Chapter 186

Chapter 186

Martha smiled slightly. "Do you like them? I added a lot of powdered sugar and followed some extra steps, so the bread now has a very soft texture."

"There are also different flavors of bread; you can try a few others," Martha said happily, pointing them out to Lorant. "Those ones have fruit jam fillings, and these ones don't."

Lorant nodded, selecting a few freshly baked plain buns without fillings and grabbing a bottle of jam before leaving the kitchen.

The freshly baked small buns had a crispy exterior, while the inside was a fluffy honeycomb structure.

Although Martha regretfully noted that these small buns weren't very filling, their taste was quite similar to the main courses found in high-end restaurants.

And thanks to the *sugar ears*, the cost of making these buns was astonishingly low.

Lorant paired the different sugar ears with various similarly flavored fruit jams and thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast.

The jam and buns, along with a cup of warm milk, made Lorant feel like he had returned to his previous life, except the ‘milk’ came from a low-level beast and had a slight fishy taste.

People in this world had a high tolerance for fine food due to its scarcity.

Take Lancelot, for example; since meeting Lorant, his tastes had gradually aligned with Lorant's.

He seemed to have no trouble accepting strong flavors like sweet and spicy foods.

As Lorant ate, he suddenly craved curry bread.

Curry bread was a favorite of his in his previous life. Near the neighborhood where he used to live, there was an artisanal bakery that made exceptional curry bread.

The neighbors all praised it highly, and it even won over Lorant, a steadfast sweet bread lover.

As he ate the bread, Lorant couldn't help but reminisce about the past.

The morning at the beast pet shop was quiet and beautiful. Seeing Mike and his sister bathing a few Windbreaking Horses that had voluntarily approached them, Lorant felt a deep sense of peace.

Life should be this simple and beautiful.

However, the Holy Light Peafowls that Lorant brought back to the shop the previous night didn't get to stay in their new home for long.

As a powerful warrior skilled in both magic and martial arts, Lancelot could proudly say that he was a formidable and indispensable fighting force at any time.

Ever since Lancelot had advanced to the rank of a Level 7 Knight, he had never experienced the feeling of being deemed useless.

But now, thanks to the Holy Light Peafowls, Lancelot felt a long-forgotten sense of being overlooked.

When he protested being assigned to manage the Holy Light Peafowls, his father, General Lindbergh, looked at him with utter disdain.

"With your level of combat strength, having one more or one less on the frontlines doesn't matter, but if you don't take responsibility for the Holy Light Peafowls, who will?"

"I'd be happy to assign others to handle this; Ed and the others wouldn't complain like you!" Lindbergh raised an eyebrow and said, "If he's okay with it, you can do whatever you want!"

For some reason, Lancelot's mood suddenly improved, though he wasn't sure which part of his father's words had caused it.

"I understand," Lancelot said, suppressing a smile as he accepted the task.

Kid, do you really think I don't know you?

Feeling pleased with himself, Lindbergh hummed a little tune as he headed towards the platform.

Early in the morning, Lancelot set off with all the Holy Light Peafowls and several knight academy students working part-time at the Animal Pet Shop, heading for the Pokara frontlines.

Finally, with Lancelot gone, Lorant could stop being busy and begin to relax, enjoying his life at the Animal Pet Shop.

The renovation team worked swiftly. In about ten days, they had almost completely demolished all the abandoned buildings. At least currently, along the outpost's frontline, everything had been completely cleared away.

Naturally, the largest building in this planned area was the Blue Star tavern and inn that Lorant had envisioned.

The construction team had already begun the tavern's construction while continuing their demolition work.

After a satisfying meal, Lorant leisurely toured the Animal Pet Shop with Maomao. As the king of the Glistening Ice Flame Dogs, Maomao inspected the Animal Pet Shop every day like a lion patrolling its territory.

All the territorial needs of the other Glistening Ice Flame Dogs seemed to be placed entirely on Maomao.

After making a round of inspections of the territories of the Glistening Ice Flame Dogs and Windbreaking Horses, and giving Little Tuan's belly a little pat by the lake, the human and dog concluded their inspection and headed towards the construction site.

Lorant had chosen a relatively rugged style for the tavern.

Since it was located next to the outpost, and the main clientele were adventurers, an overly delicate decoration seemed inappropriate. The tavern had two floors, both of which Lorant planned to use as a main hall.

