Daisy | Levi Ackerman

Chapter 27 - Finally Happy

A/N: Thank you for 400 reads, guys! Don't forget to vote hehe ^ω^

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[Naomi]

"Hello, Freya." I smiled brightly as the old woman greeted me in the drawing room. She was receiving me with such motherly warmth, as always. The Manor looked as polished as ever.

"Hi, dearest." She replied, holding me by the elbows. "My, has the Manor missed your presence."

"I'd been gone for longer than that." I smiled, giggling softly as I looked around. "Is Uncle Erwin home?"

"Why yes, he's up in his study, but.. You know, the usual. Talking to his officers." She replied. "I don't think you should intervene now."

"Nonsense, Freya." I winked, sliding off from her hands as I walked towards the main hallway. "He'll put it aside once he sees me."

"Well, you do give him that sense of priority, but don't be a bother, Celestine." She told me.

I looked at Freya, not hearing anyone call me by that name in such a long time. The fact that, prior to the moment everyone began calling me by my more self-accepted name, Naomi, I was already detached from that name didn't alleviate the fact that I felt so new to it again.

She gave me a look of confusion. I smiled dismissively, shaking my head. "It's Naomi, Freya. I'm using my birth name now."

She regarded me with a softness in her brown eyes, and let out a warm smile. "Very well... Although I know the real Celestine would have loved to be a namesake. Especially if it was you."

"Aunt Celine really loved me, didn't she?" I asked, realizing just then how long Freya had been my uncle's caretaker, had been the light brightening up this gloomy manor after the first one passed away. In her eyes, I saw the history of my two second parents, how they have made her feel like a true mother. And how difficult it was for her to keep this a well-guarded secret all these years.

"More than you know." She replied. "Well, go on now."

I smiled, turning back onto the hallway I was headed, when I saw Dean walking out. The tall, blonde guy gave me a short bow of the head, courteously. "Good morning, Lady Austerlitz."

"Good morning, sir." I replied, and he continued to leave. Still weirded out by the sudden reverence everyone was giving me, I kept walking and reached the stairs, turning to my uncle's office.

I knocked first, and opened the large mahogany door to see two other female scouts standing in front of my uncle's desk. They seemed to have been wrapping up.

My uncle's dead serious eyes alighted on me, and looked back to his two officers. "That would be all for today. Thank you for complying in such short notice."

"Of course, Commander." The two replied, before leaving politely. They looked at me as I met them in the middle, and gave a courteous bow of the head.

"Good day, Lady Austerlitz." They both greeted. I smiled faintly at them.

"Good day too." I replied, and they left; for I heard the door close behind me as I approached my uncle.

"I heard Hanji's been running your patent manufacturing." My uncle told me, stacking up a few papers with his one hand. "You've finally decided to become what you were always meant to be."

I shrugged. "She pointed a shotgun at me while making me sign that paper, so I didn't have much choice."

My uncle smiled humorously towards his work on the desk.