The tranquil afternoon sunlight stole quietly through the gap in the curtains on the second floor of Boss Cat Restaurant, casting the faint silhouette of the windowsill onto the beige floor.
"What? Go to school?"
Talia, who had been writing at the cabinet, turned her head toward Lanqi sitting in the room as if she had just heard something incredulous.
"The Poet of Great Love is currently a student at the School of Magic Engineering. And not just an ordinary student—she's essentially a special admission under Dean Professor Borao himself, and Professor Borao hasn't taken on any students for years."
Lanqi suddenly grew a bit restless.
Right now, he dared only speak the unvarnished truth.
Until Talia and the Poet of Great Love separated, hiding anything from each other was virtually out of the question.
"Besides, tomorrow you have to come with me to the School of Magic Engineering to register the paperwork for our official itinerary to the Kingdom of Posen anyway. Why don't we go see Professor Borao together? You can even consult him on some questions about modern magic engineering. Don't you read human magic engineering books yourself? It's just putting on an act for a few days—we'll be leaving for the Kingdom of Posen soon enough," Lanqi hastily added, feeling his scalp tingle.
"True enough."
Talia hesitated slightly, but nodded nonetheless.
If she had to stay locked inside Lanqi's dormitory all day without going out, it would make her far too uncomfortable.
She still liked taking daily walks.
Since the Poet of Great Love possessed her own independent identity and could move freely around Ikerite Academy, this was arguably a good thing for the next few days.
"Does Lanfu have a complicated social circle at Ikerite Academy?" Talia asked again.
"Virtually none. At school, she mainly knows me and Professor Borao. Because she and Hyperion belong to different branches, they don't interact much either. She does have some contract with the School of Magic Engineering's music agency, but Professor Borao already notified them in advance that Lanfu and I would be traveling far, so there won't be any work or project schedules for her in the coming days," Lanqi shook his head.
Professor Borao knew that the Poet of Great Love's schedule aligned with Lanqi's, and the leave for traveling to the Kingdom of Posen was personally signed by Dean Borao as well, so the agency naturally arranged her dates around that.
Of course, once they returned from the Kingdom of Posen, Lanfu—who was hell-bent on becoming a superstar—would probably be extremely busy.
"I understand. In that case, if we're putting on an act, we might as well go all the way. For the time being, I am the Poet of Great Love. I'll dress like her day-to-day too," Talia stated with conviction.
She looked identical to the Poet of Great Love, and she could communicate with Lanqi telepathically to ask him anything about the Poet whenever needed. It shouldn't be too difficult.
Lanqi wanted to say something, but held his tongue in the end.
He didn't know where Talia got her confidence.
Never mind; at any rate, he was there to cover for her.
Right now, they shared glory and defeat alike, so working together shouldn't be an issue.
Talia turned back around and wrote for another two minutes before finally finishing and setting down the pen and memo pad.
After a moment's thought, seeming somewhat uneasy, she opened the wardrobe and pulled out a quilt.
"What's wrong?" Lanqi asked, observing Talia, who appeared to be doing housework.
"The weather might turn cold soon. I'm worried Hyperion might catch a chill, so I'm changing her quilt and leaving it by the bed," Talia said as she straightened the quilt cover.
"You and the Poet of Great Love really are opposites," Lanqi marveled.
"What do you mean?" Talia shot him a glance as she spread out the quilt.
"The Poet of Great Love is great in every way, but she'd rather die than do chores, whereas you're actually willing to do housework. Seeing my summon actually doing chores leaves me thoroughly shocked," Lanqi spread his hands.
"..."
Talia frowned slightly.
At first blush, it sounded like this fellow was praising her.
But coupling "You and the Poet of Great Love really are opposites" with "The Poet of Great Love is great in every way"—wasn't that basically saying she was bad in every way?
"Heh heh."
Talia focused on finishing the task at hand for the moment, offering only a cold sneer.
Once she had neatly set down the bedding and packed her travel luggage, she walked over to Lanqi carrying a compact suitcase.
"How about this then? Once we get to your place, I'll do chores for you every single day?" She leaned down and asked by Lanqi's ear.
