Before Amandine stood a little girl named "Dan." Ronnie had brought her here to be fostered three years ago. She longed to join the city-state, but Amandine wouldn't let her go, and Ronnie was powerless to do anything about it. This year, the city-state's annual registration period had arrived again, and she prepared to try and persuade Amandine one more time. "It's really fun there, I'm not lying to you."
"What's so fun about it? I'm not falling for that!"
"There are lots of small animals, and your favorite, little dogs!"
This finally piqued Amandine's interest; all the dogs he had owned had been strangled by Billy. Billy loved raising chickens and would sleep with them all day, but chickens were afraid of dogs, so Amandine's dogs suffered the consequences. Seeing him waver, Dan continued to persuade, "The city-state has many other fun things, and you can also see your father, Ronnie." Amandine turned his head to the other side. "I don't want to see him!"
"Please just go!" Dan begged, almost in tears. She knew that if Amandine didn't go, she definitely wouldn't be able to. She wasn't an adult yet, and the city-state's rules required an adult escort for minors to join.
"Let me ride you like a horse, and I'll promise you." Dan was overjoyed. "Are you serious?" Amandine nodded and pointed a finger downwards. "Get down, my horsey!"
Dan immediately got on all fours. She was fourteen this year, thin and frail, and carrying a child weighing over twenty kilograms was still very strenuous. After crawling just seven or eight meters, her hands began to tremble, and her face turned bright red. "Why are you slowing down? Giddy-up!" Amandine yelled, patting Dan's bottom. Dan gritted her teeth and continued crawling forward. After another dozen meters, she really couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Get up! I haven't had enough riding yet!"
Dan was out of breath and replied, "Let me rest for a bit."
"Is that enough?"
"It's been less than two minutes!" Dan said, annoyed. Amandine was nine years old, had never had proper schooling, and only knew how to play all day. Yurina stubbornly believed that as Ronnie's son, he must be very smart and had never bothered to discipline him. When Dan said "two minutes," he had no concept of it. "Isn't that a long time?"
Dan didn't want to bother with him and remained lying on the ground. Just then, a charming voice sounded from behind, "Amandine, what are you doing?"
Amandine turned his head and shouted happily, "Mom, I'm riding a horse!"
The newcomer was none other than Yurina. Her long hair was tied up, and she wore a lavender short shawl jacket that accentuated her perfect figure. Below, she wore a pale yellow velvet knee-length skirt and black tall boots. Her eyes were clear and bright, her willow-like eyebrows curved, her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and her closed lips were as delicate and alluring as rose petals. "Your father is here. I'll take you to see him!"
"I'm not going," Amandine immediately refused.
"Big brother is really here?" Hearing the news, Dan scrambled to her feet.
Yurina disliked this girl and said coldly, "What are you getting involved for?" With that, she took Amandine's hand and walked forward.
Dan didn't mind; she knew Yurina had always been like this, unfriendly to everyone. She patted the dirt off her clothes and trotted to keep up with them. Ronnie was currently chatting with the baron in the drawing-room. Seeing the three of them enter one after another, he stood up to greet them. Dan ran forward and called out enthusiastically, "Big brother, you're here!"
Ronnie smiled. "Dan, you've grown taller. Are you used to it here?"
Just as Dan was about to answer, Yurina pushed her aside. "Get out of the way, don't block the path!"
"Mom, why did you push my horse?" Seeing Yurina being so rude, Ronnie could only shake his head and pull Dan to a chair beside him to sit down. He squatted down, took Amandine's small hands, and asked, "Have you started school?"
"Who are you?" Amandine hated being asked about school the most and pretended not to know him. Ronnie was taken aback, wondering, "Could this child be a fool?" Yurina explained from the side, "He is your father, a hero of the city-state, very smart. You should learn from him."
"Learn?" Hearing the word "school" again, Amandine spat a thick gob of phlegm right onto Ronnie's face, hitting him squarely on the bridge of his nose. As Ronnie reached up to wipe it away, he seized the opportunity to turn and run. Yurina wanted to chase him, but the baron, who had been silent all this time, interjected, "Let it go. Let him be!"
Yurina used to be very afraid of her father, but now with Ronnie, her fear had gradually lessened, and her status in the family had also risen. Since her father had spoken, she had to drop the matter. The baron rarely received guests, only meeting with important people. Ronnie was a recipient of the city-state's "Third-Class Medal of the Holy Virgin," a very high status. The day was November ninth. In a few days, the city-state would hold its entrance ceremony. Dan began to worry; if she missed it, she would have to wait another year.
"Amandine, we agreed last time. Shall we go to the city-state in a few days?"
"You didn't do enough laps last time. You need to do ten more."
"Alright, get on!"
Dan had been exercising recently precisely to handle this moment. She got on all fours and let Amandine ride on her back. "Much faster! A truly good horse." This time, she crawled for a total of six laps. Dan was exhausted, foaming at the mouth, and almost fainted, with no strength left even to speak. Amandine looked at the foam around her mouth, clutched his stomach, and laughed, "You're really becoming more and more like a horse."
The city-state's regulations stipulated that sixteen was the age of adulthood. Neither of them had reached that age, so they needed an adult to accompany them to join. Amandine kept his promise and went to his grandfather about it. The baron certainly wouldn't go himself, but fortunately, he had two sons in the city-state, George and Brown, who were ranked seventh and eighth. Dan's dream finally came true. When she stood in the city-state, she cried with excitement. After the entrance ceremony, she wanted to find Ronnie. Amandine kept asking all the way, "Where are the fun things?"
"Just follow me, and you'll find them."
Dan took him to the central district, rode the elevator, and knocked on a door. A moment later, the door opened, and a beautiful girl appeared. "Big sister, I'm Dan. Do you still remember me?"
"It's you!" the girl exclaimed happily.
The person who opened the door was Ronnie's sister, Alice. She looked at the little boy and asked in surprise, "You must be Amandine, right? You look exactly like your father when he was little."
"I'm not telling you." Amandine disliked his father and felt the same way about those around him.
A moment later, Ronnie's voice sounded. He saw Dan and the boy and called out happily, "You two have joined the city-state too?"
Dan quickly stepped forward to explain, "We just decided to join the city-state a few days ago, so Uncle George and Uncle Brown brought us in."
Amandine was not interested in these boring greetings and pointed at Ronnie. "Hey, Dan said you have fun things here. Bring them out!" Alice squatted down to educate her nephew. "You should call him 'Dad.' How can you say 'hey'?" Amandine started to get impatient, shouting that he wanted to go home. Ronnie found a small puppy to quiet him down.