Xia De did not wait too long, only five or six minutes, when the unique sound of high heels meeting the carpet echoed in the hallway outside the door.
From the sound of the footsteps, Leia seemed to have brought quite a few maids.
He rose from the sofa to greet them, and after Leia's maid opened the door, Leia and the little princess Angelina, dressed in a red long dress, walked in together.
The little princess greeted Xia De very elegantly, then looked up and asked with concern:
"Knight, are you alright on Wednesday evening?"
This was the first time she had seen Xia De since the reading salon.
"I'm fine, just unconscious for a day."
Xia De replied, then looked at Leia, and Her Royal Highness nodded to him with a smile, looking very polite:
"Mr. Hamilton, the incident on Wednesday evening caused you undue misfortune. Inviting you to the opera today is a formal apology."
Although Xia De did not know why Leia spoke this way, he still followed her lead and replied:
"You don't have to blame yourself, and the Prophet Association is primarily responsible for this matter; they have already compensated me. I heard you also spoke up for me to secure that 【Founding Knowledge】, and I am very grateful. I am now very healthy and have not suffered any after-effects from that incident."
Leia nodded, and the royal lady said softly:
"Even so, a proper apology is necessary. I can personally check your body; carbon monoxide poisoning is no small matter."
Angelina's mouth slightly opened, and she looked up at her sister.
Leia's expression was very serious, as if she were saying something proper:
"After all, the cause of this matter was my invitation for you to attend my reading salon, so I must take responsibility."
Saying that, she waved her hand at the maids behind her.
These were Leia's personal maids, and they naturally understood Her Royal Highness's meaning, so they exited through the side door one by one into the adjacent room.
Leia then said to Angelina:
"I need to discuss compensation with the Knight and also check if he has any other issues from the carbon monoxide poisoning.
Angelina, please guard the door for us next door.
Don't let anyone else come in.
It would be very undignified if others misunderstood us doing something inappropriate."
"Physical examination."
The little princess pursed her lips and looked at Xia De.
From Xia De's expression, she understood that Xia De did not know about the 'physical examination' excuse before he came; he was probably tricked into coming by some other reason.
"I understand."
Angelina said somewhat dejectedly, looking at Xia De with a hint of pity.
And as she walked pitifully towards the side door, looking back every few steps, Leia had already taken off her red-strapped high heels, holding one shoe with two fingers of her right hand, smiling and shaking it twice in front of Xia De, then rather impolitely placed it on the coffee table.
Leia sat sideways on the sofa, her legs, clad in white stockings with garters, pressing against Xia De's thigh.
Xia De looked at those long stockings and thought of the witch's clothes he had seen in the year 5177 of the previous era.
Leia stretched out her arms, intimately embracing Xia De's neck, then turned to look at her sister who had not yet left, her tone somewhat stern:
"Angelina!"
The little princess walked out the side door with her head down, and with a click, locked the door from the other side.
"Put on the demon-hunting ring, the matter of the demon..."
Xia De still wanted to speak.
"She probably thinks I tricked you here with some other excuse."
After dropping the silencing charm, Leia smiled and interrupted Xia De, placing the ring next to her high heels.
Her fair teeth bit her rosy lower lip, and her pretty eyes looked at Xia De from close range.
Leia could completely guess what Angelina was thinking.
Of course, Leia didn't care what Angelina thought tonight; she wouldn't waste this precious weekend rendezvous time:
"Knight, let me give you a physical examination.
I truly hope you don't always covet our Writer Miss; sometimes a Princess needs you too.
The opera is about to begin, how wonderful, our weekly rendezvous..."
(Yiluna is writing a report.)
Even a Ring術士 will feel unwell the next day if they don't get enough rest.
He got home at eleven on Monday evening, but it was already midnight when he went to bed.
In short, early on Tuesday morning, Xia De, yawning and shuffling in his slippers to get the newspaper and milk downstairs, pulled a golden strand of hair that was irritating his neck from his pajama collar, and then found a letter from Miss Gaode on the doormat.
Last month's letter didn't arrive until mid-month, but this month's arrived on the third day.
The return address on the envelope was still a remote Town in the eastern coastal region of Delarion.
Xia De was quite familiar with Miss Gaode's handwriting, and in this letter, The Lady informed Xia De of good news.
"Miss Gaode's illness has completely recovered."
Sitting at the dining table, Xia De, who had opened the letter, said happily.
The Writer Miss, who had begun a temporary cohabitation, stroked Mia while eating.
Given that she had made breakfast, the cat did not resist.
"In the previous letters, this Lady also mentioned that some strange phenomena had appeared in the Town where her family resided, and I was somewhat worried then.
I didn't expect that in just over half a month, the matter would be temporarily resolved by the church, and Miss Gaode's illness would also be almost cured."
He said as he continued to read the letter.
"You originally planned to take a steam train to that Town in the Spring of 1854 to complete the former Detective's last commission.
Can you start your travel plans now?"
"Yes, if all goes well, I plan to depart in April next year."
