Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

“This is an intercity expressway. Getting on here will avoid traffic jams and also avoid… being caught on camera in the city center.” Claire gently patted his thigh, biting her lip, her eyes filled with tenderness. “After all, you can speed on the expressway.”

Then she suddenly accelerated to 200 mph! And she reached out and ripped off her own seatbelt, and then ripped off Brunhilde's!

Brunhilde's delicate face paled. She knew what Claire was thinking, and a look of fear and pleading crossed her face: "Mom, please don't do this. Let's go back to the hotel."

“Of course we’re going back to the hotel, but before we do, how about we go for a spin with Mom?” she said, her tone becoming more serious and her smile brightening.

Brunhilde was in despair.

While the car was traveling at high speed, Claire casually switched the settings to autopilot—a cutting-edge technology from Schicksal, a program not available on the market. But Brunhilde knew about it, because he had seen it with Claire more than once.

Claire cupped her face in her hands, gazing at Brunhilde with eyes full of affection. "Ah~ the wonderful push-back feeling that comes with this speed, Brunhilde, it'll accelerate to 300 miles per hour next. I've already set the route, it should take at least another half hour to get to the hotel."

Brunhilde couldn't refuse her, staring at her with resentment for a long time before humiliatingly climbing over from the passenger seat.

Claire lowered the angle of the driver's seat, leaned back, and gently embraced the white-haired handsome boy who had entered her arms, whispering in his ear, "Well done, Bubu, that's my good boy."

As the car reached 300 mph, the intense acceleration inevitably brought the two of them into a hug. Claire's breathing softened, and because her body was reclined, she lifted her toes and lightly tapped the center console to confirm the automatic driving function.

The car windows rolled up, blocking all view. A steady 300 mph, then off we went.

Chapter 53 Acting Master Claire's Mother

The rain shower came and went quickly, and by then the rain had stopped at the Bergen Hotel.

The red McLaren screeched to a stop downstairs at the hotel.

Siegfried, who had been waiting idly in the lobby for quite some time, immediately pointed outside: "My mom's back! That's my mom's license plate number!"

Cecilia rushed out to greet them. As a junior, she knew she had to be very courteous when meeting an elder like the head of the Kaslana family. However, she ran halfway out, but the sports car door hadn't opened yet, and no one got out.

Cecilia found it a little strange, but didn't pay much attention. As soon as she got to the car, she saw the driver's side window slowly roll down, revealing a girl's face with a touch of charm.

"Hello, Mrs. Claire, I am Cecilia Shaniat from the Shaniat family. It's an honor to meet you." Cecilia said, reaching for the car door as a matter of etiquette, with a junior opening the car door for a senior.

But she didn't pull it open.

Cecilia glanced instinctively at the open car window. The beautiful woman was lounging lazily in her seat, while the familiar white ragdoll cat straddled her lap, nestled in her arms, hugging her neck, and burying its head in her shoulder, seemingly fast asleep.

Almost simultaneously, the saintess remembered that she had hugged Brunhilde in the same position at Uniqlo before.

She quickly stopped thinking about these things; when she was holding Brunhilde, she was... Brunhilde's mother.

Claire's beautiful eyes swept over Cecilia, and while gently stroking the boy's back in her arms, she calmly said, "Sorry, Bubu was sleepy and fell asleep in my arms."

With so much space in the back, why don't you sleep?

“Bubu loves to act cute. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, and she showed her childlike side when she saw me. There’s just no way to stop her.” Claire smiled. “You’re the little saintess of the Shaniat family. You’ve taken good care of the two siblings during this time.”

Cecilia quickly waved her hand, then asked suspiciously, "You... you carried Bubu all the way back?"

"I'm a very good driver, and I have an F1 driver's license."

"Oh, I see. You've been clinging to Brunhilde for so long, and you still manage?" Cecilia said with a smile. Brunhilde may not be heavy, but driving requires pressing the accelerator. If she's so clingy and wants to be hugged, won't your legs go numb?

Claire paused, then suddenly chuckled, straightening her back and stretching. Cecilia only saw the sleeping ragdoll cat shiver, and then Claire's face suddenly flushed.

Claire said softly, "It's really a bit too much for me."

Cecilia didn't know why her tone had suddenly softened. At that moment, Claire looked apologetic: "Miss Cecilia, we're out of tissues in the car. Do you have any?"

“Yes, yes.” Cecilia quickly handed it over.

Claire gave her another enigmatic smile, took the paper, and closed the car window.

About two minutes later, Cecilia finally got the door opened, and the first one to jump down was Brunhilde. The boy didn't look too good, and without saying hello, he almost immediately hid behind her.

