"Your father's expression management is pretty good — how did you pick up on his worry?"
Another mouthful of sausage, and then Ais suddenly found something odd. As a former Instigator, she'd also noticed Owen Femi's unease. But what gave a Seer the ability to see it? Was that also a form of "seeing secrets"?
Leel explained quietly:
"I noticed my father's speech seemed slightly off, so I took a quick look with Aura Vision. The spiritual light representing his emotional state had taken on a hint of grey-darkness. It only cleared when Detective Ais agreed. Grey-darkness indicates worry, sadness, and other negative emotions."
Ais whispered, genuinely surprised: "Wait — Aura Vision can read emotions?"
At the expected question, Leel explained matter-of-factly:
"With sufficient intuition and Aura Vision strength, an Extraordinary can directly observe some of the external expressions of the astral body. And since the astral body is closely tied to a person's will and emotions, the color of the small amount of astral spiritual light that surfaces externally allows a rough reading of someone's emotional state."
At that moment, Mrs. Dalton, having just finished seeing her husband out, came back in the door and noticed the two of them whispering. Curious despite herself, she asked:
"What are you two talking so quietly about?"
Since the concern was mostly that servants might overhear, Mrs. Dalton's return didn't interrupt the conversation.
Ais summarized: "Teaching me."
Leel gave a small nod, then answered his mother: "Detective Ais and I are discussing occult studies."
Satisfied with this, Mrs. Dalton said no more and applied herself to finishing her breakfast. Though she couldn't quite suppress the upward turn of her mouth.
Her son wasn't yet twenty, but that didn't stop the mistress from privately beginning to worry about his marriage prospects. Even if Leel was no longer blind in the conventional sense, no one else knew that. The hardest part of any relationship was taking the first step — and right now, Mrs. Dalton thought this particular first step looked rather promising.
Mrs. Dalton, please put that expression away. This is strictly teacher and student. Ais had naturally noticed the woman's smile. But trying to clarify that would only make it worse — and she had no intention of being foolish enough to bring it up.
After finishing breakfast at a slightly accelerated pace, Ais temporarily left the Femi house to pick up a change of clothes.
Having stayed at the Femi house four days, she couldn't exactly live out of a nightgown and sleepwear the way she had at her best friend's.
Before heading back to Joyewood, however, Ais planned to stop by Zoe Freya's shop and say hello — and pick up a supply of her personalized makeup products.
Though the morning fog was thinner than usual in today's pleasant weather, Ais felt as though her eyelashes had collected moisture by the time she'd walked to Zoe's door.
It was just past breakfast time, and the shop held only Zoe — wearing an apron over a viridian green dress — doing the last of her pre-opening preparations. Only her back was visible from the door.
The door was still half-open from having recently been swept. Ais wasn't going to waste an opportunity like that. She softened her footsteps, slipped inside, and delivered a completely unannounced hug from behind:
"Good morning, Zoe. Surprised?"
"Nearly scared me to death! Ais, how do you walk without making a sound."
Ais said nothing, just used the position to tighten her arms. Then, while Zoe was still leaning against her, she moved both hands to Zoe's waist and started tickling.
"Stop, stop!" Zoe instinctively tried to curl inward but couldn't manage it. The shop filled with her laughter.
Ais kept going until Zoe was begging for mercy before she relented.
"Sorry, I have a very long memory." Arms folded, perfectly pleased with herself.
Zoe sat catching her breath in a chair, rolling her eyes:
"I touched you maybe a little extra once — was there any need to hold onto that this long?"
"Getting taken advantage of and not getting even? Unthinkable." Ais held her head high and answered proudly.
Another eye-roll, then Zoe changed the subject:
"Hey, Ais. Since you're back — tell me. Does the Femi family really just need a detective to keep their son company?"
Ais told the pure, unvarnished truth:
"At minimum, over the full day I was there, I found no sign of any suspicious individuals in the vicinity of their house."
"Hmm…" Zoe thought about it, then suddenly darted to Ais's side with an excited look:
"Are they a nice family? Is their son good-looking? How old is he? He must find your detective background completely fascinating, right?"
Thinking of making an introduction, are you? Ais didn't quite understand the excitement, but answered:
"Very pleasant people, and they're generous with the compensation. Appearance-wise — decent enough, I'd say. He's around twenty. Since he can't see anything, he's interested in all sorts of new things."
"Oh~" Zoe acted as if she'd uncovered something:
"Ais, I think the Femi family might be looking for more than just company for their son. They may be quietly hoping to find him a wife at the same time."
You're not entirely wrong. Remembering Mrs. Dalton's knowing smile at breakfast, Ais found herself unable to argue.
Seeing Ais not immediately respond, Zoe leaned in:
"Ais, if that's actually what they're after — would you consider it? I hear the Femi family is quite wealthy, and they don't live far from the suburbs."
The Femi house near Green Park was close to Green Park Street, which led directly to Green Cemetery in the outskirts. At full speed, Ais could reach the cemetery in under ten minutes.
"No." Ais shook her head without a flicker of hesitation.
Marriage to a man, and all that it implied — it was still far too much of an abstraction. Whatever else she might say about it, being physically beneath someone — particularly a man — was something she could never come to terms with.
That was true regardless of how much someone had done for her. Paying it back through her own efforts was the answer. The idea of "offering oneself in return for a kindness" struck her as a form of pure dysfunction. She was not some helpless woman whose only skills were cooking and cleaning.
"Why? Is looking after a blind person too much trouble?" Zoe seemed genuinely puzzled by the immediate refusal.
"That's not it. Mostly it's that people are unpredictable, and the way they feel doesn't stay fixed. You can't count on everyone to remember the past fondly. Rather than putting the happiness of my later years into someone else's hands, I'd rather hold onto it myself. And I don't have family to fall back on. The cost of choosing the wrong person is too high — especially for women."
After a few seconds of thought, Ais settled on reasons that at least seemed coherent.
Zoe nodded thoughtfully:
"That's fair."
Watching Zoe sink into consideration, Ais added:
"And I'm only twenty-four. There's plenty of time."
Zoe looked at her with exasperation:
"That's not early at all — I read that the average woman's wedding age is about twenty-six. What do you think I've been hinting at?"
So everyone's been judging me with that lens. The full realization landed on Ais that she herself had reached the expected marrying age — and she had no response.
She resorted to mutual provocation:
"Zoe — you're one to talk. What about you?"
Zoe's voice went quiet immediately:
"I haven't met anyone I like. And besides — my mother only passed two years ago. It doesn't feel right to think about these things yet."
"Then you'd better get moving, or you'll be an old maid before you know it." Ais patted her shoulder sagely.
After a round of good-natured sparring, Ais collected her personalized makeup products and left. Before going, she also made a plan: once she'd completed the first commission, she'd take Zoe out to celebrate at her own expense.
Of course, she didn't mention to Zoe that she was earning 10 pounds a day. For an ordinary person, even in Beklund, a weekly wage of 10 pounds was above average — the disclosure would prompt very inconvenient questions.
Author's Note (this chapter):"I noticed my father's speech seemed slightly off, so I took a quick look with Aura Vision. The spiritual light representing his emotional state had taken on a hint of grey-darkness. It only cleared when Detective Ais agreed. Grey-darkness indicates worry, sadness, and other negative emotions."
That level of Aura Vision is almost on par with a Diviner.Author reply: The Seer's Aura Vision is roughly comparable to a Diviner — same with combat strength. ·