X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the ServerHours later, as evening descended, Alice Liddell rested in the furthest corner room.
Having spent the better part of the day bustling about, she was utterly exhausted. Yet, sleep eluded her completely.
‘Jeanne, what an idiot.’
‘She suffered at the hands of the Church, then was rescued by a heretic. Why does she still cling to such antiquated notions? Can the distinction between a paladin and a heretic truly outweigh the grace of a life saved?’
‘After all this effort, after finally reaching a point where we could cast aside our identities and acknowledge each other, she had to utter such hurtful words.’
‘Ugh, it’s infuriating. For whose sake am I working so hard?’ Alice sighed inwardly.
Just then, a knock echoed at the door.
Alice immediately scrambled from her bed, her gaze fixed intently on the door.
‘Could it be Jeanne?’
Though she felt a surge of frustration towards Jeanne at that moment, she had to admit, a part of her still hoped her friend would have a change of heart.
With a flicker of expectation, she walked over and opened the door.
“Hey, resting well, my dear student?” The Mad Hatter greeted her from outside the door, a radiant smile gracing his face.
The anticipation on Alice’s face visibly drained away.
“Hmm? Why do you look so disappointed to see me?” The Mad Hatter did not miss the subtle shift in her expression.
“No, not at all.” Alice quickly shook her head. “Is there something you need?”
“As a matter of fact, there’s something I hope you can hold onto for me temporarily.” The Mad Hatter said, removing his hat. He then made a show of rummaging inside it, only to conjure a crimson crystal shard between his fingers.
Then, under Alice’s astonished gaze, he handed the crystal shard to her.
“Isn’t this…” Alice’s eyes widened as she looked at the object in her hand. “A soul fragment? From those Inquisitors? You didn’t return their soul fragments to them?”
She only remembered the Mad Hatter extracting a portion of each of the four Inquisitors’ souls, rendering them unconscious. If he didn’t return these souls, those individuals would never awaken.
“No, no, these aren’t theirs. Look closely, it’s crimson. Someone willingly gave it to me.” The Mad Hatter chuckled. “Just hold onto it for now, and whatever you do, don’t lose it. This item is incredibly important.”
“So whose soul fragment is this? And what price did you extract from that person?” Alice blinked.
“This is…” The Mad Hatter settled his hat back on his head, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Someone you know’s lost sense of integrity.”
“Huh?” This riddle left Alice utterly bewildered.
“I’ll be back for it later. Farewell!” Without another word, the Mad Hatter abruptly bid farewell and slipped away.
Alice attempted to call out to him, but the Mad Hatter was incredibly swift, vanishing from sight in an instant.
Alice gazed at the empty corridor, then at the soul crystal in her hand, a frown creasing her brow.
“How peculiar.” She shook her head, but carefully tucked the soul fragment away nonetheless, intending to question the Mad Hatter thoroughly later.
She wasn’t overly concerned about the person whose soul fragment had been taken. Since that individual had willingly paid this price, they must have done so with good reason.
After securing the item, she turned to pour herself a glass of water, just as a knock sounded at the door behind her.
‘Has the Mad Hatter returned again? Could this be some strange prank?’
Alice was about to step out of the room to ascertain the situation, unwilling to indulge in any more playful antics.
She turned and pulled the door open a crack, looking out with a hint of exasperation. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly froze.
Standing outside the door was Jeanne Decker.
“Can we talk?” Jeanne stared at her intently, swiftly slipping a foot into the crack of the door while bracing a hand against the frame.
“Uh…” Alice looked at Jeanne’s resolute expression with a touch of surprise, then glanced at the hand tightly gripping the door.
Through the door panel, she could clearly feel Jeanne’s strength.
‘What choice do I have? With you doing this, I can’t even close the door. This leaves no room for refusal at all,’ Alice thought.
Alice sensed something was amiss with Jeanne’s assertiveness. At that moment, her intuition subtly picked up on something—not a chilling discomfort, but a clear indication that something was indeed about to happen, though likely nothing bad.
Jeanne’s demeanor was starkly different from earlier. It seemed she had genuinely come to apologize for their previous encounter.
“Alright.” Alice opened the door fully. She didn’t want to remain at odds with her most important friend any longer.
Once the door was open, she noticed Jeanne was clad in a set of women’s light armor.
“Why are you wearing armor?” Alice inquired.
“I felt it would be too disrespectful to come see you again in those men’s clothes, so I asked them to lend me some attire. It turns out this stored equipment was the only thing suitable for me to wear,” Jeanne replied calmly. “I wanted to dress as formally as possible. Is it inappropriate? Or… should I change?”
“That’s fine, but can you explain what that is you’re carrying?” Alice pressed.
As Jeanne stepped inside, Alice was surprised to find she had brought something with her.
It was a… wine bottle.
“Ah, this.” Jeanne picked up the wine bottle in her hand. “They said the best way to apologize is to offer someone a drink.”
It seemed the other members of the tea party had given her some superfluous advice.
“Drinking? I don’t think so. Don’t you have paladin vows to uphold? Besides, I can’t drink alcohol,” Alice said.
Before she became a witch, she had never touched alcohol. Duchess Liddell had once tried to get her to drink a little, but a single glass of table wine had made her dizzy. From then on, the Duchess had simply forbidden her from drinking.
“I don’t particularly like this stuff either.” Jeanne looked at the wine bottle, concurring. She truly disliked alcohol, not just because of her paladin vows, but also because she constantly witnessed Pierre’s alcoholism leading to a series of baffling actions. Yet…
“But today’s circumstances are rather special.” Jeanne swirled the wine bottle. “Some words, some things, require us to set aside certain inhibitions to say or do them. Sometimes, one truly cannot be too sober. You understand what I mean, don’t you? Isn’t this precisely what you wished for?”
Alice pondered for a moment, then nodded, completely unaware that her understanding was not at all what Jeanne meant.
“So I hope you’ll have a drink with me,” Jeanne said.
“But aren’t paladins forbidden from drinking and revelry by their vows? Are you planning not to uphold them?” Alice asked seriously.
She knew how much her friend valued the paladin vows.
She remembered Jeanne, as Levi, once passionately discussing the paladin vows: Paladins regard the sun, which illuminates the earth, as the symbol of the Most High God. They constantly harbor the grand aspiration and great love to save all suffering beings, while steadfastly confronting evil, never yielding or compromising. As long as the sun endures, a paladin shall never fall.
It was likely years of strictly adhering to these vows that had cultivated Jeanne’s rigid and meticulous character.
Loving this chapter? You'll be hooked on Transmigrated Into a World With a Wife! Click to explore more!
Read : Transmigrated Into a World With a Wife
