Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 877 Is the eldest lady popular?

Until the end, Olvera couldn't fall asleep.

Although she could indeed close her eyes peacefully and not be afraid of the darkness when Lingge was around, this situation could only last about ten minutes. Once this period of time was over, the curse would come back, forcing the girl to open her eyes to welcome the light. Ten minutes was not enough to support her to fall asleep. After all, Princess Beman was not as gifted as a certain maid who started snoring as soon as her head touched the pillow.

However, the princess herself didn't seem to care about the time limit. On the contrary, she looked somewhat happy.

"Well, well..." She stammered, stuttered, and said to the young man in front of her with hidden expectation: "Although, although it is only ten minutes now, as long as I keep persisting, it will become longer and longer, until one day I can fall asleep, right? So, so before that, Lingge, you have to stay with me? Every night, come to my room and stay with me..."

Her voice became lower and lower, and in the end it was almost inaudible. She buried her head in the waterfall of pure golden hair, not daring to look the young man in the eye.

Linger looked at her deeply, thought for a moment and replied, "No."

"Hey!" The princess raised her head, unable to hide the disappointment on her face: "Why? Doesn't Lingge want my curse to be cured?"

"Because I have to sleep too." Ling Ge said expressionlessly, "I can't stay here with you until dawn every night. If I do that, I'm afraid I will fall down before your curse is lifted."

In order to check on Olvera's condition, he stayed up all night last night and hasn't closed his eyes yet. It doesn't matter if it's just one night, but if it's like this every night, do you think I'm Alice?

Then she muttered again: "If it was Sister Xiaoxia's request, would you still say that?"

Lingge pretended not to hear and turned away.

As long as Ovilla can fall asleep stably, Bai Ye's ability to enter dreams will be effective on her, helping her to regain her past memories and strength in her dreams. By then, there will probably be no need for Lingge to keep watch at night. This is a happy result for everyone.

"That's because I have a special talent!" When the golden-haired maid mentioned this, she raised her chin with a proud look on her face. If her head had not been blocked by the dense tree canopy, Lingge would have suspected that her nose had reached the sky.

One or two days a week? Avella thought about it and could barely accept it. After all, girls need to be reserved. If they are always so proactive, they may be looked down upon by the other party. So she nodded reluctantly: "Okay then."

After solving Olvera's problem and confirming that the conditions of all the young queens were improving, Ling Ge and Saint Xia Liya felt relieved. The only thing they needed to worry about was the last young queen, the heir of the Whitethorn Flower family, Xino Qin Gustaf. However, there was no point in rushing this matter. They still needed to wait for an opportunity to test the attitude of the young girls.

"Yes!" Gloria nodded vigorously. "Because Xino said that practice alone is not enough. Only actual combat can bring skills to their full potential. So we have to play one or two training games every day, and they are all based on the length and rules of regular games."

No one took her words seriously, but there was one thing she mentioned that made Lingge a little concerned.

Ling Ge still shook his head: "I told you a long time ago that there are differences between men and women, so I won't sleep here. But your curse is indeed very important, so I will take one or two days every week to accompany you and help you fight the curse, step by step, until the day you can sleep steadily."

"In fact, it was Shino who taught well."

"No, it's okay!" Avella became anxious when she heard the reason. "I just want you to stay here. I'm not stopping you from sleeping. Look, I've even prepared a quilt and pillow for you. They're under the bed! But if you want to sleep in my room, you can only sleep here. No more... Bah, you can only sleep on the floor. Don't have any weird fantasies, okay?"

"Did you compete with Shino?" he asked.

Linger then asked, “Who won?”

……

“What kind of words are you talking about!” She swung the racket in the woods without any manners, causing the nearby branches to shake and many leaves to fall, increasing the workload for the girl who was teaching them wholeheartedly tomorrow. “How could my Ai-chan be satisfied with just a trial match? In this tournament, I will let you see my true level! Even that Shino didn’t dare to fight me head-on and could only find excuses to escape from the game. Remember this well!”

