"surprise?"
Miss Sylvia's smile was full of meaning, but Shade couldn't guess it now. The witches were all mystics, so Shade didn't explore it any further, but said:
"Miss Sylvia, I will go with you to see Princess Margaret later, okay? We can meet again before the end of the year. I also want to reveal my identity, so there is no need to hide it from her anymore."
The witch naturally nodded in agreement. Miss Carina knew about this, so she explained to Miss Aurora in a teasing manner:
"The young knight has enchanted another innocent princess. Little Leicia from our family was deceived by him, and I didn't expect that the princess of Carsenrick was also deceived by him."
"Have lunch here before you leave. This can be considered as a celebration of the success of this operation."
Miss Aurora suggested with a smile. Seeing that no one objected, she stood up and walked towards Xia De:
"There is about half an hour left before lunch. As a reward for your performance in the Pantanal Lake and the knowledge you brought to us, the three of us will teach you some new things together to help you deal with those ancient witches in the Fifth Epoch in the future."
Miss Sylvia blushed slightly, but she also stood up. The three witches surrounded Shade, and three pairs of golden eyes looked at him together.
"Half an hour... what are you going to teach me?"
The stranger holding Xiaomia had a bad feeling when facing the three approaching shadows.
Miss Sylvie Aurora, the "Elegant Flower of Canberra", stood in front of Shad, brushed her red lips with her fingers, and then bit her lower lip lightly; Carina Cavendish, the "Duchess of Saradir", held Shad's left hand, and the princess's teacher, Miss Emma Sylvia, held Shad's right hand.
"Kissing tips."
The witch with beautiful brown wavy long hair said with a smile. She took off the cat from Shade's chest and threw it aside, then held Shade's face:
"We can't let the ancient witches laugh at modern witches."
On the face that came close, the right eye blinked:
"Isn't it?"
In short, Xia De will probably never forget the half hour before lunch at the manor... But fortunately, it was just a kiss.
Miss Aurora had probably planned to use this lunch to celebrate the success of the Pantanal operation, so the ingredients and meals prepared in advance were all top-notch.
The four of them ate and chatted at the table, talking about the follow-up of the Pantanal War, the impact of this snow on next year's spring plowing, and even the relationship between the United Kingdom of Carsenrick and the Kingdom of Drarian after the evil creatures in the Pantanal were destroyed.
"Obviously, after the most dangerous evil creature under the Great Swamp is eliminated, the plan to build a transportation and trade route connecting the north and the south through the Great Swamp will begin to be mentioned again."
Miss Aurora said that although her family was a large sea merchant, it did not mean that they did not have land trade:
“The core area of the Pantanal is still not suitable for ordinary people to reach, but the outer areas are fine.”
While Shade was cutting sausages for the cat at the table, he recalled the map of the Old World. The Pantanal Swamp, which was located in the central and western part of the Old World, did hinder the transportation and trade routes. But if the swamp became less dangerous, it would indeed be a good trade route.
"Because of the church's warning, Carsenrick and Delarion have not put too much energy into the Great Swamp over the years. Even the national border that nominally exists in the Great Swamp has not been discussed publicly."
Miss Carina sat next to Shade, holding a spoon and sighing slightly:
"I hope this incident will not become the fuse for the next all-out war."
"But the evil in the Pantanal is essentially the resentment of the dying plants in the material world. It will revive sooner or later..."
Xia De also mentioned it, but soon shook his head:
"But that was many years later. By then, Delarion and Carsonrick would have become part of history."
Although the Pantanal War failed to become the first bell of the predicted doomsday, the battle has already begun to affect the civilization process of the material world in other ways. However, no one can tell whether this impact is good or bad.
After lunch, Shad took Mia and went with Miss Sylvia to visit the manor where the princess was staying.
He has already informed the witches that he intends to reveal his identity to the princess, which will let Margaret know the specialness of the "man" Shad. Miss Aurora and Miss Carina trust Miss Sylvia very much and think that she can manage her students well.
In the carriage, Shad sat opposite Miss Sylvia. The young witch asked Shad about the mathematical problem about prime numbers that he raised at the end when he defeated Sir Prisha.
