A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

“These paintings… were painted by a friend,” Angelia replied after a moment’s thought.

"Your friend is really amazing!" Naruko praised him sincerely. The last artist she praised was the one who drew rabbits.

These paintings are just as good as the rabbit painting; they're amazing.

"Is it impressive?" Angelia thought of the portrait from that day.

"Yes, that's true... It's really impressive." Angelia had never met anyone who could draw with such focus before.

His paintings are all very beautiful, so Angela keeps them all. From these paintings, she seems to be able to feel the outside world.

“Just like the real thing,” Angelia said softly.

“No, it’s even more beautiful than the real thing,” Bray said, shaking his head at Angelia.

Even Bray, who knew nothing about painting, felt that these paintings surpassed the scenery seen with the naked eye.

The effect after filming is completely different.

What Bray saw was not entirely the same as what he himself had seen.

"Is that right?"

“No wonder, these paintings always give me the illusion that I’m surrounded by the world,” Angela said quietly, seemingly not to Bray, but rather to herself.

"Guests, these are your rooms," 112 said respectfully, interrupting the conversation.

"Please get some rest. I'll come and call you for dinner in an hour."

"Dinner's served! Really?" Levy asked expectantly, turning to 112 to confirm again.

"Yes."

“You must be good people~” Levy’s ears twitched and she rubbed her tail against 112.

For some reason, 112's ears twitched, and then it smiled, a rare occurrence, and touched Levy's alien tail with its own.

This might be due to the attraction of being of the same kind; after all, lions and cats can be considered family, strictly speaking.

“You are a good child too,” 112 said.

"Hehe~" After being praised, Levy showed a smile that could melt even the ice and snow.

"Miss, I'll go prepare dinner now. You should go and rest for a while too," 112 said to the young lady.

Despite being very respectful, 112 will not use "you" to address others, nor will he refer to himself as "this humble person" or similar terms.

However, his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, giving people a very incongruous feeling.

---

Angelia walked down the corridor, seemingly preparing to sit on the balcony.

It's nice to take one last look outside before dinner.

However, after walking only a few steps, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked into the shadows.

"112, aren't you going to prepare dinner?"

“I’ll be there in a bit,” 112 said.

"Is that so?" Angelia replied casually, intending to leave just like that.

“Young Miss.” 112 called out to Angelia.

"Really, I'm a young lady, 112. This is very rude of you."

"Sorry, I was in a bit of a rush," 112 apologized readily.

"I have a few words I'd like to say to you."

"Go ahead."

"Let's get these guests to leave as soon as possible," 112 sighed.

“Once the fog clears tomorrow, they will naturally leave. I only took them in out of kindness,” Angelia said.

“Even if the fog doesn’t clear, they’ll still have to leave tomorrow morning,” 112 continued.

"Why? That's very impolite. You invite someone to stay overnight, and then kick them out for no reason."

"That man probably realized something was wrong here."

Angelia fell silent. This old house was no ordinary place.

Angela, who lives here, knows this secret better than anyone else, including 112.

"I understand." Angelia tossed her long hair, concealing the complex expression that had flashed across her face just moments before.

“But 112, you can’t talk to your young lady like that next time.” Angelia said unhappily after thinking of 112’s harsh tone.

"I'm sorry, Miss." 112 seemed to realize that her tone had been a bit harsh, and apologized directly.

"Miss, I'll go prepare dinner now." After saying that, 112 withdrew on her own.

"Honestly... I just wanted to be hospitable," Angelia muttered.

---

Dinner wasn't particularly lavish, but it wasn't meager either.

It just didn't feel like a noble dinner.

Each person had their own portion of meat and vegetables, as well as some simple wine and bread in front of them.

In the center of the table was a roasted lamb and some seafood.

It was far more luxurious than an ordinary person's dinner, yet not as luxurious as the dinner of the wealthy and powerful.

Since only Angelia and 112 have lived in the old house, they don't store a lot of food.

What she prepared more of was not food, but cocoa beans, because Angela loved coffee.

However, Bray and his companions didn't pay attention to the various details.

