New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 128: GIFTS

Chapter 128: GIFTS

While the old Hemsworth couple was enjoying their time together, in the main mansion of the Hemsworth Estate, panic and chaos was brewing.

"Where could the children be?" Alistair asked worriedly.

Each maid and servant responded negatively, looking equally concerned.

"Have the Young Master and Misses returned to the Estate?" Catherine stopped another maid.

It was the same maid that Aristia had stopped to ask about the adults’ whereabouts after they left the kitchen.

The maid shook her head, "I apologise, your Royal Highness, but I haven’t seen the young master and young misses." She bowed and left, acting like she was going to search.

Other servants moved up and down, following along in searching the mansion in search of the children.

"Have you heard anything about the children?" Ross asked Catherine as he hastily approached. Behind him were Maxim and Vasily.

Edgar, Claire, Carter and Rulia came from the opposite direction, all shaking their heads.

"None of the servants claim to have seen them." Alistair shook her head.

They all turned when they saw Wilson talking to the head guard.

Wilson knew that Aristia was smart. She would be careful in the unfamiliar territory. But still, she was still a child and as a parent, he was worried. Even if they had been accompanied by his shadow guard who he hadn’t seen anywhere in the mansion too after turning the estate upside down. That could only mean they hadn’t returned even though the sun had long set.

With Adeline and Lucas with them, there was nothing to worry about. But Wilson wasn’t about to take chances.

He addressed the Head Guard.

"Gather all the guards. Search the mansion again and the stre–"

"Your Royal Highness, I saw the young Master and Misses in the Great Hall! The old Master and Madam have already headed there."

Just as Wilson was about to order the guards to search not only the mansion but also the whole of the Hemsworth Fief, a maid hurriedly interrupted.

She seemed to have been running before she arrived as she was heavily panting.

She was the same maid that had informed Zender and Roxanne almost an hour ago that the children wanted them to come to the Great Hall and led them to the Great Hall immediately. As such, the old couple had no idea that the children were thought missing.

"The Great Hall?" The adults were confused.

What were the children doing in the Great Hall? They wondered, but there was no time to dwell on that or on why none of the guards or servants were aware of the children’s presence in the estate or caught sight of them.

They quickly headed to the Great Hall.

At that moment, Zender and Roxanne were about to leave the balcony.

"I am glad I got married to you." Roxanne smiled as she looked up at Zender. He was almost a head taller than her.

When her parents informed her that she would be betrothed to Zender when she was fourteen and he eighteen,, she had been apprehensive. It was a political marriage. She was from a Viscount family from the second generation noble families, and the marriage would benefit her family since it would increase their status.

She had been apprehensive about it because she had thought it would be like the marriage of her parents— cold, unloving, to benefit both families, and only to get a successor— that was life in a political marriage.

But because of her family’s status, she had wondered why a Viscount belonging to the pure nobles would desire to marry her. What were the benefits? Was it because of her reputation and talent in painting? She had been confused.

But when she got married to Zender, she was happy. It wasn’t at all like she imagined, nothing like it was in her family. Zender was affectionate and caring. It didn’t take long before she fell in love with him and she didn’t regret her decision. Zender made sure of that.

She later learned that Zender had liked her already and fell even more in love with her after their marriage.

She intertwined their hands as Zender leaned his chin on her head. "I never planned to make you feel otherwise." Zender chuckled.

He loved his wife. He had chosen her himself and his parents had agreed quite easily. From the day he made her his wife, he had promised himself to only make her happy.

They stayed like that for sometime, looking at the sky when Roxanne remembered. "It has gotten quite late and almost past dinnertime. Perhaps we should return to the mansion."

"As you wish, my love."

They left the balcony and entered into the main hall. Unsurprisingly, it was still dark.

However, they noticed some movement and low voices across the room.

It was the other members of the family. They had just arrived at the Hall and were going towards the balcony as they could see the golden light from the candlelights through the gap in the door, when Roxanne and Zender exited from the door.