Cecilia was bewildered, then saw Brunhilde's stunning mother, dressed in a little black dress and ten-centimeter high heels, gracefully step out of the carriage. She also glanced at the boy hiding behind Cecilia, but said nothing, only her smile was cold and somewhat playful.

"This is getting interesting."

------------------

into the night.

Claire's return home should have been accompanied by a welcome feast. But in the Kaslana and Shaniat families, considered "reclusive aristocrats," the traditional sense of honor and shame transcends that of ordinary people. While normal people entertain guests at hotels, for them, the best welcome feast would be a home-cooked meal prepared by close friends and family.

But none of the group knew how to cook. The only one who did, Brunhilde, was unmoved and showed no intention of making dinner. So the group ordered room service from the hotel, along with several bottles of red wine and champagne, and ate takeout around the small coffee table in the living room.

Fortunately, Claire didn't mind at all; she behaved perfectly, being very tolerant and even quite lively. After dinner, she took Cecilia's hand and sat her down on the sofa.

"Miss Saint, how far have things progressed between my Phil and me?"

Let’s get straight to the point.

Cecilia "..."

She and Claire sat hand in hand on the main sofa, while Siegfried sat expectantly on the single sofa to their left. Brunhilde, meanwhile, had moved away from the others, sitting on a hanging basket near the balcony, playing on her phone by moonlight. Shigure Kira, still there because of the rain, had booked a room next door and was now sitting on the single sofa to their right, listening in.

It was a fairly normal late-night chat among the young women. Although Claire was already a mother, she still looked like a young woman in her early twenties. However, Cecilia was used to this kind of beautiful married woman; the Shaniat family had plenty of women who were still young and beautiful even at their age, and the Valkyries didn't seem to age at all.

However, this topic was a bit difficult to answer. Cecilia hesitated for a moment before speaking frankly: "Mrs. Claire, there's no need to call me Miss Saint, just call me by my real name. Siegfried is different from what I imagined. After getting to know her, I've found that she's not the libertine she's rumored to be, and she's mostly respectful and proper with other girls. I think the family's decision to marry us was indeed a good match. As for me personally... Miss Siegfried is a very good girl, perhaps I just need some time."

Siegfried shrugged; she had expected this. Although Cecilia could be a bit eccentric at times, she was generally very honest in expressing her opinions. She knew that she and Cecilia weren't at the point of being romantically involved; being best friends was already quite good.

"Oh, the progress is a bit slow." Claire chuckled. "Cecilia, is there anything else bothering you? Can you share it so we can all analyze it? Don't be shy, this is an arranged marriage. Sometimes, when difficulties arise, please try to overcome them, Miss Cecilia."

That's a pretty insightful statement. Arranged marriages are different from free love. Arranged marriages are for the purpose of marriage and procreation. Sometimes, whether you love someone or not doesn't really matter. There are plenty of arranged marriages where the couple is only together in name.

Cecilia understood what she meant. She had read Claire's profile and knew that Claire had been divorced a long time ago. For her, marriage probably wasn't a very romantic thing, so she didn't really care.

But Cecilia still cares.

"Please give me some time. Relationships need time to develop, and the family can't rush things." Cecilia's tone was gentle but firm.

There was a slight tension; Cecilia was kind-hearted, but that didn't mean she liked to back down. Trying to use her seniority to gain the right to speak authoritatively was futile.

She wasn't arrogant, but as the saintess of the Shaniat family and the next head of the family, even though she was Claire's junior and daughter-in-law, she had the confidence to be neither servile nor overbearing. She believed it needed time, and that meant it needed time. No one could rush her, not even the two families.

Claire's smile froze slightly. She glanced at Cecilia with surprise, paused for a few seconds, then clasped her hands together and tilted her head cutely: "Okay, okay, I won't rush you, I won't rush you. I didn't expect Cecilia to be so gentle yet strong. Hmm, Mommy likes you more and more. Being gentle all the time is just weakness, but Cecilia, you truly deserve to be called a saint."

Cecilia was a little surprised when the other party's attitude softened immediately. She nodded subconsciously, thinking that she was probably being a bit too sensitive. Claire was just being a little impatient as an elder, and it wasn't really putting pressure on her.

“Actually, marriage isn’t always a good thing, like me.” Claire ignored her children’s slightly complicated expressions and chatted enthusiastically with Cecilia. “When I was in college, I was so pretty that stupid men were chasing after me everywhere, which annoyed me to no end. In the end, I just randomly picked a handsome guy and got married at the family’s insistence.”

Cecilia's expression was somewhat strange. On one hand, she felt that Claire's experience was quite similar to her own, but on the other hand, she couldn't help but complain, "Did you just pick someone handsome at random?"