"No, no, no! Just rest well! Whatever you do, don't lift a finger—I'll do the chores!"
Lanqi had initially been on the verge of nodding upon hearing that.
Then, suddenly realizing the severity of the situation, he frantically shook his head and waved his hands.
If Talia did housework, wouldn't his mana bar jump off a cliff?
The exhaustion from that kind of mana drain would be far worse than doing the chores himself!
"I'm offering to do chores for you. Didn't you look quite eager to have your summon do housework? After all, 'The Poet of Great Love is great in every way, but she'd rather die than do chores,' isn't that right?"
Talia repeated Lanqi's words verbatim, without the slightest hint of anger.
"No, no, no, no, I spoke out of turn," Lanqi firmly denied.
"Let's go, then."
As if having obtained the answer she wanted, the corners of Talia's mouth tilted up slightly. Picking up her suitcase, she swept her eyes across the bedroom, walked to the door, and deactivated the soundproofing magic.
"Let's head out."
Lanqi nodded and followed Talia out of the bedroom.
Once Hyperion and Sinora returned from the ducal manor, leaving wouldn't be quite so easy.
Lately, the two of them loved heading over to the ducal manor, as if on an expedition.
The moment Lanqi and Talia stepped back into the living room, they saw Boss Cat clinging to the wall like a decal.
It seemed intensely curious, but unfortunately couldn't hear a word of the conversation inside the bedroom.
Resigned, Lanqi went over and scooped it up.
"Meow, meow?" it asked somewhat tentatively, not quite daring to probe.
Lanqi and Talia exchanged glances and shared a brief silence before Lanqi said to the little black cat, "I'll explain what's going on once we get home."
He would have to take his black cat along for the upcoming journey to the Kingdom of Posen anyway. That cat's backpack was packed with souvenirs and shared hardships, and all of his utility cards and functional cards were stored with Boss Cat now. Whenever he traveled far, he essentially had to bring it along.
"Why can you two communicate with looks, meow?" Boss Cat asked, perplexed.
It suspected it had been left out of the team voice channel.
"Boss Cat, for now, just think of her as Tata equipped with all the Poet of Great Love's abilities," Lanqi explained briefly.
Boss Cat pondered for five or six seconds.
"Meow?!"
Previously, it had already felt that the telepathic connection between Lanqi and Lanfu was exceptionally dangerous.
If things went wrong, they might end up in prison together!
Fortunately, the two little rascals harbored no suspicion toward each other, so for those innocent companions, the ability was essentially no different from communication magic.
But if Tata took the Poet of Great Love's place, Boss Cat couldn't say.
From now on, it even wanted to steer clear of Lanqi.
If he got killed one day, he'd better not splash blood all over it!
"Tata, it's about time to set off," Lanqi said, glancing at Boss Cat curled into a loaf of black bread in his hands before turning to Talia.
He saw Talia looking back at her home, a look of reluctance in her eyes.
"My little fox..." Talia muttered sadly.
She had originally thought she would have a few more days before saying goodbye to it when they left for the Kingdom of Posen, never expecting she would have to part with it so abruptly.
"It's fine. It'll be well cared for by Antanas and the others at Boss Cat Restaurant..." Lanqi comforted her.
It might even be fed even better than before.
Before Lanqi could finish with a hearty laugh, Talia's piercing glare made him break into a cold sweat, choking his words off in his throat.
He hadn't fully adjusted to being telepathically linked with Talia yet.
Sometimes, subconscious thoughts formed before he even had time to analyze what they were.
For the foreseeable future, every single day was going to feel like going through rehab.
"Tsk."
Talia clicked her tongue softly to herself.
She knew that what Lanqi meant by setting off was for her to turn back into his magic card.
In an instant, [Demon King of Mad Love] dissolved into specks of light and reconverged in Lanqi's hand, returning to a magic card enveloped in an orange haze resembling twin petals.
"Weakling. You'd better grow stronger quickly so that I can use my new power freely."
Faint remnants of Talia's voice echoed in the living room.
Lanqi stowed away this brand-new natal card, carried the cat, picked up Talia's suitcase, and departed.
Chapter 647