Chapter 8: The Arrival of Empress Ludovika (Part 2)

  “miss？”

  Ludwig put down his hand, and the young waiter in the café called out to her with a lowered head.

  "Do you need help because you look...not too good."

  "Sorry, I'm rambling... um, sorry."

  Ludwig waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal and brushed back his hair. "…I mean, thanks but no thanks."

  "Miss." The young waiter couldn't help but smile a little.

  He was handsome, with a handsomeness unique to boys of his age. When he smiled, his chestnut-colored hair took on a warm, gentle hue.

  "I hope it won't embarrass you, but actually, my high school graduation trip started from France."

  I'm already very embarrassed... Ludwig rubbed his nose - complaining about someone who cares about you in front of them is called "agneau (lamb)" and it's always embarrassing, even if that person is just a stranger.

  Fortunately, the waiter was very magnanimous and completely unaffected.

  "Are you from France? You don't look like a French person at all."

  The server made an "incredulous" face. "I thought you were Asian."

  "Why not Franco-Asian?"

  "Because of temperament?"

  The waitress winked: "French girls wouldn't sit so seriously in a chair and talk to boys."

  "Oh..." Ludwig drew out his tone, saying with interest: "So where are they sitting?"

  The young waiter made an exaggerated expression: "They sat on the boy's lap."

  "Very accurate..." Ludwig couldn't help but laugh: "It seems you didn't receive this kind of treatment in France."

  The waitress gazed at Ludwig's lips with a somewhat pitiful look: "As a pretty woman, you don't even wear lipstick."

  Ludwig propped his chin with one hand and mysteriously crooked a finger at him, the waiter smiled and leaned down.

  Ludwig leaned in close and whispered softly into his ear, "Don't put on lip balm, because I don't need it."

  "Oh?"

  Ludwig held his coffee cup in one hand and leaned against the back of the chair, without even changing his posture, but the whole person's temperament changed completely in an instant.

  One second ago she was just an ordinary woman, at most with a decent face, not even as stunning as the Sherlock I saw earlier, but this moment...

  Raise your glass, blink your eyes, smile, and the lights sway.

  It seems that what she's holding in her hand is not coffee, but red wine; it seems that where she is, is not a coffee shop playing folk music, but a grand hall filled with the scent of perfume and hair, a woman who appears to be dressed elegantly, yet her body is subtly exposed, exuding an alluring charm.

  A seductive and alluring fairy.

  "That was a little mistake I made, miss." The waiter looked at Ludwig with a smile, his eyes openly showing surprise.

  "As long as your hormones are enticing enough, you can make even a woman who doesn't wear lipstick become skilled in this way."

  It's been a long time since Ludwig spoke with such a high tone, and he suddenly felt like he had found his rhythm.

  What if Mr. Holmes is attributed to the Queen?

  My family is very big. The empress dowager has arrived this morning!

  Haven't you watched "The Palace" before? Haven't you watched "Empresses in the Palace" before?

  Even if I haven't seen any of these, would Ahn's family still not have seen "Dae Jang Geum"?

  With so much wisdom gained from brushing and watering, the bombing murder case is simply a trivial matter.

  One sentence - if you can't play, then run, and ten years later you'll be a good fellow again!

  Never have I shed tears in double streams, listen carefully to your elder brother's words!

  What is she afraid of!

  Ludwig's face suddenly changed, and he almost slammed his hand on the table, shouting: "Waiter, bring a jar of good girl red wine!"

  ……

  She's being silly again...

  ……

  The look of astonishment on the boy's face didn't last long, and after a brief moment, he returned to his usual gentle demeanor, sincerely praising.

  "Merci (Fr: Thank you)."

  Ludwig put down his coffee cup, changed his expression, still elegant and pretentious, but much more subdued, like a slightly better-looking ordinary passerby.

  "Agnneau (French for lamb), you've been chatting with me for so long, won't your boss scold you?"

  "In fact, this is my coffee shop." The waitress showed two dimples.

  So you're a coffee shop owner wearing a waiter's uniform, coming to flirt with poor people like Miss here, what are you trying to do...

  What's the role of school uniform?

  I will despise you.

  ……

  "If you don't mind, I'll put this cup of coffee on my bill..."

  "Oh, certainly not, not at all, refusing a gentleman is not ladylike behavior."

  Ludwig immediately said - kidding, sister is now a starving person, your family's store can buy three days of cabbage with one cup of coffee.

  If it weren't for your coffee shop being closest to 221B and convenient for keeping an eye on Mrs. Hudson's return, I wouldn't be coming in here wasting money...

