The butler led Richard into an area he had never passed before, and walked for a long time along a dark, damp corridor before climbing the stairs.

This is a six-story building at the back of the castle side, with no layout to speak of, and the rooms are dense and cramped, apparently to accommodate as many people as possible in the limited space. There were five such buildings, and most of the young men from the side branch lineage lived here, as well as some of the high-ranking servants of the Akmund family, as well as the high-ranking officers of the guard and the young foot knights.

Due to the small size of the floating islands, many of the five buildings are occupied by two or even four people. Coco lived on the top floor, which was allocated to the young men and women of the side family, but since no partner had yet been chosen, the boys and girls were assigned separate rooms for ease of access.

The butler was obviously familiar with everyone up and down the floating island, and although there were servants on the way to salute him, he didn't need to stop to ask, but led Richard directly to a door at the end of the corridor and knocked on it.

"Which one is it?" said Coco's soft voice from behind the door.

The butler reported his name, and Coco immediately sighed and said to wait. After a few moments, Coco pulled back the door. She was wrapped in a thick shawl, which covered her entire upper body, revealing a white nightdress that reached her ankles below, and a pair of small feet on the carpet were so white and tender that they were a little dazzling. It's late now, and looking at Coco, it's clear that she's fallen asleep and woken up again.

For these boys and girls in the side lineage, the butler on the floating island can be said to be the most important person after Gordon, especially for those whose own family is not strong. So as soon as she heard that it was the butler outside the door, Coco quickly got up and came to open the door with only a shawl, without even bothering to change her clothes.

She saw the butler, and also saw Richard behind the butler, as if she understood something, she immediately bowed slightly, and said, "Is it time to perform the magic practice? Please wait a few minutes, I can change my clothes immediately!"

The importance of this job to Cocoa is clearly far more than sleep.

The butler waved his hand to stop Coco, and said in a slow and steady tone that did not change, "No, it has nothing to do with magic. Coco Mary Akmund, you have the honor of being appointed as your first companion by Master Richard. Because Young Master Richard is leaving early tomorrow morning, he will spend the night with you tonight. ”

"What!?" Coco exclaimed, her face instantly turned white, and she involuntarily took two steps back.

The butler was not ready to repeat it to her, but turned sideways and gave way to Richard, "Young master, please come in." In addition, I will come tomorrow morning at five o'clock to call you to breakfast, and the departure time is half past six. Tomorrow's journey is long, so please be a little restrained tonight. ”

Richard was expressionless, just nodded.

The butler turned around and was about to leave, but Coco suddenly rushed out of the room, grabbed him, and asked anxiously, "My lord! How could it be me? You must be mistaken, yes, it must be!"

The butler didn't try to get rid of it or explain it, and didn't seem to notice anything wrong with Coco's behavior or tone at all, but he bowed to Coco gracefully, but his unexplained attitude made it impossible to do so. In fact, the old butler, who is now sixty years old, seems to have never made a mistake in the past twenty years.

At this time, Richard, who was thrown at the door of the room, said lightly behind them: "You are my choice, there is nothing wrong." ”

Coco opened her mouth wide and was stunned for a moment before she hurriedly walked up to Richard, bowed deeply, and said, "Young Master Richard, please think about it again! You know that I don't have any bloodline ability, and I am only a second-level illusionist, and I have no talent in any aspect. Don't say that a great genius like you is not worthy of an ordinary clansman. I'm sure I won't be able to produce the good offspring you need!"

Richard frowned slightly, keenly sensing that Coco's reaction, including what she said, was a bit excessive, and whatever the reason behind it was, it had faintly aroused anger in his heart. Any young man with strong blood will always be angry when he is rejected so obviously.

Coco's voice was loud, and several doors opened on either side of the hallway, and several heads, men and women, poked out of them. When they saw the shape clearly, they all spit out**, or smiled at the housekeeper, and shrank back one after another. Envy and jealousy were written on the faces of several young girls. They couldn't figure out why Coco, who had almost no merits except for her face, was suddenly favored by Richard, could it be that she had the ability to be born lucky or naturally charming, why didn't she usually see it?

The wicked curses of the maidens behind the door were all in Richard's ears, but he pretended not to hear anything. Looking at Coco's pale and delicate little face, and the big eyes that had begun to moisten, Richard looked up and asked the butler, "Can I change my partner now?"

The butler couldn't see anything in his eyes, and in his unchanging voice, he kept a respectful attitude that did not add a single point or subtract a point, and replied: "This is your choice, and it has been approved by the patriarch, it has officially taken effect, and it is difficult to change it. If you have a better candidate in mind now, my personal suggestion is that you can choose again, anyway, you have the right to decide the plural number, and the meaning of this plural number, I personally understand, is not limited to two. Of course, if you insist on changing it instead of choosing another one, you can do it, but you need to go through some necessary procedures. First, you need to get Gordon's permission. Second, prove if you have used cocoa ,......"

As the butler recounted the long conditions, Coco's face immediately lit up with hope. It looked like she wanted to say something, but she wasn't too stupid to interrupt the butler and didn't try to persuade Richard again.

Suddenly there was a sound of light and sharp footsteps on the stairs, and a handsome young man appeared at the top of the stairs. Richard sensed something, and suddenly turned around, and a pair of cold eyes fell on the young man's body. The butler turned to face the stairs and looked at the young man peacefully.

In an instant, the temperature on the sixth layer seemed to drop below freezing, which made people shiver!

The young man's movements stiffened suddenly, and his gaze shifted from Richard to the butler, then to Coco, and then to her, and then to her. But under the watchful gaze of the butler's serene and deep eyes, sweat began to pour out of the young man's forehead, and he was finally unable to shout the prepared words out of his throat. He stiffly bowed to the butler, said "I'm on the wrong floor," and turned around and slowly went downstairs. The sound of difficult and heavy footsteps seemed to be his mood now.

At this moment, Richard's indifferent and somewhat cruel voice sounded: "I'm not going to change people, it's her!"