I am the heroine's godfather!

Page 10

After several rounds of drinks, it was already late at night. Charlotte had long since gone to bed; good children shouldn't stay up so late. The enthusiastic uncle was drunk and passed out on the floor, leaving only Loren and Amito still sober.

Loran sized up Amito, who chuckled softly, "Is there anything I can help you with, Your Excellency?"

"I was just wondering why you were covering your face."

Loran took a sip of wine: "As far as I know, elves are very confident in their appearance."

"...Haha, all sorts of reasons, I guess."

Amito sighed, then looked at the distant snow-capped mountains.

"Speaking of which, I used to know an elf."

Loran suddenly spoke up: "I remember her name is... Estia, have you heard of her?"

"Estella?"

Amito thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Sorry, I don't know him—after all, I haven't been back to the Elf Forest for many years."

"That's it."

There was a moment of silence, and after a long while, Amito spoke up: "Would you like to hear a song?"

"OK,"

Lorraine readily agreed.

Chapter 17 is Autumn

"The snow on the mountaintop of Hiscana never melts."

"Where the Bauhinia flowers bloom, there lives a young woman."

"The girl's heart is so pure, and her face is more beautiful than snow."

"Where are you now, my beloved?"

"The girl gazes into the distance every day."

"But girl, you must understand that fate is often unpredictable."

"Just as birds leave the forest, flowers also wither."

"And for lovers, separation is always the final chapter."

"Girl, don't wait in vain."

"Birds that have flown away will never return."

In the dead of night, by the flickering firelight, a veiled bard sang a sorrowful love song. Loren drank the last drop of wine from his cup and looked into the distance, at the mountain peaks, faintly visible in the night, covered in snow that never melts.

Will bauhinia flowers bloom on the mountaintop?

"Loran asked."

Amito was stunned. He looked up, also gazing at the mountaintop. But his gaze was more distant, as if trying to traverse vast distances to find something tiny.

"There will be."

After a long silence, he said softly.

"That's it."

Loran nodded, but then suddenly said, "Having listened to so many of your songs, how about I give you a story in return?"

"story?"

"It's called a story, but it's really just a few words I saw in an old book. It's about two brothers who both fell in love with a girl and decided to compete fairly. In the end, the girl loved the younger brother, and when the older brother found out, he decided to leave for another place and died in an accident. The younger brother felt that he had killed his older brother, so he also left for another place, leaving the girl behind to wait for his brother's return."

"Then the person listening to the story asked, saying that the story seemed to be a tragedy."

Loran squinted, seemingly recalling the contents of the ancient book, or perhaps thinking of a place even more distant than the summit of Hiscana.

"The storyteller says that love has no tragedy. How can love be a tragedy for the lovers? Is autumn the tragedy for spring?"

"The listeners would ask, 'What is the ending of the story?'"

"The storyteller says it's about waiting."

"But what happens after we wait?"

"There was no afterward."

"So, what will be the outcome of our wait?"

"Waiting is the answer."

"Then the man wondered, 'Isn't this a tragedy?'"

The storyteller shook his head and said, "It's autumn."

After Loran finished speaking, he looked at the silent Amito and said, "The story is over."

He stood up: "Charlotte and I are going up the mountain tomorrow, do you want to come?"

Amito remained silent. Loran stopped trying to persuade him and looked back towards the mountaintop:

"A Bauhinia flower blooming on a snow-capped mountain? I really should go see it."

Loran left, the grand party came to an end, leaving only the bard wiping his harp strings, reluctant to leave.

------------------

"Loran!"

Early in the morning, Loran's door was suddenly pushed open, and Miss Charlotte looked quite excited: "Get up! We're going to climb the snow mountain!"

"Hmm... I'll sleep for another five minutes."

"No way! Loran always says he only sleeps for five minutes, but he never wakes up for an hour!"

"This time I'll definitely only sleep for five minutes..."

"Can't!"

Miss Charlotte snorted and then abruptly pulled back Lorraine's blanket: "Get up!"

"Ouch!"

Loran reluctantly opened his eyes: "My little darling, it's not a good thing to just pull off a man's blanket. What if I'm used to sleeping naked?"

"......abnormal!"

Seeing Charlotte's disdainful look, Loran felt utterly wronged: "No, it's just a hypothetical situation! A hypothetical situation! It might not even happen!"

"abnormal!"

