Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Chapter 133. A Tea Party in the Garden

Aurelia casually waved Zetius to join her in the gazebo, the rustling pine boughs reverberating in the background noise.

Once he and Cubie approached them, the maid scooted to the side and ushered him onto the cushion. Meanwhile, Cubie nestled into Aurelia’s palms, playing with the princess.

“Thank you,” he told the maid, feeling that the seat was still warm.

Propping her chin on the back of her hand, the twin-tailed maid greeted sweetly,

“Good morning, Master Zetius. Do you remember me?”

Zetius studied her wide smile. She had pale blue eyes and small cat ears with dark tips. Her straight twin-tails cascaded down to her lower back, the colour resembling a creamy hue. The centre of her cute, round face was darkened, resembling the Siamese cat, Wichien Maat. Her long tail also had a darkened tip.

A rare breed of cat Wildren, he remembered her. She had practically been raised alongside Aurelia since forever.

“Of course, I do,” Zetius replied nonchalantly, folding his arms.

“Eh? Really?” The maid’s eyes sparkled, gleaming with excitement. Yet he didn’t quite understand why she would be so excited; it had only been a bit over two years since they last saw each other.

“What’s her name, Zetius?” Aurelia teased.

“Umm... wait... umm...” It stuck to his tongue. He mulled over it for a while, but nothing came off the top of his head. Not his fault, considering there are dozens of maids in the palace. And worse, he had never been good at remembering people’s names.

Aurelia chuckled, and the maid caved in and blurted out, “It’s me, Yammi, Master Zetius,” she said with a pang of disappointment, though she still served him tea, albeit begrudgingly.

“Ohhhh! Yammi. Yes, yes.” He kept composed, offering a faint smile that apologised for his poor memory. He received a cup of warm green tea, the hot, aromatic steam rising up.

“By the way, where’s Friederich? He’s not joining your tea party?” he asked Aurelia, glancing around the garden. No one else was present.

Aurelia finished chewing a cookie. “He’s on the training ground,” she replied casually.

“Already? That’s so Friederich’s thing to do. The elves outlive us, and his mana regeneration is much faster than a human’s,” he said matter-of-factly, sipping the tea. It was aromatic, with a faint bitterness.

“Wildrens either get more agility or more strength compared to humans, too. On top of that, they have lifespans over a thousand years,” Yammi interjected, lifting a finger nerdily.

“Ugh... Back in the day, human lifespan was only about eighty years. That’s depressing,” Zetius groaned, popping a cookie into his mouth.

“Really? I thought we always had a lifespan of two hundred something years from the start,” Aurelia gasped, surprised by the profound fact.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Yammi laughed, cupping her mouth. A glimpse of a sharp fang slipped out.

Abruptly, Cubie joined in, “According to the database I found, human lifespan doubled or even tripled around five hundred years ago through the advanced discovery of longevity medical science. It was a joint effort by researchers and Renaissance arcanists under Celestius Virtius Nyra’s decree in Montelia.”

“Ah! The Celestius of Aquarius, am I right?” Aurelia blurted out, amused.

“Correct!” Cubie replied sharply.

“Good to know, Cubie. But I know that Celestius Virtius himself is an elven mage. He saw the potential in prolonging human life. That’s very noble of him,” Zetius nodded, taking in the information as he tapped his temple.

“He’s also the eldest mage amongst the Zodiac Councils!” Cubie added gleefully.

The conversation drifted over light topics for a good long while. The tea party reminded Zetius of the time he spent with Aurelia in the Hoffmanns’ garden. Supposedly, it was the birthplace of Cubie, considering her first manifestation had taken place there.

It felt like the distant past. So much had happened over a short span of time.

“By the way,” A sudden thought came to Zetius’s mind, “Have you seen Ziyue? I haven’t seen her since this morning. Is she sleeping in?” he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

Aurelia exchanged a blank look with Yammi. “Umm, she, um, left,” Aurelia confessed, her body tensing up.

“Huh? She left?” Zetius frowned, confused. His heart sank into the ground.

What’s wrong? Why didn’t she tell me anything? he thought.

“Yammi, you tell him!” Aurelia shoved the burden onto her maid.

Yammi nodded reluctantly, “Master Zetius, I met Lady Ziyue this morning to invite her to the tea party. She said she had business to tend to in Russha. She mentioned she was acting as the substitute for her uncle, Celestius Jovian of Sagittarius, and the Magus Primarch of Russha, who is still recovering in another country. She didn’t specify further,” She explained, her tone soft and almost apologetic.

Zetius bit down on his tongue, keeping his composure despite the roaring tempest inside him.

Hades... Ziyue... at least you could’ve said goodbye, he pondered, not realising his expression had grimaced on its own.

Aurelia brushed her fingers atop his white knuckles. “Zetius, don’t be mad at her. She told Yammi that she’d find it hard to leave if she saw you. So this was the most effective way to go about it.”

There was an inexplicable feeling inside him. He couldn’t quite understand it. It felt a little like betrayal — a severance of the connection he thought they had.

With no other options, Zetius let out a long sigh.

“I guess you’re right,” he eventually admitted, not wanting his mood to sour the atmosphere any longer.

He locked eyes with the Wildren maid. “How did Ziyue leave, exactly?”

“I saw her open a portal,” Yammi replied promptly.

“Really? Teleportation?” Zetius gasped, shocked. “How?” He grasped Yammi’s shoulder and squeezed in anticipation.

“Yammi’s a maid, not a mage, Zetius. She wouldn’t know even if Ziyue told her,” Aurelia interjected coldly.

Zetius pulled back immediately. “Sorry,” he apologised to Yammi before lifting up his silver fringe and began sharing his own experience,

“I tried it once after I practically, um, returned in this body. It went completely haywire and landed me a hundred kilometres off course.”

“It happened to me and Friederich, too! At first, we thought it was Friederich’s miscalculation, but it seemed that wasn’t the case,” Aurelia added in agreement.

“Hmm?” He demanded further explanation.

“Well, Lunarius Canis, the great architect, told us when we consulted him about the issue… He said it’s something to do with the coordination and how the split moon affects the Earth’s movement in space... or something like that,” Aurelia grumbled, uncertain about the technicalities herself.

Zetius found himself intrigued, analysing deeply. “Yet Ziyue used it without fail,” he said, accepting the challenge.

With that, the tea party soon came to an end.