Before lunch, a glass cover filled with metal butterflies appeared in the southeast corner of the living room of Room 1 on the second floor of Xia De's house. Xia De was very satisfied with this purchase.
As for purchasing the picture frame from Old John, it was for the "Mermaid" painting. "Desire" asked Shade to hang it at home, claiming that the painting itself no longer had extraordinary power, but Shade would not rest assured.
He was worried that Old John would be affected, so he did not leave the job of installing the watch to him, but did it himself. Although the outsider was not proficient in the work of installing the watch, fortunately it was not very difficult. For safety, during the installation process, he even carefully painted the holy emblem of the old god - "God of Love" on the white pad between the oil painting and the wooden backing.
Then, for safety reasons, the holy emblems of the five gods were added, and then the painting was fixed to the padding with canvas tape and the edges of the painting were taped to the inside of the mounting frame.
After all this was done, the colorful oil painting was quietly sealed in the glass plate. The "mermaid" with orange-red hair looked out of the picture with a half-smile. Xia De held the oil painting and stared at it for a second before looking away. Even if it really had no elemental reaction now, the mermaid in the painting was still beautiful.
The only thing left to consider is where to hang the painting. Xia De would never hang the painting in his bedroom. He couldn't stand waking up in the middle of the night or seeing "desire" staring at him when he was hugging a girl - it was not good for his health.
But it is not good to hang the painting in a room that is not visited often. Xia De hopes that he can see the painting once a day to make sure that there is no problem with it.
"Why not hang it in the living room?"
There were actually quite a few decorations on the walls of the living room, including Shad's knightly sword, the Grand City Players' championship certificate, the shield won as a champion in the City Tournament, and his honorary doctorate certificate. The portrait of Shad in the snow that Hela Osenfurt painted was in the dining room.
"But if this happens, everyone who comes to visit will see it. Isn't this dangerous..."
At least for now, Xia De could not feel anything unusual from the oil painting in his hand, but this did not rule out the possibility that the painting would suddenly go crazy one day.
After struggling for a while, he finally decided to hang the painting on the wall between the two windows in the living room, which overlooked Saint Teresa Square. He also found a piece of black cloth as a curtain, and used it to cover the painting when he was not at home to prevent Mia from being affected when she was alone at home.
“It looks good.”
He didn't want to damage the walls of his house, so he used a special alchemical glue to stick the picture frame to the wall. After the work, he looked up at this oil painting of high artistic and aesthetic level, and felt a great sense of satisfaction in his heart. He felt that his house was completely worthy of such a beautiful oil painting.
"Meow~"
"Got it, time for lunch. Do cats have no human level of appreciation for art? Mia, don't you understand what beauty is?"
At least to this cat, this painting is not as enjoyable as a hearty lunch.
Although he had to attend an important banquet tonight, Shade chose to go out after lunch. This time his destination was Coldwater Harbor. In order to avoid delaying things in the evening, he quickly came to the old lighthouse on the sea cliff and met Mr. Edmund.
They came here for the three strange objects they encountered in the Black Mist Camp. Grandma Natalie and Old John from the Guiding Light Hermitage knew one each, and the remaining gray fossil conch was naturally known to Mr. Edmund, an old folklorist living in the coastal area.
“This is really rare.”
The old man commented on the conch and gave the specific information of the relic:
"The document-level relic, the Eternal Yearning, is unknown in how many conchs there are, but they only appear on the beach. When people who miss the deceased walk on the beach, and their sadness and yearning reach their peak, they may catch a glimpse of a corner of the legendary 'River Styx'. At this time, there will definitely be a conch like this washed ashore by the waves. This is the Eternal Yearning."
“That sounds like a great story.”
Shade said as he sat on the sofa at the bottom floor of the lighthouse. Little Mia wanted to take a nap and didn't come with him. He was talking to Mr. Edmund alone:
"So what are the properties of the conch?"
"Soak the conch in seawater, then place it next to your ear, and you will be able to hear the voice of the deceased you miss. Similarly, soak the conch in seawater and call out the name of the deceased, and you will be able to summon the deceased for a short period of time, but this will consume the relic. As for the negative properties, it is possible that the deceased will not be summoned, but something else strange."
The old man shook his head:
"In my opinion, those who should leave should not be allowed to stay. It is best not to try similar relics, and do not try any actions that transcend life and death. This will not benefit anyone."
