Chapter 84: Elizabeth

Chapter Eighty-Four
Elizabeth

Seeing the puzzled look in his sister’s eyes, Klein suddenly felt that this was an opportunity. He looked Melissa up and down a few times, then said with a grave expression, “Melissa, you are also showing insufficient respect for tonight’s dinner.”

“What?” Melissa looked completely baffled.

Klein pointed at her neck.

“As a lady, you are still missing a necklace to adorn this area.”

Without waiting for his sister to speak, he smiled and drew from his pocket a silver amulet surrounded by clusters of angel feathers.

“Fortunately, I prepared one for you.”

“…” Melissa froze at first. Then she blurted, “How much was it?”

Sister, your priorities are a little off…

Klein silently grumbled, then explained with a smile, “Actually, it was not expensive. At first, it was only a half-finished piece. I imitated certain relics I had seen before and carved blessing incantations and pretty patterns onto it myself.”

“You carved it?” Melissa’s attention was indeed led astray.

“How is it? What do you think of my workmanship?” Klein handed the amulet to his sister as if following the current of the conversation.

Melissa turned it over and examined it several times. Lightly biting her lip, she said, “I like the angel feathers around it.”

If you think the incantations and symbols I carved are ugly, just say so. There is no need to hide it… What matters most for an amulet is its effect!

The corner of Klein’s mouth twitched. Just as he was about to persuade his sister to accept it, he saw Melissa put on the silver necklace with an expression that said she was doing so only with great reluctance. She then carefully adjusted the amulet’s position.

“Perfect,” Klein praised, deliberately exaggerated.

Melissa glanced at him, lowered her head to look at the amulet, and said in a muffled voice, “Klein, you were not like this before. This kind of…”

“Perhaps it is because I have a good job now, and a decent income. A person naturally becomes more confident,” Klein interrupted, offering an explanation first.

Sigh. Although I inherited the original owner’s memory fragments and there are no major problems, in some details, I still habitually reveal my true personality… especially now that I get along with Benson and Melissa more and more naturally…

He sighed inwardly.

Melissa seemed to accept his reason. She pressed her lips together and said, “You are very good like this now. Truly very good…”

After the siblings chatted for a while, Benson finished changing and came downstairs. White shirt, black waistcoat, tailcoat, black bow tie, and straight trousers completely transformed him. He now looked like the kind of successful man who, after years of struggling, had at last built a career of his own.

His hairline also looks very much like one…

Klein laughed silently.

“Excellent, Benson. This kind of outfit suits you.”

He spread his hands with a brilliant smile.

Melissa nodded seriously in agreement beside him.

“Facts prove that clothes are more important than the person wearing them,” Benson said, mocking himself.

Taking the chance, Klein drew out the remaining amulet, repeated the explanation from earlier, and ended with, “I made one for you too.”

“Not bad. I will carry it with me.”

Benson accepted it frankly, then teased, “Klein, even if one day you suddenly know how to cut hair, make clothes, repair clocks, or feed curly-haired baboons, I will not find it strange.”

“Life is always full of surprises and accidents,” Klein answered with a smile.

After that, the three siblings finished preparing themselves, left the front door, and took a trackless public carriage to Fania Street in the North Borough, where Selena’s family lived.

The Wood residence was also a row house, but unlike Klein’s, it had a porch and a small patch of grass in front, making it look more refined.

Klein, Benson, and Melissa pulled the doorbell and waited only a dozen seconds before seeing Selena Wood, the star of today’s gathering.

The girl with wine-red hair greeted Melissa with a joyful hug.

“I love your dress. It makes you look especially beautiful.”

Beside Selena stood her father, old Mr. Wood, a senior clerk at the Tingen branch of Backlund Bank.

“Welcome, our respectable elder brother. Welcome, our young historian,” he greeted Benson and Klein with deliberate exaggeration.

Young historian… Why not add “with a conscience” to the description…

Klein muttered inwardly. He removed his hat and responded with a smile, “Mr. Wood, you look far more spirited and younger than I imagined.”

Without realizing it, his style of compliment had begun leaning toward that of the great foodie nation.

Benson reached out and shook Mr. Wood’s hand.

“I know quite a few bank clerks, but they are all equally proud and rigid, exactly like the newest model machines. Not a single one has your grace.”

“If you met me at the bank, perhaps you would not say that,” old Mr. Wood said, laughing happily.

After the exchange of greetings, Selena, wearing a new long dress, half skipped as she led the Moretti siblings inward. At times she spoke in a normal volume, saying, “Elizabeth is already here,” and at other times she lowered her voice to Melissa and said, “Your two brothers are more handsome than I imagined.”

Hey, my hearing is very good… even though you are saying something complimentary…

Klein helplessly looked at the two sixteen-year-old girls walking side by side in front of him.

