The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 58

Chapter 58
“The “Heartthrob” Moriarty”
Eivass and Lily arrived at the Silver and Tin Hall at 5:30 PM. The sky had not yet completely darkened.
As it turned out, they still hadn’t finished eating by 8:45 PM.
There was no ball, and no one else. It was simply Eivass, Princess Isabel, and Master Janis, who had been talking non-stop.
The first course of food had gone cold before they could finish it, so a second round was served.
This included baked apples, sponge cake, and pan-seared scallops with foie gras…
Midway through, Princess Isabel realized that Lily, the maid who had been standing behind Eivass the entire time, looked hungry. Thus, she warmly invited Lily to sit down and join them. By then, Isabel had already had three glasses of wine, her cheeks slightly flushed, but her eyes shining brighter.
Although she was a maid, eating at the same table as a distinguished princess was against etiquette… but Lily was indeed hungry. Even though she had eaten something to line her stomach before leaving, standing straight behind Eivass as a mortal required a lot of stamina.
However, by the rules, whether she could sit down to eat depended on the attitude of her master, Eivass.
Eivass not only agreed but even asked Isabel if Lily could rest there after finishing her meal, instead of continuing to stand behind him. Isabel readily agreed without hesitation.
The three of them were the type who didn’t care much for “rules”—Isabel had basically been raised by her grandmother, Queen Sophia, and Janis had even accomplished the feat of circumnavigating the world solo on foot. Eivass, with his Transcendent Path Adaptability, was even less concerned.
Thus, the three-person banquet pleasantly turned into a four-person one and continued.
As Eivass’s personal maid, Lily was expected to maintain a certain decorum. She didn’t have to wear a uniform like other maids but could wear her own nice private clothes when going out with Eivass.
Lily, also from a Knight family, possessed a beauty and demeanor akin to the young ladies from Glass Island. Moreover, compared to the ladies of the capital who were more focused on maintaining their beauty and physique, Lily, more eager for knowledge due to her upbringing, had read more books. This gave her a quiet and intellectual aura that made her seem more like a lady of high birth.
After she sat down, she fit in perfectly. When Master Janis asked her about certain literary topics, she could even engage in the conversation with ease.
Taking this opportunity, Eivass also made his request.
“…Indeed, Mr. Eivass does require someone to look after him.”
Isabel nodded slightly in agreement. “You wish for Miss Lily to accompany you to school…?”
She turned to Janis and whispered, “Teacher, do my words count for something in this matter?”
Having drunk several glasses of wine—even if they were only low-alcohol sweet wines—Isabel’s speech had clearly become more animated. Her timid demeanor had also lessened considerably.
If one were to consider this current state as her true heart’s desire, it could indirectly reveal Isabel’s genuine personality.
“Of course, my little darling.”
Janis, who had drunk twice as much wine as Isabel with no apparent effect, simply smiled. “This is the ‘Royal Law University’. Naturally, what you say goes.”
“Then, instead of the status of a maid who can attend classes, I want to directly arrange for Miss Lily to have student status. Because I believe she is more deserving of pursuing higher education at the Royal Law University than many of the students there… Is that permissible?”
After finishing in one breath, Isabel felt a bit uncertain about her words. “Is this perhaps too willful?”
She was worried if this would cause trouble for others’ work.
This princess, who had never been willful and thus didn’t even know the extent of her own privileges, hesitated for a moment.
“Of course, it is,” Janis couldn’t help but laugh. “You are too adorable… you’re such a good girl. You only need to give the order for such minor matters, and all the paperwork will be handled automatically.
“Even when it comes to troublesome matters of state, the opinion of the Round Table Hall carries more weight than that of the Silver and Tin Hall. But don’t forget, the ministers’ decrees only take effect with Her Majesty the Queen’s signature. And don’t underestimate your own importance—when you belittle yourself, others will only belittle you more. Scum always bullies the weak and fears the strong.
“Trust me, Sophia won’t mind this at all. She’ll only be pleased with you. Because you’ve finally realized your identity and learned to wield your power.”
“Then it’s settled, Miss Lily!”
