The bathroom door was tightly closed, with a faint glimmer of light seeping through the gap. Neatly stacked on the wooden floor next to it was a complete set of clean maid's attire.
Hearing the sound of bathing from behind the door, Char didn't pay it much attention and headed straight for the living room.
On the living room table, there was a pile of disorganized letters. Char gathered them up in their hands and then casually settled into the nearby couch, pulling out one letter to carefully read the sender's address.
St. Flare Publishing House?
Seeing the address, Char instantly understood and opened the letter with a good mood, revealing a piece of paper with a few lines of text.
[Dear "Cain,"]
[Regarding your works "The Count of Monte Cristo" and the third installment of "The Three Musketeers," the royalties have been transferred to the anonymous account as per your request, totaling eight hundred and eighty-six Imperial Gold Coins. In the days to come, we eagerly await the birth of your new creation.]
[By the way, due to the success of "The Three Musketeers" in the capital, certain elements in the book that criticize religious beliefs have drawn the displeasure of the Bright Church. We hope you are aware of this.]
The signature bore the seal of the St. Flare Publishing House, which featured the portrait of its founder.
As for "Cain," that was his pseudonym.
Religious issues?
As he briefly recollected the content of the book, Char couldn't help but chuckle.
When he was transcribing, he didn't think too much about it. He simply created two Western-style novels based on the general background of this world, one being a Western-style heroic fantasy and the other a Western-style wuxia.
The literary trends in this era were relatively conservative, primarily focusing on romance or epic war themes with higher thresholds and a preference for tragic endings. This led to a poor reading experience for many.
So Char decided to bring two literary masterpieces from his previous life that had the essence of heroic fantasy to this world, which was essentially a form of "reverse adaptation." The works didn't conform to the prevailing literary norms, but "The Count of Monte Cristo" was a classic story of revenge with elements of a triumphant return.
As for "The Three Musketeers," it delved into the power struggles between the monarchy and the ruling class of the Church. The character of the Red Cardinal Richelieu was portrayed as an antagonist infringing on both the court and the public.
Coincidentally, in this world, the Church of the Goddess has corresponding ranks akin to that of the cardinal within the Bright Church, making it difficult for people not to draw connections between the two.
But to be honest, he really didn't think that deeply into it. He purely chose these two books based on his memory.
Even before writing "The Three Musketeers," he was contemplating whether to transcribe the original "Robinson Crusoe" from the reincarnation literature genre. In the end, he chose the former because the developmental trajectory of this world had some peculiarities influenced by the fantasy setting, and there were no firearms in existence.
So, he wanted to provide some inspiration to those craftsmen and see if it could spark any ideas.
"Over eight hundred gold coins? It's a decent share, but unfortunately, it's far from enough for me right now," Char shook his head.
Close to nine hundred gold coins could buy a relatively decent duplex loft in the capital, complete with two young maids.
But in the same situation, this money would only buy about one-third of a gram of Voidstone powder. For each teleportation ritual, it would cost at least four to five thousand gold coins, and that's only the value of the Voidstone powder, without accounting for the other material costs. Char suddenly felt an ever-present sense of urgency.
Broke! He sighed repeatedly in his mind. He needed to figure out a way to make money soon. After reading the first envelope, Char focused his attention on the other letters.
Apart from a formal greeting from the academy, the rest of the letters were from several professionals Char had hired to gather information: a thief, a gang leader, a tavern owner, a mercenary, and others. These individuals were usually well-informed about various matters.
Even though a decade had passed, the investigation into the sun-shaped emblem remained fruitless. Char had spent considerable resources to inquire about the neighboring nations of the Hilen Empire, including hostile countries, neutral nations, and vassal states, but he hadn't gained any useful information.
In theory, using the sun as their emblem would indicate that they were a significant noble family in their own country. Even if they had fallen on hard times, they would have had a glorious past, not some obscure or unknown existence. Moreover, they were a group of ruthless executioners who had committed heinous crimes.
