Chapter 70 Stone Shells
◎In the night, torches danced wildly.◎
Ding-ling—Meliya suddenly opened her eyes in the dazzling light.
The silver coin arced beautifully, landing steadily in the vase held by the fairy. The fountain's water splashed across her face, bringing a slight coolness. She looked up. The morning sun was shining brightly, and nothing had happened yet.
"Meliya, what wish did you make?" Elena's figure gradually became clearer, and the rustling of leaves and the coming and going of people jumped into her world again.
"I..." Melia took a deep breath and said word by word, "World peace, the well-being of the people, technological progress... and safe travel."
"Pfft, so greedy?" Elena patted her forehead. "Do you think the Fountain Goddess is Jupiter, the God King? Even he wouldn't be able to control so much."
"If once isn't enough, I'll grant you two."
Melia blinked, slowly thinking about the assassination just now:
The assassin must have been coming for me. As soon as I stepped onto the stairs, I was shot through the chest by an arrow. Pretty professional.
But what about professionalism?
She encountered more assassinations than she did falls. The assassins were either lying in ambush at fixed locations or following her everywhere. As long as she didn't get too far away from Elena, she would be completely safe once she returned home.
But—why was this resurrection so early in the morning? After so many deaths, I'd usually resurrect within half an hour of dying, with only a few times being several hours ago. Today, it was set back a full half day.
Melia shook her head: Forget it, half a day and two or three hours are almost the same, it doesn’t mean anything.
She crossed the fountain and walked towards the shop in front, frowning and looking aside: "Elena, I'm a little tired~"
"Huh, we just went out?"
"I'm just tired, really tired~" Melia took her hand and gently rubbed her shoulder. "Let's go shopping over there and then go home, okay?"
Today is the Moon Goddess Festival, and there are many interesting things to do - but when she saw her lover's round eyes blinking, Elena swallowed the question "Aren't you going out to spend some time alone?"
"Okay, let's go back early today." She rubbed Melia helplessly, and walked to the door of the store with the little girl who was always thinking.
There was a long queue in front. Considering that they would go home after buying, they were not in a hurry to squeeze in and stood loosely at the end.
As the line in front gradually shortened, by the time it was Melia's turn, there weren't many clothes left.
Needless to say, the discounted items, even the more fashionable shoulder ornaments and hats, have been packed up and sold out, leaving only a few robes with special sizes and "novel" patterns.
It’s a pity that I definitely won’t be able to buy the headscarf I got last time… huh?
Melia looked up and saw a pink and blue veil fluttering in the wind hanging on the wooden head behind the clerk. It looked very familiar.
Strange, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t sell if it’s so beautiful…?
Elena saw her staring at the veil in a blink of an eye, and took it off: "I bought this veil, check out."
"Yes~" The store manager ran over from behind the table and immediately covered his mouth when he saw Melia: "Miss?! Is that what you want? I'll wrap it right away."
She was originally a slave in Muala's family. She was promoted to be the store manager here because she learned arithmetic quickly and was sociable.
Seeing his young lady, he naturally took the blue veil and wrapped it up without saying a word. He put two exquisite hairpins into it with the most neat movements and tied a bow on the wooden box.
"How much?" Elena took out a gold coin from her arms and put it on the table, but the store manager pushed it back.
"The things that Miss wants are all from our own home. How can I charge for them?"
"Forget it, just pay from my account, otherwise the numbers won't match. I won't disturb you from doing business for now." Melia smiled, put away the gold coins and wooden box, and waved goodbye.
"No—this is your property, miss. There are also gifts. Do you like red or blue?"
After they left the clothing store, Melia whispered in Elena's ear, "Her name is Honeyberry. She's the best at math in school and very active. I bet she'll apply for redemption once she's saved enough money, probably in two or three years at the latest."
Elena turned her head, her eyes full of joy.
It was a little strange, actually. Why would a master be so surprised by a slave wanting to redeem himself? Slave owners always liked to have smart and lovely slaves serve them for generations, even interfering in their marriages.
However, whenever she saw Melia's joy like a little sparrow, she couldn't help but smile.
The small topic quickly passed, and they tacitly turned their heads and walked in circles to avoid the surging crowd. Just walk for a while and you will be back to the quiet courtyard of Melia's house.
As she walked, a bunch of bright red flowers caught Elena's attention.
She looked up and took a closer look, only then realizing that the flowers were artificial and dyed. The material didn't look like fabric, but more like the paper on Melia's desk.
"Hmm? Those are paper flowers—a byproduct of the paper industry. Once, they tweaked the ratio, and the resulting paper is soft and flexible, like cloth." Melia followed her gaze and proudly pointed at the sign. "See that building? New!"
It is indeed new, not only the smooth walls, but also the two-story hotel has a white and solid beauty.
It is different from the buildings on both sides that are built with mud and wood. It should be built with hard stones inside.
The outside is made of some kind of fired bricks and mud stacked together to create beautiful concave and convex patterns, and finally coated with a layer of fashionable chalk powder, and a circle of marble pieces are pasted on the bottom.
Seeing this strange yet aesthetically pleasing building, Elena smiled and asked, "Is this the hotel you invested in?"
"That's right~" Melia introduced even more proudly, "It took a long time of experimentation to finally produce solid blue bricks. Of course, the most important thing is the dishes inside, they are all the latest!"
Elena pondered for a moment: "Similar to the pizza, dumplings, egg-filled pancakes, and spring rolls you asked the kitchen to make last time?"
