Being a knight is not easy

Chapter 168 Stupid woman

Robin lowered his eyes to avoid the touch of Lady Eshar's fingertips, but when she withdrew her hand, he suddenly grabbed her wrist with just enough force to make the emerald bracelet tap against the glass vase, making a crisp "click" sound.

The moment the lady's eyelashes trembled, he had already loosened his hand, and his fingertips brushed the gold powder on her shoulders. "The Night Roland in the North needs to be watered by the extreme cold dew."

His voice was mixed with the warm mist of a greenhouse, but the ending sound was like ice chips scraping across the strings. "It's like some melodies, you have to wait until the pegs rust to understand the change of tune."

Lady Aisha's pupils shrank into slits in the twilight, and she suddenly pulled off the sapphire necklace from her neck and put it into his palm.

The sharp edges of the metal pricked the blood vessels in his palm. Robin's fingertips traced the seams of the fake, and he frowned deliberately: "The cross section of this 'Ice Sea Heart'..."

"It's just a fake." The lady chuckled and turned around, her gauze skirt brushing against the rouge marks on his cuffs. The jade bracelet on his wrist shone with a cold light. "The real treasure—" She suddenly leaned in, and the scent of ambergris mixed with rosemary filled her nostrils. "It will jump into your palm when you break the third string."

Robin lowered his eyes to look at the silver hair entwined between her fingertips, his Adam's apple moving slightly. "I will only break the strings for those who are worthy." He took a half step back, and the guitar case brushed against the flower stand. When Ye Luolan fell, it just happened to cover the dark color surging in his eyes. "For example, at this moment, the angle at which the moonlight shines through your veil."

The lady's fingertips rested just above his collarbone, the jade bracelet only half an inch away from the "sword wound" he'd faked the previous night. "I've heard the archers of the Southern Territory are skilled at shooting into people's hearts." She suddenly grasped his chin, forcing him to look directly into her malachite-tinted eyes. "Tell me, should I shoot my heart with a golden or silver-feathered arrow?"

Robin let her turn his face, his eyelashes casting tiny shadows under his eyes, but a low laugh rolled out of his throat. "In the North, hunters never aim their arrows at treasure." He deliberately softened his tone, as gentle as a wandering poet coaxing a young girl. "They spend the entire winter taming the snow fox, letting it bring the brightest stars by itself."

Robin didn't care about the temptation to know the identity of the Bow Knight.

The lady dug her nails into his jaw, but suddenly relaxed when she heard the word "tame".

The sound of silver wind chimes came from afar. She suddenly pulled off the leather rope that tied his hair, wrapped his silver hair around the jade bracelet and tied a knot: "Tomorrow at noon, bring your 'Snow Fox' to the West Garden." When she turned around, Robin caught a glimpse of the new red mark behind her ear.

"As you command, my lady." Robin knelt on one knee, the case of her violin covering half of the embroidery on her Eastland brocade shoes.

In the scent of Ye Luolan, he heard his heart beating as usual, but he crushed the pearl earrings she had just stuffed into him between his fingers.

Outside the greenhouse glass, dusk deepened. Robin touched the cuff of his sleeve, where the fake sapphire was hidden, and suddenly remembered what the Viscountess had said: "The most clever bait is not honey, but making the prey think you are the prey."

At this moment, the scent of rose perfume lingering on his shoulders suddenly became sweet, just like the wildfire that flickered in Lady Eshar's eyes when she saw him. That was not the light of a hunter, but the last willing trance before a moth flew into the flame.

"This woman is really dangerous." Robin reminded himself secretly.

Three days later, in Lady Aisha's bedroom.

Feng Ling's fingertips paused on the emerald hairpin. In the mirror, the tips of Lady Eshar's eyebrows were stained with freshly brushed malachite powder, as green as pine needles in the early spring when the snow melted.

As she put the pearl veil on her ladyship's head, she deliberately let the silver thread catch on the silver hair knot at her ear, which was the trophy she had torn from Robin's head that morning.

"The Duke will be checking the winter food inventory tonight." The maid's voice mingled with the soft click of a powder jar opening. "The kitchen has just received some fresh frozen oysters from the East. You said last time..." "That's enough." Lady Eshar suddenly grasped her wrist, causing her emerald bracelet to clink against the edge of her dressing box. "Hock wants a docile canary, but I"—she turned the ring in front of the mirror, revealing the rose tattoo engraved on the inside—"need a nightingale that bites."

Feng Ling lowered her eyes as she tied the ribbon for her lady, and out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of half a piece of parchment sticking out from under the dressing table.

Robin's profile, sketched in charcoal, was angular, his sword-like eyebrows were a little higher than when they met last night, and the arc at the corner of his eye, which seemed to be smiling but not smiling, looked very much like the decorative patterns engraved on the ribs of a male favorite's skeleton that she had seen in the collection's secret room this morning. These were all the "prey characteristics" that Lady Eshar loved.

"Ma'am, the Duke is asking about Robin." Feng Ling's fingertips tied a beautiful bow on the ribbon, but her tone was as if she was discussing the weather. "The concierge said that this morning he specially checked the records of all the bards entering the city in the past three months."

"Then answer according to the rules." Lady Aishaer turned the emerald bracelet in front of the mirror, "Just say I'm obsessed with Northern folk songs. I even want to listen to that kid playing the piano during afternoon tea—" She suddenly laughed out loud, her malachite eyeshadow gleaming cunningly in the candlelight. "Isn't a foolish woman's pastime what Hawke wants most?"

When Feng Ling put on the mink cloak for the lady, she noticed that she was holding a small glass bottle with light golden powder in her fingertips, and it was flowing in the moonlight. It was the "Aphasia Powder" from the East Territory, which could make the user only able to hum the melody for three hours.

She lowered her head to avoid her lady's gaze and stared at a corner of invitations sticking out from the crack of the dresser drawer: they were all invitations from noble ladies in the city inviting Robin to date, but the edges were neatly cut off, like a dead bird with its feathers plucked out.

"Those invitations." Feng Ling paused deliberately, "He rejected them all. The reason was 'no inspiration'."

Lady Aisha suddenly burst into laughter, shaking the diamonds on her pearl veil.

When she turned around, Robin's silver hair knot brushed against the back of Feng Ling's hand, and the touch felt very much like the whip tassels made of male favorites' hair hanging in the secret passage.

"A clever child." The lady lifted Feng Ling's chin with a peacock feather fan, "You know who to leave the music to."

When the maid lowered her eyes, she saw her own reflection in the mirror.

Those eyes, which should have been timid, were now reflecting the silver hair on the lady's wrist, the powder in the bottle, and the broken string that Robin had deliberately left by the fountain when he passed by the garden this morning - the string wrapped with gold wire was now hidden in her sleeve, trembling gently with her heartbeat.

At the end of the corridor, Robin's piano music suddenly became melodious.

Lady Aisha walked away wearing her East Territory brocade shoes, but Feng Ling crumpled up the half charcoal sketch into a ball of paper when she turned around.

She knew that the lady would not really use the aphasia powder on Robin.

After all, rather than a doll that couldn't scream, this concubine preferred to listen to the broken notes emitted by her prey when they struggled, just like when she was at the dock, she loved to listen to the cheers of sailors on merchant ships that tore through the morning mist when they docked.

For some reason, Feng Ling couldn't help but feel her heart beating faster every time she met Robin recently. This had never happened when she had come into contact with the lady's other male favorites before.

(End of this chapter)