No, that is not right. My current appearance is still quite some distance from handsome… Hiss, Miss Selena, just how ugly did you imagine Benson and me to be? One reserved and gloomy, untidy, pale-faced, dull-eyed; the other with thinning hair and premature aging?

Klein conveniently pinched the space between his brows and diligently practiced spirit vision.

Miss Selena is healthy. Her emotions are excited and very happy… Old Mr. Wood has a small issue with his lungs. Yes, I saw his pipe…

In a pleasant mood, Klein swept his gaze across everyone present.

“Elizabeth, Melissa is here,” Selena called lightly toward the front.

A young lady in a blue lace dress walked over. She had naturally curling brown hair and adorable baby fat on her face.

Klein froze for a moment, because he knew this young lady.

At the underground market, he had helped her choose an amulet!

Elizabeth first greeted Melissa. Then she looked toward Benson and Klein.

She froze there, her brows drawing together slightly, as though she were thinking about something.

Very quickly, Elizabeth revealed a smile and greeted them politely as though nothing had happened.

Klein likewise pretended not to recognize her. Led by old Mr. Wood, he came to the sofa area in the living room and was introduced to Selena’s elder brother Chris and the other guests.

Watching Benson use the neighboring Mr. Shod as a topic and chat happily with Chris and the other solicitors, Klein could not help feeling a little envious.

I do not have that kind of social ability…

From a corner table, he picked up a glass of aperitif and quietly listened, occasionally nodding and laughing along.

Before long, all the guests had arrived, and dinner formally began.

Because too many guests had been invited, the Woods’ dining table could not accommodate them all. Thus, the dinner was served buffet-style. Maids brought out plates of steak, roast chicken, fried fish, mashed potatoes, and other foods, placing them on different tables, while male servants handled the carving so the portions were suitable for taking.

Klein saw the elegant glazed plates and silver knives and forks, and secretly clicked his tongue. He felt that the Wood family, despite being only middle class, was far too extravagant.

“If they are this wealthy, why does Chris still need to spend several years preparing for the wedding?”

He thought in confusion of what his sister had once said.

“Mm. Perhaps they need several years precisely to accumulate tableware like this. For a family like this, respectability is important!”

Amid his wandering thoughts, Klein picked up a porcelain plate, came before the dining table, and speared a piece of roast meat coated with honey.

Just then, Elizabeth, whose face had adorable baby fat, drew closer. Looking at the food, she said in a low voice, “So you are Melissa’s brother… Thank you. Selena liked the amulet I gave her very much. She said she felt healthier as soon as she put it on.”

Selena… amulet…

Klein suddenly remembered why the girl beside him had chosen an amulet back then.

It was to give a birthday gift to a friend who liked mysticism!

That friend was Selena? Selena likes things related to the mystical domain?

Klein frowned slightly, then smiled politely.

“That may simply be a placebo effect.”

After saying this, he began waiting for the other party to praise Emperor Roselle.

But Elizabeth’s reaction was one of complete confusion.

“What is a placebo?”

“It is purely psychological. Sometimes, when we firmly believe we will become better, we really do become better,” Klein roughly explained.

“No. She said it was different from all the amulets she had bought before. It felt different,” Elizabeth emphasized.

Tilting her head to look at Klein, she said curiously, “I did not expect Melissa’s brother to be an expert in mysticism.”

“As you know, I studied history. I inevitably come into contact with similar things.”

Klein smoothly brushed the topic aside and asked, “Are you also at Tingen Technical School?”

“No. Selena, Melissa, and I used to be classmates. Later, they went to the technical school, while I studied at Ivos Public School nearby,” Elizabeth explained seriously.

A public school here was not a government-run school, but one open to public enrollment. It had evolved from good grammar schools and aimed to prepare graduates who could enter universities. Its tuition was quite expensive, and it also examined the family background of students. Even ordinary middle-class families often found it difficult to bear.

She did not chat for long. After choosing her food, she returned to Selena’s side.

Once everyone had congratulated the star of the day, the dinner gradually neared its end. Klein and Benson were invited to join a game of Texas hold’em. The small blind was half a penny and the big blind one penny. Melissa, Elizabeth, Selena, and the other friends went upstairs, perhaps to chat, perhaps to play some other game.

Klein’s luck that day was poor. After more than twenty hands, he had not once received good cards. He could only constantly peek at his hand, fold, and serve as a spectator.

Once again, he lifted the corner of his cards and discovered the two of hearts and the five of spades.

“Should I try bluffing once?”

After thinking for a moment, Klein still failed to muster the courage. At the same time, he suppressed the impulse to cheat through divination.

He covered his cards, tapped the table to signal that he would not call, then stood and left the long table, heading toward the washroom.

Roselle really was someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. He actually found some strange excuse and kept calling this game Texas…

Klein shook his head as he walked.

Just then, he suddenly stopped. His pupils contracted slightly.

His inspiration was telling him that there had been a strange fluctuation upstairs!