At this moment, both of them fell into the hunter's trap and were inevitably in a bit of a mess.
Alice's situation is relatively good.
As she fell, she used magic to create a thick layer of ice under her body. Apart from a few bruises on her body, the only thing left was a lot of gray-black oil on the surface of her black robe.
As for Danitaly on the other side, she was not so lucky.
Although she did not fall, she was soaked in the oily liquid that she had installed in the mechanism, and her whole body was covered with dust and fallen leaves raised by the trap.
But even so, she still smiled and maintained the red fireball suspended in her palm, controlling it to keep a distance from the gray oil below -
when she set up this trap, she had buried enough explosives at the bottom of the deep pit. Once the gray oil came into contact with the open flame, the situation would surely fall in an irreversible direction.
But it was also because of this that Dainitalli felt the joy of hunting for the first time in a long time.
She was in such a miserable state. She had just been promoted to Sequence 7 "Fire Mage", but she was able to drag the witch, who had obviously reached the Sequence 6 level, to the edge of the abyss of death. With just a wave of her hand, the two of them would be engulfed by endless flames and explosions.
By then, no matter how many mirrors the Witch Alice had that could be used as substitutes, and no matter how long her frost spells could hold out, she would not be able to escape from this huge execution ground.
Of course, Danitali didn't want to see this worst-case scenario happen.
"Are you planning to commit suicide?"
Alice finally responded, her tone as cold as when she was in combat.
"No, I haven't lived enough, how can I bear to die here." Danitali laughed a little wildly, her voice filled with the joy of hunting satisfaction, "I just hope you can give up resistance, admit that you lose, and then...well, let's go back and take a shower together, and then have a good sleep."
...You are still thinking about sleeping with her now?
Alice would not misunderstand the meaning of the other party's words. She almost couldn't hold back the forced cold expression on her face, and the condensing aura on her body couldn't help but stagnate.
"Isn't it strange? Hunters hunt for a few purposes: they want to eat meat, they want the beautiful fur of the prey, they want to satisfy their own desires as predators... Ha, blame yourself. The exceptionally beautiful prey will be targeted sooner or later. Even if it's not me, there will be other hunters, hunters who are stronger and more keen on plundering than me..."
As Danitali spoke, she couldn't help coughing twice, and she tasted a taste like burnt internal organs in her throat.
But even though she knew that she had been dragging her newly promoted body around in a mess, almost walking on the edge of losing control, she still felt joy from the bottom of her heart.
There was a faint sense of violent power that did not belong to her, seeping out from the potion she had swallowed and flowing through her limbs and body.
Sure enough, fighting and struggling are the fastest ways to digest the potion!
Danetalie's body was exhausted, but her spirit was unusually excited and active. She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and continued to "persuade" the witch Alice to surrender in a cheerful tone:
"Okay, okay, I don't ask you to do anything, just sleep with me... or a few times. Is it so difficult to decide? Don't all witches like that kind of thing, or do you want to try forced gameplay with me? Just choose the theme, a reluctant beautiful maid is knocked unconscious by her master and tied into the bedroom..."
At this moment, Danetalie saw the witch Alice slowly smile, with her tender pink lips opening and closing.
"That's true."
Before she could rejoice at her "surrender", Danetalie heard her continue to say:
"Then try it, see if you can ignite this sea of fire."
... Would rather die than surrender? Is there such a witch in the world?
Danetalie was feeling surprised,
but she felt something strange around her. The gray-black oily liquid was "frozen" into a solid at some point, just like the white frost that covered the ground in autumn and winter, condensing into patches of darkness. On its surface, a layer of pure-colored ice was rapidly spreading and growing.
Driven by some mysterious power, they bloom into shapes that defy common sense, like spreading branches and ice flowers.
"How could this be..." It was not until this moment that Danitali realized that her body was also beginning to be covered with frost.
She didn't feel the change in temperature around her at all! But how is this possible? How could such a large scale of freezing be completed in such a short time!