Isabel looked at Lily with anticipation.
—From now on, you’ll be my junior!
Great, another friend!
“…Thank you, Your Highness, thank you, Young Master Eivass, thank you, Master Janis!”
Realizing that the trajectory of her life might be altered from this moment on, Lily excitedly stood up, bowed, and thanked all three of them profusely.
“How about this, Lily.”
Janis chimed in, arranging things with more practiced ease than Isabel. “It’s inconvenient for Eivass to move around now, so I don’t think it’s suitable for him to continue living at home. The journey from the White Queen District to the Red Queen District also takes time… just pushing a wheelchair would take over two hours. That would be troublesome for you too, wouldn’t it.”
“No, it’s fine on my end…”
“I know,” Janis interrupted. “But you are both students and young people. You need more sleep and time to socialize with your classmates. However, like Isabel, you’re not suited for student dormitories…
“So I think there are two options. One is to buy a residence near the school, and you two move there. The advantage is that it’s secluded enough and offers ample private space, and you wouldn’t have to follow the school’s standards for food and lodging. But the downside is that it might not be as safe.
“After all, you have the protection of the mentors at school, but both of you lack self-protection abilities. Living alone outside always has its inconveniences, and with only one maid, Lily would likely be very busy, taking up a lot of study time. In that case, we might need Oswald to move in with servants and a cook.
Unlike Avalon Kingdom, which has a noble system, Star Antinomy and Iris Flower have strict limitations on the size of employed servants, even for Knight families. This is to prevent Knight families with extraordinary knowledge from secretly training their own private armies of extraordinary individuals.
In a sense, this also limits the scope of activities for Knight families.
Because their main residences and manors are too large, they require a large number of servants to manage. When family members need to move out temporarily, they usually only bring their personal attendants.
“That definitely won’t work,” Eivass shook his head. “Although Father is temporarily away on business and won’t be home recently, Yulia needs more care and protection than I do.”
Especially given that he couldn’t visit home often, she would likely feel even lonelier.
“So, the other option is to have someone clear out a separate dormitory room for you within the school, and the two of you would live there. Because it’s still within the school grounds, all issues regarding food, hygiene, and safety can be resolved within the school.”
“…Huh?”
Isabel, on the other hand, seemed flustered. “Miss Lily needs to live with Mr. Eivass? That might be… inconvenient, won’t it?”
“Isn’t that what personal maids are for?” Janis retorted.
She looked at Isabel for a moment and then suddenly seemed to understand, bursting into laughter. “Ah, I see… Is *that* what you’re thinking?”
“Teacher, you understand… understand what?” Isabel was somewhat embarrassed and annoyed.
“To my knowledge, to prevent hot-blooded young men from being corrupted and falling ill from impure women outside, or from leaving unrecognized illegitimate children scattered about… before they are assigned a suitable fiancée by their family, the carnal desires of these young masters from Knight families are usually handled by their personal maids.”
The elven lady of indeterminate age spoke unabashedly, with great interest. “What about you, Eivass? You probably don’t need that, do you?”
Upon hearing this, Lily blushed and quietly lowered her head.
Isabel’s eyes widened in shock.
Eivass merely smiled and avoided the question. “It seems you must have heard some rumors about me.”
“I can only say, seeing is believing.”
Janis smiled and shook her head, saying meaningfully, “As expected, you’re full of sweet talk, like a fox… or rather, you are even more outstanding than I imagined, and more charming than the rumors suggest.”
“…Huh? What rumors?”
Having no friends, Isabel was completely isolated from gossip circles and was momentarily confused.
“Do you think only you can see Eivass’s charm, little Isha?” Janis teased with a smile. “Our young Mr. Eivass just doesn’t attend university. But he was already a heartthrob in middle school. Descendants of Knight families are public figures, and they aren’t even allowed to choose their own girlfriends casually—because others might misinterpret the choice of girlfriend, or it might even make the news and cause trouble for the parents. My newspaper has reported similar news.