"Actually, I don't know the answer either. This question is actually just a conjecture. Well, although I can't give a proof, I have to admit that if we use every prime number to verify it, at least the prime numbers we can calculate manually meet the requirements of this conjecture."
Xia De said while holding Mia, then he laughed and joked:
"To me, this conjecture is like proof that Mia has extraordinary powers. I know it's correct, but I can't prove it. It's really annoying... This cat is sometimes too smart."
The orange and white cat is enjoying its nap time at the moment, and it is obvious that it enjoys sleeping in Shade's arms more than sleeping on the windowsill at home to bask in the sun.
"Is it just a conjecture? But it is indeed very interesting. I even think I can publish a few high-quality papers based on this conjecture."
Miss Sylvia looked at Shade with a little bit of heat in her eyes. She stood up from the moving carriage and sat next to Shade. She looked at Shade with her golden eyes. Shade was stunned for a moment before he reached out and hugged her.
Miss Sylvia tilted her head slightly and leaned on him:
"When you see Margaret later, do as I say. Although I will not object to your relationship, it is necessary to let the young girl know that a teacher is always a teacher."
In fact, Miss Sylvia was younger than Margaret. Margaret and Leicia were born in the same year, and Miss Sylvia was younger than the stranger's body.
According to the itinerary, Princess Margaret and her entourage will take the steam train back to Willendal tonight. On this snowy afternoon, Her Royal Highness sat alone in the study on the second floor of the Royal Manor in the center of Huntington.
She did not sit behind the desk, but sat on the sofa, holding a report in her hand that she would report to her father, the current king known as "Lion" after returning to Willendel.
There were snacks on the tea table, the room was warm and comfortable, and even the smell of incense was just right, but the young princess was still a little depressed.
Although he was holding the report in his hand, when he looked at the pages, he did not notice the densely packed black letters, but instead saw Xia De's face on the page.
Of course, there was no photo of Xia De on the paper. The photo of Xia De that the princess asked for before leaving was now tucked between a book in her luggage.
She just missed the young knight who lived in the distant Steam City. Although they were separated for only a week, she felt as if she was holding her breath and felt stuffy in her chest when she thought that they might not be able to meet for several months, and that the princess of a foreign country might be drinking afternoon tea with the knight.
Seeing that she couldn't concentrate on the report at all, she simply put the paper down, stood up and walked to the window, put the sleeves of her white dress on the windowsill, and held her delicate face with her white hands outside the lotus leaf sleeves, looking at the snow-covered courtyard:
“It’s so… lonely.”
Although the garden style of the noble manor in Carsenrick was very different from that of Delarion, it also looked silver in the deep winter. This made her easily think of the Canary Manor where she lived in Tobesk City and the young knight who went there to "learn foreign languages".
If they had established their relationship earlier, they might have been able to spend more time alone, rather than just a walk in the snow on the night of their separation.
“I don’t know what the teacher is doing these days. She refused to explain to me the anomaly in the Pantanal on Wednesday night.”
I was muttering to myself when I suddenly saw a figure in a black coat walking through the courtyard. From a high vantage point, the figure was carefully avoiding the sight of the servants of the manor, and was very careful to hide himself behind the fountain in the courtyard, the leafless trees, and the evergreen fence in winter.
"Intruder?"
The princess frowned, thinking in her heart, and saw the figure getting closer and closer to the manor house. But she suddenly widened her eyes again, because the man in the black coat looked up at the window, looking for his destination, and his handsome face was revealed.
"Shad?"
She immediately opened the window, not caring at all that the cold wind blew in and messed up her hair. Shade also saw the window, and smiled as he stood in the courtyard, waving at Margaret at the window.
He looked around and confirmed that the housekeeper walking in the courtyard had led a group of maids to the warehouse at the back, so he put Mia on his head and covered the cat with his hat. He took a few steps and jumped up, using the power of the spell to reach the second floor. He climbed the edge of the window sill with great agility. When Shade tried to pull himself up, Margaret had already stretched out her hand in disbelief, and her voice came from the cold wind:
"Xade, is it really you? How could you..."
Margaret was not a weak princess. The five-ring sorceress pulled Shade up with her own strength. The warmth from Shade's palm proved that the detective from the North had indeed come to Huntington City and to the princess on this snowy and slightly lonely afternoon.