Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 499: Is it an active choice?
When they returned to the hotel, the banquet was ready. The lights in the lobby were bright, the music was melodious, and there was a cheerful and relaxed atmosphere everywhere. However, for some reason, Shelia stayed outside alone, holding a broom, and seemed to be sweeping the debris on the ground. The neat bartender uniform was stained with dust.

Seeing Ling Ge coming over, she warned him, "Be careful, don't step on the glass on the ground."

"Glass?"

Linger frowned slightly: "Why is there glass?"

Xie Liya didn't answer, but pointed to a room on the second floor. Lingge looked in the direction of her finger and found that the window of the room had been broken. The glass fragments fell from above and fell into the lush trees and grass. In addition, it was dark and the vision was poor. It was difficult for people to notice these glittering crystal fragments under their feet when passing by. No wonder she reminded himself to be careful.

"what happened?"

"Miss Leticia is back." Shelia shrugged. "But she looks a little strange. She didn't go through the main door or say hello to us. She just rushed in through the second-floor window. I was shocked when I heard the sound of glass breaking in the hall. But I guess she must have a reason for doing this, so I didn't ask and let Miss Nevill handle it for now."

Although the Countess loves her granddaughter, she is also strict with her family education. She believes that she will enforce the law impartially and teach a severe lesson to those bad kids who don't like to go through the front door - this is what Cielia thinks, but only Lingge knows that Leticia's impulsive behavior was not intentional. She just smelled the familiar and close atmosphere in the unfamiliar environment, so she chose to return to her grandmother in the most direct way.

For a girl who has lost her memory and is confused and lonely, you can't ask for more.

"I'll go find her."

The melodious tune reverberated under the ceiling of the hall, and the warm lights illuminated the venue like daylight. The five-story-high dinner plates were like majestic old trees, filled with all kinds of delicacies and desserts: strawberry cake, cold chicken breast, grilled trout, fried mushrooms, apple pie, etc., and there were still more than a dozen Mr. Rabbits lined up in two teams, one team was responsible for bringing out the dishes prepared in the kitchen, and the other team was responsible for placing the dishes on different tables according to the categories. In addition, they also needed to prepare the wine (actually water), tableware, appetizers and black tea (mainly to satisfy the hobby of a certain countess) needed for the banquet. It can be said that they were the busiest people in the hotel at this time, but Xie Mi, the real maid, was nowhere to be seen, and no one knew where she had gone.

Ling Ge said, and then walked past Shelia, intending to go to Nevi's room on the second floor. At this time, Shelia turned around and shouted, "Hey, Ling Ge, it's just a small matter. Don't make it too difficult for her."

……

The young man paused for a moment, and replied, "I didn't say I was going to embarrass her."

"That's obviously..." Ling Ge thought for a moment and said, "You don't know me well enough."

She grabbed the broom and continued sweeping.

After that, he took another step and walked into the hotel. Xie Liya followed his back until his figure disappeared into the bright light behind the door, then she looked away and sighed, "You speak as if someone knows you."

"Really?" Xie Liya stopped sweeping, supported the end of the broom with both hands, rested her chin on the back of her hands, and looked at Lingge with a mischievous smile in her eyes: "But I always feel that you will do this. After all, this is your personality."

The nearby broken glass had to be cleaned up before Metien knew his friend was in trouble.

Lingge walked through the busy Mr. Rabbits, went up the stairs to the second floor, found room number 212, and knocked on the door gently.

"Come in." The countess's steady reply came from the room, her tone carrying an elegance unique to aristocrats, which was obviously formed naturally through years of social activities. Now it has become a habit and is difficult to change.

Lingge was not polite and pushed the door open. Perhaps because the owner did not like bright light, there was only one lamp in the simply decorated room, and the curtains were drawn, resulting in a dim light. Nevile sat in front of the extinguished fireplace, with a book casually placed beside her. On the small round table in front of her was a set of tea sets: a frosted teapot with a beautiful rose pattern, three elegant ceramic teacups and trays, a silver teaspoon, and a small jar of sugar. At this time, the black tea in the teacup was still steaming with residual heat, and the fragrance was refreshing. On the sofa opposite Nevile, Leticia, who had just resurrected from the dead, curled up and fell into a deep sleep like a lazy cat sleeping by the stove. She slept very soundly and did not notice the disturbance of outsiders. From time to time, she made one or two vague sleep murmurs, as if she was whispering something, but no one could hear the specific meaning.

"Please take a seat." Nevile pointed to a sofa next to her and said, "My tea party hasn't officially started yet, so I just saved a seat for you, Mr. Ling."

"I'm not here to drink tea with you." Ling Ge said, "I have a question for you."

"If you mean this window," Nevelle glanced at the window behind her that was blocked by curtains. She could vaguely see traces of broken glass, so the wind could blow into the room unimpeded, causing the curtains to flutter. "When Leticia wakes up, I will take her to apologize to Miss Shesta and Miss Cielia."

Ling Ge shook his head: "That's not the question."

"Oh? So are there any other questions?"

Linger closed the door and fixed his calm gaze on the countess's face: "Just now, Miss Leticia's curse was triggered, right in front of me."

"That's not surprising. I've already told you the truth about the curse, and tonight happens to be a full moon." Nevill paused, and then continued, "The only thing that surprised me was that she could tolerate you witnessing her own death. Every time she reincarnated, she tried every means to hide even from me, her closest grandmother. The only difference between you and me is probably our gender. So, you are not as honest as you seem, but you have a lot of sweet words to deceive little girls, Mr. Ling?"

"The difference is not in gender, but in identity." Ling Ge said calmly: "You are her grandmother, and I am a pastor."

"so?"

"So, I just prayed for her."

Nevill was silent for a while, then laughed softly: "I can accept this reason. Well, let me thank you for praying for Leticia. At least you have done what I have always wanted to do but could not do, and you have also done what the world has never dared to do. You are probably the first person in the world to pray for the souls of the vampires, Mr. Pastor of Philanthropy."

She picked up a cup of black tea from the table, and nodded and smiled at Lingge, just like the distinguished guests at a dinner party toasting to the host, and then took a sip gracefully. Lingge noticed that the color of the black tea was beautiful and fragrant, just like blood. It seems that even though she has gotten rid of the vampire's instinctive thirst for blood, the silver-eyed countess still retains the corresponding tendency in her subconscious. After all, she is not the young queen, and it is impossible for her to be like Leticia, who is obviously a vampire but has no vampire habits.

After taking a sip of black tea, Nevill put the cup back on the tray and looked at Lingge again: "So, besides that, what question do you want to ask?"

Linger stared into the frosty silver eyes and said word by word, "Not long ago, in the mangrove forest, Leticia's curse was also triggered once, but there was no full moon that night."

"..." Nevile remained silent.

"According to your description of the curse, it will only be triggered under two circumstances: either at the full moon once a month, or when you die and Leticia takes your place."

"..." Nevile remained silent, but she straightened her back a little, as if she finally began to take the conversation seriously.

"So, what I want to ask is..." Lingge lowered his voice, as if he didn't want Leticia to hear it in her sleep: "You weren't actually captured by Silver Moon, but you took the initiative to leave with Gundalufu, right?"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)