Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1515: Breakfast, Gifts, and the Cemetery
The little princess and Luviya exchanged glances for a moment. Angelina finally reacted, put down the newspaper, stood up, and asked in a gentle voice:
"Excuse me, are you Miss Luviya Annette? Good morning, I came with my sister last night. The maids and I are staying in the guest room downstairs."
The seventeen-year-old little princess was wearing a blue dress in the early morning. The color didn’t exactly match her fiery red hair, but the style was quite nice. The red bow hanging in front of the lace decoration on her chest made her look less mature than her actual age.
"Yes, I am Luviya Annette."
Luviya raised an eyebrow. While the little princess observed her travel-worn appearance, she was also observing yet another princess of the Cavendish family:
"May I ask, is Shard at home?"
Angelina instinctively looked in the direction of the bedroom, then remembered the current situation. Although she didn’t know the actual relationship between Shard and the female prophet her sister often mentioned, seeing her being able to open the downstairs door directly, she guessed that their relationship was indeed not ordinary.
"Not up yet? That’s quite rare."
With that, Luviya headed straight for the bedroom. Angelina wanted to stop her but seeing that the cat on the table wasn’t making a noise, she silently followed.
Luviya dared to push the door open and enter the room openly, and Mia dared to slip in through the crack in the door, but the little princess, constrained by her sister’s authority, didn’t dare to enter directly, so she could only secretly peek inside from the doorway.
The curtains were closed, and the gas lamp wasn’t lit, making the bedroom rather dark.
There was a wine glass on the bedside table, and the radiant red-haired princess was curled up in the quilt, revealing only her head and part of her fair shoulder, resting on the young knight’s chest, asleep.
Having resolved the matter of the Chosen of the Earth, Shard, feeling a long-lost sense of relaxation, had fallen into a deep sleep at home, failing even to be awakened by Luviya’s entrance.
But Lecia Cavendish suddenly woke up at that moment. When she opened her eyes and saw Luviya standing by the bed, she thought she was dreaming, even assuming that the "dream" Luviya would soon take out a knife and kill both of them in bed.
But the female sorcerer quickly realized this was reality, and even for the always bold and daring Her Highness the Princess, she was a bit at a loss at this moment. Mia had already jumped onto the bed, Lecia opened her mouth to speak, but Luviya gestured for her to keep silent.
The diviner, who had returned early from a business trip, leaned slightly on the bed and whispered in the ear of the nearly-awake Shard:
"Shard, wake up, it’s time for breakfast."
The gentle voice woke Shard from his dream, and the familiar home environment didn’t immediately indicate that anything was wrong. The scent he smelled was a familiar perfume, even the feeling of Mia moving on the bed was so real.
This removed the last of the outlander’s usual caution.
So, amidst "her" laughter in his ear, the newly-awakened Shard, still a bit groggy, said with his eyes closed:
"Okay, Lecia. But... can I hold you and sleep for another five minutes? I rarely sleep in, but today is an exception..."
He opened his eyes and saw those close, smiling purple eyes.
"Please tell me this is a dream."
[Sorry, it’s not a dream.]
In front of Lecia, Luviya reached out, pinched Shard’s chin, then leaned over and kissed him. Her Highness the Princess lay there biting her lip without saying anything, only feeling Luviya’s shoulder-length short hair brush her cheek.
And the astonished Shard widened his eyes at those purple eyes, feeling that he might never dare to sleep in again.
"Meow!"
The cat longed for breakfast, but no one was paying attention to it now.
Though Luviya’s early return was somewhat unexpected, in fact, the atmosphere at the breakfast table that morning wasn’t as awkward as imagined.
After all, Luviya and Lecia were not unfamiliar with each other, and they even had a more intimate interaction on the night of last year’s Year-End Festival.
Of course, from Angelina’s perspective, all this seemed a bit odd.
She and Lecia’s personal maid prepared breakfast, and then the four of them and a cat gathered at the dining table. Luviya shared her experiences in the Randall Valley with laughter, while Lecia explained the reason for her presence here this morning:
"Originally, it was Dorothy who was supposed to come, but Professor Luisa called her home for an emergency, as it seems her aunt is gravely ill. So, she wrote to me to come here last night... to take care of Shard."
Luviya stirred the porridge in front of her with a spoon, curiously asking:
"What excuse did you use to stay out overnight? Shard mentioned that the Cavendish family is very strict with unmarried sons and daughters."
"Yes, so we used the excuse of visiting Aunt Galina and staying there. Although Aunt Galina secretly left the area, her housekeeper was still happy to write us an invitation letter."
Her Highness the Princess said with a smile. She and Luviya hadn’t met many times but were getting along well. Now it was Lecia’s own soul in control of her body. Given her similar personality to Dorothy and possessing most of Dorothy’s memories, she instinctively regarded Luviya as a friend.
Luviya had long suspected something odd between Dorothy and Lecia, and all being practically family, the conversation felt intimate.
So, breakfast continued in such a harmonious atmosphere. During which, Lecia confirmed again about Shard participating in the Tobesk spring city tour cycling competition, while Luviya "subtly" showcased the white hairband she wore.
Lecia had already heard the news from Dorothy. Even the small amount of unicorn hair Shard had managed to obtain later was hand-mixed by the two with specially selected silk fibers to make a pendant string.