"That's right~ There are also fried meatballs and crispy chicken. The crispy roast duck is still being worked on. The skin isn't crispy enough right now, and the sauce isn't quite right."
Besides being proud, I am also a little distressed. Although pastries, sweets, fried foods and barbecue are almost universal preferences, and the Romans are quite receptive to these "innovative foods" that have been passed down for centuries, the cost still cannot be reduced.
Without large-scale farming, only the nobility could afford to eat meat every day, and fried foods required large amounts of oil and iron pans.
So even though she had many creative ideas, she only tentatively opened a high-end hotel next to a wealthy area.
The building is well-insulated, has high ceilings, and is elegantly decorated. The upper floors are guest rooms, while the lower floors are a restaurant catering to the foreign tourists who stay there, primarily businessmen.
As for revenue... maybe because it had just opened and was not well-known, or maybe it was the impact of the war, the income almost offset the cost, and the surplus had to be used for daily maintenance and bonuses.
At least it provided jobs for some slaves, which was a kind of self-reliance training?
Clang~
Melia pushed the door open and the smell of incense inside was very faint, almost like the fresh scent of floral tea.
There was a chimney stove in the hotel, and the temperature was much higher than outside. She couldn't help but yawn, and sleepiness rose in her heart.
"Are you so tired? How about we take a rest here first?" Elena took her hand and walked her upstairs. The interior of the hotel was covered with wooden floors, and even the stone steps were covered with wood, so it was not difficult to walk.
"Okay~"
Recognizing that it was his own lady, the clerk opened the door attentively.
The location of this room, like Melia's bedroom in the villa, faces the sun. Elena carried the drowsy Melia to the bed and pulled down the curtains for her.
A dim feeling instantly enveloped her. Elena sat by the bed and patted the blanket. "Meliya, you go to sleep first. I—"
"Hmm? Let's sleep together." A pair of soft little hands hooked around her neck, and the girl's eyelashes covered her heart.
For a moment, only a faint aftertaste could be smelled at the tip of the nose.
…
"Yawn, what time is it? Lunch time~" Melia stretched comfortably. Now she had a good sleep~ It felt like she didn't need to sleep at night!
Hee, exercise really helps with sleep~
"Lunch?" Elena opened the door and the waiter came in with a cart. It was the knocking and footsteps that woke Melia up.
The cart was filled with exquisite meals: two heart-shaped fruit plates, buttered bread slices, a roast duck without crispy skin, a few egg tart-sized meat pies, and finally a plate of modified vegetable and meat fried dumplings with two small bowls of vegetable soup.
Elena picked up a dumpling with a fork and handed it over: "Little fool, it's almost evening, eat it for dinner."
“Delicious~”
Melia chewed the meat and chopped vegetables in her mouth for a few bites, then suddenly opened her eyes wide and said, "Wait, it's almost evening?!"
"Yeah, you were already very tired, and then... you were exhausted, right?"
Melia rushed to the window, drew aside the curtains, and opened the window to welcome the evening breeze: indeed, the lights were already on outside. In the distance, the torch gathering point, as brilliant as fireworks, was probably where Ophelia's beauty pageant was held?
"...Yeah, I'm exhausted." He relaxed and fell asleep. If the assassin had been lurking near the temple, he would have missed it.
Even if the assassin was guarding outside the hotel, she could call on the guards in her own shop to help escort her when she went out.
Click! After a crisp sound, she lowered her head and found a beautiful shell bracelet tied around her wrist.
These shells are different from the stone shells that Kitten Meimei saw last time. The thickness of these shells is closer to that of natural shells. They are not heavy when worn on the hands. I wonder how long they took to polish.
Elena gently lifted her wrist, and the translucent shell reflected the moonlight from the window. "Meliya, will you be my lover? I want to be with you forever."
Those ocean-blue eyes were filled with tenderness and determination. Even though he had already prepared countless rebuttals and sarcastic remarks in his mind, they were unable to break the sudden calmness of his heart.
"Elena, do you mean... you can't promise me marriage?"
"Yes, I don't want to lie to you, there is no such thing in Rome—"
"Even if you will become Roman Emperor?"
Elena looked up. The girl's expression was so confident, more like... a prophecy than trust.
If one considers it from a utilitarian perspective, Melia can provide her with a lot of help. Whether it is wealth or creative ideas, they all have unexpected value.
What's more - they really love each other.
She had countless reasons to convince Melia, whether it was an exchange of interests or social reality. She could even use Melia's confidence in her ability to become the Roman emperor and promise her a bright future.
The emperor always got everything she wanted.
However, facing her lover's pure eyes, she just wanted to open her true heart, even though this heart was despised by the unicorn and was not so pure and beautiful.
"Meliya, the only thing I can promise you is..."
Clang, clang.
“Murder!!!”
"Run, run, close the door!"
Accompanied by the heavy slam of the lock, only the noise outside the window was the most obvious.
They hurried to the window and looked out: suddenly a lot of fully armed guys emerged from the street, waving weapons and rushing into the crowd from all directions, scaring the Romans who were celebrating the festival and trampling them in all directions.
"Who are they?" Melia bit her lip in surprise. Damn it, she originally thought the assassins were coming specifically for her, but it seemed like they were attacking indiscriminately.
Was the first death just because he happened to be standing on the street and looked like a weak chicken, so he was killed casually?
"Meliya, I'll go downstairs first and organize the guards to guard this place—"
Elena turned her face away, her pupils contracted violently: warm blood splashed on her cheek, and Melia fell back with an expression of disbelief.
A feather arrow pierced through the body, and torches danced wildly in the night.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