Danitali tried to break free from the rapidly spreading ice, and the oil on her body surface continued to peel off as she moved.
But the ice seemed to come alive and began to hunt her down. First, her feet were frozen into the ice, then her calves and knees, and then her waist...
and when the biting coldness pinched her neck, the last thing she saw was the indifferent witch Alice.
The edge of the black robe was covered with frost that looked like ice crystals.
Danetali's vision went dark.
When her consciousness returned to her body, she realized that she had left the deep pit filled with ash and kerosene.
The pungent smell lingering at the tip of her nose disappeared, and the coldness that engulfed her body was gone. Only the pain and weakness lingering on her flesh remained, reminding her of her survival status.
Danitali opened her eyes with difficulty and found herself leaning weakly against a tree, and the dirt on her body seemed to have been cleaned up by someone.
So she tried to turn her stiff neck, trying to find the figure of the witch.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. After all, it's very troublesome to clean up the aftermath, and it will affect the two evening dresses that are being made."
Alice's voice came from the opposite direction she was facing. Danitali forced her head to turn and look at her, only to feel as if her neck had been broken once, and her voice trembled with pain.
"In your eyes... ahem, am I only worth two dresses?"
Alice, who had already lowered the hood of her black robe, glanced at her and continued talking without bothering to pay attention to the crazy woman's strange words.
"You actually had a chance to escape just now... I mean, at the end, if you had made up your mind to light all the kerosene on your body, you should have had a chance to escape from the range of my spell."
"Ha, I'm not stupid. If I lit a fire at that time, I would only burn myself, which was not cost-effective. What's more, I'm still alive now, without broken limbs, or burns all over my body. At most, I have some abrasions on my waist and shoulders, which will be fine after a few days of rest."
Danitali acted very open-minded, as if she had already been sure that the witch would not kill her to vent her anger.
...Okay.
Unable to think of any other topic for the moment, Alice fell into silence and thought.
She was thinking about how she would react if she were really a witch.
As a witch who was angry because her "gender truth" was revealed, how should I react after winning with difficulty?
...What? Should the word "difficult" be put in quotation marks?
No, no, Alice felt that she was having a really hard time fighting - she had been maintaining the use of rapid spell casting techniques, using the black robe to conceal the necessary spell gestures and medium changes, and had to carefully control the accuracy of each spell, lest she accidentally expose the identity of the fake witch and be forced to end the battle...
After all, she didn't have much experience in frost spells, and the fake "invisible silk thread" was also a counterfeit released by a temporarily improved spider web spell...
And the witch's other signature spell, black flame, she didn't use it once throughout the whole process, fortunately the opponent should not have been suspicious.
"Are you thinking about how to deal with me? Ha, it's quite novel that hunters also become prey one day..."
Dainitalli seemed to not care about her status as a prisoner of the defeated, and had an expression of understanding.
"So be it."
Alice made the decision, leaned over and grabbed the collar of Danielle's shirt, which was almost torn beyond recognition, and threw her to the ground as if dragging an animal corpse - during this process, the other party did not resist at all, so even Alice, who was not very strong, successfully completed this action.
Then, she stepped on the defeated hunter's head, with the sharp heel pointing directly at the forehead under the dark golden bangs.
"Bend your knees before me, submit to me, there is no other choice... Are you satisfied with this punishment?"
...
In the dead of night, Alice was finally able to return to Daffodil Street in Tingen City, and returned to the guest room whose furniture was simple but full of life.
She took off the dirty black robe, fell into the soft bed, and let out a long sigh.
"Huh...it's finally over."
Although it was tiring to fight with someone, and dealing with the loser afterwards made her mentally exhausted, Alice believed that tonight's gains were at least worth her efforts.
At the very least, she played the witch very well, so well that she almost confirmed her identity as a "witch". Even Danitaly, who seemed to know a lot about witches, didn't see through her disguise. At most, she just thought that she was better at mirror and ice spells.
