Benjamin wanted to deliberately put Esther into the illusion of "Little Seven", but she didn't let Esther realize this, and in terms of her softening attitude, such a plan should be quite successful.

Benjamin, however, felt some unwarranted distress, and the magpie flapped its wings again, flew up in the cramped carriage, and landed on Esther's shoulder.

Standing on her shoulders was not really on top of Esther's head, for Benjamin was restrained and did not dare to get too close to Esther's ear, which would surely make her notice something obvious.

Even as the rabbit glared angrily, Esther did not drive the magpie away, and leaned quietly on the carriage, as if she were just a scarecrow who let the magpie fall to her feet.

So Benjamin folded his wings even more boldly, squatted down, and raised his head at the rabbit: "Don't be so nervous, I have no interest in a child like you, you are too weak."

Esther subconsciously raised her hand to poke the magpie's bulging chest due to complacency, but she stopped before she could touch the feather, and seemed to just point at the proud magpie:

"It's naïve for you to provoke rabbits like this, Mr. Benjamin. As you say, he's a child, and it's not in your way, is it?"

Benjamin was noncommittal, and the boy was still in the carriage, which was enough to justify Benjamin's dislike of him.

But of course, this could not be said, and the magpie took care of his feathers and said vaguely, "Is it because you take such good care of him because he is special to you?"

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? It's my cousin."

The magpie looked at the boy, "Is he the 'thief' you want to train as well?"

The rabbit's eyes widened suddenly, and this particular name made the boy keenly aware that it might be related to Esther's ability: "Thief? What's that?"

Esther's tone became quite serious: "Mr. Benjamin, please don't mention this in front of the rabbit. He's just a normal guy, and I don't have ...... I have no intention of treating him as a disciple."

The rabbit was a little deflated, but he still stared at Esther, his eyes not only curious, but also a hint of longing, he wanted to know more about it.

"Are they just ordinary passers-by?" The magpie asked with a bit of malice, his dark eyes smiling at the red-faced boy.

"No!" The rabbit subconsciously retorted, but soon remained silent again, just staring at the magpie with an angry face, eager to pluck out its arrogant upturned tail feathers.

But the rabbit just thought about it, and what happened yesterday still made him feel uneasy, and he could not change his attitude towards Benjamin, but only felt that this man was more insidious, and tried to deceive Esther's trust.

The rabbit starts from the wrong way of thinking, but comes to the right judgment.

Esther's fingers were wrung together, staring intently at the position of the window, clearly not in her mind. It's just that no matter how much the magpie observes, she can't figure out what she's thinking.

Even with that memory, Benjamin couldn't understand the "change" of Little Seven or Little Five, and the change of this Esther now.

So Benjamin simply asked, with the "memories of getting along" of the other two doppelgangers, he knew what to do to make Esther more acceptable, and proper honesty was best:

"Is it because of me? If you're worried that I'm angry with this uneducated child, then you can rest assured, I promised you not to do anything to him."

Esther sighed, "Even if you say so...... I'm not worried about you, I just hope you stop bullying the rabbit, and if it's something about him being rude before, I can apologize to you for him."

The magpie looked at Esther silently, and it took a few seconds before he spoke, "You have nothing to do with him, so why should you apologize for him?"

The magpie turned in the direction of the rabbit: "I ask you, if I give you a chance, will you not hesitate to chase me away?"

"Absolutely." The rabbit muttered quietly.

Esther shook her head in annoyance, "Forget it, Mr. Benjamin, I don't think you're much more mature than a rabbit, it's me who thinks highly of you

......"

The rabbit cautiously looked at Esther's expression, "I can bear it."

Esther tapped the rabbit's head twice as a sign of comfort, and then stared absentmindedly out the window, her brow slightly furrowed, not looking sad, but as if she was in deep thought.

The magpie squatted on her shoulder, and after noticing the rabbit rolling its eyes in secret again, the magpie let out a sneer, closed its eyes, and ignored the troubled boy.

Benjamin could have guessed what Esther was recalling.

The familiarity he deliberately brings is to evoke memories of Esther, and to deceive her with actions rather than words.

Esther is not a "spectator", and the lies contained in her words will touch Zoya's special senses, but her actions will not.

Benjamin wanted to see if she would really be willing to give credit.

Anyway, taking Esther to the "Hermit of Destiny" is also to act, and Benjamin knows that if he wants to make things more interesting, he can also design some small traps to make her the target of public criticism.

Benjamin didn't have much purpose, and he didn't bother to find out where the new "fool" behind Zoya came from, which was something to be considered by the ontology, not Benjamin Jacob's......

The magpie shook his head, always feeling that something was wrong.

——

The skies were exceptionally clear in the afternoon, and the weather was so good today that it was refreshing.

