It was raining outside, so hard and misty that it was hard to see what was happening on the other side of the street.
The Muggles on the sidewalk came and went, with different expressions and gestures, as if they were silently interpreting the various aspects of life in this world.
As the heir of the Augustinian family, Mallorca never thought that he would sit in a Muggle afternoon tea restaurant and waste away his time leisurely.
Speaking of which, the decoration of this store is quite unique.
The exquisite wooden doors and windows are painted with a uniform white paint, and one wall is covered with various teapots and cups. Most of them are not necessarily very expensive, but the various patterns on them are all refreshing.
The boss here is a blond lady with curly hair. The subtle wrinkles at the corners of her eyes show that she is no longer young.
But this small shop is full of cute decorations she left behind in her spare time, which shows that her heart has never grown old.
At this moment, Marius and Miriam were sitting face to face by the window. Neither of them spoke, they just read the rain and drank tea quietly.
From the hustle and bustle of the "Sleeping Dragon Bar" before to the tranquility of the afternoon tea restaurant now, the sharp contrast made Ma Xiao feel an indescribable feeling.
It's like... it's like...
"... It's like all my years from childhood to adulthood have been in vain."
He couldn't help but speak first, but his tone was soft, as if he was afraid of blaspheming the silence that enveloped him.
Marius drank too much at afternoon tea, and everything from luxurious rooms to magnificent gardens was a normal part of his life. Generally speaking, the enjoyment time of afternoon tea is usually leisurely and quiet.
However, it was obviously quiet, but he felt that the silence in front of him was very different from usual.
Is there something more or less
Miriam was still sipping the tea cup lightly, and did not respond to Marius' emotion just now. So the latter didn't worry, and inadvertently cast his sight outside the protruding window.
Oh, maybe it's this "secular sense" that pure-blood wizards disdain is secretly at work, right
"Miss Miriam, please allow me to express my sincere gratitude for this invitation this afternoon!"
Marius thanked Miriam while listening to the sound of rain outside the window.
This time, there was finally no formulaic emotion in his words - this thank you was obviously sincere.
Until then, Miriam finally put the tea cup back on the white porcelain cup and saucer, with a touching smile on her face.
"You don't have to be so polite. I believe that Master Augustine will understand with his wisdom that I have my own purpose in doing this."
She said this very calmly.
Thinking about it, if we didn't make utilitarian preparations beforehand, how could we have knocked on Marius' heart so accurately
As a young master of the family who was accustomed to various methods of doing things, Marius had of course already seen the doubts in it. Indeed, from the first moment of Miriam's visit to his room, it would have been impossible for anyone with a sharp mind to fail to see this.
It's a pity that this "conspiracy" was so good to Marius, so good that even though he knew something was fishy, he was still happy with it.
After all, for him, everything about his family is fine!
"Miss Miriam, I think you must have something else to tell me... please tell me too!"
Marius picked up the tea cup and took a sip, letting the fragrance of black tea flow gently between his mouth and nose. After a while, he swallowed the tea and added:
"You helped me take a step that I have never been able to take... In order to repay you, I am willing to do something for you that I can do."
Not speaking fully is a very common speech technique in negotiations. The fact that he can speak like this shows that he has not been touched by his heart and disrupted his original judgment.
"Oh, since you said so, Master Augustine—"
Miriam nodded slightly, as if she was not surprised by Marius' attitude.
"I don't know if you have heard of something," she said casually, "about a hundred years ago, a member of the Werther family escaped from the family all the way to the Muggle world, and handed over a book called " Abatail's handwritten magic book was brought out..."
Not many people know about this, but certainly not many.
Although the Witte family lives in seclusion, there is still no shortage of wizards who know of their existence. Of course, the Augustine family is also aware of this "family traitor incident" that once made a big fuss in fixed circles.
"A major research text on many ancient magics. It is said to cover a large amount of ancient magic knowledge such as curses, souls, summons, heraldry, and symbology..."
