“Wow…” Narias gasped when he saw Layla come out.
She had a sleeveless dress on, black and light blue in color. The interesting aspect was that the top of the dress was fully black and the bottom part, going from her waist down, was in light blue color, which made it look like Layla was wearing a separate top and a skirt. She also had simple black lady’s shoes on, which were more practical than elegant, but still looked very nice.
The simple, casual style and the frilly bottom part of the dress made Layla look rather playful. But the main aspect of Layla’s cuteness was how unusual her hair looked. Whether it was herself who did it or someone else helped her, Layla’s hair was combed to make two pigtails hang out from two sides. However, the pigtails weren’t combed in the same exact way. The left pigtail, from Narias point of view, was made to be slightly longer and was tied slightly more at the front compared to the other one. That just made Layla look extremely adorable. Add to that Layla’s shy demeanor and you have the cutest schoolgirl model you’d ever see.
“Do you… like it, Narias?” Layla asked, a shade of red dressing her cheeks.
“Y… yeah. You look super cute, Layla.” Narias had to scramble for words, dazed by how adorable Layla looked.
It was the next day and Narias was about to go out on a date with Layla. Ileena, Flavia and Emilia wanted to come with Narias, so they could spend more time with him, but now that Layla became Narias’s official girlfriend, they had to share. The reason Layla was going out with Narias first was because they hadn’t been on a date for so long. Since Narias was spending more time with his other three girlfriends, they all agreed that Narias should go out with Layla first before going out with any of them. That was Narias girlfriends’ suggestion, not his. And so, Narias and Layla were on their way to Marnas.
“I hope they will have a good time.” Ileena said after the carriage with Narias and Layla in it was gone.
“Bummer, I wanted to go out with Narias too.” It’s not that Flavia was complaining, but she was.
“We will have our chance to go out with Narias too. We just have to… be patient.” Emilia added, gently brushing her hair with one hand.
“Yeah, but what will we do now?” Flavia asked, throwing both of her hands to the sides.
“I think you miss the point here, Flavia. Having Narias and Layla away is a benefit to us.” Ileena told her, adjusting her glasses in a smart way.
“Eh? What benefit? We’re left on our own.” Flavia couldn’t understand why Ileena would say it was a benefit.
“Simple. We can spend some time with Narias’s mom. I’d love to learn more about Narias and what he likes or dislikes. Who is better to ask about it if not his mom?” Unusual for Ileena, she had a smug expression on her face.
“Oooh, that’s a great idea. I like your thinking, Ileena.” Flavia brightened up suddenly.
“Yes. We could learn more about Narias and use it to our… to get along with him better.” Emilia was about to say something else, but changed her wording at the last second.
“Yes, we could use it to our benefit. Good thinking, Emilia.” Flavia grinned, showing Emilia a thumbs up sign with her hand.
“I… didn’t mean it in that way…” Emilia averted her gaze, playing with her hair in between her fingers.
{a short while later}
“Hello girls, how are you doing today?” Narias’s mom greeted them with a smile.
“We’re doing very well, Mrs. Talrone.” Ileena answered politely. Flavia and Emilia exchanged greetings as well. “Do you have some time, Mrs. Talrone? We’d like to talk to you about Narias.”
“About Narias? Did something happen between any of you and my son?” Alvina asked, becoming worried.
“No, no. Nothing bad happened between us.” Ileena reassured her.
“We wanted to know more about Narias. You know, what he likes or dislikes, so… ahm… we could use it to Narias’s benefit.” Flavia changed her wording from what she said earlier.
“Oh, I see… That’s so sweet of you. Of course we can talk about my little Narias. Or maybe I shouldn’t call him little anymore? He has so many girlfriends now.” Alvina touched her cheek with one hand, chuckling at her own words. “How about I ask one of the maids to prepare some drinks and a few snacks before we talk? And may I suggest we go sit outside at the garden? It is such a lovely day outside.”
“Yes, of course. That is very kind of you, Mrs. Talrone.” Ileena bowed her head.
“Please, call me Alvina. We’re basically family now.” Alvina insisted.
“Ok… Lady Alvina.” Ileena couldn’t allow herself to be as direct as simply call Narias’s mom by her first name only.
“Wonderful. How about we meet at the garden in a short while?” Alvina clapped her hands, feeling happy to be called by her first name.
