Spending time with the Gremory

Rias and I woke up a little bit late. We wake up at eleven in the morning, and I can already see the servant busy preparing lunch.

"So, what should we do before lunch is ready?"

I look at Rias, who gives a cute thinking pose before answering my question a few seconds later.

"What about we go to the garden?"

"... You just want to eat the cookies under the shade of a tree, don't you?"

"Yup~ Come on!"

There were still leftover cookies from last night, and Rias said she wanted to eat them with me. After walking for a minute, we arrived in front of a massive garden in the castle's backyard.

The garden is filled with many kinds of flowers. I know some of them, but most of them are unknown flowers that I did not know of. I create a small magic circle and begin to examine the flowers around the garden.

A few seconds later, I widened my eyes. All of them are poisonous flowers. All of them have a variety of potency. However, what I know for sure is that maybe half of those flowers could kill me if I did not have my phenex bloodline.

"Rias, are you sure you want to eat the cookies here? These flowers look really dangerous."

"Hmmm? Oh! Don't worry! Papa said that as long as you did not eat them, you will be safe."

"Are you sure?"

"En! Come on! That is my favorite tree!"

I look at the tree Rias pointed at. It was one of the trees in the middle of the garden. I think it was around fifteen meters—a rather tall apple tree. However, while I know it was an apple from the fruit shape, its color differs from a typical apple.

It has a golden color with a purple pattern around it.

"What tree is that, Rias?"

"Oh! It is the Dragon Apple Tree! Sometimes a group of small dragons come here and eat those apples from the tree! Last year, I was able to pet four dragons!"

"Really?"

"Yup! They are adorable! I like Reiji, the thunder dragon! He really likes cuddling, and he has a cute voice!"

"I see. I wonder if I can meet the dragon as well."

"You can! I can ask papa to let you meet the dragons. The adult dragon is all grumpy, but the little one really likes to play."

"I see. Then I will leave it to you, alright?"

"En! I will make sure papa lets you come when the dragons are coming."

"Thank you. Now, let us eat cookies, okay?"

"Yay~"

~An hour later~

I feed another cookie to Rias, who is playing some game on her phone. I, on the other hand, have a book in my hand. This book is about a plant in front of us. The servant is kind enough to bring me the book from the library.

It looks like Zeoticus, my future father-in-law, is a poison practitioner. All of these flowers are his creation. Yes, creation. He was somehow able to crossbreed all those plants with other poisonous plants resulting in more potent poison.

"Sorry to interrupt you, young master, young lady."

I snap from my thoughts and see a maid standing not too far away from us. She bowed to us for a second before saying.

"Lady Gremory is calling you both to the dining room. The food is ready."

"Ah. Thank you for informing us. Come on, Rias."

Both of us follow the maid to the dining room, and when the door opens up, we can see many kinds of food on the table, from fried food to soupy food.

"Ah, it is good to have you guys here. Come on, take a seat."

I walk toward the chair and sit next to Zeoticus while Rias sits next to Venelana on the opposite side of us. After a few seconds, we begin to eat the food.

"So Riser, how is the book?"

Oh. So he knew about me borrowing the books from the library.

"It was really enlightening. The book is full of the knowledge of many kinds of plants. Am I supposed not to see that?"

"Of course you can. I will not let the servant give you my personal journal if I do not allow it."

"It was your personal journal?"

"Yup. I'm what you call a flower lover and… A poison enthusiast. I record all the flowers I plant and take care of. That book is a journal of my earlier experiment."

"Woah. All that written there is your experiment?"

That book is so thick, and I think it has more than one thousand pages, and this man is the one who writes all of those?

I snap from my thoughts when I hear a chuckle from Zeoticus, who has a nostalgic expression.

"Those are chaotic but beautiful times. I finished that book when the civil war was still raging on. It was a chaotic time but also the most beautiful time I have ever experienced. Other than finishing that book, I also met my wife that day."

Zeoticus looks at his wife with a small smile. I can see that Lady Gremory has a small blush on her face that she covers with a glass of wine.

"Anyway, if you want, you can borrow it. As long as you promise me that you will not lose it."

"Can I?"

This book is a treasure for a potioneer. Not only does it contain information about the plant and its usage, but it also contains how to brew some potion and poison from that plant. Medea and Hermione will love this book.

"Of course. You can even bring that home if you want. Like I said, as long as you take care of the book and don't lose it, you can have it. Just bring it back here when you finished reading it."

"I see. Thank you, my lord."

"Ah. Ah. Ah. From now on, call me father. You already joined our family after all."

I smile at him before saying.

"Of course, father."