After returning home that night, although Shade was very tired, he still went to Quill Street, found Dorothy, and asked her to go out for supper together. Dorothy saw that Shade had a lot to say,
So after putting on a lady's coat to keep out the cold, I followed him out.
There was a restaurant on Quill Street that was about to close. They chose a location against the wall. The gas lamp with a lotus leaf mouth was on the wall above the table. Shade ordered food for the two of them and the cat, and then said with some sadness:
"Stop wearing the red butterfly pendant, and let Lecia stop wearing it too."
"Why?"
The blonde girl asked curiously.
"Because it's very unlucky."
While waiting for the food, Shade briefly told the story that lasted from the Fifth Era to the present. After hearing this, Dorothy covered her mouth and her eyes were slightly red, until the waiter in the restaurant brought fried shrimp balls and butter bread.
Come, she calmed down:
"This story is really great. Why would such a thing happen? They are obviously sisters who have agreed to be together forever."
"This is Grace and Helen's choice. We are just bystanders. So, don't wear the red butterfly pendant."
Shade picked up a shrimp ball with a fork and looked at the female writer opposite under the gas lamp:
"Your ending must be better than this. I swear."
After saying that, he took off the food on the fork and handed it to the cat who had been bored in the box all day. The cat picked up the warm food with his two front paws and looked at Shade with some worry. It also saw that
Shade was in a bad mood.
"you are tired?"
Dorothy put the pendant around her waist on the table, then looked at Shade across the table and asked. Shade hesitated for a moment and nodded:
"I have experienced so many things, but this is the only one."
"I see."
She leaned forward slightly, grabbed Shade's left hand on the table, and looked at Shade with her green eyes. Shade could see that strong soul.
"Although I don't know what you are doing in Middleburg this autumn, Lesia and I both know that you have always wanted to help us. In fact, we don't have to work so hard. We can maintain the status quo and have someone to care for each other in a distant place.
We are already content with the souls of Kizuna."
"Your other self is merging. This cannot be regarded as maintaining the status quo."
Shade shook his head. Dorothy looked at him under the gaslight, looking at the three-dimensional shadow on his face when he lowered his head. She didn't know what to say for a moment:
"Shadow."
"What's wrong?"
He raised his head, but the blonde girl shook her head with a smile and said softly:
"Nothing. I was just thinking that if one day, Lesia and I can really look at each other face to face, or even touch and hug each other, we will definitely give you a very special gift."
It was calm tonight at No. 6 Saint Teresa Square, and Shade had a good sleep. Perhaps because of the many experiences he had during the day, he had a strange dream.
In the dream, he somehow came to the forest and followed a beautiful red butterfly through the forest until he saw the old castle in the middle of the forest.
Then the dream became strange. First, Luvia, who was entangled in flames, suddenly appeared and attacked Shade. Then, Mia the cat whose body swelled into the shape of a big tiger, had the word "king" written on her forehead by someone unknown, and
It still has the [Night Watch] in its mouth, and it wants to kill Shade too.
This strange dream immediately frightened Shade awake. It was already Tuesday and it was already dawn.
I sat up sweating profusely, feeling my breathing was still short. Suddenly I woke up, and the images in my dream still stayed in my mind, so that for a while, I couldn't distinguish between reality and dream.
【Now is reality.】
"She" whispered softly.
"As long as it's reality. Oh, it's such a weird dream. I'd rather watch the moon all night again than have these messy thoughts entangle me."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat up and looked at the dark bedroom.
The weather has turned colder, and he has replaced the thin summer quilt with a thick quilt. After a while, the steam company will send someone to discuss this year's heating bills. The price is not fixed across the city, and Shade also needs to prepare in advance for the winter.
of firewood.
He plans to use the fireplace in his home. This is not only because Detective Sparrow's notes mention that there are more detective commissions in winter than in autumn, so he wants to create a "professional detective" atmosphere, but also because it is somewhat uncomfortable to rely solely on pipe heating.
not enough.
After all, this house is really too big.
"Meow~"
A soft cat meow came from the side of his hand, and then there was the itching feeling of Mia the cat rubbing the back of his hand. He reached out and touched the cat that had just woken up. Somehow, he thought of the "big tiger" Mia in the dream again, and he couldn't bear it.
He couldn't help but smile.
The story of the Red Butterfly Twins is very sad, but Shade’s story will continue.
When he went downstairs to get the newspaper and milk in his slippers, he discovered that the birthday gift Lecia asked him to send to Mrs. Louisa had been delivered. A delicate but not particularly expensive red gift box wrapped the gift.
The blue ribbon makes a beautiful bow on the outside of the carton.
In order to prevent Shade from making mistakes, Lesia gave him a letter. It was Lesia's personal letter. It not only had her cursive handwriting on it, but also the smell of her perfume.
