Chapter 1341 - Garden of Seclusion (2) (1/2)

Although the contrast between the two Shiras was ridiculous, after experiencing the mental world of four holy sword card spirits, Rhode considered himself to be immune to such absurdity. Even though he criticized inwardly how illogical Shira was to be so quiet and elegant, on the surface, he accepted her invitation to walk up the steps and arrived at the garden, sitting down and across from her. The young lady seemed to be having tea (or a late-night snack?) as the table was full of delicious cakes and piping-hot black tea. For some reason, Rhode felt like something was wrong with this ordinary scene. Or was it because the Shira in front of him seemed so abnormal? No, maybe it was that Shira appeared too normal.

“Would you like to have some?”

Upon sensing Rhode’s gaze, Shira asked with a smile. And when he heard her question, he waved his hand hurriedly.

“It’s fine, Miss Shira, I don’t particularly enjoy desserts.”

Rhode wasn’t speaking nonsense because after suffering from ‘trauma’ in Celia’s mental world, the sight of sweets and desserts made him nauseous. So despite the cake looking delicious, he couldn’t take a single bite out of it. Honestly, he doubted he would have any interest in desserts for the rest of his life even after leaving the mental world. Come to think of it, it was also somewhat hilarious. He survived the mental worlds of Celestina, Gracier, and Madaras, but it was Celia’s that left the deepest psychological scar on him. He was completely speechless at this thought.

“I see…”

Upon hearing his reply, Shira smiled and didn’t say anything more. She stretched out and turned her hand over elegantly, only to have a teacup appearing out of nowhere in front of him on the table. Soon after, she picked up the teapot and poured a cup of aromatic black tea for him. Facing her kind gesture, Rhode no longer refused. He accepted her gesture, lifted the teacup in front of him, and took a sip.

The tea wasn’t as delicious as the ones he normally drank. Among the black teas he had, the best was the one that Lydia served. Of course, even though Agatha and Marlene were also experienced in the art of tea, only Lydia’s black tea was so tasty that Rhode felt like he almost ascended to heaven after taking a sip. On the other hand, this black tea prepared by Shira felt odd. It was neither good nor bad, but had a sour aroma as if it were brewed from expired tea leaves. Not only that, but he also smelled a weird scent. In short… It was really hard to describe.

Despite that, Rhode didn’t say much, but took a sip and put down the teacup in front of him instead, before gazing at the young lady. Facing his gaze, the smile on Shira’s face didn’t change the slightest. On the contrary, she blinked and gazed at him with curiosity.

“It’s the first time I’ve met a traveler from the outside world, Mr. Rhode. I’m sure you’ve been traveling and had a lot of wonderful encounters. I’m wondering if it’s convenient for you to share them with me?”

“I…”

Looking at the quiet and courteous Shira who gazed at him with curious eyes, Rhode didn’t know what to say. Ever since he had gotten her, he never had a good conversation with her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but she was always spouting nonsense and he couldn’t get any valuable information from her. This was why when he met such a ‘reasonable’ version of her, he was stunned and didn’t know how to communicate with her. Meanwhile, after noticing the slight hesitation on his face, Shira smiled in response.

“Right, I forgot about that; you must be tired from your long journey. You can rest here for the night and we can talk about it again tomorrow. What do you think?”

“Sure.”

Upon hearing her words, Rhode nodded without hesitation. In fact, he was considering exactly how he should respond to her. After all, he was rather flustered after meeting this side of her. If he could have a good rest, it would also help him collect his thoughts to consider how he should go about dealing with Shira. Also… according to his previous experiences, perhaps more than one Shira would show up. After all, she wasn’t a Carlesdine, so there was no way that she would only have a broken and incomplete core personality like Gracier and Madaras.

Clap. Clap.

After hearing his reply, the corners of Shira’s mouth lifted into a smile. She extended her hands, clapped twice, and soon after, a ghost-like figure in a maid’s outfit drifted toward them. As expected by Rhode, the maid was also Shira, though completely different from her original self in terms of personality. She was calm and expressionless as if she were dead. She arrived at the side of the noble young lady and bowed respectfully.

“What may I do for you, my lady?”

“Prepare a fine room for our guest, and let him have a good rest.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Upon hearing the noble lady’s instruction, the maid nodded, turned around, and looked with emotionless, glass bead-like eyes that reflected an image of Rhode. She looked at him and spoke softly.

“Our guest, please follow me.”

Led by the maid, Rhode sauntered into the three-story building located in the center of the lake. But to his surprise, not only was the small building gorgeous and beautiful on the outside, but its inside was also decorated luxuriously with crimson carpets, velvet curtains over windows, and statues and plants in the corners. Matched with the bright lights on the ceiling, everything looked soft, comfortable, and graceful. It was simply a model of an ancient noblewoman’s manor house.

This surprised him quite a bit. He thought this small building had a gilded exterior, but was shabby and ruined on the inside, where broken limbs and bones were scattered across the floor or cobwebs and dusty junk piled up like a haunted house. He didn’t expect it to look so decent in the slightest.

The maid didn’t say a word or have the decency to look back and check on him. She was like a robot with instructions inputted, walking straight to a guest room located on the left side of the second floor. She opened the door of the guest room, made an inviting gesture to him, and right after he entered the room, she bent over for a bow and took her leave quickly. Along the way to the guest room, she didn’t even utter a single word. Her expressionless face lacked a single hint of smile. Rhode was certain that she would surely be unqualified for a job as a hotel waitress…

“Whew…”

Collapsing onto the soft bed, Rhode breathed a sigh of relief. After going through four mental worlds, he was finally able to rest and relax a little. Technically, although he wouldn’t be physically fatigued from the mental worlds and could have gone all the way without sleeping, eating, or drinking, he would still be mentally exhausted. Not to mention that previously in Celestina’s and Gracier’s and Madaras’s bizarre mental worlds, he had already been dog-tired. And now that he was here, although he was certain that Shira’s mental world wasn’t that safe either, at least he felt relaxed in this current environment…

Alright, I shall get some rest then…

At this thought, Rhode closed his eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

After a while, the deep ringing of a bell woke him up. He opened his eyes and found his room illuminated by warm, soft lights, while he still lay comfortably on the soft bed. Nothing changed. Honestly, he was prepared to wake up and find himself lying in a cemetery or even buried in a coffin, or that everything around him was just an illusion and the whole house reverted to a haunted house or something. But now, everything seemed normal and nothing seemed to be different. He guessed that he might have been thinking too much… Maybe this was how Shira’s mental world was supposed to be all along?