Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 738 Are You Sick?
Rousseau was a young man with an easy-going and elegant temperament, about twenty years old, still very young according to the habits of today's society. He always appeared in front of the public as a scholar rather than an official, and his clothes, which never changed, also formed people's first impression of him: a double-breasted black trench coat, white gloves and black leather shoes as precise and cold as a judge, deep silver hair slightly curled at the edges and fixed in a curly shape, and a pair of gentle gold-rimmed glasses on his nose. People who saw him for the first time would always say that they had seen a similar image in oil paintings handed down from the Middle Ages, such as a missionary or a priest, a clerk in the royal court or a judicial officer.

In fact, their feelings all make sense, but they are not accurate enough.

As a philosopher of the Witch Society, he was destined to leave his name in the long river of history, but he also abandoned his original name for this. Rousseau never thought that this was a lucky thing or a regretful thing. He regarded it as a contract, that is, a kind of magical power that maintains the operation of society itself. It exists widely in human social relations. The connection between the big society and the small society constitutes the whole of civilization. It is just different from the cognition of most people. In his eyes, the contract represented by the Witch Society is the big society, and the country composed of nobles, civilians, workers, scholars and other groups is the tiny party.

This has nothing to do with factors such as hierarchical order or group size, but only involves one most fundamental question: who will change the world.

They are changing.

The sound of footsteps stopped in front of the deepest room in the Palace of Sages. Rousseau stopped and took a deep breath for two or three seconds before she reached out and gently knocked on the door. This was to give the people in the room time to react. Otherwise, she would probably have been immersed in the ocean of knowledge and unable to extricate herself.

"Please come in."

A soft voice came through the door. Rousseau said "Excuse me" and then pushed the door open, entering the office of Lady Timeis, the Witch of the End. However, if you saw the scene inside the room, you would probably doubt the term "office" and that it was actually a library.

Because there are books everywhere: of course there are books on the bookshelves that fill three walls and are stacked up layer by layer until they reach the ceiling. The sofas and round tables that are supposed to be used for guests to rest are also piled with books. An entire finely woven handmade carpet from the sea country of Falsailan has had its gorgeous and intricate patterns crushed by piles of heavy books... Even the door is piled with books, so that only a narrow aisle is left for guests who knock on the door to visit, leading to the desk next to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, where a beautiful girl is sitting on a high-back chair, reading a book with a dignified and elegant posture.

In the rare good weather in Lunwitting, the sunlight poured in through the French windows, and the dust flew up and down in the white and gold ocean, blurring half of her profile, while the other half was slightly raised, showing a warm and bright smile to the adjutant who had not seen her for many days: "Welcome back, Rousseau, have you finished handling the government affairs on the Star Knight? You have worked so hard."

Rousseau subconsciously held his breath and felt suffocated for a moment, but he was unwilling to speak for fear of breaking this beautiful picture.

Among the seven witch lords of the association, Lady Carabosse is the most strict, but she is also caring for her subordinates; Lady Eve is the most eccentric, but she is generous with her words to those she approves of; Lady Feier seems easy-going, but in fact she has high standards, and not everyone can be favored by her; Lady Lilisti is the most playful, but has a good relationship with everyone; Lady Favrona is the most cheerful, but she is more keen on fighting; Lady Pereike is full of compassion and loves weak souls... and Lady Timeis is the most low-key, and does not often appear in public. Even some of the members of the association do not know her very well.

On the one hand, it was because she was indifferent to fame and wealth, and preferred to immerse herself in the joy of reading rather than dealing with chores; on the other hand, it was because her appearance was too beautiful, and it was not limited to human beauty. It even gave people an incredible feeling, and it was suspected that she was a character in fairy tales. In order to avoid causing a commotion, her life was always a straight line between two points: either carrying out missions on the Star Knight, or reading in the office of the Sage Palace, just like now. Her long hair, as gorgeous and changeable as the aurora, would present different colors such as sky blue, dark purple, cherry pink, ruby, emerald, lake light, silent night, gray snow, etc. with the refraction and angle of light, as if it was a revelation from the distant universe, making it impossible to see through her; a pair of eyes swaying with seven-color rainbow light, like the reflection of a rainbow in the clearest sky, the scattered rainbow and broken streamer, always attracting everyone's attention at the first moment, so that they fall into it and cannot extricate themselves.

What is even more precious is that although Lady Timis knows that she has extraordinary charm, she never takes pride in it. On the contrary, she always dresses very simply, intending to reduce her presence and let others ignore her appearance. She knows that appearance is never the highest standard for judging a person, but only an additional compliment. Therefore, she is more willing to devote her energy to endless reading and cultivate her talents. As a result, she has developed a gentle, elegant and humble temperament, which complements her already beautiful appearance.

In the association, everyone who has seen Lady Timeis is impressed by her charm. Even the leader once commented: "If I have to die one day, I would rather drown in the long hair and tears of Timeis."

Although the leader's best friend and the general manager of the magic research institute, Lord Bailong, came out to clarify that the leader had never said this and it was just a rumor...but more people would rather believe that it was true. Especially the members of the association who were fortunate enough to be assigned to the Starry Knight, they secretly reached an unwritten agreement: every member of the Starry Knight has the obligation to protect the smile of Lord Timeis, so when the lady smiles, no one is allowed to disturb her, otherwise, they will be sinners!
This alliance was called the "Smiling Alliance", and later on it developed into more than just the Starry Knights, and it had considerable influence within the entire society. Ahem, coincidentally, Rousseau was a member of this alliance... or the initiator.

That was why he said nothing at this moment, but just stood there in silence like a pilgrim.

Although he and Lady Timis were the only ones in the room, and there were no other alliance members, so they were not afraid of being discovered, but in another world, an ancient Eastern sage once said: A gentleman is cautious when he is alone, which means that a person with truly noble character will pay attention to his words and actions even when he is alone...

Until a doubtful voice woke him up from his wandering thoughts: "Rousseau?"

When he came to his senses, he found that Lady Timis was tilting her head and looking at him cautiously, her rainbow-colored hair hanging down her shoulders, and her rainbow eyes flashing with hesitation: "Why haven't you spoken? Are you sick?"

"Uh……"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)