The stairs were still lit, but the lights in room number one on the second floor had been extinguished. Xia De turned on the light as he entered the door; the flowers still filled his living room, and the candles on the dining table had gone out.
Leia was nowhere to be seen, but Dorothy was sitting on the sofa, waiting for Xia De. Her expression had returned to normal, without the tear-stained look from before.
"What happened?"
Xia De asked, Dorothy shook her head, but did not ask Xia De to sit down:
"Just now, Leia and I talked about many things, including you and Luvia."
"Ah?"
Xia De was greatly surprised, and his good mood immediately plummeted, but Dorothy would know about this sooner or later, and it wasn't inappropriate for Leia to tell her:
"I am, we..."
"You don't need to explain to me. I used to think that with Luvia's attitude of living as if bearing a huge responsibility, she would definitely become an old maid who could never marry. I didn't expect her to act so quickly..."
Dorothy must have drunk a lot of the fruit wine Xia De prepared; there was an unusual blush on her face:
"Xia De, was the Red Butterfly that led the way just now your illusion?"
"Yes."
"You hateful, dirty, handsome, flower-attracting butterfly."
She squeezed out a sentence whose meaning was unclear from between her teeth, but there was no disgust towards Xia De in her eyes.
The Golden-haired girl pressed her hands on the sofa:
"If you had wanted to stay and eat dinner with us just now, we wouldn't have let you leave. Why did you go downstairs alone?"
"How could that be? This is your time, and I wouldn't interrupt such a thing."
Xia De thought for a moment:
"Perhaps our relationship is very close, but you and Leia, and you all with me, these are two different kinds of intimate relationships."
Xia De distinguished clearly:
"Perhaps our relationship is very good, but that doesn't mean that your relationship with me is the whole of life. Life also has other important people, important stories, just like you and Leia. That was your time, just like you told me today—girls need secrets."
The Golden-haired Writer's face showed a bright smile. She wore light makeup and a formal long dress, coupled with the blush on her face due to slight intoxication, she was truly pretty at this moment:
"Xia De, sometimes I really feel you're very good."
Her voice was very low, almost covered by the sound of rain outside the window.
"Of course I'm very good."
Xia De immediately nodded. He was also very satisfied with his planning and performance today.
"So, can you still provide me with stories in the future? Help me write the "hamilton detective story collection" longer and more interesting?"
The Golden-haired girl asked again amidst the sound of rain.
"Of course, why not? The stories I experience are so interesting, and it is also my wish to present them to more people after concealing important information."
Feeling the cat at his feet pawing at him, Xia De bent down and picked it up:
"Dorothy, I read every issue of your serialization in the Steam Bird Daily. Your stories are very good, and you will definitely become the most famous popular novelist of this era, this era of burgeoning steam."
"Then, we will walk the path ahead together."
Dorothy said softly.
"Dorothy, that sentence is very strange, and generally speaking, I would consider such words to be very inauspicious. But the road ahead is still very long, this only initially solves the problem of you not being able to meet, and there are still many, many problems between you and Leia that need to be resolved."
Xia De said, and Dorothy, for some reason, suddenly smiled. But before Xia De could ask, the Golden-haired girl shook her head:
"You really are something. If it were a perfect score of one hundred, I'd love to give you one hundred and twenty. Leia is in your bedroom, she has something to tell you."
She stood up and "snatched" Mia from Xia De's arms:
"It seems to be something related to the Royal Family. Don't take this cat with you."
"Related to the Royal Family?"
Xia De nodded and walked into his bedroom.
The lights were on outside, but the bedroom was dark. The desk chair had been pulled to the side of the bed, and Leia, in a magnificent princess gown, sat on the chair with her back to the window, bathed in the faint starlight and Moonlight through the rain. The silver diadem sparkled, but still not as brilliantly as the Princess wearing it.
Leia sat upright under the Moon, looking at Xia De across the bedroom bed:
"Finished talking with Dorothy?"
"Hmm, the bedroom door was open just now. I don't believe you couldn't hear the sounds outside."
