Beauty and the Python

27.

Bang, bang, bang—

It was Elaine's knock on the door. It was a very iconic knock on the door. It was neither light nor heavy, and the interval was controlled just right. It was polite but not disturbing.

In fact, in this old castle, no one but him can "knock" and dare to knock on the Duke's door.Earl Cat?Before the cat came in, it meowed a few times instead of knocking on the door.

The Duke raised his head from the pages of the book, and sent out a slightly complicated look. He saw the princess standing outside the door holding a silver dinner plate with fresh food on it - a piece of fried lamb chops and vegetables, and the lamb chops were fried. It is steaming hot, and it is covered with a layer of smooth honey, which looks quite exciting.

Elaine can even fry fried eggs, but now she has started to learn how to fry lamb chops - Mrs. Hannah taught him, but as a candlestick, the best she can do is just wait and see, explaining the specific steps in as much detail as possible Give it to Elaine, and then give some pointers at the right time according to the situation.

Elaine has only made some simple biscuits before. How can he cook such a dish that is too complicated for him?So not long after he entered the kitchen, Mrs. Hannah came to the Duke crying and confessed.

"I'm sorry, my lord, it's all my fault for not taking good care of you... No, Your Royal Highness!"

Even Earl Cat, who was used to being arrogant in front of him, didn't dare to say anything this time. He took off his three-cornered hat and stood aside with his head bowed, kneading the brim of his hat repeatedly anxiously.

They made the duke think that there was some emergency.

Even he himself didn't realize that his speaking speed was a little faster than usual: "What's wrong?"

"Your Highness..." Mrs. Hannah sobbed, "Your Highness..."

The Duke was impatient to wait for her to speak, and went downstairs by himself.

Elaine was still in the kitchen.

He is washing his hands.But it didn't look like he was washing his hands. He filled a pot of clean water from the water tank and rinsed repeatedly on a piece of skin on his hand. The Duke saw that the back of his hand was red.

When he returned to the room, his tone was not very good: "What's going on?"

This time Earl Cat took the call and said cautiously, "Oil has been splashed."

"Didn't he wear gloves?"

Count Cat stared at him as if he had said something strange, "How can you bring that kind of glove into the kitchen?"

The Duke gave him a hard look, too.

Earl Cat immediately remembered that he had to be careful with his gestures, and his tone softened again: "There is no way, in this matter, not only this matter, I am afraid that we cannot help him in all aspects of life, we are He doesn't eat much, but he has to eat..."

Mrs. Hannah echoed: "My lord, I'm afraid you have to invite some servants with hands and feet."

Earl Cat said again: "It can't be an ordinary human being yet."

The Duke felt that things were getting troublesome. In Styx City, he just waved his hands to find a few servants. The trouble was that he didn't like outsiders setting foot on his territory, but when he thought of the Highness downstairs and his weak hands, Hand, he still agreed: "I will start to deal with this matter."

Earl Cat gave him a strange look, then quickly averted his gaze.

They were still planning, when there were three knocks on the door outside the house.

"Excuse me, sir, it's dinner time."

Elaine also prepared his share?

The duke's mood became subtle.

He heard a little more hesitation in the other party's tone: "Last time... I was rude, and I would like to extend my sincere apologies to you."

——This was the first time that Elaine came to him after the first meeting that was not pleasant.

But he really didn't want to hear the other party's tone.

The Duke stared at the door and wanted to refuse, but suddenly thought of the red skin on his hand.

Earl Cat looked at the door, then looked at the Duke, and said actively: "After all, it is His Highness's wish, I think you'd better accept it, sir, if you can't eat enough, just leave it to me, I don't mind getting confused Steak!"

The Duke didn't bother to talk to him, "You can get out now."

"Of course, my lord." Count Cat put his hat on his belly, bowed his head, turned around and walked out loudly. When he reached the closed door, he jumped up and hung on the doorknob , opened the door skillfully, and closed it spontaneously behind him as soon as he walked out. During this short interval, with Elaine's etiquette, naturally he would not look up to peek at anything.

Soon there was a conversation between a person and a cat outside the door.

