"Yes, you passed by Leicia the last time you went to Coldwater Harbor. But you didn't see her, but she saw you."
Miss Louisa nodded:
"Later, she sent people to investigate all the inns nearby and checked the information of the current guests. She eventually found three possible places and had people keep an eye on them. Until yesterday when you were going to Coldwater Harbor again, I talked to her about it, and she really found you. Leicia is a princess, and she has plenty of people. If she wants to catch you... ... meeting you is not a matter of luck, but a matter of time."
"Then why did she meet me under a false identity?"
This is what Xia De is most confused about:
"Yesterday, I actually thought she was a local correspondence ring sorcerer."
The blonde girl smiled:
"She is the one who often touches her ears. The ruby earrings she wears on her ears are the Sage-level relic Saint's Curse-Removing Stone, which was a gift from her teacher when she entered school. The negative properties of that relic are very serious. When the holder is awake, he must touch the relic every half an hour, otherwise the curse that was once suppressed will be released... Fortunately, on the morning of our first exchange, she didn't come yet and remembered to dress up, so I went... Leicia has developed a small habit because of this, which is difficult to correct. Even if she uses my body, she will still subconsciously do that action. Based on this, you will find that Leicia has only met you through my body a few times."
She didn't know what she was thinking about, and blushed:
"I trust you very much, and Leicia is willing to trust you too, but she wants to make sure what kind of person you are, and what you will behave like when you meet her soul and her body. That's why what happened yesterday happened."
"Then Your Highness..."
"Don't use that name."
"So after yesterday's adventure, what does Princess Leicia think of me?"
Xia De was quite curious. Although his performance yesterday was mediocre and he did not show any advantages or personal charm, he thought that he should be considered a "good guy".
"She thinks you're pretty good... Oh, it makes me angry just to talk about it. You spent most of the day with her yesterday, and she kept refusing me to exchange with her. In fact, I only found out what happened to you guys yesterday this morning."
This was why she was a little unhappy when she came in just now.
"Meow~"
Miss Louisa was a little too excited and scared Mia. Even after spending a whole day with Miss Louisa, the cat still didn't show much affection towards her.
Xia De quickly reached out and touched its little head to comfort it.
"Shad, thank you for saving her yesterday. I heard from Leicia that if you hadn't been there, she would have never made it out. That ship blocked our connection, and I didn't sense anything when you were in distress."
"Do I need to thank you for this?"
Shade shook his head:
"Do you know the severity of the mermaid curse on her?"
"Of course I know, but don't worry. The information you got on the pirate ship is very important, but even without this, Leicia is a ring mage who once studied formally in the academy under the cooperation between the royal family and the Zaras Academy. Even if it is now switched to correspondence courses, if it really can't be solved, Leicia can also ask the Zaras Academy for help."
Xia De was relieved at this moment. Miss Louisa took out another piece of letter paper:
"Before I came to see you this morning, we had a brief exchange. She only left this for me to give to you. She didn't tell me the details of what happened yesterday."
The letter was written by Lecia, and she explained what happened after Shad left early this morning.
First, the cruise ship. The church and the Delarion Navy took control of the ship and brought the ship, the bodies on board, and the madmen and half-madmen who were cursed by the Mermaid's Song back to Coldwater Harbor. The people who died on the pirate ship last night were also sent back by the captain as agreed. The dead accounted for one-third of all the ordinary people on the ship.
This made the church overjoyed. In similar incidents, there has never been such a high survival rate. Although the survivors were cursed and most of them were mentally ill, this could still be considered a miracle.
Although time was tight, Leicia still managed to get some information. None of the ring sorcerers who jumped into the sea were found by the church, and the church managed to piece together the cause and effect of the incident from the mouths of those who were mentally traumatized, and learned about the auction and the "Fishbone Pirate Ship".
Even because of the unusual snowfall after the matter was resolved, the church in Lengshui Port thought of more things. However, so far, there is no evidence to prove those magical speculations.