However, compared to a real witch, her shortcomings are also very obvious -
her performance in close combat is really terrible.
Whenever she encountered an attack that she couldn't avoid, she would simply use mirror teleportation to escape; and when faced with an attack that could be blocked by ice, she would choose to build a defense with ice instead of dodging.
Danitali obviously caught hold of this characteristic of her behavior, and finally used herself as bait to lure her into the trap, and almost succeeded in creating a situation where both sides died.
Alice couldn't think of a better solution for a moment.
In her opinion, witch is a "profession" advanced from assassin.
She knew that her agility was only at the average level, not to mention her extremely poor physical strength and power...
In other words, she was a partial magician and had no combat talent other than the use of magic.
Even if she used magic to temporarily improve her physical abilities, her fighting and physical skills would still be full of loopholes, which would arouse suspicion.
Therefore, Alice has a clear positioning for her role: a witch who prefers to resolve disputes with magic!
Of course, the characteristics of an assassin could not be ignored. For example, at the beginning of the battle, she approached Danetali in stealth, pretending to be trying to assassinate her...
Alice felt that she had acted pretty well.
But it's really strange... The advanced level of an assassin is actually a witch who is famous for her beauty?
Do people in this world know that the advanced level of assassination is seduction assassination?
And what's even stranger is that witches were all men?!
Alice had previously found an opportunity to look through the database of a certain official extraordinary organization, and thus chose her temporary false identity - the "Witch of Joy" who was good at using invisible threads, frost, black flames and mirror spells.
But the official information didn't say at all that these beautiful women who are good at seduction and know how to use various means to make the opposite sex feel pleasure are all transgendered from men...
What does this mean? Men are the ones who understand men best?
Where did all those witches who were originally women go?
Just looking at the extremely confusing name of the potion "Assassin", there shouldn't be no female choice at all... Female assassins are obviously quite common in her world.
Well, it doesn't matter actually. Whether the information is true or false, she will remember it.
As for why Danitali knew so much about the witch... she was unwilling to share the secret, so Alice didn't ask any more questions.
Anyway, she has already obtained the hair and blood of the defeated prisoner. If she is really curious about his experience, she only needs to use a little trick and the secret will no longer be a secret to her.
As for the rest, I can talk about it later. I can't hold on any longer tonight…
Alice thought so, sorted out tonight's gains one by one, then sighed and left the comfortable and soft mattress very reluctantly: if she collapsed again, she would fall asleep in a sweat.
She untied her long hair that was tied up with a hairband, found her nightgown, and prepared to go to the bathroom to wash up and then come back to rest.
But when she sleepwalked away the cold sweat from her long spellcasting, changed into her lace nightgown and returned to the corridor, she saw light coming through the crack of an open door of a bedroom.
A male face with slightly deep contours is facing away from the light source in the room, looking out.
"You... Ahem, I just heard some noises in the hallway, and I checked to see if you were back... Melissa talked to me several times before going to bed, telling me about the various situations in which young women today stay out all night. It made me dizzy."
As if realizing that he had accidentally strayed from the topic, Klein hastily looked away, no longer looking at her in a thin nightgown.
"Anyway, tomorrow I'll tell Benson and Melissa that you didn't stay out all night, you just came back late... Oh, by the way, next time when you pass on a message to me, can you use a more peaceful way? What you did this afternoon is really bad for your heart... Are you listening?"
After talking to himself in a low voice, Klein finally realized that Alice was abnormally quiet tonight. With the light in the room, he could vaguely see her slightly pale face.
He hesitated for a moment, then took a small step forward, relying on the anti-charm amulet in his hand.
"Are you okay? Did something happen?"
But what concerned him was that in the past, at this distance, the amulet in his pocket should have started to heat up and take effect, but today it only became hot for a moment and then there was no reaction.
I'll check its charging status when I get back to the room... Hey, why do I feel like a researcher who's about to come into contact with some highly radioactive dangerous goods? I have to be careful at all times whether I'm wearing protective clothing properly...
