"So? What happened?" Viktor asked the moment he crawled out from the pile of scrolls and books he buried himself into.

He wasn't aware of the commotion until he felt the familiar surge of mana coming from Sterne's workroom. After another half an hour, ten heads of rambunctious mages started to appear on the door.

"Chief, we finally got an answer!" Callaghan jumped excitedly. 

Hah, good for you then.

Viktor was not in his best mood. Several days of lack of proper sleep, while skimming through records and still getting no answer made his ears overly sensitive and this ruckus, in particular, is chafing on his nerves.

"The Spatial Pouch problem was solved by milady. All those sleepless nights spent finally bore fruit." Rickon cheered. 

As you said, it's Lady Sterne who solved it. What are you looking proud for?

"Here, Lady Sterne wrote down the spell matrix and the process of how to create replicas. Oh, I've been dreaming of having my own spatial pouch for so long, I can finally have a place for all my books and things."

"The same as I." 

Tch, lucky bastards! 

His companions, oblivious to his current mood, continue to twitter like birds. Before he completely lost the gossamer patience he had left, Viktor cast an Isolation spell on himself to escape reality and take a nap.

"Chief?"

Heavens, let's discuss this later. For now, let me have my sleep… 

"Chief!" 

"Oh bugger, he has fallen asleep." 

Because of his little action that day, he greatly missed the opportunity to get an answer to his dilemma about the teleportation matrix.

 

From time to time in the lush herb garden, built into the recesses of the great house along a marble arch bridge located beside a scenic waterfall and a gazebo, is the young lady busily scooping up water in a sprinkler. Most of the time one will see her tending to the crane flowers outside but every seventh day of the week is solely dedicated to this mundane activity with the gardener Sosa.   

"Where could Viktor have gone to?" Sterne wondered.

"Don't worry about him milady, Sir Viktor is probably just outside to meet with friends."

That's odd, she was told he stayed inside the Mage Division's workroom in the lower ward but when she came down later to look for him he disappeared. His research showed little progress that is why this time she intended to help him a bit. Once the spell matrix is developed and done, it will be of great help to everyone.    

"Everyone in the house is either too busy or out for an errand. It feels a little lonesome." 

Sosa smiled, "I'm not going anywhere. If milady needs anything you can come to me." 

She cheerfully smiled at him. 

"Sir Dorn and Miss Freiin are scheduled to return in a few days. While they were outside, why don't you take this time to walk around? There are new fabrics at Madame Urd and Claire's shop in Trefoil. The trout stream is also good, have you gone there for a picnic lately, milady?"

"I haven't but I may consider it soon. Fishing might be fun."

Pan seared trout is very delicious and most importantly she wanted to test out her newly made spatial pouch. She could bring a lot of things, such as spices, cooking utensils and snacks with her. 

"You must be with a companion." Sosa reminded her. 

"Then I will have to disturb the village children at their leisure."     

"Milady, a card was sent for you." 

Letter?

From the stone bridge, Emilia called. She hurriedly made her way to the gazebo near the spring and gently passed the blue scented card.

"It's different somehow." Sterne said looking at the neatly written words in gold.

The paper is very smooth to the touch, even more pleasing than the best quality she saw and it is even coloured in powdery blue stamped with Golden Leaf's pattern on the border and an artful dragon logo in the centre. Sterne flipped it a few times before reading.

It says:

______

I know this letter is a little untoward and my lady may find my lack of presence displeasing. Rude if you must. However despite this, I fervently hope for a chance to have the honour of being formally acquainted with Lady Nachtwald. If so, keep this card and wait for my arrival. 

If not, I will find another means to make you agree. I dare not brag about it but there is no one out there who would be unwilling to meet me. 

 

P.S.

I'm good at hide and seek.

 

Sincerely,

Ghost.

______

 

Her eyebrows twisted into pretzels. 

The first lines impressed her until she read the latter part. It's clearly written by a brat younger than herself. No suspense there. And what did he mean by making her agree no matter what? 

Sterne rolled her eyes as she found the message overbearing that she didn't know whether to be angry or find it hilarious. She muttered about pompous and arrogant attitudes for a second until calming down and finally bursting out in laughter. 

Who sends cards like this when asking for an acquaintance? It is fine if the recipient has such docile and mild temper, but what if not? One rude remark would have the sender flying out the door the moment he stepped in. 

She laughed because she imagined herself being the latter kind of recipient. She would most definitely eject the pompous person out of her home!  

Well, it was a beautiful handwriting nonetheless. Scholarly and neat. There were no flamboyant nor excess strokes. It was elegant for a prank letter and even exerted great effort using Golden Leaf's personal card reserved only for special occasions. She wondered if the sender had something to do with Manager Roux.

"There is no time and date indicated." She sighed.

"Perhaps the person would like to pay a surprise visit." Emilia said helpfully. 

"Could be."

"Does milady have any idea who the person might be?" Sosa asked as he pulled out the weeds on the bed strawberries. 

