200 The Shock of Cornelia
Cornelia rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
She suspected she was hallucinating.
Quickly glancing at Mia beside her, Cornelia found that the usually calm Mia was also frowning, appearing just as perplexed by the presence of a child who looked remarkably like Dekan.
“Meow! What’s going on? Why the commotion?!”
Teacher Cat, placed on the sofa by Cornelia, jumped onto the sofa back in frustration, glaring in Dekan’s direction.
“It’s just a little girl, meow!”
“Meow? Dekan, I didn’t keep an eye on you all afternoon, and you brought her here…”
“Eh, meow meow meow!!!”
Teacher Cat’s reflexes took a while to register.
When it finally realized the resemblance between Tarta and Dekan, it let out a sharp cry:
“When did you have a daughter, Dekan?!”
Hearing Teacher Cat’s words, Cornelia felt as if her beliefs were crumbling, and she swayed slightly.
It was Mia who sensitively caught Cornelia’s arm to stabilize her.
“You foolish cat! I’m only sixteen! She must be at least six or seven!”
Dekan was infuriated by Teacher Cat’s comment, shouting loudly.
Teacher Cat thought for a moment and realized something seemed off.
“So, are you long-lost siblings? If you’re not twins, that resemblance is too strong, meow!”
Teacher Cat quickly waved its front paws, issuing a disclaimer.
“I don’t know! Anyway, I just tested her blood, and we have no blood relationship! It’s purely a resemblance!!”
Earlier on the way back, Dekan had stopped the carriage to buy some supplies before returning.
He took a small amount of blood from Tarta’s finger and tested it using the Master’s Blood Identification Ritual.
The result showed that he and Tarta were not blood relatives.
Upon hearing Dekan’s words, Cornelia seemed to feel a little better, but she still anxiously glanced at Dekan and Tarta.
Her heart felt like it couldn’t bear the weight.
“You’re not lying to me, are you, meow?”
Teacher Cat looked at Tarta’s small face, then at Dekan, still finding it hard to believe.
“If I lied just now, I would never be able to create a legendary red card in my life!”
Dekan raised his hand and shouted.
“Meow…”
Hearing Dekan’s solemn vow, Teacher Cat began to believe him somewhat.
After all, one of Dekan’s big dreams was to create a card of legendary red quality.
Since he dared to make such a statement, he surely wasn’t lying.
“There’s definitely some connection between us, but it’s not blood-related; there’s an inexplicable bond called past lives.”
Dekan explained helplessly.
Reincarnation was something some people believed in while others didn’t.
Dekan was a believer.
After all, he himself was a reincarnator.
“Uh…”
Although Cornelia and the others still couldn’t figure out why Tarta and Dekan looked so much alike, they could at least rule out the possibility of her being Dekan’s daughter.
Cornelia placed her hand on her chest, appearing to have finally caught her breath.
However, they couldn’t help but continue observing Tarta’s appearance.
Feeling the gaze of the two unfamiliar people and the cat, Tarta seemed somewhat shy and instinctively moved behind Dekan to hide.
“Dekan, could she be…?”
Mia seemed to connect some of the dots and asked.
“Exactly, she’s the little genius who created the crooked-mouthed Captain De’Erkan! I brought her here!”
Dekan glanced back at Tarta as he spoke.
“Brought here?”
Mia felt a bit uneasy upon hearing this.
“Of course! This little one isn’t simple; an average person couldn’t catch her so quickly. But now, she’s my student, and I’ll teach her to become an outstanding card maker.”
Dekan said proudly.
“……”
Mia could foresee that this good little girl was about to become a trickster.
Soon, they gathered around Tarta.
Although the two girls and the cat were very kind and enthusiastic toward Tarta, she seemed a bit unsure about how to respond to Cornelia and Mia.
Tarta could instinctively sense that Mia was a bit dangerous.
She was unwilling to let her get close and instead circled around Dekan.
As for Cornelia, Tarta felt a different kind of fear.