Just as he was thinking about this, Klein saw Alice lower her head and answer him in a sleepwalking tone: "
It's a small problem, and it's been solved."
Since she said so, Klein didn't ask any more questions and nodded lightly. The corridor returned to silence as if no one was around.
...a little embarrassing.
Klein was thinking this and was about to say hello and go back to sleep, but he saw her starting to walk towards him.
"Wait, Klein... don't move."
It was as if moist water vapor was invading him, mixed with a little bit of the fragrance of a young girl.
Klein couldn't see Alice's expression hidden in the shadows, but even if she didn't say that, he couldn't help but stiffen as she approached.
The beautiful girl, who was obviously not restrained by anything except the overly thin lace nightgown, walked in front of him and stopped at a position that was a little too close to him.
The distance between the two of them was less than half a meter at the moment. This was a distance that was not appropriate given their current relationship, so close that Klein didn't dare to linger on her for too long.
"You are…"
Before he could finish his words, a sense of crisis from spiritual warning suddenly emerged, like pouring a spoonful of cold water into boiling hot oil, and the phantom pain like splashing fire started him out of the chaos.
Something is wrong... There must be something wrong with Alice now!
At this moment, he even felt that the person in front of him was so strange, as if he had never known her before.
However, his body failed to obey the judgment of his brain.
Klein was almost horrified to find that he could neither retreat nor escape. He could only watch Alice stand still in silence for a few seconds before finally making the next move.
She moved closer, almost touching him.
But in the end, this did not happen. Klein exhaled inaudibly.
Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he felt his right arm being gently pulled up by human force, and then something warm and soft pressed against him.
Paste it over here!
Suddenly struck by the extremely soft touch, Klein felt as if something like fireworks exploded in his brain, shocking him so much that he seemed to have lost the ability to think. He was in a daze for an unknown amount of time before he managed to find himself again by relying on his instinctive meditation skills.
What... is going on?
Klein was about to suppress his emotions and ask her, but he heard a few suppressed gasps from the girl who was holding his arms.
The first thought that popped into his mind was, is she injured?
But then he realized, who would ask someone to patch up their injuries while still breathing heavily?
And he didn't hear any pain in her voice, instead it had a certain...special and strange sweetness.
Even through a layer of shirt, the skin on his arm could clearly feel the heat from the other person's body temperature. Klein subconsciously avoided the guess in his mind and didn't think about it.
But what made him panic and shy was that his healthy and sound male body reacted faster and more directly than his brain.
The previous sense of crisis and panic had long been diluted by other emotions. At this moment, Klein only felt the blood rushing to his head and his cheeks were unusually hot. He instinctively tried to take two steps back to break free from the embrace.
Alice used very light force, and his movements were no longer as uncontrollable as before, so Klein escaped effortlessly and retreated to the door of his bedroom in two steps.
In the corridor with only dim light, he saw her raise her face. Her expression and tone seemed to have returned to normal, as if everything that had just happened was just a strange and bizarre dream.
"Remember to go to bed early, Klein. I'm going to bed too. I wish you a good dream."
Alice, who looked no different from usual, smiled and waved at him, then turned around and went back to the guest room.
Klein opened his mouth, but he only said "good night" to the empty corridor, and couldn't say anything else.
...Have a good dream?
He doubted that he could not fall asleep at all!
Wait...
that's right, the amulet!
Alice was so close just now, but the amulet didn't react at all. Could it be that...
Without thinking any further, Klein turned back to the bedroom and took out the silver ornament from his trouser pocket. He was about to examine it carefully, but he froze for a moment.
This silver amulet engraved with mystical symbols and once endowed with spiritual power and protective abilities was now dull and torn in two by a deep crack in the middle. It had obviously died.
It cracked... The amulet actually cracked...
Klein felt that he was about to crack too: This was the material he bought with his own pocket money!That night, Klein entered the gray fog to "disinfect" his mental state, and then he took out the materials to make a new amulet. Then he lay back on the bed and tried to fall asleep.