“Here are your drinks, ma’am.” A maid brought a tray with some drinks for Mrs. Talrone and the girls. “Please enjoy.”
“So, what is it that you’d like to know about my son?” Alvina picked up her cup to have a taste.
“I’d like to know what he likes in girls the most?” Flavia shot a question first.
“Oh my, now that is a difficult question to answer.” Narias’s mom smiled, placing her cup back on the table.
“Why is that, Lady Alvina?” Emilia was curious.
“You see, before Narias started school, he didn’t have any girlfriends. Nor he showed any interest in girls at all, other than Layla maybe. But they were growing up together, so that was more or less inevitable. But even then, he was fully immersed in books and training all the time.” Alvina told the girls.
“Hah, Narias and books. We know that part.” Flavia commented, adding a laugh at the end.
“Yes, I was amazed to see how much my son loved reading books. Not to mention, he started reading at such a young age too.” It made Alvina chuckle too. “To tell you the truth, Lorenard and I were a little worried about him. Studying and training is important, but we were afraid Narias might have a hard time finding a girlfriend or friends even. But it seems we were worried for nothing. He had brought home not only one, but three of his girlfriends with him. And there is another one waiting for him back at the academy too.”
“Yeah…” Flavia sighed, picking up a snack from the plate.
“You seem to be distressed about something, Flavia?” Alvina noticed it.
“Ah, no, no. I mean, I just…” Flavia tried to deny it, but she couldn’t resist Alvina’s warm, kind smile. “I want to be with Narias too, but…”
“So do I, Flavia. All of us do, but there’s only one Narias. But you wouldn’t want the same thing happen like the incident we had at the student cafeteria that day, do you?” Ileena gave Flavia a serious stare.
“Oh my, I wonder what happened?” Alvina touched her cheek with one hand, feeling curious.
“Sigh… We got into an argument about who should come to Narias's home with him and that got Narias upset. I felt really bad about it when Narias said all of us could come with him afterwards.” Ileena explained what had happened.
“That’s so adorable.” The girls were surprised to hear Alvina chuckle about it. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help it. It reminded me of my younger days when I was attending academy myself. Situations like these aren’t uncommon among girls and boys alike.”
“Huh? Really?” Flavia’s eyes hot up.
“But of course. Arguments are bound to happen when more than one person wants to win over a certain someone.” Alvina added with a smile. “I’m not saying arguing is a good thing, but as long as you can sort it out in a friendly and understanding manner it all works out.”
“That helps a lot. Thank you so much, Lady Alvina.” Ileena was glad to receive a useful advice.
“Yeah, but… I still want to be with Narias more often.” Flavia wrinkled her nose in a cute manner.
“That’s understandable. We all want to be with the person we love. However, forcing the other person to be with you can work against you. Instead, you must allow the person you love to want to be with you.” Alvina explained, which only made the girls raise their eyebrows in confusion.
“Allow Narias to be with me? But I do. I always tell Narias I want to be with him.” Flavia stated loudly, totally lost about what Narias’s mom had just said.
“I believe that’s not what Lady Alvina meant, Flavia,” Ileena said, thinking about it.
“What did she mean then?” Flavia wanted to know.
“I… don’t know,” Ileena answered before having a drink from her cup.
“Eh?” Flavia exclaimed, giving Ileena a stare.
“Allow Narias to want to be with me? Could you explain what you meant by that, Lady Alvina?” Emilia finally asked, not being able to figure it out.
“Certainly. You see, boys understand love differently than girls. As a woman, I’d love for my husband to spend all of his time with me. I could talk for hours about various things and be happy just to have him by my side. However, Lorenard would get bored and tired in less than an hour and would want to get away from me in no time.” Alvina laughed about it, probably remembering an incident or two when that actually happened.
“Wow, wouldn’t that be rude? I mean, I could spend all the time in the world together with Narias no matter what we did.” Flavia was taken aback by Alvina’s explanation.
“Exactly. That’s because you’re a girl, Flavia. You understand love differently than boys do.” Alvina smiled at her. “But if you think about it. Wouldn’t you want to spend time together with Narias doing what you enjoy? I am sure there are things you and my son did together that’d you want to do again.”
“Oh, yeah. We went to the Magic Dome and we had a blast playing all kinds of games.” Flavia almost jumped from her seat as soon as she remembered that.
