"You take care on the way back."
The moment Augatha came out, Luke immediately got to his feet with a bright smile and saw her off.
When they reached the yard gate, Augatha suddenly remembered something and turned to look at him.
"Oh, right. Tell that little brat the money for the vase will be deducted from her allowance from now on. With the newspaper dividends she gets from you, another five months or so should about cover it."
"Understood!"
Luke nodded at once.
That was such good news, he wanted to share it with Miss Crownguard immediately.
Augatha got into the carriage and headed home.
Luke, meanwhile, turned and walked toward the living room. The moment he stepped inside, he saw Lux sprawled face-down on the sofa with an ashen expression.
Her usually sparkling eyes were dim and lifeless now, filled with nothing but despair.
The corner of Luke's mouth curled upward. He crouched down and looked at Lux's pale little face from up close.
"Right now, I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
Hearing that, a little light returned to Lux's eyes. She shot him a resentful look, thought for a moment, and said, "The good news."
Luke said, "The good news is, congratulations—you're about to become rich. Your newspaper dividends come out to five hundred gold a month."
Lux shot upright, her eyes instantly shining.
"Really?"
Luke smiled. "Of course it's true."
Lux's mood immediately improved. Then she asked, "What's the bad news?"
Luke replied, "The bad news is that all of it is going toward paying off the vase, and you still owe another twenty-five hundred gold."
Lux: "?"
She immediately collapsed backward again, and the expression on her little face looked even more hopeless than before.
Luke bared his teeth in a wide grin, clearly in a fantastic mood.
Seeing that, endless fury instantly surged up in Lux's heart.
This bastard!!
Without warning, she grabbed Luke's arm and bit down on it without a word.
"Whoa!"
The next second, Lux yelped and immediately let go, snatching up the cup on the table and draining the tea inside.
Her face bright red, she sucked in sharp breaths and glared furiously at Luke.
"What kind of lunatic puts hot sauce on his arm?!"
Miss Crownguard's mental state collapsed on the spot.
"Well, I had to think about my own safety too."
Luke gave her a perfectly harmless smile as he pulled a strip of cloth out from inside his sleeve.
Lux's eyes widened.
This bastard had actually set up double protection!
Hot sauce was one thing, but he had even stuffed a layer of cloth under the sleeve so it would not hurt when she bit him!
He had really calculated every possible angle!
Despair, true despair, engulfed Lux's heart completely.
She slumped back onto the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling and muttering to herself, "Just let the world end..."
Seeing that, Luke comforted her, "Look on the bright side. Sure, you got beaten today, but at least you gained some pain."
Lux: "..."
She lay there motionless on the sofa, looking completely broken.
So Luke stopped teasing her. In an excellent mood, he stood up and headed for the kitchen.
He planned to make a little dessert to reward himself, and also, incidentally, soothe Miss Crownguard's wounded heart.
An hour later.
As a sweet aroma drifted out from the kitchen, Lux—who had nearly dozed off on the sofa—snapped her eyes open at once.
By the time Luke came out of the kitchen, she was already sitting obediently at the dining table waiting.
She blinked at him. "What's the dessert today?"
"Egg tarts. And tiramisu."
Luke carried two plates in his hands.
"Tiramisu?" Lux repeated the word, sounding surprised. "Why would you call it something like that?"
"Why do you always have so many questions?"
Luke casually set the plates down on the table, then placed two portions in front of Lux.
Lux stopped asking. She picked up an egg tart with her fork first and lifted it up for inspection.
Then she took a bite.
A crisp crackle sounded the instant her teeth sank in.
The flaky shell wrapped around a soft filling as rich and smooth as cream, releasing a deep sweetness with a hint of fruit mixed in.
Lux ate fast—two bites, and one tart was gone. As soon as it was in her stomach, color returned to her cheeks.
Her energy bar looked completely restored.
Then she turned to the tiramisu, a dessert that looked like cake.
This time, Lux switched to a spoon, dug out a small bite, and put it in her mouth, savoring it carefully.
The tiramisu was fragrant, silky, sweet, rich, and soft, layered with subtle changes in texture. It was not merely sweet all the way through, either. A dusting of cocoa powder coated the outer layer, giving it a special flavor of its own.
And it was extremely delicious.
A satisfied smile rose to Lux's lips, and she started eating it spoonful by spoonful.
Seeing how happily she was eating, Luke smiled, turned, and headed outside to call Fiora, Sona, and Yurna.
As night fell, Kahina, Vayne, Quinn, and Frey returned and also got to try the two new desserts Luke had made.
As for his cooking, the women had only one thing to say about it.
They were completely convinced.
That night, at the Crownguard estate.
The living room was brightly lit.
Having eaten well and soaked in a lovely bath, Lux walked into the living room in a fairly good mood.
