Free Web NovelChapter 2018: Chapter 2018: Holiday
"Speaking of which, today is Monday. I went out early in the morning and still haven’t taken this week’s gift."
So before taking Iluna and Luviya upstairs to the third floor, Shard went down to the basement again and carried up that gift box. Since the incident in the Green Lake Region had already ended, and recently, apart from visiting Miss Gawder, he had no other plans for adventures, he really wasn’t expecting to obtain any remarkable item.
And in fact, that was indeed the case. He had taken out another ordinary item, and a very familiar ordinary item at that. On the manuscript paper, beautiful Draleon cursive letters were written in blue ink, and the title of the content was "Family Stories":
"This is... the handwritten original draft of the twenty-fourth story in the Hamilton Detective Stories?"
This story was inspired by the Edwards Family’s two-hundred-year tangle of love and hatred. Dorothy did not adopt the real relationships between those people; instead she devised another complicated set of relationships, letting "Hamilton Detective" one day, by chance, receive a commission from the youngest daughter of that fallen, mysterious family who was wandering outside, to go to the family’s old house to search for her missing parents’ photograph, and thus gradually reveal the entire family’s story. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Dorothy used her "vacation" time at the Green Lake Hotel to write an extra-long piece this time. Its serialization in the Steam Bird Daily could not be finished in just two or three installments. Before the Battle of Green Lake, she had entrusted Shard with sending the beginning part of this story to the Steam Bird Daily editorial department. The editors who had read it all heaped praises on it, believing this would be another peak story in the Hamilton Detective Stories.
More importantly, this handwritten story manuscript bearing Dorothy’s own signature had already been given by the Blonde Writer to Iluna as a birthday present; that was just last week.
So not only Shard, but Iluna and Luviya also recognized it.
"An identical copy? No, if every detail is the same, then it’s not a copy anymore."
This Relic had been in his hands for almost a year, and this was the first time Shard had taken out something he had already seen before. The eighteen-year-old girl, meanwhile, shyly looked at Shard. Luviya quietly tugged at Shard’s sleeve as a reminder, so Shard handed this week’s gift to her:
"Iluna, this belongs to you."
"Wonderful!"
A completely unhidden smile immediately appeared on her face.
"But don’t you already have one?"
Luviya asked Iluna curiously, and the latter nodded:
"Yes, but this is a collectible that needs to be carefully preserved. Now that I have a second copy, I can store one away and carefully take out the other to read."
As for this week’s task, it was for him to tell a short story to anyone—cats were fine too. It didn’t need to be original; as long as it was storytelling, it counted.
Receiving another gift, Iluna was naturally overjoyed. After that, Shard led them to the third floor to visit the newly added "Room No. 3". They could all see how excited and thrilled Shard was, but when Iluna asked about the room’s interior decoration, Shard started hemming and hawing, not knowing how to put it into words.
Although he really was living off someone else, whether he admitted it out loud still made a big difference.
Of course, Shard did not forget to mention to Iluna and Luviya the Church’s gift to the "God Summoner". The Sage-Level Relic Stigmata of the Stars was taken out by Shard to play with. He liked the Relic’s appearance very much and liked even more its conveniently portable Trait.
The three of them thus spent this Monday afternoon at No. 6, Saint Delan Square. As evening approached, the dinner, cake, and bouquet were delivered. Only then did Iluna realize that Shard and Luviya really meant to make up a birthday party for her. After she shyly expressed her thanks, she immersed herself in the atmosphere of this rare "holiday".
A sumptuous dinner, candles once again lit on the cake, a beautiful bouquet, and wine the color of Ruby—these made up Shard’s deepest impression of this night.
Luviya was in very high spirits and, unusually, drank quite a bit of alcohol. When the three of them raised their glasses over the candles to clink, Iluna’s eyes seemed a little red. Though the sentimental girl was already eighteen, she was still as pure and naive as in the past... and that was meant in a good way.
But no matter how unforgettable a night is, it must eventually end. The two who had just returned to Tobesk both had their own affairs to attend to and would have to throw themselves back into Big City life tomorrow. Therefore, at eight-thirty in the evening, they each took their leave and departed.
Luviya instructed Shard to see Iluna home, while she took a carriage alone back to her own apartment.
But in fact, when Shard finished escorting Iluna and returned home, the violet-eyed Miss Diviner had not left at all. On the contrary, she had already changed into a pink-and-lilac nightgown and was standing at the second-floor living room window with a wine glass in hand, looking out at the night view of Saint Delan Square.
"So, does this mean you just lied to Iluna?"
Shard asked with a smile, bending over to set the cat from his shoulder onto the floor so it could run around the house by itself. Then he took off his coat and opened his arms to embrace the girl who was walking over with her wine glass.
