New Life, New Task: I'll Be A Mom Then!!!

"Cough!" Although the three men were shocked, they still tried to compose themselves in front of Eli.

Especially the Prince, he was the one who was shocked the most with Eli's proposal.

No wonder the grand masters liked her a lot. Her ideas were not heard off. He was really curious where she had learned of these ideas.

"It is indeed a good idea young Eli! Do not worry, I will immediately mobilize my people to look for these two plants." Grandpa Andi immediately offered to take action.

"Ahh.. No hurry Grandpa Andi. These are just the concepts first. Give me time to make a formal paper for this one." Eli said in a hurry.

In truth she was already thinking of developing synthetic hair dye as a more fool proof way of bypassing The Spectre's detection. But communicating it out came too early that all she could do was to introduce the most ancient hair dying practice on the modern earth for the meantime - Henna hair dyeing.

"I must create a detailed proposal for you, before we could decide if this is possible. I could pass it on to you the day you visit my dwelling," Eli said in a smile.

"Ohh, you are referring to that document similar to the water pressure and heating system?" Grandpa Ben said with a twinkle in his eyes.

He really liked the way Eli made her thesis. He wanted the way the study was written to be implemented in the institute too. 'Very scholarly, very systematic!'

"Yes, a paper just like that! But unlike the previous, this one will be more of a feasibility study, as we are creating a brand new industry!" Eli said smilingly.

"Oh then we should wait! Haha! I am thrilled to see what you will give us!"

It was now Grandpa Andi's turn to get excited, as he said with a chuckle of satisfaction. With a feasibility study, he would have a good view of the return on investment for this venture!

Seeing the two grandpas rejoice yet again for the new found knowledge, Eli couldn't help but give a helpless smile. 'It seems like I have to buy more paper before I go home.'

Leon was also affected by the cheeriness of the atmosphere. Deep inside, he was also curious about the effectiveness of Eli's idea. It wouldn't hurt to try.

'If the grand masters couldn't help, I would.' He decided for himself.

"So…" After the hype created by Eli's new idea, the grandpas came back to their previous playful demeanor.

"Seeing that you have been planning to deal with the Spectre, have you come to terms on the matter between you two?" The elders asked the two with their hands lighty covering their mouths, deeply emphasizing their naughty glances.

"Yes, honorable grandmasters!" Leon answered, he seriously looked towards Eli and continued,

"We decided to put Lo-"

"We decided to be friends first!"

Eli immediately interjected, not minding her serious breach of etiquette. She must not cause any more uncertainty by letting the Prince announce 'a marriage bound with love' to the grandpas.

"Am I right, your highness???" Eli casted a nervous glance towards the Prince.

Seeing the panicked Eli, Leon was amused. Understanding her desperation, he said while responding to Eli's glance with a smirk of victory,

"Yes we will be friends first. We need to take our time in thinking through the future. For now, we are officially 'friends'."

The two grandpas didn't notice the ambiguous interaction between the two as they were actually shocked by the outcome. 'The Prince was actually this calm when his marriage proposal was rejected?'

However, they couldn't agree less with this outcome.

There were more pressing matters to do, from preparing to safeguard and deter the threats from the Spectre, to the preparation for Little Han's birth. Dealing with the complexities of marriage could actually be more detrimental for the youngsters.

They were actually not concerned about Little Han's status. The blood of a Seirende was undeniable. It will be acknowledged even if there were many who would feel negative towards it. For this was the Empire's law.

The rest of the conversation was regarding the additional questions of Eli regarding the Spectre and her requesting some additional items to prepare her going back to the household.

With the prince around and the Spectre lurking, the grandpas suggested that Eli be escorted home by the Prince. They also suggested that the teleportation array in Eli's house should be enhanced and connected to at least the Argentum, which Eli allowed.

Since the Argentum was seemingly on surveillance by the unknown forces, the trio along with the prince used the teleportation array in Argentum to jump in the Seirende Central Bank Branch of Silvertown.

This was because Leon, as a member of the royal family, was authorized to go there.

There were quarters prepared for each member of the current members of the Imperial Family, all with a portal connected to it. Thus, they could use it to their advantage, bypassing the Spectre's observers.

--

On the Third Prince's Quarters, a dazed Olivier was blankly sitting on a guard's chair. Obviously bored and hungry from frantically waiting for the Prince to come back, he sulkily rested his chin on the palm of his right hand.

'The Prince had dragged me here in Silvertown out of nowhere searching for a pregnant Asani. Yesterday, we finally found some leads and I diligently went to the far end of Silvertown to investigate the two leads.'

'Who would have thought that he would leave me behind and forget me, his poor subordinate.' Olivier gave a sigh with his inner self crying.

As soon as he confirmed that the two possible targets weren't an Asani, he immediately notified the Prince of a negative result through the notification slips the Prince gave him. However the only reply he received was 'Got it, back to post.'

