"Just now..."
The thought of lying flickered and vanished. Her eyes darted to the floor for a mont before she corrected herself. Julia knew the consequences her words would bring, but she had once sworn never to deceive her princess.
"Mr. Williams ca by earlier... he invited to dinner..."
Even with her resolve to tell the truth, she stamred, weighing the potential fallout of every word that left her lips. As she recounted the evening's events, she never once dared to lift her head and et the eyes of the young woman before her.
Not since leaving the slums of lower Ruen had Julia Minnewick found herself in such an awkward and difficult position. She had made the right choice, yet she still had to face this ordeal.
A furtive glance at the dressing table mirror showed her reflection—a maid with her head bowed, looking for all the world like a little girl who had done sothing wrong.
"A family dinner at the Williamses'..."
Her head remained bowed. She only spoke after hearing Dolores take a sharp, deep breath. Having served Dolores for so long, she knew exactly what her princess was feeling.
The last ti sothing similar had happened was when the princess had missed out on acquiring an extrely important C-class Bestowal because she was attending the birthday party of her friend, the Duke of Rayer's daughter.
"Williams..."
This situation was even more delicate than the last. The Bestowal, though missed, wasn't an absolute necessity. But Julia knew her princess was determined to win over Mr. Williams.
"You did the right thing, Julia. It was far better for you to go in my stead than for Mr. Williams to invite so other woman. It was the correct choice."
There was a slight flaw in that logic, but Julia knew better than to point it out.
"I had assud a man like Mr. Williams would be surrounded by female friends. I never expected this to be his situation."
With Dolores's intelligence, it was easy for her to deduce Jenkins's current circumstances from this single event.
"And for him to bring you to his family ho... I imagine the Church of Knowledge and Books will investigate as well... This is good. A very good opportunity. It seems I'll need to find a suitable reason to pay a visit..."
Her tone had grown serious, which at least ant Dolores wasn't angry.
Realizing this, Julia finally lifted her head to look at her princess, then carefully began to remove the jewelry she was wearing.
"No, you can keep them on."
Dolores shook her head, taking a seat on Julia's bed. The little maid's room, while better than that of the other servants, was still just a single room with a small partition, containing a desk, a bed, and a dressing table just inside the door.
Dolores added, "The next ti you see Mr. Williams, even if you try to return the jewelry, I doubt he'll accept it. So, find a beautiful box and keep it safe. It's a rare gift... and very beautiful."
She was still a little upset, just too proud to show it. Julia wanted to smile, but her professional training allowed her to suppress it completely.
"Dolores, Julia, are you in here?"
A voice ca from outside the door again, and a mont later, it was pushed open for the second ti. Since the servants hadn't stopped her, the only woman who could enter like this was Alexia, returned from the tower. It was already after midnight; she had co back quickly.
"Oh, you're both here. Good. I heard there's been a major breakthrough in the interrogation of Howard Stuart?"
The short woman noticed Julia's unusual attire the mont she walked in. Unlike Miss Stuart, she didn't need to ask questions to figure out what had happened.
The door closed naturally behind her, and her tone was perfectly level. Alexia was always composed, even as Julia montarily noticed a crack appear in the nearby mirror, only to miraculously repair itself.
The gas lamp overhead flickered strangely, but seeing the short woman's unperturbed face, the princess and her maid dismissed it as a problem with the old fixture.
"What were the results of the interrogation? Does he know about the strange people around Duke Antak during his visit to Nolan? Oh, and Julia, you look lovely today."
"Mr. Williams was going to invite a young lady out today, and the ti I arranged for the tower visit happened to be today, so in the end, my maid was invited..."
For a mont, all these thoughts raced through the young princess's mind. It was, of course, a coincidence—Her Highness had no prior knowledge of this—but she still felt compelled to explain. Dolores knew her tutor was a calm person who disliked corporal punishnt, but putting herself in Alexia's shoes, she felt so things still needed clarification.
"Teacher Alexia..."
She spoke with her head bowed, her voice soft and aggrieved, looking just like a little girl who had made a mistake. In that mont, she was the mirror image of Julia just a short while ago.
The night passed, giving way to a new day.