But after tossing and turning for a long time, he finally fell asleep in a daze, and at the same time, countless speculations were still flying in his mind -
could Alice's abnormal behavior be related to the "pleasure" question that he had never been able to ask?
Or was this just another prank, just like the previous ones...
But this obviously went beyond the scope of a prank and was simply challenging his male self-esteem!
Could it be that she has a crush on him... No, no, no matter how I think about it, that's not the case. There's something really wrong with her today!
Maybe something happened tonight that stimulated her... What kind of thing could make her take the initiative to get close to someone and moan softly?
This question is beyond the scope!
No, tomorrow... I must find a chance to ask clearly tomorrow... Otherwise, he will threaten her with missing the dinner!
This is a good idea. Okay, let's do it this way...
Hmm, I wonder what delicious food we'll have tomorrow night -
... As a result, the next morning, in front of Benson and Melissa, Klein didn't have the nerve to call Alice over for a private conversation. He could only act as if nothing had happened and ate today's breakfast absent-mindedly.
Fortunately, he had already told his siblings about his plans for Saturday night yesterday. Of course, he used the excuse of going out to see a play with Alice, otherwise it would be another torturous execution...
Alice didn't look at all unusual, and she explained to the two siblings why she was late yesterday in a natural manner.
The relevant topic was over, and Melissa and Benson seemed to be relieved, as if they had quietly removed some outrageous speculations from their minds.
Klein, who was drinking warm tea to soothe his throat, thought to himself, if only things were really as she said, that someone hired by the family discovered his whereabouts, so he met with a neutral elder and had dinner together...
If he believed her nonsense, he should find a surgeon to check his brain. Uh, the operating rooms in this world seem quite bloody...
Stop, stop, don't think about it.
After finishing the last sip of tea in the cup, Klein put the morning newspaper back on the sofa coffee table, stood up and began to put on his coat. At the same time, he smiled at the three people in the living room, indicating that it was time to go out to work.
It was not until he stepped out of the house that Alice finally took the initiative to chase him and called him at the corner of the townhouse.
"Klein, here, I'll give you something good."
Faced with the small bottle Alice handed over with a smile, Klein subconsciously took a step back and didn't dare to reach out to take it.
"What is this?"
Alice seemed not to notice his wariness and explained patiently in a good mood:
"I think you didn't get a good sleep last night, so this is my compensation. It's a potion that can replenish your energy after drinking it. It has no additives... well, no side effects. It's much better than those messy potions of yours."
Replenish energy?!
Klein felt a little embarrassed for a moment, and only managed to maintain his expression after hearing her add one more sentence.
"It's a specialty I brought from 'over there', specially used to relieve fatigue."
...Oh, relieve fatigue...so this is what it means.
Klein wanted to refuse, but in the end, out of a frugal mentality and a little curiosity, he reached out to take the small bottle that was five or six centimeters tall, with a narrow mouth and a wide belly.
After observing the light green clear solvent in the bottle, he carefully stared at the strange patterns near the mouth of the bottle. Suddenly, he tasted a detail from Alice's words just now: "
Our messy potions... Do you know
what the potions 'over here' are like?" Since the two of them were standing on the street at this time, it was a very public occasion. In order not to expose the existence of the mysterious side, Klein had to choose a very subtle way of asking.
"I got a general idea... like the expiration date after mixing." And the perfunctory operations when mixing the potion...
Alice didn't say what she was thinking, but that didn't stop her from showing her true attitude through her expression and tone.
Klein's heart was moved when he heard this. An idea that he had suppressed before showed signs of stirring again:
In the battle with Tuxedo Clown on Thursday, he first came into contact with the extraordinary-level potion "Goddess's Gaze", which has a similar effect to adrenaline and can temporarily stimulate the spirit of the extraordinary and maintain the state; but this potion is not the healing potion that he, a former game enthusiast, longs for, because its healing properties will continue to evaporate after it is made, and it cannot be preserved as a normal means of recovery...
