It was Thursday this week. When I woke up early in the morning, I heard the sound of rain hitting the window outside. I opened the curtains in my slippers and saw that it was drizzling in this peaceful Tobysk morning:
"Qiu Yu, it looks like the temperature is going to drop again."
Compared to the slightly longer summer, Tobysk's autumn is relatively short. Once the harvest month is over, it means that half of the autumn has passed. People in the countryside will think about storing food for the winter and their sources of income in the next month, and detectives living in the city will also think about whether they will use the fireplace in the second-floor living room in winter.
Although the residents of St. Teresa's Square enjoy unified heating via steam pipes, a fireplace is still essential if they want to live more comfortably in winter.
"However, an iron fence should be installed in front of the fireplace, otherwise it would be terrible if Little Mia ran in."
Thinking in his heart, he touched the cat that was being held. The cat was lazily lying in Xia De's arms. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Xia De always felt that the cat that had just woken up was softer than the usual cat.
Thinking in his mind, he reached out and poked Mia's belly, which resulted in the cat ignoring Xiade until breakfast was finished.
Shade had no plans to go to Midhill Castle this morning. After breakfast, he left home with an umbrella and Mia, who was reluctant to go out, and headed to Quill Pen Street.
After knocking on the door of Dorothy's rented apartment, the landlady looked at Little Mia, who was wrapped in Shad's coat with only her head exposed to prevent her from getting wet by the rain, and then she reluctantly let him in.
Xia De politely put away his umbrella, stood in the storage bin behind the door, and wiped his shoes clean on the doormat before going up the stairs.
"Oh, Shade, good morning. I hope you don't bring me bad news again by visiting me so early this time."
Dorothy laughed and joked that she looked like she had no intention of going out today because of the rain, so she was wearing her home clothes.
It was a blue cloth dress, and the style looked like the one worn by aristocratic governesses. On the front of the upper body, there were two rows of decorative silver buttons arranged vertically in parallel. This was probably a new style for this fall.
"I heard that Leicia went to your place yesterday morning?"
"Yes, Princess Ajelina went to my place with me when she was out, and we talked about the Sleeping Spirit Rune."
Shade sat on the sofa and took the cup of tea from the blonde, who then sat on the sofa opposite him.
"Did Ajelina go? I don't know about that, but I heard from Leisia that she would come to see you on Tuesday morning."
"Lecia seems to have a very good relationship with Ajelina, and it seems to be better than her relationship with her other siblings."
“There’s a reason for that.”
Dorothy winked at Shad, but did not explain why:
"So, Detective, why did you come to see me? Is there something troublesome that needs to be solved?"
Shade took out the red copper butterfly pendant from his pocket, split it into two pieces, and explained the rumors about the "Twin Gods" he knew and his experience in Midhill Castle.
This is a rather long story, and Shad tried to tell it as briefly as possible, starting from the bard at the Sikar Inn and all the way to Professor Manning last night, which took a full ten minutes.
During this time, Dorothy picked up the two red butterfly pendants and examined them. After Shade finished speaking, she smiled and shook her head:
"Lecia and I have tried many ways, but none of them can solve the problem of us not being able to meet. Yes, we have really tried many ways."
She seemed to not believe that the problem could be solved so easily:
"At first, we just communicated from our diaries after exchanging bodies. Later, we gradually became curious about each other, and finally decided to meet each other... It seems that not much time has passed, but it always feels like a memory from a long time ago."
She said this somewhat dejectedly.
"Then have you sought help from the power of the old gods, the Twin Gods?"
"No."
The blonde shook her head.
"Then let's give it a try. I'll go find the address that Leicia left me and ask Ajelina's maid to bring half of the red butterfly to Yodel Palace. At ten o'clock, you and I will hold an umbrella and pass by the entrance of Yodel Palace. Luvia can stand at the window and look at us. Then you can try to look at each other and you will know if this works."
Shad separated the red butterflies that Dorothy had put together again, handed one to her and put the other in his pocket:
"Don't refuse. I just want to tell Leicia that the investigation she asked me to do at Midhill Castle has come to fruition. So I'll send the letter and this half of the red butterfly over."
Seeing that Shad insisted, Dorothy gave him a gentle smile:
"Okay."
She seemed to be in a bad mood, and Xia De could understand that. Perhaps it was because many of her previous attempts had failed, so she didn't want to be discouraged again.
"Let's go back to Saint Teresa's Square together. I'll go deliver the letter and you can help me take care of Mia at my place. When the time comes, we'll go to Silver Cross Avenue."
Shad handed the cat, which was curled up in his arms, to Dorothy.
"Why did you take it out?"
Mia looked at Shad pitifully in Dorothy's arms, obviously unwilling to leave him outside the house.
