Beauty and the Python

61.

Doreen is a newly hired clerk at the flower shop.

The flower shop has no name, or its name is a simple and clear "flower shop". Scissors" and "click click" barber shop...

"This group of people still claim to be the strongest generation of mages and their descendants! Tsk tsk tsk, they are really lazy and unimaginative." Mrs. Grace, her proprietress, commented.And on the third day after she hired her as a novice, she announced with a wave of her hand that she would hand over the full management of the store to her, and she took her husband and son to the Rainbow Canyon for a trip. The way she did it must be...lazy and imaginative up.

Doreen rushed to the store to open early in the morning, but turned around and stared blankly at the whole room of flowers.

But soon she felt that she was lucky today.

Ten minutes later, the first customer of the day walked into the flower shop. Doreen looked up, and her eyes lit up immediately—it was a beautiful man.

The person who came was wearing a well-tailored suit, a snow hemp pleated shirt, a double-breasted vest embroidered with pink roses on a white background, matched with a lead gray coat, and gingham trousers of the same color. Long, graceful and straight.

What attracts people's attention is that he has a head of flowing and smooth blond hair, neatly tied into a bunch at the back of his head, revealing a whole chiseled face, his eyebrows and eyes are somewhat soft to the east, Because of the raised eyebrows, there is a hint of heroism added, and because the facial features are delicately carved, this face seems to have a strange sense of clarity, like a clear and shallow lake under the sunlight, which does not allow any impurities.

Doreen couldn't help but startled at this face.

He glanced around, looked up and smiled at her, "Hi, I want to see what fresh flowers are there today?"

Only then did she see that his eyes were an extremely transparent amber color.

"Miss?"

Doreen came back to her senses, with a faintly hot face, and hurriedly said: "Hey, there are some, some are all set up outside, come with me."

The young man seemed to really like flowers. While listening to her introduction patiently, he bent down and asked a lot of questions about flowers' temperament, habits, precautions, and even pruning techniques...

"What is the flower language of this flower?" He asked, pointing to one of the flowers.

"It...its flower language is the same as its appearance, so overbearing."

She told him.

The young man stroked his chin thoughtfully, "It suits him very well..." She couldn't understand what he was saying, but saw him suddenly crooked his eyes and smiled, and his lips were full of tenderness when he wasn't smiling. With an upturned smile, it really looks like a cat when it smiles like this, and there are two sunken dimples on the side of the dimple.

It's... so cute?

Doreen quickly looked away.

"Please help me wrap it up."

"Ok!"

"I'll come and get it later." Facing Doreen's suspicious gaze, the young man pointed behind him, "I'll go to the dessert shop over there to buy some pastries."

In fact—Elaine saw the right person walking into the alley next to the flower shop.

62.

It was an old man in his prime, dressed in a standard black three-piece suit, holding a walnut cane in his hand, and looked like a typical old-fashioned gentleman.

The alley is an ordinary alley. It is paved with bluestone. There are dirt in the gaps and slippery moss. The two walls are covered with messy advertisements. It is not difficult to imagine that it should be a mess of fish and dragons The place where people have been patronizing, but at this time there is only silence. In the long and narrow alley, there are only the sound of the cane of the person in front hitting the stone, and the footsteps of two people.

Elaine did not hide her behavior at all, but followed behind the other party generously, making seven turns and turns in the intricate and intricate alleys like spider webs, and shuttled out one by one with ease. The old man's pace suddenly slowed down. This can be easily heard from the frequency of the beating, and Elaine glanced at him in confusion, but continued to maintain her own speed.So he watched the figure getting closer and closer to him, until the two of them walked side by side completely.

"Young man," the old man turned his head to look at him, smiling, "do you want to go out too?"

Elaine slowed down and returned a friendly smile, "Yes."

The old man nodded and turned his head back. The topic seemed to have ended briefly.

After a while, he spoke again to break the silence: "It's really not easy..."

"Huh?" Elaine looked over.

"I mean this." He raised something that had been clutched in his hand, which was a thin, golden card.

Elaine couldn't help but take another look.

"Every time I go out, I have to write a lot of inexplicable things. Whether I can pass it depends on the mood of that person..." The old man muttered.

"It was even more difficult to enter this city to get this pass. That person, no, not a person, cough...I mean Edgar who lives in that circus tent, usually looks gentle and gentle, He's not sloppy about causing trouble for others."

"It was later discovered that this thing is still a disguised monitor. If it violates the rules of the city outside, it is actually the iron law - you can't mention Styx outside. Otherwise, this thing will-" Bang' exploded, I was afraid that I had slipped my tongue. That... cough, Edgar's magic is really amazing."

Elaine's eyes widened.

Seeing his expression blink, the old man smiled playfully, "I'm lying to you, we have a secrecy spell."

Elaine came to her senses and gave a dry laugh, "Is...really?" Oops, I was too engrossed in listening and let it go for a while, would I have exposed something?

"I've had enough of this kind of life." The old man said abruptly.

Elaine half understood, "What?"

"Hide and hide, live like rats in the gutter. The city is called Styx for what it's called. Aren't wizards just a bunch of ghosts living across the River Styx? But why aren't we dead yet?"

The old man mumbled and gave the answer on his own: "That's because we believe that we will return to the light one day."

"But I'm old, maybe I won't be able to wait for that day."

"Because of this, 100 years have passed, but I suddenly feel unbearable before death comes."

"So, I decided to leave, even if I lost the blessing of magic."

"Here we are." He said and stopped.

They came to a dead end, before a dusty wall.

The old man turned the passport over, the front was facing upwards, it had his name and portrait on it, he stretched out his hand straight to the wall, the moment he touched the wall, Elaine saw his arm go straight through It passed through the past, as if it had merged into the wall.

The old man finally looked at him, "I have to go."

Elaine leaned over and saluted him, "I wish you the best of luck."

"Goodbye, Your Royal Highness."

Huh?Elaine looked over in astonishment.

The old man winked at him again, "You look very handsome."

"Thank you... thank you."

"Hope you can change that."

He melted into that wall and disappeared completely.

Elaine stood there in a daze for a while.

After a while, he turned around to face the wall, and slowly extended his hand.

He didn't have the pass Edgar had given him.

But at the moment of contact with the wall, what he felt was not a thick and hard texture, but a water-like consistency, and his hand sank into the wall.

Elaine stared at this scene, her eyes widened.

He went one step further.

After a while, he raised the corner of his lips——

He touched the "door" of Styx.

There is only a thin line between freedom.