In the ballroom, Alice, the first beauty recognized by everyone, was dancing with the second prince.

Their dancing posture is so appropriate and decent, as if they have cooperated with each other countless times, full of tacit understanding.

However, when everyone's eyes were almost focused on the pair of heroes and heroines who were dancing in the spotlight, Rose, the temporary leader of the flower fairy clan, quietly turned her head and looked at the direction where the first beauty had just come in with a slightly puzzled gaze.

In the same way, the cheese in the mermaid's song now held the glass with the last sip of wine left in his hand, and turned his head silently to look at the maid who had just come in with the daughter of the Duke of Jinguo, but now stood in the darkness. The moment the man and woman on the field spun together with the sound of the music, Cheese noticed the eyes of the second prince.

At the moment when he hugged the daughter of Duke Jinguo and spun face to face, the eyes of the second prince fell steadily on the blonde maid with her hands hanging down on her chest and her head down.

Noticing his gaze, Cheese snorted and drank the last sip of wine.

And for that maid......

-- Three hours ago --

"Ariel! My Ariel! You're finally back! I knew you were going to win the game and come to see me at the end! ”

In the hallway, Arrow was hugged tightly by Alice.

He looked a little sluggish for a moment, and at the same time a little nervous. After a while, he gradually came back to his senses from this panic, closed his eyes, gently hugged the hostess he had been with for many years, and whispered-

"I'm back, Miss."

The maids behind Alice saw that their eldest lady was about to participate in the selection of a concubine and suddenly hugged a strange young man, obviously panicked, and didn't know what to do for a while. However, when one of them was in a hurry to run away to call someone, Arrow saw it and quickly called out to them.

"It's me! It's me! Don't worry. ”

As he spoke, Arrow gently pushed Alice away and took off his hat. With the long golden hair flowing down, she cleaned up the dust on her face a little, and then smiled again at these former colleagues.

At that moment, after a slight hesitation, the maids finally recognized who the person in front of them was, and immediately turned from panic to joy just now, and rushed up, constantly pulling Ariel, and laughing-

"It's Ariel! It's really Ariel! ”

"You're back? Oh, my God! How do you wear men's clothes?! ”

"Wait a minute...... No way! You really won the game?! You...... The guild you created won the guild championship battle?! ”

Seeing these former companions muttering, Alice on the side seemed a little unhappy, she crossed her hands on her waist, pretending to be angry, and muttered: "Hey, hey, Ariel is mine, you are pestering her like this, I'm going to be angry~~~!" ”

Hearing the eldest lady speak, the maids hurriedly spread out to both sides, while looking at Ariel with a smile on their faces.

At that moment, Alice reached out and took Ariel's hand, and said with a smile: "Let's go, we haven't seen each other for a long time, look at your dirty appearance now, you have to freshen up, you know?" And then I have a lot of things to say to you~~~! ”

…………

Entering the lounge of Miss Duchess Jinguo, all the maids immediately gathered around Ariel to freshen up. Alice was also very generous enough to allow her to use her own bathtub. When Ariel was grooming, the eldest lady lowered her head and saw the little white cat who walked in with her, and as soon as she was happy, she immediately reached out and grabbed the body of the little white cat and picked it up.

"Meow~~~~"

The little white cat didn't seem to know anything, but just looked at the beautiful girl in front of her with a pair of very curious eyes.

And Alice was also very happy to hold the little white cat in her arms, sit on the seat next to her, gently stroke its hair, and said, "Little Mi (Harmony) Mi, what's your name?" Xiao Mi (Harmony) Mi~~~ You tell me, how has Ariel been doing in the past three years? Did she suffer, did she suffer? Did anyone bully her? ”

The little white cat, of course, could not speak, and could only respond to the girl's questions with a happy smile.

Alice stretched out her hand and gently touched the little white cat's nose, and the little white cat quickly raised one paw to cover her nose, and her whole body shrank back. Seeing this pet so cute, Alice seemed even more happy, she took the kitten in her arms, continued to reach out and stroke, and said as she touched it—

"You don't know, three years ago, when Ariel suddenly said she wanted to leave me, I was on the verge of breaking down."

