Chapter 2241: Happiness and Farewell

Chapter 2241: Chapter 2241: Happiness and Farewell

On the other side, Shard and Miss Belindel arrived at the witch’s alchemical workshop in the basement. Shard then saw the black dragon scale placed together with the golden dragon scale temporarily taken out from the divination cards.

"I’ve already placed the grey-headed eagle’s notebook in the Council. Megan and Audrey will help once they see it. I pretended it was mine. Once they take a look, a few minutes of spellcasting will crack the cryptic text, so you don’t need to worry about that."

Miss Belindel said as she walked to the table and slightly adjusted the placement. When the two dragon scales were set at a relatively appropriate distance and angle, a visible resonance occurred between them.

The vibrating scales floated into the air together, gold and black streams of light continuously exchanging and communicating between them. Within the light screen formed by those streams, Shard actually saw some fragmented runes. Because the runes were severely fragmented, he spent quite some time recognizing them:

"Dragon Language runes, quite ancient indeed."

"Can you translate them?"

The Countess also looked up but Shard regretfully shook his head:

"They’re too severely fragmented. Just being able to recognize them as Dragon Language runes is already pushing it. Although I know all the characters, just like I can’t decipher cryptic text, I can’t complete the actual runes either."

"Interestingly, even without divination, I can tell your claim of recognizing all characters isn’t a lie."

The beautiful Countess said, embracing him from behind. Shard chuckled, then reached out to touch the light screen, feeling the mutually enhancing miracle elements within:

"It seems the scales passed down by your seven great families can resonate to reveal these runes. We only have two now, so we can’t see clearly. This implies that if we gather seven, we should have the complete rune information? Or with five or six, we might understand part of the content."

"That’s what I think too."

The witch raised an eyebrow, turned to lean on the table, supporting herself with one hand while watching Shard:

"Each of these scales alone can grant a Circle Sorcerer dragon strength related to it. So I even suspect that the information gathered when the seven dragon scales are united relates to that sword."

Such a possibility indeed exists, but it’s still too early to discuss.

"The golden dragon scale belongs to Belindel, and the black dragon scale, according to the documents we obtained from the secret room in the sewers, should belong to the Black Family. Do we have any news on the other five dragon scales?"

He asked again, but the Countess regretfully shook her head:

"Not yet, we’re still investigating. However, regarding the seven great families, I have one good news and one bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

"Good news."

"Last week, at the banquet hosted by the seven great families, everyone agreed to share some confidential family documents to exchange information. The work is progressing well, I’ve already received some texts, but I’m still analyzing them."

"What’s the bad news?"

"The Church also suspects we’re hiding information about The Chosen One and the dragon. So the Dawn Church’s Papacy sent a letter to Velindale, and His Majesty the King of Velindale..."

She repeated the honorific, thus not actually showing respect.

"His Majesty the King sent a letter to Moon Bay City, asking us to allow Church representatives to inspect within our ancestral homes. If Princess Margaret brings this letter to Moon Bay, and then that Princess mediates between the church and us, it might work out quite well. But the Dawn Church obviously doesn’t want to waste time, so the letter from Velindale arrived at the city’s Council by messenger just this morning."

Shard frowned slightly:

"Does the Church want to inspect this mansion? What about your laboratory? Should Emilia and Little Liana also temporarily leave?"

"No rush, I’ve discussed with Old Edington and Old Hawthorn to delay it as much as possible. We’ll stall until Princess Margaret visits Moon Bay. Since the Church wants to avoid directly confronting the Royal Family, we’ll pass this problem to the Princess to resolve."

She smiled, curling her lips;

"You shouldn’t worry for His Highness."

"What are you talking about."

The witch laughed but didn’t respond. Instead, she opened her arms to Shard. So he stepped forward, allowing the beautiful blonde woman to embrace him and give him a passionate kiss.

That afternoon, they didn’t leave the estate but together read the documents the witch had just acquired in the study, analyzing and marking locations of current anomalies on the Moon Bay City map.

Emilia also spent the afternoon in the study, sitting quietly on the sofa reading a novel. As for those fabric strips she had taken off earlier, she carefully preserved them in her suitcase, already planning how to astonish her friends when she returns.

The Little Unicorn lay at Emilia’s feet because the sun of Moon Bay City was obscured by dark clouds; therefore, little Mia, who napped in the afternoon, lay on the desk—the closest spot to Shard.

