Dorothy said, pointing in the direction of the drawing-room:
"I'll help you mount the certificate of honorary degree and hang it in the most conspicuous place together with your knight's sword. This way, your client will be able to see it as soon as he enters the door."
The witch sitting opposite Shade also said jokingly:
"If you're interested, you can look through yesterday's newspaper. There's a photo of Dorothy with other people when she helped you get the certificate. Now the whole city is talking about your relationship with her. There's no shortage of gossip."
"In fact, there have always been rumors of a scandal between the writer and the knight in the city, but it has not attracted as much attention as the other scandals."
Luvia, who was sitting next to Shade, also said this, and Shade laughed dryly a few times, then frowned and recalled:
"I remember that it was on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. The members of the degree committee came to visit my home. Among them, Mr. Sif Randall, the secretary from the University Union, was an acquaintance of mine."
That was a member of the Guiding Light Hermitage.
"That happened on Monday. Tifa received them then."
Miss Carina said, then shook her head slightly:
"It looks like you are really seriously ill. Otherwise, with your ability to perceive time, you shouldn't have remembered this wrong."
"But at least it's okay now."
Xia De emphasized again, and then touched Xiaomia who was eating with her head down.
"I'm glad you're okay. The background investigation team for correspondence students from St. Byron's has already arrived in this city. The doctor and Father Augustus will come to your place for a meeting this afternoon and will mention this matter. If you still look sick when the investigation team meets you, you will definitely be suspected."
Luvia added, she put down the glass of milk and smiled:
"However, with the relationship with Miss Danister, you will definitely be fine even if you are investigated. Who would doubt the candidate for the next librarian? Especially since this candidate is the only candidate."
"Shad usually maintains a good relationship with the sorceresses. I remember that Miss Pavo, the vice president of the Truth Society, seemed to admire him as well."
Miss Carina continued, and Shade, who was using a fork and knife to handle the steak on the plate, shook his head hurriedly:
"That's a bit exaggerated. I don't even know her. She probably admires the God-Caller."
Dorothy was indifferent to the "God Caller" when she heard it. In order to explain Shad's serious illness, he told Dorothy and Leicia what he had done while Shad was groaning in pain. Of course, the two girls had already guessed it, otherwise it would not be such a coincidence that wherever Shad went, something bad would happen.
Talking about the sorceress, the stranger who had just recovered from a serious illness suddenly realized that something seemed wrong with the current scene.
Of course, it wasn't that he thought the cozy morning table was fake, but he was surprised to think that Carina Cavendish was chatting and laughing with Luvia and Dorothy at this moment.
Shad still remembered that before he fell ill, he had admitted his mistake to Luvia and confessed what he had done, but he didn't think their relationship would suddenly become so good.
The purple-eyed girl seemed to have immediately read Shade's thoughts from his pause:
"Is there anything wrong with our good relationship? Or do you want to watch us bleed to pieces, and then the last person will chop off your head while you are seriously ill and leave this sad place in a small boat?"
She said as if she didn't care. Miss Carina looked at the two of them with a smile, while Dorothy raised her eyebrows.
"If you weren't sick, our relationship probably wouldn't be so good. But you're so sick, how could we be angry with each other again? Oh, Shad, do you really not understand what girls are thinking? However, someone is indeed angry, and that's your princess."
"Lecia? What happened to Lecia?"
Xia De asked cautiously, suspecting that this was related to the long-term conflict between Miss Leicia and Miss Carina. The writer tried hard to hold back her laughter:
"Shad, what were you doing before you got sick? I mean before you had symptoms, not when you got completely sick."
Shade recalled that he had symptoms of illness last Wednesday, after he said goodbye to Dr. Schneider in Randall Valley City:
“It was Wednesday morning, I was visiting an old priest at Dawn Church in Randall Valley, and then I saw our doctor friend off to the local railway station.”
"It won't make you sick. Even if there's flu at the train station, it won't infect you."
Luvia also showed an expression of trying not to laugh.
"So what else did you do before that Wednesday morning?"
Dorothy asked again, and Shad recalled again, then blinked and looked at the beautiful witch across the table. The Tuesday before Wednesday was the "Duke's Commission", and then it was a hot night to remember.
Even the maids standing by were trying to hold back their laughter. After all, they had all heard the "quarrel" between the Duke and the Princess here. Only Miss Carina looked unhappy. The mature red-haired witch lifted her hair:
"Let me tell you. Before we explained the cause of your illness, little Lecia thought that your illness was related to me. It was because of you and me...that you became seriously ill."
"ah?"
"Lecia knows about the witch's curse, so she thinks that since Miss Carina's, um, intimacy with you didn't affect the witch herself, it's possible that your body was affected by her in turn."
Luvia said as she cut the bacon on the plate. She really thought it was ridiculous. Of course, it was indeed ridiculous. Before she performed divination to confirm the cause of Shade's illness with 100%, even Miss Carina herself suspected that Shade's illness was not only related to the pollution of the earth, but also to her.
Because Luvia could not explain that her special divination was definitely correct, the Duchess still had some slight doubts in her heart until now. After all, this reason could not be ruled out.