“But the same wouldn’t apply to Ileena or Emilia probably?” Alvina turned to the other two girls.
“Ah, no. Narias and I went to the Magic Dungeon Museum. I… really enjoyed our time together.” Ileena blushed, remembering it.
“It… wasn’t a real date in my case, but… we went to the flower shop and… Narias bought my favorite flowers for me.” Emilia’s cheeks were painted a charming red too.
“See? All of you had a great time on your dates, even though, each one of you did something different.” Alvina paused to let her words sink in before continuing. “Now let’s take a step further. Correct me if I’m wrong, but each one of you like Narias for different reasons. It might be more than one thing, but can you think of at least one thing that you like about my son?”
“I would say his incredible obsession with books was what made me become interested in Narias.” Ileena was the first to answer.
“Oh, that’s easy. I think Narias is cool. He beat me during the Solo Arena Battle competition. If he was some wimp, I wouldn’t have been interested in Narias at all.” Flavia stated confidently.
“I think… Narias kindness and him treating me like a normal person was what attracted me to him.” Emilia didn’t need to think for too long to give an answer.
“Aah… that just makes my heart dance of joy when I hear you say that about my son.” Alvina tilted her head to the side with a smile. “But going back to our topic, now imagine Narias not having the traits that you’ve mentioned. He wouldn’t be interested in books, he would’ve lost to you, Flavia, and he would’ve treated Emilia just like anyone else was treating you. Would you still be interested in him?”
“No way!” Flavia shot an answer.
“It would be difficult to imagine Narias not reading books, but that would mean he would’ve never joined my student club either.” Ileena wondered, a shiver running down her spine.
“I probably would’ve given him a cold shoulder, just like with everyone else.” Emilia admitted, lowering her head.
“See? Now here’s a hard question for you girls. Have you ever gone out on a date with Narias to a place he wanted to go or done something together with him that Narias wanted to do?” Alvina quieted down as soon as she asked the question.
“Well…” Ileena spoke, becoming embarrassed. “Does… does spending a night together with Narias count? We had a bath together when I spent a night at his place and… I helped him wash… his body…”
“Oh, yeah. In that case, Narias had spent a night at my room as well. I cooked dinner for us and he said he loved it, and we also… well… I also… did massage to him… with my tongue… and my mouth…” Flavia was basically burning from embarrassment.
“I… I hadn’t done anything like that with Narias… yet.” Emilia became embarrassed for a different reason.
“Oh my…” Alvina had to cover her mouth from the sudden surprise. “That’s not what I meant, but I guess that counts too.”
“Huh? It… wasn’t what you meant, Lady Alvina?” Ileena realized she must’ve said something she shouldn’t have.
“Eek… You mean, it wasn’t… about that?” Flavia’s ears shot up.
“Ah…” Alvina laughed heartily. “Thank you for being so open with me. I can see you are truly serious about being with my son.”
“But then… what did you mean by your question, Lady Alvina?” Emilia wanted to know.
“What I meant was, Narias was smart and kind enough to go and do the things that you wanted to do. Which also means, he put in the time and effort to become who he is. If you deprive him from doing what he desires the most, you will put him, and yourselves, in a very dangerous situation. You will force him to choose between you and the things he desires to do. More often than not, men choose the latter.”
The message sank deep into the girls’ hearts.
“So, what do you suggest us do, Lady Alvina?” Ileena asked, yet she probably knew the answer.
“It’s simple, really. Just be yourselves.” Narias’s mom said, smiling kindly.
“Be ourselves?” Flavia became confused.
“Of course. You are already my son’s girlfriends, are you not? That means he likes you for who you are. Now, you will have to work on yourselves to make sure you will get along. After all, there’s only one Narias. So, instead of competing among yourselves, help each other to make Narias happy. As a matter of fact, deciding to let Narias and Layla go on a date before any of you went with him was the best choice you could’ve made. Do you know why?” Alvina paused before continuing. “Because when he comes back, he will be so grateful he will think of nothing else but how to make you all happy in return. He will try his best to make up for your kindness towards him. You might not think about it, but my son feels a tremendous pressure on how to make his girlfriends happy. Having multiple partners is much harder than one might think.”
“Wow, I had never thought about it.” Flavia admitted.
