Cloud Thinking

"Of course, as long as you don't abandon me, I will always follow you and stay with you." Helia replied sincerely, "Not even death can sever the bond between us, father."

Wattsiser was rarely silent. He stared at the pair of sapphire eyes that looked like his own, trying to find a clue that the other person was deceiving him, but he could only see his own face reflected in them. He knew that Helia must be saying nice things, but he could not tear it apart, just as he could not find any flaws in his reflection in the other person's eyes.

He smiled and stroked Helia's face, saying in a way that sounded both intimate and threatening: "You are worthy of being my good child."

Although Helia had goosebumps all over her body, she couldn't show her cowardice at this time. Instead, she looked back with a smile, leaned her head into the other person's hands, and rubbed them twice.

"Father, I want to discuss something with you." After all the hypocritical superficial work, Helia finally remembered what she was about to say at the beginning, "If you want to see me, can you tell me in advance? You can't drag me into your territory as soon as I fall asleep."

She nodded her head and the dark circles under her eyes, "My spirit needs a rest, too."

"You can rest here as well." Wattsise said, "Don't tell me that you feel you can't relax here with me? Are you still wary of me?"

Helia: Aren't you talking nonsense? (rolling eyes)

She smiled widely and said evasively, "Of course not."

"It's just that my father is here, as dazzling as the sun, and it's really hard to ignore you sleeping peacefully."

"And I have so many things I want to ask you. As soon as I saw you, I couldn't help wanting to talk to you."

Acting like a spoiled child is her secret skill. Although she often feels a little disgusted by herself like this, her body is that of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old princess, or still a little girl, who was raised in the palm of Claude's hand. Isn't it normal for her to act like a spoiled child?

Well, if it was Helia's face, there would be absolutely no problem in acting like a spoiled child!

Watersiser snorted and laughed, raised his hand to block Helia's eyes, and said helplessly, "You are used to saying these nice words."

"Don't worry, we will figure it out for a very long time, so long that you will get tired of it all."

"So, sleep peacefully." His voice gradually faded away, and Helia felt her eyelids begin to twitch. Her mind seemed to be dragged into a deep pool of water, gradually becoming blurred, and then she fell asleep.

Three days later, Helia finally recovered as normal, but for some reason, she had never run into Hawke since she came back. Either she was sleeping when Hawke came, or Hawke was dragged into the barracks by military affairs after she woke up, so that Helia could not find a chance to question him about the resurrection of her mother.

"Aunt, I'd like to ask, why doesn't Avril come back to accompany you during the holidays?"

During the walk after dinner, Helia took Lady Iyena's arm and chatted in the garden. She took the opportunity to get some information from Iyena. After all, she was her bedmate, and Hawke's love for Iyena was not fake. Lady Iyena, as the mistress of Perkinsburg, could not be completely unaware of what Hawke did.

Sure enough, when Lady Iyena heard Avril's name, she paused slightly. Helia was next to her and naturally noticed it.

Iyena raised her hand to push the broken hair behind her ears, and said gently but helplessly: "Avril is grown up and wants to live independently. She moved out a few years ago. I'm afraid she has been busy these years and I haven't seen her for a long time."

"But when the child grows up, she has to go out and explore the world. I can't let her stay with me and waste her youth here, right? She was so young, the rising sun, but I have long been the setting sun."

"Aunt, you are not the setting sun at all, you are the delicate flower in the garden, okay? When we walk together, people will say we look like sisters!" Helia launched her sweet words offensive, coaxing Lady Iena so much that she couldn't stop smiling and her heart was filled with joy.

"Avril and I were classmates. She was very famous in school, and I always heard rumors about her. I couldn't help but ask my aunt a few questions out of curiosity. If I make my aunt sad, I will have to punish myself by spanking myself a few times."

She was about to reach out and hit herself, but Lady Iyena quickly grabbed her hand. She didn't want to hurt Helia. "Wei'er is indeed a popular child. Xiaoya wants to get along well with her, right? What do you want to know? Auntie will tell you everything she knows."

"That's great!" Helia pretended to be very happy and continued to play pitiful: "I had to hide my identity and keep a low profile in school before, so I couldn't get close to Avril, but I know she is also half my sister, and I always hope to get along well with her."

"My brother is always busy in the palace, and I don't have many friends of my age, so I have always hoped to have an older sister."

"Since I came here, Sister Hilda has always taken good care of me. Brothers Okalai and Blot also love me very much. But when I'm with them, I always think of Avril. It would be nice if she was here too..."

Madam Iena looked at Helia with a look of heartache and great love. She patted Helia's hand and comforted her, "Of course you will. Xiaoya is a well-behaved child, and Wei'er is also very sensible. You two will definitely get along well. It's just that Wei'er is very stubborn about everything. If she offends you or makes you uncomfortable, come and tell me and I will help you persuade her."

"No, Avril and I have no conflicts. I just want to get to know her better." Helia explained, "I heard that Avril moved to Elman to live alone a long time ago. Did she take the initiative to propose it?"