The entire hall could be completely opened on good weather days, allowing professionals preparing to venture into the Black Forest to leisurely order the Animal Pet Shop's unique afternoon tea and iced drinks, enjoying the last bits of civilized life before entering the Black Forest.

The main structure of the tavern was entirely constructed with sturdy, durable yew wood. This massive and robust material was one of the specialties of Lancelot's county and one of the best choices for building houses.

The tavern was also designed to serve one of the functions of the Blue Star platform.

It was a pilot project for Lorant. He wanted to combine several functions of the Animal Pet Shop, including shelves, the food shop, and the Blue Star platform, into a complex similar to a mall.

He wanted to see how well people in this world would accept this form. If it was well-received, many similar complexes would soon appear in major cities like Holando and Mauplan.

Feeling thoroughly satisfied after his tour, Lorant left the construction site.

After spending some time playing with the Glistening Ice Flame Dog pups, Lorant led Maomao and carried Baby to the Church's sapling farm, pulling out an expensive, high-grade Windbreaking Horse from the stable.

The Church's new sapling farm was not far from the Animal Pet Shop. With the Windbreaking Horse as transport, Lorant leisurely made his way to the farm's entrance.

Jeremy was directing the Church farm workers to uproot a large batch of cotton tree saplings, complete with soil balls, and load them onto carts.

Carts steadily flowed out from the farm gate, carrying the saplings back to Mauplan, where they would be transported via the Church's teleportation array to various locations that had placed orders.

The reason for going through the trouble of transporting the saplings back to Mauplan City rather than using the nearby outpost's teleportation array was mainly due to cost considerations.

While it was close to the outpost, using its teleportation array would incur many additional fees. The Animal Pet Shop had its own teleportation array, but the cost of sending large goods through such a small array was astronomical.

Thus, the Church decided to use its large teleportation portal.

To save on these costs, the Church wouldn't consider the hardships of those who had to pull the carts for one or two days to reach Mauplan.

Of course, most of these people were quite positive about this work.

After all, without the Church's plan, they would lose their jobs.

Like those waiting on the edges of Pokara, they needed to work hard to earn a living for themselves and their families.

Despite the hard and tiring work, Lorant saw that these people's faces bore a smile of hope.

"Lorant! What brings you here today?" Seeing Lorant's wind-breaking steed, Jeremy came over. "Haven't you been busy lately?"

Lorant dismounted and handed the reins to the junior assistant behind Jeremy, asking her to tie the horse up nearby. He then approached Jeremy, and they hugged. "I finished my work, so I came to relax and check things out," he said.

Jeremy chuckled. "Perfect timing! Today's our first official shipment. It's great that you're here to supervise it."

"Nia was supposed to oversee the shipment, but she got busy again last night and sent word saying she couldn't make it. I was about to record a message for her. With you here, I won't need to go through that trouble."

Lorant shook his head quickly. "No, no. You should still record what needs to be recorded properly. I'm just here for a casual visit and don't plan to stay and watch over everything."

He looked like an employee on vacation who had been dragged into free labor. Who would have thought he was actually the boss?

Jeremy looked at him helplessly and shook his head in compromise. "Alright, alright. I was just saying that Nia and Emma really have it tough with you! Having a boss who dumps all the work on them!"

Of course, Jeremy knew this was just a joke. Those two powerhouses wished Lorant wouldn't interfere with their work at all. The more work they had, the happier they seemed.

The laid-back boss acted as if he hadn't heard and looked around, becoming interested in the cotton trees.

"Are these cotton trees ready to be transported and replanted now?" Lorant asked curiously, looking at the small saplings in the vast farm that seemed endless.

The cotton tree saplings, after a period of nurturing, were beginning to resemble small trees. However, they were only as thick as two fingers and as tall as a person, looking rather weak compared to the actual cotton trees. A stronger gust of wind might snap them in two.

Jeremy had been in charge of the cotton trees from the beginning and had gained some insights. He patted the sapling next to him, like an experienced old farmer.

"If left to grow naturally, these trees would take at least six months," he said, pointing to the branching crown of the cotton trees. "After a longer period, the crown will begin to expand. At that stage, it will be much harder to transport and prevent damage."

He concluded, "So, this state is the most suitable for direct shipment! Rest assured, I'll handle it perfectly."

