"You know of another method?" Percival asked with a raised eyebrow and eyes full of suspicion more than curiosity. It sounded less like he was geniunely asking her, and more like they had returned to the interrogation. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

At least this time, he was being more polite about it.

"You will demonstrate your method, now, and show me how you have been using my garden whilst you were in my house."

Well, he was as polite as he apparently could be, considering he was still making demands of her instead of asking her. But Valerie was used to it.

Getting too used to the way that Percy treated her despite their social status was unhealthy. This was much more natural, and was the status quo. It was almost like she was back at work again.

She contained her sighs at his attitude and nodded her head softly,

"Yes sir. Percy, would you be a dear and lift me into the middle of the field? I don’t want my wheels to crush anything." She asked sweetly, looking up at him with a warm and strangely gentle smile that simultaneously sent shivers down his spine and melted his heart. Now that was a very weird feeling.

Part of him was surprised that she was being so compliant, and that she was putting on this sweet act, but he could tell that her thoughts were anything but sweet. Demonstrate for his father? She sure would, and in the process she would harvest this bountiful farm of all of its mana and gobble it all up to form her source.

Leaning down, Percy smirked at Valerie who kept up her sweet, innocent smile, as he gently slipped his arms underneath her. Her bone thin legs felt so fragile against his arms, like they could snap if he flexed wrong, but he didn’t mind.

Besides, he was more focused on her arms being wrapped around his neck, and her face being so close to his, as he lifted her into a princess carry.

He took slow steps as he carried her into the field. Just so that he didn’t crush any of the important plants, and not for any other reason, before finally reaching roughly the middle in a time that felt painfully short.

After lingering there for a few seconds, Percy knelt on the ground and tenderly placed Valerie down on the dirt.

"Thanks Princess." She whispered softly, unwrapping her arms from around his neck. She let her hand drag down his cheek and patted it softly, enough for it to turn slightly red, before she giggled and let him stand up.

Percy retreated back to his fathers side, as Valerie wriggled herself into a comfortable position in the dirt and then closed her eyes.

She extended her senses out, letting them bask in the vibrant mana that filled the air. This, by far, had to be the place that was closest to feeling like Dawd. All of this nature, especially with these mana retaining plants that boosts the ambient mana, she had the strange feeling that she was finally home despite not belonging to Dawd.

A few moments later, Valerie’s ’demonstration’ began as she shameless gourged herself on the mana. Her mana sense and control had come a long way since her first time doing this. No longer the clumsy hands grasping at sand, she was now guiding an entire river and bending it to her will.

Drawing it into her body with every breath, Valerie allowed it to swirl around inside of her like a whirlpool as she gathered it in the intended place of her source and started to compress it.

At the side, forced only to watch and wait, Percy’s mood rapidly soured. Being close to Valerie had made him feel free, light and warm. It was the complete opposite being close to his father.

It was cold, with a heavy and restrictive air filled with expectations and the burden of his ’great’ name. But more than that, it was laced with the lead of secrets.

"Why didn’t you tell me about all of this?" Percy grumbled, glaring at his father out of the corner of his eye.

"I mean you have known for how long that this type of thing is real? I remember seeing that stupid root in a pot when I was a toddler, and you didn’t think to mention what it was for?"

Percival the Third didn’t look at his son. His face remained completely stoic and passive, as he kept his piercing stare on the girl carrying out the demonstration. However he did answer, even if his voice was devoid of emotion or any paternal warmth.

"You made your interest, or lack thereof, in the family business very clear. Had you followed in my footsteps properly, you would have been told everything when you came of age. But you did not, so I did not. Simple as that."

"Simple as that?! You kept all of this from me, because I didn’t want to be your little pet project? That I didn’t want to turn out exactly like you? So you just decided I didn’t get to know about this massive, world altering secret!" Percy hissed, not wanting to raise his voice so that he didn’t disturb Valerie, but unable to keep his anger from boiling over.

"Yes." Percival responded matter-of-factly.

"You can only blame yourself, Percival. Had the day come that you finally matured, and came to me ready to take over the business instead of wasting your life and your potential with your childish little games, then all this would have been yours.

But you could never mature. Still the petulant child throwing a tantrum, I see."

Percy growled lowly and clenched his fist at his father using his full name. There was nothing he hated more than that name. However, after a second he scoffed, his anger fading as he chuckled in amusement to himself.

That finally got a reaction from his father, who glanced at him out of the corner of his eye in annoyance, as if his son’s laughter was offensive to his ears.

"Yeah, maybe I don’t mature." Percy said with a chuckle, as he looked back over to Valerie with a soft gaze,

"But if it wasn’t for me wasting my life with those ’childish games’ the great and powerful Percival Theodora Monarch the Third would still be in the dark about all of this, and you would never have met her. I never would have met her..."

Percival the Third glared at the whimsical look in his sons eyes, before grumbling lowly as his only response. He turned his eyes away from Percy, and looked back at the girl he was talking about, his brow firmly set into a scowl.

However after a few moments, his eyes widened as his senses lit up from what this girl was doing.