The nonsense on the tip of his tongue was glared back by Marianne. Gorman touched his head and smiled with an innocent face.

"Nothing much," Gorman added decisively. "What I mean is, being a daughter-in-law is being a daughter!"

Sophia heard this clearly and immediately blushed deeply.

Daughter-in-law...

Since he said such words, it meant Father approved of Celitia in his heart, right?

Sophia had been a bit worried at first that Gorman might oppose this matter.

Although Gorman's personality had always been open-minded and treated worldly rules as nothing, having the heir princess find a same-sex partner was truly unprecedented in history...

If Father could accept Celitia, then there really would be no problems at all.

Sophia's thoughts drifted far away.

Carefully observing Sophia and finding that she wasn't thinking in other directions, Celitia finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She glared at Gorman with her eyes—

Please, we agreed to keep it secret, so absolutely don't let anything slip!

"I'm right, aren't I, Marianne." Gorman continued to speak with conviction. "For us, Sophia's lover should naturally be treated as a daughter too."

Whether or not Gorman's words were patching up for his earlier slip, Celitia's face still slowly reddened.

Whether daughter-in-law or daughter...

No matter what, Sophia was the one who had been raised for over ten years, while she was just an outsider who had suddenly barged in.

Would they really acknowledge her as Sophia's lover?

Thinking of this, Celitia couldn't help but become even more nervous.

This nervousness continued until the dinner began, not only not subsiding but becoming deeper and deeper.

Rich dishes were brought to the table, aromatic and mouth-watering.

Gorman had someone bring two bottles of precious cellared wine and instructed the maids to fill all the wine glasses on the table.

He smiled at Celitia: "Can you drink a little?"

Celitia thought to herself: It's already poured, so it seems like there's no chance to refuse.

"Father, you just woke up from sleep," Sophia's eyes widened in surprise. "Is it really okay for your body to drink alcohol?"

Sophia never understood what strange illness Gorman had.

He seemed quite normal when awake, but before long, he would fall into long periods of sleep.

According to past patterns, in a few days, Gorman might fall asleep again.

And he was actually drinking alcohol—was this really okay?

Gorman stared: "Does my body look very poor?"

Isn't it very poor?

Sophia looked at Marianne for help, hoping Mother would intervene.

"Let him drink a little," Marianne said helplessly. "But only a little."

Gorman grumbled dissatisfiedly: "How is it that I need approval from my wife and daughter to drink?"

Marianne heard this clearly and glared at him. Gorman had to shut his mouth.

"What about Lily?" Sophia turned to worry about Celitia. "Lily's health has never been good, so she can't drink too much either."

Celitia silently complained that Sophia was now advising her not to drink.

Usually when Sophia got in the mood and pulled her to drink a little, she wouldn't say so much.

"It's fine, I'll accompany the fath... His Majesty the King in drinking a little."

Celitia almost said "father-in-law" but managed to swallow it back in time.

Realizing this, Celitia's face immediately turned completely red.

Fortunately, the other several people didn't notice Celitia's small slip of the tongue.

Gorman showed restraint and didn't have the maid fill Celitia's glass, only pouring less than half.

He smiled and raised his glass to Celitia: "Come on."

Seeing Gorman actively toasting her, Celitia couldn't help but feel nervous again and raised her glass:

"You drink up, I'll drink as I please."

"Ah?" Sophia made a confused sound.

Celitia almost bit her own tongue and quickly corrected: "I'll drink as I please, you drink up."

"Uh..." Ariel's mouth twitched slightly.

Marianne burst out laughing: "You don't need to be so nervous. We won't eat you, Celitia."

Celitia's face turned bright red, and her earlobes burned too.

She awkwardly lowered her head, her face almost buried in the plate in front of her.

What was this mouth saying?

So embarrassing...!

Gorman laughed heartily, not minding at all as he clinked glasses with Celitia and drank the entire glass of wine in one gulp.

"Good! I'm really too happy today—our family is finally all gathered together!"

Family...

As this word was spoken, the several people at the table had different reactions.

Marianne looked pleased, Sophia's cheeks flushed, Celitia remained nervous, but Ariel somehow felt slightly uncomfortable.

Taking in everyone's reactions, Gorman smiled and poured himself another glass.

As several glasses of wine went down, Gorman became more talkative and began questioning Celitia.

Asking about her family situation, how her life was, how her studies were, what her future plans were?

Celitia was questioned until she was covered in cold sweat, feeling like she was being interrogated by a leader, even unknowingly holding her knife and fork backwards.

She cut for a long time but couldn't cut the meat on her plate. Sophia couldn't stand watching and forcibly took her plate away.

After cutting the meat into neat portions for Celitia, Sophia returned the plate to her.

"Enough," Marianne tugged at Gorman. "Stop asking. Do you think you're interrogating a criminal?"

Only then did Gorman reluctantly stop and shift the topic to other matters.

Celitia couldn't help but touch her forehead and indeed felt fine sweat.

Truly worthy of being the King—even she couldn't quite handle his comprehensive questioning.

Sophia mostly listened, so she finished eating quite quickly.

At this point, she propped her chin up, sitting beside Celitia and watching her with a smile.

Celitia blushed from her staring: "What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing much," Sophia couldn't help but laugh. "It's just rare to see Lily acting so foolish. I really can't help it."

Celitia was embarrassed and angry. Under the table, she secretly stepped on Sophia's foot and threatened quietly through gritted teeth:

"Don't laugh!"

Sophia deliberately put on a straight face, trying to hold back her laughter, but within minutes, she showed her true colors again, covering her stomach and laughing uncontrollably.

Celitia continued stepping, Sophia dodged, then looked for opportunities to step back. Under the table, it became quite lively.

Ariel was caught in the crossfire and got stepped on: "Hey, you two—"

You're still eating dinner—can you calm down a bit?

Blue veins popped on Ariel's forehead.

Could she grab these two by the ears and throw them both out?

Ariel spoke up, but no one paid attention.

In the chaos, Ariel didn't know who stepped on her several more times.

"Enough already—!!"

Blue veins popped on her hands gripping the knife and fork. In her anger, Ariel simply joined the battle.

Marianne and Gorman pretended not to notice, exchanged glances, and both smiled.

How wonderful, their children.

Hopefully it could continue like this forever...