"Alright, alright, Your Highness, let's go to dinner."

"By the way, you should have prepared for me, right?"

"of course."

"But……"

"Don't worry, the lord didn't blame you, he was just shy."

"let's go--"

"Oh, he won't come out when you're here."

Elaine nodded dubiously, obediently followed Earl Cat and left.

When the dinner was over, Elaine came to the kitchen and saw an empty plate on the table at some point, and then thought of Earl Cat's words, and suddenly believed it a little.

The gentleman upstairs... Maybe, is he really shy?

When she woke up the next day and saw an extra ointment on the bedside out of thin air, Elaine believed this even more.

He picked up the ointment and looked at it, it was specially for scalds and burns.

He pursed his lips and smiled, looked up and said, "Thank you."

At that moment, the Duke who happened to be watching him upstairs thought he had been discovered!The pair of amber eyes seemed to be directly facing him, looking into his eyes all of a sudden, causing him to look away with a guilty conscience.

After a long time, he whispered, "Your steak...is pretty good."

Although the other party will not hear it.

*****

Unexpectedly, Elaine came to bring him food again the next day.

The Duke bowed his head and bit off a small piece of mutton, swallowing it without chewing like a real snake, so it didn't matter if the meat was a little mushy.He said, "He didn't really have to do such a thing."

The curse on him also contained a complex time spell and other high-level spells that were difficult to decompose, to ensure that they could live a long life under the curse instead of starving, thirsting, or even committing suicide.So it doesn't really matter to them whether they eat or not.

Earl Cat said: "The princess said, anyway, he wants to make one for himself, one and three are the same."

The Duke glanced at him coldly.

Earl Cat coughed lowly, saying that it was not my fault, "He found the beef and mutton you stored, so naturally he thought you still needed to eat."

Others have become utensils and furniture, and none of their human needs and desires exist. Unlike Earl Cat, one has become a snake, the other has become a cat, and they are more or less infected with the corresponding animal Habits——The Duke liked the taste of meat, and the Earl Cat couldn't refuse small dried fish at all.

Mrs. Hannah said, "But that bit of beef and mutton is almost gone."

"The ingredients at home can't last for a few days, and there are not many left."

She suggested: "Master, I think you might as well take His Highness to the city for a walk?"

Seeing that the Duke did not speak for a while, but did not refuse, Mrs. Hannah persisted, "You can shop, and let your Highness buy something you like. He is still so young, so I'm afraid he will get bored in this place." .”

The Earl Cat interjected: "I also heard that water taps are installed in the city. You often go there and you don't know it. And we still use well water. What year is it? This is unbelievable." !Although there is an ancient well in the backyard, the princess can’t be allowed to fetch water, right? His weak shoulders will probably be crushed.”

Mrs. Hannah's tone is meaningful: "I see this castle, it's time for some changes."

Count Cat raised his paw, "I agree."

The Duke didn't even look at him this time, "...Even if I go, I won't take you with me."

Earl Cat had no choice but to draw back his paws wearily, curled his lips, and his six beards drooped sadly.

Mrs. Hannah grinned happily - His Excellency the Duke agreed.

28.

Elaine received a letter that night.

The letter came in through the crack of the door. At that time, he was busy untying the complicated braids at the back of his head in front of the vanity mirror. When he turned his head, he found that there was something like this on the ground. It was just a simple white The envelope, judging from the opening of the unglued seal, is a neat line of pen writing on the specially made old parchment paper (most of the letters are like small hooks at the end of a stroke)——

Her Royal Highness Elaine Gustav:

I hereby invite you to go to Styx City with me at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, waiting for your reply.

D.

The signature is just a D word.

So Elaine started calling the gentleman upstairs by Mr. D.

He quickly wrote back to Mr. D.Simple and clear four words - to be happy.

The reply was slipped in through the Duke's door.

The Duke watched the letter emerge from under the door in the room, and found himself in a delicate mood.

But amidst the subtle and complicated emotions, that trace of inexplicable expectation is always hard to ignore.

Like a fleeting spark in the dark, the bright afterimage will stay on the retina for a long time.