"We celebrated her birthday today, but once the birthday party was over, she left and I stayed. How am I supposed to explain that?"
She rested her head against Shard’s chest, listening to that strong and familiar heartbeat:
"Am I supposed to say: Oh, my dear Iluna, what comes next is adult time, so please hurry and leave, and don’t disturb us?"
She gave a gentle shake of her head, making Shard feel that she was imitating Mia’s motion when the cat burrowed about in his arms.
Stuffing the wine glass into Shard’s hand, Luviya then raised both arms to circle around Shard’s neck. The thick taste of Blood Brew Red Wine between their lips made this kiss more languid and enchanting than any before.
After the kiss, she was still holding Shard’s neck, the violet eyes in her face burning with a passion that seemed ready to ignite his very soul:
"Knight, were the Twin Witches fun? Or was that pair of Butterflies even more interesting?"
This was a question Shard didn’t need to answer. She bit her own lip, then made her request for tonight to the Knight:
"I want you to treat me with even more passion than when you were fooling around with them. My Knight~"
Luviya chose to spend her first night back in Tobesk at No. 6, Saint Delan Square, which was something Shard had long expected. But the passion she showed still surprised him.
He could almost be certain that on the way back she had definitely run into something—or at least thought of something—otherwise she wouldn’t be like this. And that greedy, amorous Outlander immediately thought it must be his own behavior that had given Luviya a certain sense of crisis.
So when midnight came and he was holding the girl in his arms, whispering sweet words, he even apologized for it.
But Luviya’s attitude was still the same as always:
"I told you, as long as it helps our cause, I don’t care. The influence you have over the Witch Council is getting deeper and deeper, and your bond with the Red Butterfly Twins is already unbreakable—why would you apologize to me?"
The bedroom was a bit stuffy because the lights were off, and the sound of the cat scratching at the wardrobe door had long since disappeared. Shard gently stroked her hair:
"Every time you say that, I feel really awful inside."
"But you’re still going to keep doing it, aren’t you?"
She gave his neck a small bite, then whispered in his ear:
"Whatever games you played with those sisters, try them with me too."
"I have a feeling you won’t like them."
"What’s wrong with trying? They’re allowed to and I’m not? Knight, is this your idea of loyalty to me?"
And so, even though Shard used the minimal degree of Power in "Soul Lashing," the violet-eyed girl still showed an unusually intense reaction. Afterwards, when she curled up in Shard’s arms, ready to fall asleep, she was still marveling that Witches truly were all mentally abnormal:
"They actually like that kind of thing. I won’t deny it’s a little exciting, but this is just too... How did they even come up with an idea like that?"
After that scorching night, Luviya left early on Tuesday morning, without even eating breakfast, as if afraid of running into someone.
But in fact, no one else came to visit Shard that morning. Priest Augustus and Dr. Schneider were still on their way back, and Captain Lades—who had been temporarily transferred back to Tobesk—couldn’t conveniently come to see Shard in the near future either.
Life seemed to have returned to its original state. He ate breakfast alone with the cat. While washing the dishes, he was still considering whether to go to Green Island to continue organizing those books, or to head to Huntington City first to retrieve that chess piece.
And Lecia helped Shard make a third choice.
Because of Shard’s relationship with Miss Galina, Lecia couldn’t come visit here too often herself, so that morning she had her Maid deliver a letter to Shard.
An hour later, Shard appeared on the riding grounds outside Lemer Marquis Manor in the suburbs.
The Marquis Lemer and Shard’s former client, Mrs. Lemer, who inherited a fortune in Coldwater Port, happened to share the same surname but had no relation at all. As for this manor and its riding grounds, together with the Lakeside Manor that Shard knew so well, they encircled the whole of Lake Schluch.
Therefore, the road to the Racecourse was the same one leading to Lakeside Manor.
Although it had snowed a few days ago, the Snowflakes had long since melted, and today was another fine day. There was none of the city’s fog outside the walls; cotton-like clouds floated in the deep blue sky, making people feel even more relaxed and at ease. The Sunshine was even a bit dazzling, so Lecia and Angelina were both sitting under the sunshade of the VIP stand at the Racecourse.
"Good morning, Shard."
Since Lecia’s return to Tobesk, this was the first time she had seen Shard again. But considering this was a public place, she still kept her composure.
Her Highness the Princess had Shard sit on her left, which made Angelina, sitting on Lecia’s right, a little disappointed.
"What brings you to watch Horse Racing today?"
Shard asked, taking her left hand. A faint smile appeared on the Princess’s face, but her right hand still held up the binoculars as she kept her gaze on the track:
"I’ve finished everything I had on hand, so of course I needed to relax a little."