Then she saw Augatha sitting on the sofa, sewing something.
Hearing footsteps, Augatha also looked up.
"Hmph."
Lux gave a little huff, turned her face away like she was sulking, and refused to look at her.
"Hmph!"
Augatha gave an equally cold snort and reached toward the feather duster lying to one side.
Lux sneaked a glance at it, and her whole body immediately shuddered. Without another word, she bolted back to her room, shooting Augatha a fierce look right before going in.
Then she slammed the door shut.
Seeing that, Augatha snorted again and continued working on what she had been doing.
Neither of them exchanged a single word.
But their behavior made one thing abundantly clear.
The mother and daughter who had been all sweetness and affection not long ago now looked very much like they had split apart.
Tianna, sitting nearby and drinking tea, suddenly felt much better.
Now this was more like it!
These two had finally gone back to normal.
After taking a sip of tea, Tianna glanced around and seemed to notice something. She asked casually, "Now that I think about it, where did your favorite vase go?"
The speaker might not have meant anything by it, but the listener certainly did.
Augatha's brows twitched, her expression looking like she was trying hard to hold something back as a surge of emotion rose inside her.
She kept reminding herself inwardly.
I already beat her. I already beat her.
Hold it in. You have to hold it in.
Then Tianna continued with a nostalgic smile, "Didn't you love that thing? I remember how much effort you put into getting it. Once you finally had it, you treated it like treasure. You would not even let me touch it."
The more she said, the harder Augatha's brows twitched.
Finally, Augatha abruptly set down her sewing, grabbed the feather duster at her side, and stood up.
Tianna looked at her in surprise. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to beat that girl one more time. Otherwise I won't be able to let this go."
The moment she remembered how much she had once loved that vase, Augatha's face turned icy. Feather duster in hand, she strode toward Lux's room on the second floor.
Only then did Tianna realize what had happened. She scratched her head awkwardly and muttered, "Did I say too much...?"
The sound of a door opening and closing rang out.
Then came Lux's tragic screams, utterly heart-rending.
Tianna silently took another sip of tea. Listening to those screams, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and started feeling guilty.
After a while, she set down her teacup and decided to go out for a walk.
If she could not hear it, her conscience would not hurt.
August 15th. The Harvest Moon Festival.
For the capital, where the atmosphere had been a little stifled lately because of the Mageseekers' frequent activity, today was an especially lively day.
Before dawn had even fully lifted, the people of the capital were already up early.
The streets were even busier than usual, filled with passing carriages and an endless flow of traffic.
An hour later, the entire capital had already taken on the sound of a city in full celebration.
Luke had gotten up early as well.
Though for him, getting up early simply meant moving from lying around inside the house to lying around in the yard.
"Happy Harvest Moon Festival, Your Highness."
Kahina was the first to walk in through the yard gate, energetic as ever, carrying a wonderfully fresh, lively feeling with her.
Luke smiled at her and replied the same way.
"Happy Harvest Moon Festival."
In Demacia, the Harvest Moon Festival was very similar to Thanksgiving and a moon-viewing holiday rolled into one.
The timing even happened to line up in a way that felt strangely fated.
After asking around, Luke had also learned the origin of the holiday.
Legend had it that long, long ago, when Demacia's borders had not yet grown so vast, the king at the time was still called Orlon.
Back then, Demacia was not only plagued by the dangers of magic, but also under attack from a kind of evil creature.
Countless civilians suffered because of them and lived in misery.
It was during that time that the young King Orlon and his partner, a woman named Yarna, stepped forward.
They chose to face those evil creatures head-on and wage war against them.
Yarna was an upright and courageous warrior. In battle against those creatures, she was wise, calm, and astonishingly powerful.
Her coordination with Orlon was flawless. The two of them moved as one.
Under their leadership, those evil creatures were steadily driven back until they were finally expelled from Demacia's lands.
And on the night of that great victory, Orlon proposed to Yarna.
Everyone already regarded Yarna as their future queen.
But just as she was about to accept, something unexpected happened.
A beam of pure moonlight suddenly shone down from the full moon overhead, dazzlingly bright, filled with a boiling radiance.
That moonlight descended upon Yarna, and at the same time blasted Orlon away just as he was proposing to her.
That moment made one thing clear.
Yarna had been chosen by the moon.
The moon had granted her extraordinary power, but it also meant she and Orlon were about to be separated.
Naturally, Orlon refused to accept that. He rushed into the moonlight and grabbed hold of Yarna's hand.
Yarna reached back and clasped his hand too, unwilling to let go, but her body continued to rise, lifting toward the moon.
The power inside that moonlight was simply too strong. In the end, Orlon could no longer hold on, and the two were still torn apart.
Powerless to stop it, Orlon was overcome with grief. But at the time, the moon's blessing was seen in Demacia as a sign of divine favor.