Gloria laughed and exposed the guy's boasting: "She teaches very carefully and patiently. She explains many things we don't understand one by one to us, and sometimes she even teaches us in person. Of course, Alice's talent is also good. Xino said that with her current level, it's hard to say whether she can make it to the qualifying round, but at least she can complete a game."

Even though she herself doesn't think so.

The next few days passed quite peacefully, with nothing major happening. Gloria and Alice continued to go to the Chardouri Manor every day, and practiced their skills under the guidance of Heno, and their progress was very obvious. Gloria successfully integrated the memories and experiences in her mind into this body that originally had no experience in playing volleyball, and her gestures gradually became like those of a professional player; and Alice's progress was even more surprising. After Heno's guidance, she, who had no basic skills, served, hit the ball, and ran well, and she didn't look like a newcomer at all.

That’s right, playing a complete game, this is all everyone expects of Alice. As for winning the championship or something... you’re not taking it seriously, are you?

It can't be Alice, right?

That's enough. Don't use the same joke twice. That's very tasteless.

Gloria blinked. "No one wins."

She explained: "Xino always said it was just a training match and there was no need to care too much about winning or losing, so we often stopped playing halfway through. Until now, we have never played a complete game."

Alice also added, although what she said was not serious: "I think she must be afraid that I will defeat her if I get serious, and it will be embarrassing, so she made an excuse to shirk! Humph, Ai-chan's strength is so terrifying!"

"Don't bother with that, Alice." Gloria didn't give her face and directly exposed this guy's delusion: "Every time you play against Xino, the score difference is more than ten, isn't it? I think Xino is deliberately letting you go because she doesn't want you to lose face. And I always feel that Xino hasn't used her full strength yet. Her strength must be very strong, at least-"

Gloria thought about it, and finally concluded in a firm tone: "No worse than the original me." She was not bragging. The "original me" here should refer to her as a talented wind flower ball player in the setting. Not only did she become famous at a young age, she was also the favorite to win this championship and was very powerful.

"It's a pity that Xinuo has no plans to participate in the championship." Gloria sighed again: "This means I have lost a strong opponent. I had originally planned to compete with her in the main competition if she refused to use her full strength in the training match!"

What she said was quite consistent with her current personality, that of a hot-blooded fool.

Saint Shalia asked curiously, "She is so strong, why doesn't she plan to participate in the tournament?"

"I don't know about that." Gloria shrugged. "Maybe we should ask her."

……

The opportunity came quickly.

After arriving at the Shadoli Manor, everyone came to the court and saw Xinuo who had been waiting there. However, she did not hold a racket, but was wearing a simple light blue skirt and a pair of leather boots, looking like she was going out. When she found Lingge and Saint Xia Liya among the group of people, she was a little surprised: "You are here today too, I thought it was only Alice and Gloria. But it's just right, do you want to go to the city with me, Mr. Lingge, and Miss Saint Xia Liya?"

"Go into the city?" Ling Ge paused: "Sumiya City?"

"Yes." Shino smiled slightly, his tone as if it was a matter of course. Although there are many cities scattered across the Grindelwald Plains, when people in the countryside and forests talk about "going to the city", they all refer to the city of Sumia, as if other cities are not worth taking seriously. This view is not only deeply rooted in the hearts of locals, but also often held by foreign travelers.

Sumiya, the City of Wind and Flowers, Sumiya, the City of White Knights, and Sumiya, the Holy City of the United, these famous names attract millions of tourists from all over the Western Continent to this ancient city every year. However, Linger doesn't really want to join in the fun. On the one hand, he wants to hide his edge before the game starts and try to avoid the people from the united cult. On the other hand, he thinks it's unnecessary: ​​I'm not here for tourism, why go into the city? Buy the Northensvig Crown Honey that Alice has been thinking about?
Linger guessed right.

The reason why Xino came into the city was actually related to Alice.

"Today is the deadline for registration for the trials. If she doesn't register now, she won't be able to participate in the competition." Xinuo said, glancing at Alice: "I originally thought Mr. Ling would take her to register, but Alice told me... uh, you are usually busy, so she asked me to take her to register, so I took the initiative. I hope you don't mind."