"Not entirely. Wei'er had some conflicts with her adoptive father. She was so angry that she wanted to move out. I thought that if they were separated for a while and had some peace and quiet, they might come to their senses. I didn't expect..." Iyena sighed and continued, "I didn't expect that Wei'er would never come back after she moved out three years ago. I really meant well but ended up doing something bad. The child was very young when she moved out. Who knows how much she must have suffered outside. I was so stupid. How could I let her move out like this..."

"So that's how it is... But if she moved to Elman three years ago, why did she only start school with me this year? Did she go to another school during her three years in Bellman?" Helia asked.

Carter College does not have an age limit for admission, with only an eight-year-old age threshold. The oldest student in Helia's grade is 25 years old, and the youngest is 10 years old. To enroll in Carter College, one must either have a letter of recommendation from a well-known figure in the magic world, or go through the normal process and apply on their own. The college will conduct an initial magic level test, and then admit students who meet the standards.

This seems to have a low threshold, but learning magic is a money-burning thing. If you don't have some mines at home, you can't even afford a wand, not to mention the large amount of magic materials needed to support subsequent magic learning. Moreover, if you want to ensure that you can pass the magic qualification test for graduation, you have to find a way to participate in scientific research projects and get extra points, otherwise you might die because of nervousness.

As for those magic research projects, even if the school has funding, without the capabilities accumulated from the resources and innate talent, how can they possibly produce results that will be approved by the higher-ups and get extra points?

Therefore, magic is a pastime for the rich, not an option for the common people.

Therefore, there are very few students at Carter's Academy every year. Firstly, there are not many people who can pass the entrance test and have the ability to support three years of magic learning. Secondly, for people with such family background and certain connections to get to the upper class, instead of letting their children devote themselves to magic, it is better to let them go into business or politics, which can bring higher returns and benefits.

At the very least, they would rack their brains to send their children to Abraham College, which is the royal magic school. The students there are either princesses and princes or young masters and young ladies of nobles and courtiers. If they can build good relationships with these people, it will be extremely good for the future development of the family.

"Avril didn't plan to learn magic at first. Instead, she followed a teacher of Elman who was very famous in the field of literature. I don't know what happened, but she suddenly said she wanted to learn magic. She even wrote a letter back, hoping that her godfather and I could help find someone to write a letter of recommendation for her. I thought that the child was submissive and had suffered so much outside, so I found someone to help her." Mrs. Iena explained.

"I heard that she is quite talented in magic, right?"

Helia nodded. "She is indeed very talented. Our school always ranks the team results before the competition, and she ranks third."

Iyena showed a gratified smile and said, "She has always been an excellent child. I have always known that she works very hard."

"But I'm always worried about her competitive nature. I'm afraid that one day she'll run into something tough and get a bump on the head. Parents are always like this. They worry about their children suffering, but they have to let them go and let them make their own way. Sigh—"

"If my mother were still alive, she would probably worry about me like this..." Helia lowered her head, secretly sad.

When Lady Iena heard this, she wanted to swallow back everything she had just said. How could she have forgotten that Madeline had passed away? If she mentioned this to Helia, she would definitely think of her mother and would definitely be sad.

Oh! I'm just talking about things that are not relevant to me! I'm getting more and more confused!

“Xiao Ya, I…” Iyena was about to say something to ease the atmosphere when she was interrupted by Helia’s sudden change of subject.

After all, what Helia wanted was to make Iyena feel guilty, so that she could take the opportunity to ask about some information that the other party might be trying to conceal. This time, she played the emotional card.

"Aunt, I heard from others that Avril seemed to have disappeared for two years. Where did she go?" Helia asked. "I know some of Avril's former friends at school. They said that one day a few years ago, Avril suddenly disappeared and they couldn't get in touch with her. They were very worried."

"Later, they asked Avril where she had been during those years, but she didn't seem to want to say it. She vaguely said that she was sent to a boarding school. But as far as I can remember, there was no boarding school in Sutter."

Helia had said so much, and even if Iyena was slow-witted, she could still understand what the purpose of this conversation was. She stared at Helia's pure and innocent eyes, feeling a little complicated.

How should I put it? As expected of a little princess who grew up in a cruel royal family, how could she be as innocent as she looks...

"Ah..." She sighed helplessly and looked into Helia's eyes. "Xiaoya, given our relationship, there are things you can ask directly. Why do you have to beat around the bush like this? Don't you trust me yet?"

"I'm sorry, aunt." Helia apologized first, and then tactfully said that she had heard some rumors that Marshal Hawke seemed to have adopted Avril because she looked like her mother Madeline. As Madeline's daughter, she felt a little uncomfortable.

"I know my uncle misses mother very much and has always been brooding over her death. But even so, he shouldn't adopt a child who looks so much like her. To me, this is a blasphemy against my mother and I cannot accept it." Helia did not mention the matter of Hawke and the Morogen creating gods and resurrecting Madeline. She felt that Hawke would never dare and would never let Iyena know about such a shameful and unjust thing. If Iyena knew that her partner had a cooperative relationship with the evil Morogen and even covered up the activities of this crazy cult, she would definitely turn against him.