  "Okay, Ludwig reluctantly admitted that she came in for the unglamorous reasons of not wanting to walk too much and because this store offers unlimited refills..."

  "If you could also include the small Matsusaka black beef I'm about to order..."

  She handed him the almost empty coffee cup, "Then your demeanor is enough to make people look up to you."

  This is the epitome of speaking nonsense with one's eyes open...

  "Five minutes' cooking time, with pepper."

  Anyway, it's the French who lost face. It's none of her business, she sincerely apologizes to old France, but before that, she doesn't take any responsibility.

  She thought without any pressure, smiling at the boy in front of her who was no more than 20 years old.

  The waiter smiled as he took the cup of coffee, bowed slightly and finally even kissed Ludwig's right hand lightly.

  "Erich... This is my name, hope we have a chance to meet again."

  Ludwig: “……”

  She's been teased! She was actually teased!!

  Isn't this stuff actually from France?

  Was that last deep gaze meant to kill?

  They just met for the first time, is this "I've loved you for a long time, can never forget" expression going to kill them?

  Nima is going crazy, since she left France and started escaping drama, how long has it been since she last went to a nightclub bar and hooked up with someone? Now even a high school graduate's eyes can switch states so naturally, what's wrong?

  How out of touch! As a senior aunt-like figure to this little friend, she thinks Alexander...

  What's more ridiculous is that I was actually flirted with by a half-grown kid today!

  Mind being teased! Where is your dignity? If you say it out loud, won't she laugh at you to death with her friends all over the world?

  Ludwig died deeply depressed...

  At the same time as Rudolf's death, on the other side, 221B Baker Street.

  "Sherlock, what are you looking at?"

  Tanaka looked up from the stack of files on his desk for the sixth time and found his partner staring out the window again.

  He walked over to the window and followed Sherlock's line of sight outside.

  "Is there anything wrong with the café?"

  "......Nothing."

  "Then focus on your business! Sherlock, it was you who suggested sorting out the files, but since we swapped seats an hour ago, you've been staring out of the window."

  "Functionally speaking, this is your business, Rested, and even when I'm not focused, my efficiency is still twice yours."

  "One day without a case and I'd go crazy, but shooting guns at walls isn't me."

  "But I didn't urgently need a bonus to buy my fiancée Brazilian emerald-cut diamonds - but speaking of your fiancée, would she... tempt you under certain circumstances? Like..."

  He searched for an adjective somewhat uncertainly, “—it’s like, he became a different person.”

  "A particular set of circumstances?" Inspector Lestrade exclaimed: "Is it as I thought, Sherlock?"

  "Of course, although I don't quite understand the specific situation of normal people - if you have other interpretations, any occasion that requires hormone release."

  "Will do, of course will do, is there a problem?"

  "No problem."

  "Okay... Sherlock." Lestrade sighed: "Where's the bread? I'm starving."

  "No."

  "Sherly, listen, you just offered Miss Ludwig bread for dinner and she refused, while I haven't eaten anything since morning."

  Sherlock glanced at his good friend faintly: "Another 'Sherly'?"

  Lestrade's expression turned serious at once. He looked very much like a detective: "No, of course it was Sherlock."

  His friend Holmes was very particular about overly familiar forms of address.

  Sherlock turned his head and shifted his gaze to the file in his hand: "No bread, I want to see her reaction when she opens the refrigerator."

  Rastel: "I deeply feel that you can only be single for this life."

  Sherlock said nonchalantly, "I've already married my work."

  Rastetter: "We all know what your fridge looks like - it's disgusting. You'll scare off every girl you get near."

  "Even if you were scared off, she wouldn't be." Sherlock smiled with a hint of sensuality:

  "Rastus, do you recall what your reaction was when you first entered my living room?"

  "I don't quite remember."

  "His pupils were dilated, his face was white, and he stumbled along, looking very disheveled."

  "You don't actually need to remember it that clearly."

  "The hair dryer she's holding."

  "What's wrong with the hair dryer?"

  "I'm doing a 60-degree Fahrenheit blood clotting experiment with the blow dryer, Ryker. I'm not gentle enough to hide Fox's arm and then hand her the blow dryer."

  “……”

  "From the lamppost five meters away from Mrs. Hodgson's house, I've been watching her, pretending to drink coffee and observing her reaction through the reflection on the glass window."

  "So what's your conclusion?"

  "Conclusion?"

  Sherlock showed a rare look of satisfaction.

  He narrowed his eyes, walked to the window, as if looking at the distant neon-lit gray streets, or just gazing at an inconspicuous corner of a coffee shop on Lambra Avenue across the street.

  "Couldn't be more satisfied."