It took a good half hour of driving through increasingly dense forest and controlled gates to exit the packed metropolis and arrive at our estate.
It had only been a week since I last saw it, but it looked impossibly bigger.
"I-is this all your family's property?" Ranni asked, her voice hushed, as she saw the sheer scale.
The estate stood imposing and vast; as we entered the Avesta Valley, the entire enormous lot, spanning miles of manicured grounds, was at full display.
"I know, it's horrible, isn't it? Like whoever built it wanted to accommodate the entire city," I said, shaking my head with genuine distaste.
"You know some would kill to have spent their childhood here."
"Well, I myself arrived at the age of nine, and far from a child," I said, oversharing a little. The implication—that my childhood ended the day I became the Heir—was heavy.