If, he meant if...
Alice can take out this bottle of light green energy potion for him, does it mean... that she has at least more than one bottle of potion in her hand? And the types may not be limited to this one...
"Then, I want to ask... well, just ask," Klein finally couldn't resist the impulse in his heart, and tentatively said, "Do you have, do you have, potions that can heal injuries? I mean, potions for healing trauma and wounds..."
Because he was afraid that the conversation would be heard by bystanders who might pass by at any time, he approached the girl and asked this question in a low voice.
Alice, however, did not have as many concerns as he did. She just looked at him with a strange expression and replied,
"Yes, but you should not be injured, right? Or did you accidentally hurt yourself last night?"
What does it mean to hurt yourself... Why does it always sound wrong?
Klein forced himself not to think in a strange direction and quickly explained,
"I'm not injured, I'm just asking!"
After two seconds, he added with a little itch, "...Can you give me another one? I prefer the kind that can heal wounds... potion." As he said that, he shook the potion bottle in his hand as a gesture.
...Would this be too much?
Just as Klein was worrying about the rationality of his request, he suddenly saw Alice seemed to be stunned for a moment, then she lowered her head and covered her mouth with her hands and laughed softly.
"You—why do you think I gave you this potion?"
It's not to make up for last night... Klein suddenly remembered the question he wanted to ask her and was about to ask, but Alice quickly continued.
"I'm just worried that you won't be energetic in the evening and something might go wrong during the dinner... As for the potion you mentioned, well, I'll prepare the one for you. Don't worry."
She pushed the bottle of light green potion back into Klein's hands and changed the topic to the arrangements before the dinner.
"At 4:30 pm, or 5 pm at the latest, look for a carriage with an iris emblem outside the entrance of 35 Halls Street. It will take you to the place where you can change into your evening gown, and I will be waiting for you there. While you are getting dressed for the banquet, I will also explain some precautions to you, including the part about the potion that you are concerned about... Will there be any time problems with this arrangement?"
"My job allows me to have more freedom of choice in the afternoon... It should be fine." After going over the process in his mind, Klein gave his answer after a brief thought.
"Okay, then I look forward to seeing you this afternoon." Alice smiled when she heard that and immediately waved goodbye to him.
...I always feel like I forgot something.
Klein frowned and was about to think carefully, but she added, "Are we going to be late if we don't leave now?"
Well, being late is not a good thing, especially since the approval to become a formal member has not come down yet. He doesn't want to be accused of having a bad work attitude...
Thinking of this, Klein temporarily suppressed the feeling of disobedience as if he had forgotten something, said goodbye to Alice, and turned to walk towards the street corner where he usually took the public carriage.
It was not until he sat down in an empty seat in the carriage that Klein remembered that he had forgotten to ask Alice about what happened last night.
"In the afternoon, definitely in the afternoon..." He tapped his forehead and muttered to himself.
…
At 4:30 in the afternoon, Klein walked out of the Divination Club on time and leisurely walked to the address Alice told him in the morning. I opened my pocket watch and saw that exactly five minutes had passed.
So he got on the carriage with the iris emblem at the door of the store with the sign of the Ten Bells Bar. Of course, he did not forget to use the gold coin divination method for the final confirmation.
After that, the carriage drove away from the Howers neighborhood, and the scene outside the window gradually became unfamiliar. Klein could only tell from the general direction that he had arrived in the East District.
After driving smoothly for five or six minutes, the carriage stopped in front of a three-story building with a guardrail and a small green garden facing the street.
Klein pushed the door open and got out of the car. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and glanced inside the open door.
A manservant dressed as a servant seemed to notice his arrival and came out to confirm the visitor's identity.
After Klein gave his name, the servant nodded to him and motioned for him to follow him.
So Klein relaxed and followed the butler to the second floor while admiring the obviously exquisite furniture and decorations in the room.