"Yes, a hairband made from unicorn hair,"
seeing where Lecia’s gaze was fixed, Luviya said modestly, then added:
"Pure unicorn hair, without other threads mixed. It’s from a young unicorn, and since the hair was given willingly, its blessing effect is better."
Even though she had long known, Her Highness the Princess still felt a bit of jealousy in her heart. But the good news was that later, Dorothy would also experience jealousy once. Meanwhile, the Little Princess, who was eating with her head down, was captivated by the word "Unicorn".
After breakfast, Shard saw off the two princesses and three Miss Maids downstairs. They left by carriage, secretly heading to Galina Manor outside the city first, then deciding today’s itinerary.
The carriage started moving slowly, and inside, Angelina tugged at her sister’s skirt:
"Unicorn, have you seen one?"
Facing her younger sister, Lecia was patient as usual. She shook her head while tidying her hair:
"Unfortunately, no. I know what you’re thinking, Little Angelina. Just you wait; one day I will take you to see a unicorn."
The Little Princess nodded cautiously and then asked about what she was truly concerned about—not that she wasn’t interested in unicorns, but after all, unicorns are legendary creatures, whereas knights were right beside her:
"That Miss Luviya Annette..."
"Yes, just like Miss Dorothy Louisa. She was the one who spent the night with us at the Shard Family home during last year’s Year-End Festival,"
Lecia said, then added:
"She was the first girl to succeed. In this regard, your sister rarely lost to her peers. But it must be acknowledged that the diviner indeed has the qualifications; she... is very impressive."
Angelina nodded cautiously again:
"I noticed that your relationship seems quite good."
Lecia glanced at her, raised her hand to put up her red hair simply brushed by the maids. Since there was no time at the Shard Family, she planned to carefully style her hair once they got to the manor:
"Yes, the relationship is good. During the Year-End Festival celebration, I even helped her when she was too tired."
At first, Angelina couldn’t immediately understand the meaning of the sentence, but after thinking it through in two or three seconds, her face turned red at a visible speed.
Lecia frowned:
"Angelina, what kinds of books have you been reading lately?"
"Oh, you took all those books last time! I swear in the name of God!"
Angelina Cavendish was almost unable to think.
After seeing off the two princesses, Luviya didn’t stay long at No. 6, Saint Delan Square. Instead, she returned to her apartment with her luggage—having just returned from a business trip, there were still many things to do.
As for Shard, since today was Monday, he naturally couldn’t forget the weekly gift from the "God’s Gift Box". Although the chance of this relic producing "supernatural items" was very low, it couldn’t be ruled out that Shard might get lucky again.
For instance, that bottle of "No. 1 Holy Water" played a significant role in the recent operation.
Little Mia had grown quite accustomed to Shard drawing from the box once a week, so this time she didn’t immediately jump into the box. Unfortunately, Shard didn’t get lucky this week and pulled out a very thick book—an ordinary book, "Draleon Kingdom Charter".
This was the most important law of the Draleon Kingdom in the current era, with many of the kingdom’s other statutes derived from the codex based on it.
"What does this mean?"
Shard waved the book, opening it to look at two pages to ensure there was nothing hidden inside the book:
"Is this... teaching me how to get rich?"
Although the item wasn’t useful, it was good for decorating the study. As for this week’s task, it was to read any five consecutive pages from the "Codex", which wasn’t too difficult for Shard.
Mia had been out a lot recently, so today she refused to go out with Shard no matter what. When Shard was putting on his coat, the cat hid on top of the wardrobe in the bedroom and wouldn’t come down. So, Shard didn’t force her to follow, but as he was putting on his shoes, he considered whether, since the weather had warmed up a bit, he should bathe the cat again soon.
Even though Mia didn’t smell, it would be good to give her a wash before formally setting off to meet "Miss Mia Gold" to show that he was taking good care of Mia and not wasting the money Miss Gawder spends on her.
After changing into a black formal suit suitable for attending funerals, he headed to Midshire Fort from the basement. Today, the Church of the Forgotten was empty, and after leaving the church, Shard took a four-wheeled taxi to the city’s public cemetery.
Due to last week’s major earthquake, the cemetery had been very busy lately. The elderly cab driver thought Shard was also attending a relative’s funeral and even offered him a few consoling words along the way.
"It’s said that in the Randall Valley Urban District alone, the direct death toll from this major earthquake has already exceeded five thousand,"
Shard talked about what he read in the newspapers, and the five thousand was even with preemptive warnings from City Hall.
"Yes, the passengers going to the cemetery these days are far more than before."
The coachman’s voice came from the front, and from his tone, Shard heard a sense of sorrow:
"Do you have family..."
"No, it’s not family, it’s an old neighbor. The whole family died; those ** shanties in the slums couldn’t withstand such an earthquake."
The coachman’s voice continued through the wind, but he was more optimistic than Shard had anticipated:
"People have to die someday, customer, you need to come to terms with it. I’m quite optimistic myself; having my family and all my friends around, born in this era, is a possibility to die in a factory accident, from a deadly disease caused by the city’s polluted air in middle age, or to lose a job and freeze to death in the winter. Compared to that, dying in an earthquake, though sad, is at least painless, isn’t it?"
He even laughed, followed by the sound of reins shaking as the carriage carried Shard onward to the cemetery.
