"It's been a week and my brother still hasn't come back… If this keeps up, the house is going to die soon," Alice grumbled, slumped over the couch.
It had been a week since her brother left, and from the very first day, his absence was noticeable. There was no one left to nag her, tease her, or even play with her.
"The house isn't dying, you know that, right?" Liana said with a sarcastic tone while reading the book in her hand.
"Mom, you know just as well as I do that staying home is getting ridiculous," Alice didn't even bother arguing with her mother.
Besides, she needed her brother to come back so they could finally talk to their mom about moving to the capital.
Her membership in the Falling Sun Guild had been officially approved, and now the only thing left was to go to the capital.
This time, Liana didn't respond. She just sighed. She felt like her son had decided to go to the Celestial Domain out of anger toward her that day.
She really did feel regret and guilt. But still, she couldn't understand why her son had lied to her.
It wasn't like she would've stopped him from becoming an Awakened. Maybe she wouldn't have let him enter the Tower, but as long as he had told the truth, there was no way to know for sure what she would've done.
At that moment, Alice got up and went to her room, changed her clothes, and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Liana raised an eyebrow and asked.
"I'm going out with my friends. I'm getting bored here," Alice put on her shoes and, without even glancing at her mom, opened the door to leave.
But the scene she saw—or rather, the person she saw—completely surprised her.
"Perfect timing," Daniel had just pulled out his key to unlock the door, but Alice had already opened it for him.
"I didn't know you loved me so much you could sense me coming," he laughed, but Alice jumped on him and hugged him tight.
"Hey, hey, hey—easy," Daniel caught her to keep them from falling.
"You've been gone for a whole week! What the hell were you doing in the Celestial Domain, idiot?" Alice growled and hugged her brother even tighter.
"Huh, Alice? What's that noise…?" Liana walked over to the door to see what was happening, and when she saw Alice in Daniel's arms, she was first surprised—then smiled warmly.
"Hi, Mom," Daniel smiled, then stepped into the house and closed the door behind him.
As soon as he came in, Liana walked toward him. Daniel thought she was going to scold him for disappearing without saying goodbye, but thankfully, she just kissed his forehead and said:
"Next time before disappearing for a whole week, please let us know."
Daniel nodded with a bit of embarrassment. He didn't expect to get so caught up that he wouldn't be able to leave the Celestial Domain for an entire week.
"That's enough, let your brother go," Liana turned to Alice and told her to let go of him.
"I don't want to," Alice shook her head and refused.
"What did you say?" Liana gave her a sharp look, and after a little grumbling, Alice finally let go of Daniel.
They went over to the couches and sat down. Both Liana and Alice started asking him questions about the Celestial Domain and his adventures.
Daniel answered as best he could, with all the necessary censorship. Naturally, he didn't mention anything involving death or almost dying.
"Elthanor Empire? You actually went there, brother?" Alice asked, eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, you know about it?"
"We have a class at the academy called History and General Knowledge of the Celestial Domain. There's a lot written about the Elthanor Empire and its founder," Alice confirmed and shared everything she knew with Daniel.
"So you were just sightseeing, huh? You didn't come home for a whole week just to look around?" Liana gave him a dangerous look.
"Ahem, well… a few things happened. Like I entered a tournament, won, and because of the rewards it took a while to get free," Daniel said with a straight face, lying through his teeth.
Of course, he couldn't tell his mom he got caught up saving a girl he'd only known for two days, along with a duke's daughter he'd never met in his life, and nearly died—once for real and once almost—for them, right?
"As long as you didn't get hurt, that's good," Liana sighed. She'd been worried the whole week that something might have happened to her son.
Unfortunately, in situations like this, there's no one she could ask for help or anything like that.
"Is there anything to eat?" Daniel asked when he noticed his mom getting a little gloomy, hoping to change the topic.
"Of course," Liana smiled and went to the kitchen, warmed up some of the lunch from earlier, and brought it for her son.
As soon as Daniel smelled it, he felt satisfied. Sure, the food in the Celestial Domain was good, but nothing could beat his mother's cooking.
While eating, he explained the rest of the Celestial Domain story and answered Alice's questions as best as he could.
Alice also asked more questions about the Elthanor Empire, and it was clear she was excited while asking.
"You have a special interest in the Elthanor Empire?" Daniel couldn't help but wonder—why did it seem like everyone was in love with that empire?
"Of course! Don't you know how beloved and amazing its founder was? He's even better than the Heroes!"
Daniel sighed and continued answering her questions.
At the same time, he brought up the topic of moving to the capital with their mother. Liana first refused, but after some convincing from both Daniel and Alice, she eventually agreed.
After all, they didn't have any family in this town, and convincing her wasn't that hard.
It was decided that after the academy term ended, they would move to the capital to live.