"I'm sorry, I was wrong, I'll get up now."

Knowing that Miss Charlotte would be even harder to appease if the conversation continued, Lorraine quickly softened his stance. Charlotte then smiled and said, "Then hurry up, I'm going to have breakfast first."

"Yes, yes, I understand, my dear lady..."

"...You won't start sleeping again as soon as I leave, will you?"

Seeing Charlotte's suspicious gaze, Lorraine remained silent for a long while, then her face flushed red: "Wh-what are you saying! How could I do such a thing! You, you're slandering me! You're defaming me!"

"...You'd better be."

Charlotte looked at him suspiciously for a while before slowly uttering a few words. Then, the little tyrant of the Loran family turned and left: "Anyway, if I don't see you come down in five minutes, you'd better wait!"

"Is five minutes too short?"

"Ok?"

Meeting Miss Charlotte's somewhat dangerous gaze, Loran silently backed down: "I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

"Humph."

After Miss Charlotte left, Lorraine looked longingly at her bed: "Oh, my dear, it's not that I'm heartless, it's just that Charlotte is too cruel."

If the blanket could talk, it would definitely tell him, "You're crazy."

Unfortunately not.

In any case, Lorraine decided to get up. Walking into the hotel lobby, she immediately saw Charlotte looking troubled by a pile of green vegetables in front of her. Seeing Lorraine approach, Miss Charlotte gave her a pitiful look.

"what happened?"

Lorraine was a little puzzled; Miss Charlotte wasn't the type to waste food.

"so bitter!"

Miss Charlotte complained tearfully, "Why are these vegetables so bitter?"

The owner laughed and said, "I told you, miss, this vegetable is very bitter."

"Hmm, I didn't know it was so bitter."

Miss Charlotte was very aggrieved: "I thought bitter melon was bitter enough, how come it's even more bitter than bitter melon!"

"Ha ha ha ha......"

This not only made the boss laugh, but also made everyone else who was eating laugh. This scene reminded Loran of the people from Hangzhou who watched customers order West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, or the people from Sichuan and Chongqing who watched customers order extra spicy hot pot.

Well, you have to make others experience the hardships you've gone through, right?

However, given Miss Charlotte's case, Lorraine naturally wouldn't eat it.

No, absolutely not!

“Loran…”

Miss Charlotte, her eyes brimming with tears, said, "I can't eat anymore."

"...Then let's pour it out."

"But we can't waste food..."

"...Charlotte, tell me the truth, do you just want to see me make a fool of myself?"

"...Hehe."

Looking at Charlotte, who turned her face away and dared not look him in the eye, Lorraine deeply felt the pain of his beloved daughter turning into a black-hearted one.

But I ate it anyway.

There was no way he could refuse such a lovely Miss Charlotte looking at him with such an adorable expression.

Chapter 18 Flowers Blooming on the Snow Mountain

"This is called bitter leaf, a wild vegetable picked from the mountainside of Hiscana."

A familiar voice rang out, and a bard wearing a mask that concealed his face approached: "Would you mind sharing a table?"

"inconvenient."

Loran scoffed, "Are we that close?"

Amito was taken aback. Wait, how could this person change his attitude so quickly? Weren't the two of them chatting happily just yesterday?

"Loran!"

Miss Charlotte glared at him, then looked at Amito: "Don't listen to this guy's nonsense, please sit down."

"Ah... well, okay."

Amito sat down—he now knew who was in charge between the two. Come to think of it, why was this guy, who was even stronger than him, being lectured by this little girl to the point of not daring to answer?

The unmarried elves are perplexed.

"Is Mr. Amitu an elf?"

After Amito sat down, Charlotte asked curiously. Having never seen an elf before, Charlotte was quite intrigued. Amito nodded: "Yes, as you can see, I am an elf."

"I've heard that elves possess very ancient and powerful magic. Is that true?"

"Well, they are indeed ancient, after all, elves are mostly long-lived. But their strength is another matter."

Amito chuckled, "Although there are many powerful spells in the lost magic, most of them are not stronger than the magic we have now."

"Eh? Is that so?"

Charlotte was puzzled, since in some of the fantasy stories she had read, the protagonist always acquired some lost ancient magic and then became very powerful.

“My dear little Charlotte.”

Loran looked at Charlotte with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot: "If it really is magic that is more useful than magic today, then why was it lost?"