Chapter 59 - Disparity

"Your voice is hoarse.. Are you sick? How have you been?" Hearing the husky, magnetic voice on the other side of the communication stone, Eli asked in an assertive tone. 

Yet in Leon's ears it seemed that Eli's strong willed intelligent tone was sweet sounding in his ears. 

'Maybe it was because this is my first time calling a woman other than my mother queen.'

"Leon??? Are you there? Is everything fine?" Noticing that Leon wasn't responding for a while, Eli's tone became a bit worried.

"I-im alright. I am about to rest for a while. I thought I could check on you for a while…" Leon answered rather stiffly. 

"Oh, I see. You must have been busy. I'm sorry for not answering the call right away. I had to go out to find a quite place to answer your call. It's quite lively here now, the project team is here to start working on the water system."

Eli replied in a relieved tone, she paused for a while then continued, 

"Have you eaten? I hope you didn't forget to eat and sleep regularly." 

"I-i.." Leon found it hard to lie about forgetting to eat and sleep. 

"So you went again to go for sleepless nights?" Eli's voice became a little bit lower. Although it was only her voice that he was hearing, he could clearly see in his mind that Eli had squinted her dark midnight eyes.

"I forgot about the time, I'm sorry.... But do not worry, I'll be sure to regularly eat and sleep." Leon replied rather guiltily. Now, he was acting as meek as how his Father Emperor Valentin was behaving earlier with Queen Tehila's sulking.

He heard a helpless sigh from the other side. He couldn't help but stiffly sit upright on his bedside like a little child receiving rebuke from his parents.

"Alright then, unhealthy habits aren't that easy to change. I won't nag you for that." Eli said in a helpless tone.

"Uhn, thank you for your understanding." Leon said with a relieved tone, he never felt this good after receiving pardon.

The voices from both ends of the communication became awkwardly silent. 

"Then.. I think you should sleep first. Do not worry about us. The grandpas are here. Baobao, Wisey and Sir Olivier are all reliable." Eli broke the awkward silence and tried to remind Leon to take his well deserved rest. 

"Uhn.." Leon said gently. 

"By the way, my Father Emperor and Queen Mother will visit you soon. As to the details I still don't know when, but it was most likely the next month, to give time for my Father Emperor to free up from his duties.

My mother also wanted to stay with you to help you go through the rest of the pregnancy." Suddenly recalling his mother's reminder, he notified Eli. 

"..." There was no reply from Eli's end.

Leon thought that Eli might have been surprised, yet after a while Eli replied with uncertainty and nervousness in her voice. 

"I have actually no objections, they are Little Han's grandparents. However, I don't know if I would be able to welcome them at home considering their status… I don't know how to interact with them."

"Do not worry I'll be sure to be with you when that time comes." Leon replied assuringly.

"But, aren't you too busy for the matters at the Capital?" Eli asked worriedly. 

"It's fine. With my father immediately coming back after meeting you, I don't think it'll be a problem." 

"Alright, then… Let yourself rest first. When you aren't busy, we can talk about how to prepare for the Emperor and Queen's arrival." Eli reminded Leon to rest. 

Hearing Eli's rational yet thoughtful reply, Leon couldn't help but smile, "Alright. I'll be off. Take care."

"Yes.. you too. Rest well." 

Leon then cut supplying mana in the communication stone. The stone was cold in nature but Leon could feel it warm in his hands. 

He gently placed it back on his bedside cabinet and absentmindedly laid on his massive navy blue quilted bed. 

He stared at the exquisite bed canopy that was decorated with embroidered white drapes matching his navy blue quilt. 

He was still light headed from the conversation he had with Eli. He could clearly feel that Eli was very comfortable with him, just hearing from her business woman like tone. 

He felt it was a bit unfair. She was adapting easily to their current situation while he was having a hard time.

'Has she been this good at interacting with men?' He couldn't help but wonder. 

The ladies in the empire would display some kind of shyness and embarrassment, sometimes coquettishness, when interacting with men especially for the bachelor ones.

They would try their best to display their femininity as well as try hard to act like a noble lady in front of the gentlemen they were interacting with. 

