When Klein finished reading "A Letter to Parents" and came to find Alice for a heart-to-heart talk, Alice was holding a book called "The Life and Lies of Roselle Gustav" and hesitating about where to bite into it would be better.
"I didn't cause trouble!" Above the gray fog, after learning Klein's purpose, Alice emphasized while slapping the table.
"I know." Klein reached out and rubbed his temples.
Edwina had told him about Alice's performance throughout the day in detail. Honestly speaking, in terms of severity, it wasn't even as bad as what he experienced when he was playing Admiral Amyrius.
She had obviously restrained herself a lot.
It's just uncertain whether this restraint is temporary or if she can maintain it continuously...
Thinking this way, Klein glanced at Alice and encouraged her: "Very good performance, keep it up!"
He didn't even hope for Alice to make progress.
Although she didn't hear the implication in Klein's words, Alice still instinctively frowned at this sentence: "Why do I always feel like you're coaxing a child..."
"...Aren't you one?" Klein asked somewhat puzzledly.
Alice fell into contemplation.
If it were Edwina speaking, she would definitely emphasize that she had lived for thousands of years, but Klein... if Klein had existed from before the First Epoch until today, then actually, he should really be much older than her...
She stared at Klein and thought seriously for over ten seconds, then suddenly realized:
"Old immortal."
"?" Klein stared at her.
Alice blinked innocently twice, then quickly ran away—although entering Sefirah Castle required permission, escaping didn't.
Returning to the real world, the first thing Alice saw was that book "The Life and Lies of Roselle Gustav."
She immediately remembered her previous plan, picked up the book, contemplated for a moment, then opened her mouth toward the corner of the book.
...
Alice was awakened by knocking sounds. She drowsily opened the door and saw Edwina outside.
"Morning..." she greeted unclearly, then collapsed toward Edwina like she had no bones.
Edwina instinctively reached out to support her. Although she understood how unrealistic this question was, she still couldn't help but hesitantly ask: "You... didn't sleep well?"
"No," Alice shook her head, "I mainly just don't want to get up."
While speaking, she vigorously shook her head twice, her eyes quickly becoming clear, then stood up straight and said seriously:
"As everyone knows, people are iron, food is steel, and beds are magnets."
After a pause, she added fiercely as if remembering something: "Don't you dare say I'm not human!"
"...Alright." Edwina replied after a moment of silence.
Alice then became happy. She looked around and asked: "Shall we go eat breakfast!"
"Mm." Edwina calmly nodded.
"Yay!" Alice cheered a little, then looked at Edwina with expectant eyes.
She soon came to the dining room under Edwina's guidance and enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast.
After breakfast, for the crew members of the "Golden Dream," it was the most difficult time of the day.
Edwina would check the crew members' grasp of yesterday's knowledge during this time, using methods including but not limited to questioning, homework, and exams.
The pirate ship changed from a free sailing vessel into a prison on the sea. Alice secretly glanced at everyone's test papers and homework, discovering that the knowledge they were learning was far more profound than she had imagined.
Edwina seemed to really be seriously teaching the crew mysticism knowledge.
Of course, most importantly, Alice discovered that these homework assignments and test papers were not uniform, which meant everyone's learning progress wasn't exactly the same. Edwina was likely teaching in batches...
She was really good at being a teacher.
But this gave Alice an idea—for instance, if everyone's progress was different, would it be possible for her to get the next exam papers and answers in advance...
Ah, speaking of which, could she divine the answers? Even anti-divination probably wouldn't work on her...
Alice fell into contemplation.
Before she could think of a result, the morning study time ended, because there was a bonfire party tonight, Edwina decided to let everyone rest for a day.
After learning this news, except for Danitz, everyone looked at Alice with a mixture of gratitude and joy, as if she were the benefactor of the entire ship.
Only Danitz's indignant voice stood out unusually: "Don't all be fooled by her!"
This statement wasn't very effective, because up until now, Alice's image on the "Golden Dream" was still that of a little girl with a somewhat peculiar personality. Although she seemed to like pranks a bit, but... wasn't there Danitz?
Except for Edwina and Danitz, no one had yet realized how inhuman Alice was.
Even except for Edwina, no one had yet discovered that Alice, who ate meals on time and slept on time, was actually an angel.
And after discovering that Alice adapted well to this atmosphere and had no intention of actively revealing it, Edwina also didn't plan to tell others about this matter.
It wouldn't be useful anyway, it would only make everyone worried.
Edwina shook her head and gestured for Alice, who was watching the excitement, to follow her.
Alice, who was thinking about cheating methods, didn't object at all and guiltily followed Edwina's pace.
"Did you read the book I gave you yesterday? How did it feel?" Edwina asked while walking.
Alice didn't seem guilty about this question. She habitually nodded, then realized Edwina hadn't turned back to look at her, so she cleared her throat:
"I read it.
"I read that book 'The Life and Lies of Roselle Gustav.' The content was very interesting, but some things... some things had too much subjective speculation from the author.
"It probably isn't true, right? It feels like some content is deliberately smearing Roselle. The author's impression of Roselle probably isn't very good... uh, actually you can tell this from the title.
"Then, that book tasted a bit sour, and had a damp moldy smell. It feels like it's been on the ship for a long time. The texture was also soft and limp. Don't you usually take it out to dry in the sun?"
Past experience had made Alice change some of her habit of speaking without restraint. She didn't mention that she could understand Roselle's diary, nor did she add rebuttals like "that's not how he wrote it in his diary" to her words.
But she overlooked another key point.
Edwina stopped at the end of her words, turned around somewhat hesitantly, and asked with hesitation and confusion in her voice:
"Taste? Texture?"