“Thank you so much for sharing it with us, Lady Alvina.” Emilia thanked her. “You know a lot about having multiple partners. You must’ve had many suitors. Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”
“Yeah, definitely. But now that you mentioned it, I hadn’t seen any of your other husbands, Mrs. Talrone. Are they out at work?” Flavia asked, being as straightforward as she always was.
“Flavia,” Ileena threw her an angry stare.
“It’s ok, Ileena. I am certain you were curious about it yourself,” Alvina didn’t mind. “Actually, Lorenard is the only husband I have.”
“What? Really? Does that mean Narias’s dad has more wives then?” Emilia couldn’t believe it.
“No, I’m his one and only wife. Hmm…” Alvina was overcome by a joyous emotion when she said that.
“Oh, wow. I would’ve never thought you’d have only one husband, Mrs. Talrone,” Flavia was almost shocked to learn that.
“Aah…” Flavia’s words made Narias’s mom chuckle. “I can understand why you would think that, Flavia. I was certainly blessed with beauty, which I am immensely grateful for.”
“I apologize if my question may sound rude, but... haven’t you considered taking in more husbands, Lady Alvina?” For whatever reason, Emilia was too curious not to ask.
“Many women in my place would’ve done that, but thanks to certain circumstances I chose to have only Lorenard by my side.” Alvina answered, adding a warm smile on her face, as if remembering something.
“Oh, I understand. I’m sorry for asking, Lady Alvina,” Emilia bowed her head.
“No need to apologize, Emilia. I understand all three of you are very curious about it. I guess I ought to tell you what happened. You are my son’s girlfriends, after all,” Alvina added with a smile. “You see, originally, I come from a Tier Three Rank family.”
“What? Tier Three?” Flavia gasped in surprise. “But that makes no sense. Narias said his family’s rank is Tier Four.”
“Yes. That is how he is registered at the academy. Student family’s Rank is public knowledge,” Ileena added, adjusting her glasses.
“How come Narias is registered as a student who comes from a Tier Four Rank family if you come from a Tier Three Rank family, Lady Alvina?” Emilia asked, with all three girls turning to face her.
“That’s because I was disowned by my own family and had my Noble Rank taken away.” Alvina said in a very kind, casual tone of voice, leaving the girls speechless.
Niuniax
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“Wow…” Narias gasped when he saw Layla come out.
She had a sleeveless dress on, black and light blue in color. The interesting aspect was that the top of the dress was fully black and the bottom part, going from her waist down, was in light blue color, which made it look like Layla was wearing a separate top and a skirt. She also had simple black lady’s shoes on, which were more practical than elegant, but still looked very nice.
The simple, casual style and the frilly bottom part of the dress made Layla look rather playful. But the main aspect of Layla’s cuteness was how unusual her hair looked. Whether it was herself who did it or someone else helped her, Layla’s hair was combed to make two pigtails hang out from two sides. However, the pigtails weren’t combed in the same exact way. The left pigtail, from Narias point of view, was made to be slightly longer and was tied slightly more at the front compared to the other one. That just made Layla look extremely adorable. Add to that Layla’s shy demeanor and you have the cutest schoolgirl model you’d ever see.
“Do you… like it, Narias?” Layla asked, a shade of red dressing her cheeks.
“Y… yeah. You look super cute, Layla.” Narias had to scramble for words, dazed by how adorable Layla looked.
It was the next day and Narias was about to go out on a date with Layla. Ileena, Flavia and Emilia wanted to come with Narias, so they could spend more time with him, but now that Layla became Narias’s official girlfriend, they had to share. The reason Layla was going out with Narias first was because they hadn’t been on a date for so long. Since Narias was spending more time with his other three girlfriends, they all agreed that Narias should go out with Layla first before going out with any of them. That was Narias girlfriends’ suggestion, not his. And so, Narias and Layla were on their way to Marnas.
“I hope they will have a good time.” Ileena said after the carriage with Narias and Layla in it was gone.
“Bummer, I wanted to go out with Narias too.” It’s not that Flavia was complaining, but she was.
“We will have our chance to go out with Narias too. We just have to… be patient.” Emilia added, gently brushing her hair with one hand.
“Yeah, but what will we do now?” Flavia asked, throwing both of her hands to the sides.
“I think you miss the point here, Flavia. Having Narias and Layla away is a benefit to us.” Ileena told her, adjusting her glasses in a smart way.
“Eh? What benefit? We’re left on our own.” Flavia couldn’t understand why Ileena would say it was a benefit.