And Orlon did not want his own desires to affect the future awaiting the woman he loved, so from that day on, he never interfered with it again.
It was said that once Yarna had been chosen by the moon, she went to live upon the unreachable mountain peak across the water, keeping company with the moon every day.
And Orlon, king of a mortal realm, was never able to see her again.
Every year on this day, Orlon would set out a memorial table in Yarna's favorite garden, arranging sweet pastries and fresh fruit that she loved, and offer them from afar to the unreachable Yarna.
When the people learned of this, they also began setting out offerings for Yarna beneath the moon, both to honor her and to pray to her for good fortune and peace.
From then on, the customs of the Harvest Moon Festival spread among the people and have continued down to the present day.
In Demacia, it became one of the most important holidays of the year.
For most people, today might have been just another festival.
But for Lux, it was a glorious day beyond compare.
Because its arrival meant she had seven whole days off.
Seven days!
Early that morning, Lux bounced into Luke's yard with light, cheerful steps.
The moment she saw him lying in the chair, a bright smile bloomed across her face.
"Good morning. Happy Harvest Moon Festival."
"Happy Harvest Moon Festival."
Luke smiled back.
Just seeing that girl's cheerful face made the whole morning feel livelier.
After greeting him, Lux happily ran into the house to pour herself some cola.
Luke continued lying in the chair and silently thought, Sign in.
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained spiritual skill: Moonlight Art.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Random Secondary Profession Upgrade Card x1.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained rare treasure: Harvest Pastry Gift Box.]
Three system notifications sounded in a row, which surprised Luke a little.
It seemed that because today was a holiday, the daily sign-in rewards had gone from two items to three.
So he checked the first reward first: Moonlight Art.
Moonlight Art was the same type of skill as the Beginner and Intermediate Mental Spirit manuals. It was also a skill for cultivating mental spirit power.
The difference was that training under moonlight gave it an extra bonus.
His cultivation speed would increase, and whenever he was under moonlight, automatic cultivation mode would activate.
In other words, as long as moonlight shone on him, Luke's mental spirit power would automatically increase.
At the same time, under moonlight, his recovery from mental exhaustion would also speed up.
Not a bad skill at all.
The moment he learned Moonlight Art, Luke immediately felt a cool, refreshing sensation sweep through his mind, and his mental spirit power broke through once again.
Ever since learning mental spirit power, Luke had rarely trained it on purpose.
But now things were different. With Moonlight Art, he could just lie there at night and let his mental spirit power cultivate itself.
If he ever got a Sunlight Art too, would that not mean dual cultivation under sun and moon?
After thinking about it for a second, Luke decided that sounded pretty great.
Then he turned to look at the second reward.
Unlike before, this time the system had given him a random secondary profession upgrade card.
There was no level restriction. It could randomly choose one of the secondary professions Luke currently possessed and level it up.
Which meant it all came down to luck.
With good luck, it was effectively a high-level upgrade card.
With bad luck, it was basically a mid-level one.
After glancing at the description, Luke immediately thought, System, use the random secondary profession upgrade card.
[Random secondary profession upgrade card used successfully.]
[Congratulations, Host. Secondary profession Artisan has advanced to LV8 (Masterful Perfection).]
As two system prompts sounded in succession, a large amount of artisan knowledge instantly flooded into Luke's mind. As the information settled, the number of things he had mastered increased by quite a lot.
After a while, once he had fully digested the information in his head, Luke rubbed his temples.
It had not landed on Cooking, but it was still fine.
As long as it had not landed on Physiognomist.
He only had four secondary professions to begin with. Of those, Cooking, Artisan, and Physiognomist were not maxed out, and Physiognomist was the lowest level.
For Luke, the two most useful ones were Artisan and Cooking.
And now both of them required high-level upgrade cards anyway, so no matter which of the two the card landed on, it was not a loss.
Next, Luke opened the system backpack and checked the third reward.
Harvest Pastry Gift Box.
After one look, the corners of Luke's mouth lifted.
The assortment inside this box was absurdly complete.
Maple pecan, custard cream, molten vanilla custard, mixed nut, sweet bean cream, pineapple, date filling, cantaloupe cream—there was practically every flavor imaginable. It was basically a ready-made holiday pastry deluxe set.
Luke, of course, knew how to make pastries like these too.
But what he made definitely would not be as good as what the system had handed him.
The system's gift box even had the rare treasure label attached to it.
If Luke had not maxed out Cooking yet, then there was probably no way he could make food worthy of that category himself.
Looking at the pastries, Luke unexpectedly found himself missing home a little. He raised his head and looked at the bright, clear sky, drifting off in thought for a moment.
// Today I uploaded a bunch of chapters of Arcane: Starting Out as Vi's Cellmate!
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