Uncle here isn't your average office worker!

Therefore, for him to take the risk of accepting Maria, Maria herself must also show sufficient sincerity.

Roy's question clearly silenced the girl; she hadn't even considered the question.

Marna's assessment of Maria was correct; she was a flower born in a greenhouse, protected from the outside world by her grandfather, sister, uncles, and other elders and relatives from childhood. But this also made her too naive.

Becoming an apprentice, becoming a knight, and reclaiming glory—these things sound simple, but in reality, they are definitely not as easy as she imagines, something that can be achieved simply through "effort."

She couldn't even come up with a proper apprenticeship gift to convince Roy to accept her.

"Why make things so difficult for a young girl, Roy?"

Just as Maria was speechless with her head down, a gentle female voice suddenly rang out, rescuing her from her predicament.

Viviana, who had been secretly listening to a lot of things from the side, smiled and stepped forward. She exchanged a knowing glance with Roy and said, "World..."

"How about this, Sir Roy? I'll hire you to be Miss Maria's mentor, how about that?"

After saying this, she nodded gratefully to Roy.

With Roy's keen observation skills, it was impossible that he hadn't noticed her secretly eavesdropping nearby. The reason he hadn't exposed her, and even deliberately put Maria in a difficult position, was to give her the opportunity to appear at this moment.

He did himself a favor, thus creating an opportunity for himself to do the same for the Lin Guang family. (Nine)

This was undoubtedly a warm and thoughtful gift for Viviana, who had only mentioned it casually in a conversation with Roy—a desire to break free from the constraints of a large corporation. 4

He actually kept this in mind all along. He'd made Rinko owe him a favor, giving him the opportunity to connect with the Supervisory Council—how could he ever repay such a huge debt? (Eight)

Roy nodded to Viviana and smiled as he asked, "So, what is the price?"

Viviana covered her mouth and chuckled softly, her smile as warm and captivating as a candlelight on a cold night: "Mein ein und alles (Whatever you want, how about it)?"

PS: Now it's time for my uncle and aunt to make their appearance. (Part 4)

Book 1: Chapter 17 Mrs. Casimir, please calm down.

Marner felt that her niece had been acting strangely lately.

For example, she, who never read newspapers before, suddenly started picking up and reading the ones she had finished reading. She always avoided watching TV and frequently sneaked out, I don't know what she was doing. II.

These things naturally couldn't be hidden from Marna. Maria was the girl he raised himself. How could he not see that the child was hiding something in her heart?

Marner had never been keen on getting involved in these matters. Contrary to his conservative and old-fashioned behavior, his views on parenting were quite progressive. He believed children had their own way of living, and as long as they didn't go astray, there was no need for elders to be overly critical or restrictive. Otherwise, when he insisted on going off to become a wandering knight, wouldn't his father, Cyril, have been driven to his death by the mess he made of his own actions?

But today, with a dark expression, he pushed open the door and, upon entering the empty house, shouted:

"Maria, Maria, where are you?"

"Don't even think about hiding. Your aunt Zofia told me everything. You want to become a gladiator knight? Have you forgotten how your sister got into trouble? Have you forgotten how I raised you?"

Marner rarely got so angry, but what happened today had really infuriated him—on his way home from get off work, he happened to run into Zofia, a distant relative. She was younger than Margaret, but by kinship, she was their aunt. Perhaps out of concern for the two sisters, Zofia took the initiative to ask Marner as soon as she saw him:

"Marna, are you usually very busy?"

Marna, who had originally only intended to nod and say hello before leaving, frowned slightly but still nodded: "It's alright. It's just 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week."

Zofia immediately showed an "I knew it" expression, sighed, and said helplessly, "No wonder that child came here."

"That child?" A bad feeling welled up in Marner's heart. With Margaret exiled, the only person Zofia could refer to as "that child" was Maria. Upon learning that Maria had secretly sought out Zofia without his knowledge, Marner immediately pressed, "What did Maria want from you?"