Rather, they wouldn't even think about such complicated things.

"Brave, feed me~" Levy gently wagged her tail and said to Bray, who was sitting next to her.

Levy looked at the dinner in front of her and really wanted to eat it, but she found it extremely troublesome to use a knife and fork, so she thought of Bray.

"Hmm." Bray just gave a casual reply, and then started feeding Levy.

Anyway, after all these years, I've gotten used to feeding Levy.

"Ah." Levy, with something in her mouth, wore a blissful expression (*'▽｀*).

"Brave, I want one too." Naruko pointed to herself, her eyes full of anticipation.

Bray had no idea what she was expecting; he simply grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Ugh ugh ugh ugh!!" Naruko made indistinct sounds, possibly protesting strongly.

“You guys have such a good relationship.” Angelia looked at Bray and the others playing around with envy, and took a small bite of fish.

"Really?" Bray responded, wiping the mouth of the older, young girl, Levy.

“Once the fog clears, you should be able to get back easily,” Angelia said casually.

“Yes, I’ll leave once the fog clears. Thank you for taking me in.” Bray nodded.

He hadn't expected to have dinner when he got lost, and even thought he might have to sleep in the countryside.

Angelia's offer to take them in was a completely unexpected and delightful surprise.

He has the nerve to cling to others; he'll probably leave first thing tomorrow morning.

"You're welcome. I was originally thinking of letting you stay for a day or two longer."

"That might disappoint you. We're only here for a short trip, and our time is quite limited."

"Really? You're not Clinton's people."

"From the capital," Bray replied casually after finishing his meal.

“The capital? How wonderful, I’ve never been there.” Angelia’s envy was undisguised.

"I really hope I can go there once, even just once."

"Not as good-looking as Clinton."

“You don’t understand.” Angelia smiled and shook her head.

That was a helpless smile.

“Yes, I don’t understand,” Bray said calmly.

“Because I am not you,” Bray said before putting the bread in his mouth.

“…” Angelia’s eyebrows involuntarily rose.

“I haven’t been anywhere else except this old house,” Angelia said slowly, lowering her eyelids.

"Miss."

"What's wrong, 112?"

"No, that's all, please continue." 112, who had been standing behind Angelia the whole time, shook his head helplessly.

"Sorry, where was I?" Angelia and Bray stared at each other for a moment before she turned to apologize.

“You said you’ve never left the house,” Bray said.

Although Angelia's original words were not exactly like that, it's pretty much the same, isn't it?

"Never been out of the house? You're not wrong."

“Absolutely right.” Angelia chuckled softly.

"I want to go out, but I can't."

"But strangely enough, people outside always want to get in."

"Why?" Naruko blinked and asked.

Bray gave her a disapproving look; it was really true that some people would so easily agree with what others were saying.

“Because I’m beautiful.” Angelia said this naturally, without the slightest stiffness.

“You are indeed beautiful,” Bray admitted. He hadn’t seen many women more beautiful than Angelia.

"Cough cough." Naruko coughed heavily.

Bray glanced sideways at Naruko.

If this crazy woman dressed up properly, she would be quite beautiful, no less so than Angela.

But she refused.

"Won't you think I'm shameless?"

"No, you're just stating the facts."

For some reason, Angelia nodded a few times.

"They came in an endless stream."

"And then someone did win my heart."

“Even the body.” She gave a self-deprecating laugh as she said this.

"..." Bray didn't speak, he just fed Levy.

When Angelia recounted these unspeakable things, it was as if she were a third party telling someone else's story.

Talking about emotions is fine, but when it comes to deeper topics, let alone aristocracy, most people don't want to bring it up.

Bray didn't understand why she would tell these things to the three of them.

They're clearly strangers... or perhaps that's why they say it, precisely because they're strangers.

112 simply stood quietly behind Angelia, without stopping her from saying these things.

He knew all this; he was the one who had always been with the young lady. How could he not know?

However, the young lady rarely tells others about it.

However, 112 understood that the young lady would speak up not because of who the other person was.