Chapter 1152: Chapter 121: Two Plans
With bandaged hands, she held the Iris Sparrow up to Lu Li, awaiting praise.
"Meow~"
Lu Li’s black cat eyes reflected the tilted head of the Iris Sparrow.
Claire was placed into the exquisite birdcage brought by the Lizard Maid, with grains and fresh water in the feed trough. Claire only pretended to drink a few sips of water — she was still yearning for the pastries on the terrace table.
"Be good and wait for me to return."
The Head Maid put down Lu Li, placed the birdcage on the dressing table, and left the room with the Lizard Maid.
Click—
The bedroom door closed, footsteps gradually faded away.
"Let me out."
Claire pressed against the side of the cage, wings grasping the bars, calling out.
Lu Li leaped onto the dressing table, his cat tail deftly opening the birdcage.
Claire impatiently flew out of the cage, landing by the terrace door, urging Lu Li to open it.
Click.
The terrace door opened, and Claire squeezed through the gap and landed on the terrace table.
"Birds get too hungry... or maybe I just haven’t eaten anything yet... Do you want to join?"
Claire muttered, pecking at the pastries while inviting Lu Li.
"So what are the good news and bad news?"
Lu Li jumped up onto the terrace table, sitting at the edge with his tail hanging down.
"The good news is that I snuck into the castle. Those guards and servants aren’t that strong, and the head chef is just a short guy who only knows how to cook."
"And the bad news?"
"That Viscount’s senses are absurdly sharp, almost like a ’beast,’" Claire resentfully emphasized the word "beast," even temporarily stopping eating. "I’m just a bird, and he could detect me even several hundred meters away, tens of meters up in the air..."
"But just now, there was some good news," Claire said immediately after.
"What is it?"
"This Head Maid is more capable than I imagined."
"You can’t beat her?"
"If I’m close, all I need is a punch," Claire appraised. "But she can control the wind; if she flies, no one can reach her, and she could easily kill us."
It sounds like the difference between a longsword and a firearm.
"What’s that got to do with the good news?"
"She regards you as family!" Claire buried her head back into her food. "We can use this to make her betray that Viscount."
"Using a girl?"
The tail hanging off the terrace table’s edge swung slightly.
"Don’t you know? She died long ago, and that’s just a creature occupying her body, with messed-up memories..." Lu Li’s calm black eyes made her pause. "Okay, that’s just a guess; maybe I’m wrong, maybe she’s still herself."
"But having her... it... her on our side won’t hurt. The Viscount and his lord are destined to be dealt with. You don’t want to watch her get killed by other competitors, do you?"
"The Head Maid might not choose humans."
Lu Li replied, revealing to Claire the special feelings towards the Viscount recorded in the diary.
"So the Head Maid won’t be able to help us, or rather, help Little Remi against the Viscount?"
"Mm."
Lu Li calmly related the clues gathered after being separated to Claire.
Claire seemed to have eaten enough, she babbled like a chirping bird: "I’ve thought of two good plans. The first is
The lords go to the castle every morning for duty reports, we can use this opportunity to have the Head Maid take us there."
"The second plan is to incite conflict between the lords, let the Head Maid help us weaken the Viscount’s power... if we can lure him out of the castle, even better."
"The second plan will alarm the snake."
"Mm! So we start with the first plan, we’ll do this first... chirp chirp chirp chirp."
Lu Li quietly observed the lively Claire: "All you said was ’chirp chirp chirp chirp’."
Claire isn’t usually like this; she’s relatively rational and clever in front of familiar people but uses recklessness as a guise in front of strangers.
"But in novels, secret conversations are like this... just wait for me." Claire flew back to the bedroom, landed in the birdcage, grabbed grains, flew out, spat them outside the cage, creating the illusion of eating the grains...
Once the trough was empty, Claire hopped to Lu Li with cream on her beak’s edge: "Please, Little Remi, help me clean my beak."
Lu Li gently twitched the tip of his tail, unmoved.
"Little Remi, the Head Maid will find out I stole pastries!"
Lu Li shifted his gaze, falling towards the castle guarded at the end of the dark forest.
"Honorable Exorcist, would you be willing to accept a poor bird’s commission to help it alleviate its troubles?"
Claire hopped around by Lu Li’s side, pitifully tilting her head to look up at him.
Lu Li silently lifted his tail, rubbed it on Claire’s beak, paused slightly, then pressed it onto the pastries to cover the marks—but that also got cream on his tail.
Closing the terrace door, returning to the dressing table. Waiting until Claire retreated back into the birdcage, Lu Li closed the cage door with his paw, sitting in front of it to converse with Claire.
A cat and a bird plotting their plans.
"...The Head Maid patrols the territory every day; during this time, you need to find a way to follow her, and also bring me along, letting her gradually accept us following her until tomorrow when she takes us to the castle... we don’t have much time, the competitors might advance to the manor by tomorrow. Both plans must proceed simultaneously, if the first plan doesn’t work, start the second immediately."
"Deal with the Viscount, it’s your only chance to save the little maid, if they get closer it’ll be too late..."
"Meow~"
Lu Li sensed the wind sweeping past his fur, faster than footsteps.
"Chirp?"
Claire was on the scene as the bedroom door opened.
"Little Remi is so good."
The Head Maid praised as she picked up Lu Li, noticing the cream on his tail and turned reproachful, instructing the Lizard Maid to prepare hot water.
According to plan, Lu Li opened the birdcage during the interval, Claire flew out, landing on top of Lu Li’s head to show the Head Maid.
"Remi, you’ve made new friends so quickly?"
The Head Maid stroked Lu Li’s fur, while Claire skittered away as if frightened: "Remember not to bully friends; otherwise, they won’t play with you."
After the hot water was ready, Lu Li was carried by the Head Maid into the sink. In her arms, he looked back towards the bedroom, where Claire in the birdcage covered her eyes with both wings.
Decades of minutes later, with slightly dry fur, Lu Li was carried by the Head Maid out, placed on the bed, wrapped in a blanket.
"Stay at home with your new friend; sister has some things to handle."
The Head Maid nuzzled the reluctant Lu Li’s cheek goodbye, leaving through the bedroom door.
"Chirp—"
Claire called from inside the birdcage.
Lu Li wriggled out of the blanket, shaking his half-dry fur unconsciously, jumped onto the dressing table, released Claire, easily opened the terrace door.
Lu Li and Claire stood on the railing, gazing down at the Head Maid floating away, surrounded by the Lizard Maid.
"Quick, follow her."
Claire spread her wings, lightly flapping Lu Li’s head.
Lu Li leaped to the ground, Claire closely followed, landing on his head, chasing the distant Head Maid.