CH466

He woke up early as per usual, ready to start the day, only to get the surprise of finding Thera up ahead of him.

“Mmh, hey,” She muttered, eyes still closed while she pressed up next to him.

“Hey, you’re up early.”

“Couldn’t sleep. Mind telling aunty I won’t be at the clinic today? I really want to try and get a bit more rest.”

“Sure, I’ll let her know and come right back.”

“Don’t be dumb, you don’t need to be stuck here doing nothing just because I’m in a funk. If I wake up before you’re home then I’ll stop by the shop, okay?”

“You sure? I really don’t mind sticking around.”

“I am, I think a little time to myself would be for the best right now.”

Leaning up to kiss him, trying to look a bit better than she felt, it wasn’t long before she fell back into an uneasy sleep, leaving Ben worried but off to prepare breakfast for himself and Sonya.

It wasn’t long until she was up as well, meeting him in the kitchen and looking worried as he laid out the meal.

“So how’s she doing?”

“Not great,” He admitted. “She says she won’t be at the clinic today, I don’t think she got much rest.”

“So can you tell me what’s going on?” She asked. “This doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with the issue in town, I’d expect her to be a lot more mad than anything.”

“Issue in town?”

He had no clue what Sonya could be talking about and the question left her dropping her head to the table, obviously not enjoying whatever the problem was herself.

“Well, it’s a little complicated and super annoying, but the long and short of it is word got out that she has the saintess title, along with just who she and I are related to. It’s been bothersome enough for me to deal with so I’d expect she might end up having it a bit worse.”

Wow, this is some horrifically bad timing. Thera is going to hate it when she finds out.

Ben knew she didn’t like the title because of the expectations behind it, and she hadn’t told anyone in town other than him about her relationship with her mother, the queen of Anailia. Even if he understood that it didn’t mean she held any power in her homeland, that didn’t change the fact that others might think otherwise, warping their perception of her all of the more.

“Great, just freaking great,” He sighed.

“So since that didn’t seem to be the case, what happened while the two of you were gone to leave her in such a poor mood?”

“She reached the sixth level of her charm but still can’t control it,” Ben explained, doubting she’d want to hide the fact from her aunt. “She’s taking it poorly.”

It looked like Sonya’s heart broke just hearing that and she was quick to make up her mind. “Alright, even if she wants some space, I’ll stay home today. Ben, I’m sorry but could you be a dear and tell the clinic for me when you head out? It will be good for the rest of the staff to have to work without me for a bit anyway, ever since I’ve come back they’ve been relying on me a little too much.”

“Yeah, can do. If there’s any problems I’ll be at the shop but I’m probably coming home early today anyway. I’ll handle dinner too so prepare for the best meal of your life.”

“Sweet boy,” She smiled, with the table falling quiet after that. Both of them were too lost in their thoughts to engage in any more conversation, each feeling too worried about who they held so dear.

After finishing and cleaning up, Ben’s first stop was by the cart, retrieving the five boxes waiting out there as he opened them one by one to free his clones.

They’d be seeing the majority of their work in the shop so that was where he planned to store them, with each of them carrying their own crates as he made his first stop of the day, delivering the news that Sonya had an emergency that she couldn’t avoid.

He ignored the tragic look that came to the eyes of the one at the front and left after, making his way back to the shop to start his work in earnest.

Usually, getting back would have felt incredible, being able to return to his work and his forge to put his creativity to the test with everything new he’d learned, but then and there he was too preoccupied with his worries and thinking about any potential theory for solving them to get that initial burst of joy.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He could have opened it up and made a bit of money, by that point his teacher had enough trust in him to handle such things alone, but he wasn’t short on anything and wanted to work free from distractions.

The only question is what to even do.

He didn’t feel his passion flaring up like it usually would and ideas felt like they weren’t coming. He was just too distracted to give it his all, so he decided to focus on warming up at first, hoping inspiration would come from there.