When Vieya lifted her head, she saw a young soldier rush to the fierce-looking knight-captain and whisper sothing into his ear.
Although Anna had rented this entire restaurant under her own na, the city was full of eyes and spies from every faction. Yet thanks to Vieya’s overwhelming strength—and their foresight—aside from keeping track of her group’s movents, no one dared cause trouble.
“Are they from the Tribunal, or from the Demon-Hunting Order?”
Vieya set down the glutinous rice dumpling in her hand and looked toward the door with curiosity. “Or are they from the Church?”
“Ahem!”
The knight-captain, who had just been full of bluster, suddenly coughed twice. If he weren’t wearing a helt, his expression would no doubt have been extraordinary.
“I have long admired your na, Miss Vieya. It was my lack of vision just now. How could soone of your status possibly kidnap those pure noble ladies? We were mistaken. We’ll withdraw imdiately.”
“Hey, rember to compensate for the door.” Elizabeth watched the show with absolute delight.
“......”
The knight-captain froze, then quickly turned around, bowing repeatedly. “We will pay! Of course we will pay... Xiao Li, hurry up and bring out a pouch of gold coins. Offer them to the illustrious Miss Vieya!”
Once compensation was paid, the knight-captain led his soldiers out of the restaurant. He even took the ti to straighten the crooked door before closing it properly.
On the street, curious citizens had gathered to watch.
“What are you looking at?!”
The knight-captain spun around and shouted, “Never seen soone repair a door? Or are you all spies sent by the kidnappers? Do you want to drag each of you into the dungeon for interrogation?!”
“Hey, you. The one on horseback.”
“That blind fool over there...”
The knight-captain, having just finished shouting at the crowd, turned around in fury—only to see Elizabeth standing behind him. He swallowed hard, and his tone instantly beca respectful.
“Ahem... I wonder if this young lady, and your master, have any further instructions for .”
“Oh...” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, pretending not to have heard his previous insults, and said coolly, “My master wants to ask whether you have portraits of the two missing girls. So if we find clues later, we can notify you promptly.”
“Ahem! For trivial matters like missing persons, how could we trouble distinguished guests?” The knight-captain declared righteously as he waved a hand. “Xiao Li, bring this lady a copy of the portraits of those two noble girls. No—bring several copies!”
Elizabeth: “......”
With a thick stack of full-color headshots in hand, Elizabeth said nothing more and turned to leave.
“Phew...”
The knight-captain let out a long breath. But when he saw the sneaky citizens still watching, his temper flared up again and he roared:
“Damn it, what are you laughing at?!”
“Soone! Arrest all these people for ‘obstructing official duties’ and drag them to the dungeon! They don’t look like decent folk to !”
The knights moved at once like hunting dogs, and the bustling street was thrown into chaos.
...
At the sa ti—
Inside the restaurant, the interruption had spoiled Anna’s mood for watching the dancers, though she still let the foreign-born dancers continue and had the musicians keep playing.
“Sorry, Boss. I was the one hosting the banquet, but in the end we had to rely on your reputation to smooth things over.”
Anna raised her wine cup and stood up, pretending to toast the sli-girl whose face showed only helpless resignation.
“Boss, this drink is my toast to you. Drink as you please.”
“You didn’t toast all those tis I helped you before.” Vieya pouted and took a sip of milk.
Anna gave a dry laugh and began helping the sli-girl pick food, but inside she felt entirely numb.
Normally, she wouldn’t dare toast this troubleso white-haired girl at all. Forget her own need to use magic to neutralize alcohol—Vieya also refused to let anyone else neutralize theirs.
Drink too much around her and she’d start getting frivolous and ruining everything.
It was only because there were so many people here today that Anna dared offer this symbolic toast.
“Stop putting food in my bowl, stop, stop—these are all things I’m tired of eating!” Vieya stared at the pile of broccoli overflowing her bowl, thought for a mont, then picked up the broccoli and put it into Jasmine’s bowl.
Jasmine: “......”
“Eh... Jasmine, you don’t like it either?” Vieya asked blankly.
Jasmine: “......”
“Fine, I’ll eat it myself.” Sighing, Vieya moved the broccoli from Jasmine’s bowl back into her own.
Slap.
Jasmine stopped her mother from taking the broccoli back. She tilted her head slightly, her clear, lively eyes looking up at the sli-girl, and whispered:
“Mom... can you feed ? I heard Maixi say her mom cooks fish for her every day and feeds her... I—I want that too.”
Ah. The mysterious competitiveness of children had arrived.
Vieya had mixed feelings. She felt her daughter had been tricked.
Maixi—
She looked like the slowest and simplest of the three little ones, silly and pure, but her sneaky ideas were definitely the most abundant.
Jasmine plus that pink-haired one together, doubled, still wouldn’t equal her.
As for being “fed by mommy”... ha. The fish part was probably true. The feeding part was almost certainly a lie.
My poor daughter, utterly duped by that rotten little classmate.
Vieya stroked Jasmine’s pale-gold hair with pity and said gently, “If you want to eat sothing, just tell Mommy. I’ll put it in your bowl.”
“Mm!” Jasmine brightened instantly, her little wish fulfilled.
Watching this warm mother–daughter mont, Anna spread her hands. As expected, a daughter really was the ultimate Noble Phantasm against the sli-girl.
“Ah! I was only gone for a mont, and you all started eating without !”
Elizabeth finally returned, holding the stack of portraits. Seeing everyone eating so happily, she also began to grumble:
“How could you do this! You’re not taking your loyal, devoted maid to heart at all!”
“Enough already. You—maid who can’t cook, can’t clean, can’t buy supplies—what exactly do you do?” Jiele Xiyin gave the dramatic vampire a sharp glare. “Isn’t the housework and shopping always done by the cat and ?”
Helcat Red silently lowered her head, eating her fish: You can argue all you want, but please don’t drag into it.
“Argh, it’s infuriating!”
Elizabeth crushed the portraits in her hand with a loud crack, but the problem was—she couldn’t actually refute anything. She really couldn’t cook or clean.
She was good at sucking blood, but the sli limited her monthly intake strictly. She was allowed to drink, but never enough to feel satisfied... a never-ending torture for a vampire.
Ugh... it was all the ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) sli’s fault! If only she’d leave the bed-warming duties to her, she could guarantee that foul-mouthed spider would never dare talk back again!
“Sit and eat.”
Vieya intervened just in ti, stopping the fight and pulling the lively banquet back on track. While feeding her daughter, she asked:
“Are the missing mages really from the Royal Capital?”
“...Probably. That knight-captain looked frantic. He was beating and yelling at innocent residents, and even planned to drag bystanders into the dungeon on false charges, then force their families to pay fines to get them out.”
Elizabeth sat down, poured herself so juice, and slapped the crumpled portraits onto the table.
“Anyway, those missing mages seem to have pretty high status, considering how much fuss the soldiers are making. And they look like they’re only thirteen or fourteen years old.”
She thought for a mont and ca to her own conclusion. “Probably heirs of so major noble family in the Royal Capital?”
“Oh right, my dear Master,” Elizabeth took a sip of juice and asked casually,
“Why are you so concerned about their identities?”
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