Yet Eli, aside from the initial awkward meeting they had, was quite unfazed in interacting with men, especially high profile men.

Like Randel and Olivier who were one of the most sought after bachelors in the capital. 

All the more with him, a member of the royal family. 

He couldn't help but see the disparity of the willful and childish Elise he met just a few months ago. 

'What could have caused her drastic change?' 

For just a few months, she turned from a willful carefree person to a rational, independent and opinionated one. 

The way she carried herself exudes confidence and discipline, that would only be achieved when one had trained for several years.

On things she didn't know, she wouldn't be pretentious to impress everyone. She was humble enough to ask, yet confident enough to stand firm on her opinion.

Her intelligence and knowledge was also a big question.

'Well, since it's just been a few days of being friends. It might be rude to ask for these things.'

He decided to set his questions aside first. He had to earn her trust enough for her to be comfortable in telling the secrets in her life, especially what happened few months ago.

While his thoughts were freely drifting he eventually fell into a deep sleep.

--

Seeing that the glow on her pendant was gone. Eli absentmindedly stood still in the flowery little garden outside her cottage.

It was only when she heard two playful voices that she was awoken from her trance.

"Young Eli, is that His Highness, the Third Prince?~~~~" Grandpa Andi and Grandpa Ben teased playfully. 

With her twitching brows, Eli helplessly replied to the two Grandpa, "Yes it's Leon. He was checking the situation here." 

"Ohhhhh… 'Leon'~~~" The two grandpas continued to gossip while playfully looking at Eli as saying, "Ah… young love.."

"Aiyoo grandpas, love isn't an option for me yet. Too busy... Too busy…" Eli respectfully dismissed the playful teasing of the grandpas. 

"What's more important was the news he said to me.."

Eli continued with nervousness in her eyes.

"His Majesty, Emperor and Her Highness, the Second Queen will be visiting soon… Leon said it might be next month."

"What?!" 

"Heaven's!"

The two grandpas exclaimed in surprise. 

The Emperor who was the symbol of the Seirende Empire would be coming here and visit the young lass! This was an urgent concern!

"What's more… Her Highness, Second Queen would like to stay here until I give birth, to learn from her on things about motherhood."

"T-this…" The two grandpas were left speechless from shock. How eager must the Emperor and the Queen be in meeting their future daughter in law and grandchild to go all the way to Silvertown?

Sigh!

The three couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. They all felt the pressure of knowing the royal family's visit.

"Young lass, then all the more that we need to finish this project. It'll be more convenient that all these matters were sorted out before they arrive here.

"You don't want to welcome your potential mother and father in law while there is ongoing construction in your house do you?" Grandpa Ben advised thoughtfully. 

"Indeed Grandpa Ben, I'll be needing everyone's help, yet again." Eli responded and looked towards the two Grandpa's gratefully. 

"Hahaha, young lass do not worry! We have brought the most talented team to work on this project. I'm sure that we can do this smoothly!" Grandpa Andi cheerily laughed and beckoned Eli to go back to the cottage. 

As they went back through the cottage, a boisterous sound welcomed them. Instead of proceeding to the living room, the trio went to the dining area instead. 

Sounds of discussions, exclamations and praises filled the whole dining area,

"This! I never knew that the transfer of heat could be quantified through this formula!" A cheerful and plump little dwarf said excitedly as she energetically raised a book almost half her size.

"How insightful was this! The table of elements is out of this world!" A scholarly looking man around his early thirties exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

"Indeed! How could one table provide us so much information such as this!" Another scholarly looking man in his forties, declared with amazement. His curly brown hair bounced rather comically as he kept nodding in agreement.

"I felt like I have entered into another realm of Prasinos just by reading this." Amongst the busy group was a face so familiar to Eli.

It was Randel, who was intently reading the modified periodic table of elements. He nerdily fixed his spectacles in a serious scholastic manner.

Despite how absorbed they were in the new learnings, they didn't miss the entrance of the trio. 

Except for Randel, who greeted so naturally, the three new faces greeted with burning agitation in their eyes, which were all directed to Eli.

"Great Teacher! You're back!!!"