"It's a pity that the magic book "Abatail" was incomplete when it was first acquired by the Witte family. And what the family member stole back then was only his own partial copy, which was soon stolen by the Witte family. The old head of the family personally took action to recover it."
Marius did not hesitate and started talking in front of Miriam. At the end, he waved his hand nonchalantly.
"There are eight complete volumes of "Abatail" in total, and what the Witte family currently holds... is said to be only three of them."
Miriam couldn't help but raise her eyebrows when she heard this.
"The key lies in which three volumes they have."
Seeing that Miriam seemed to be expecting an answer from him, Marius just spread his hands helplessly.
"Unfortunately, I only know that one of the volumes should be about 'soulology'. As for the other two volumes, or more..."
It's natural that he doesn't know. Apart from the core members of the family, who else would know these top family secrets
"Yeah?"
Miriam nodded, and then entered a state of contemplation.
Marius looked at her across the table and hesitated slightly.
This woman chose to contact him first from the beginning, and later used a broomstick company that was gaining momentum to make deals with his family.
Leaving aside the superficial purpose of this transaction for now, at least the process involved getting him married to Miss Navitt.
After thinking about it like this, Marius couldn't help but his heart beat violently!
"Miss Miriam," he couldn't help but ask with a surprised look on his face, "could it be that you want me to help you get "Abatail" from the Witte family?"
Because the more he thought about it, the more likely it became, Marius felt a little weak in his heart.
In fact, he originally thought that the other party just wanted to take advantage of the Augustine family behind him, but who knew that things seemed to be going in a direction he had never expected.
Miriam suddenly came back to her senses after hearing this, but soon she smiled relaxedly.
"No, how could it be?" She said in a leisurely tone, "Don't worry, we won't let you do such a dangerous thing... Well, actually, that's not possible at all!"
"Uh, yes..." Marius couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Even if I marry Miss Witte as a matter of course, the Witte family will not let me, an 'outsider', come into contact with the core heritage of their family."
But even though he was relieved, his heart couldn't fall back into his stomach. Because he now understands that this woman's intentions must be completely different from what he imagined!
What is she...or rather she and her companions planning
Of course, even if Miriam could guess, as long as she didn't use Legilimency, she would definitely not be able to know about Marius's fear. But now, she doesn't care much about what the other person thinks.
"That's right," Miriam continued, "Actually! What we are asking you to do is not difficult... Do you remember? Our deal with your father was to use your fiancée to stay in Hogwarts. An excuse to let the Witt family fight that Maca McClain."
"Of course I remember," Marius nodded, "You said you had a grudge against McClain, and the intelligence also showed that you had indeed fought against him... I heard that you also lost a few companions because of this?"
Miriam immediately affirmed:
"Yes, this is all true, and we do want to deal with that McClain. But... well, I can only tell you the next words, and I hope you can keep them in your heart. If you agree, I We need to form an unbreakable spell with you to ensure that you will not regret revealing our secrets to your family..."
At this point, she smiled a little apologetically.
"I'm sorry, but please understand. After all... these things are related to the lives of me and my companions."
Once he heard that things seemed to be going back to his family, Marius felt relieved.
To be honest, he had never had the slightest fondness for his father who hid a knife behind his smile. In addition, he has hardly experienced any father's love since he was a child, and this feeling of alienation becomes more and more obvious.
As for his mother…
"Hmph," Marius sneered slightly as he remembered something, and then said, "No problem, if it's just a secrecy spell, this is as it should be."
"That would be great if you agree." Miriam showed a bright smile, "My companion should be here in a while, and we can let him be the witness."
A secrecy spell was required so that she would reveal no more information to Asaph before his arrival.
So after that, Miriam temporarily dropped the topic and talked to Marius about some bits and pieces of Muggle life.
This was undoubtedly new and interesting to Marius.
There was still a lot of time between afternoon and sunset, and he wished he could enjoy this kind of unrestrained laughter for a while longer! So he didn't mean to be impatient at all, but instead took the initiative to ask.
It seems that he is probably willing to throw him directly into the Muggle world.
"Oh, this is the first time I realize that this world is so beautiful!"