May closed his eyes, raised the cup to her head and poured the drink into her mouth. Immediately a hot spicy sensation exploded in her throat, causing her to directly spurt out the liquor again, and to cough out until tears arose.
Waiting until the burning sensation had completely faded, she bit her lip and tried once more — this round; she only dared to take a sip of the liquor. Once again, a spicy flavor appeared, but this time it was followed by an intense richness and mellowness when those two flavors mixed together, she actually couldn’t say if it was a good drink, but it brought a kind of strange sensation with it.
Around a quarter of an hour later, May felt a dizzy feeling overlaying her mind.
She took a fist-sized box from her pocket and opened its lid, and saw herself in a bright mirror. This mirror was different from her previous bronze mirrors or the thin silver mirrors, its surface was smooth without a scratch and her reflection was was very clear, presumably making it very valuable. Within this mirror, May could see her flushed cheeks and her confused eyes.
It was a gift given by the Knight as they parted, she’d wanted to refuse, but the other side had turned away so fast that he hadn’t given her the opportunity to give it back. As he walked away, he once more turned around and waved goodbye to her.
So, should she really take root here? Far away from the bustling city, starting once more in this remote town, where beside the few people in the crew, no one else knew her identity… The fear of the unknown only made it harder for her to make up her mind.
May put the letter on the table she had received several days ago, and spread it out — it had been forwarded to her by the Prince and Irene, the writer was Longsong Manager Petrov. From the letter, she learned that the stronghold theater had announced that her current whereabouts were unknown and that Petrov hoped that she would soon return to Longsong Stronghold to continue her performance.
His Highness the Prince hadn’t concealed this news and instead given her the right to choose.
After draining the rest of the cup, May’s vision gradually became dizzy.
She staggered to the desk, spread out a piece of paper and began writing a reply.
Within her overlapping surging train of thoughts, she saw the stronghold theater, Irene, Ferlin Eltek, the thundering cheer of the crowd in the town square, and those third-rate actors who lost their self-control after performing together with her. Eventually, these images all slowly faded, leaving only the memory of Carter Lannis behind, as he invited her with a grin.
“Hello, Miss May, may I have a drink with you?”
…
Roland sat at his desk and was reading with great interest through the recent report of the First Army from his Chief Knight.
Compared to his meticulous appearance from several months ago, nowadays Carter’s iceberg like face often carried some other emotions, letting him appear much less calm, and instead giving him an aura of expectation and eagerness.
Most probably this has something to do with the Star of the West, Roland thought.
About the event of Carter’s and May’s recent stroll, Roland had also heard about it. After all, as one of the top members of the First Army, he also represented the Army, so every movement would naturally be noticed. Not to mention May, the woman walking at his side, belonged to the kind that would draw the attention of all men to herself.
When they had appeared side by side on the streets of Border Town for the first time, his guards had immediately passed along the news to his ears.
Regarding this kind of matter, Roland didn’t really mind it. Carter was roughly two to three years older than he was. So it was reasonable to say that it was a strange that he still wasn’t married. And if he could actually find his other half in the Western Territory it wasn’t that bad, as long as it didn’t interfere with his work.
According to the Knight’s report, the First Army had been equipped with about 200 revolving rifles, adding almost a dozen with every day — in fact, if the raw materials were sufficient, Anna’s production capacity could be increased by several times. But at the same time she was also in charge of the refining pig iron into steel and manufacturing the steam engine, which was slowing her down.
