"Good morning, Mademoiselle Angoulême. (French)" Gerald politely took off the hat on his head, put it on his chest, bowed and said hello to Elodie.

Under the top hat, only some black and white mixed hair remains on the temples, and the top of the head is so smooth that it can reflect the light of the "Mediterranean" hairstyle.

Elodie folded her hands in front of her and returned the gesture to Gerald with a smile: "Good morning, Mr. Gerard! (French)"

"Ms. Angoulême, did you complete the homework I gave you last week? (French)"

Elodie smiled and said humorously: "I worked hard all night long last night, and I managed to finish all the homework you gave me before dawn today. (French)"

"Hahaha." Gerald imitated Elodie's humorous tone just now and chuckled a few times, "Hahaha", "That's not okay. It is important to complete the homework, but you cannot sacrifice sleep in order to complete the homework.

(French)”

"Ms. Angoulême, you are now at the age when you are growing up. You should pay more attention to the balance between work and rest. Otherwise, you will not grow up. (French)"

After Gerard exchanged a few words with Elodie, he quietly raised his gaze and looked at Qingden, who was standing not far behind Elodie.

"...Ms. Angoulême, who is this Japanese? (French)"

Hearing Gerald ask who the Japanese behind her was, Elodie cheered up a little: "Mr. Gerald, this is the Tachibana I mentioned to you before who saved my grandfather and me.

Mr. Qingdeng! (French)"

"Oh..." Gerald nodded expressionlessly, "This is the Tachibana Aoden who saved you and Mr. Angouleme... Compared with the average Japanese, he is quite tall.

Yeah.(French)"

"Mr. Gerald, let me take you to meet Mr. Orange! (French)" Elodie smiled happily.

But the smile on her face did not last long.

"No need." Gerald responded in a very cold tone without hesitation, "Ms. Angoulême, let's start today's class quickly."

"Today I'm going to teach you more advanced knowledge in rhetoric. The content will be a bit obscure, so you have to be mentally prepared. (French)"

Gerald refused without hesitation the suggestion of "taking him to get to know Qingdeng"... Elodie felt a little embarrassed, and the smile on her face suddenly froze.

Elodie quickly realized: Why was Gerald so resistant to getting to know Qingden... After she figured out the reason, the frozen smile on her face slowly turned into helplessness.

A complex expression of distress.

"Well..." Elodie gently pecked her little head a few times, trying to force out a new smile, "Then Mr. Gerald, let's go to class. (French)"

After that, Elodie and Gerald walked towards the stairs leading upstairs one after another.

"Mr. Tachibana." As she passed by Qingden, Elodie raised her hands and picked up her robe. She smiled apologetically and gave Qingden a light salute, "I'm sorry, I have to go to class now.

Sorry, please excuse me for now."

"Yeah." Qingdeng smiled freely, "Don't pay attention to me, just go to class seriously."

After saying goodbye to Qingden, and then giving some instructions in French to Leroy beside him, Elodie continued to walk with Gerald towards the stairs not far away.

Gerald, who was walking behind Elodie, passed Qingdeng at this moment.

He didn't say a word to Qingdeng.

Just when he was about to miss Qingdeng, his eyes squinted and he glanced at Qingdeng.

Although Gerald's sight was fleeting... Qingden still relied on his powerful dynamic vision to keenly capture the emotions contained in his sight.

It was exactly the same emotion that appeared in Qingdeng's eyes when he entered the house and saw Qingdeng for the first time - that kind of disdain full of superiority...

Qingdeng's brows immediately wrinkled.

He stood silently, watching Elodie and Gerald leave without saying a word.

It wasn't until the figures of the old man and the young man disappeared at the stairs leading upstairs that Qingdeng said quietly in his heart:

——Westerners like Miss Angoulême and Mr. Angoulême who do not have racial discrimination are in the minority after all...

Why did Gerald always look at him with disdain... The reason was not difficult to guess.

The Edo shogunate was forced to open the country by force by Western powers.

While Western countries have entered the industrial age due to the widespread use of steam engines, Japan under the rule of the Edo shogunate is still stuck in an agricultural society based on a small farmer economy... How will the citizens of these Western powers view this backwardness?

country, it goes without saying.

