Chapter 448: Lola is back

Not long after Hiran left, Rory received a message from Lola. After traveling around for a while, she was finally back.

Lola: [Sister, are you home? I brought back so many gifts for you from my trip!]

Lola: [If you’re home, I’ll head over and bring them to you in a bit.]

Rory hadn’t seen Lola in quite a long time. Receiving her message made her especially happy.

Rory: [I’m home!]

Rory: [Castle Location Shared.]

After sending her location to Lola, Rory immediately scrambled out of Vincent’s arms. "Lola is coming over shortly. I’m heading downstairs to get things ready!" It was rare for Lola to return, so she wanted to prepare plenty of delicious treats for her.

"Lola is back?"

Seeing Rory get up without the slightest hesitation, Vincent stood up as well, quickly tidying his clothes. "Since Lola is coming over, as her brother, I should head downstairs to see her too."

"Then let’s go down together." Seeing Vincent fix his outfit, Rory took his hand and walked out with him.

Downstairs.

Having just seen off Hiran, Yuel was getting ready to step out when he saw Rory and Vincent coming out of the levitating elevator together.

"Mama!" Upon spotting Rory, Terry immediately flew over to land atop her head. "Mama, it’s so wonderful that you came downstairs! Terry thought he wouldn’t get to see you today."

"How could that be?" Rory smiled, giving Terry a soft pat. "Mama is right here at home. Whenever you want to see Mama, you can come find me anytime."

"But Terry has to go out with Daddy now..." Terry’s tender voice carried a melancholic fatigue that defied his age. He didn’t want to go to the Administration Department with his daddy at all. Not even a little bit. Just looking at those official files gave him a headache now.

"You two are going out?" Rory looked toward Yuel.

Yuel nodded. "The matters at home have been handled, and Bree is dead. I still have some unfinished work over at the office." So he needed to head back to the Administration Department.

"When will you be back?" Rory asked him.

Yuel pursed his lips slightly. "Hard to say... I might be back quite late today. You don’t need to wait up for me for dinner."

Rory felt a wave of sympathy for him. Ever since taking his post at the Administration Department, he hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep, always coming home late after a grueling day of work.

"I’ll head to the kitchen to bake some cookies for you, and I’ll have someone deliver them to your office later. When you’re too busy to eat, you can have a few to tide you over."

"Alright." Yuel smiled and nodded. "Though you can just let Nix and the others handle the baking." He was afraid Rory might overexert herself.

"Don’t worry, I won’t tire myself out."

Rory understood Yuel’s concern. She walked Yuel and Terry to the castle gates to see them off, then quickly made her way to the kitchen alongside Vincent.

Nix was currently in the kitchen learning how to make desserts from Jasper. Seeing Rory walk in, he excitedly placed a freshly made sweet treat right in front of her.

"Rory, you arrived just in time! Hurry and taste this dessert I made—tell me how it is!"

It was a small red berry pudding. Judging by its vibrant color and charming shape alone, it looked exceptionally tempting.

"Rory, I know you don’t like things overly sweet, so I kept a very strict handle on the sugar. I guarantee you’ll love it!"

Rory took the spoon Jasper handed her and took a bite. "Delicious! Nix, your cooking skills are getting better and better!" Rory herself couldn’t make it taste this good.

Having been praised, a faint flush bloomed across Nix’s handsome face. "As long as Rory likes it, that’s all that matters."

Looking at the pudding in front of her, then over at Nix, Rory suddenly blurted out, "I actually feel like we could open a dessert shop right now."

In the past, she hadn’t wanted to open a shop as a culinary master because the work was too exhausting. Furthermore, she was all on her own back then—if her shop became too successful, it would invite jealousy and malice. Coming across truly bad people while unprotected would have been dangerous.

But things were completely different now. Her companions all held prominent positions; opening a shop today meant she no longer had to fear anyone plotting against her in the dark.

"Open a dessert shop?" Jasper and Vincent looked at Rory simultaneously.

"Yeah! What do you guys think?"

"I actually think that’s a great idea. The pastries and desserts Rory taught us—if we make them and put them up for sale outside, they’ll definitely be snapped up in a frenzy."

Nix offered a slightly worried note, "There are only a few of us though. I’m afraid we won’t be able to keep up with the workload." They all had their own separate responsibilities, after all.

"We don’t need to make them personally," Vincent chimed in. "We only need to cook for Rory."

Rory nodded. "We can hire some employees and train them to bake."

Jasper added, "Food recipes must be kept confidential. When hiring employees, we need to have them sign non-disclosure agreements. We should also split the production process among different people for each stage. That way, even if they learn their specific part, they won’t be able to reproduce a full pastry on their own."

"That’s a brilliant idea!" Nix thoroughly agreed with Jasper’s suggestion.

Vincent asked, "The question is: who would be best suited to manage this project?"

Jasper said, "I can handle recruiting the personnel, but I probably won’t have time for training." His Hunter Alliance had a mountain of matters waiting for his attention every single day. Even if he didn’t need to go to headquarters daily, it kept him quite busy. On top of that, he needed to accelerate his ranking progression, so he truly had no spare time.

Nix added, "My research laboratory is extremely busy too; I doubt I’ll have time either."

Rory glanced at Vincent—Vincent was a no-go as well. He needed to incubate the eggs right now on top of his official military duties, so he definitely didn’t have time.

Most of the males in the household had their own daily obligations. Although Wen was comparatively freer, he still had to oversee the Merfolk clan, so it wasn’t as if he was completely idle.

The only genuinely idle person... was Xarion.

Thinking of Xarion, Rory hesitated slightly. "How about we let Xarion give it a try?"

Xarion was able to taste food now. Although his cooking skills weren’t on par with Jasper’s or Nix’s, they weren’t bad either. His schedule was by far the most suitable.

"...But would Xarion actually agree to it?" Nix felt that given Xarion’s personality, even making him walk a few extra steps was an ordeal. Asking him to train other beastmen—wouldn’t that be the death of him?

"We won’t know unless we try," Rory said. "Besides, he wouldn’t need to train that many people. We just find two reliable individuals, teach them thoroughly, and let them train the rest. Wouldn’t that work?"

However, this was just a sudden idea Rory had come up with on the spot; whether it could actually come to fruition was something she wasn’t sure of yet.

After finishing her pudding, Rory went to bake cookies for Yuel, while also preparing plenty of delicious treats for Lola. With help from Vincent, Jasper, and Nix, Rory finished baking in no time. Once the cookies were done, she handed them over to Vincent so he could arrange for someone to deliver them to Yuel.

In the afternoon, Lola arrived at the castle to visit Rory, accompanied by several of her companions.

Having not seen her for a while, Lola had grown even more stunning. The moment she saw Rory, Lola ran over impatiently and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Sister! I missed you so much after not seeing you for so long!" As she spoke, she handed Rory a spatial ring. "These are the gifts I brought back for you! There’s all sorts of stuff inside—you’re definitely going to love it all."

These were all fine treasures Lola had scavenged while out traveling over this period. Whenever she found something she liked, she prepared two sets—one for herself, and one for Rory.

"If it’s a gift from you, I’ll love it for sure!"

Rory accepted the spatial ring and walked toward the living room with Lola, chatting and laughing happily together.

"I made lots of delicious treats for you—hurry, come with me!"