So he immediately went back to the bell tower they previously stationed and waited… for an entire night for the prince to show up.

Stressed with the lack of sleep and the coldness of the night, he was hesitant to defy the Prince's orders. However, with no signs of the Prince coming back, he decided to use the last notification paper to ask if something happened. What he received as a reply was,

'Oh, back to quarters.' Olivier shed a single tear. His Highness was so ruthless to forget him, making him vigil through the night on the cold bell tower.

With almost no energy left, Olivier dragged himself back to the Third Prince's quarters in the Seirende Central Bank - Silvertown branch.

When he got to the Prince's quarters common room, what he saw… was the Prince staring intensely at the mirror, with a grave expression in his face.

'He seemed troubled… and not in the mood.' Olivier took a gulp, he was planning to voice out his heartache towards the Prince forgetting him, but decided to keep it for himself.

'His expression did not look good..' He thought nervously, then he started to think if he had done anything wrong yesterday.

'Could it be that me staying in the bell tower for the whole night was a punishment for the wrong results yesterday???' Cold sweats slowly dripped down on his exhausted back.

He decided to be meek towards the cold Prince and stiffly greeted him,

"Your subordinate, Olivier, greets you a pleasant morning, Your Highness!"

Hearing the greetings, the cold Prince looked towards his direction and frigidly said, "Oh, you're here. Come closer."

'Oh heavens help me! Please pardon my sins and shower mercy on me!'

Olivier was in so much panic, thinking that he was about to receive more punishment from the Prince, he started to pray to the heavens.

The distance between him and the Prince was only a few meters, however, he wished that it was a thousand miles!

Trying to hide his shaking, he robotically walked closer to the Prince. When he reached a comfortable distance, he kept his head bowed and eyes tightly closed.

Clenching his teeth to brace himself from the Prince's verdict.

"Do I look handsome?" The frigid prince suddenly uttered, with the same dead serious expression on his face.

"P-pardon your highness?" Olivier was dumbfounded by the Prince's unexpected inquiry.

"Do I look handsome? Attractive to women?" The Prince repeated his inquiry patiently, attentively waiting for Olivier's response.

"Y-your highness' handsomeness couldn't compare in the whole of Empire! W-women will not help but to covet your beauty!"

Olivier was again shocked that the Prince was patient in repeating a word he had already said. He knew how the Prince hates repeating words that he had already uttered.

"Hmm.." Unsure if he was convinced, he again stared at the mirror and examined his face again. He frowned and said, "Are you sure?"

"Definitely sure, Your Highness!" Olivier answered attentively, he must tread carefully in interacting with the Prince as seemed to be different today.

"Hmmm.. You say, could I make a woman say yes to a marriage proposal?" He said, seemingly losing confidence with himself.

"M-marriage proposal? Y-yes.. Your highness… W-with your renown, who would dare to say no?" Poor Olivier was trying his best to calm down from the prince's shocking inquiry.

'The Prince wants to propose to a woman? What happened in the world?!

The Prince! The Barbaric Blood Prince!

The Prince who mercilessly drove out the threats to the borders of Seirende!

The Prince who wouldn't even look at a lady because his thoughts were full of war tactics for the next invasion threat!

This same Prince was now asking a woman for marriage!

While Olivier was having an internal scream session, the Prince then took a deep breath to boost his confidence. Doing the final check he smoothed out his classic blue robe and white garment to ensure that he was as presentable as possible.

He wordlessly walked towards a certain corner of the room where an elegant looking teleportation array made of colorful mana stores and golden engravings were set.

He turned towards Olivier and said, "Stay here, rest and I'll be back." Then without waiting for Olivier's answer the Prince hurriedly activated the array and disappeared.

The sleepiness from last night's vigil was completely gone from all the shock Olivier had received. Helpless about the matters of the Prince, he sulkily pulled a chair and guarded the portal waiting for his return.

'I'll be sure to inquire of the Prince when he comes back!' He said.

His curiosity peaked when he actually realized that the Prince had mentioned the word marriage so seriously!

And what's with being so nervous like a man who was trying to confess his feelings?!!

Such thoughts went through his head repeatedly as he sulkily waited for his master to come back. From time to time he would sigh, then a few seconds he would grumble like a stressed child.

It was almost noon when Olivier found some reactions from the teleportation array. He then stood up alertly to greet his master.

An intense light shone brightly filling the white and gold room with a silver glow. Olivier put his guard up while partially covering his eyes from the bright light.

What he saw gave him another shock. He did see his frigid cold master, but he was with company.

A yellow parrot and a bear, a small teddy bear???

He casted an inquiring look to his master but what he saw made his soul almost come home to the heavenly realm.

He saw his master, gently looking towards a beautiful lady, she was pregnant and seemed so delicate with her obvious baby bump.

What's more, his cold and dead serious master, who learned to only hold the sword from childhood, was actually, actually…

Tenderly holding a lady's hand!