"You.. huh? what?" Amelia said as she was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond.
It was not just her, but everyone in the carriage as they stared at Keith like he had been possessed.
The first one to break the silence was Brandon as he couldn't stop himself from snickering, which then turned into a loud laughter.
"-aahaahaaaa! Oh goddess of protection! I love this lad, hahahahahahaahaaaa!" he exclaimed before he began to cough.
Keith looked at the people around him innocently like he had never said something questionable, "Did I do something wrong?"
Unfortunately for him, even he had a limit to how much he could control his facial expressions. On top of that, Brandon's laughter was too contagious, especially for Keith.
The moment he finished his question, a smile popped up on his face, which gave Amelia the feeling that he was mocking her.
She glared at him as she balled her fist and just as she was about to punch his eggs, Clara grabbed her by her arm and shook her head, "You're making a very bad first impression..."
"But Claraaa!! He's the one who started it!" she complained as she looped her hand around Clara's and leaned against her.
"Not really." Clara rebutted before she began to reprimand her junior, "You were the one who started attacking Brandon's... um attacking him. When you don't act like a lady, you shouldn't expect them to act like gentlemen either."
Amelia then make a cute face, but Clara shut her down before she could do what she wanted to, "No, won't work against me. If you act out more, then I won't give you my protection."
"Tch, fine." she said as she let go of Clara's arm, but Clara didn't stop there.
"Don't you think that you must apologise?"
"But..." Amelia began and when she saw Clara's expression, she backed down and looked at Keith with fire in her eyes, "I. Am. Sorry."
Keith nodded, "Okay, don't worry about it. Just... don't do it in the future. I value them a lot and I don't have stone skin like our head detective. Also, I apologise for my remarks too. I blurted them out without thinking."
Amelia blinked twice and paused for a second before nodding, "Okay, I won't hit you."
"Good, cuz I believe in equality. If you hit me there, I'll hit you there too." Keith said with a face so straight that it shocked the team once again.
Edward looked at Brandon and commented, "The coming days are going to be fun, aren't they?"
"Of course. I thought that this kid was a boring guy but this is shocking."
"Sir Brandon, I'm just saying that I stand for equality."
Brandon waved his hand nonchalantly, "Yeah yeah. Only monkeys will believe your words. Say, do you want to visit the maiden's pub with me tonight?"
Keith stared at the muscular guy in front of him and shook his head, "Sorry, but I don't swing that way. I prefer women."
This time, Amelia didn't let go of the chance and laughed so loud and for so long that everything Brandon said got drowned by her voice.
Unfortunately for him, they had reached their destination before he could clear things up. Agitated, he rushed out of the carriage while Amelia followed behind him with a bright smile on her face like she had accomplished a great thing just now.
Keith on the other hand, got off the carriage with mixed thoughts.
'I should have controlled my damn mouth. But.. I guess it's fine to relax when I'm around these guys. They don't seem too bad after all, and there's a limit to where I can go by being alone. I'll keep my important secrets to myself, but I'll chill around them.'
As he made his decisions, he followed behind his team as they walked towards a decent sized duplex house which was at least four times larger than his sister's house. Along with that, there was empty area surrounding the mansion on all sides.
'So baronets have such wealth, huh?' he thought as he stopped in front of the door while Brandon knocked on it. The group waited for a few seconds until a young man in a suit opened the door.
Brandon showed him his church's ring and the man lifted his hand until it was parallel to the ground, motioning them to enter.
As Keith walked in, he leaned towards Amelia who was the only one beside him and asked, "Am I expected to learn about their etiquette and stuff? Because I don't know a thing about any of those."
"It'll help you a lot if you learn, but hey, we're a team and you got me so you don't have to worry." she said with a confident look on her face.
Keith nodded and straightened himself as he considered the possibility of learning etiquette.
'If I learn, then like she said, I'll be able to mingle well with the high circles. And getting accepted by the nobles will help me in the long run too. It's slightly annoying, but there's nothing bad that'll happen from learning etiquette.'
By the time he made his decision, they had reached a large room that was adorned with multiple framed paintings and pieces of calligraphy. There were also some nice looking statues, but the one that caught Keith's eye, was the grand piano.
Just one look at the black and white keys brought back a wave of nostalgia from his teens and early twenties. He wasn't exactly a grand piano player, but he did play the electric piano which technically was different.
Clara and Edward noticed this as Keith had stared at the piano for a bit too long.
And they weren't the only ones who did as Keith heard a raspy voice while he was still staring at the piano.
"Hm~ it would appear that one from amongst you fancies my piano performance. If it pleases you, I would be most thrilled to perform a piece for your entertainment"