Lorant nodded. For now, the cotton trees didn't seem significant in the overall business map of the beast pet shop. But in the long run, this was undoubtedly the most far-reaching project.

Cotton and cotton cloth would soon permeate everyone's daily life. Even a small piece of that huge pie would be enough to sustain many.

While Lorant wasn't entirely at ease with the Church's involvement, he could fully entrust it to Jeremy. He had a good grasp of Jeremy's character.

It was clear that Bishop Frank understood this as well, entrusting everything to Jeremy from the start to ensure smooth cooperation with Lorant.

"Alright, Jeremy," Lorant said with a smile. "I trust your abilities. You handle this as you see fit."

Jeremy nodded and then suddenly remembered something. "Boss, you mentioned a couple of days ago about breeding a new beast pet. Was it successful? What kind is it?"

Lorant received the reins from the junior assistant and gave a mysterious smile. "It was successful, of course. But as for the specific type of beast pet, you'll find out when the time comes!"

The Church will certainly provide a reasonable internal explanation. It remained to be seen how they would phrase it.

As he left the cotton tree farm, Martha and Ruth were nowhere to be found. Seeing the empty pet shop, Lorant decided to close up and head to Mauplan for lunch.

Following his usual routine, Lorant randomly selected an inconspicuous small shop to continue his Blue Star ranking plan.

However, not every small shop has a tasty signature dish. This shop was as unremarkable as its exterior suggested.

Lorant struggled through the meal with considerable difficulty, marking an 'X' next to the shop's name in his notebook. He couldn't help but reminisce about Lancelot.

The knight was extremely familiar with Mauplan and could always find some delicious food hidden in the streets and alleys. If Lancelot were here today, would Lorant have avoided such a terrible meal?

At the very least, the parts that weren’t particularly delicious, Lancelot could always help him finish.

A knight who can spend a year in the Black Forest was not as picky as Lorant. Sometimes, Lorant couldn’t even tell who was the one born with a silver spoon in their mouth...

Lorant had always thought that he was used to being a lone wolf, but now he found himself missing and becoming accustomed to having someone by his side.

In the afternoon, a bored Lorant started tinkering with the Blue Star Trading Platform.

First, a large red announcement appeared at the top of the now quite bustling task board.

"From today onwards, Blue Star Pet Shop will offer free registration services for all Beast Tamers."

The term "Beast Tamer" was unfamiliar to most people.

Clicking into it revealed an announcement written by Lorant.

Aside from the long passage of meaningless formalities—expressing gratitude to the military, and so on—the content was enough to surprise everyone.

"From next month onwards, anyone who commands a beast pet can bring their pet to the main store of Blue Star Pet Shop for a free identity verification and a simple beast pet test. Upon completion, they will receive the 'Junior Beast Tamer' qualification issued by the shop."

"After holding the Junior Beast Tamer qualification for a year and completing a certain number of tamer assessment tasks to earn the required points, one can apply to upgrade their tamer qualification."

"Beast Tamers are categorized into four levels: Junior, Intermediate, Advanced, and Legendary. Each level has three sub-ranks, such as Junior Level 1, Junior Level 2, Intermediate Level 1, and so on."

"Depending on the tamer's rank, they can receive corresponding benefits at the pet shop. Please refer to the attachment for detailed benefits."

"All those who own beast pets and refuse to register within three months will be subject to a thorough inspection by the pet shop to ensure that the pet has not been abused. If any issues are found during the inspection, the pet shop will deal with them seriously."

This announcement naturally surprised many people.

The primary concern for ordinary people was the long attachment. When they clicked to open it, they saw a long list of discounts and benefits. These included discounts on pet-related items like canned food and reins, more frequent pet maintenance services than others each year, two free annual pet check-ups, and military benefits like free access to the Lopulo mountain pass in Pokara, among others.

Some people were amazed by the pet shop’s generous offers and began arranging their schedules to register at the shop.

As for the large organizations, most of them, like the military, understood Lorant’s underlying intentions.

However, they didn’t mind. After all, a brand-new and non-exclusive profession was not seen as a significant threat in their eyes. Moreover, the pet shop’s current collaboration with the military was ongoing, and there seemed to be connections with the Church, which made many organizations with ill intentions hesitant to act rashly.

This was precisely the effect Lorant wanted. First, he used the military and the Church as shields. Whether or not these two realized they were being used as shields, Lorant would quickly set up his operation during this time.

