Mrs. Aldridge (The End)

As Mi was arranging today's menu in the kitchen, Kraft rushed in again: "Sir, that beautiful noblewoman has come in again." Mi, seeing Kraft's blushing face, realized he was referring to Ellen. She then asked, "And the Countess?"

"They haven't arrived yet." Kaf turned back to look again before reporting back, "The adventurer has arrived too, so we can resume normal operations."

As Mi and Ailian were about to leave after lunch, the jeweled Mrs. Aldrich blocked the doorway: "This woman has been conscripted by the royal family!" Everyone in the restaurant stopped eating. Whether they were guests, servants, adventurers who didn't care about the nobles' expressions, or the shop owners, Doug Tor and Kafffel, they all stopped what they were doing in surprise and looked at Mrs. Aldrich blocking the door.

"Good day, Mrs. Aldrich!" Miss Ellen greeted Mrs. Aldrich with a standard aristocratic bow. "This is my vocal coach." At that moment, Miss Ellen's old servant, Xiao Wei, presented Mrs. Aldrich with a booklet with a gold-embossed cover. "Good day, Madam! This is the letter of appointment signed by His Majesty the King on behalf of Miss Ellen. Please take a look, Mrs. Aldrich!" The room fell silent. Mrs. Aldrich, her face ashen, opened the booklet, glanced at it, threw it back into Xiao Wei's hands, and turned to leave.

Miss Ellen stepped aside slightly to let Mi go first: "Teacher, please!" Mrs. Aldrich and her party and Miss Ellen and her party left one after the other, and the lively discussion in the restaurant began to buzz.

“Boss, come here,” said Mr. Rosenger, one of the twelve elders of the Adventurers’ Guild. “Tell me how you found this cook.”

“My lord,” Doug Tor said somewhat awkwardly, uttering his prepared excuse, “I really didn’t bring Lady Mi here. Do you think my little shop could afford someone with marigold coins as a cook? If Lady Mi wanted my shop, I would gladly offer it up!” Doug Tor thought for a moment and added, “Lady Mi just loves to eat. She likes to cook herself, and every time she makes a new dish, little April watches and learns it too. Little April is the head chef of the restaurant; today, all the dishes were cooked by little April. Lady Mi has been using my kitchen to cook. Really, we’ve never seen any of the spices she uses. Thurfrid goes everywhere to buy spices, plants, and herbs for her; more than half of the shop’s income goes towards that. Lady Mi really isn’t a cook my little shop can afford.” Doug Tor went on and on about how Mi had just arrived at the restaurant. He had never paid Mi a salary; Mi had never been a cook at Doug Tor’s restaurant. Mr. Rosenger left a silver coin and left. The shopkeeper picked up the coin, flicked it on his finger, and held it to his ear to listen to the beautiful sound it made.

Since the restaurant's business boomed, the tax official had been checking on it every now and then. Especially after the adventurers finished eating, they would always leave silver coins, saying, "Keep the change, this is a tip for the cook!" The restaurant owner would turn around and see the tax official, bowing and scraping, saying, "Good day, tax official! Our shop will definitely pay its taxes properly." He then winked at Kaf, who quickly ran over and said, "Sir, you are very lucky today, you've received a lucky number! This meal is free!" He then handed over a lunchbox containing a specially roasted chicken. The plump tax official, picking his teeth with a silver toothpick, took the lunchbox, nodded, and left.

This time, Mi was taken by Ailian to Ailian Castle, Ailian's fiefdom, located on the northern outskirts of the city. It was an entire manor, with a main building, an annex, gardens, a lake, and groves—a vast and luxurious estate. A dark green curtain woven from ivy covered the entire section of the city wall, and oxalis sprouted from the cracks in the cobblestones, blooming with small white and purple flowers. In front of the main building, a mimosa tree spread its enormous canopy, its golden blossoms swaying gently in the late spring breeze, staining the bronze rim of the stone well a flowing honey color. Twelve copper wind chimes hanging from the eaves of the porch vibrated slightly, the sounds of the wind, the chimes, and the chirping of birds from the canopy creating a trio of sounds.

On the west bank of Lotus Lake, newly sprouted lotus leaves cluster together in neat rows. Last year's remaining lotus stalks cast spiderweb-like shadows under the warm sun. The cascading wisteria blossoms from the annex balcony now reflect their pale purple hues into the lake, startling a few mallards preening their feathers. At the base of the castle wall, the ivy is suddenly stirred by the wind, its leaves fluttering and revealing their greyish-white undersides. Hidden among the aerial roots of the mimosa tree, beneath the bluestone, the maple winged fruits left behind in the crevices of the stones last year have now sprouted pale yellow buds.

Beneath the rusted bronze drainpipes of the northwest tower, clusters of bluebells form a miniature sea of ​​flowers, the air thick with the intertwined fragrance of mimosa and photinia. As the first raindrop pierces the canopy and falls on the wind chimes, the entire castle suddenly resonates with a soft, trembling sound, as if the sky is gently knocking on the door of this green labyrinth.

