The man with the pencil mustache hurried forward and whispered a few words beside Baron Shire. The baron nodded slightly and grew even more welcoming.
"Sir Jonester, Sir Handel, please, come in! I've prepared a sumptuous breakfast. Let us enjoy it together. This way, please!"
Mulan nodded with a smile, adding a joke as he started walking.
"If the baron's residence weren't so large, I'm sure the aroma of breakfast would have reached us long ago."
"Hahahaha! Sir Jonester, you certainly know how to joke."
Like so many nobles meeting for the first time with ulterior motives, Mulan and Baron Shire got along splendidly. They could even have been mistaken for instant friends-at least on the surface.
Walking beside them, Handel marveled inwardly. The circles of the upper nobility really were complicated. Who could have guessed just by watching that the professor had already suspected something was wrong with this baron last night? By comparison, Handel felt he hardly counted as a noble at all.
When Baron Shire entered the dining room ahead of them, Mulan deliberately fell a step behind, drawing close to Handel and lowering his voice.
"When breakfast is almost over, find a chance to pretend you've accidentally cut your hand. Squeeze out plenty of blood."
Handel nodded slightly in understanding, then followed Mulan into the dining room as though nothing had happened. It was just as lavishly decorated, though somewhat dated.
Baron Shire had not been merely polite when he called it a sumptuous breakfast. Fried eggs, bacon, desserts, bread, milk tea, crispy fried meat, fruit, vegetables-everything was there. The sight alone felt extravagantly luxurious.
Mulan reckoned that even Queen Nisheriel's breakfast might not be this lavish. After all, he had heard that once the queen's attendants finished helping her wash and dress, she often sat