Chapter 46: How did you meet my brother? ( 6 )

Reida’s POV

…

“Huh? What was Laurel like?”

The question itself was something that Reida Lia had to think about quite a bit. Her first impression of Laurel was the complete opposite of him as a person. She still remembered that day vividly; well, it was natural considering she used it to tease him daily.

…

Four months back, Asura Kingdom. It was a random day in a random inn. Lia was sitting there enjoying her drink, and Isolde had simply wanted to have a second cup. It happened around that time. The appearance of a young man a head taller than Isolde, with black hair and black eyes, came to woo her granddaughter.

“Hey cutie~”

“Get lost.”

Not that Reida cared. Isolde was a Sword Saint. If Isolde won, then that’s it, and if she lost, then it would still give her a taste of defeat. Either way, it would be fine; at least that was until Reida saw what happened.

Isolde failed to draw out her sword from her scabbard. Flustered and angered, she tried to punch him, but he dodged. She grabbed his collar to get a better hit, but then he redirected her punch and she got spun into his embrace.

“Oh my~ jumping into my arms, eager, aren’t we?”

“You-You…”

For Isolde, everything seemed confusing; however, Reida, who was sitting there, got to see the full view of the situation, which only made her more shocked. The young man was more skilled than Reida had expected. A North Saint? No. Perhaps a North King Swordsman.

Light fluttering footwork and flowing hand movements that repositioned both himself and Isolde the whole time she tried punching him. Playful teasing and flirting to control the opponent and controlling the tempo… It was as if he were dancing.

From Reida’s perspective, that scoundrel was the worst possible matchup for Isolde. With both hands caught and her body in his embrace, Isolde flustered in embarrassment. She tried to kick around and struggled out, so the boy gave her a light spank on her armor.

“Get off of me!”

“Wow! Settle down, temptre—…"

The young man stopped midway through, his sleazy expression frozen on his face as he stared down. Then he touched her rear again and started to rub them over and over while muttering to himself.

“Damn~ You… You have a really nice ass. So soft and plump. Good to the touch too.”

“YOU! YOU DARE!”

Feeling that things might have gotten a little out of hand, Reida intended to whack him in the head. However, the moment she intended to do so, the boys eyes darted towards her direction as it flickered purple with killing intent.

It was so sudden that Reida had grabbed her sword on sheer reflex. Practitioners of the Water God Style were supposed to stay calm and collected at all times. Getting this jumpy was a failure in and of itself.

“Well, unfortunately I am in the middle of work, so I’ll leave for today.“

“DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST LEAVE AFTER—"

Whatever the case, after noticing her presence, the young man had backed off, much to her granddaughter’s dismay.

"Bye, little angry kitten. I'll play with you next time~"

“Oi! Get back here! Damn it, why can’t I draw my blade.”

Unbeknownst to Isolde, who was hissing all over the place, a noble and his guards suddenly left, following the young man from behind. With a little deduction, Reida could tell that Isolde was never his target in the first place.

…

Three days later, she heard that a boy named Laurel was in the capital. It was the name she heard from an old friend, Augusta, asking her for a favor to teach a boy who was like his grandson.

And so she decided to visit since she heard he was in the capital, with the excuse of worrying as his grandfather’s old friend. From outside she could hear him talking.

“Tell the princess that I’ll even fly up there if I have to… Naïve, isn’t it? That’s exactly why I need your silver tongue to make this work, Philip.”

When she entered the room, there wasn’t anything particularly special. Sitting in front of her was a young mage. Mage, not swordsman. Soft smile, purple eyes… He sat there on the couch looking harmless. He had a good face, polite, sure, but that was all.

Reida was reconsidering whether or not she should bother teaching him. But as she stared, she noticed that not once had he blinked the entire time. He was holding documents, but he hadn’t flipped a single page. The entire time, he was staring at her.

Looking down, his legs were relaxed, perhaps a little too much, nearly touching her legs. It was also just enough to step on her shins without looking suspicious.

“Is there a problem?”

Laurel smiled as he looked at her as he held up his cup of tea. Reida’s own face had crept up as well. This brat. He was prepared to hunt her down the entire time. And that was despite knowing who she was. Reida had no idea whether he was bold or simply foolish.

More importantly, something about him seemed familiar, but Reida couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. At most she had suspicions about his eye colors, but that was all. Until he saw her granddaughter.

Legs shrunk back; the tea he was pouring down had been drunk by his thighs, and his eyes, which seemed unreadable, were shaking. Of course, it could’ve been him falling in love with her granddaughter. That too was a possibility.

“Hello. I am Isolde.”

Hearing her name, the boy blanked out, his expression slightly strange.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah yes, I’m fine. My apologies.”

Laurel said awkwardly as he pretended to swallow the rest of the tea in his cup. Seeing this, Reida decided to test the waters.

"That said, boy, have we met before?"

"... I believed not. I wouldn't mistake you for anyone, madam."

"But you look familiar... Reminds me of that boy that got Isolde's ass handed to her."

"GRANDMA!"

Laurel spat out the tea he tried so hard to swallow. Ah. You little shit. So it really was you. To another person, that line would have simply sounded like Isolde was defeated by a swordsman. Of course, unless you knew the context.

“Ah… Right, uhm… My grandfather opened a Water God dojo. Maybe that’s why I look familiar, ahaha… Anyways, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to settle. I'll see you nex—"

"Oh, no need for that. I'll just go with you."

"Par-pardon?"

Seeing Laurel acting like a puppy trying to pee in front of her granddaughter was so adorable that Reida decided to stay and teach him. It looked like a lot of fun, and Isolde would have a good training partner as well.

"You see, a while back, Agusta requested that I taught his grandson swordsmanship. And by that I mean you. I thought I would never be able to do so since Fittoa suddenly disappeared, but oh, what do we have here~"

“…”

Laurel faced away before turning back, but she could literally see him muttering a curse underneath his breath just before turning back.

"Ahaha... Is that so... Well then, please take care of me."

He said, bowing politely while trying to walk.

“Oh, by the way…”

“Yes?”

“I heard you're not blood related though?”

There, right there, Laurel tripped and fell face-flat on the floor, causing Reida to break out in laughter. As time went on, Reida could tell that her granddaughter had a crush on him. He seemed to have a good impression of her as well.

That said, it wasn’t smooth sailing. Partly it was because of his strange ability to collect women, but mainly it was because he was so busy drowning himself in paperwork while screaming that he barely left any time for himself to enjoy his spring.

“Your brother was surprisingly talented in playing with a woman's heart, you see.”

Because of that, the girls around him in turn fought against each other to dwindle down the numbers. And Laurel was oblivious to all the harem intrigue happening in the background.

Reida suspects that the boy had severely underestimated his own attractiveness, both in looks and competence. They are too young to know about real courtship anyway. Either way, it was quite fun to watch.