"When did my nose become so sharp?"
As he walked up the stairs, Shade put the bottle in front of his nose and sniffed it, making sure that his sense of smell was normal (note).
The letter not only mentioned what the gift was, how much it cost, and where it was purchased from, but also wrote a sample birthday message to Mrs. Louisa, asking Shade to copy it directly. The message was appropriate and appropriate.
, Appropriate compliments and congratulations are neither humble nor overbearing. Foreigners have to learn the grammar of this world for a long time before they can have this kind of literary talent.
"A white fox fur scarf produced in North Delrayon County, and a newly published poetry collection "Love and Peace". Oh, this gift is really well chosen."
The cat squatting at the stairway on the second floor was originally waiting for Shade to go upstairs to heat goat milk. Seeing him standing on the stairs reading a letter, the cat meowed to urge him to go upstairs quickly.
It cannot miss the daily meal time.
After breakfast, Shade wrote a letter to Louisa's family in the study, and then wrote a letter inviting friends to his home tomorrow night to help hold a ceremony to seal the border on the third floor, and then went out to deliver them together.
Tobesk Post Office——
Gifts cannot be delivered to mailboxes at street corners.
Then he took Mia the cat to Fort Midhill again, walked out of the forest in the thin morning mist, and walked towards the city below the mountain.
Fort Midhill is very strange today. The density of the morning fog is actually comparable to the autumn haze in Tobesk this morning.
You must know that Tobesk, known as the "Capital of Steam", has recently arrived due to the arrival of late autumn. Steam factories want to complete the last batch of production before winter arrives and heavy snow blocks traffic. That is why the air is so bad. And the air in autumn is so bad.
Fort Midhill should not have such autumn morning fog at all due to the mountains, forests and monsoons.
As Shade came to the city, the fog not only did not weaken, but became stronger. On Santa Carla Avenue where Cassandra Auction House is located, Shade could only see forty feet (approximately 40 feet) when he stood on the corner of the street.
12.2m) far distance.
Pedestrians on the street carefully walked along the street, and the carriages were running with lanterns hanging in front and behind them. The carriage drivers even kept shaking their bells to remind people to avoid and be careful.
It happened that the boy selling newspapers passed by on the other side of the street. Shade waved and called the boy wearing a patched hat over. After counting out five pence and handing it to him, he took the newspaper and asked:
"When did this fog appear? Eight o'clock? Seven o'clock?"
"No, sir, this fog suddenly fell from Sikal Mountain last night. I went to bed very early, but little Lana, the flower seller, said that she saw the fog pouring out of the mountain when she got up."
The brown-haired boy replied, hesitated, and then reminded in a low voice:
"This Sikal morning paper only costs fourpence."
"That penny is a reward for your honesty."
Shade said, then turned to look at Sikal Mountain:
"What's going on? Is it related to the recovery of the Red Butterfly Twins yesterday?"
Walking into Cassandra Auction House, someone immediately led Shade to the reception room on the top floor.
Granny Cassandra is already waiting for Shade as usual. Antique oil paintings are hung on the walls, and knight armors from hundreds of years ago stand beside the walls. Although the decoration style of the old witch is a bit old-fashioned, it is very surprising.
Suitable for Shade's taste.
The young apprentice Miss Rita Swift temporarily acted as a servant serving tea for the two of them. Since Shade had already met her, there was no need to conceal the existence of "this kind of man" from Shade.
"Why didn't you see Grace and Helen?"
Shade still wanted to meet them.
The old witch held the tea cup and smiled, as if she had known that Shade would ask this question:
"Because the ceremony has just been held, it is difficult to completely control the whispering elements in the teachers. In order to prevent us from causing trouble, they are temporarily living in the room in the basement of the auction house. The walls there have been professionally treated and are enough to temporarily contain the angels.
A super relic, it has been used many times."
"Then me."
"Although it is still very dangerous now, you can go and meet with the teachers. It will take ten minutes, and you will have to withdraw in ten minutes at most. I think the teachers also want to see you."
Grandma Cassandra put down her teacup and looked out the window at the fog:
"After so many years, I am almost leaving them. I am really happy that they can still meet you."
She seems a bit sentimental and has a deep relationship with Grace and Helen:
"Mother-in-law, do you know our story?"
"Yes, I heard the story about you and the teachers from the teacher more than a hundred years ago when I was Rita's age. But at that time, no one could have imagined that you would really appear."
The old witch laughed from her throat:
"This spring, teacher Helen Black suddenly appeared in front of me and told me that you finally appeared in Tobesk."
The old witch had a look of nostalgia on her face:
"That was one of the very few times I saw the teacher smile. She was really happy to see you again."
PS: In case readers don’t understand, let me explain that Lecia deliberately sprinkled her usual perfume on the letter paper.