Xia De pointed this out, and the red-haired Princess shook her head slightly:
"That won't do, Xia De. Sometimes you need to learn to go along with what the ladies say."
"Alright then, we're done talking. Dorothy said you had something to tell me, related to the Royal Family?"
"Yes, next march, my sister Mona Cavendish is getting married, and I hope you can accompany me to the wedding."
Xia De thought for a moment before remembering who "Mona Cavendish" was. Larus III, the Leaper, had too many sons and daughters, and besides the few who actively participated in government affairs, Xia De really couldn't remember the others.
If Xia De remembered correctly, Princess Mona Cavendish was only one year younger than Leia, and about the same age as the Outsider's current body:
"Of course, no problem. You can inform me of the specific time and place."
Leia nodded, stood up, and walked to the window, turning her back to Xia De and looking out. The side bedroom and kitchen windows faced away from Saint Delan Square, towards Yodel Palace.
From Xia De's bedroom, one could see the silhouette of Yodel Palace in the rain under the Moon. The strong winds and heavy rain assaulted Tobesk's long autumn night, and the City became somewhat blurred:
"Xia De, do you know what I've always wanted?"
Her voice had grown much colder.
"Power."
Jialinna had mentioned this to Xia De:
"Royal power."
"Yes."
Leia turned to look at Xia De, her gaze sharp:
"Don't you find this strange? I clearly..."
"What's so strange about it? You are also a direct descendant of the Cavendish Family, and you also have a claim to the throne. Although I don't know how much you ultimately want, you certainly have the right to strive for it, and you've done very well so far."
Xia De praised, but Leia did not smile because of this. Instead, she asked very seriously:
"Hamilton of Thunder Jeed, do you really think my idea is normal?"
"Of course."
Xia De immediately nodded:
"This is an era of change, everything is changing. Steam factories are rising, City life is changing with each passing day, black smoke is shrouding the sky, and large cargo ships are traversing between two continents. This is an era of change, an era of steam, and those brass pipes and new inventions increasing every moment are proof. And in an era of change, people need new leaders... I'm not saying your father isn't doing well enough, but it's not wrong for young people to have their own ideas."
Xia De himself was convinced by his own words, and he nodded:
"Leia, you have the right to fight for everything you want."
"...everything I want."
The red-haired Princess finally smiled amidst the raging rain:
"Yes, I have the right to do so. So, Xia De, will you always help me on the path ahead?"
"Of course, haven't I always been doing so? Like the differential engine blueprints a few days ago."
"Yes, you've done very well, very good."
But this was not Leia speaking, but the girl behind her.
Xia De turned his head in surprise, finding that Dorothy had already entered the room and then closed the door from the inside. The Golden-haired girl's expression was shy, and in the darkness, her emerald green eyes, looking at Xia De, seemed to glow.
With the door closed, there was no light at the entrance. She stood in the shadows, gazing at Xia De, while she stood under the Moonlight, gazing at Xia De.
The rain poured down, a flash of white light suddenly streaked across the starry sky, followed by a rumble.
"Mia..."
"In the living room."
Dorothy said softly:
"Knight, tonight your teachers are going to give you the most important lesson."
"Hmm?"
Xia De hurriedly looked at Leia by the window, but as soon as he turned his head, a lace-trimmed ribbon flew over. The warm silk ribbon was Leia's garter; although she was also a bit shy, she was much more generous than Dorothy:
"Hamilton of Thunder Jeed, you are a Knight of the Royal Family, and you once declared your loyalty to the Royal Family."
The red-haired girl under the Moonlight said so.
"Hmm, yes."
"Tonight, you will serve your Princess."
Her face serious, she extended her hand to Xia De, her fingers slightly curled, as if inviting Xia De to dance a rain-soaked night dance.
Xia De's mouth opened slightly, and he didn't react for a moment.
【You don't understand?】
"How could I not understand, but..."
"Xia De!"
Dorothy's voice came from the doorway again, and when he turned around, another warm garter was thrown over:
"We are not shameless, but since you have truly fulfilled your promise, we are also willing to fulfill ours."
