Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

"I see..."

Hearing this, Anne felt a little embarrassed. After all, she had invited Tia and Eleanor, but she hadn't invited Vera, which was not good.

She was thinking of making it up to Vera someday by buying her things, finding her a teacher, or helping her out.

Eleanor glanced at the ivy pattern in the upper left corner of Anne's white turtleneck shirt, then at the holly branch print in the upper right corner of Tia's suit jacket, and blinked.

Why are you all wearing the same clothes?

Chapter 347 Eleanor Also Heads to the Iris

Tia got into the carriage and muttered halfway there, "Annie, you did this on purpose! It's clearly your clothes, but they fit me surprisingly well, and they're exactly the same!"

"Because this outfit is really cute..."

Annie, sitting in her seat, swung her legs guiltily and changed the subject, saying, "And Tia looks very cute in it too."

That's true; even Eleanor could see that Tia was indeed very well suited to this outfit.

Or rather, this was practically tailor-made for Tia.

Eleanor glanced at Anne, then at Tia, and looked away unhappily, taking Tia's hand in hers.

Tia didn't refuse and let Eleanor pull her along.

When they arrived at Edith’s manor villa, she followed behind Tia like a child being led by an adult.

When Duke Edith heard that Anne, Tia, and Eleanor had arrived, he quickly asked his butler to go and greet them.

The butler, busy greeting guests, hurried from the east to the west and was taken aback when he saw Anne and Eleanor. As the Edith family's butler, he naturally recognized the two of them.

The eldest daughter of House Mercury, and the youngest princess of the royal family.

Upon seeing the two of them arrive at the same time, the butler hurriedly led the servants to greet them. However, upon arrival, he saw a black-haired girl standing awkwardly between the two of them.

On one side, Anne was holding her hand and chatting and laughing, while on the other side, Eleanor was pulling her from behind and making her stop.

The butler was thrown into chaos.

Who is this again?! Two high-ranking nobles serving him, one in front and one behind?

Upon closer inquiry...

Director Sulf – now should be respectfully addressed as Lord Sulf.

The butler remarked that it was no wonder he had been awarded a medal by the Queen; it turned out there was a connection.

When the butler led the three to the banquet hall, he saw Eleanor asking Tia to take off her coat and sharing juice with Tia. The butler gasped, feeling that the intimacy was a little too much.

Seeing Anne happily feeding Tia and Eleanor pieces of fruit, the butler fell completely silent, momentarily confused about the relationship between the three.

This doesn't seem like a normal friendship!

He witnessed Miss Anne feeding Miss Sourf the wine she had drunk, and then Princess Eleanor taking a bite out of the cake Miss Sourf had eaten.

He remembered that Princess Eleanor, Miss Anne, and this Miss Sulph were not nuns who had joined the Holy Church convent!

The butler, his mind in disarray, pretended not to see anything.

Even when Tia was packing desserts and juices in a manner that lacked any aristocratic integrity, he hesitated to speak and did not ask the maids for help.

The banquet didn't last long, just an afternoon.

Princess Lilibey greeted Tia with a few words, followed by Duke Edith, who came over with a wine glass, smiled and nodded at Tia, and after a few laughs, exchanged contact addresses.

Putting aside the awarding of medals and other achievements, just looking at his age and extraordinary status is enough to warrant the Edith family showing him goodwill.

Tia wasn't idle either; she talked for a long time with Lenster Edith—about the iris flower business.

Lenster put down his glass and said, "Director Sulph, you should have an academic exchange after you arrive in Mistmoon City, at St. Pantheon's University—you know about that, right?"

Tia nodded and said, "I do know about that. Is it related to alchemy?"

“I suppose so,” Lenster said. “To be precise, it’s an exchange between alchemy and forging. The Iris Flower region has an urgent need for energy and power technology as well as long-distance communication, so they hope to combine these two approaches for development.”

"St. Pantheon has specially invited you to participate."

"I?"

Tia felt completely clueless about this...

Lenster smiled and said, "You don't need to be in a hurry. Actually, they invited you because of your special status, Director Sulf. You don't need to actually go to exchange ideas, share papers, or anything like that."

Tia patted her chest and said, "That's good! I thought I'd have to go on stage and give a speech, which would have been really embarrassing."

Judging from what Lenster said, her past visit was considered a leadership inspection.

Everyone knows her capabilities and won't make things difficult for her.

This isn't too difficult, and the entire exchange lecture will likely include some content related to alchemy, which she's quite interested in—she wonders what insights the alchemists of the Iris Flower might have regarding energy and power.

Around six or seven o'clock in the evening, Tia and her friends said goodbye and left, returning to 16 Crown Street.

Tia brought two large boxes of desserts to Vera's bedroom. As soon as she arrived, she saw Vera asleep on the table. She pulled up a chair and shook her awake, then opened the boxes and held them to her face.

He then took out a small honey cake and placed it near Vera's mouth.

Glug glug glug~~~

Vera's stomach growled at the smell of the cake. Before she even opened her eyes, she opened her mouth with a "whoa!" and swallowed the whole cake.

Lick lick lick~

Ok?

What is this thing? Why is it soft, hard, and long?

Vera felt something strange being put into her mouth, licked it, and opened her eyes with a look of utter disbelief.

Tia gently wiped her tongue, withdrew her hand from Vera's mouth, and wiped it with a handkerchief.

Vera said speechlessly:

"Why did you put your fingers in my mouth while you were feeding me?!"

Tia said, "I didn't do this because you weren't awake yet. How is it? Is it good?"

"...Not bad. I mean the cake!"