"She wanted me to teach her knightly competition. She looked so serious. If I hadn't been preparing for the tournament, I probably would have agreed."

Zofia replied, and also offered some words of advice to Marna:

“I say, Marna, are you really planning to let Maria inherit the position of family chief rider? Although the child is already very sensible, we all know that it is very dangerous to let her go to the arena.”

"Why are you unwilling to inherit this position? You are clearly the most qualified person besides Margaret. Even if we only consider money and status, playing a few games is far better than you working 996 at that company, right?"

"What do you know? 996 is a blessing. Kazimierz should be grateful that 996 still exists."

"I can't believe it," Marna retorted, then immediately turned and strode quickly toward home. So fast was that even Zofia, who had already qualified for the Special Championship and was just one step away from earning the "two-word" title, couldn't keep up despite her best efforts.

Upon learning this explosive news, alarm bells rang in Marna's mind, and he wished he could fly home immediately to confront Maria.

But as he called out Maria's name and searched room after room, his expression gradually became serious.

Looking at Zofia, who was panting as she chased after him, Marna made no attempt to hide the coldness in her tone as she questioned:

"Where is my niece? Where is Maria? I'm asking you, where is Maria?"

The future Whipblade Knight was startled by this imposing aura, instinctively taking a step back and waving his hand and shaking his head, saying, "I don't know!"

Maria had approached her, asking for her help with special training to become an excellent knight. However, Zofia was simply too busy lately. The Major was about to begin, and the points competition for the last few spots was in full swing. Every day, she had to face at least three knights who were trying to challenge her and steal her points and spots, as well as many more capital and companies trying to bribe her to join the Knights or fix matches. She was already overwhelmed and had no time to teach Maria.

After receiving this rejection, Maria left her. How could Zofia know where she went afterward?

"Did she say anything to you before she left? Or ask anything?" After hearing this explanation and confirming that Zofia had no reason to lie, Marna asked with a furrowed brow.

At this point, Zofia clapped her hands and recalled, "Oh right, she seemed to have asked me about the inside story of that match that was trending in the newspaper recently, and she also asked if I knew that Independent Knight. Unfortunately, I don't know him either."

Zofia didn't even have time to teach Maria, let alone leisurely sit down to drink tea and read the newspaper. He had heard about Roy's affairs, but had never actually come into contact with him.

After all, Roy was just a newly recruited novice knight, while Zofia was a near-high-ranking knight on the verge of entering the Major. In every aspect, the difference was like heaven and earth. The reason I had heard of Roy was twofold: firstly, the publicity was so intense that it was practically common knowledge throughout the city; secondly, the Rust Bronze Knight, who was supposed to fight her, suffered a crushing defeat, losing all his prestige, which meant she had one less opponent in the Major. So, I only had a vague impression of the name.

Zofia pursed her lips and confirmed, "Hmm, it seems to be an independent knight named Roy. He suddenly appeared, using Margaret's name, and defeated Rust Copper right away. He's quite a formidable character."

Visibly, Marna's already gloomy face froze.

"Who?" he asked, his mouth agape in disbelief.

This was the first time Zofia had seen him with this expression, and she realized that things might not be as simple as he thought, so she immediately replied, "Roy."

Marna's eyelids twitched. After a long silence, she let out a long sigh, turned and went into her bedroom. She took out her long-unused sword and walked towards the door.

Zofia was stunned by what she saw and instinctively stepped aside to make way for Marner. She watched his back as he pushed open the door and disappeared into the moonlight. She could hardly believe her eyes. Since Snitz's disappearance and Marner's forced return home, how long had it been since she had seen Marner carrying a sword and looking menacing?

Who exactly is Roy? Is he Marna's old enemy? Or is he one of the business association members who framed Margaret as an infected person?

Zofia didn't know, but anyone who could make Marna draw his sword must be extraordinary!

Zofia hesitated for a moment, then walked to the table and picked up the landline at the Nearl residence. Unlike Marna, she wasn't overly cautious; knowing something big might happen, she immediately planned to call the Grand Knight Commander.