By the time others realize "Something’s wrong! It’s a trick!" Lorant’s project would have developed to a point where it would be difficult for them to stop it.

In addition to this important red-flagged announcement, Lorant made some new additions to other information about Blue Star Pet Shop on the platform.

First, the previous batch of Dream Weavers, which could only be exchanged for points, had officially been fully redeemed.

On the pet shop's exchange page, a prominent 'Pre-sale' banner was displayed.

Without new Dream Weavers to take their place, Lorant worried that interest in the platform might decline.

So, after consolidating the professional side, Lorant targeted wealthy merchants and nobles.

The Special Windbreaking Horse could now only be exchanged for points on the Blue Star platform.

Similarly, the newly bred Candy Rabbit was categorized under the points exchange system.

Although this pet, like the pet Slime and Cotton Trees, leaned towards being a lifestyle pet, it wasn’t a 'necessity' like the other two. Currently, the Candy Rabbit is more of a luxury item, so Lorant planned to use this pet to whet the appetites of merchants.

Besides these matters, Lorant was working on bringing the elf and beastkin races to the Blue Star platform, aiming to further expand the platform's influence.

However, before that, he felt that he needed a more appealing beast pet to support the development of the beast pet shop.

There were indeed many tasks awaiting completion at the beast pet shop, but it wasn't something he could handle alone. So, after a brief moment of indecision, Lorant wisely chose to set those matters aside for the time being.

He definitely did not do it out of laziness!

When Lorant went to conduct a routine inspection of the warehouse of strange beasts, he was surprised to find that the two wolf kings of the Claw Wolves, on which he had placed his hopes, had given birth to their beast pet eggs while he was not paying attention.

Following Lorant's previous instructions, Taya had marked the wolf kings' eggs differently to distinguish them from the others.

Lorant walked over curiously to inspect them and discovered that the two wolf kings had given birth to a total of seventeen eggs.

However, as he checked each one, he found that only one emitted a different energy.

Excited by this finding, Lorant immediately had Kongyi and Konger bring various instruments to start documenting this particular beast pet egg.

It would take another two or three days for this egg to hatch, so Lorant silently noted this down and didn't check on it again.

On the other hand, Lightwing Butterfly breeding had moved to its second phase. Unfortunately, similar to the Holy Light Peafowl, the strange beasts needed for breeding this type of pet were still only available in a complete set within the Beast Tower.

Lorant had listed all the required types of live strange beasts and handed it to Lancelot, hoping to capture these strange beasts during the beast tide.

However, the beast tide in Pokara was vastly different from the one in the Black Forest. After seeing all of that, Lorant had almost lost hope of capturing live strange beasts during the tide.

Unless a powerful expert was willing to help, it was still too difficult.

Lancelot had obtained the strange beasts for the Holy Light Peafowl with great effort; he had to ask several of his close friends to help capture them.

The breeding of the Lightwing Butterflies, Lorant entrusted the initial steps to several floating octopuses. There are already quite a few secondary beasts available for the early stages, and as long as the subsequent beasts can keep up, there is hope for rapid breeding.

However, the breeding of the Rampage Plush Bear has already reached its final phase.

Although the breeding started very late, the breeding path of the Rampage Plush Bear is one of the shortest among those Lorant currently masters.

Of course, in return, its complexity is astonishing.

To this day, Lorant still finds it hard to say whether the breeding path of the Rampage Plush Bear is more complex or that of the Holy Light Peacock.

One requires less in terms of materials but demands extremely intricate techniques.

The other requires extremely high-quality materials, but the techniques are relatively less critical.

Lorant can only say that both have their own merits.

But the Holy Light Peacock is an A-grade beast pet, and for a B-grade beast pet to be comparable is indeed a remarkable feat.

At the back of the warehouse, the breeding of the Rampage Plush Bear had reached the final step.

Several secondary beasts that Lorant had brought back from the Beast Tower had undergone multiple rounds of breeding during this time. Now, the one left here is a metallic secondary beast called the 'Steel Flame Gull.' This creature, standing about a meter tall, is now nearing the time of delivery.

Its metal belly is swollen so much that it almost touches the ground.

In the cage beside it is another secondary beast called the 'Soft Hive.' When Lorant first saw this thing, he did not think it was a secondary beast at all.

Or rather, Lorant never imagined that such a thing could be a living organism.

