Chapter 124

Chapter 96: Carlos to Leave

I had expected him to use some underhanded trick to force me to comply, so I was already prepared to defend myself. But instead of that, he said what he did, and I looked at his face with disbelief, my mind filled with doubts.

“Not going… is possible?”

Carlos laughed.

“Do you want to go?”

“No.”

“Then can I let you go with a sour face to meet Her Majesty? I’ll go by myself.”

“Is that okay?”

“Even if there’s a problem, I have to find a way to make it work. What else can I do?”

“Oh.” I nodded, feeling somewhat happy about not having to see that woman again, “Good luck.”

“I thank you.”

Carlos gave me an annoyed look and didn’t say anything more. I sat quietly on the sofa, waited for a while, then hesitantly spoke to him.

“Carlos… Are you leaving?”

“Yeah.”

Carlos leaned back on the sofa again, hands behind his head… this seemed to be an action he often made.

“You won’t be seeing my annoying face for a long time. How does that sound? Happy or not?”

“Extremely happy!” I raised my arms in celebration, trying to make my smile appear brighter, “Go, go! It’s perfect. From now on, I can do whatever I want alone…”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing now? You dare to barge into the Queen’s private residence without thinking twice.”

“That’s because I didn’t know!”

“You still act so righteous… Don’t do any more foolish things.”

I rolled my eyes at him again.

“You’re the one who does foolish things.”

Thinking back now, I knew my actions were pretty foolish too. At the time, I was drawn by the song and didn’t think much about it, but ended up barging into a stranger’s house and attempting to pry into their privacy. This was a terrible thing to do, no matter how rich or poor the person was.

Though I knew I was wrong in my heart, I would never admit it out loud.

I crossed my legs, trying to find a comfortable sitting position, but suddenly realized I was wearing a skirt. I was startled and quickly uncrossed my legs, sitting properly like a lady. Then, I casually glanced at Carlos and noticed he was eating sausage again, not paying attention to the situation here.

I tilted my head.

“Carlos.”

“Hmm?”

“Where are you going?”

Carlos slowly swallowed the food in his mouth and said, “Back to Winter City.”

It was only then that I remembered Carlos had mentioned to Lady… to Mother before he left that he would return soon.

“Because of the Gate of Truth?”

“Yeah.” Carlos wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “The situation there is very serious and complicated, not to mention the matters of the Winter Moon…”

“Don’t put your greasy hands on my sofa!”

Seeing Carlos try to place his greasy hand on the sofa after wiping his mouth, I didn’t care what he was saying and quickly stopped him. My soft voice shouted loudly enough to startle Carlos, almost causing him to throw the half-eaten sausage from his other hand.

He raised both hands above his head, looking at me with a bewildered expression, his direct gaze making me feel shy.

“…There’s a napkin under the tea table. You can wipe your hands…”

“Why are you shouting so loud? I thought a monster from the Abyss came… Actually, legally speaking, this mansion is still mine for now, you…”

He stopped mid-sentence, looking somewhat dazed, then suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t talking about you, I…”

I shook my head.

“It’s fine, I understand.”

Then I gave him a sweet smile, indicating that I really didn’t mind.

Seeing that I truly didn’t seem to mind, Carlos relaxed.

“In any case, I hope you can get along well with Her Majesty after I leave. She’s actually a very good person… If you could

Ignoring her temper…

“Mm, I know.”

Seeing how readily I agreed, Carlos looked at me with suspicion.

“Really?”

“Pfft, whatever. If you’re leaving, why should I care?” I deliberately showed a dismissive attitude, turning my head away from him. After a while, I asked again, “When are you leaving?”

“In a couple of days, after your enrollment procedures are all done.”

I rubbed my nose and complained in a whiny voice, “Still a couple of days… why not now…”

“Don’t tell me you can’t stand seeing me,” Carlos said with a bitter smile.

I glanced back at him secretly.

Although I knew he was joking… I intended to continue teasing him, but the words turned into soft murmurs as they left my mouth.

“It’s not that… I didn’t mean to…”

After saying that, I felt quite pathetic and immediately lowered my head. Carlos seemed unprepared for my reaction; after a moment of stunned silence, he found it amusing and burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Xiao Xi’er, what’s this? You don’t want me to go?”

I immediately lifted my head and glared at him.

“Who would? How disgusting.”

“I remember there’s a saying, women are all hypocritical, right?”

“I’m not like that, woman.”

“Yes, yes, I know. You’re not even a real woman, just a girl at most.”

“I’m a tough guy.”

“Phew—where’s the toughness? You have skinny arms and legs…”

“Lying doesn’t require looking in the mirror?”

“I look every day, if you can’t see, it’s your problem.”

“That’s ridiculous…”

Later, Carlos forced himself to finish eating the sausage.

“You won’t get me to buy you food again next time.”

He said so, with a pained expression, heading towards the guest room on the first floor.

Hmph, trying to scare me?

Anyway, you’re leaving soon.

…………

No words were exchanged that night.

The comfortable and familiar room allowed me to sleep well, and I got up early the next morning. Originally, I had planned to make some Captain Gray’s dish for Carlos to taste my cooking, but when I went to the kitchen, it was empty. Knocking on Carlos’ door, I found he was already gone.

I found a few Canri gold coins and a note on the tea table.

[There’s a market on the west side of the street, go check out what you want to eat.]

He must have set off for the palace.

So I had no choice but to tidy myself up and leave. Walking to the large iron gate of No. 2 Longdor Street, I peered inside.

The mansion was quiet, with nothing but flowers, plants, and the wind.

After a glance, I lost interest.

I bought a sweet pastry at the market, then went to the Saint George Bank branch in the royal city to exchange all the Vallon gold coins in my purse for Canri currency. Coming out, I noticed many tailor shops along the street, with bright and luxurious dresses displayed outside their counters, clearly high-end products. I couldn’t resist, and after browsing around, thirty-some gold coins out of forty had vanished from my purse, so I had to go back to the bank.

When I returned home with the clothes, the sun was high in the sky, and Carlos was already back, which surprised me.

“So soon?”

“Would you rather stay behind to enjoy lunch with those fat nobles?”

“…I guess.”

He didn’t mention any trouble, but his face suggested everything was fine.

We still needed to buy a lot of things for our new home, such as charcoal, candles, utensils, and other trivial matters. So for the rest of the time, we focused on these tasks, especially the kitchen, where we purchased everything we needed.

It was worth noting that honey and sugar here were much cheaper than in the Vallon Empire, so sweets weren’t exorbitantly priced, and buying them wasn’t painful anymore.

This was the happiest thing today.

Next came the day for enrollment.