During the leisure of resting for afternoon tea, Bella Belindel watched a handsome man beside her trying to feed a cat by dipping biscuits in tea, watched the little unicorn widen its eyes in curiosity from beneath the tea table, watched the elf girl squint in delight after tasting delicious sweets, watched the cute cat eager to try the biscuits, and watched her apprentice, who stood near the tea table bending down to put down the tray. On this ordinary Thursday afternoon, she unexpectedly felt a long-lost happiness in life:

"Husband, wife, children, maid, two pets..."

She pursed her lips while watching this scene and lowered her eyes, feeling a bit melancholy knowing she could never have the "happiness" she was longing for at that moment.

"It seems that tea-soaked cookies aren’t very tasty."

Shard concluded this after seeing the cat sniff but shy away from the cookies. Adhering to the principle of not wasting food, he ate the cream-filled cookie himself. Seeing Miss Belindel beside him with her head down and saying nothing, he picked up another cookie and waved it in front of her:

"The maid’s skills at the estate are quite good; why aren’t you eating?"

The witch looked up at him:

"Would you feed me?"

Miss Matilda smiled, and Emilia blinked as she looked at the bold lady. Shard also smiled:

"Of course."

He brought the cookie close to the witch’s red lips, and she opened her mouth slightly, biting off a small piece. Just as she was about to chew, realizing everyone was watching her, she shyly turned her head slightly and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Perhaps this is happiness too."

She softly told herself as the covered mouth moved slightly, then she swallowed that bite of cookie:

"Matilda, come sit with us and eat too."

She said this, and the witch apprentice was a bit surprised but smiled and nodded while holding the tray:

"Yes, miss."

She sat beside Emilia, her feet in black leather shoes placed near the little unicorn’s tail.

The leisurely afternoon tea time, maybe for Shard, Emilia, and even Miss Matilda, was just an insignificant memory in their lives. But Bella Belindel decided to remember this moment forever; this was her own little happiness.

Today is Thursday, and at seven thirty in the evening, Tifa’s train will depart. Shard definitely needs to see her off, so he didn’t stay for dinner at Belindel Estate that evening. But before saying goodbye, the witch specifically went to the Council and very happily returned the notebook of grey-headed eagle and a thick stack of letters to Shard:

"The Megan Sisters apparently went to the Council in the afternoon, and look, they’ve translated it."

Shard, holding the cat, curiously flipped through, finding the notebook still as a notebook, while the stack of letter paper contained the translated text.

"This really is a great help."

Shard said, and the Countess hugged him briefly before she and Emilia waved goodbye to him.

It was already half past five when Shard arrived home, at the corner of the stairs between the first and second floors, and the house was unusually lively.

On the second floor, the maids were preparing dinner, Dorothy was sitting on the sofa, holding Angelina’s hand and explaining precautions for going out, which Shard guessed was Lecia; Miss Galina was sitting at the dining room table covered with a tablecloth, Luviya was saying something to her, but Shard remembered his own dining table did not have a tablecloth.

Although Miss Galina or Lecia would sometimes stay overnight at Shard’s house and bring personal maids, the number of maids at the house this time was unusually high. Or perhaps, since the Outlander owned this house, he didn’t recall ever having so many people in the house.

"Tifa is leading a team to Moon Bay this time, and I’ve asked her to take 10 people. Seven high rings and three inner rings, all skilled in combat, magic potions, and alchemy."

As Shard appeared at the doorway, the ladies in the house stood to greet him, and Miss Galina introduced the situation to him:

"The number is indeed not large, but the maids I kept in County of Saradiel also have a team of 25 people who will rush to Moon Bay to join them."

She said with a slight tilt of her head:

"But in fact, only Tifa alone is enough to represent me. Tifa is the finest witch apprentice I’ve raised in this generation, better than any of the apprentices, whether it’s Miss Swift of Granny Cassandra or the niece of Hevy. She is now at Eight Rings, and if the Witch’s seat weren’t lacking vacancies, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her reach Twelfth Rank in a year or two once she becomes a witch."

The black-haired maid in the kitchen smiled slightly, though people in the living room could not see.

Shard thus nodded:

"This is one of your rare long separations with her. Tifa? In the kitchen?"

"She insisted on preparing dinner for me one more time before leaving."

Since Shard’s house is relatively close to the train station and spacious enough, the last dinner before departure was arranged here. Including the Head Maid, 10 maids, Dorothy, and Angelina, all the girls heading to Moon Bay gathered here, while Shard, Luviya, and Miss Galina bid them farewell.