NOVPUB"——This is Antanas Broadcasting."
"Hey, dear listeners, your host today is still me, Antanas."
"Does the uneventful passage of time bore you to weariness?"
On an August summer morning, a roadside wooden house restaurant was about to open for the day.
The sound of the radio lightly drifted from the windows and doors.
It wasn’t completely light yet, the stars just barely visible, and the blue light of dawn was descending upon the streets of the Capital of Hutton’s Ichrite as usual.
In the sleepy morning, the world was enveloped in indigo blue.
Inside Boss Cat Restaurant, Pranay was already standing behind the bar, wiping glasses.
Antanas’s broadcast could still be clearly heard on both floors of the restaurant.
"Good morning, Pranay."
With the ringing sound of "ding-ling, ding-ling," the thick wooden door was pushed open by a set of hands.
A breeze gently brushed over the counter, bringing a touch of coolness.
"Good morning,"
Pranay put down the glass and greeted Lanci, who had come to the place early in the morning.
"Where is Sinola?"
Lanci looked around the restaurant and did not see the figure of Pranay’s sister.
"She’s gone to the Duke’s Mansion with Hyperion, and probably won’t be back at the shop until later this morning."
"Oh, I see."
The two of them started some small talk.
The interior of the restaurant was simple yet stylish, with wooden tables, chairs, and floors that emitted a faint scent of pine, and handmade crafts and old books placed in the corners. The sofas previously brought back by Cat Boss were now situated on the second-floor terrace.
Lately, Antanas had so much energy that Pranay had to get her a set of small broadcast magic device equipment. Every day when Boss Cat Restaurant opened and closed, Antanas would start the broadcast to share stories with the customers.
Over time, she gained some fans.
Recently, it wasn’t just Boss Cat Restaurant; customers from around Ichrite would listen to her broadcast at home too.
Even many women would visit or contact her at the restaurant for love consultations, especially young students from Ichrite Academy.
"Has this week’s ’Ichrite Food Weekly’ come out?"
Lanci glanced at a corner of the short bookshelf in the restaurant.
"It has."
Pranay gestured towards where the new issue was.
Lanci quickly picked up a copy of the magazine.
"Ichrite Food Weekly" rated Boss Cat Restaurant very highly, and it received a lot of positive feedback from regular customers every week.
There were even recent reviews about Antanas’s broadcast.
The listeners turned to her for all kinds of love advice, even asking for her guidance on how to interact with their partners, and they achieved great results.
At first, it was just a pastime for Antanas.
Now, as she has gathered many regular listeners, her presence is indispensable.
If she had other matters to attend to, Sinola or Talia would fill in for her.
"Everyone’s comments about Miss Sinola are that she must be a young lady from a noble family, well-educated, gentle, and elegant, sharing more about literary topics with everyone,"
Lanci leaned on the counter, flipping through and reading aloud,
"It’s quite pleasant to have her host in place of Miss Antanas occasionally, which can make one feel inner peace."
"You all recognize people so well, being from the ancient and eminent family. It’s something that you can tell at a glance," Lanci said, looking at Pranay.
"That’s all in the past,"
Pranay said with a wry smile.
Lanci turned the page of the magazine.
"And as for... *cough cough* the comments about... "
When Lanci read the name, he seemed to have throat discomfort, coughed twice, skipped over the name, and continued,
"I understand everything, but could the host please not eat snacks on the job? It’s making me hungry just listening."
"Pffhaha."
Lanci laughed out loud, thumping the table as he flipped through the magazine.
He didn’t notice that Pranay wasn’t laughing this time; instead, she quietly began wiping glasses again.
Lanci looked up to see Pranay who had become suddenly silent, and before he could ask what was wrong, he felt a chill down his spine.
Turning his head, he saw a pair of indifferent golden eyes that belonged to a superior, looking at him from the staircase.
Talia clenched her fists.
She now thought Lanci wasn’t even pretending anymore.
In the past, at least he only thought things in his head.
Now, he was just short of saying them right to her face.
That expression was just infuriating!
Talia clenched her hands again, pondering whether or not to teach Lanci a lesson.
"No, no, no, Tata, I believe that if the broadcast listeners could see your face, they would realize you are a lovely girl,"
Lanci hurriedly turned to her and said.
"Is that so?"
She paused and let go of her hands.
Although Lanci had complimented her on being cute several times, every time she heard it, she didn’t quite know how to respond.
Wait a minute.
Talia suddenly reflected, what did it mean that one had to see her to find her cute?
She felt as though Lanci was implying that aside from her looks, she had nothing else to offer.
"Good morning, Tata."
Lanci smiled and greeted her, interrupting her thoughts.
"Good morning,"
Talia’s voice was devoid of emotion, just as she had no expression on her face most of the time.
She went downstairs, took a box of cookie-like pet food from the cabinet, and headed toward the stairs.
For a while, the first floor of the restaurant quieted down once more, with the broadcasted radio program filling the entire space with sound.
"In the season of unpredictable storms, in the midst of a bustling crowd, as long as I have you, I find contentment as sweet as candy."