Because Cornelia had wanted to hug Tarta just a moment ago.
This terrified Tarta.
She felt like she might be crushed.
Similar to Dekan’s reaction when he had been frightened by Cornelia back in the day.
Only Teacher Cat didn’t seem to frighten Tarta much.
But Teacher Cat was somewhat scared of Tarta.
It recalled the time it had stumbled at Dekan’s hands; this little trickster could also be quite dangerous.
Interestingly, Tarta’s attitude toward Chloix was unusual.
Even though Chloix had used magic to capture Tarta in the shop earlier, Tarta seemed to have never felt fear toward Chloix.
It was as if she felt no threat from Chloix at all.
“Don’t worry, Tarta. These two sisters are companions, and this Spirit Cat is just like your own cat.”
Dekan explained, chuckling at Tarta’s strong sense of déjà vu.
Tarta hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Also, you guys shouldn’t scare Tarta. You should know how to interact with her.”
Dekan instructed.
Cornelia and Mia understood.
This little one was a carbon copy of Dekan.
They shouldn’t attempt to be overly familiar right from the start.
As long as she felt genuine goodwill, they would form a friendship quickly.
Thus, Cornelia and Mia temporarily gave up trying to establish a close relationship with Tarta.
If they just interacted naturally, Tarta would likely warm up to them soon.
Mia sighed, suddenly sensing something was amiss.
She looked at the clock on the wall and then asked Dekan:
“So you spent half a day looking for her?”
“Not really. This afternoon we went to a charity ticket agency, doing quite a bit of good deeds.”
“Sure enough, your half-day out wouldn’t be peaceful… Be honest, how much did you win?”
Mia could tell from Dekan’s expression that he’d had quite the haul this afternoon.
After all, he didn’t even seem to realize that the corner of his mouth hadn’t dropped down.
“It’s a bit hard to calculate.”
The physical prizes he had won from Krey were tricky to estimate.
“Don’t you think you should treat us to a little celebration?”
Mia said playfully, poking Cornelia and Teacher Cat secretly.
“Quick, celebrate, meow!”
“Celebrate, celebrate!”
Dekan chuckled helplessly, opened a box, and took out a few magic crystal coins to toss two each to Cornelia, Mia, and Teacher Cat.
After thinking for a moment, he also tossed one to Tarta.
He split the remaining cash with Chloix.
“Very generous.”
Mia grinned, placing the magic crystal coins into her pocket and patting it contentedly.
Cornelia also happily accepted the division from Dekan, saying, “Thank you!”
Teacher Cat, holding the magic crystal coins, rolled on the sofa in bliss.
Only Tarta showed a puzzled expression, staring at the dark purple glimmering coin in her hand, seemingly unable to understand what it was.
She had never seen this type of currency.
But judging by the reactions of others, it should be quite valuable.
“Commemorative coins; just keep them as a memento.”
Dekan explained upon seeing Tarta’s confusion.
Tarta hesitated slightly but nodded, carefully placing the magic crystal coin into her pocket.
“By the way, did you do something with your hair?”
Dekan noticed that Cornelia’s hairstyle had slightly changed since entering.
Cornelia’s long hair was trimmed more elegantly, styled to give off an aristocratic young lady vibe.
Mia had also shortened her hair a bit.
“Mia took me to the salon. How do I look?”
Cornelia twirled lightly in front of Dekan, asking.
“I thought you had escaped from a royal palace somewhere.”
Dekan’s gaze lingered on Cornelia for a while, admiring.
“Hehe.”
Cornelia’s mood lifted again.
The group chatted on the first floor of the mansion, and before long, they assigned themselves to different rooms.
The second floor of the mansion had plenty of bedrooms.
Dekan finally could return to his room to do something he had been looking forward to for a long time.
…
After closing the door, Dekan took out Krey’s Bishop’s Certificate to look at it.
He wondered if there was any chance of attempting to use it to hack into someone’s account and scam other bishops.