"Sister Maria left me, and I didn't know that one day Ariel would want to leave me."

"At that time I really regretted telling her about the Pelican Town gold mine...... I regretted it even more by saying that I supported her to do something she had always wanted to do. ”

"For the past three years, I've been worrying almost every day and night, worrying about how she's doing and whether something terrible will happen to her!"

"What if she doesn't have the right cutlery and knife when she eats the steak? What if she finds too much gold and no one to deliver it for her? What if she wanted to see the opera, she wanted to see the paintings, but she didn't have that much entertainment in those backwoods? ”

As she spoke, the expression on the eldest lady's face became even more nervous. However, in addition to being nervous, she finally smiled slightly and said: "But now, I can finally not worry~~~ Although I tried my best to meet you once in the semi-finals before, but now I can still smile as brightly as before, I am really completely relieved." ”

Alice's mood is really good now, she kept rubbing the little white cat's head, and said softly-

"You know what? Kitten, when I first saw Ariel, I thought she was different. ”

"She's cute, very measured, and a great learner. A lot of times I haven't figured things out yet, and she just reads them once. And you know what? She cooked a good hand, these skills were all learned from Miss Maria, right? Alas...... During Miss Maria's absence, I thought I would never be able to eat her food again...... Unexpectedly, in the end, it was Ariel who saved my mouth. ”

"It's a shame that you can't speak, little kitten. If you could talk, tell me how she had been in the past three years. No, no, no, no, in fact, that doesn't matter anymore. ”

Alice picked up the little white cat again, gently rubbed its fur, and said softly—

"Anyway, I'll never let her leave me again."

While the eldest lady was chatting with the little white cat, Ariel in the bathroom was now trying to take a bath.

If you think about it, in order to avoid being discovered by people in the guild, Ariel has always adhered to the strategy of trying not to take a bath. This also caused the smell on her body to be really bad......

But she got used to it when she smelled it, so the last time she took a shower...... Well, it probably was more than a month ago. Yes, that's right, the last time I went to the hot springs.

Now feeling the warm liquid that enveloped her body again, wiping away the dirt and sweat from her body with a towel, Ariel's face couldn't help but be steamed red by the hot water.

However, now is not the time to soak in the bath in peace. She needed to clean herself up as soon as possible, because there was still a lot of work to do tonight.

Thinking of this, she hurriedly submerged her head in the water and tried to wash her hair and body with soap. After tossing back and forth for about half an hour, she was finally able to climb out of the tub and walk to the hanger over there.

On the hanger, there are now two sets of clothes.

One set was the civilian outfit she had just taken off. It was dirty, tattered, full of mud, and even some blood stains on it.

The other set is a very beautiful maid outfit, from the lining to the coat, from hair accessories to shoes, it looks beautiful, and the material of these clothes alone is enough to make ordinary farmers envy for a lifetime.

Ariel looked at the two outfits, pondered for a moment, and finally reached out to her tattered civilian outfit.

"Sister Ariel, I'll wash this set of clothes for you? Woo...... It stinks...... Sister Ariel, it's a shame that you can wear such tattered clothes...... Even the lowest-grade night pot in our Duke's Palace is better than yours......"

A maid walked in, gathered Ariel's hands before she could touch the civilian outfit, and went out pinching her nose.

Leaving Ariel, who stayed where she was, faced with the only maid outfit left for her.

…………

"Miss, I'm done."

Hearing the voice, Alice hurriedly turned her head and looked at the girl behind her.

At this moment, Ariel had already put on the costume she had carefully prepared for her, and seeing the blonde doll appear in front of her again in this beautiful and delicate style, Alice happily immediately stepped forward and hugged her.

"Ariel~~~!"

was hugged by the eldest lady, although Ariel was a little surprised, but a gentle smile still hung on the corner of her mouth, and she also stretched out her hand and hugged the eldest lady.

"Come, let me see! This outfit was carefully selected by me for you! It is the finest silk used, and I asked the best costume master in the city to make it for you. See, does it fit? ”