Xino's expression was a little embarrassed. Perhaps Alice's original words were not very friendly. Lingge could guess with his toes that it was nothing more than "Lingge is jealous of my strength", "I'm afraid I'll be slapped in the face after winning the championship", "I'm maliciously suppressing me", etc. If she could tell half a truth, Xino would not have used such a poor excuse to cover up for her.

The young man glanced at Alice, who shrank her head guiltily, but then she thought, "Isn't this Lingge's fault? It's all because he didn't take me to register, so I resorted to this desperate measure! Besides, now that Xinuo is taking me to register, what can you do even if you are angry? It's just impotent rage!" So her confidence returned instantly, she raised her head and chest, and snorted with contempt from her nostrils, her arrogance was really arrogant.

Ling Ge: “…”

He really wanted to say that it would not matter if this kind of arrogant villain could not participate in the competition, but unfortunately Xino seemed to have arranged the itinerary. As a guest, he could not reject the host's kindness, so he could only give up with regret.

Seeing that he didn't object, Xinuo breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "In that case, let's take a carriage over there. What do you think?"

You asked me whether I agreed or not, of course I agreed!
Alice, who had long wanted to make things a done deal, nodded hurriedly and agreed on behalf of everyone. Then, Xino led them out of the main gate of the Chardouri Manor and headed for the town at the foot of the mountain. Due to a reason known to everyone, there was only one carriage in the manor, but it was driven away by the old butler Weber yesterday. He seemed to have been inspecting the manor in the countryside recently. The old butler with inconvenient legs and feet wanted to use the carriage, and Xino naturally couldn't compete with him. Fortunately, she had prepared a more direct plan for everyone: rent a carriage from the carriage shop in the town.

To be honest, for an ancient family that has been passed down for ten centuries to have reached this point, the Gustaf family is quite unique.

……

After leaving the Chardouri Manor, walk along an old stone road for about ten minutes and you will arrive at the small town called Ragram that Shino mentioned. It is located on a flat hill at the junction of the Loser Mountains and the Grindelwald Fields. It is not very large, with only about 150 households, and most of them are descendants of servants, guards, knights and followers of the Gustaf family.

Today, the aristocracy system exists in name only, but the town still retains the ancient tradition, calling the current head of the Whitethorn Flower family the Lord, and Xino, the only heir of the Whitethorn Flower family, is naturally what they call the eldest lady.

Along the way, Lingge and others saw with their own eyes how popular Miss Xinuo was in this small town.

"Good morning, Miss. I haven't seen you for a long time. How are you doing recently? I heard that you are managing the manor by yourself. It must be very hard. If you need anything, you can always call us for help, just like before."

"My lady, how is the Lord's health? We are all waiting for him to come and drink the first glass of wine brewed at the beginning of the year during the Harvest Festival this year!"

"Miss, this is our homemade white flower jam. You can take some home to eat. There is not even a chef in the Chateau de Chardonnay right now. You look a lot thinner. If my old woman saw you, she would be heartbroken."

Every warm greeting, every sincere regard, and every honest smile was delivered without reservation, and Xino responded one by one with a smile, asking about Father York's back injury, and asking about John and Susanna's studies. When he received the white flower jam from Uncle Maxim, he secretly stuffed a ten-farso (the currency unit of the White City Republic) note into the uncle's stall when he was not paying attention.

It took her more than ten minutes to walk a distance of less than 100 meters. She was able to chat with almost every town resident about family matters, and their relationships seemed as close as those of a real family.

Even strangers like Lingge were treated like VIPs just because they were walking with Xino. They were stuffed with fruits and snacks by street vendors along the way, and were often accompanied by one or two earnest words: Thank you for being willing to make friends with the young lady, please take good care of her, the young lady is a good girl so you have to treat her well... and so on, which made Xino laugh and cry, but helpless.

The eldest lady is a unique treasure in the world and should be cherished by everyone.

Lingge undoubtedly saw this look on their faces.

Rightfully proud.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)