Finally, the day where Ann got to visit Laura in the residence of the Ainsworth earl family finally came.

When she alighted from the carriage, she was surprised to see that the residence of the Ainsworth earl family was actually as huge as Schwartzen’s ducal residence if not slightly bigger than that.

Why is the residence of an earl family be on par with the ducal family?

Logically thinking, it should be at least smaller than the ducal family’s residence.

 

She didn’t have the time to ponder over this matter further as Laura quickly rushed over to her. Laura had been waiting in front of the door for some time already, so when Ann was in sight, she quickly welcomed her.

“Ann! Welcome!”

Laura then grabbed Ann’s hand with the intention of dragging her inside.

Alighting just right after Ann, what came into Allen’s vision was the sight of Laura holding Ann’s hand, intending on bringing her inside. It felt as if Laura came to grab Ann and to take her away from him, so he frowned.

Seeing Allen frowning behind her, Ann quickly steadied her foothold so Laura couldn’t drag her any further and said, “Wait, Laura! Allen’s here too!”

 

Hearing that, Laura indeed stopped and turned around to look at Allen, the unexpected guest.

“Oh, I didn’t notice that. Are you coming inside too?” Laura asked.

She had invited Ann but nobody mentioned about Allen tagging along too, so Laura didn’t see anything wrong with her question.

But somehow, hearing Laura’s words caused Allen to feel like the rivalry between them had increased by another level. He coldly smiled and said, “I will only greet the earl and countess. I can’t stay for too long.”

“I see. That’s good,” Laura inadvertently said what she was thinking about.

She didn’t want to have a man tailing her bestie, causing them to not be able to talk as freely as before.

But obviously, Allen misunderstood Laura’s words and the rivalry flames were fanned even further.

 

Noticing Allen’s expression turning uglier and Laura’s unbelievable denseness, Ann gasped and quickly nudged her bestie and reprimanded her, “Laura, you’re picking a fight!”

Laura whispered back to Ann, “What? I mean, I only invited you so we could talk about many things just between us, having him tagging along with you won’t do. Besides, it’s hoes before bros, right?”

Ann whispered back, “Uhh… Isn’t it important to be liked by your hoe’s bro too?”

“Well… I don’t want to snatch your bro, so there’s no need for me to bother to be liked by him, right? Besides, he’s not my type too.”

Looking at the two whispering girls in their own little world, Allen coughed.

 

Laura and Ann quickly ceased their little chatter and looked at Allen.

“Oh, right. Come this way, then,” Laura said as she waved her hand, gesturing for Allen to follow her.

Allen’s mood was elevated when he noticed Laura no longer held Ann’s hand, but just as he was about to come to Ann’s side to hold her hand, Laura suddenly grabbed Ann’s hand once more.

Yes, she is indeed my biggest rival!!

Behind them, Faye and Birdie followed suit with confusion.

 

By the time they entered the residence, the rest of the family had already walked to the living room to welcome their guests.

Ann had already seen the only son of the Ainsworth family, Fremont before. Add that he was one of the capturable targets in the game, she couldn’t have mistaken his short reddish brown hair and his fire-like eyes for anyone else.

Meanwhile, Earl Ainsworth was a distinguished gentleman with a warm smile and a welcoming air. His red eyes bore resemblances to Fremont, although his red eyes didn’t give him a fiery air like Fremont’s eyes. It was like a tamed flame than Fremont’s spirited flame. His dark blonde hair was kept short and kempt just like Fremont’s, yet there were strands of gray and white hair mixed amongst the dark blonde hair, indicating his years of experiences.

By his side stood Countess Ainsworth, with expressions softer than the earl. Her brown eyes exuded warmth and complemented her reddish brown hair that flowed in waves until it reached her back.

 

“Father, Mother, Fremont. This is Ann, my best friend!” Laura cheerfully introduced Ann to her adoptive family, then she turned to look at Allen and half-heartedly said, “This is her partner, Allen.”

It felt as if she really saw Allen as an accessory to Ann… Although normally, people would’ve considered Allen more as he was the duke.

The whole family greeted Ann and Allen warmly and they held a small talk for a while.

“I’m only here to escort Ann, I won’t be staying for too long,” Allen explained when the topic discussed his appearance here.

“Oh my, how sweet of you!” Countess Ainsworth exclaimed in admiration before she side eyed Laura and said, “I hope Laura will soon find a suitor like you.”

Laura didn’t catch her mother’s intention and quickly said, “Mother, don’t! He’s Ann’s and he’s just not my type!”

Sure enough, Countess Ainsworth could only glare at her dense daughter.

“So, please take care of my wife,” Allen said as he emphasized on the word ‘wife’.

“We will, don’t worry,” Laura waved her hand without really paying attention to Allen’s words.

“Aren’t you going to stay for a meal, Duke?” Earl Ainsworth asked.

“I’d love to, but I have some matters to attend to. Maybe next time,” Allen politely answered as he excused himself from the rest of them.

Since he couldn’t really bring himself to put up a full power public display of affection, Allen only patted Ann on the head and said, “Take care,” before leaving.