“Simple. We can spend some time with Narias’s mom. I’d love to learn more about Narias and what he likes or dislikes. Who is better to ask about it if not his mom?” Unusual for Ileena, she had a smug expression on her face.
“Oooh, that’s a great idea. I like your thinking, Ileena.” Flavia brightened up suddenly.
“Yes. We could learn more about Narias and use it to our… to get along with him better.” Emilia was about to say something else, but changed her wording at the last second.
“Yes, we could use it to our benefit. Good thinking, Emilia.” Flavia grinned, showing Emilia a thumbs up sign with her hand.
“I… didn’t mean it in that way…” Emilia averted her gaze, playing with her hair in between her fingers.
{a short while later}
“Hello girls, how are you doing today?” Narias’s mom greeted them with a smile.
“We’re doing very well, Mrs. Talrone.” Ileena answered politely. Flavia and Emilia exchanged greetings as well. “Do you have some time, Mrs. Talrone? We’d like to talk to you about Narias.”
“About Narias? Did something happen between any of you and my son?” Alvina asked, becoming worried.
“No, no. Nothing bad happened between us.” Ileena reassured her.
“We wanted to know more about Narias. You know, what he likes or dislikes, so… ahm… we could use it to Narias’s benefit.” Flavia changed her wording from what she said earlier.
“Oh, I see… That’s so sweet of you. Of course we can talk about my little Narias. Or maybe I shouldn’t call him little anymore? He has so many girlfriends now.” Alvina touched her cheek with one hand, chuckling at her own words. “How about I ask one of the maids to prepare some drinks and a few snacks before we talk? And may I suggest we go sit outside at the garden? It is such a lovely day outside.”
“Yes, of course. That is very kind of you, Mrs. Talrone.” Ileena bowed her head.
“Please, call me Alvina. We’re basically family now.” Alvina insisted.
“Ok… Lady Alvina.” Ileena couldn’t allow herself to be as direct as simply call Narias’s mom by her first name only.
“Wonderful. How about we meet at the garden in a short while?” Alvina clapped her hands, feeling happy to be called by her first name.
“Here are your drinks, ma’am.” A maid brought a tray with some drinks for Mrs. Talrone and the girls. “Please enjoy.”
“So, what is it that you’d like to know about my son?” Alvina picked up her cup to have a taste.
“I’d like to know what he likes in girls the most?” Flavia shot a question first.
“Oh my, now that is a difficult question to answer.” Narias’s mom smiled, placing her cup back on the table.
“Why is that, Lady Alvina?” Emilia was curious.
“You see, before Narias started school, he didn’t have any girlfriends. Nor he showed any interest in girls at all, other than Layla maybe. But they were growing up together, so that was more or less inevitable. But even then, he was fully immersed in books and training all the time.” Alvina told the girls.
“Hah, Narias and books. We know that part.” Flavia commented, adding a laugh at the end.
“Yes, I was amazed to see how much my son loved reading books. Not to mention, he started reading at such a young age too.” It made Alvina chuckle too. “To tell you the truth, Lorenard and I were a little worried about him. Studying and training is important, but we were afraid Narias might have a hard time finding a girlfriend or friends even. But it seems we were worried for nothing. He had brought home not only one, but three of his girlfriends with him. And there is another one waiting for him back at the academy too.”
“Yeah…” Flavia sighed, picking up a snack from the plate.
“You seem to be distressed about something, Flavia?” Alvina noticed it.
“Ah, no, no. I mean, I just…” Flavia tried to deny it, but she couldn’t resist Alvina’s warm, kind smile. “I want to be with Narias too, but…”
“So do I, Flavia. All of us do, but there’s only one Narias. But you wouldn’t want the same thing happen like the incident we had at the student cafeteria that day, do you?” Ileena gave Flavia a serious stare.
“Oh my, I wonder what happened?” Alvina touched her cheek with one hand, feeling curious.
“Sigh… We got into an argument about who should come to Narias's home with him and that got Narias upset. I felt really bad about it when Narias said all of us could come with him afterwards.” Ileena explained what had happened.
“That’s so adorable.” The girls were surprised to hear Alvina chuckle about it. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help it. It reminded me of my younger days when I was attending academy myself. Situations like these aren’t uncommon among girls and boys alike.”
“Huh? Really?” Flavia’s eyes hot up.