The carriage entered the manor, where servants lined up to wait. It felt as if Mi had stepped into a princess's castle that had slumbered for a hundred years. She followed Eileen into this green castle, the Eileen Castle Hall, which Miss Beth had never been able to enter. The faded oak floors exuded the scent of pine resin in the twilight, and the six arched French windows filtered the shadows of the mimosa blossoms into flowing gold leaf. On the stone fireplace mantel on the north wall sat a rough ceramic vase, several dahlias and starflowers in full bloom. Beside the armchair by the fireplace, several sheet music books were slanted into a small wicker frame, with dried flowers tucked between the pages from the previous year. Honeysuckle vines climbed the cast-iron railings of the spiral staircase, their yellow and white flowers rising abruptly at the second-floor platform, then turning into a corridor connecting to the balcony. A breeze swept through the wind chimes in the porch, rustling the ivy leaves in a harmonious chorus. The people living in this castle seemed like forest spirits, the air filled with a refreshing fragrance.

"This is Miss Mi, the music teacher that Miss recently hired." Xiao Wei introduced Mi to the servants in the room. "From now on, you should all treat Miss Mi with the same respect you would show Miss Miss."

“No, Xiaowei,” Ailian stood ramrod straight, her face serious as she looked at the group of people in front of her: “From now on, you must respect Miss Mi even more than you respect me, understand?”

"Yes, Miss." The servants knelt down. "Good day, Miss Mi."

"Xiaowei, arrange for the teacher to stay next to me."

“Yes, Miss.” Xiao Wei turned and left.

Mi pulled her hand away from Ailian's and found a chair to sit down, waiting for Ailian's explanation. Ailian lingered, touching her fingers before sitting down opposite Mi: "Miss Mi, you can no longer stay at the Flower Fate Inn. Mrs. Aldrich has had someone contact the owner; she wants to buy the Flower Fate Inn."

“As far as I know, the nobles of Sun City cannot seize the property of citizens.” Mi believed that Eileen wouldn't lie to her, but Mrs. Aldrich's blatant behavior still angered her. Anger—Mi hadn't felt this way in a long time. Since becoming a witch, she had become increasingly accustomed to viewing everything with a mechanical eye. All these vitality and emotions were to her like different colored orbs of light, like paintings adorning this empty world, in which humans were utterly insignificant.

Ailian looked at Mi with heartache. A nobleman has plenty of ways to seize a citizen's property; why would she need to personally intervene? What's the point of raising lackeys and henchmen? Before this, Ailian had stayed with Mi in the small room of the Flower Fate Inn. Now that Ailian had obtained the letter of appointment signed by the king, she could officially bring Mi into her Ailian Castle.

Mi recalled how the restaurant had been like a staged drama these past few days, which had given her a headache. Fortunately, April had been diligent and studious over the past six months and was now fully capable of running the small restaurant on her own. Mi thought that after April left, Dougto could finally relax and wouldn't have to be so tense every day anymore.

“I need to write two letters; one should always finish what one starts.” Mi wrote to Dougto, thanking him for his care and understanding over the past six months. She asked Dougto to give her share of the profits to Fried’s third sister as his wages. Judging by the days, Fried must have stayed in Lincheng 17; he had been thinking about saving a dowry for his beloved third sister.

Mi wrote another letter to Sheila, telling her that she had moved into Eileen Castle and would no longer live at the Flower Inn. She gave Sheila the Marigold Coins as compensation, and that if Sheila encountered any danger, she could use the Marigold Coins to seek help from the Adventurers' Guild. Now that only Anna's salary remained, Mi put down her pen; she planned to talk to Miss Eileen.

* * *

Lady Aldrich was furious. She frantically overturned everything in the living room, then sat on the floor, panting heavily. The butler had to summon Earl Aldrich. Earl Aldrich was the complete opposite of Lady Aldrich; he was thin and shrewd. He was usually indecisive, only being called back by the butler when Lady Aldrich went mad. Otherwise, he was always hunting and playing on the estate, never paying any attention to Lady Aldrich's actions.

“My dear lady.” Earl Aldrich entered, ignoring the mess on the floor. He helped Mrs. Aldrich to the bed, placed two thick feather pillows behind her back, and then sat down beside her. “I’ve heard you haven’t been eating or sleeping well lately, and I’m very worried. Should I call the medical officer to examine you?”

“My Lord Earl, you’ve finally appeared. Your wife is being bullied to death.” Lady Aldrich’s mind began to return after she had exhausted herself. She stared at the man in front of her: “You are His Majesty’s close advisor. Go and tell His Majesty that I need that cook so that I can eat.”

“Madam,” Earl Aldrich patted Madam Aldrich’s plump arm and softened his voice, “that’s Eleanor. If you feel that my title has come to an end and want to be exiled to the border with me, I will certainly go with you.”

"You?" Mrs. Aldrich opened her eyes wide, her anger reignited, and she raised her arm, wanting to slap Earl Aldrich a few times.

Earl Aldrich pressed her arm and pushed her back onto the bed: "Madam, you'd better wake up. I don't care what you've been doing. But if you implicate the Earl Aldrich manor, don't blame me for going down with you to the death. How many people don't know what you've been doing?" Earl Aldrich stood up and said to the butler at the door, "Madam is ill. Go and fetch the physician." He walked to the door and saw a group of brightly dressed young girls: "What are you all standing there for? Clean Madam's bedroom."

Soon, news spread from Earl Aldrich's mansion that Lady Aldrich was seriously ill and needed to recuperate, and all banquets at the usually boisterous Earl Aldrich's mansion were canceled. The disputes concerning Mi, Eileen, and Lady Aldrich that day were never mentioned again. Only Elder Anma of the Adventurers' Guild went to the palace to admonish King Derek to restrain the behavior of the royal family.