Reaching up to untie the white hair tie from her hair, biting the ribbon with her mouth, she raised both hands simultaneously behind her head to untie the other hair ties binding her golden long hair. Her emerald green eyes kept looking at Xia De, and in the shadows of the doorway, those eyes truly glowed.
"But..."
"You need to think carefully."
A voice sounded again from behind, and he looked at Leia under the Moonlight again. Her Royal Highness took off her diadem and placed it on the windowsill, which was constantly being tapped by raindrops. Then, her hand slowly loosened the corset ribbon, biting her lip gently, her eyes smiling, her movements very slow:
"Tonight is the first time Dorothy and I have touched each other."
Looking at Dorothy again, the Golden-haired girl in the doorway's shadow bent down and took off her black leather shoes, neatly placing them on the side of the door. Straightening up, she gathered her long hair behind her with both hands, and then also unfastened the belt of her dress:
"This is a day worth commemorating."
The Princess by the window took off her high heels amidst the sound of rain, also placing them on the windowsill next to the diadem, and turned to look at Xia De:
"So, we've decided to play some games that are a bit out of bounds, games that girls shouldn't play."
Xia De looked back and forth at them, and they were both approaching Xia De:
"And you, not out of gratitude, nor because of tonight's flutter, but simply because..."
"You have three choices, Knight."
The Writer walked towards Xia De by the bed in the shadows, her flushed face showing a shy expression.
"First, go out now and spend this rainy night with your cat."
Another flash of white light streaked across the window.
Her Royal Highness walked towards Xia De by the bed under the Moonlight, her face filled with excitement and smiles:
"Second, your wardrobe is big enough, perhaps you can rest inside and give us your bed, watching our game tonight."
The rumbling thunder echoed through the City, and the rain grew even more violent.
Xia De glanced at the wardrobe in the corner and immediately shook his head.
"Third..."
He could no longer distinguish who was speaking, only hearing the sound of clothes falling to the ground on both sides:
"Let's play a game, Knight. I really want to know..."
"...whether you can distinguish between us..."
"...although Luvia got a head start..."
"...but two people, surely they can't be worse than one?"
"...I heard you've risen to Four Ring..."
"...I hope your physical fitness can keep up with your promotion level..."
"...two PentaCircle Sorceresses are not so easy to deal with..."
"...Tonight, don't mistake us..."
"...if you make a mistake..."
"...there will be a small punishment."
Xia De felt a little dizzy. He bet that the two people walking towards him were constantly swapping bodies:
"You..."
"Shut up, my Knight."
"Shut up, my Detective."
"Are you unwilling to walk the path ahead with us?"
"That is a very long path, and we have already chosen you."
"Know our secrets."
"Understand our desires."
"Tonight, you are willing to help us touch each other."
"Tonight..."
"We are both the Princesses you are to serve."
Someone chuckled softly:
【Later, do you need help distinguishing whose inner self you are touching?】
The sound of cat paws scratching at the door came from the doorway, and a white flash of electricity cut through the night sky, illuminating the dark bedroom. In the rumbling thunder, the young Outsider had already been pushed onto the bed by the Sorceresses.
He looked at the girls in the lightning and thunder, smelling two different but similar perfume scents:
"How am I going to apologize to Luvia?"
"Xia De, I hope Luvia has trained your skills for us."
The four-poster bed curtains fell, and the violent rain covered all sounds in the bedroom, but it could not conceal the overlapping figures within the curtains.
Although it was raining, the march still hung high, illuminating the small window of Saint Delan Square in the rain.
Raindrops climbed densely down the night glass, truly unsettling. And that faint Moonlight also slightly illuminated the high heels and the small silver diadem on the windowsill. The Moonlight passed through the elegant curve beneath the high heels, while the diadem and the fine raindrops on the glass, together in this downpour, reflected a faint glow.
In the center of the diadem's Hollow, an oval ruby was inlaid. The ruby sparkled under the Moon, with symmetrically distributed smaller white diamonds on either side. The design clearly resembled a Red Butterfly with outstretched wings, flying under the Moon.
