Ⅰ
"Good evening, Malinda.
Thanks for making the journey."
Smiling, Arthur pulled out a chair for Malinda.
Malinda's Smoke Phase Shift had a range limit. Even with a marker set aboard the Eastern, the farthest she could reach was the West Berlin Fief.
Beyond that range, she had to combine Smoke Phase Shift with the Ghost Carriage.
Even so, her speed still exceeded anything ordinary people could imagine.
The arrogance of the mystical side often stemmed from this.
Fortunately, however, Malinda kept her arrogance in check.
Otherwise, she and Arthur would have fallen out the first time they met.
Rather than ending up like this-
"I brought you a late-night snack."
Malinda handed Arthur the basket.
Arthur immediately took out the fried pork chops, grilled fish cakes, spicy stir-fried lobster, and clay-pot beef.
Meanwhile, Malinda glanced to one side.
She knew Lady Anna.
But this was her first time seeing the two twin girls beside her.
The lady instinctively frowned.
She thought of the Marquis of West Berlin's twin daughters.
Does this scoundrel like that sort of thing?
No!
He may be a scoundrel, but he's no pervert!
Still, twins again...
Despite her thoughts, Malinda's face betrayed nothing. She quietly watched Arthur arrange the food, while Lady Anna took Miha and Yilo into the ship cabin, leaving the two of them alone-Lady Anna understood very well the importance of time alone together.
Relationships between people could be gentle as water, fierce as thunder, or intertwined like thorny vines.
Lady Anna could not tell which kind Arthur and Malinda had.
But she knew that, whatever the kind, they needed space to be alone together.
Click!
The faint sound of the cabin door closing was like the ringing of a bell in a fighting ring-
"You're far more relaxed than I expected."