Afterwards, Leicia arranged for someone to tell the church the complete information obtained on the ship in the tone of an eyewitness. She explained in detail the connection between the Sea Return Ceremony and the Sage-level relic Mermaid Song Fishbone Pirate Ship, and even revealed its connection with the evil god Lord of the Scarlet Spiral. In this way, the church could deal with the upcoming conspiracy.
Her Royal Highness the Princess told Shade not to worry about the situation in Coldwater Harbor. As a member of the Cavendish family, she would of course protect her kingdom. Moreover, after the second divine descent incident on a summer night in Tobesk, the Church of the Five Gods spared no effort to investigate the cults active in the dioceses of the Old Continent. That so-called ritual would never succeed.
"I will go to Coldwater City again on Wednesday to discuss the curse with her. I am very worried about the 'Sea Return' ceremony."
"Lecia welcomes you to visit her... So what do you think of Lecia?"
She took the opportunity to ask as Shad handed the diary back to the blonde, emerald eyes that looked very much like the princess's as she looked Shad over.
“It feels… beautiful.”
Miss Louisa raised her eyebrows:
"What else?"
"She's very suitable to be friends with. She's easy to get along with and very enthusiastic. But, it's really strange to think about it now. Princess Leicia and I are probably very familiar strangers."
Miss Louisa was very satisfied with this answer and corrected it with a smile:
"You will become friends with her. Lecia and I have the same opinion about you. I originally planned to wait for her to return to Tobesk so that she and I could teach you together, but now it seems that we may have to wait for a while. Very good, Shade, you should get familiar with Lecia as soon as possible. In my opinion, instead of relying on Karina to hang out in Tobesk, you might as well use Lecia's power to step into the door of the upper class in a legitimate way."
Seeing that Xia De wanted to say something, Miss Louisa shook her head:
"I don't have a problem with your closeness with Karina, I just want to remind you that the woman may have mental problems."
As she spoke, the blonde stood up to say goodbye, and Shad also stood up.
"In Coldwater Harbor, you can hang out with Leicia more often. She's been bored lately."
Xia De suddenly remembered that he had one more thing to say:
"Wait a minute, I bought some nice souvenirs from Coldwater this time. No, it's not free fish this time."
Miss Louisa was amused by his words. Shade took a few quick steps and took out the shell bracelet from the table in the study:
“It’s not worth much, but it’s a thank you for the classes every Saturday.”
Miss Louisa took the box, opened it and took a look. She hesitated and said:
"Next time if you want to give me a gift, it would be best if you can choose it yourself."
As he said this, he tied the bracelet on his hand.
Xia De looked at her in confusion, reacted for a moment, and then nodded slowly, guessing that Miss Louisa was not satisfied with Princess Leisia's opinion of her.
"Oh, I have another request. Can you let me see more of your diary? It's really more interesting than chivalric novels and court novels."
Xia De asked again. He was really interested. But the blonde female writer pursed her lips, looked at him with green eyes, and her mouth trembled:
"You can ask Leicia. These are all my diaries."
As soon as the stranger said this, he realized that this request was a bit impolite and smiled awkwardly:
"Well, when the princess comes back, we can meet here together. Please tell me your stories then."
The blonde writer originally pushed open the door and prepared to go downstairs, but when she held the door handle and heard Xia De say this, her movements suddenly stopped.
She paused there, then turned around. The morning sun shone into the room, illuminating her face. Her expression seemed a little off. She was smiling just now, but now she looked a little sad:
"After you clean the lunch boxes, return them to me on Saturday."
"OK."
It shouldn't be because of the lunch box that I'm sad.
"Also, please call me by my first name from now on. Don't call me Miss Louisa anymore."
Xia De nodded again:
"All right... Dorothy."
He still didn't understand, so Dorothy looked at him and explained, pursing her lips:
"I'd love to meet you here with her, but Shad, that's not possible."
"Why?"
