I watched on as Aileen and Viktor started to mingle with the family in front of me while we were all having some incredibly delicious cake on the side. Alessia joined in on the mingling while Paul, Em’s father, stayed standing next to me, albeit also with a piece of cake on a plate in his hand.

  “I’m sorry for escorting your spouse earlier.” I looked at Paul, waiting to see if he was interested in starting a conversation with me.

  The smile on his face as I did definitely showed that he was. “Don’t worry too much about it.” He chuckled. “She looked incredibly proud of you, you know that?”

  I scratched the back of my head and chuckled softly in return. “Proud? What for? I didn’t really do much, did I?”

  Paul shrugged. “Maybe from your point of view. But as a parent, seeing your daughter stand there in a great outfit, being respectful to both you and what comes down to her staff… You can’t help but feel at least a modicum of pride.”

  “Hmm, anyone could have done that though.”

  “But could anyone have convinced your adoptive mother to become the next lady of the castle? Not to mention being her successor…” Paul asked in return.

  “Well… I suppose not.” I nodded back.

  Paul smiled. “It’s hard to grow a sense of self worth when you are your age. You’ll get better at it when you are older. It’s just important to understand that you are also someone of value.” He layed his free hand on my shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. Paul wasn’t the most touchy-feely person around, especially not compared to his wife, but that made moments like this even more powerful.

  “Thank you, I will certainly try. Your daughter is definitely helping on that front.”

  “Emma is a lot like her mother.” He nodded. “Karin generally takes more from me.”

  “I can see that.” I chuckled.

  While we chatted a bit more, the slice of cake per person swiftly disappeared after which Rosemary carried the cake off to the kitchen for safekeeping. Soon afterwards she returned and asked if we were ready to move on to the dining hall where our light lunch would be served.

  I looked around the room and pretty much everyone nodded at me to give their fiat, only Em’s mom looked at me without looking, instead she beckoned me over. Of course I went over to her.

  When I arrived next to her she signalled me to come closer. In response I leant down so she could whisper into my head. “We can go, as long as you will give me your arm again.” She then chuckled.

  I chuckled back without replying and looked over at Paul. He must have known already what she asked as he rolled his eyes with a smile and nodded at me to give his approval. “Alright then.” And I gave my arm to Ilse, pulling her off the sofa, althoug she did pretty much all the work. “Rosemary, lead the way please.”

  “Yes, my lady.” Rosemary nodded politely and walked over to one of the doors on the side, swinging them open for us.

  As she walked ahead of us, Em complained. “Mom, you are not going to keep Aurora for the entire day, are you?”

  “Are you saying you want to be the handsome vampiress’ arm candy? As a mother I have to think twice before allowing you to do that.”

  “Mooooom!” Em pouted.

  “Please, just think about how I feel too.” I chuckled. I didn’t particularly mind being called handsome though.

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  “We can be each other’s arm candy for the time being, Em.” Ria quickly took the initiative and took Em’s arm by force. Soft and fluffy force, but force nonetheless.

  In the meantime, while we were all busy with our shenanigans, Karin jokingly sighed and looked at her father.

  Her father did very much the same. “It’s best to just let it ride for the moment, daughter of mine.”

  “Understood, father.”

  Viktor and Aileen, who were closing the ranks together with Alessia, couldn’t help but laugh at our antics. I’m sure the both of them are relieved that this family isn’t really that uptight, au contraire… I have the feeling they will all mix very well with one another. Definitely a lot more fun than some dysfunctional families….

  Rosemary opened the final door before the dining hall and let us all pass by her. The table had already been sat and was awaiting our arrival with neatly folded napkins resting on the plate. As we didn’t need the entire capacity for the dining room, the staff had moved out a part of the tables and had moved in some sofas instead so the room wouldn’t feel empty.

  “Is there a certain seating arrangement?” Karin asked.

  “Good that you ask, sweet sister in law of mine.” I smiled.

  “Blegh. Cheesy.” Karin faked a puking noise and rolled her eyes at my admittedly very cheesy line.

  “I will be sitting in the middle with Ria and Emma by my side. My mom will be sitting next to Ria and apart from that you can choose. The table is still small enough that you can hold a conversation with pretty much anyone at it though.”

  “I’ll sit opposite to you, if you don’t mind, Aurora.” Ilse replied.

  “Of course I don’t mind.” I nodded happily as the rest continued to discuss their places for a short while. But in the end everything was quickly decided without any issues. This would probably be the seating arrangement we would be using later on for dinner as well so Aileen scored some good points by getting the place opposite to the spot that was currently still empty so our two lovebirds could sit opposite to one another.

  As we had all taken a seat, Em’s mom crossed her hands and smiled at me. “What do you have in store for us for lunch?” Not realising she had just activated my trap card.

  “Hah, I’m glad you are asking.” I looked at Rosemary and gave her a nod, signaling her to signal the staff to start entering with the lunch. It did, rightfully so, result in another bout of rolling eyes from Karin. I then waited for the kitchen staff to come in with a trolley of food from the door to my left. “It’s a dish that is more suited for warmer weather but I decided to go for it anyway as I all wanted to make you feel like you were on holiday at least for a little bit.” The first dish was put in front of Ilse as I continued my explanation. “It is smoked salmon together with cream cheese and parsley. This is being served with homemade toast and a salad with lettuce, red onion and an assortment of different kinds of cherry tomatoes with our chef’s signature vinaigrette sauce.”

  Ilse happily clapped her hands together as she looked down at her well-decorated plate of food. “That was a great description. If you weren’t already set up for a career then going into the hospitality industry might actually be something you would be very good at.”

  “Hah, thank you.” I smiled and waited for my own plate to be served. Of course, as the host, I was the last one to be handed a plate. “If you need any drinks, you can always ask anyone around, they will gladly go and get the drink you desire. But for now we have a couple of homemade mocktails with fruit juice and ginger to clench any immediate thirsts. As for those with other needs, well, those are obviously available too, and if I am not mistaken we already have quite a supply of drinks provided by Aileen’s vineyard.”

  “While I would love to have you all try my homebrew, I would very much advice against it.” Aileen laughed.

  “Thank you for the warning.” Paul replied, politely bowing his head.

  “That being said, we do also have normal bottles of wine from Aileen’s vineyard and a large portion of the fruit juice was also made by using fruits that grew on Aileen’s land.”

  “Wow, you have been really busy, Aileen.” Ria commented, she looked quite impressed.

  “It’s a bit of a side-project that kind of ran out of hand.” She chuckled. “If you have as much time as I do, that tends to happen occasionally. Plus, it’s a nice way to keep the books balanced one its up and running.”

  “Do you already have a distributor?” Paul asked as he took a fork at the ready to start eating.

  “Not yet. Do you have any recommendations?”

  “I have a couple of people I know who could, for a good price, help you with that.”

  “Dear, please do not talk too much about business at the table.” Ilse softly reprimanded her husband.

  “But we can talk about that after lunch.”

  “Of course.” Aileen smiled.

  Perhaps one day I too will own my own vineyard, who knows. I pretty much already own a castle…