The City Lord’s Mansion in Fude City.

A dashing young man, clad in the Armor of the Glorious Knight Order, arrived at the rear garden. He cleared his throat at the two Attendants standing outside:

"Inform Miss Remedios that Knight Zhan Jiale has come to visit."

The two Attendants nodded and went inside to announce him. A moment later, they returned. One of them, a pretty and rather young Maid, gave a slight curtsy and said:

"Miss says she is sleeping and does not wish to be disturbed..."

The other Maid pinched the younger one’s arm, and the young Maid finally realized her mistake, her face filled with terror.

"Does she flee into sleep to escape my waking love?"

Zhan Jiale shook his head with a sigh and called out loudly toward the rear garden, "It seems she will not get to see the latest invention of the Mechanical School—an electricity-powered doll—that I hold in my hand. In that case, I suppose I should just go home."

With that, he gestured for the two Maids outside the garden to withdraw. After confirming they were a safe distance away, he stomped his feet twice, heavily and symbolically, on the spot.

A moment later, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the rear garden.

"Don’t go! I want to see the doll."

A light purple figure burst out like a phantom. A faint smile appeared on Zhan Jiale’s face as Remedios came to a stop before him. With a coolly beautiful face and a noble air, she held out a hand wrapped in a long silk glove.

"Well? The doll?"

Zhan Jiale said nothing, simply studying her in the sunlight.

She was wearing a form-fitting Haiwede feather-fish gauze dress, the same light purple as her hair. Her long, wavy hair cascaded softly down, framing an exquisitely pretty face that seemed to glow with a transparent gold in the sunlight.

Haiwede was a coastal region, home to a special type of flying fish. The feathers on its wings were actually transparent threads, which could not be cut by a blade or burned by fire.

Local artisans would catch these fish and use a special process to extract the threads, weaving them into silk cloth. This cloth was then given to specialized tailors to be made into gauze dresses. The material was light and airy, cool in the summer and comfortable in the autumn, and only the wealthy nobility could afford it.

Yet few would buy them, for the feather-fish gauze dress was very demanding of its wearer. It was so smooth and lustrous that only a young woman with skin as white as jade would not be overshadowed by it.

Furthermore, because the feather-threads were so difficult to cut, they were often spun in a single, continuous strand. As a result, unless the wearer was tall and slender, it would look like an old crone in a new dress.

But on Remedios, none of these were problems.

Anyone seeing her for the first time would have but a single thought.

’What a beauty. Only a woman this beautiful could wear such a beautiful dress.’

’It makes one wonder... just how stunning must the legendary number one beauty of the Continent be—Lady Rose, the master of the Rose Commerce Association, whose face is always veiled in gauze?’

Remedios still had her hand outstretched. Her slender brows furrowed with impatience. "Why haven’t you given it to me yet?"

"I was just thinking that no doll could ever compare to your own delicate beauty."

Zhan Jiale smiled and pulled a small Lead Soldier from his coat, placing it in Remedios’s palm.

"There’s a button on its back. Press it, and it will move as if wound up, only stopping when its stored electricity is depleted."

Suppressing her discomfort at his words, Remedios listened to Zhan Jiale’s explanation and curiously flipped the switch on the Lead Soldier’s back. As promised, the Lead Soldier began to vibrate continuously in her palm, sending a tingling sensation through it.

Remedios’s eyes lit up. She took the Lead Soldier and started walking back toward the rear garden. Zhan Jiale followed close behind, still talking:

"Don’t walk so fast. Slow down, so I can at least still see your retreating figure."

Remedios sighed. Ever since her childhood sweetheart went to Amel to become a Knight, he returned to Fude City a different person each year.

At first, Remedios found his way of speaking interesting, guessing it might be a technique Amel Knights commonly used to woo girls.

But eventually, she realized that Zhan Jiale’s mouth was filled with nothing but melancholy drivel, day in and day out. It was always something like:

"Don’t pretend you don’t care; you’re just reminiscing."

"Can we ever go back? To that day you said you loved me."

Remedios gradually lost all her previous patience and interest in him.

The reason she "didn’t care" was because she was busy taking lessons from the Mechanical School tutor her father had hired, studying the applications of the steam engine—a subject both she and her father were extremely interested in.

As for "that day you said you loved me," they had both been just little kids. He had just become an Intern Knight, and she was a tomboy just starting to act like a young lady.

She had to admit, she’d really fallen for that routine back then. But now they weren’t so young anymore, and he was still using the exact same lines. It was just too much!

"The crowd is too noisy. It’s much better to be here, in the quiet."

Zhan Jiale sat on the only bench in the rear garden, which was set against a large patch of tulips. He patted the spot next to him, gesturing for Remedios to sit.

But Remedios simply remained standing, fiddling with the small, electricity-powered Lead Soldier in her hand.

Zhan Jiale gave a wry smile. "You are only standing there, but you have no idea how long you’ve been standing in my heart."

Remedios was silent. Zhan Jiale sighed and was about to say something else when Remedios suddenly spoke:

"Did you watch today’s Hunting Competition? I heard a Demon Hunter defeated all the Knights from your Glorious Knight Order."

"The Hunting Competition?"

Zhan Jiale’s interest was piqued. "Who?"

"The same one who defeated that Gray you were bragging about last time."

Remedios was getting excited as well, and she told Zhan Jiale everything she had read in the newspaper.

"You’re saying that Demon Hunter made Gawain kneel three times? And that he fought six Knights on the tournament stage without being at a disadvantage? And then he actually managed to defeat them?" Zhan Jiale frowned.

Gawain Lannier was a Fire Dragon Knight selected for the Round Table Knight Order—a man with pride as bright as the sun. How could he possibly kneel to someone so easily?