Chapter 207: Where's My Return Gift?
Before Alice could properly react to the familiar voice, she noticed another familiar gaze. It felt the same as when she last saw Leonard. Alice looked up to find Anthony watching her, waiting for her reaction.
Why wasn't Leonard speaking? Cautiously, like a snail peeking out of its shell, Alice's eyes emerged from under the table.
This wasn't their first meeting since leaving Tingen City, but it was the first time Alice had a legitimate reason to openly observe an old acquaintance.
Wait, when did she leave Tingen City?
Alice was momentarily dazed. She suddenly realized that the memory, which should have been vivid, had sunk into the depths of her mind along with other memories, no longer stirring her emotions.
Maybe she should find time to visit Tingen again... Alice suppressed her chaotic thoughts and began to ponder a serious question.
Actually, last time, she didn't seem to have strong emotions either... So, if it wasn't because she would be exposed, why did fate warn her?
Alice slowly furrowed her brows, looked at Leonard, then tilted her head and pushed her monocle on her right eye, a bright smile spreading across her lips.
She noticed that the gaze on her suddenly became more intense.
The heavy pressure lingered on her for about ten seconds before abruptly withdrawing, as if nothing had happened, leaving only a faint sense of being watched.
"Do you know each other?" Anthony broke the silence, looking at the two who were staring at each other in silence.
They both shook their heads.
Anthony glanced at Alice's flickering eyes but didn't expose her nervousness. Instead, he asked, "Do you mind waiting a bit?"
Alice pursed her lips, calculated the time, and said:
"I do mind.
"I haven't had dinner yet."
Anthony was slightly taken aback, then smiled, "That's perfect. You can go have dinner first."
Alice shook her head seriously, "But I don't want to have another tasteless dinner."
Before Anthony could respond, Leonard walked over with a smile and curiously asked, "Archbishop, who is this?"
Anthony looked at Alice for her opinion.
Alice frowned slightly and hesitantly asked, "Why do I feel like... you care a lot about my opinion?"
"Matters concerning you should be decided by you," Anthony said, looking at her. "That's what I was told."
Told? Was this... the goddess's oracle?
Of course, Alice didn't ask this out loud. After a moment of silence, she softly said, "Let him leave."
Anthony looked at Leonard, who tactfully left the room, then turned back to Alice.
Alice quietly emerged from under the table, sat back in her chair, and said:
"This monocle is an extraordinary item. Its side effect is that it steals the wearer's sense of taste.
"And Amon left a strange curse on it... Once I put it on, I couldn't take it off."
Anthony stared at Alice, carefully choosing his words, "I heard you took this from Amon's avatar?"
Alice nodded.
"...Are you sure the side effect is just that?" Anthony asked after a moment of silence.
Alice paused, then sincerely replied, "I think, compared to other things I've done, stealing the monocle is actually less offensive."
The atmosphere lingered in an eerie silence for a while before Anthony changed the topic, "Let me see your monocle."
Alice sat quietly.
Frankly, the curse left by Amon wasn't strong, but as Alice had anticipated, the item's rank reached the demigod level.
Combined with the useless effect of the curse, this bizarre combination made Alice fully understand what it meant to be the embodiment of mischief.
... Was this guy just doing it for fun?!
...
After Alice left the church with the monocle in hand, Amon, far away in the Forsaken Land, received a special suggestion:
"Have you seen horror movies... oh, you don't have movies here.
"In ghost stories, there's often a scene where the protagonist looks through a peephole... uh, basically the thing on the door used to observe outside... a hole would work too?
"Anyway, ghost stories often describe the protagonist looking out through the peephole and seeing someone staring back...
"I mean, when I looked out through the hole where the doorknob used to be and only saw the living room, I was quite disappointed...
"You really lack creativity, don't you? It's so disappointing, not fitting your title as the embodiment of mischief at all."
He smiled, pushed the crystal monocle on his right eye, and muttered to himself, "It seems the curse has been lifted... but there's no return gift this time?"
...
Finally regaining her sense of taste, Alice casually stuffed the monocle into her pocket, walked to the roadside, and bought an ice cream to celebrate.
While wandering around, Alice finished her ice cream, bought a Dixie pie, and a cup of sweet iced tea.
Thank goodness—she finally tasted the long-lost flavor of meat and the unique sweet and sour taste of iced tea.
Alice took a big gulp of sweet iced tea, then a big bite of the Dixie pie. After chewing and swallowing with difficulty, she turned and asked, "How long are you going to follow me?"
No one answered her question. Passersby hurried away, as if the feeling of being followed was just an illusion, but Alice knew it wasn't—Leonard had definitely followed her from the Church of the Night.
Alice pondered for a moment, holding the Dixie pie in her left hand, the sweet iced tea tucked between her left arm and body, and pulled out the monocle from her pocket with her right hand, asking, "Do you want this?"
Still, no one responded, so Alice pouted, dissatisfied, and put the monocle back, eating as she walked home.
Alice had thought she would receive a visitor in her dreams—that seemed like something a Night Watcher would do—but to her confusion, she slept peacefully through the night without anyone visiting her dreams.
Alice woke up puzzled, handed the radio receiver to Klein through the gray fog, and then, like every morning, ate breakfast while reading the newspaper, perhaps a bit more attentively than the previous days.
Afterward, Alice slowly got dressed, put on "Matilda," clipped Amon's monocle to her lapel, and headed to the church.
She glanced at the donation box with longing eyes, thinking how thrilling it would be to steal the money inside... but forced herself to look away.