"It's a pleasure to meet you, sister Alicia," André said, squeezing her a little in his embrace, which made Alicia very happy to see that he held no resentment toward her.
Amanda and Lucrecia smiled brightly upon seeing this scene. Before, they had been worried that the siblings would not have a good relationship; now those concerns had completely dissipated.
"Ah, and here I was with illusions of meeting my cousin, but I already see that Ali took all his attention and there's nothing left for me." Then a sweet voice was heard with a tone of complaint and playfulness at the same time.
André released his sister and looked at the beautiful young woman with blue hair who was getting out of the carriage; she had achieved her purpose and drawn everyone's attention. Then she said sheepishly:
"Don't look at me like that, or you'll make me blush."
"That's because you ruined the atmosphere that was there, Sofi," Grace, with her elegant posture, got out of the carriage behind Sofía and said with a small mockery toward her.
"I'm not talking to you. Cousin, it's also a pleasure to meet you." Ignoring Grace's teasing, Sofía ran in front of André and opened her arms.
Then André took a step forward and hugged his cousin:
"I also really wanted to meet you, cousin Sofía."
"Do you know who I am?"
At Sofía's question, André smiled and explained:
"Of course I do. My aunt Carmen showed me your portrait some time ago. I have to say your beauty impressed me."
"Hmph! Do you think I'm going to fall for your sweet words? You must be a womanizer for sure." Sofía snorted happily at André's words.
"Look, Sofi, how much you complained about Ali and now you're monopolizing him," Grace's elegant voice interrupted, which made Sofía very unhappy.
"Hmph! You're just jealous." Sofía said unhappily, but even so she left André's embrace, giving Grace space to greet André.
"Hello, cousin Grace, I'm glad to meet you," André said as he approached Grace and hugged her.
Grace also gave him a strong hug and leaned close to his ear to say:
"Even though I already knew you a lot, my cousin, I never had the courage to introduce myself to you."
What Grace said greatly surprised André. According to her, she had been observing him in secret, but it should be known that where she used to live was not close to there.
To arrive required three hours of travel by carriage, so to be able to visit him and return would be almost a full day. And according to Grace, it had not been few times that this had happened.
Quickly coming out of his astonishment, André also smiled playfully and said into Grace's ear in a low voice:
"No wonder I always felt a loving gaze on me. Now I see it was you, cousin."
What André said caused a slight blush on Grace's face; she quickly left his embrace and ran toward her mother Raquel, who was waiting anxiously to hug her daughter.
Alicia also hugged her grandmother while they caught up. Sofía likewise conversed with her mother about everything she had seen in the royal capital.
"Alright, let's go inside to the dining room. There you can talk about whatever you want," André said, waking everyone so they would not make a shameful scene in front of the mansion.
"André is right, let's go inside. People are starting to look at us strangely," it was Lucrecia who said this, to which no one had any objection.
Once inside the hall, Lucrecia spoke with Alicia in a loud voice:
"Ali, tell me, how is your mother Beth? I thought she would come with you."
"My mother still had matters to resolve, Grandmother. You know that with Grandfather's death many matters regarding the succession were left to be resolved." Alicia had a slightly downcast face when she said this.
"I'm sorry about your grandfather's death. I found out a little late, so I couldn't say goodbye to him," Lucrecia apologized seeing her granddaughter's sadness.
"It's fine, Grandmother. Everyone in the family received your condolences. Besides, Mom said she would come in half a year at most."
Beth is the wife of Duke Solomon. When they were exiled, she came along with the entire family.
Beth's family is the Duchy of Brown, her father being Duke Alber Brown and Alicia's grandfather. A year ago the duke died of a strange illness, so Beth returned to Green City. In addition, she stayed to deal with succession problems.
Soon the gathering entered a harmonious state and André was able to get to know his cousins and sister better. He felt that there would be no problem in his relationship with them, which gave him a little relief.
After a while the gathering ended and André asked them for a little time to talk to them about some of his plans.
Already in the study, André handed each of them a package with some educational materials.
"This is the study material. Please read it and tell me if there is anything you don't understand. Cousins, aunts, and sister, I hope you will help me by giving classes at the new school that is about to be inaugurated," André stated his intentions directly.
"I thought it would be something more serious. You can count on me, cousin. Soon you'll be proud of your decision to make me a teacher." Sofía was the first to speak and relaxed the serious atmosphere, saying what most were thinking.
"Brother, it was only a matter of you saying it. There's no need for such a serious face," Alicia smiled and said with a little complaint about the serious atmosphere André had set.
"Nephew, you don't have to be so polite with us. We are here to support you in whatever we can, so don't hold back when asking us for things." Surprisingly it was Aunt Lucía who spoke, which was a shock to everyone in the room. It should be known that since the death of her son she had always had a downcast and gloomy face.
"Don't look at me like that. I don't always have to be lamenting, and I believe this is an opportunity to come out of the depression. I only ask you, nephew, that you put me to teach the children. The adults, for now, no." Seeing everyone looking at her, Lucía lowered her head and said in a somewhat low voice.
"Alright, as you wish, Aunt. Classes will begin next Monday. I'll have Rose deliver the class schedule to you as soon as it's finished."
Only then did they notice the lovely red-haired girl who always accompanied André.
"By the way, André, who is this lovely girl with this particular outfit? Could it be your girlfriend?" To André's surprise, it was not Sofía who caused a scene, but Grace, who had not spoken since they entered the study.
Then André surprised everyone even more with his answer:
"She is my assistant and she is also my fiancée."
"What?"
Everyone looked at André in a state of shock. They had never heard that André had a fiancée.
Rose lowered her head with a face as red as her hair, while Grace's face showed great unhappiness.
"How come I didn't hear that you had a fiancée?" Alicia said with doubts.
"It's because no one knows. I asked her if she wanted to marry me and she accepted."
"So that's how it is." Then Alicia realized what had happened.
---