Xia De nodded, having read the last line of the letter.
When Miss Gaode wrote letters, she would always affix a seal at the end.
From the marks, it was an ancient metal seal, probably left by her ancestors:
"The Town's affairs are temporarily resolved, and Miss Gaode plans to renovate the ancestral home this Winter, sell unnecessary family collectibles, retrieve the land deeds buried in the courtyard, and also deal with the family's abandoned banquet manor and farm.
She told me that if the plan goes smoothly, she wants to repair the bay's dock and restore the Town's maritime trade."
Xia De said with a smile:
"It seems The Lady won't be leaving the Town for a while, and she won't be returning to Tobesk either.
I am confident I can persuade her to sell Mia to me."
"Did she mention Mia again in the letter?"
Dorothy asked curiously, and Xia De nodded again:
"Yes, this Lady again asked me to take a picture with the cat and send it to her.
She is still quite fond of Mia; she wants to see the cat again before the end of this year."
"Take a picture?"
Dorothy's eyes lit up, and she said as if unintentionally:
"I noticed that besides the photo you sent to Miss Gaode in the Autumn, there are no other photos of you in this house.
Since you're going to take pictures, why not take a few more.
I know you don't like your face appearing in photos, but if it's for hanging at home, I don't think it's a problem.
In fact, not having your own photos at home would seem quite strange."
Xia De thought for a moment, tilting his head to look at his living room:
"Good point.
How about I go to the photo studio this afternoon to make an appointment, and we go together when the time is set?"
He then suggested, and Dorothy finally nodded with satisfaction:
"Also, let's go together to take pictures.
Since it's the end of the year, I also want to commemorate this extraordinary year.
Let's take a photo to keep; perhaps the literary award at the end of the year will truly require my photo."
This somewhat dull Tuesday daytime passed without anything interesting happening.
Xia De did not stay home all day; besides reading at home, he also wrote a reply to Miss Gaode, and of course, he didn't forget to inquire about Mia's breed in the letter.
The investigation report for Baron Cameron was not urgent, so Xia De only went to the photo studio in the afternoon to book a photo session.
Towards the end of the year, business at photo studios in the city was very good.
Besides customers being able to go to the studio in person, photo studios also allowed photographers and apprentices to bring equipment to customers' homes for photo shoots.
The former required an appointment, while the latter only required an additional fee to take pictures immediately.
To save waiting time, Xia De arranged for a photographer to come to his house at four o'clock this afternoon.
After returning home and telling Dorothy, the Golden-haired girl complained that Xia De hadn't given her enough time to do her makeup.
And Xia De only remembered the gift from this week's "god's gift box" near evening.
At that time, the photographer had just left after working for over an hour, having arranged for Xia De to pick up the photos on the weekend.
He was about to go out for dinner with Dorothy, but Winter travel required far more clothing than Summer, and the Writer Miss had just finished getting ready, wrapping a red mink scarf around her neck—she had bought it herself with her manuscript fees a few days ago.
Xia De didn't want Dorothy to wait for him any longer, and in his opinion, picking up gifts every week was a very "sacred" ritual that should not be done in a hurry.
Therefore, the two people and one cat first went to Silver Cross Avenue for dinner, and only after the streetlights came on did they go for a walk in the University District.
After returning home, Xia De finally went to the basement to retrieve the "god's gift box."
He stroked Mia to increase his luck, then reached his hand into the box:
"So far, I've only pulled out one relic, the 【omnipotent key】.
Do I have any luck this time?"
His palm touched a slender metal object at the bottom of the box, and when he took it out, he found it was a fountain pen.
Of course, although it looked quite good, with handwritten cursive letters on the surface of the pen cap, it was just an ordinary item.
"Still no luck."
Xia De sat back on the sofa somewhat disappointed, handing the fountain pen to Dorothy.
"This is a 1844 commemorative edition Mendy brand fountain pen."
Dorothy took the pen from Xia De's hand, her tone implying that Xia De didn't recognize its value:
"Handmade, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the writing of 'Poetic Cycle: The Emperor's Ride', only 300 were made, and most of them were given to famous Writers.
Each one has a special serial number.
Last year, an auction house in the city sold one for a high price of 287 pounds!"
Clearly, three years ago, Dorothy was not yet considered a famous Writer, so she had only heard of it.
"Now the total number has become 301."
Xia De said with a smile, and Dorothy pulled off the cap to check the serial number on the inside, then wiped it with her hand, smoothing out the serial number's location:
"This one is mine."
She said with a smile, examining the fountain pen with great fondness.
Xia De nodded:
"Want to guess what my task is this week?"
"Since the gift is a fountain pen, then the task is to write an essay?"
"No, no, the children's tasks won't be that troublesome.
It's practicing calligraphy, or rather, copying.
You can copy anything you want, the total must reach 300 words."
"That Old God truly favors you, Boy."
Dorothy said softly, extending her right arm to embrace Xia De's neck, pulling him closer to her:
"I really don't know from what aspect you can be categorized as a 'Boy'."