But the reality was that this group of people seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace in this world. Char even considered the possibility that this power might originate from within the Hilen Empire itself.
Because those knights spoke the common language of the Empire and their armor resembled the styles currently used by the military, lacking any foreign influence.
He had only recently considered this possibility, so the investigation had just started, but he hadn't made any progress so far.
Inside the Empire, the Round Table of Twelve Nobles and the well-known and titled Marquises among the upper echelons of society did not use the "sun" as their family emblem.
With a faint hope, Char opened the remaining letters but, unfortunately, he found nothing again. He sighed softly.
The last letter had no address or signature, and it contained a note with a hastily scrawled sentence.
"Be cautious of the 'sun.'"
Similar letters had been arriving since three years ago. Initially, Char attempted to investigate to find out who the sender was, but ultimately, he had been unsuccessful in his quest.
The sender knew about Char's investigation into the "sun" family emblem but didn't make it public knowledge. Instead, they persistently reminded him, seemingly without any ill intent. Besides this sentence, Char had never received any other clues. Perhaps it was because his power and influence were too weak, not yet qualified to get involved in the inner workings, so the sender was just painstakingly reminding him, unwilling to let him get entangled in it.
So, the only thing he could do now was to keep getting stronger until the day he was qualified to discover the truth.
After dealing with the papers, Char put them all down.
Just at that moment, the door to the washroom was gently pushed open.
Accompanied by a light mist of fragrance, a long-haired woman, wrapped in a bath towel, gently walked out.
Her figure was tall and well-proportioned, her wet long hair gently resting on her snow-white shoulders and ample bosom. Her appearance was gentle and charming, like the first crush that every man harbors deep in his heart.
Seemingly surprised to see Char after three days, the woman, barefoot on the wooden floor, walked over, making soft tapping sounds, and said, "Young Master?"
"Dahlia, how have you been these days?" Char greeted her with a smile.
But she seemed to be a bit too enthusiastic. Dahlia went straight to the back of the sofa, leaned over, embraced Char's neck, pressed her ample bosom against him, and then gently bumped her delicate chin on top of his head.
She sniffed Char's scent lightly while scolding, "Leaving a beautiful lady alone at home for three whole days without returning, that's not the behavior of a gentleman. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be another woman's scent on you, so you probably haven't been 'socializing' with those barons' sons. As a maid, I'm quite relieved about that."
"I'm only 16, what are you thinking?" Feeling the infinite softness at the back of his head, Char, who often endured teasing, was used to it.
Dahlia hummed, "Well, you never know. At least many young nobles from wealthy families have already learned to play with women at your age."
"I'm different from them, and besides, are there any nobles as poor as me?" Char shrugged and tried to change the subject. "But you usually bathe before going to bed at night. Why did you choose this time today?"
Upon hearing this, Dahlia's expression briefly flickered with unease. She instinctively glanced at the dirty clothes soaked in the bathroom. After a moment of hesitation, she chose not to bring up that matter and quickly resumed her normal expression.
"Who knows?" she said, "Maybe it's because I had a premonition that the young master was coming back and I wanted to freshen up, do some things a proper maid should do, such as... would you like to try my freshly applied lipstick?"
Dahlia lowered her head, gently blew on Shaya's ear, her lips glistening.
"You know, young people my age can't resist the temptation of a beautiful older sister like you."
Char's body tensed slightly, and he insincerely complimented her, then shifted his gaze to the painting on the wall.
Seeing his casual response, there was a touch of resentment on Dahlia's face.
Since the tragic incident ten years ago, Dahlia, who had escaped the city that night for business, took on the responsibility of taking care of the children and played the roles of both a sister and a mother.
Due to differences in personality, the relationship between Dahlia and Char is not a typical master-servant one compared to other noble household maids. There is no distinction of hierarchy, and over the course of ten years, they've become as close as family. However, in recent years, as Char has gradually grown older, this relationship seems to be undergoing a change.