remembered that they would always bring up why she seldom cry.

Soon, they arrived at Minerva's chambers. It was the same as it was earlier. Like nothing happened. She wondered what happened to Julia and the others. Were they okay?

Although Minerva looked like she recovered from what happened earlier, the truth was that she just forced herself to calmed down.

Honestly, she felt afraid and powerless about both of their situation earlier. But now, she suddenly felt weird. How could she explain this?

Minerva felt something that she never felt before. She should be afraid as she almost died back then. But as she looked back, she realized that they wanted her life so their attention and focus was on her.

Was this what it felt to be noticed?

Minerva mentally slapped herself. Was she crazy? Why did it seem that she felt a bit happy that her existence was noticed when in fact she almost died back then?

But she couldn't help it. In her previous life, she was like air. No one would notice if she arrived or not. Even her grandmother and relatives would most of the time overlooked her.

She thought that she already accepted that painful fact. However, as she saw the enthusiasm Shirley and the others had on her, and the focus on the assassins had on her earlier, she felt that she was finally being recognized for what she was.

She may sound crazy, but that's what Minerva thought.

'Ugh. But I hope that the assassination attempt wouldn't happen again.'

Minerva's thoughts once again went somewhere but she woke up from her stupor when she heard what Lorenzo said.

"I'll inform your father about what happened. Hold on." He said as he placed her on the high chair. Then, out of nowhere, a fist-sized gray stone appeared. It suddenly shone and a loud voice was heard.

"Just what happened?!"

"Well, hello to you too, Santi." Lorenzo greeted with a smile.

'Santi!' Minerva's eyes widen in shock as she felt the erratic beat of her heart. It was too fast and loud that she felt her body shook.

Santi... Was it her so-called father? Was that his voice?

Minerva felt a wave of nervousness that she never felt before. The anxiety and many pessimistic "what if's" appeared on her head as she listened to the conversation between Lorenzo and her so-called father.

"Lorenzo." His voice was grave as if it was to warn him.

"Relax. Okay, I'm sorry. It was my fault that I arrived late. But in my defense, Marcus threw a tantrum just before I could save your daughter. You knew how hard it was to appease him, right? Besides, he was in a crucial period thus I couldn't just bring him with me wherever I want. It was a good thing that Cassie managed to hold on much longer." Lorenzo explained. The person on the other line was silent for a moment.

Meanwhile, Minerva was nervous the whole time that they conversed. She didn't want to assume but was this Santi inquired about her?

"Was it them?" Santi asked after a moment of silence.

"Of course. You knew that he couldn't sit still on his throne while you stole the limelight, right?"

"Was it my fault that he was useless?"

Lorenzo laughed, "Useless or not, he was still the current monarch. You didn't have a choice but to obey him."

"So? It wasn't like he's the only member of the Imperial Family anyway."

"Ah, I see. A change of regime, huh?"

Minerva gaped in shock as she heard the exchange between the two. She peeked at Cassie who was on the side but she did not reveal any ounce of emotion.

If she understood it clearly, wasn't the subject of their conversation was the Emperor? Lorenzo mentioned that he's a monarch. So, did this Santi wanted to replace the Emperor?

She gulped as her thoughts reached there. Although they talked it so lightly, she still couldn't help but shiver. Her so-called father was this strong that a change of regime was just nothing to him.

"Anyway, why don't you talk to your daughter? You hadn't seen her for months. How long would it take you to capture that beast?"

"You think I wanted to be away for so long? I've looked for this damned beast for months but I couldn't even see even a shadow! That stupid old man instructed that it was located in the east. Did he think I was a fool? It was located in the west!" Santi said irritatedly. His voice was laced with sheer impatience and it was obvious that soon, he would certainly snap.

Lorenzo shook his head, "It was obvious that he gave his best to cast you away so he could extend his claws to your child."

Santi grunted, "Where's my daughter?"

When Minerva heard Santi's questions, the erratic beat of her heart became more abnormal as if her heart would burst out on her chest.

She just assumed earlier that this Santi was her so-called father. But as she heard the confirmation from him, she still felt mixed emotions of nervousness, fear, happiness, and excitement.

"She's here beside me. Did you want to talk to her? Right, you still hadn't given her a name yet."

Santi was silent on the other side. Minerva became nervous as she did not know why her 'father' became silent. Did he not want to talk to her?

Just as countless pessimistic thoughts invaded her mind, she heard her 'father' talked.

"Minnie. Just call her Minnie for now."

"Minnie sounded nice. Was that her pet name?" Lorenzo asked.

"Yeah."

Minerva felt a warmth on her chest as she heard the nickname her 'father' gave her.

Minnie... Minnie...

It was close to her real name, Minerva.

"Minnie, I don't know when I would return. But don't worry, before your birthday, I would make sure that I would be home. Rest well. You could make trouble whatever that pleased you but make sure that you wouldn't endanger yourself. If anybody displeased you there, tell me when I return and I'll surely teach them a lesson. If you want something, just tell Cassie and she would give it to you. Did you understand?"

Minerva was dumbfounded when she heard what her 'father' said. Was this how fathers say to their children?

Well, what did she know?

Nevertheless, Minerva felt her cheeks reddened and her body felt light when she heard her 'father' talked to her.

This was her father! And this was the first time her father talked to her!

She felt her cheeks flushed. She would make sure that she would remember this day.