"Because... although our souls are connected to each other, and our powers can even communicate with each other to a certain extent, but... we cannot get close to each other, and cannot look at each other. Once we get close or look at each other, we will feel the pain of our souls being shattered."
"What?"
Xia De opened his mouth in surprise.
That's why St. Byrons couldn't find out about Dorothy Louisa's relationship with the royal family because she had never had a formal meeting with the princess.
“Yes, we have the closest connection, but we also have a barrier that prevents us from ever meeting.”
Dorothy could no longer control her sadness, and she forced a smile on her face:
"This should be called black humor, right? Two people with such an intimate relationship can use each other's bodies, but no matter how much they miss each other, they can never see each other with their own eyes... So, I really hate tragedy."
"this... ... "
"Don't comfort me. I have accepted this fact. It's just that we can't meet. It's also very interesting to write letters using each other's body. Xia De, I still have to go back to write the manuscript. The detective story will be serialized next week. Remember to provide more materials. Bye."
"Good-bye, Dorothy."
She didn't let Xia De take her downstairs, but left alone. Xia De stood beside the sofa, listening to the footsteps coming downstairs, and then opening and closing the door, and suddenly felt a sense of loss:
"The two closest souls can never meet..."
He couldn't find any words to describe it.
"Meow~"
The cat lying on the sofa meowed softly, then lay there and closed its eyes. It didn't sleep well the whole night because it was not in a familiar environment yesterday. Now that it has finally returned to its familiar home, Mia is going to sleep.
After all, no matter what happened, to the cat, it didn't matter as long as Shade was still there.
Shard sighed as he watched Dorothy leave St. Teresa's Place from the living room window.
Now, he once again knew the secret of the ring wizard in the same group. Now it seems that among the five people, there is a high probability that the "other self" of all of them has problems.
But at least he has confirmed that Dorothy is not the "academic spy" the college suspects. The college's suspicion is reasonable. She does have connections with the royal family of Delarion and then with students of the Zalaas College of Literature, but this connection is not active, and Dorothy is not stealing the college's knowledge.
It was a pity that Miss Writer regarded her secret relationship with Princess Leisia as their deepest secret and did not want anyone other than Shade to know about it. Otherwise, Shade would have helped her clarify the matter to the academy.
Actually, Shad had guessed most of Dorothy's secrets after returning from Coldwater Harbor last night. What he was most worried about was the exchange between Dorothy and the princess, not only the exchange of souls in space, but also in time, and then there would be meteorites falling... ...
Now it seems that these are all unnecessary worries for him. Moreover, compared with the evil gods, meteorites are not a threat to this world at all. Although the thirteen ring warlocks do not have much advantage over ordinary people when facing gods, it is still easy for them to deal with meteorites.
As for the gains from Coldwater Harbor yesterday, it was not only the secrets of Dorothy and Lecia, nor even the property found in Flamel's safe house, but the magic potion "Merceman's Elixir of Life" and the bag of coins.
Seeing Mia sleeping on the sofa, Shad went behind the hidden wall of the basement in his slippers.
The magic potion "Elixir of Life" was won in a bet with the captain. Shad was not very sure about its specific effect, so he planned to ask someone.
After Shad returned to Saint Teresa's Square, he immediately threw the bag of coins into God's gift box for storage.
He knew there were ten coins inside, but he didn't even dare to open it to see what they were. According to the knowledge he got from the fortune teller Annat, coin relics usually have curses, and it is best to store them in a containment tool.
He planned to write to Annette and ask her to come tonight and use these coins for divination. It would be better to use these dangerous things as soon as possible. Putting them in the basement always felt like constantly placing steam bombs under the house.
"Oh, I almost forgot about that."
Shade reached out and took out the Poet-level relic universal currency from his pocket, and then threw it into the God's gift box. This was won from gambling with Mr. Darkness in the tavern. Not counting the blood money that needed to be left behind to detect other blood money, Shade now had eleven coins to spend.
Even if one's luck is bad, these coins should be enough to find the missing part of the God Summoning Ceremony - Contacting the Gate of Radiance.