Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 566

Miss Mikhail knew the answer. The best possible outcome was the man standing right in front of her.

At that thought, her palm tightened on the soft cushion beside her. A wave of panic and trepidation washed over her, but mixed with it was a tiny spark of relief—

Thank the gods, even if she couldn't be with the one she loved, she would still have a chance at happiness...

The old groundskeeper didn't know which shop Hathaway was visiting, but he had provided the full name: "Uzville Avenue." It was an utterly ordinary street in the southern district of Nolan City, lined with a variety of buildings—apartment blocks, shops, and clubs. The street began at the bank of the Rona River and ended at a bustling five-way intersection beneath a grand marble building, so it wasn't particularly long.

The evening sun was already sinking in the western sky, and the streets were gradually filling with people heading home from work. The carriage couldn't easily turn onto Uzville Avenue, so Jenkins and Miss Mikhail had to alight at the intersection.

They had no specific destination in mind, so they began walking together from one end of Uzville Avenue toward the other.

The street was crowded, but navigating through the pedestrians wasn't too difficult. As he walked, Jenkins scanned the shops on both sides, hoping to catch a glimpse of that familiar fiery red hair.

"You know, this is my first time on this street."

It was a lie. He had passed through here while slipping away after his confrontation with the Enchanters from the Witch's House on the banks of the Rona River.

As she spoke, she glanced at a red-roofed, two-story building nearby. A sign for a law firm hung from the top floor, but it was so old that some of the letters had fallen off, and those that remained spelled out a rather vulgar word.

"I wonder what Miss Hersha came here for..." Chapters fırst released on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

Chocolate sat quietly on Jenkins's shoulder, its sense of balance astonishing even by feline standards. As they passed a bookstore's glass window, the cat's reflection appeared in the glass. It pawed at the cat in the glass, and the cat in the reflection pawed back.

The sight brought a smile to Miss Mikhail's face.

Neither of them realized that they looked less like two people searching for a friend and more like a couple out for a stroll. In that sense, their temporary failure to find Hathaway was actually a good thing for both of them.

As they continued on, Jenkins's gaze shifted from the graffiti on a nearby wall, and he suddenly spotted a flower girl ahead. It was deep winter now, and fresh flowers were incredibly expensive, so flower sellers were no longer as common as they were in the summer.

In fact, this was the first flower girl Jenkins had seen since Fini Faithford had given up the profession.

He stopped in his tracks instinctively. Seeing Miss Mikhail's questioning glance, he silently urged himself on:

"There's nothing to be afraid of. She's just a mortal. Keep walking!"

But his body betrayed his thoughts. He frantically scanned his surroundings and, as if spotting a lifeline, suddenly pointed to a hat shop ahead on their left.

"My apologies, Miss Mikhail, but I just remembered I need to buy a new hat. Look, there's a shop right here. Would you mind if we took a moment?"

If any other man had made such a request under these circumstances, Miss Mikhail would have certainly suspected ulterior motives. But she knew what kind of man Jenkins Williams was, so she simply smiled and nodded in agreement.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jenkins saw the flower girl heading their way. He quickened his pace, then held the door to the hat shop open for Miss Mikhail, ushering her inside.

He had no desire to buy another hat, but walking in, looking around, and leaving would be far too suspicious. He feigned a serious search through the shop's selection, all the while thinking that the flower girl must have moved on by now. Only then did he purchase the cheapest hat available—a black top hat.

This was a rather high-end establishment. The hat was partly made of silk, and the price of a single hat was enough to make Jenkins feel he’d been thoroughly fleeced.

He apologized once more to Miss Mikhail for wasting her time, took his change from the shop clerk, and placed two copper coins from his pocket onto the counter as a tip.

Just as he was about to push the door open to leave, it was pushed open from the outside.

The young woman who entered had beautiful, voluminous waves of curly hair. Jenkins had seen her last Sunday at the Royal Opera House. It was Miss Jennifer Lawrence.

"Oh, Briny, what a coincidence to run into you here."

Miss Lawrence didn't know Jenkins, as they had never been formally introduced. But after Miss Mikhail's introduction, she immediately understood that this was the newly ennobled gentleman who had become a hot topic in the salons and gatherings of the younger generation.

She was somewhat surprised to see Miss Mikhail with such a man at this hour, but her good upbringing told her that it would be improper to ask about it now.

In an even greater coincidence, Miss Lawrence had seen Hathaway at the other end of Uzville Avenue just ten minutes earlier. She had been in a bookstore looking for the latest music scores, and the two had even exchanged a few pleasantries about the weather.

"Is Hathaway still there, then?"

Miss Mikhail asked eagerly.

"I'm sorry, Briny. I think she's probably taken a carriage home by now. When I saw her, she was paying for her new book."

"Oh, that's such a shame."

At this point, Jenkins and Miss Mikhail decided to head straight back to the Hersha estate. They bid Miss Lawrence a polite farewell and left the hat shop.

"It seems our luck has run out. Let's head back."

As they walked back the way they came, Miss Mikhail's face fell with a hint of disappointment. She wanted to complain to Jenkins about the frustrating afternoon, but she felt that some things were not appropriate to say to him. She was lost in her new dilemma until Jenkins's voice suddenly drew her attention.

"Isn't that Mr. George Liverpool?"

Jenkins had spotted young Liverpool again. He truly was a persistent man. Sometimes Jenkins wondered if the young man had anything else to do with his life; lately, whenever he encountered him, it was always in connection to Miss Lawrence.

Although the law did not define following someone as illegal, it was certainly not the behavior of an upstanding gentleman.