Chapter 314 - 241: The Cabbage Rooted Up the Pig, Part 2

Chapter 314: Chapter 241: The Cabbage Rooted Up the Pig, Part 2

That case costs dozens of times more than those broken parts!

Oh!

The City Lord suddenly realized.

He knew why Grace wanted to buy a new Tyrannosaurus Machine. It was a gift for that brat.

Using his money!

A gift for that brat!

In order to have something in common with his daughter, the City Lord even kept up with *Digital Monster* every week.

He recalled that the partner of the Bichu Beast and the partner of Gabumon seemed to have some kind of budding romance.

’What a stupid cartoon, teaching kids about romance.’

’It should be taken off the air.’

’No, wait. That’s a Zog Group cartoon. I can’t get it taken off the air.’

"ARGH!"

The City Lord slammed his hand on the table. It was the impotent rage of a middle-aged man watching his precious cabbage about to be ravaged by a pig.

The butler swallowed nervously, unsure if answering his master’s question now would make him the target of his anger. But not answering wasn’t an option either.

The butler’s life was a constant exercise in walking on thin ice.

"My Lord, Mr. Peter, he..."

"Call him ’that brat’! That name is forbidden in my house!"

"Of course, My Lord. The brat wants to ask the young miss to see a Shadow of Evil, *Beyond Reach*."

"See a Shadow of Evil? Haha!"

The City Lord laughed out loud. "We have a private theater right here at home! If there’s something you want to watch, we can just ask the Zog Group for it. Why go out to see a Shadow of Evil? It’s crowded, and the experience is worse..."

"Which outfit should I wear?"

Grace completely ignored her father’s objections and skipped right to the next step: how to dress to really catch Peter’s eye without being too over-the-top.

"No, you are not allowed to go!"

The City Lord spoke with a rare firmness in front of his daughter.

Grace, however, wasn’t the least bit afraid. She retorted, "Mother already said yes!"

With that, she left. At the doorway, she suddenly turned back and said defiantly, "Peter! Peter! Peter!"

The City Lord slumped helplessly into his chair.

His wife’s family was more powerful than his own, and a significant part of their union had been for mutual benefit, not love.

Then again, how many marriages were truly for love? They were inherently relationships bound by interests.

The City Lord didn’t believe in the beautiful fairy tales from stories.

Or perhaps, because of his own experiences, he was unwilling to believe.

But his wife did believe.

That’s why she encouraged their daughter to pursue love freely.

"As if it could ever work out."

The City Lord muttered to himself.

In his eyes, there was no possibility of a nobleman’s daughter ending up with the son of a worker, or a Mechanician, or whatever else he was.

’It’s just children playing house, nothing more.’

He wouldn’t even need to intervene. In time, the vast differences in their lifestyles, their principles, and their perspectives on the world would naturally drive the two young people apart.

"It’s no big deal."

The City Lord repeated.

Meanwhile, outside the gates of the City Lord’s luxurious manor, Peter paced anxiously, his slightly-too-large bicycle by his side.

He had put on his best clothes, but standing before these exquisite gates, he felt like a servant applying for a job.

The kind of servant who was only allowed to trim the lawns and tend the flowerbeds outside.

He had seen the butler of the City Lord’s Mansion. The man wore clothes made of materials Peter couldn’t name, but which looked incredibly expensive.

Maybe his father was right. He and Grace were destined for the impossible.

As the son of a Mechanician, his best path forward was to inherit his father’s craft and become a Mechanician himself.

He would earn a decent, if not large, income, find a girl who also came from the Factory district, have a few children, and then watch them enter the next cycle.

As for breaking that cycle, that depended on winning the lottery of childbirth and producing an exceptionally talented descendant.

He’d heard that Master Yuno’s parents were just Ordinary farmers, yet he had become one of the youngest masters in the Mechanician Guild.

The title of Master wasn’t easy to obtain. His own father had worked in the trade his entire life and was still only a Level Three Mechanic. Above that were Level Two and Level One, and only then could one be promoted to Master.

The manor gates slowly opened.

Peter looked up and saw the second-most beautiful girl in his heart.

The first would always be his mother. No reason needed.

"Peter."

Grace greeted him with a smile, dressed in a very casual and simple outfit.

If not for the fact that the workmanship, fabric, and fit were far superior to anything from a high-street clothing store, it would be hard to tell that she was the City Lord’s only daughter.

"Let’s take our bikes. The cinema isn’t that far from here. We can treat it as a bit of exercise."

Peter immediately realized that Grace was trying her best to be considerate of his feelings.

She hadn’t worn fancy clothes or taken a carriage, all in an attempt to close the distance between them.

But the very fact that she lived in a sprawling manor that was also considered "not far" from the city center cinema was, in itself, an almost insurmountable chasm.

And the only two Shadow Demon Tickets he had were won from a lottery on a forum.

Peter collected himself, hiding his touch of melancholy.

He replied with a brilliant smile, "Sure! I know this road like the back of my hand."

Twenty minutes later, the two arrived at Zog Cinema on Chrysanthemum Street.

They parked their bikes and went inside.

Peter was a little nervous. He had never been to Zog Cinema before.

It wasn’t that he had never seen a Shadow of Evil, but this particular cinema had far better equipment than the others, and its tickets were more expensive.

Given a choice, Peter would never pick the expensive option.

He tried his best to relax and act properly, to not gawk at everything like it was new and make a fool of himself, earning the contempt of others.