He fully expected that he would be able to meet Alice soon and learn more about the arrangements for the dinner from her; but in the end he was only taken to an empty living room, which was furnished with a sofa, a cupboard, a desk, an exquisite fireplace, a clock and a dressing mirror, as well as a mobile clothes rack with a top hat and a complete black tuxedo, a box with various accessories, and a pair of shiny leather shoes placed on the floor next to it.
"Do you need help changing your clothes?"
Klein could feel the butler's eyes lingering on his cheap formal suit for a few seconds before he asked in a confused and tactful tone, as if he was considering his feelings.
I know how to wear formal clothes, and it's not like I don't have decent formal clothes. It's just that I had them torn and had to get them mended. The reimbursement hasn't come in yet, so I can't buy a replacement...
Klein wanted to explain, but he felt that it was even more inappropriate to say so. So he pursed his lips and replied stiffly,
"Thank you, but it's not necessary."
Fortunately, the other party didn't confirm with him again and again, otherwise Klein felt that he would really be socially dead.
With a very cautious and meticulous attitude, Klein changed into the obviously more upscale tuxedo, stood in front of the dressing mirror and smoothed out a few wrinkles. During this time, he couldn't help but feel the delicate texture of the shirt and jacket with his fingertips.
It fits me surprisingly well and I don't feel tight when I move around. The shoe size is also just right. After putting them on, I can feel three to five centimeters taller, making me look taller.
It was as if it was tailor-made for him, and it felt better than the nearly one thousand dollar suits in his closet before he traveled through time...
But this was in Loen, how much would such a suit cost?
Even the tie clip was decorated with gems, the whole set must be more than one hundred... no, two hundred, or even three hundred pounds!
The habit etched into his instinct made Klein begin to estimate the price of the outfit. However, as he calculated the bill and posed a few times in front of the mirror, he suddenly felt that he seemed to have become more handsome, as if he had gained a kind of calm charm called wealth.
It's great to have money, you get what you pay for... I wonder if I should return this formal suit to Alice after the dinner.
Hiss, wait, that evil witch seemed to be able to see the scene in front of the mirror and move through the mirror...
Could she have seen all his poses?
Not to mention that a figure would walk out of the dressing mirror in the next second and laugh at him...
Fortunately, the situations that Klein was worried about did not happen.
Not long after he changed into his dress, the butler who had led him there knocked on the door a few times in the corridor outside the house, asking if the gentleman inside had finished changing his clothes.
Klein said it was no problem and asked him to come in. Then the other party turned the door handle and pushed a small cart into the house. Behind the male servant followed a young girl whom he was very familiar with.
"Good afternoon, Klein. How does this suit feel to me?"
Alice greeted him cheerfully, then came closer and circled around him a few times, nodding as if to confirm something. The butler at the side silently placed the cart, then bowed and left the room without disturbing the two people in the room.
"...Not bad. I'm just a little surprised that the size of the clothes and shoes are just right." Klein expressed his feelings truthfully, and then took a look at Alice's outfit - her hair was not tied up, and she was wearing a simple beige dress and a pair of open-toed strappy sandals of the same color.
Obviously, this wasn't going to be her dinner outfit.
"It's good that it fits. It's worth it that I turned into your appearance and asked the tailors to measure my size. Come and sit over here. I'll explain the dinner while I put on your makeup."
Alice pointed in the direction of the sofa casually, then moved the cart with makeup tools to the side of the sofa. When she turned around, she found that Klein was still standing there without moving.
"…Wait, what did you just say? I feel like I'm hard of hearing and heard something very strange…" Klein took a deep breath and forced himself to smile.
Alice thought about it and simply pulled him to the sofa and made him sit down: "Put on makeup? Appropriate makeup in social occasions is basic etiquette. Don't be shy. Even men need a little bit of decoration... Come on, close your eyes first."
"No, not this one, but the one before that."
Klein answered woodenly with his eyes closed. He no longer wanted to protest against her bullying behavior. He could only pitifully hold the amulet tightly in his pocket, feeling a little relieved from its gradually rising temperature.
