"I'm sorry, Auntie Solus. I'm sorry, Grandma Ripha." Aran said.
"Apology accepted." Solus and nadion said yet they were inwardly fuming.
Between Elina's lessons and their "friendly" competition with Aran, they soon beca capable of preparing a decent al at a mont's notice. Nothing to write ho about, but perfectly edible and sotis even tasty enough to be served as part of the dinner.
It was after one of such successful events that Lith summoned the female side of the family for help.
Elina had already gone to bed and he had moved the assembly to the tower not to be caught in the act.
"Thank you for coming." Lith gave a polite nod to Tista, Rena, Solus, Kamila, Ripha, and Selia. "The trip with my mother is around the corner and I need your advice on a pressing matter that has to be resolved before our departure."
"How to deal with the return of that little shit of ln?" Selia asked.
"No. I have several contingency plans in place for that." Lith shook his head. "The issue is how to tell my mother to stop embarrassing in public without hurting her feelings."
"Lith Tiamat Verhen!" Rena stood up, her outrage clearly written on her face. "How dare you say you're ashad of Mom after everything she has done for us?"
"I'm not ashad of Mom, Rena." Lith raised his hands with the palms out, gesturing for her to calm down. "I'm ashad by Mom! Look with your own eyes."
He projected a hologram of the incriminated scenes that took place every ti Lith accompanied Elina to Lutia to buy groceries, et their friends, or just take a walk. There were lots of hugging, kissing, and cleaning his mouth with a handkerchief whenever they ate sothing together.
"I can see your issue." Rena nodded. "But that's nothing to be worked up about. Mom does the sa with Tista and ."
"Rena, only a blind man wouldn't see the resemblance between you girls and our mother." Lith replied. "You have no idea how many tis people who had just settled in Lutia and tourists mistook us for newlyweds!"
"And it was hilarious!" Kamila laughed her ass off while Solus stifled her own with a hand. "You should have seen his face. Priceless."
"My point exactly." Lith grunted. "I just want Mom to behave like she does at the Royal Court. She never goes overboard there or whenever we are guests in a noble household."
"That's because in those circumstances Mom is as stiff as a board and terrified of doing or saying sothing inappropriate." Tista pointed out. "I an, just look at how different her expression is!"
She conjured two different holograms of how Elina acted at Court and in Lutia respectively. In the forr, she had the relaxed attitude that Lith associated with soone undergoing their first job interview.
In the latter, instead, Elina was beaming with joy and never stopped smiling.
"Okay, point taken." Lith sighed. "But the issue still remains. We are going to tour the Kingdom for days and I want neither rumors about 'The Supre Magus has a mistress' or 'The Supre Magus is a giant baby' to spread while I'm at it."
"I could have helped you years ago, if you had asked back then." Selia shrugged. "If I go talking to Elina right now, she'll ask why I didn't speak about it sooner. She may not believe or even get offended at .
"Elina is very protective of her relationship with her children and might take my remark as a personal attack."
"As any of us would." Ripha shrugged. "How would you react if soone accused you of loving your children too much?"
"Depends on what weapon I have at hand." Selia pondered. "Best case scenario, they go ho with black eyes and a broken nose."
"My point exactly." nadion said with a smile while caressing Solus' hair.
'By my Mom! How can she see it in others and not in herself?' Solus inwardly whined. 'I'm not a baby!'
"Hence it's my turn to take one for the team." nadion straightened invisible wrinkles on Solus' dress and swept her hair off her face. "I'm the newcor so Elina will listen to if I tell her that her behavior is inappropriate."
'Also, birds of feather flock together!' Solus blushed in embarrassnt as the rest of the room had a hard ti suppressing their laughter.
"Thanks, Ripha." Lith nodded. "Please, go easy on my mother."
"I will." She replied.
***
"Excuse my bluntness, Elina, but don't you think your behavior with Lith in public is wildly inappropriate?" nadion said point-blank at the end of the following day's cooking lesson, after Aran and Solus left.
"Excuse you?" Elina felt outraged by the allegation and awkward just thinking it might be true.
"I know it's not my place to tell and that maybe my ntality is outdated for seven hundred years but this would have been unacceptable back in my day." nadion conjured the sa hologram Lith had showcased the previous night.
"Good gods, for a mont you gave a good scare." Elina said with a laugh of relief. "Thank you for worrying about my reputation, but in today's age that's normal. It's just how a mother pampers her son a bit."
"I'm sure of it." nadion conceded but refused to drop the argunt. "But how many people know Lith is your son? I an, look at this scene from their point of view."
"Don't worry, you are blowing this out of proportion. This is n-" Elina's words died in her throat when nadion snapped her fingers, switching Lith's hologram with Ryman's and keeping Elina's hologram acting the sa way.
"Ripha, this is wildly inappropriate! I would never behave like that with a man who's not Raaz. Just looking at it makes feel like I'm cheating on my husband."
"I know." nadion nodded. "The fact is that anyone who doesn't know you two are mother and son reacts exactly like you do while looking at this hologram."
"Oh, dear." Elina flushed as the projection continued. "Oh, dear. Oh, dear! Why did no one ever tell anything?"
"Because they got used to it." Ripha shrugged. "Were Lutia still a small city where everyone knows everybody, no one would bat an eye. Now, however, it has grown a lot and I've heard lots of weird rumors while I was in Lith's shadow."
"Oh, dear!" Elina hid her face behind her hands as she beca beet red up to her ears. "Why didn't you tell sooner?"
"As I said, I'm still getting adjusted to modern standards." nadion lied through her teeth. "I wouldn't have ntioned this to you if you weren't about to leave Lutia and travel through the Kingdom.
"I an, sooner or later all Lutians are bound to recognize you and Lith but that's not going to happen in other cities."
"Thanks, Ripha." Elina cried in sha. "I owe you one."
"Don't ntion it." nadion offered Elina a handkerchief and did her best to console her. "After everything you've done for my daughter, I still owe one million to you."
***
Later, that night.
"How did it go?" Lith asked.
"Just perfect." nadion gave him a thumbs up. "She got the ssage."
User Comments
0 comments from readers