“Thank you, thank you very much.” Xixi got up and gave Irina a deep bow with a surprised and grateful expression.
“Thank you.” Lulu bowed at Irina with a humble smile, and he looked at Xixi with indulgence and happiness.
Irina shook her head and smiled. “Don’t mention it. Take it as a little compensation from me on behalf of the Wind Forest. I wish the dryads and elves could live in peace in the future.”
“It would be the best if we could live in peace,” Xixi replied, smiling too.
“Seems like we will be having small dryads in the near future.” Mag came over with two glasses of water smilingly.
Amy came over, and curiously asked, “Will it be a little bear or a little cat?”
“It probably would be a panda[1]?” Irina said while looking at Xixi and Lulu.
“That would be really precious.” Mag raised one eyebrow. It would be really fun if they gave birth to a national treasure[2].
“Regardless of what it could be, I will be very happy.” Xixi touched her belly gently with a blissful smile, as if there was already a life living in it right now.
“I am rather curious about this. Why is this tree called the World Tree? Could it really grow a world?” Mag asked curiously as he looked at the World Tree that had grown a little taller.
“I, too, have only heard the chief talk about it once when I was little. The World Tree will form its own little world. Dryads will live happily in that little world, undisturbed by the outside world. However, the World Tree was already damaged before I was born, and that little world had vanished too. The dryads who lost their home were injured and killed in huge numbers during the racial war.” Xixi shook her head, a hint of loneliness was in her voice.
“I had read about it when I was in the elven tribe. The World Tree is only fully grown after 1000 years. Although you dryads also have a lifespan of 1000 years, you two probably won’t get the chance to live in that little world.” Irina reached out to touch a leaf of the World Tree lightly, and it shrunk back shyly. It seemed to be very conscious.
“Even if we can’t get to live there, it would still be a good thing that our children could.” Xixi smiled. She wasn’t disappointed at all; instead, she was even more expectant.
Xixi and Lulu said goodbye and left. Camilla had found a chance to sneak away long away. After Firis cleared the dining table, she approached Irina. “Princess, where do you intend to go now?”
“Intend to go?” Irina glanced at Mag before smilingly saying, “The food here is too delicious, so I decided not to go anywhere but stay here.”
“Huh?” Firis was a little taken aback. She stole a glance at Mag before going closer, and whispered, “Princess, given your status, you are not really suitable to be a server. It would be bad if news got out.”
Irina curled her lips. “Who said that I am going to be the server, I am going—”
Mag quickly continued, “Is Princess Irina looking for accomodation here? I happen to have an empty upstairs, if you need it—”
However, before Mag could finish, Amy already grabbed Irina’s hand and pleaded, “Big Sister Irina can sleep with me. Big Sister Anna has left and I am afraid to sleep alone.”
“There’s no two ways about this now, as it’s hard to reject the little lolita’s request to sleep with her. Then, I will stay here and sleep with Amy.” Irina smiled, stroking Amy’s head.
“This is fantastic.” Amy narrowed her eyes and rubbed against Irina’s palm with a happy expression.
Hmm? I got intercepted? Mag raised his eyebrows slightly as he looked at Irina and Amy, who had reached a consensus. His lips, too, curled upward.
Firis’s mouth was agape as she stared at Irina and Amy in disbelief. Why would the princess, who had never liked children, agree to sleep together with Amy?
Perhaps the princess wants to practice raising a child? After all, the little mistress is about Amy’s age. I wonder, where is the little mistress now? Firis thought. But she still hesitantly said, “Princess, are you sure that you want to stay in the restaurant?”
“Bean Sprout, have you already entered the long-winded old age period in advance?” Irina flicked Firis’s forehead with her finger.
“Oh. That hurts!” Firis covered her forehead, and then nodded with resignation. “Alright. Then you will rest in the restaurant tonight. Do you have any other arrangements in the afternoon?”
“No. I just want to have a good sleep in the afternoon. I hadn’t been sleeping well for this period of time.” Irina shook her head. There was a hint of tiredness in between her eyes.
Mag peered at Irina, feeling his heart ache for her. He said to Firis, “Firis, you should go back and rest first. I will take good care of the princess. Get Miya and the rest to gather at the restaurant in the evening. We will have a celebration tonight.”
“Great. Then, I will have to trouble you, Boss.” Firis nodded, but she kept looking back as she left the restaurant.
“Go and have a rest first.” Mag locked the door before walking over to Irina.
Irina wasn’t in a hurry to go upstairs. Instead, she was smiling at Amy. “Little Amy, did you record your journal properly during this period?”
“Yes. I noted everything down very conscientiously every single day. Let me show you.” Amy nodded instantly and ran behind the counter to retrieve that journal behind a stack of books. She passed it to Irina as if she was giving her a treasure.
“Let’s go. We will read it upstairs.” Irina stole a glance at Mag who had a calm demeanor as she walked up the stairs, holding Amy’s hand and the journal.
Fu*k, fu*k, fu*k… Is something going to happen? Mag’s expression changed as soon as Irina turned her back, and he felt as if 10,000 alpacas were galloping across his heart[3].
Even though he had been behaving very righteously and prim and proper, he would still have normal physical contact during work since he was working with his staff every day.
He only wished that Amy didn’t write down how Gina greeted him, the female customers’ confessions, Camilla’s spending a night on his bedroom floor because she was too tired… in the notebook.
Although he hadn’t done anything, if everything had been written down, it would’ve been as if he had really done it all.
I’ve misplanned. I should pay attention to this problem earlier and improve on it. Mag sighed in his heart. Being a respectful parent, he had never tried to read Amy’s journal, so he wasn’t sure what she was recording in recent times.
Going upstairs, Mag discovered the big bed was already occupied by Irina and Amy. Mag smiled with gratification as he looked at Amy who was reading the journal and laughing in Irina’s arms. He closed the door gently and went to sleep on the floor of the children’s room next door.
What should he do? His status was falling rapidly in this family.
However, when he remembered Amy’s smile, his heart felt as sweet as honey. This little one was indeed the happiest when she was with her mother.
Amy closed the journal and looked up to Irina seriously. “Big Sister Irina. I think Father super likes you. I also super like you. Will you please be my mother?”
[1] Transliteration of “panda” in Chinese is “bear” + “cat”.
[2] National treasure is a nickname for panda in Chinese.
[3] Near-homophone of the profanity phrase “f*ck your mother” in Mandarin, literally “grass mud horse”. Coined circa 2009, when Internet users in mainland China used “grass mud horse” to circumvent censorship. Pictures of alpacas are often used by later hoaxes to depict “grass mud horse” as if it were a real horse-like animal.