Early Friday morning, Papa Oliver paid a visit to St. George Street just as Jenkins, still in his pajamas, was stepping out to get the newspaper. He arrived just in ti for breakfast, and Jenkins didn't mind frying a few extra eggs.
It had been a week, but Papa Oliver looked as energetic as ever. He greeted Jenkins with a warm hug and then loudly recounted how he'd received a letter from Old Jack that very morning, complaining about the imnse trouble Jenkins had caused the Shire City diocese during his week there.
"Ha! I knew it. He's the one who failed to appreciate the danger of the situation beforehand."
Papa Oliver laughed heartily, not even noticing he had buttoned his coat wrong. He also didn't ntion Jenkins's encounter with Duke Antak the previous afternoon.
He had co to take Jenkins directly to the Evergreen Forest for his baptism. The church convoy wouldn't arrive until around eight, so Papa Oliver, with ti to kill, had co over early.
This would actually be Jenkins's "third" baptism. Though none had been successful, he was already quite familiar with the procedures and precautions and needed no reminders from Papa Oliver.
So, over breakfast, they talked about all the latest happenings in Nolan during the week Jenkins was away. Most of it revolved around the Skull Sword.
The current situation was even more grim than Jenkins had imagined. The reanimation of the dead and the murders were now genuinely affecting the city's normal functions.
Papa Oliver brought up the previous night's incident—a massive explosion in the Black Forest that the entire city had heard. Even though this morning's paper ran "Underground Coal Seam Gas Explosion" as the headline and assured readers it couldn't happen within the city proper, it still caused a panic among the citizens.
"It was terrifying," Jenkins said with a nod. "Chocolate and I were both asleep. When the explosion woke us up, he was so scared he burrowed right under my covers."
Jenkins nodded as he spoke, oblivious to his cat, who was busy "carving" patterns with its claws on the surface of the egg he had just peeled.
"Skryu Pompey got into a fight with soone, and the scene looked like it was hit by a teorite. I knew Nolan had plenty of powerful Enchanters hiding in the woodwork, it's just that most of them waste their ti on trivial matters."
Papa Oliver remarked.
Jenkins thought for a mont. From what he knew, Magic Miss was currently preparing to hunt down the pirate king Femishue, which was hardly a "trivial matter."
While Jenkins was out of town, the local church had not been idle in its investigation of the Skull Sword. Although their progress paled in comparison to the discoveries made by the Shire City diocese, they had at least established a clear lead on the "Living Corpse Jewel."
"Through divination, cooperation with the police departnt, and a few special thods, we've basically figured out where the Living Corpse Jewel went after the massacre in the suburbs. We've arrested key criminals in the black market these past few days, and one of them knows Skryu Pompey. I think it's only a matter of ti before we find his hideout in Nolan."
"What about that junk shop that was selling numbered items? Any new findings from that investigation? I rember the na was 'Carmyle's Old Goods Shop'."
"No news yet. That shop is proving to be as much trouble as the Skull Sword. We've even discovered that last year's vampire incident was also connected to it. The Church will deal with Carmyle after we've handled the Skull Sword and the mirror world. Sage, please watch over this city!"
Jenkins believed the Sage had been watching over the city all along. Otherwise, it made no sense that its citizens could still live peaceful, happy lives despite so many disasters.
This peace was a product built upon one miracle after another. From that perspective, perhaps the Righteous Gods truly did have their eyes on this place.
"Speaking of which, that girl you brought ho last night was interesting, but she..."
Papa Oliver finally brought it up. Jenkins tensed, deciding to first hear what the Church's stance was on him associating with a maid from a distant, foreign country.
"But... she seems to be a year older than you, doesn't she? Does Mary know? I know Miss Minnewick looks young, but your mother might have a hard ti accepting her son marrying an older woman. I heard Bishop Parrold ntion it."
That was just a traditional Nolan City view. Outside of Nolan, people didn't much care about the age of their wives—unless the difference was more than ten years.
"It's fine. Father and Mother were just happy I brought a pretty girl ho. They didn't ask too many questions about Julia's age."
"That's good. Did you tell Robert and the others that Miss Minnewick is a foreigner?"
He glanced up at Papa Oliver's face but saw no hidden aning in his expression.
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