"Mmm. After all, it was prepared by Edith's family, so it definitely won't taste bad."

"You got it packed from someone's banquet?"

Vera was a little surprised; she felt quite ashamed doing something like that herself. So seeing that Tia didn't seem to care at all made her envious.

I wish she could be that shameless.

Tia shrugged and said, "Since we're already here, we might as well bring some back for our families. What's this called? Motherly love?"

"Then I really thank you..."

Tia left the cake in the box, and since she was bored, she thought she would play board games with Eleanor and Anne.

When she went to Eleanor's bedroom, Eleanor was already asleep. So she went to play with Anne instead.

............

Meanwhile, in the grand hotel on the banks of the Broken Gold River in the city of Misty Moon, thousands of miles away.

Eleanor carefully maneuvered the doll off the bed to make sure it wouldn't leave any trace.

Standing in front of the mirror, the girl in the mirror—the doll named Funina Bonaparte—bit her lip.

Although we are all good friends, there are still different levels of priority!

Eleanor couldn't understand this strange possessiveness, but she was indeed unhappy to see Tia and Anne wearing the same clothes.

At least, at least everyone is wearing the same thing!

That would feel even stranger—like some kind of weird little group.

Everyone should be the same.

So, she also wants to come to the iris garden!

Chapter 348 Tia: I need to teach you a lesson.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the city hall on Tower Street was still brightly lit, and well-dressed civil servants were typing away on their typewriters in their offices, then carrying documents upstairs to the main conference room.

In the conference room, the heads of several major departments, including finance, public security, public works, education, and health, gathered around the conference table, chatting happily with Consul Scarlett at the head.

The main issue was the fiscal budget for the second half of the year and next year, but because it was an internal meeting, the discussion was quite open.

Scarlett was initially quite shy and not used to being surrounded by so many stars. However, after working alongside old Kamas in the government for a few months, she became quite adept at it. She tapped the table to signal for quiet and said:

"Minister of Education, your department's budget will be increased by an additional five percent next year, beyond the planned amount, to help promote academic exchange programs between St. Pansen and Ansu."

Nora, from the finance office next door, raised her hand and asked, "If Scarlett is in charge, how will the funding problem be solved?"

Scarlett said, "The Lost administration in the Cloud Valley has agreed to reduce the financial transfers from Mistmoon City to the border region this year and next. This money can be used to fund the Department of Education."

"I have no objection to that, but isn't the Yunwu Border Region expanding its military? Is their financial situation really healthy?"

"I don't know the specifics, but the Ministry of the Interior has approved it, so there shouldn't be any major problems."

Scarlett replied tactfully.

She actually knew a little about the inside story, but since it was related to the Montreal family and was mostly speculation, she didn't dare to say anything.

It is said that the two foolish brothers of the Montreal family sold a large amount of coal futures left by Brigitte to the Cloud Valley outskirts as soon as they took over the family fortune.

Just two months later, in November, coal prices suddenly skyrocketed! They rose by a full 30%! This brought the border region a huge sum of money.

It's not even the end of the year yet, and the clans in the northern ice plains are cutting off supplies, and prices have already risen so dramatically. Scarlett finds it hard to imagine what it will look like afterward.

Moreover, with the temperature plummeting at the end of the year, coupled with soaring coal prices and the industry guild in Mistmoon City that monopolizes coal prices, if any more trouble were to break out, the citizens of Mistmoon City might just storm Fontaine Palace!

Scarlett is also actively contacting the dwarves in the eastern mountains, hoping they can import some fuel from the border.

Scarlett reminded them, "The Education Department's budget issue has now been resolved. You should also start preparing for the academic exchange in St. Pantheon as soon as possible. The academic exchange project was applied for by the association, so make sure it's properly prepared."

"clear."

The head of the education department immediately nodded, took a stack of documents from the civil servant outside the door, and said, "After all, it's a project of the association, and we've already started preparing for it."

"However, for such a large-scale event, important figures from Ansu's Anti-Suppression Bureau are also involved. We plan to invite some important figures to participate as well. Please take a look."

The supervisor stood up and handed the list to Scarlett.

Scarlett glanced around; the front was alright, with former Minister Milke and some academic figures from the academy.

But then things got strange. Even the mayor, who was putting on a dignified front but was actually quite weak inside, couldn't help but widen her eyes.

Ibn Musa, a Sequence 4 forging hammer "stonemason" who once served in the Palace of Wisdom, the infamous great inventor, and Marn Kulun, one of the current leaders of the Constitutional Council.

and also--

Sususususu—Commander Sulf!

..............

dong dong!

Boom boom boom!

Eleanor, who was in the hotel, heard a knock on the door and instinctively went to open it. This was a habitual action; she had been living at Iris Hotel for the past six months and had completely made the hotel her home.

As soon as the door opened, Eleanor's brain went blank.

wrong!

She's currently impersonating Tia. If someone comes looking for Tia, won't she be exposed?

But it was too late.

The city hall clerk outside the door, dressed in a black tailcoat, said with relief, “Miss Bonaparte, you’ve finally opened the door! I came here the other day and you weren’t here—we were just about to invite you to Saint-Pansen for an academic exchange.”

"By the way, everyone here for this exchange is from your hometown! You're from Baiyinbao, right? Your accent sounds like it. It's a coincidence, I actually grew up in Baiyinbao! Sorry, sorry, I've said a bit too much."

The clerk scratched his head sheepishly, then quickly pulled out the invitation from his pocket and looked at the bewildered Grand Guardian, Miss "Frinna Bonaparte".

Are you alright?

"Oh... academic exchange."