Why not use the existing connections? This concerns Maria's life, and Zofia doesn't care what others think of Nearl!

"Beep—" "Click."

Before the call could be connected, the sound of the door opening came from the entrance hall again. Marna, his face dark, holding a sword, rushed into the room without looking back, clearly extremely angry.

Before Zofia could even ask what had happened or why she was back so quickly, a loud slam of the door separated her and Marna into two separate spaces.

"Uh..." Zofia's raised hand froze in mid-air. She looked at the still open door, confused. As soon as she turned around, a golden figure rushed into her arms like lightning.

"Aunt Zofia!"

"Maria? Are you alright? And don't call me aunt! Call me sister! I'm only five years older than you!"

Zofia forcibly separated the koala from herself and looked Maria up and down. Maria was dressed neatly and in a good mood. Apart from her slightly flushed face and slightly messy hair, she looked no different from usual, and even more energetic.

only.....

She looked up and saw the man with long blue hair and a smile behind Maria.

"Zofia... Sister! Let me introduce you. This is my master, Roy, the Roy who's been all over the newspapers lately, the one who defeated the Rusty Bronze Knight. And just between you and me, she also fought Uncle to a draw!"

Zofia opened her mouth, suddenly feeling that the amount of information was beyond her processing capacity.

What's going on? Isn't Roy Marna's enemy? Wasn't Maria kidnapped? How did the situation suddenly reverse? Not only did Marna suddenly run away, but look at how she's calling everyone "master," so sweet-talking. Maria, if you're being threatened, blink twice.

Seeing Zofia staring blankly at him for a long time with an expression of utter bewilderment, Roy scratched his face in embarrassment.

This tutor doesn't seem to be very popular. He just saw his uncle almost get chopped in half with a sword, and now his aunt is being glared at. Are the Lin Guang family so ruthless to outsiders? They use both physical and emotional violence?

After thinking for a moment, Roy decided to break the ice and introduced himself:

"It's a pleasure to meet you, beautiful Ms. Zofia. My name is Roy. Please allow me to correct Miss Maria's misrepresentation. I am not her master. I am merely an ordinary tutor."

"Um, what's the difference?" Zofia came to her senses and asked with a strange expression.

Roy nodded matter-of-factly and explained righteously, "Of course there's a difference."

"Private tutors have to be paid!"

“But it seems we don’t have much money left,” Zofia replied after calculating the current assets of the Nearl family.

Roy nodded knowingly. Actually, Viviana had already helped pay for the tutor, and he wasn't expecting to skim money off Lin Guang anyway; he didn't make money off the poor, he only took from those with money. But with Maria, he had to take a token amount. After all, she was an ancient family; who knew if they could find anything of value even in a struggling family?

Roy shrugged. "I don't just charge money. I can give you a discount on other things too. Ms. Zofia, you don't want your niece to be deprived of education, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Zofia immediately stepped in front of Maria, her eyes wary, seemingly ready to draw her signature whip blade at any moment: "What are you planning to do? I'm warning you, Manna is still in the room! If you alert him, you won't be leaving the Nearl residence!"

Mrs. Casimir, please calm down. If you keep going, the following content will not pass the review!

Roy chuckled inwardly, waved his hand to signal Zofia to relax, and said slowly, "It's alright, it's simple. I'd like to have a match with you, how about it?"

“Of course, it was in private.” Roy added to allay Zofia’s concerns.

Zofia hesitated for a moment, then turned around and found Maria tugging at her skirt, staring at her with pleading eyes.

Unable to refuse her niece, she could only nod: "I promise you, just this once."

P.S.: Extra chapter tonight.

Volume One: Chapter Eighteen - The Whip of Discipline (Two Volumes Combined)

"Go Roy, Master!"

"Oh no, that's dangerous! They're attacking from the left!"

"You dodged it! That's great, Master Roy is amazing!"