The gentle and intellectual female voice, like a night breeze, soft and delicate, accompanied by carefully selected healing music, melodious and slowly flowing, intertwined with Antanas’s words, added a touch of warmth and peace to this early morning.
"The weather’s warmed up, summer has come, and some stories are about to begin."
After a moment passed.
"..."
Lanci watched Talia’s retreating figure disappear at the top of the stairs, assured she didn’t seem angry, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
After briefly saying goodbye to Pranay, he too followed the creaking wooden stairs up to the restaurant’s second floor.
At the end of the hallway, Talia had just opened her door when she caught sight of Lanci behind her and left the door ajar.
Until Lanci reached the familiar doorway, he still gently knocked on the door that was already open.
Talia, who was feeding the little fox breakfast, looked up. Without speaking, her eyes told him to come in.
She sat in the only armchair recliner in the living room, with a small tea table beside her holding the fox’s feed box and several newspapers.
This was the Devil Moonshadow Fox Lanci had brought back from the Northern Continent; it usually transformed into a small animal while in the shop.
In the beginning, Talia simply watched the fox from a distance without expressing her thoughts.
Lately, she started feeding the fox.
Now, it was clear she truly liked the fox.
Lanci heard from Pranay that during the days he and Hyperion were away, Talia’s only solace was feeding the fox, taking it for walks, and sometimes even talking to it.
It was increasingly like settling into retirement.
As Lanci thought about this, Talia’s gaze turned to him once more.
"..."
Talia just looked at him, and after a while, she finally spoke,
"If you’re looking for Hyperion, you can go directly to Duke Alansar’s Mansion."
Her tone was as if she wanted to see him off.
Early that morning, Hyperion had left because she wanted to deliver a painting to the Duke’s mansion and also wanted to bring some things back, so Sinola accompanied her early in the morning.
If it hadn’t been for Antanas still having a radio show, she too would have clamored to visit the Duke’s Mansion.
The three of them always got along very well.
After Duke Migaya disappeared, some ancient barriers in the Duke’s Mansion locked away the rooms, and even Hyperion herself couldn’t open them. But Sinola had a unique anti-mage talent, capable of analyzing and breaking those barriers.
"I came to find you, actually," Lanci said, looking earnestly at Talia, his voice infused with a hint of confusion.
"..."
Talia glanced at him.
She continued feeding the fox and said nothing.
But she no longer seemed intent on sending him away.
The room fell silent for quite some time.
"What brings you to me this early?"
After finishing feeding the fox, Talia picked it up and asked.
Usually, when Lanci came to her to learn about Demon Script Manufacture Card, it would be in the afternoon; he rarely came to find her at the Boss Cat Restaurant first thing in the morning.
Now, they could talk to each other just like at the beginning, with none of the awkwardness that preceded their departure for the Shadow World.
Of course, that is assuming neither side brings up any "you’re so cute I want to eat you up" kind of remarks.
"Did Hyperion tell you about what happened in the Shadow World this time?" Lanci asked.
"She only briefly mentioned it; she came back yesterday, cleaned up, chatted with me in bed, and then fell asleep," Talia shook her head.
"It seems she’s most at ease when she’s by your side," Lanci remarked.
"Why would you say that?" Talia asked, puzzled.
"It seems that Hyperion isn’t the type that falls asleep easily, but by your side, she can sleep very peacefully," Lanci said. He had only seen Hyperion in a deep sleep once, after she was affected by Calila’s full-strength Falling Hometown spell and was carried back to the palace restaurant.
Calila explained that Hyperion often had insomnia while at the palace restaurant, and to ensure the princess had a good rest daily, she secretly used magic to put Hyperion into a deep sleep.
Lanci didn’t quite know what to make of it, only feeling that the Demon Race’s strict mother was indeed formidable: if the child couldn’t sleep, she would use magic to enforce sleep.
By comparison, Talia really did seem like a caring mother.
"I’m like a caring mother?" Talia suddenly inquired.
But she wasn’t angry.
"Uh, you are indeed quite gentle to Hyperion, attentive and responsible. There’s no reason she wouldn’t like you," Lanci exclaimed, following Talia’s lead in explaining.
He just couldn’t understand the startlingly rapid evolution of Talia’s mind-reading skill; she was already intermittently able to read snippets of his thoughts.
Fortunately, he had the [Magic-breaking Mark] and [Mark of True] from Sinola and Pranay, which could diminish certain effects of spells and magic detection.
"So you want me to be like that with you too?" Talia asked.
"..."
Lanci was stunned.
Just imagining Talia treating him as she did Hyperion, suddenly becoming tender, like a virtuous wife and good mother, Lanci’s mind went blank.
He had long gotten used to the current Talia; if she changed into someone else, he wouldn’t be able to adapt!
"It seems that’s not what you want," Talia said with a slight frown, observing Lanci.
She felt that this guy had become a little infuriating again.
But she suddenly realized something.
It seemed that compared to glaring at Lanci, treating him with excessive gentleness sometimes made him uncomfortable and even nauseated him.
Although it also disgusted her, they could both explode together.