 

When Allen’s figure could no longer be seen, Laura made a comment, “Tsk, yeah, he’s very busy as a duke, huh? Will he have time for you later, Ann?”

“Shuush, Laura! You just don’t get it. Of course he will make time for his beloved,” Countess Ainsworth said.

“But he didn’t even stay longer now,” Laura protested.

“It’s out of consideration for Ann so she can fully enjoy her time with you. But he went as far as escorting her, it shows that he puts her into high consideration,” Countess Ainsworth explained.

“Huh… Mother, I think you’re overanalyzing this… Father, look! Mother seems to like Duke Schwartzen! Be careful so she won’t go for him!” Laura first responded to Countess Ainsworth before playfully tattled on her mother to her father.

“What are you saying?!” Countess Ainsworth said to Laura with a reprimanding look before changing her tone to be softer when she spoke to her husband, “Dear, you know that I only have you, right?”

Earl Ainsworth chuckled.

“Mother, Father, please. We have guests,” Fremont interjected, seemingly unable to bear with his father and mother’s lovey dovey interaction any further.

It seemed as if it was a daily occurrence for this to happen.

 

After eating some meal, Ann was dragged by Laura to her room to rest as well as catching up again.

“Your adoptive family seems really warm! I’m glad for you, Laura!” Ann quickly said.

“Yeah. At first I was defensive because… well, they adopted me due to my powers as the saintess, right? That kind of stuff sounds shady, don’t you think?” Laura asked.

“Well, that is true…,” Ann pondered.

It would seem as if this noble family only adopter Laura for her power and to use her to their advantage, but their interaction seemed genuine and loving, it didn’t look fake.

“Then I heard about the Ainsworth family’s history and could somehow understand it,” Laura said as she hugged her pillow with Ann lying down next to her.

“Oh? Right! Tell me about their background. I see that the residence is as big as Allen’s residence, so…,” Ann activated her gossiping mode.

 

“Actually, the Ainsworth family is one of the oldest noble families in the kingdom and it was due to the fact that the first saintess was born into this family. After that, many saintesses were born in the family that they’ve more or less known how to best educate and train them from early on. That’s why when the next saintess wasn’t born from their family, they voluntarily took the saintess into their family in order to educate them. And after that, it’s been a kind of tradition and obligation… They’re just fulfilling that,” Laura explained.

“Hmhm… But that doesn’t mean the family will treat the saintess born not in the family well like you, right?” Ann asked.

“Yeah. I happened to have my luck, I guess,” Laura agreed on that point.

“But why would they have a big residence like this and also is one of the oldest noble families in the kingdom, yet their title is still earl?” Ann frowned. They should be a duke, right?

“Oh. Generations ago, the family still had the title of a ducal house. They adopted a saintess born outside their family. Yet, the saintess wasn’t treated well by them. They favored the saintess because of her power alone and neglected their biological daughter. Even if the saintess was favored as a ‘tool’, the sister felt extreme jealousy. Due to the treatment from the family and the conflict with the adoptive sister, the saintess’ power got distorted and that caused a chaos in the kingdom,” Laura explained.

Ann gulped.

The game only touched the surface history and background of the world, so this was all new information to her.

Although Ann didn’t say anything, Laura knew that Ann’s behavior told her to continue explaining.

 

“Luckily, it didn’t bring that much harm and tragedy, but the family was still punished and their ducal title was revoked. The next generations of the family then mended their ways and became much more content with just becoming an earl house and devoting their time and energy for family matters, nurturing the saintess, and going to the temples,” Laura said.

“Whoa!” Ann was surprised hearing all this. No wonder they had become a good family.

 

“Wait…,” Ann suddenly thought of something and asked, “Why is there a need to nurture saintesses? What does a saintess do? I don’t see any demon lord or something like that waltzing around…”

“Dummy! It’s because the first saintess has sealed the evil being that brought about the calamity. Ever since then, the saintess’ job is to strengthen the seal as well as purify the seeds of evil that suddenly emerged here and there,” Laura explained as she looked at Ann as if she was dumb.

“Well, I didn’t know that… The otome game didn’t explain things this extensively…,” Ann scratched her head, genuinely didn’t know.

The theme of the otome game was about the current royalty versus the rebellion that was part of the former royalty, after all…

 

“With such achievements and contribution, wouldn’t the status of the Ainsworth family be elevated again, anyway?” Ann steered the topic back to the Ainsworth family since there wasn’t really much she wanted to ask about the classic evil being and saint/saintess.

“I was told that when the current king first became a king, he had wanted to elevate the Ainsworth family further but the family declined because the king had many things to do at the moment and had elevated many families. The reason is… elevating the earl family at this time would be troublesome, so maybe later when the condition’s calmed down,” Laura explained.

“Whoa, they told you all that?” Ann was amazed.

“Duh, of course. I am now part of the family, so I need to know too,” Laura said as if it was a matter of course.

Hearing Laura saying that with certainty, Ann was really, really happy for her bestie.

Finally, her bestie was able to experience what it felt like having a loving family.