"Before... are you talking about the tailor taking the measurements?"
He felt his hair on his forehead being pinned up by a hairpin, revealing his forehead underneath, and then a piece of cotton cloth soaked in water was applied to his face and scrubbed with moderate force.
"No, that's obviously not the question! What you just said was to turn into my appearance so that people can measure your size! Isn't the point, not that you turn into my appearance..."
This is an infringement of my portrait rights! ...And she can even transform into someone else's appearance? Is there anything this witch can't do? Klein shouted silently in his heart.
After the water vapor left by scrubbing completely dissipated, Alice applied some cool liquid on his face. He guessed it was some kind of foundation lotion.
"Well, this… I should indeed say sorry to you, but the production schedule for the dress is very tight, and I don't have time to ask you to go there in person."
She apologized softly, and Klein was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Ask her how she changed her body? Did she only change her appearance, or did she also change her organ structure? If it was the latter, it would be a bit scary.
But if you think about it carefully, Alice could turn into his appearance and have clothes cut to fit him perfectly. This itself is very wrong.
It's as if she knows everything about him and his whole body.
Klein was about to explode with embarrassment from his own imagination, but he heard Alice say,
"I think you are thinking about something very rude. Those tailors are professional craftsmen with rich experience. When measuring the size, they will never touch any part that will embarrass the customer."
That seems okay.
Klein breathed a sigh of relief and cleared his throat. He said seriously that he didn't like being arranged by others on his own initiative. Next time if there is a similar situation, Alice should at least ask for his consent first.
Honestly, if Alice could change this, Klein felt that he could still get along well with her... Well, provided that she stopped teasing him from time to time.
"...Okay, I'll pay attention."
Her tone was like that of a student who had been severely criticized by the dean, and she sounded inexplicably aggrieved.
Perhaps he thought that even if he asked for his opinion, he would agree, so there was no need to do anything unnecessary. That's why he acted first and informed later. This is a typical self-centered mentality that should be corrected... Klein thought.
However, this complex issue can obviously only be discussed later.
Klein could feel the touch of a makeup brush on his face, as if it was applying the fine powder to the surface of his skin with a careful and gentle care.
Perhaps because he had his eyes closed and didn't have to face Alice's offending face up close, Klein gradually relaxed and his thoughts became somewhat divergent.
He had limited knowledge of makeup and didn't know what stage she had reached at this point. So he recalled with concern the various photos of internet celebrities he had seen online before. They all had thick eyelashes, red lips and white teeth. He was very worried that he would be made up to look similar.
But Alice obviously didn't care what he thought. After simply ending the topic that he interrupted, she introduced the situation of tonight's dinner in a very formal tone.
A certain distinguished Baron was the nominal organizer of this banquet. He generously provided the banquet venue, a holiday estate located on the outskirts east of Tingen City and west of the town of Ruislan.
There are beautiful gardens and fountains, exquisite rooms and oil paintings, skilled chefs and pastry chefs making delicious meals, red wine from Southwell, champagne from Intis and Ormere wine, as well as musical bands and dance halls, doing their best to meet the material and spiritual needs of every visitor.
As for the starting time of the dinner, it is at seven o'clock sharp. However, due to certain customary rules, they can re-enter the venue a quarter to half an hour later.
It is now exactly 5:15, and it takes about an hour and a half to drive from the East District of Tingen to the manor. Even if they planned as much as possible, they had to get on the carriage within forty-five minutes to ensure that they could enter the venue at the appropriate time.
The process of an ordinary dinner party includes handing in an invitation, exchanging introductions with the host, and then entering the lounge to wait for dinner to begin. After dinner, there are more social activities that require observing etiquette, which is essentially quite rigid and boring.
However, this dinner was obviously not in line with the norm - strictly speaking, it was not in line with the norms of Loen's traditional culture.
The honorable Baron and his partner, a beautif