TBATE - Not Bound By Fate

Part 16

Taking a deep breath to calm myself I knocked on the door. When it opened I was greeted by ... an elven maid? She had long dark brown hair and eyes and was a little shorter than Alea.

"Oh, you finally arrived, Prince Arthur. Your family is in the living room waiting for you."

I didn't recognize her from the place, was she recently hired? Is this the surprise father mentioned earlier today? Sylvie, Regis and I looked at each confused but quickly went inside and followed the maid.

Reaching the living room I almost burst into tears. Sitting there was my mom, Alice, looking young again and no signs of the stress caused by war could be seen on her. Next to her was Ellie, as small and adorable as I remember. And opposite to them was the man who I never thought I would get to see again, my dad, Reynolds.

The maid was about to say something but was interrupted by my mom, who dashed at me faster than any Asura I've met and pulled me into a hug.

"Your back, you're finally back Arthur. This isn't all a dream right? You're really back." She said in between sobs, hugging me tighter than ever.

Soon after dad joined in on the hug but didn't say anything. He only had a smile on his face while tears flowed freely. Ellie tried consoling them but was soon crying as well. In this moment I let go of the emotions I was holding back and let the relief and happiness of seeing my family again take over.

After a few minutes we calmed down a little and sat down on the couches. Like last time I was sitting next to mom as she held me close with dad on the opposite side.

"I'm so happy you're back son, how did you manage to survive the fall?" He asked me.

I decided to go with the same story I told them last time. As I was talking I noticed mom had the same expression when she knew I was hiding something, but it quickly changed to a knowing smirk when I told them about how I found Tess and helped her get home. Meanwhile I could see the gears turning in dad's head.

Ignoring their reactions I kept telling them about my time in Elenoir. At some point during the story the elven maid served us some tea and snacks and was listening intently but only the parts about me and Tess.

As I was telling my story dad finally realized which family was taking care of me.

"Wait, wait, wait. You were staying with the Eralith royal family all this time?"

"Yeah."

"Then that means your mentor is the former king, Virion Eraltih?"

"Yep."

"So this Tess is?" He asked but this time was looking at the maid.

"That is correct Mr. Leywin, Tessia is the princess of Elenoir. But that is not all, right Prince Arthur?"

"Wait, Prince Arthur?" Both of my parents questioned at the same time.

"Well, you see, Tess and I spent most of our time together, one thing led to another, and now we are engaged." I said while rubbing the back of my head.

Then mom grabbed me by the arms. "Tell me everything." She demanded while dad was still trying to comprehend what I just said. And so I began to talk about my time with Tess in more detail.

"That's my boy. Come to me anytime you need relationship advice." Dad declared with a confident smile after I finished talking.

"Don't listen to your father honey, I was the one who put in the work between us." She paused for a moment. "I guess you being engaged to a princess explains what happened a few days ago."