"How could it be related to that? Ladies, you... look down on me a little too much, don't you?"
Shade tried hard to save his reputation, but this made the girls sitting and standing at the table laugh. The atmosphere at the morning table was just right. There hadn't been such a morning at No. 6 St. Teresa's Square for hundreds of years.
"But come to think of it, this isn't the first time Shad has had a high fever. Didn't he have one some time ago in the Randall Valley?"
Luvia mentioned this again, and Miss Carina nodded slowly:
"But the fever only lasted for one day, and then he recovered completely. If I remember correctly, Shade got sick that time because he took something wrong. The witch in the council who is good at potions said that the pink glowing essence he drank at the time, although it still has the ability to greatly restore spirits, but because the concentration is too high, it has produced a poison that is strong enough to kill an entire group of dragons."
Dorothy, the only one who had not been to the Randall Valley, concluded from a bystander's perspective:
"So, Xia De's two sudden high fevers were both caused by poisoning?"
"To be precise, it is a poisoning that can endanger his life."
Luvia corrected him, using her knife to clean the food on her plate while looking up and down at Shade with great interest:
"This is very interesting. Does Xia De's body have some special mechanism that causes him to develop a fever instead of dying from the poison? When the poison subsides and no longer poses a threat to his life, the fever will also subside?"
Shade recalled his magic, various blessings, and permanent states. Flesh of Desire, Darkness of the Chosen, Phoenix Fire, Gratitude of Thousands of Souls, Power of the Weeping Angels, Blessing of the God of Gamblers, Blessing of the Wise, Blessing of Winter, and Blessing of the Earth should not have this effect:
"I don't remember having such a skill, but perhaps I can give it a try."
"Absolutely not!"
The ladies at the table said in unison, and the writer even frowned:
"This is no joke. Besides, can you find anything more poisonous than the two 'toxins' you came into contact with before?"
Others had already told Dorothy what Shadow had come into contact with, and the writer was right. Although the twisted earth essence had not yet been completely digested and absorbed by Shadow, it had already greatly enhanced his "anti-poison" ability. If he was to be poisoned to the point of being "poisoned to death", he himself could not think of how to do it.
"So, I can drink the more concentrated Essence of Desire now?"
He said this in his heart, but did not dare to speak out his thoughts. Instead, he said:
"Well then... Dorothy, Luvia just said that the group will have a meeting at my place this afternoon?"
"Yes, you can't go out yet, so everyone comes to your place."
The blonde girl said, and Luvia beside her added:
"We know you don't want to stay at home all the time, so at least don't go out this weekend. Wait until weekend night. If you feel better, we will no longer restrict you next Monday."
"That's good."
Xia De nodded immediately and decided to stay at home to read for the next two days to catch up on the study progress he had missed this week.
"Speaking of which, what have you been busy with recently?"
Xia De asked them again, and Luvia shook her head casually:
"I just came back from Randall Valley, and the association didn't give me any work. However, I performed the ceremony a few days ago, and now I have six rings, just like you."
"I'm still busy with the novel. The Carsenrick translation is done and I'm in contact with Southland Publishing House. It really takes up a lot of time."
Dorothy said that even if she knew what Resia was doing recently, she couldn't tell it now.
"I'm very busy."
The witch said lightly:
"But it's not about Saradir County. I'm helping my nephew, our king, prepare for negotiations with Carsenrick. As you can see from the newspapers, the topic of the Pantanal trade routes and borders is something that everyone is paying attention to recently."
"Have you decided where the negotiation location will be?"
Xia De asked curiously, and then remembered that when he went to MI6 to inquire about the information about the Stonemasons Association, he heard that Director Anlos went on a secret business trip a few days ago because of the negotiation location:
"I heard that it was arranged at the border?"
"You are so sick and have been at home all the time, how can you be so well-informed?"
Miss Carina looked at Shade in surprise, then nodded slightly:
"Neither country is willing to give in, and both want to hold the negotiations within their own borders. But this stalemate is not a solution. Now we have reached a preliminary agreement, which will be published in the newspapers next week. The negotiations will be held in two cities north and south of the border."
Luvia understood:
"We found two cities very close to each other on the border?"
"Yes."
The Witch nodded, and Dorothy thought of the specific location:
"There are many mountains in the east and west of the Old Continent, and it is rare for two large cities to be adjacent to each other. Excluding the area occupied by the Pantanal region, I think the final location should be in the great plains in the center of the continent, right?"
"Yes, the one in Carsonrick is the Mikaela Blast Furnace City, a city famous for its glass products, and the 'Glass Blast Furnace' is a steam-age wonder well-known in the Old World. The one in Delarion is the Green-Lake City in Lyon County, a very old city. Both cities are on the border, and because they are cities on the Great Plains, if you don't consider the security checks when crossing the border, you can travel between them in less than half an hour by carriage."
"I know Mikaela Blast Furnace City, the City of Glass is famous. However, Green Lake City..."
Shade asked hesitantly. He had a deep understanding of the history and natural environment of this world, but he did not have a deep understanding of urban divisions, let alone knowing the name of every city in Draerion.