Chapter 13: Xivista’s Visit
After dinner, Shaya refused Tilius’s invitation and went straight back to his apartment.
Upon opening the door, he found that Deyora’s shoes were missing, and the room was empty; she must have gone out shopping.
So, Shaya went to the living room and rummaged through some boxes until he found a few stacks of yellowed papers that the maid had put away. While flipping through them, he brewed himself a cup of lemon flower tea, the fragrance lingering at his nose.
After doing all this, he lay back on the sofa, looking at the papers held above his head, silently calculating something.
“At 108 Wil Street, Mystic Witch Street in the Victor District, there’s a small residence valued at around 300 gold coins, originally used as a base for teleportation rituals, now temporarily abandoned…”
“From the Violet Chamber, I secretly saved some money for Deyora, amounting to about 1000 gold coins with interest, which can be withdrawn for the time being…”
“Currently, I have over 100 gold coins at home for daily expenses, but Deyora definitely won’t allow me to use them…”
“And the carriage, that can be sold for 50 gold coins…”
“Damn, how could it only be this little? Am I really this poor?”
After calculating back and forth, it was still far from the expected amount. Shaya sighed, scattering the papers he was holding onto the table beside him.
He closed his eyes, pondering where he could quickly acquire a sum of no less than 8000 gold coins.
Thinking carefully, quick ways to get rich were all outlined in the imperial law. If all else failed, robbing a noble house could yield results, but the consequence would likely be getting captured and thrown into the Judgment Tower as a madman.
In fact, Shaya’s money-making speed was not slow.
In the past decade, including daily expenses and teleportation ritual costs, he had earned no less than 15,000 gold coins, equivalent to thirty years of net income for a middle-class family living in the Upper City.
Yet it was still far from enough. Even if he got through this crisis, he would need to spend a lot of money in the future to buy essence powder for teleportation rituals.
This was much more costly than the ordinary knight’s training, even compared to magic students.
As he pondered, Shaya’s thoughts began to wander.
Due to not sleeping at all after the ritual yesterday and having been killed by a witch once, his mental state was a bit sluggish.
As drowsiness crept in, Shaya’s consciousness gradually turned hazy.
Eventually, he fell into a deep sleep leaning against the sofa.
He did not know how long it had been.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
A slight knocking sound woke Shaya from his slumber.
Perhaps because of his past experiences, his sleep had always been very light over the years; any little noise could wake him up, as if he were always keeping vigilant.
Shaya rubbed his eyes, downed the now-cold lemon flower tea on the table in one go, then stood up and walked towards the door.
“Who is it?”
Shaya asked as usual.
But the other party did not answer and knocked lightly again.
Tilius?
Seeing the other person behaving a bit mysteriously, Shaya immediately thought of that guy, so he didn’t ask further and opened the door directly.
The golden-red radiance rendered the sky and clouds magnificently, with the sunset casting down its remaining light, spreading a beautiful orange-red hue on the corridor floor.
Standing at the door was an unexpectedly stunning girl.
“Good day, Shaya.”
Xivista bowed slightly, raising her head gently with a smile.
Compared to when they met at noon, she now had her beautiful long golden hair styled in an updo, exposing her swan-like gracefully curved white neck, adorned with a shimmering diamond necklace, elegant and noble.
Shaya was taken aback. “Xivista? What brings you here?”
“I’m here to apologize for my sister’s behavior at noon.” Xivista smiled shyly and lifted a small box in her hand, “This is a small gift I bought on Arcane Avenue; please accept it.”
Arcane Avenue is a district popular among many nobles and mages, renowned for selling various expensive custom magical devices.
With Xivista’s family background, what she could present was certainly not a cheap item.
Seeing this, Shaya sighed.
Though he found it hard to tolerate Angelica’s behavior, Xivista was his friend; after today’s events, he had no intention of venting his frustrations on her.
So Shaya looked around and then opened the door wider. “Please come in.”
“Ah?” Xivista’s small face quickly flushed a shade of pink, her gaze darting away, the elegance from before instantly disappearing. “Isn’t this, um, a bit inappropriate?”
As the most cherished second daughter of the Noble House of Algeria, this was her first time visiting a boy’s home without anyone accompanying her.
Moreover, there were only the two of them in the room.
“If the daughter of the Algeria family comes to visit but is met with rejection, it would spread and make me seem like an uncouth country bumpkin. And if any of the students living nearby were to see, it could lead to some bad rumors… If your sister finds out, it would be quite troublesome, wouldn’t it?”
Shaya explained after thinking for a moment.
Xivista nodded in agreement. “Sister, is very scary.”
“Then let’s go inside.”
Shaya turned and walked toward the kitchen behind the living room, leaving Xivista with his back.
Xivista bit her rosy lips, cautiously entering, taking off her strapped wedge shoes at the door, her little feet clad in short socks gently stepping on the wooden floor inside.
She curiously looked around the room and found it surprisingly tidy.
Is this a boy’s room?
Xivista’s cheeks blushed, feeling the atmosphere everywhere belonged to Shaya, her heartbeat slightly quickened.
“Is red tea okay?”
At that moment, while boiling water in the kitchen, Shaya rummaged through Deyora’s collection of expensive tea leaves and turned back to say.
Xivista sat elegantly on the sofa in the living room, her long legs together, gently leaning to one side, and replied, “Yes, thank you, Shaya.”
Feeling the subtle warmth emanating from the sofa, she blushed again.
At that moment, Xivista’s attention was suddenly caught by a few sheets of paper on the coffee table, and she instinctively stole a few glances.
After understanding the content, her expression showed some surprise as she pondered something internally.
Before long, Shaya returned to the living room holding a steaming cup of red tea, placing it in front of Xivista. “Enjoy.”
“Thank you.” Xivista gently held the relatively exquisite ceramic tea cup with both hands and took a small sip, then set it down on the saucer, pondering how to begin, “Shaya…”
“What is it?”
Shaya glanced at her glistening lips and quickly averted his gaze.
Xivista looked worried. “What do you think about the incident at noon?”
“I’ve already said, I won’t sign the contract.”
Shaya glanced at her again and returned to the kitchen.
When he came back, he was holding another steaming cup of red tea.
“But, opposing the Blood Rose Association, I’m afraid Shaya will get hurt because of this.” Xivista bit her lower lip lightly, looking at him with clear eyes, “Can’t we… take a step back for now?”