"None of my new acquaintances would write such a… such an unseemly letter. Possibly someone who had been a guest to Golden Leaf, someone I shared a tea or a meal with." 

Emilia thought about it. The people the little lady dined with in Golden Leaf are mostly guests from outside, gentries and aristocrats from other territories who came to sightsee. But she could not think of one who would arrogantly declare himself like this. Despite Lady Sterne being young, she is of superior rank to any of those people, none of them would dare write such bold words and offend the ducal house. 

Sterned tapped the card on her palms. Willful and playful sure but there was no malice, she could feel the sender's intent. Too bad, her first ever card turned out to be a prank. (Yes, she decided it was a prank rather than a formal one after much deliberation.) 

Wait…

She looked at the card again and paused. Sure enough, she finally saw the difference. It was the curling dragon pattern! Aside from the owner, no one else is allowed to tamper with the original logo with anything unless it is to add the personal stamp of a certain person.

But why address himself as Ghost? 

Ghost… 

The painting. 

Some bits and pieces of memory came back to her. 

Sterne's face instantly lost colour when the realization hit her. The talk she had with Manager Roux a few weeks ago when they discussed the owner's agreement to the share... that prickly feeling inside the meeting room. She remembers she joked about the painting being possessed. Has the owner been there all along?

Peanuts, the presence she felt! It couldn't be?!   

"This is terrible," 

"What is, milady?" Emilia asked. 

"It was the owner, Golden Leaf's owner is coming to the estate!" She faced Emilia and Sosa feeling her soul about to slip out of her body.  

"Milady, get a hold of yourself!" The two screamed in unison when she swayed to the side.

How she sincerely wished all of it was just a joke!

Why of all people she had to invite a calamity over? Manager Roux mentioned before that the owner is an extremely meticulous and hard to impress person worse than his mother-in-law. Sterne has not seen the manager's mother-in-law but she could somehow tell how terrible she is based on how he is wearing that frightened expression. What's more, this owner?

She instantly regretted laughing stupidly a while ago. 

When she first met Manager Roux he had been a strict imposing figure in her eyes. He directs the staff of Golden Leaf with the precision and expertise of a veteran who had been to countless battles, even his talent at discerning good food is top-notch. Truth is, it was really a gamble going up against him for a challenge. But no matter how intimidated she is, the fact will not change that she needed that connection for future benefits. So, along with an advantage up her sleeve, she swallowed her reluctance and marched up to their doors. 

She would be lying if she said she wasn't afraid that time. She had been sweating from the tops of her head down to her socks.

What about now? She even insulted the owner!

Sterne finished two mouthfuls of tea before she came back to her senses. If the owner really did come, what would be his purpose? He said he wanted to get acquainted. Sterne frantically searched her head for any vague clue as to why she would get a personal visit from him. 

Was it because of her share in Golden Leaf? Is it too big? Did he by chance change his mind and want to take it back? NO! It was a legitimate and equal exchange of assets; she neither swindled nor coerced Manager Roux to anything. 

Surely it was not because she made a joke about the painting. 

What could the owner want from her? When is he coming? Questions plagued her endlessly until a footman came informing her of the arrival of her five old uncles.

 

Unaware of the panic his simple letter caused, the boy kept his eyes on the estate below. 

With a haughty smile, he said, "It is your honour to receive my notice." 

Just thinking about how surprised Sterne would look when she opened the letter lifted his mood. Why wouldn't it? It's probably the best move he made to create a lasting impression on that girl. She should feel gratified he took a liking of her.

Not even those elders from the empire had the opportunity to be graced by his presence let alone receive a letter personally penned by him. 

"What are you smiling about?" Solis asked, looking at him with unveiled displeasure. 

"I did as you told me, I sent her a card. You are right, a gentleman such as I should at least go through the proper motions."

"You sent her that letter you wrote last night?"

"I did." 

"That very one? Without revisions?"

"Yes. I don't see anything wrong with it." 

He didn't know why as soon as he said that Solis' expression became stormy. What is wrong with this fellow? Lately, it became hard to fathom his mood, he is either glaring or snapping at him because of that girl. If they did not come from the same place he would think that Sterne Nachtwald is Solis' own ward instead of him.

Solis' thought about the little lady for a second, worried if she might feel offended with this boy's bluntness. On the other hand he also consoled himself with the thought that Sterne is not some kind of a feeble girl to cry over it. Chances are, she might beat this boy for his arrogance. 

"One of these days you will find someone and you will have to watch your unruly attitude." 

The boy scoffed, "Me?"

"Mark my words." Solis emphasized. "Enough of this. Get up, we have to leave for Mirror Lake now."

"Why go there all of a sudden? Aren't we getting ready for the royal capital?"

"That friend of mine decided to come for a visit, consider yourself lucky. If you dally longer you might not be able to catch him and get answers to your questions. He cannot stay here for long, else the greedy people of this kingdom will hunt him."

"You make it sound as if I will be able to easily get an answer."

Solis shot him a condescending look. "You are not entirely dumb, are you?"