Even if Tingen has an industrial area, it does not have the same lingering gloom as Beckland.

At the junction of Red Moon Street and Peverell Street, Bloom Garden Square, which is open to the public, is enjoying the afternoon sun.

The two pavilions in the center were occupied by ladies from wealthy families, with carefully selected tea sets for the guests to praise on the tables, small portions of snacks on three trays, and maids and butlers outside the pavilions, waiting for their hosts to rattle their bells to call them.

On the outside, there are benches for visitors to rest between the lawns and boulevards, which are divided into large squares by the road.

As its name suggests, the garden square belonged to Viscount Bloom, a follower of the goddess of the night who, out of vanity in his reputation for goodness, opened the garden to the masses.

Although he has repeatedly emphasized that his family has achieved outstanding feats in the "White Rose War", it was all a pile of yellow paper hundreds of years ago.

To this day, Monsieur Viscount's greatest and only well-known achievement is to make it possible for the ordinary citizens of Tingen to walk on this garden square, and to increase the value of his several surrounding houses.

From the bedroom of Viscount Bloom's mansion, you can see the lush green garden and the people who visit it. Mr. Viscount, who was praised for his "generosity", even invited a well-known painter to paint the whole landscape and send it to his friend who lived in Beckland.

Anyway, the residents who lived in the neighborhood and the Viscount himself were very happy with the result.

In the northwest corner of Bloom Garden Square, an old man in a classical black robe with gray hair sits in the shade of a tree, holding a silver-encrusted walnut cane in both hands.

The wrinkles at the corners of the old man's eyes and mouth were deep, but his face was quite serene, and his eyes drooped slightly, as if he was dozing off.

Perhaps the old man had maintained this position for too long, and several larks landed fearlessly, two of them jumping and chasing happily on the ground, and one squatting on the empty seat on the other side of the old man's bench, and his eyes were slightly closed as the old man did.

There was also one of the most daring, falling directly on the old man's hands folded on his cane, his thin claws pressing against the old man's protruding veins like tree roots, and the lark's mouth chirped softly, like a gentle lullaby to soothe a dream.

When the black-haired youth walked slowly, he startled the two larks on the ground.

They screamed and flew up to the treetops, and the lark on the cane stopped singing, but the lark in the seat raised his head, looked at the little piece of bread in the young man's hand, and called out twice.

Ademisore laughed and snapped one

A large piece of bread came down and was handed to the bird that occupied one side of the bench.

After begging for food from Ademisor, the lark jumped under the bench with its "seat occupancy" in its mouth, and the other two frightened larks flew down after him, and a little rapid birdsong came from under the chair - not very pleasant.

The old man still had his eyes closed, but he could easily identify who it was: "Your footsteps are heavier than usual, are there some difficulties in the mission?"

"No, it's just that I've seen and dreamed about something these days."

Only then did the old man open his eyes, and the lark that had been parked on the cane suddenly flew away, and he raised his head, and his slightly cloudy red eyes chased the wings of the lark:

"If it's something bad, just report it to Fry, well, that young man who is not good at words has become the captain too, time flies so fast......

"No, that's a good thing, but I always feel that beyond the light, there is a frightening shadow."

Ademisor whispered, and when he had sat down on the other side of the bench, he broke the bread in his hand even more and threw it under the bench, ending the scramble among the larks.

"Hehe, even though we both have special eyesight, I've pretty much what I can teach you." The old man lowered his eyes and stared at the lark pecking at his feet.

Ademisol blinked vigorously: "Where there is light, there must be shadows, and the light is moving away from Tingen."

"That is, the shadows are moving away. It's good for us, for the city."

As soon as the old man's words fell, a lark flew through the shade of the trees, seemingly from farther away.

It had a scrap of paper in its mouth, on which were densely written.

The old man blinked in surprise, "It seems that some children have brought you gifts today."

The lark flew towards Ademisor and landed on his knee.

Ademisol flattened out and saw the small, regular font at the top:

"Sequence 8, The Machine"

There was another light in front of him, and he quickly closed his eyelids and kneaded the bridge of his nose vigorously, "At least this matter has to be reported to Captain Fry, and I better go back to the Black Thorn Company."

"What is it?"

"Potion formula, authenticity to be verified."

Ademisol put the note away and slapped the last of the crumbs off his palm.

The old man smiled and looked at the scattered canopy of trees overhead, on which the lark with the note was perched in the distance, its tufts of peculiar pale yellow:

"Sometimes I really envy you young people, you are so lucky that you can step on potions materials while walking on the road."

"That luck is not normal, Mr. Neil......

The old man patted his neckline, and the cold pendant was on his ribs:

"Go quickly, and don't let a retired old man worry about you. I'm going to take my time to enjoy the Tingen sunshine and enjoy the peace that has been so long overdue."