“But of course. Arguments are bound to happen when more than one person wants to win over a certain someone.” Alvina added with a smile. “I’m not saying arguing is a good thing, but as long as you can sort it out in a friendly and understanding manner it all works out.”
“That helps a lot. Thank you so much, Lady Alvina.” Ileena was glad to receive a useful advice.
“Yeah, but… I still want to be with Narias more often.” Flavia wrinkled her nose in a cute manner.
“That’s understandable. We all want to be with the person we love. However, forcing the other person to be with you can work against you. Instead, you must allow the person you love to want to be with you.” Alvina explained, which only made the girls raise their eyebrows in confusion.
“Allow Narias to be with me? But I do. I always tell Narias I want to be with him.” Flavia stated loudly, totally lost about what Narias’s mom had just said.
“I believe that’s not what Lady Alvina meant, Flavia,” Ileena said, thinking about it.
“What did she mean then?” Flavia wanted to know.
“I… don’t know,” Ileena answered before having a drink from her cup.
“Eh?” Flavia exclaimed, giving Ileena a stare.
“Allow Narias to want to be with me? Could you explain what you meant by that, Lady Alvina?” Emilia finally asked, not being able to figure it out.
“Certainly. You see, boys understand love differently than girls. As a woman, I’d love for my husband to spend all of his time with me. I could talk for hours about various things and be happy just to have him by my side. However, Lorenard would get bored and tired in less than an hour and would want to get away from me in no time.” Alvina laughed about it, probably remembering an incident or two when that actually happened.
“Wow, wouldn’t that be rude? I mean, I could spend all the time in the world together with Narias no matter what we did.” Flavia was taken aback by Alvina’s explanation.
“Exactly. That’s because you’re a girl, Flavia. You understand love differently than boys do.” Alvina smiled at her. “But if you think about it. Wouldn’t you want to spend time together with Narias doing what you enjoy? I am sure there are things you and my son did together that’d you want to do again.”
“Oh, yeah. We went to the Magic Dome and we had a blast playing all kinds of games.” Flavia almost jumped from her seat as soon as she remembered that.
“But the same wouldn’t apply to Ileena or Emilia probably?” Alvina turned to the other two girls.
“Ah, no. Narias and I went to the Magic Dungeon Museum. I… really enjoyed our time together.” Ileena blushed, remembering it.
“It… wasn’t a real date in my case, but… we went to the flower shop and… Narias bought my favorite flowers for me.” Emilia’s cheeks were painted a charming red too.
“See? All of you had a great time on your dates, even though, each one of you did something different.” Alvina paused to let her words sink in before continuing. “Now let’s take a step further. Correct me if I’m wrong, but each one of you like Narias for different reasons. It might be more than one thing, but can you think of at least one thing that you like about my son?”
“I would say his incredible obsession with books was what made me become interested in Narias.” Ileena was the first to answer.
“Oh, that’s easy. I think Narias is cool. He beat me during the Solo Arena Battle competition. If he was some wimp, I wouldn’t have been interested in Narias at all.” Flavia stated confidently.
“I think… Narias kindness and him treating me like a normal person was what attracted me to him.” Emilia didn’t need to think for too long to give an answer.
“Aah… that just makes my heart dance of joy when I hear you say that about my son.” Alvina tilted her head to the side with a smile. “But going back to our topic, now imagine Narias not having the traits that you’ve mentioned. He wouldn’t be interested in books, he would’ve lost to you, Flavia, and he would’ve treated Emilia just like anyone else was treating you. Would you still be interested in him?”
“No way!” Flavia shot an answer.
“It would be difficult to imagine Narias not reading books, but that would mean he would’ve never joined my student club either.” Ileena wondered, a shiver running down her spine.
“I probably would’ve given him a cold shoulder, just like with everyone else.” Emilia admitted, lowering her head.
“See? Now here’s a hard question for you girls. Have you ever gone out on a date with Narias to a place he wanted to go or done something together with him that Narias wanted to do?” Alvina quieted down as soon as she asked the question.
“Well…” Ileena spoke, becoming embarrassed. “Does… does spending a night together with Narias count? We had a bath together when I spent a night at his place and… I helped him wash… his body…”
“Oh, yeah. In that case, Narias had spent a night at my room as well. I cooked dinner for us and he said he loved it, and we also… well… I also… did massage to him… with my tongue… and my mouth…” Flavia was basically burning from embarrassment.
