Red Butterflies in the Rain

It was Thursday. When Shade woke early in the morning, he heard rain tapping against the window outside. Wearing slippers, he pulled open the curtains and saw that a light rain had fallen over the calm morning in Tobesk.

"Autumn rain. Looks like it's going to get colder again."

Compared to its somewhat long summer, Tobesk had a relatively short autumn. Once Harvest Moon passed, nearly half of autumn was already gone. People in the countryside would begin considering how to store food for the winter and where their winter income would come from, while the detective living in the city also had to think about whether he would need to use the fireplace in the second-floor living room during winter.

Although the residents of Saint Derain Square enjoyed centralized heating through steam pipes, a fireplace was still indispensable if they wanted to be more comfortable in winter.

"Still, I'll need to put an iron grate in front of the fireplace. Otherwise, it'll be terrible if Little Mia runs into it."

As he thought that, he stroked the cat in his arms. The cat lay lazily against Shade's chest. He did not know whether it was an illusion, but Shade always felt that a cat freshly awakened from sleep was softer than usual.

Thinking that, he reached out and poked Little Mia's belly. As a result, the cat ignored Shade until breakfast was over.

Shade had no plans to go to Middhir Fort City that morning. After breakfast, he took an umbrella, brought along Mia, who was unwilling to leave the house, and headed for Quill Street.

After he knocked on the door of Dorothy's rented apartment, the landlady glanced at Little Mia, who was wrapped in Shade's coat with only her head exposed to keep her from getting wet,