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 Redios that Knight Zhan Jiale has co to visit."
The two Attendants nodded and went inside to announce him. A mont 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 chanical School—an electricity-powered doll—that I hold in my hand. In that case, I suppose I should just go ho."
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 mont later, the sound of hurried footsteps ca 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 Redios ca 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 sa light purple as her hair. Her long, wavy hair cascaded softly down, framing an exquisitely pretty face that seed to glow with a transparent gold in the sunlight.
Haiwede was a coastal region, ho 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 sumr 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 Redios, none of these were problems.
Anyone seeing her for the first ti 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 Comrce Association, whose face is always veiled in gauze?’
Redios still had her hand outstretched. Her slender brows furrowed with impatience. "Why haven’t you given it to 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 Redios’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, Redios 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.
Redios’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."
Redios sighed. Ever since her childhood sweetheart went to Al to beco a Knight, he returned to Fude City a different person each year.
At first, Redios found his way of speaking interesting, guessing it might be a technique Al Knights commonly used to woo girls.
But eventually, she realized that Zhan Jiale’s mouth was filled with nothing but lancholy drivel, day in and day out. It was always sothing like:
"Don’t pretend you don’t care; you’re just reminiscing."
"Can we ever go back? To that day you said you loved ."
Redios 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 chanical School tutor her father had hired, studying the applications of the steam engine—a subject both she and her father were extrely interested in.
As for "that day you said you loved ," they had both been just little kids. He had just beco 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 sa 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 Redios to sit.
But Redios 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."
Redios was silent. Zhan Jiale sighed and was about to say sothing else when Redios 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 sa one who defeated that Gray you were bragging about last ti."
Redios 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 tis? And that he fought six Knights on the tournant 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 soone so easily?
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