"It's time for it to get some fresh air after staying at home all the time. I plan to take it to the mountains after the situation in Midhill Castle stabilizes. This cat always likes to bully its own kind. Maybe I can find a tiger in the mountains to change its temper."
"I bet you don't want to leave Mia to the tigers."
Dorothy smiled and hugged the Cat, who was reluctant to leave the Shadow.
"By the way, why haven't you bought it from your client yet?"
"Ms. Goddard is seriously ill. How can I ask for help in this situation?"
Shade sighed:
"I wish her good health. If she is really seriously ill, I will personally go to her hometown after the matter of Midhill Castle is over. It is much faster to take the train from Midhill Castle than from Tobesk."
"Why wait until the matter at Fort Midhill is over?"
Dorothy asked suspiciously:
"I heard you say that something big happened in Midhill Castle, but what does this have to do with you... Wait, Shade, you're not going to do something dangerous again, are you?"
Xia De shook his head hurriedly:
"Don't worry, I'm just investigating some things over there. At least so far, I don't have any specific plans in mind."
"That's better. I hope you can become a so-called hero..."
This was the first time she addressed Xia De in this tone.
"... But I don't want to hear you say in a few days that you have solved the problems in Fort Midhill."
"I'm afraid the situation there won't be resolved in a few days."
Xia De whispered in his heart, and then heard "her" chuckle again.
Although the rain was not heavy, it seemed to last all day. Dorothy carried Mia to number 6 St. Teresa's Square, while Shad walked through the muddy road with an umbrella to Mary Jane's Flower Shop on Silver Cross Avenue.
Although it was his first time here, someone came to greet him as soon as he walked in:
"Mr. Hamilton."
After confirming that the other party was Ajelina's maid, Shad handed her the letter and the half butterfly, and the maid immediately changed her clothes and prepared to enter the Yodel Palace.
It was only later that Shade found out that in fact, all the people in the entire flower shop were Ajelina's maids.
It was almost ten o'clock. After returning home, Shad just drank a cup of tea and chatted with Dorothy about her "Hamilton Detective Stories". After listening to her saying that she wanted to adapt Shad's experience of investigating the college murder case yesterday into a story, the two went out again.
This time, Mia hid in the wardrobe in the bedroom in advance and refused to come down no matter how Shade called her. This cat hates going out, especially on rainy days. After being tempted by Shade with bacon in the morning and then caught and taken out, it is likely that for a long time, it will think carefully before biting food from Shade's hands.
According to Shad's understanding of the cat, "a while" would probably last the entire afternoon.
Dorothy was still not in a very good mood. As she walked along Silver Cross Avenue with Shad holding an umbrella, she just chatted with Shad in a casual manner.
The sound of rain was so deafening that even the usually busy Silver Cross Avenue was deserted. Only when carriages hurried past would they splash small drops of water on the roadside.
Because they calculated the time accurately, when they passed across the street from the Yodel Palace, it was exactly ten o'clock in the morning. Shad and Dorothy raised their umbrellas slightly backwards and turned to look at the tallest building of the Yodel Palace.
The main building of the Yodel Palace was some distance from the street, and the rain was a little blurry when looking at the window. But the two still accurately captured the dazzling long red hair by the left window on the third floor. Shade narrowed his eyes and vaguely noticed that there was another shorter red-haired person beside her.
"How about it?"
Shad asked Dorothy with some anticipation, but he didn't expect the blonde writer to just stand there in a daze, turning her head to look at the rain.
"What's wrong?"
Dorothy shook her head, held the red butterfly with only half a wing tightly in her left hand, and threw the umbrella in her hand to the ground.
She turned around, raised her head, and stared at the window of the Yodel Palace in the rain with red eyes. The rain wet her blonde hair and shoulders, and the water slid down her fair cheeks.
Xia De was not sure whether it was rain or tears.
Dodging a speeding four-wheeled cab, as the water on the ground splashed onto Shad's boots, he bent down and picked up the umbrella that was about to be blown away by the wind. Then he stood behind Dorothy to shield her from the rain, and together with her, they looked towards Yodel Palace under the gloomy sky.
Tobesk on a rainy day seemed like a faded oil painting, with only black and gray left. But the two red butterfly pendants with only half of their wings seemed to be the only color in the black and white picture.
He already understood that the red butterfly pendant that Old John had made based on the folk song or poem was effective.
He also knew that in that distant building, at the window, there was another girl who was looking at this place, looking at Dorothy, and was also crying.
"Joy? Relief? Or some other emotion?"
Shad didn't know, nor could he guess. He was in a good mood at the moment, holding an umbrella and standing silently behind Dorothy, thinking in his heart that folklore and history were really interesting.