Now Shade understood that the attempt of Mrs. Miles at the Black Mist Camp was ineffective because the conch they got was not washed up from the sea, so it was not wet by the sea water. In this way, he only needs to bring sea water next time to solve this problem. Although there are still some problems in the camp, the old lady's wish should be solved.
"Can all the dead be summoned?"
To be on the safe side, Shade asked again, and Mr. Edmund shook his head:
"It must be a soul that is free after death. If the soul has already turned into a powerful vengeful spirit, been captured, solidified, imprisoned, or even destroyed, then of course it won't work."
Xia De nodded cautiously, and then asked again about the news of the old god Golden Lord.
Time passed quickly, the sun gradually set in the sky, and at five o'clock in the afternoon, in the master bedroom of the witch cruise ship on the Duin River on the north shore of Green Lake in the central part of the Old World, the beautiful witch was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror, humming a song, and in a good mood, she let her maids check her hairstyle and headdress for the last time.
There was a light spring drizzle outside the window, making Green Lake City under the setting sun seem to have entered the night early. But this did not affect Megan's good mood. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled confidently:
"Mirror, mirror, who is the wisest and most beautiful lady in the world?"
Of course the mirror would not answer.
Suddenly, the door opened, and then Shade, dressed in a black formal suit, entered the room. The handsome detective's arrival made the witches and maids in the room smile. That kind of charm, which was completely different from that of a witch, was very attractive to the girls.
“Very good.”
Megan said to Shad's reflection in the mirror.
In Xia De's opinion, Megan had let her hair grow a little longer today to make it easier to style. She was wearing a dark blue dress with a lace-trimmed three-layer skirt that almost dragged the ground. The waist was particularly slender, and the corset inside the dress particularly highlighted her waistline, adding a more elegant and delicate feeling to the overall shape of the witch's body.
"How about it?"
Seeing that Xia De was looking at her, Megan motioned for the maids to step aside, then she turned around and asked Xia De with a smile, holding up the hem of her skirt, and the hem of her skirt bloomed like a blooming flower.
"Very nice, can you dance with me later?"
Shade, who was already familiar with the process of this aristocratic banquet, asked, and Megan turned into Audrey:
"sure."
Her high heels tapped on the floor as she approached Shad and gave him a hug:
"You look great in this state. I thought I would need to ask the maid to help you tidy up. It seems to me that you are not the kind of man who would take the time to tidy up yourself."
It was indeed not Xia De who packed it himself. Leixia had just come with her maid to prepare clothes for Xia De. Although she still felt sorry that she could not go to Green Lake to participate in this important negotiation, she would not have anything to do with this matter.
"What identities do we use to attend? What does the invitation say?"
Xia De asked curiously while sniffing the nice perfume. It was getting late and it was almost time to set off.
The maid then handed the gold-embossed invitation to Audrey, who was wearing long white lace gloves, and said with a smile:
"Let's use the name of Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals. You should remember that Ms. Sarah Kaufman, the daughter of the Earl of Chichester and the wife of the mayor Mr. Roland Kaufman, invited me a few weeks ago. This banquet is very important. I will introduce you to my business friends and local nobles, oh, and a very important friend of mine."
Xia De tried hard not to show any change in his expression at this moment, but he couldn't help but think of Miss Carina's smiling face:
"Yes, you have said it many times. When you introduce your friends to me, I will also tell you who I really am... Well, I hope you are not too surprised. I allow you to punch me."
"I hope you're not too surprised, but why should I punch you?"
The witch was in a good mood, and she thought she had made all the preparations. She waved to Shade, and Shade leaned forward again. I thought she was going to say something important, but the brown-haired girl just kissed him on the side of his face:
"Let's go, I hope everyone can have a good time tonight."
Xia De was nervous, he just knew that at least Miss Carina would definitely have a good time.
It has been a long time since Green Lake City has had a visit from a truly important figure like Grand Duchess Carina Cavendish, so although tonight's banquet was only held at Rose Manor and only local nobles and celebrities were invited, the entire downtown street was specially cleaned and renovated.
Shad and Audrey set off from the riverside pier in a carriage. As the bright gas street lights receded outside the carriage window, Audrey showed Shad the small gift she had prepared according to etiquette - a bottle of 1823 red wine produced by Roman Winery in Huntington.