"Oh, anyway, the family only needs me to pass on the genes to prevent the Kaslana family from dying out due to a single lineage, so I don't need to consider the abilities of my partner, as long as I'm willing to choose. As for being handsome, at least it will ensure that Bubu and the others have better genes."

That's complete nonsense.

Cecilia believes that judging genes by appearance is a completely unscientific act. Are the children of handsome men and beautiful women necessarily handsome men and beautiful women? Besides, genes are not just about appearance. Honkai energy bloodline, hereditary diseases, and those are the more important things, aren't they?

This is too casual.

“It’s pretty casual, but I never really had any ideas about marriage anyway. I didn’t even attend the wedding. Look, because I didn’t go to the wedding, I don’t even have a ring.” Claire held out her fair left hand to show her, with a flower-shaped plastic ring on her ring finger.

Cecilia was stunned.

Claire was also taken aback, then quickly waved her hand with a smile: "No, this is a Mother's Day gift that Bubu gave me when he was six years old. His craft teacher taught him to make a little toy by casting, and there are words carved by Bubu inside. 'jegelskerdeg', which means 'I love you' in Norwegian."

She took off the white plastic ring, held it up to the lamp so Cecilia could see the engraving inside. Her beautiful eyes sparkled, and she couldn't help but boast, "You don't know, do you? My baby was so cute and honest when she was little. It's a pity she's become more and more aloof as she grows up. She doesn't even want me to hug her unless I order her to, boohoo."

"No way, I saw Bubu in the car begging you to hold her while she slept," Cecilia said instinctively.

Claire's expression froze for a moment, then she recovered and smiled, "That's true."

"Where were we? Right, anyway, a marriage without love won't be happy. Like my marriage with that man, it was on the verge of collapse from the very beginning." Claire continued, "He loves me very much, but I just think men are disgusting. He even complained to the elders in my family that I wouldn't let him touch me... I'm so pitiful. All I want is a child. Does not letting him touch me mean I can't have a child?"

Cecilia had a vague feeling that there was something wrong with this woman.

"Without love, isn't that kind of thing just pure desire? But I don't need desire, I just need a child. My man doesn't seem to love me that much. He's not even willing to experience a platonic relationship with me. He really chose the wrong person."

“Since it’s between husband and wife…then the relationship between husband and wife is supposed to be a harmony of love and desire, and neither can be lacking, right?” Cecilia said hesitantly.

Claire pouted and slapped Cecilia's hand in her arm: "But there has to be fairness between husband and wife. I've already fulfilled his wish to marry me, shouldn't he also fulfill his wish to stay away from me? I don't want to see him. He can do whatever he wants, as long as he provides me with genes for IVF, isn't that enough?"

Cecilia knew there was something wrong with this woman; she didn't seem to realize that this was practically... a marriage scam.

She sees things entirely from her own perspective, defining what she considers fairness... Is this the kind of environment Siegfried and Brunhilde grew up in? Oh right, Mrs. Claire hardly ever took care of the children.

“Why is this happening? Isn’t he good to you? Why would he treat…your husband like this?” Cecilia’s tone was somewhat pitying, but not towards Claire.

“I’ve barely seen him since we got married. How would I know if he’s good to me?” Claire shrugged. “Then he ran away, um, the year I was pregnant with Bubu. Ugh, a man with children, he abandoned his pregnant wife in bed and ran away to a foreign country. Do you think that’s something a man should do?”

escape.

Cecilia didn't know how to begin, given the meaning these two words represented and the weight behind them.

"In short, a marriage without love will hurt you badly. I've never been able to get over it; I was hurt too deeply," Claire said flippantly.

"Mmm," Cecilia replied dismissively.

Her sense of justice made her not want to listen anymore, but Claire was someone she was bound to come into contact with. How to put it... there are probably quite a few people like this among the Valkyries. Being above mortals often leads many to consider themselves nobles; egoists are extremely common among the Valkyries.

Fortunately, Claire is only an A-rank and will soon be replaced as the head of the family by Siegfried.

Claire sighed: "So you also think I'm an evil person."

Cecilia was taken aback, but after a moment's thought, she did not refute.

Claire felt wronged and gently shook Cecilia's hand. "It's not like that. You think I'm crazy and selfish after hearing my description, but I'm not like that. Since ancient times, women have dressed up for those they love, and I'm a woman too."

Cecilia was initially confused and didn't understand what Claire was complaining about.

“What woman would look down on those ‘supporters’? She would only impose all sorts of conditions and rules on them. Ordinary families would ask for exorbitant dowries, wedding dresses and rings, houses and cars, and even hand over their salaries. I ask for very little. I just want him to stay away from me and not have any ideas about me. I even support him on my own initiative. I don’t even care if he finds other women.”