Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 739: Did you almost forget about the important matter?

Rousseau was a little embarrassed. After all, it was not easy to mention the Smiling Alliance to Lady Times, so he coughed twice and changed the subject a little stiffly: "No, nothing. By the way, Lady Times, what is the book you are reading? Is it a new work that will be published soon?"

He made such a judgment because he saw that the fonts on the book were not printed ink words, but neat and elegant handwriting. These days, apart from scholars and defense lawyers, only writers are willing to use high-grade paper to handwrite long texts. And it just so happened that sitting in front of him was a great writer who was famous in the Western Land.

But this time, his guess was wrong.

The girl sitting upright in the high-backed chair shook her head slightly. "It's not a new work. It's a work submitted by a new writer to the Northern Order Publishing House. The editor of the publishing house couldn't make up his mind, so he sent it to me and wanted to hear my opinion. After all, they are both fairy tales, so they probably think I have some right to speak."

"Fairy tales?" Rousseau was somewhat interested. Although the Western Continent had produced a fairy tale writer like Andersen, who was famous both at home and abroad, and whose works were loved by countless children, fairy tales were still not the mainstream of literary genres. Many critics stubbornly believed that literature should belong to reality, epic or historical creation, in short, it should not belong to children. They were immersed in too many bedtime stories at an age when their own values ​​were not yet formed, which would not be good for their future literary career.

Therefore, to date, the most respected writers in the Western Continent are still Charles Dickens, who wrote "A Tale of Two Cities", Victor Hugo, who wrote "The Priory of the White Mountains", Shakespeare, who wrote "Hamlet"... and many masters of realism or romanticism, but not Andersen, who wrote for children. When new writers make their debut, they usually do not choose the fairy tale genre as the first brick to knock on the door of the literary world, because that will label them, and it will be very difficult to tear it off later.

"What kind of work is it, Mistress Thiemesse?" asked Rousseau.

"Well, the title of the book is Grimm's Fairy Tales..."

"Grimm's Fairy Tales?" Before Timeis finished speaking, Rousseau was stunned for a moment: "Isn't that..."

Which philosopher of the society has nothing better to do than write a book? Charles or Freud? Even if they want to publish a new work, it shouldn't be a fairy tale, right? Or do they want to join the Smiling Alliance and try to please Lady Timex in this way? As the founder of the alliance, should I accept them? Will it make Lady Fei'er and Lady Carabosse unhappy?

The young philosopher fell into deep thought.

Timis knew he had misunderstood when she saw his expression, so she smiled and said, "It's not the Grimm's Fairy Tales you were thinking of. I think it's just a coincidence that they have the same name. This book tells the story of a child named Grimm who, with the help of seven magical fairies, embarks on a journey to find the heart of a lost world, trying to regain love and dreams in the cold reality. Although the rest of the story has not yet unfolded, the part I've seen so far is pretty good and has reached the standard for publication."

"I see. It seems to be a coincidence. Indeed, similar things have happened occasionally in the past, which makes people sigh that there may indeed be some kind of mysterious connection between the two worlds, not just limited to the Bridge of Heaven." Rousseau sighed and asked, "So, you plan to let the Northern Order Press publish this book?"

"Well, since it has such a high level, why not?" Times smiled gently, and then said with some regret: "It's a pity that the author said in the letter accompanying the manuscript that he was not very convenient to show up, and entrusted the publishing matters to the publisher. The same will be done for new works in the future. He seems to be a person who focuses on creation. Karna... This is a male name, why would he want to write fairy tales, and he also specifically stated that all royalties will be donated by the publisher to orphanages and compulsory education foundations. He must be a very gentle and kind person..." The topic was gradually going off track, and Rousseau quickly pulled it back. He pretended to be indifferent and said: "No matter what kind of person the other party is, it is a good thing for the literary world to have another outlier. The only one who will feel sorry may be Lunweiting - no, it is the children of the entire Western Continent. They have been looking forward to Mr. Andersen's new work for too long. Lord Times, don't you plan to respond to these expectations?"

"I—" Timis opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end she couldn't utter that sentence. She lowered her head, her eyes were fixed on the neat and elegant handwriting again, and she whispered: "I think it's enough for them to read this book of Grimm's Fairy Tales this year. As for Andersen, she may not have any talent for writing. The fairy tales she published, whether it's the daughter of the sea who longs for true love or the ugly duckling who will eventually become a swan, are actually copied from another world and cannot be considered her own ability."

When she said this, her eyes were vaguely sad and a little envious. She was probably envious of the new author named "Karna". He was the one who truly wrote the stories that children wanted to read, and she was just a porter who liked those stories and published them under the original authors' names.

Rousseau thought to himself, "Oh no! There are so many topics to talk about, why did he choose this topic that would poke at Lady Times's heart? As the founder of the Smile Alliance, this is a mistake that will get him burned at the stake." He was sweating profusely, but he didn't show any abnormality on his face. He said in a serious tone, "Having said that, Lady Times, aren't the fairy tales you created independently and published under another pen name also well received? "The Flying House of Knicks", "Reeds and Butterflies", "Balloon Drifting", etc., the children like them very much, right?"

Timis smiled nonchalantly: "Not even close."

Having said that, her mood did improve a little, and this was a change that could be seen with the naked eye. Rousseau quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time silently listed the topic of "Andersen's new work" as a taboo in his heart. He decided to remind the members of the Smile Alliance after leaving here that they must not make the same mistake as himself.

"Ah, right."

Timès closed the book on her lap and asked curiously, "I don't know why you came to see me, Rousseau? What happened on the Starry Knight?"

"what."

Rousseau himself had forgotten about it. Fortunately, the secretary was not there, otherwise he would have been in great trouble.

The adjutant, who was sometimes not very steady due to his youth, quietly wiped the sweat off his face, then quickly explained his purpose: "It's like this, Professor Heinrich Schliemann just sent me an invitation letter, inviting you to attend the party held at Xiaoliang Palace on the evening of the 26th, so I came to ask for your opinion."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)