Chapter 590: Sisters In Every Sense

The private bathhouse for Disciples House was much smaller than the manor’s public ones, and it certainly wasn’t more opulent as making it so would have drastically increased cost and construction time, but it did have some additional experimental features.

Lucas and his band of eccentrics had even tried to install a prototype laundry machine powered by an LBM 1; however, after a few uses, it had literally spun apart and blown up... so... that had been removed.

For now.

It would be back.

Lucas and Braxton had sworn it would!

None of that meant anything to Edward, though, as he stood under the cool shower, rinsing off all the dirt and grime from his travels.

It wasn’t quite as nice as the natural hot springs available for bathing at the mountain cultivation retreat he and his wife had been staying at for the past few years, but cleaning himself with a rough cloth and a bucket of icy-cold water most days for the past 9 months, it was definitely a welcome luxury.

Braden was experiencing a similar sense of relief in the stall next to his grandfather while also marveling at the fact that, according to Senior Farah, this whole bathhouse was designed and built by his little cousin’s friend, Lucas.

While the two men enjoyed their showers in relative silence, the women’s side was far nosier.

"Did my little grandson-in-law really invent all of these wonderful things?" Amalia asked as she scrubbed herself down with a large amount of scented soap.

"En, he did," Farah nodded as she too rinsed the shampoo from her hair, not even questioning the idea of Lucas marrying Eris in the future.

That much, by now, was obviously going to happen.

Christina too, if she wasn’t mistaken.

Most would probably consider Lucas a lucky man, or boy, for having two beautiful girls be so interested in him; however, recalling all the training sessions between him and his Junior Sister, where Lucas would often wind up splayed out on the floor, bruised, battered, and unconscious, Farah wasn’t so sure ’lucky’ was the correct term.

Well, nothing in life is free, Farah eventually shrugged to herself, grinning slightly with amusement.

"If these showers become more common, perhaps I’ll be able to grow my hair out a bit," Amalia mused aloud, disturbing Farah’s random thoughts.

Taking proper care of long hair was a burden even for women in the Initiate Realm, much less a Core Formation Practitioner like Amalia.

Cleaning it was especially difficult and time consuming.

Lucas’ showers and shampoos, however, made that process far simpler.

It was also why, recently, many women around the Balfour Family Manor had begun growing their hair out and even spending extra time styling it.

The women liked it.

The men also liked it.

Everyone was a winner!

"Hmm, I’m sure Second Queen Summers asked Lucas for the plans for the bathhouse some time ago, so it’s definitely possible they start appearing in other places," Farah commented, also thinking it would be nice if anywhere she traveled in the Rockwell Kingdom she could pop into the local bathhouse for a shower.

Normally, Farah wouldn’t be this chatty, but having just reunited with her old friends, the gruff butcher was feeling a bit nostalgic which in turn loosened her lips a bit.

"Wait, what? Her Majesty, Second Queen Summers, spoke to Lucas in person!?" Amalia yelped, rushing over to the side of the stall and peering over to ask, "When did that happen? Why did it happen?"

For a commoner, who had become the wife of a Baron, even meeting a Count was a big deal to Amalia. It obviously hadn’t quiet set in that she would soon be speaking with a Marquess, but before that reality could settle, Farah was telling her that her future grandson-in-law had actually met one of the kingdom’s three queens?

It was too much to take in all at once!

"Huh?" Farah, on the other hand, looked over at Amalia strangely for a second before face-palming, "Right, I told you Marquess Balfour had another True Disciple, but I never told you who she was."

Amalia tilted her head in confusion before realization struck her, "You mean, Marquess Balfour’s last Disciple is a member of the royal family?"

Farah chuckled, "Correct. Twelfth Princess Christina Rockwell is her Third Disciple, making her Lucas’ and Eris’ Junior Sister."

"Wha..." Amalia gawked, her brain unable to process this shocking revelation.

Eris, her little granddaughter she hadn’t seen since she was a baby, was Marquess Celestina Balfour’s Second Disciple and the Senior Sister of a genuine princess.

Not just any princess, either!

Having stayed in the Royal Province for over a decade now, Amalia had naturally heard the rumours about Christina.

The greatest genius in the history of the Rockwell Kingdom, that was what they called her.

Yet now, she was actually a Junior Sister to a Direct Descendant of Amalia’s own family.

Shock didn’t even to begin to describe what the old woman was feeling.

After recovering, however, Amalia began to worry, "Are... Are Lucas and Eris really alright? Is it not... difficult, for them to be Senior Disciples to one of our kingdom’s princesses?"

Although she hadn’t come right out and said it, as that would be incredibly rude and inappropriate, what Amalia was asking was whether Lucas and Eris were being picked on or even attacked by Christina for their lowly status, background, or talent.

This was a legitimate fear; after all, nobles were very concerned with things like bloodlines, lineage, history, and a whole host of other things that Eris and Lucas were obviously lacking.

Amalia herself had experienced similar discrimination due to her commoner origins in the past.

Back when Edward was still a Baron, he had taken her to Herald City for meetings with the other nobles of the Baker County on several occasions, and she would inevitably have to endure snide comments, mocking looks, or even open hostility from the various Baron and Viscount Families.

Of course, not all of them were disdainful of Amalia, some of them she even considered friends, but those were the exceptions rather than the norm, and that was just among the lower nobility.

As for the higher nobility, the only one Amalia had ever met was Count Baker, and that was only briefly when he made a pass at her while he was dead drunk. Needless to say, after that incident Amalia maintained an overwhelmingly negative opinion of Richard Baker.

She didn’t want to be prejudice towards all nobles, especially considering she was technically one of them, but Amalia felt it would be foolish of her to have high expectations of them either.

It was because of such past experiences that she couldn’t even imagine a royal would be friendly with her granddaughter and grandson. Princess Christina disdaining to even speak with them was probably the best-case-scenario she could think of.

To Amalia’s surprise, however, Farah actually let out a hearty laugh, something she had almost never seen her do before.

Only after a minute or so did Farah regain her composure, brush back her wet hair, and smile at her old friend, "You don’t need to worry about that. Eris and Christina aren’t just fellow Disciples, they’ve also sworn an oath of sistership. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they are best friends."

"As for Tina’s relationship with Lucas..." Farah’s thoughts drifted for a bit, looking for the right words but eventually settling on the most shocking ones she could come up with, "Let’s just say Christina and Eris will probably also be marital sisters in the future."

Needless to say, Amalia’s jaw dropped as low as it could possibly go once she heard that.