Chapter 2880 - 1365: Concession (2)

"Heh... hehe..."

Double Leaf let out a dry laugh, then turned her head toward Ivy without lowering her voice at all and asked, "What the hell is up with this guy? How come he was still looking all decent and presentable just now, and now he’s straight-up turned into a dog?"

Ivy playfully stuck out her tongue and said leisurely, "Sage Mei’er is a bit less concerned about appearances. In fact, the reason he ended up taking over the title of Tuning Sage is purely because... uh..."

"Because of what?"

Double Leaf lazily asked, raising a brow. "Because the Council of Truth needed someone around to clown for them?"

"Because the previous Tuning Sage—my dad—blew himself up while doing an experiment."

Mei’er rolled his eyes, then started rolling back and forth on the sofa with a face full of impatience. As he rolled, he muttered weakly, "And then, well, the Tuning Sage seat in the Council of Truth is still a fixed one. Different from Kenneth’s Mist Moon Sage seat that he earned with his own ability—ours is hereditary in the family. So I could only sit my butt down in this unlucky position. Now I have to carry this ’Tuning’ title, and when I go out in public I’ve gotta keep a straight face and mind my image. Only when it’s just us can I relax a bit. It’s so damn annoying~ so damn annoying~ so damn annoying~~~~~"

By the end he even stretched out his tone and started singing, and he actually sounded pretty good—truly worthy of the title Tuning Sage.

"Wait, have you seriously not noticed..."

Seeing the way he was acting, Double Leaf couldn’t be bothered with honorifics anymore. She simply raised a hand and pointed at Frank Hughes, who had been sitting beside her the whole time, grinning along without saying a word: "We’ve still got an outsider here, don’t we?"

Mei’er blinked, then cheerfully shook his head. "Mr. Frank doesn’t count as an outsider. Putting aside the fact that he risked his life to save you today—which I am very aware of—Diana is totally hot and heavy with him right now. Though Kenneth’s got a bit of an issue with him, but hey, since ancient times hasn’t the relationship between brother-in-law and sister’s husband always been like that? As long as he makes it through without dying, then from then on you two will be one family: the Mist Moon Sage’s family. And that makes you one of our City of Miracles own people~"

"I’ll borrow your auspicious words, Sage."

Frank smiled respectfully at Mei’er, accepting the not-quite-blessing he’d just been given.

"Hmph."

Double Leaf folded her arms and pouted, then pointed her small hand at the door. "Everyone out."

Mei’er, who had been entangled in a life-and-death struggle with the sofa, froze instantly and said in shock, "Out?"

"Yeah. Out."

Double Leaf nodded firmly, loosened her collar and pointed at the bandages on her collarbone, then raised her left arm, which was fixed in place by Earth Element, and shook it a little. "I’m a wounded patient right now. Wounded patients need proper rest. Everyone out."

Mei’er blinked twice, then turned to Ivy with a wronged expression. "She’s throwing me out!"

"Uh..."

Ivy, who was also a bit fed up with Mei’er’s temperament, let out a helpless little laugh, then lifted her skirt as she stood up and spread her hands. "Then let’s go. Anyway, with you here, even if someone else comes to attack, we don’t have to worry. I’ll also help keep a good watch on my end."

With that, she directly took off her eyepatch, revealing the Insightfulness Magic Eye behind it, and cast a seductive smile at Double Leaf, who was seeing her Magic Eye for the first time.

"Alright, alright, I’ll go. I’ll go, okay..."

Mei’er puffed out his cheeks and stood up, letting out a long, mournful sigh. Then he straightened his back and quickly switched back into that earlier elegant, noble, proper, intellectual style, wearing a calm fake smile as he walked slowly toward the door.

Frank also stood up, walking toward the doorway where Ivy was waiting for him, while turning his head to tell Double Leaf, "Then we’ll go wait for Diana in the lounge next door. Do you need me to bring your dinner in here?"

"No need."

Double Leaf shook her head and said lightly, "You stay."

Frank froze at once, and said in astonishment, "Huh?"

Sage Mei’er immediately protested again, saying angrily, "Why does he get to stay while Ivy and I can’t?!"

"Because he’s also a wounded patient."

Double Leaf gave Mei’er a blank look, waved her hand with obvious impatience, and said, "Off you go. Remember to close the door behind you from the outside."

Mei’er: "Oh..."

Then he left with Ivy, muttering under his breath, and even very obediently did close the door properly.

...

And so, only Double Leaf and Frank were left in the lounge.

The atmosphere was a bit subtle, but not exactly awkward. After all, they’d acted together quite a few times recently, and when they’d read at the library, the two of them were basically always alone as well. It’s just that back then they each read their own things, and didn’t talk much to each other. Every time Frank broke the silence, it was basically to tell Double Leaf to go back, and more often than not he’d get yelled at for it.

This time, though, it was the girl who took the initiative to speak.

"Come on, let’s look at the night view."

After tossing out that line, Double Leaf slowly walked over to the lounge’s floor-to-ceiling window and stared down, lost in thought, at the brightly lit, bustling, and flourishing City below. Her gaze, rarely, was a bit dazed.

Frank, as usual, followed her lead and walked to Double Leaf’s side. But instead of looking out at the night view, he lowered his eyes to look at the girl beside him. "About those people earlier..."

"Your wounds, they’re okay, right?"

Double Leaf suddenly cut him off and asked calmly.

"Just superficial wounds. Didn’t I say it already? Diana probably put some kind of arrangement on me so she can help this useless boyfriend of hers handle crises."

Frank gave a proud smile and raised a hand to touch the tip of his nose. "I wasn’t a hundred percent sure at the time, but as it turns out, I do know her pretty well."

"Yeah, you do know her pretty well."

Double Leaf nodded slightly, then narrowed her eyes and said softly, "But you don’t know me well enough."

Frank scratched his cheek in confusion, looking at Double Leaf curiously. "For example?"

"For example, even if you hadn’t rushed out to block that hit, I still wouldn’t have died."

Double Leaf drew in a deep breath, flicked the ahoge on top of her head, and said with clear displeasure in her tone, "I was prepared. Sure, it was extremely dangerous at the time, and that Epic-level threat was huge, but I still had Bottom Cards I hadn’t used. Simply put... if we’d followed my plan, not only would I not have died, I would have been able to restrain that guy for a short period of time. It would only last at most about two minutes, but that might have already been enough."

Frank nodded first, indicating that he did understand what Double Leaf was saying, then asked in puzzlement, "Why do you say it might have been enough?"

"Because that guy’s strength should have been watered down. In my plan, if we dragged things out just a bit longer, it ought to have been enough to force his true form out. Of course, I wasn’t completely certain, but at the very least, I wouldn’t have died."

Double Leaf stared steadily at the man in front of her, whose expression had gone a bit sheepish, and said, her anger rising, "But just when everything was going exactly according to plan and that guy was about to unleash his final strike on me, you bastard ran out and messed things up, totally wrecking my plan!"

Frank: "That..."

"What’s even more infuriating is that I have to thank you."

Double Leaf puffed up her cheeks and went up on tiptoe to thump Frank’s shoulder. "Because you really did save my life!" she said angrily.

Frank awkwardly turned his gaze away, his smile looking a bit strained. "You actually don’t need to thank me. I just..."

"Whatever you ’just’ did has nothing to do with me."

Double Leaf impatiently gave Frank a second thump, then curled her lips. "Change the subject..."

"To what?"

"I admit defeat."

"Huh?"

"I said, I admit defeat. Tan Mo, BLACK, you win. Got it?"

Chapter 1365: End