They were stunned at the sight they managed to catch from behind Zender and Roxanne.

All of a sudden, a light turned on. But it didn’t illuminate the whole room. Instead, it shone solely on a rectangular table in the middle of the room like a spotlight.

On the table was a three layer cake and surrounding the cake were trays of food and snacks.

Just like that, the lights turned off, leaving the area shrouded in darkness again.

The adults left in the darkness again were stunned and confused but they didn’t have to wait much as the lights turned on again. This time, the whole room was illuminated.

"Gasp!" After their eyes had adjusted to the brightness, the state of the room was finally revealed to the adults.

The hall had been decorated with flowers arranged neatly. There was a rope of flowers hung on the ceiling. Some of them were even hung on the walls.

*Ssssh*

A sound of cloth unrolling was heard as the cloth banner unrolled from the ceiling.

It read boldly. ’Happy fiftieth anniversary great grandmother and great grandfather’. A bold heart was even painted in red at the end of the words.

Just as they were amazed, the lights turned off a third time.

"...."

"Happy anniversary, great grandma and great grandpa!"

The loud voices of the children startled the adults and the lights came on once again.

The children were revealed standing in front of the table of snacks and beaming with smiles. They had been hiding under it when the maid was sent to inform their parents of where they were.

It hadn’t been that hard to conceal their presence from the enhanced features of the men in the room.

Thy just had to control their breathing and movement in order not to alert any of their senses.

After Roxanne had gotten over her initial surprise, she smiled. "You all were behind this?"

"Yes, grandma." Liam nodded.

"It was all Tia’s idea. She said we should do this because the previous way you celebrate your anniversary was bori— oomf!" Lauren’s words were cut off when Aristia’s palm covered her mouth.

"I think they understand." Aristia whispered to Lauren with gritted teeth, then turned to the adults and smiled.

"Hehe. I think what Laura meant to say is that we all did this together."

Unbeknownst to her, Wilson and Catherine were exchanging amused glances. They had an inkling of what Lauren had wanted to say.

"We also prepared gifts." Liam pointed at the table with a small smile.

"My, my great grandchildren really put in a lot of work." Roxanne was especially happy.

"Open the gifts, great grandma." Lilith chirped. She also wanted to see what they had prepared and so did the adults.

"Alright, alright." Zender replied.

It was against etiquette to open gifts in the presence of the giver except when it was a present to the king or other members of the royal family. But it wasn’t the same between members of the same family.

Liam picked up a box and handed to Roxanne, "This is my gift to you, great grandmother."

He handed a wrapped object to Zender. "And this is yours, great grandfather."

Roxanne and Zender opened the boxes containing their gifts.

"I see you got me a new bow." Zender said with a small smile.

"Yes, because great grandfather likes to hunt." Liam nodded. It was one of Zender’s hobbies.

"Thank you, Liam." Zender patted his shoulder.

They then turned to Roxanne to see what she thought of her gift, "This is beautiful." Roxanne held the paintbrush Liam had gotten for her and examined it.

She nodded in satisfaction. Its quality wasn’t bad.

"This is my gift to you, great grandfather and great grandmother." Lauren held two boxes and handed each to Zender and Roxanne.

Inside the boxes were beautifully crafted jewelry pieces. Roxanne’s was an elegant necklace with a pendant shaped like a lily, her favorite flower, crafted from delicate silver and adorned with a small, shimmering sapphire at its center.

Zender’s gift was a pair of cufflinks made from polished silver, each engraved with a subtle pattern of intertwined vines, symbolizing their enduring bond.

"This is very beautiful," Roxanne held the necklace in her hands. "My grandchildren are still so young, yet they already know how to pick gifts." She chuckled.

Zender nodded in agreement to her words. They expressed their appreciation for the gifts.

All eyes landed on the last person. It was Aristia’s turn to give her gift.