“I… I hadn’t done anything like that with Narias… yet.” Emilia became embarrassed for a different reason.
“Oh my…” Alvina had to cover her mouth from the sudden surprise. “That’s not what I meant, but I guess that counts too.”
“Huh? It… wasn’t what you meant, Lady Alvina?” Ileena realized she must’ve said something she shouldn’t have.
“Eek… You mean, it wasn’t… about that?” Flavia’s ears shot up.
“Ah…” Alvina laughed heartily. “Thank you for being so open with me. I can see you are truly serious about being with my son.”
“But then… what did you mean by your question, Lady Alvina?” Emilia wanted to know.
“What I meant was, Narias was smart and kind enough to go and do the things that you wanted to do. Which also means, he put in the time and effort to become who he is. If you deprive him from doing what he desires the most, you will put him, and yourselves, in a very dangerous situation. You will force him to choose between you and the things he desires to do. More often than not, men choose the latter.”
The message sank deep into the girls’ hearts.
“So, what do you suggest us do, Lady Alvina?” Ileena asked, yet she probably knew the answer.
“It’s simple, really. Just be yourselves.” Narias’s mom said, smiling kindly.
“Be ourselves?” Flavia became confused.
“Of course. You are already my son’s girlfriends, are you not? That means he likes you for who you are. Now, you will have to work on yourselves to make sure you will get along. After all, there’s only one Narias. So, instead of competing among yourselves, help each other to make Narias happy. As a matter of fact, deciding to let Narias and Layla go on a date before any of you went with him was the best choice you could’ve made. Do you know why?” Alvina paused before continuing. “Because when he comes back, he will be so grateful he will think of nothing else but how to make you all happy in return. He will try his best to make up for your kindness towards him. You might not think about it, but my son feels a tremendous pressure on how to make his girlfriends happy. Having multiple partners is much harder than one might think.”
“Wow, I had never thought about it.” Flavia admitted.
“Thank you so much for sharing it with us, Lady Alvina.” Emilia thanked her. “You know a lot about having multiple partners. You must’ve had many suitors. Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”
“Yeah, definitely. But now that you mentioned it, I hadn’t seen any of your other husbands, Mrs. Talrone. Are they out at work?” Flavia asked, being as straightforward as she always was.
“Flavia,” Ileena threw her an angry stare.
“It’s ok, Ileena. I am certain you were curious about it yourself,” Alvina didn’t mind. “Actually, Lorenard is the only husband I have.”
“What? Really? Does that mean Narias’s dad has more wives then?” Emilia couldn’t believe it.
“No, I’m his one and only wife. Hmm…” Alvina was overcome by a joyous emotion when she said that.
“Oh, wow. I would’ve never thought you’d have only one husband, Mrs. Talrone,” Flavia was almost shocked to learn that.
“Aah…” Flavia’s words made Narias’s mom chuckle. “I can understand why you would think that, Flavia. I was certainly blessed with beauty, which I am immensely grateful for.”
“I apologize if my question may sound rude, but... haven’t you considered taking in more husbands, Lady Alvina?” For whatever reason, Emilia was too curious not to ask.
“Many women in my place would’ve done that, but thanks to certain circumstances I chose to have only Lorenard by my side.” Alvina answered, adding a warm smile on her face, as if remembering something.
“Oh, I understand. I’m sorry for asking, Lady Alvina,” Emilia bowed her head.
“No need to apologize, Emilia. I understand all three of you are very curious about it. I guess I ought to tell you what happened. You are my son’s girlfriends, after all,” Alvina added with a smile. “You see, originally, I come from a Tier Three Rank family.”
“What? Tier Three?” Flavia gasped in surprise. “But that makes no sense. Narias said his family’s rank is Tier Four.”
“Yes. That is how he is registered at the academy. Student family’s Rank is public knowledge,” Ileena added, adjusting her glasses.
“How come Narias is registered as a student who comes from a Tier Four Rank family if you come from a Tier Three Rank family, Lady Alvina?” Emilia asked, with all three girls turning to face her.
“That’s because I was disowned by my own family and had my Noble Rank taken away.” Alvina said in a very kind, casual tone of voice, leaving the girls speechless.
Niuniax
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Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it. Apologies in advance if you find a weird sounding phrase or a grammar error. These are draft chapters after all.
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