“And Eivass, because he liked to casually exude charm to his peers, was repeatedly suspected of having an impure relationship. He was notoriously known as a playboy in the capital circles. He was already famous before appearing in the newspapers.
“Back then, Eivass hadn’t been attacked by a Demon Scholar and ended up in a wheelchair. He excelled in sports and was very good at cricket. He grew tall early and was handsome, witty, and humorous, and very respectful towards girls.
“Many girls were jealous of each other over him, and many girls even considered themselves his girlfriends—although it was later proven to be their one-sided illusion, it had left traces in Eivass’s reputation.”
They aren’t entirely wrong about their reputations, Eivass thought to himself.
He was indeed a bit ill-tempered in this regard. He disdained hiding his brilliance and instead freely radiated charm and warmth. But at the same time, he rarely was willing to reciprocate the love directed at him.
That was simply because he felt the other party was not yet enough to move him. Far from it.
—Even before awakening his past life memories, Eivass’s inner heart was somewhat proud. That pride had nothing to do with understanding the “plot,” but was closer to the essence of his soul.
The biggest difference in personality before and after awakening his past life memories was that Eivass before lacked social experience and was less calculating and malicious in his schemes. At that time, he was quite naive and dared to meet his pen pal alone.
After all, there was no internet in this era. It was normal for young people to be a bit naive.
And the old matters like Eivass’s past reputation were difficult to conceal.
Currently, Eivass indeed had no special feelings for Isabel.
He was busy improving himself, changing the future, and fighting against doomsday, being extremely occupied.
The energy he invested in the princess was entirely focused on how to help her become stronger, gain confidence, and overcome her shortcomings, leaving no room for romantic entanglement.
—But he couldn’t say for sure that he would never be moved in the future.
After all, she was indeed very beautiful.
To be honest, this was the primary reason.
Besides that, she also possessed a kind and steadfast heart. And she was a reliable teammate whom he could trust with his back.
If they spent more time together, feelings might naturally develop… Deceiving himself would be meaningless.
—And when that time truly came, prolonged concealment would become a form of malicious deception.
Therefore, Eivass was rather grateful to Master Janis for breaking this window paper at this time.
It was better to address such matters sooner rather than later, to avoid unnecessary auras.
But what puzzled Eivass was that Isabel didn’t have much of a reaction to this.
She subconsciously looked up at Lily, then at her teacher, as if contemplating something.
At this moment, Janis looked at Eivass, and their eyes met. “After all, he is also a ‘Moriarty.’ Everyone knows that Old James had a notoriously keen eye for choosing adopted children. Eivass, like his older brothers and sisters, was born to attract attention and be loved.”
…Brothers and sisters?
Eivass, standing nearby, suddenly felt a jolt.
I have older siblings? I didn’t know?
Just as he was about to ask, the male servant at the door knocked and announced that the people coming to pick up Eivass had arrived.
In other words, it was time—they had to leave.
They couldn’t possibly have Eivass stay overnight at the Silver and Tin Hall.
And only then did the three of them realize that it was already past nine o’clock. It was time for Isabel to go to sleep.
—While it sounded ridiculous, Isabel did indeed sleep this early.
“You haven’t met Eivass’s older brother yet, you can meet him this time,” Janis said with a smile as she stood up. “He is also quite an outstanding young man. He was notoriously excellent when he was in school…”
“…By the way, Master Janis.”
Upon hearing this, the male servant quickly added, “The person coming is not Mr. Edward Moriarty.
“There was just a warehouse explosion in the White Queen District, and Chief Inspector Edward is temporarily busy and cannot come.
“The person picking up Mr. Eivass is Advisor Sherlock Hermes.”
After finishing today’s update, the word count will meet the requirement for automatic promotion to a new book list.
However, it will be promoted to “Sanjiang” tomorrow, so it’s almost a seamless transition!
This is the last week of the new book period, and I need to start preparing some manuscript drafts for the book’s launch and a burst of updates…
It’s currently 9:30 AM, and I’ve just finished writing over seven thousand words for today. I can’t say for sure what time I’ll wake up this afternoon, but I’ll proofread for typos once I’m awake (sigh)