So far, the only Westerners that Qingden has had in-depth contact with are Elodie and her family.

Since he basically only had detailed interactions with Elodie and her family, Qingden almost forgot: There are very few Westerners like Elodie and Anthony who are not racially discriminatory.

The vast majority of Westerners are like this Gerald - they don't even bother to say hello to Qingden, and there is always a hint of fullness in their eyes when they look at Qingden, as if they are overlooking some inferior creature.

A disdainful look of superiority.

——Forget it.

Qingden raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck.

——Just think of it as being bitten by a mosquito.

After all, that Gerald was Elodie's tutor. Even for the sake of Anthony, Elodie and the others, Qingden was too embarrassed to argue with this guy.

Moreover, Qingdeng's mind was not so narrow that he would get angry just because of a contemptuous look from others.

Qingden only thought that the look Gerald had just cast on him was that he was being stared at by a mosquito, and he quickly relieved himself of the depression in his heart.

"Mr. Orange, the black tea has been brewed. Do you want me to send it to the study now, or do you want me to wait for a while and then send it there?"

Shock suddenly appeared in Qingdeng's eyes.

--Who is speaking……?

The female voice that suddenly sounded behind Qingdeng had a rather strange accent, and the pronunciation of many words was extremely inaccurate.

With strong shock, Qingden hurriedly turned around and looked behind him.

Behind Qingdeng, there was only one person - Leroy, who was standing respectfully with his hands folded in front of him.

"Miss Leroy..." Qingden opened his eyes in confusion, "So you can speak Japanese?"

Leroy nodded gently, pursed his lips and smiled, then said stiffly:

"I can barely communicate with others, but I can't speak as fluently and as standard as the lady."

This was the first time Qingteng saw Leroy speaking Japanese.

Because Qingteng had only seen Leroy speak French before, Qingteng always subconsciously thought that Leroy knew nothing about Japanese.

At this time, Leroy softly repeated the question she just raised:

"Mr. Orange, do you want me to deliver the black tea to the study now, or do you want me to deliver it after a while?"

Qingden slowly recovered from the shock of "Leroy can actually speak Japanese."

"Send it over now." Qingdeng replied without hesitation, "Sorry to bother you."

"You're welcome." Leroy bowed, "These are what I should do."

After saying that, Leroy turned around and walked towards the kitchen.

Qingden took a few glances at Leroy's leaving figure and let out a sigh of relief.

——I’ll also go back to the study to see what’s going on with Saito and the others...

Qingdeng made up his mind, straightened his clothes, and then walked quickly towards the stairs not far away.

But at this moment, a sudden word of thanks, like a chain, trapped Qingdeng's feet that had already stepped on the stairs.

"...Mr. Orange, thank you very much for your willingness to play with Miss just now."

"Huh?" Qingden was stunned for a moment, then looked doubtfully at Leroy who suddenly thanked him.

After turning his attention to Leroy, Qingden realized that the beautiful young maid was looking at him with her head held high, a smile full of gratitude on her face.

After Qingdeng looked over, Leroy lowered his head, bent his upper body, and saluted Qingdeng from afar.

"Miss... she has been very lonely since she moved to Edo."

"We are surrounded by strange people and strange environments."

"There are no children of her own age nearby who can be her playmates."

"My husband and I are very busy every day, and we can't spare much time to spend with the lady."

"Only Miss Kinoshita comes to play with her from time to time."

When she said this, the corners of Leroy's mouth drooped in a slight arc... This subtle change in expression gave her face a hint of sadness.

"If my guess is correct...it must be the young lady who just now asked you to practice sword practice with her, right?"

"Miss, she has always liked swordsmanship."

"But after leaving France and coming to Japan, the young lady rarely found anyone who had the time, ability, and was willing to practice swordsmanship with her."

"Today I wielded a sword with someone for the first time in a long time... Miss, she must be very happy."

Under Qingdeng's straight eyebrows, his eyes flickered slightly at this moment.

In the next moment, he suddenly recalled what Elodie said to him before he and Elodie fought -

(I haven’t sparred with someone for a long time...I almost forgot what it feels like to spar with people or things other than air.)
To be continued...