It was already half past nine after eating, and there was no need to clean up the dining table. Someone would help clean it up tomorrow morning. Seeing that it was still early, Jenkins invited everyone to go out to watch the opera as planned. This was his only preparation in advance, and he even inquired about tonight's play in advance.
Although the arrangement was somewhat clichéd, everyone happily accepted the invitation. By the time the carriage passing through the gray fog returned from the Royal Opera House outside the city with six people and a cat on board, it was already past eleven o'clock in the evening.
In more than half an hour, the material world will span from June to July. Jenkins has to speed up his schedule to prevent him from passing out suddenly while talking with the girls.
Hathaway and Britney will of course spend the night on St George's Street, there's no doubting that. And Jenkins promised Salhi II to send Dolores back, so he let the red-haired, blond-haired girls and Julia go home first, and he followed the carriage and accompanied Alexia and Dolores. Norris returns to the mansion where the northern royal family stayed.
Although in the middle of the trip, Dolores hinted very vaguely that she didn't have to go back tonight, but Jenkins just pretended not to hear it. So Dolores hinted that her teacher didn't have to go back tonight, which Jenkins agreed with.
But Alexia shook her head slightly at him:
"I'm going back to Loen tonight. Now that I have confirmed my identity with the Orthodox Church, I can naturally use the church's name to apply to study at a higher level in the tower. Unfortunately, the appointment time I was scheduled for is Tonight, what a pity…”
"Yeah, it's a pity."
Jenkins also said regretfully, lowering his head to look at the cat lying on his lap, but raised his head in doubt:
"What a pity?"
He just followed Alexia's words and didn't fully understand that sentence.
"Don't you know, Jenkins?"
Dolores blushed a little, and she spoke first before her teacher spoke:
"Don't you know? Hathaway and Miss Britney have prepared a wonderful gift for you. I even asked Julia to prepare a gift."
"what gift?"
"What do you say?"
Her Royal Highness blinked at Jenkins, and with the reddish face and the dim lights in the carriage, she looked even more lovely and charming.
"I said... hmm?"
He seemed to understand, and immediately stopped the topic. Alexia smiled and looked at him, knowing that he would react in this way.
"You... why did you arrange it like this."
He asked in a low voice, not knowing what to say for a moment.
"It's your birthday this time. It's a special day. Be happy. It's not bad tonight. I think you can let everyone hang out together more often in the future."
"Of course I will."
Jenkins nodded immediately, but Chocolate felt the hand caressing his back a little casually, so he immediately understood that Jenkins was still thinking about the so-called gift.
"Meow~"
Cats just know that little boys love birthday presents.
Salhi II actually stayed up all night, waiting for Dolores to go back, accompanied by Yani Stuart. The eldest princess smiled at Jenkins when he entered the door, reminding him to wipe off the lipstick he had just put on his face.
By the time Jenkins hurried home, it was already eleven fifty-six midnight that day.
He jumped out of the carriage and quickly rushed into the house with the cat in his arms. He just changed his shoes and didn't even have time to leave his coat in the hall, so he rushed upstairs in a hurry. Pushing open the door of his own room suddenly, he was taken aback for a moment and quickly backed out:
"Sage~"
He blushed and moaned softly.
"What are you doing?"
The girl at the door asked with some dissatisfaction.
"Aren't we scary?"
The blond girl also asked suspiciously.
"that… "
He quickly glanced at the pocket watch he was holding outside the door. Alexia's pocket watch was strictly calibrated, so it was very punctual. It is still one and a half minutes to twelve o'clock, and the end of the month is coming:
"Wait for me for half an hour!"
He thought about the time of last month, and then casually made up a reason:
"I'm going to the bathroom, yes, right away."
With that said, he opened the door again to let the girls make sure he was okay. The curtains in his bedroom were closed, under the dim light of the gas lamp, Hathaway and Britney were wearing pajamas, one was sitting at the desk, and the other was standing by the bed:
"You guys take care of the chocolate for me first."
As he spoke, he took off the cat on his shoulder and tossed it lightly. The cat still maintained its prone position in the air, and then landed on the ground. By the time it touched the sheets, Jenkins had closed the door and could only hear the sound of hurried footsteps leading to the bathroom at the end of the hallway.
The two ladies and the cat in the room look at each other:
"Is Jenkins in trouble, he seems to care about time."
The blonde girl asked suspiciously, but Hathaway couldn't answer, and the cat meowed.
Then there was another knock on the door, but this time it was Julia. She was wearing the fabric-saving maid outfit from last night. The clothes were only black and white, and the lace was so beautifully embellished, which made both Hathaway and Britney shine.
"I seemed to hear that Jenkins was back just now, so I came over, His Highness said..."
The maid's face was very red.
"He doesn't know what to do, wait for him for a while... Let me think, maybe you can hide in the closet first."
Speaking of this, Britney was first amused by herself, and then Hathaway also laughed, and they all thought of the past. Chocolate looked at this scene with a stinky face, opened his mouth and yawned out of boredom, then his pricked ears suddenly trembled, stood up abruptly and turned his head to look at the bedroom window.
"What's wrong?"
Hathaway noticed something was wrong with the chocolate, so she went to the window and opened the curtain with her fingers. In the hazy night, the gray fog not only diffuses quietly in the city.
In that more distant location, the abnormal thick fog concentration made the already weak moonlight even more strange. It seems that the wind has blown, and the city has become more magical and strange in this dense fog. The silence of the night was overwhelming, but at this moment there was another kind of power that seemed to be able to scare people, swaying in the depths of the gray mist.
Hathaway couldn't see what it was, and she didn't want to see what it was. The arrival of midnight seems to announce the reoccurrence of some kind of change. Before the inexplicable panic welled up in her heart, she slammed the curtains shut, took a few deep breaths, and then turned around to look at the worried Julia and Britney, and said with some regret:
"Jenkins may not have time to accept our gift tonight."
PS: The gift is a bedtime card game with Jenkins, just enough for four, don't overthink, yes, don't overthink.