From the outside, it looks exactly like a typical large beehive, with a body shaped like a rounded hammer, covered in holes that might make someone with trypophobia faint on the spot.

Even when breeding, Lorant always tried to avoid facing these ugly creatures directly.

While the Devouring Frogs and floating octopuses were merely repulsive, this subordinate beast was so repulsive that just looking at it made people feel extremely uncomfortable.

Like the "Steel Flame Gull," this 'Soft Beehive' was also preparing to give birth soon.

Its disgusting body had swollen to its limit, making Lorant feel extremely uncomfortable just looking at it.

When the eggs of these two subordinate beasts hatched, it would mean that the second combat-type B-grade beast in Lorant's shop had arrived.

After checking the conditions of the two subordinate beasts and confirming that everything had been fine during the time he hadn't paid much attention to them, Lorant began to prepare for the birth of the Raging Ragdoll Bear.

"Raging Ragdoll Bear," at first glance, when Lorant saw the name of this beast pet, he thought the focus was on "bear," and imagined that perhaps he could build a small bear park next to the Glassy Ice Flame Dog's area.

If they looked adorable and plush, the bear cubs should still be quite adorable!

But as the breeding progressed, he realized that his initial idea seemed to be off track.

It seemed that the focus of this beast pet was the "ragdoll."

For instance, now that he confirmed the final two subordinate beasts were ready to give birth, Lorant needed to start preparing a large number of ragdoll toys.

Although he didn’t know how many eggs these subordinate beasts would produce at once, Lorant thought it was better to be prepared. Ragdolls, even if not used immediately, wouldn’t go bad. At worst, they could be given to the orphanage children as rewards.

Thinking of ragdolls, Lorant suddenly remembered that he had a toy bear that had been with him since he was very young.

When he was one or two years old, while the family was not yet experiencing financial difficulties, Ruth had spent a lot of money to buy him the most popular and expensive toy bear in Holland at that time.

The 40-centimeter-tall, chubby, and fluffy toy brown bear was exquisitely made, looking cute but strange-looking. Its small black eyes were hidden in the fur, hard to find unless you looked closely.

Little Lorant at that time was almost as big as that little brown bear. The sight of him snuggling with the little bear to sleep melted Ruth's heart.

That was probably the best time of her life—carefree and happy.

Later, as the family's financial situation worsened and with the passing of his father, Ruth had to take on the burden of life.

But no matter how difficult it was, she was still the romantic girl at heart. So, she had always taken good care of the doll that had accompanied her son's growth.

Even when little Silem, throwing a tantrum, asked for it, she distracted him and hid the bear.

In Ruth's eyes, she always felt guilty towards her son, who had to share in the burdens of life at such a young age. Even though Lorant always seemed indifferent, she still wanted to protect this last beautiful memory of her child with her own strength.

When Lorant heard Silem whining and crying in his arms, saying "Mom ate the bear," he guessed what Ruth had done.

But as the older brother who always doted on his younger brother, Lorant didn’t explain anything to Silem, nor did he ask Ruth for the toy bear. He just teased his brother even more by scaring him that if he wasn’t obedient, Ruth would eat him too...

Thinking of these past fun memories, Lorant began to seriously consider where his bear might be.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Ruth, who had gone shopping with Martha, returned home.

"Toy bear?" Ruth asked, looking at her son, who had unknowingly grown taller than her, with some surprise. If she remembered correctly, he hadn’t looked for his toys since he was five or six years old.

"What? Did you lose it?" Ruth was a bit surprised and felt a hint of barely noticeable disappointment.

Although he had come into this world with the soul of an adult and logically shouldn’t have any childish dependencies, when the family moved to a smaller place and he had to share a bed with his brother, giving up his spot for the fluffy bear without any hesitation, Lorant still felt a bit of loss, thinking he might never see that bear again.

It felt as if a piece of his childhood was missing.

"The toy bear?" Ruth shook her head. "Of course not. You loved that bear so much when you were little. How could I have thrown it away? I've kept it safe in my room for you."

Lorant's face lit up with joy, and he linked arms with Ruth, leading her upstairs. "I’ll take it back and put it by my bed!"

Ruth handed the things she was holding to Martha and smilingly tapped Lorant's forehead. "You’re still acting like a child!"

From the depths of her wardrobe, Ruth pulled out a toy bear that looked somewhat worn.

