Zoella

Part 5

The wind breeze caressed Zoella's cheeks gently. It felt good and it helped her to control her breathing rhythm steadily. Right now, she was training in the front yard with Hayes.

A little while ago, Hayes called Zoella to practice since she already finished the books he gave her. He asked her to sit on the ground with him behind her.

Hayes put both of his hands on Zoella's back.

"Now, close your eyes and try to feel some kind of flow inside your body."

She nodded and started to focus.

Actually, Hayes was surprised that Zoella already finished and memorized the contents of the books in a week. It made sense if she just read the Empire's history and magic theory. But she also memorized ancient language and deciphered it.

Of course, there was a reason why Zoella could master it in that short time. She was familiar with the text. The ancient language was written with something like stenography.

And Zoella still memorized it.

Hayes who didn't know this couldn't help but be surprised.

'Not to mention, this child's mana is quite big. It's fortunate that I was the one who saved her.'

He couldn't imagine if Zoella was saved by the wrong people. Hayes put his hand down as Zoella tried to control her mana on her own.

Shhhhh~

Blue light started to come out of her body. Not quite strong but enough for people to notice.

Tap.

"That's enough, Zoe."

Zoella opened her eyes as she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Did I do well?"

"I would say you did very well. Now you can control your mana even though it's still not perfect. At least you can stop it from leaking or being stolen."

"Teacher, did you normally feel refreshed after doing this?"

Hayes had asked Zoella to call him teacher since they were back from the market. Even though Zoella was reluctant at first she eventually did it.

"You notice? It was one of the privileged of being a mage. Since you can control mana, your stamina will increase as well as your physical ability."

He glanced at Zoella who started to take interest after hearing that. With a little nudge, she will eventually ask to learn more.

"And if your mana control is perfect, you can combine magic with anything else."

"For example?"

"Watch carefully."

His hand reached out to the air and his eyes closed. Red light started to flash and they looked like formed into something. A sword. A red light sword appeared in his hand.

"I'm also a swordsman. Usually, I infused my magic into my sword and make a shield with mana. The sword infused by magic is stronger than the regular sword and this sword. But they are still no match to Excalibur."

"Excalibur?"

"It's a special sword of Grand Duchy. I don't really know the details though."

Zoella takes a peek at Hayes's sword. Somehow she wanted to learn magic more. But she was shy since she refused to do it at first.

"Zoe, I will ask you again. Do you want to learn magic?"

She subconsciously gulped after hearing the question. It was a really tempting offer for her now.

"Yes. I want to learn more, teacher."

Hayes's smile was full of victory. He finally won her heart.

At first, he thought it was fine for her not to learn more. But now that she decided to learn, he would do his best to teach her.

"Then I will teach you all I know in three months."

"Three months? You said that too when you first offered it to me. Why?"

"Well, as your guardian it's my duty to make sure you get a proper education. I was thinking of sending you to an Academy. And the semester will start in three months."

"I see."

'Even after I got transmigrated I still need to study, huh?'

Zoella was slightly annoyed by this fact. But since she decided, she would do her best too.

"Then, how about we wrapped this up and eat lunch? I will get the twins so you can head in first."

She nodded and started to walk inside the house.

"HAYES GALAHAD CASTOR!"

Zoella flinched when she heard a woman yell Hayes's name. She was curious so she turned around to take a look.

A woman in her mid-twenties with long grey hair and red eyes was tweaking her teacher's ear.

'She looks like the teacher in the female version.'

"You punk! No matter how desperate you are how can you do it with a child?!"

"Ouch! Let go of my ear, Harriet. It's not what it looked like!"

The woman called Harriet let go of Hayes's ear and walked toward Zoella's direction. Harriet suddenly grabbed her face.

"Such a beautiful child. Of course, you will draw attention. Is my stupid brother forcing you to do it?"

"Pardon?"

Harriet clearly had a misunderstanding of what was happening. And Zoella could vaguely guess it.

"Don't worry, child. I will take you home if you ask me to."

"Mom, sister Zoe lived in an orphanage."

"And Uncle saved her."

"Is... that so?"

Zoella smiled awkwardly at her. Harriet hugged Zoella and patted her back. At first, Zoella was confused but she eventually relaxed and for some reason, she felt like crying.

"Pardon my rudeness, child. I was worried since he has no interest in marriage while I was already a Mom."

"No, it's quite alright, Ma'am."

"Oh my, I'm not that old yet. You can call me Sister."

"How can you say that to your Brother's student?"

Harriet looked toward him in confusion.

"Let's head inside. I'll tell you everything."

Harriet pouted as she wanted to know as soon as possible. The five of them walked inside and headed toward the living room.

Hayes was going to tell his Sister once they were inside but the twins seemed to miss their Mother and he had no heart to interrupt them.

"Kids, could you play with sister Zoe? Mom needs to talk with Uncle for a bit."

Rowan and Rigel nodded vigorously. Zoella took them to their room leaving the adult to talk. Once the three of them were out of their sight, Hayes started to explain everything.

How he saved Zoella until he asked her to be his disciple.

Harriet's expression turned gloomy once Hayes finished.