Chapter 550
Raymond Jenkins, Anton’s butler, explained to him that some of the rich merchants, nobles, and even wizards normally would keep a mistress or several ladies on the side apart from their official wives, and it was an acceptable and normal behavior for Ormunda’s upper crust. Since it was acceptable for married men to do something like that, it was more acceptable for a young single bachelor like Anton to do the same thing.
The only thing that would stop someone from keeping women on the side was their monetary capabilities.
Even though Anton was a little intrigued by that kind of practice, he didn’t have any intention to do the same thing. He was young and didn’t want to focus on any romantic relationship yet. He did find Angeline beautiful and wouldn’t mind having a physical relationship with her or her sisters in the Angel Palace, for that matter, but he wasn’t in love with her and wouldn’t keep anyone yet.
Anton was thinking that even his father might not form any type of serious relationship. There was a chance that Anders might have been traumatized by what happened with Selena, Norma, and Belue. Anton’s father was ready to commit to the three women, but then the tragedy on the ocean happened. He was thinking that his father might be just focused on making himself stronger because there was a possibility that Anders had acquired Anton’s thinking about the Undead Coalition and the organization's intention to conquer the whole world, and that sooner or later, they would have to fight it out with them.
Of course, everything that Anton was thinking about his father was just his theory, and he could be wrong. In any case, he wouldn’t be talking about it and would just accept everything that would happen when it arrived.
The butler continued teaching Anton the common practices of the rich in Ormunda, and that session lasted for a couple of hours. It gave him a little understanding of what the normal behavior of Ormunda’s upper crust was. At least the ones that lived where he lived in these parts of the kingdom. It surprised Anton a little that every area of the kingdom sometimes had their own customs and common sense due to how large the kingdom was. He then thought that maybe the kingdom of Ormunda was like the United States back on Earth, and the areas in the kingdom could be referred to as the different states. It wasn’t exactly like that, but it was the closest thing that Anton could compare it to.
During the next week, Anton idled about in the manor. He would wake up, eat breakfast, spend time wasting his time doing otaku things with his Diablo II system while appreciating the beauty of his garden full of flowers. When afternoon arrived, he would then join the others in eating lunch.
There were times when Elianah, pulled by Laloniah and her two friends, Mierin and Selanor, would visit Anton. He was thankful, though, that the three elven young girls didn’t bother him about the movies and, just like him, were waiting for Anton’s father and sister to return because he did promise them that he would watch movies with them once his family returned home.
The elven girls mostly spent their time in the gardens. They were like butterflies appreciating the beauty of the flowers, and Anton appreciated the elven girls’ beauty because it magnified the gorgeousness of his garden.
During the afternoons, Anton would spend a little time creating his enchanted items, but mostly just around ten of them, and then he would return to idling about. He managed to explore every nook and cranny of the manor and was a little disappointed in not finding any secrets. There wasn’t even an escape tunnel. That meant that the creator of the manor was a straightforward person who probably didn’t have anything to hide.
The only thing that was a little remotely secretive about the manor was the treasure room, and based on the Rose Manor’s blueprint, the treasure room was added much later.
After a week, Anton was surprised by Anna. She came home together with her teacher, the Supreme Wizard, Supreme Munetta, together with three of her classmates, whom Anna introduced as Avina, Normumu, and Alethea.
Anton was extremely happy when he learned that his sister, her teacher, and her classmates would stay in the manor for a whole month.
Anton hugged Anna fiercely while they were at the door.
“I’m so glad that you’re home!” Anton said to his sister.
“Our new home is very beautiful! I saw a glimpse of the gardens and it was extremely stunning. We can even smell them from here,” Anna said, then she introduced her teacher and her three classmates, who were also her dorm mates, to Anton.
“Thank you for bringing Anna home. You are all most welcome in our manor. Mr. Jenkins, Ronia, and Mary here will bring you to your rooms. The rooms will be facing the garden, so you can view them anytime you want, and you can smell them if you keep your windows open,” Anton told everyone.
If Anton was being honest, the only rooms that were specifically prepared for anyone were his father's and his sister’s rooms, but he remembered that Raymond told him that most of the rooms were cleaned and prepared by the manor’s servants and were ready to use anytime.
Ronia called a couple more maids and assigned a maid for each of the girls, and she assigned herself to serve the Supreme Wizard Munetta.
“Thank you for receiving us, Mr. Sunders. Anna was a truly talented girl, and I thought that it was time for us to have a vacation. Your sister kept boating some sort of magical plays that she considered the best in the world. She told me that it was a window to another world and only you had access to it. It intrigued me and I would like to learn more about it, so we decided to have a vacation here in your manor. Based on what I have seen so far, your manor is a good place to rest. It’s peaceful and one could smell the flowers from your garden in the whole manor,” Supreme Munetta said.
“Again, you’re all very welcome, and I’m happy to show you the plays. The citizens from that dimension called them movies. Ronia here will lead you to your room so you can freshen up first.”
After that, the maids led everyone to the rooms assigned to them, which were beside each other near Anton’s room, since it was the side of the manor that looked out into the garden. Anton then waited in a parlor that was also overlooking the garden, and soon, Anna arrived first with Mary, leading her to the parlor.
“This manor is extremely beautiful, Anton. Especially the gardens. How much did you spend to buy this place?” Anna asked while she sat beside him.
“I spent more or less around 200,000 gold coins. The manor’s monthly upkeep is huge as well, though, around 7000 to 10,000 gold coins, but because the gardens are overflowing with flowers, one of our people opened a flower shop and also partnered with some perfumers. The majority of the manor’s expenses would probably be covered by the shop.”
“So the flowers were your doing?” Anna asked.
“Yes. It’s Mana Rain, and you already know the effects of mana water. I’ll have Ronia and Mr. Jenkins give you a tour of the whole manor,” Anton told his sister.