However, although more than a decade had passed, it was clear that the toy bear had been well-cared for. There was not a speck of dust on it.

Holding the bear, Lorant felt the soft, fluffy fur and the faint, pleasant scent, which softened his heart.

He had always loved these fluffy toys. The soft texture to the touch brought him a sense of joy.

The little bear was exactly as he remembered it—a chubby body, a head as big as the body, soft, floppy little ears, and tiny eyes that were hard to find if you weren't looking carefully.

Lorant couldn't help but grin foolishly as he gently touched the little guy's nose with his own.

"Long time no see, my little bear!"

After carefully placing the bear by his bedside, Lorant introduced the little bear to Dream Weaver and let them get acquainted, asking Dream Weaver to get along well with it before leaving the room.

"Although it’s just a plush toy now, it won’t be for long!"

After coming outside, Lorant found Natalie training in the backyard, sweating profusely. Since Natalie first expressed her desire to become Lorant’s follower, she had moved out of the orphanage and into a small wooden house by the lake.

Her diligence was beyond doubt. It was unclear where such strong self-discipline came from in an eight-year-old. She woke up earlier than everyone else.

By the time Mike and Taya yawned their way out of bed, Natalie had already completed a set of grueling exercises.

Initially, Lorant hadn't paid much attention to her. He simply thought that since there was room for growth, he could provide her with some resources.

So, at first, students from the Knights Academy, who were assigned to do chores as punishment, taught Natalie some basic exercises. There wasn't even a permanent instructor for her.

However, with proper nutrition, the thin girl soon displayed enough talent to surprise everyone.

In just over a month, she had gone from an ordinary person to a novice knight through some not-so-systematic training.

Such rapid progress even caught Lancelot’s attention.

"This child is a genius!" The white-haired knight, watching the small girl training by the lake, couldn't help but say, "If you cultivate her well, she'll surprise you."

Naturally, Lorant was aware of this. With his experience of raising Silem, Lorant could sense the girl’s genius.

Without saying much, Silem's selection into the Knights Academy was already a sign of considerable talent. Although he was at the bottom of his class at the academy, he was still considered talented among ordinary professionals.

However, the gap between Silem and Natalie was simply too large.

Sometimes, Lorant even wondered if they were on the same path.

So, from the moment Natalie became a novice knight, Lorant had his first follower.

Natalie also gained her first mentor in life.

Lorant decided not to send Natalie to the Knights Academy. Although Natalie’s talent and Lorant's status at the academy meant that if he had asked, the old headmaster would have gladly accepted her without hesitation.

However, Lorant placed great hopes on this child. He found an eighth-level knight who had been wounded and could no longer fight on the battlefield to teach the girl exclusively at the Beast Pet Shop, hoping to give her a more solid foundation.

These conditions were far superior to those at the Knights Academy, which even made Silem envious a few times.

"Natalie!" Lorant called out from afar to the girl who was practicing with her sword.

The girl, wielding a massive sword that seemed disproportionately large for her, paused, dropped her sword, and ran towards Lorant.

"Boss! You're back?" The girl's eyes sparkled with joy and admiration as she looked at Lorant.

Lorant nodded and gently ruffled the girl's hair. "Go get cleaned up, I'll take you out for a while later."

Since he didn't specify their destination, Natalie didn't ask. She obediently nodded and ran back to her cabin to quickly clean up and change.

The girl soon returned, neatly dressed in a crisp, brown pair of overalls. Her personality was rather wild, and she preferred simple, practical clothing over the elaborate dresses most girls her age wore.

Thus, when commissioning seasonal clothes, Lorant had these practical everyday outfits made for her.

Her short hair was carefully groomed, lying obediently by her ears. Lorant couldn't help but ruffle her hair again. The girl didn't resist, shyly lowering her head.

"Let's go, we're heading to Holando. You can pick out a toy you like."

Natalie looked up in surprise. "A toy?"

Something that only wealthy children could own had never even crossed her mind.

Even though she was now Lorant's follower and knew that as long as she trained well, she would never have to worry about her basic needs again, she never expected that one day she would have the opportunity to own a toy.

"I... I'm not a child anymore..." Natalie said, lowering her head in embarrassment.

Lorant thought of the large bear by his pillow and smiled softly. "No, as long as you're with me, you can always be my little Natalie."

Just like how he could always hold his bear when he was with Ruth.