"... and I hope by the time you visit us again, the issues with the Wolfe Family remnants will be resolved. Yours truly, Zhen You...and done," Zhen Yue proclaimed with a smile.
Zhen Yue looked over her letter to Santiago one last time before finally sealing it with a bit of wax.
’I do hope it comes to him in a time of good fortune,’ Zhen Yue idly thought as she used her personal seal to complete the letter
A little after agreeing to become engaged, Zhen Yue and Santiago found it prudent to send each other letters in order to get to know each other, as well as share their day-to-day activities with one another.
Evidently, they wrote to each other...a lot.
’Alright, time to send my twice daily letter to Santiago,’ Zhen Yue happily thought to herself as she left her abode and began to make her way to the post office.
One of the perks of being wealthy in the frontier was being able to make use of the "high speed" option at the post office.
High speed in this case meaning the usage of a Tailwind Monal Bird to deliver a letter within a day, as long as it was within a thousand miles.
Luckily for her, the Bronze Bell Kingdom was only about five hundred miles away.
That said, Zhen Yue did wish she could just message him instantly. Would make updating each other and chatting significantly easier.
Such a feat was technically possible, but the only method of doing so at the distances Zhen Yue required was rather...extraneous.
’Even that fancy aether projector can only work up to a hundred miles. It’s still impressive, but not suitable for...huh?’
As Zhen Yue was making her way through the inner workings of the estate, she had stumble upon the courtyard where Zhen Hai would usually train.
Unexpectedly, she found the man not punching a dummy, but deep in thought...and silent.
One of these actions happening was already weird, both happening at the same time was downright strange.
’Part of me wants to ask...but I also need to send this letter...alright. Let’s go with that.’
Compelled by the sight, Zhen Yue went over to Zhen Hai’s side to figure out what the hell was going on.
"Hey Zhen Hai, wanna join me for a walk?"
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A couple moments later and a boring conversation and prep scene later...
"Good Afternoon Lady Zhen Yue, you’re looking lovely today."
"Master Zhen Hai! You’re looking rather dashing."
As the two younger generation members of the Zhen Clan made their way to the post office, various citizens ranging from the wealthiest members of society to the humblest of beggars gave the two of them some form for warm greeting. It didn’t take a genius to realize that since they were now the most powerful family in the city, that people were either showing their respects or kissing their ass. Honestly, either or could be the case.
Granted, while the general idea was flattering enough, it didn’t mean the ones one the receiving end of all the flattery actually enjoyed it.
"Huh...about a week, at least a third of the people exchanging pleasantries with us would curse our name. And now they’re praising it? How fair weather friendly of them," Zhen Hai commented to Zhen Yue in a surprisingly thoughtful manner.
Zhen Yue looked at her cousin with shock as those words left his mouth.
First the quiet deep thinking and now the actual sharing of deep thoughts, something was definitely going on in Zhen Hai’s head at this point.
"Zhen Hai...is something on your mind?," Zhen Yue asked with genuine concern.
Zhen Hai, in response, let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head before sharing what had been bothering him.
"Alright...ya know how a couple days back I saved Matriarch Telana’s life from a heart attack?"
"Yes...it was big news. It was how you got her blessing for your engagement with Gianna," Zhen Yue answered with a quizzical tone, "you somehow used a lighting aether art to help her. The doctor was very impressed with your methods, and a lot of people included me was surprised you could do something unusually delicate."
"Yeah...that’s the thing...I couldn’t until five seconds before I actually did it," Zhen Hai answered, baffling Zhen Yue.
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I don’t remember everything that happened leading up to that point, but I do remember the weird series of events leading up to it.
First, Telana Corrada falling to the floor while clutching her chest in pain.
Next, Zhen Liu telling Gianna to go get a doctor while we attempt to keep Telana alive.
Then...I got blasted in the face.
I forget by who or by what, but next thing I know, I am hearing voices in my head and seeing things.
A weird, almost melodic, voice suddenly began instructing me on what to do after that...next thing I know I can use lighting aether with a lot more efficiency than before.
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"I honestly didn’t know what to make of that moment at all and was fully content with just pushing it to the back of mind as some kind of miracle...then I remembered what happened to grandfather."
"You mean how Zhen Liu’s mysterious benefactor showed up, gave him a power boost and somehow made him about fifteen years younger?," Zhen Yue stated, "I mean...it sounds outlandish but we have both his and Zhen Liu’s testimonials about it, and neither of them are liars."
"That’s the thing," Zhen Hai interjected, "I’m not... entirely sure, but I’m pretty sure that a mysterious master didn’t show up to do all of that...I think it was Zhen Liu himself.
"What are you saying?," Zhen Yue asked with squinted eyes.
At this point, the two of them were right outside of the post office, but the way the conversation was going caused the two of them to stop in their tracks.
"I think...what happened to me that day is similar to what happened to grandfather...and I’m pretty sure that Zhen Liu was the cause...somehow."