Their carriage slowed down as they entered the capital. Serena woke up hearing the noise coming from outside. She slowly detracted herself from Leonard as she shyly glanced at him. Leonard, with his arm free immediately crossed them in front of his chest and closed his eyes to avoid any awkwardness. Serena wanted to speak, but....

'what if I have bad breath? I just woke up...' Serena thought as she opened her silk purse. She took a small tin can containing peppermint rock candies and ate one. 'hmm... certainly I'm not the only one with stale saliva. Perhaps I should feed him one...' Stopping herself from grinning because of her naughty thoughts, she held one candy with her fingers daintily and hovered it in front of Leonard's face.

"Brother Leonard... Say ah..." She said flirtatiously.

Leonard, very much surprised with his sister's sweet as sugar voice opened his eyes with shock. 'What the...' his back hit against the wall in alarm as Serena tried to feed him the candy.

Serena being persistent forcefully fed the candy to Leonard. With the candy being pushed to his lips, he had no choice but to open his mouth.

"for fresh breath" Serena said as she grinned at him. 'Look at that adorable, shocked face, and when he opened his mouth....'

"Serena, please don't do that again." Not being satisfied with ending it with that, he continued. "You need to observe proper propriety, specially between opposite genders, and..."

"I only did that because you're my brother...don't you like me being sweet?" Serena replied slyly as she gave him a close-lipped smile, trying to act cutely.

"It's not that..." Leonard frowned.

"then I guess it's alright." Changing the topic, she pushed the curtain to look at the streets of the capital. In her past life, she has travelled almost all the famous tourist sites in the world, but she still finds the streets of London as one of the most charming.

It seems like they were in Bond street, or whatever the street is called in this fantasy world. Serena saw shops selling different merchandise through their large glass windows, while herds of strolling shoppers occupied the streets.

Leonard looked at his pocket watch, seeing that it was almost noon he asked "Let's take a break. What do you want for lunch?"

"You?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, what do you recommend? You've been staying here for awhile. I bet you have a favorite restaurant here somewhere?"

"Okay" Leonard replied, then he opened a wooden window to tell the driver to make a stop.

The driver stopped in front of a seemingly upscale restaurant. Leonard went out first then offered his hand to help Serena get off the carriage. Then, he instructed the coachmen of the other two carriage to go ahead of them.

"Why not ask them to join us for lunch?"

"I asked them to leave first, so that when we arrive at the school's boarding house, your room will already be prepared."

"oh..." Serena replied, noting how considerate this brother of hers is.

There were two uniformed men who opened the doors of the restaurant for them. Upon entering, a receptionist welcomed them with a bow.

"Welcome Lord Maxwell, it is our pleasure to have you here with us today."

"Please rise."

The receptionist rose and asked them to follow him.

Serena noted the formal atmosphere of the restaurant as they were led to a four-seater table beside the window overlooking the streets. Serena and Leonard both sat by the window facing each other. As they were looking over the menu, they heard a knock.

Looking out, Serena saw a man giving Leonard a mock salute. The rays of the afternoon sun shone upon him giving him an otherworldly glow. He had dark caramel locks that lightly moved with the breeze and lightly tanned sun kissed skin. As he smiled, a dimple teased his right cheek and his stormy gray eyes twinkled with mischief. He was as handsome as sin that Serena had to cover her face with the menu to hide her heated cheeks.

Seeing Serena with her head burrowed behind the menu, the man outside pointed at Serena while wiggling his brows at Leonard. Leonard furrowed his brows and shook his head. Not far behind the man outside, he saw his other friend who just finished talking to their coachman smile and wave at him. Soon, the pair entered the restaurant.

"Serena, please wait a moment, I'll just meet my friends at the reception. "

Not sure if she already recovered from her blush, Serena pretended to seriously look at the menu as she nodded her head. "Alright..."

Leonard stood up from the table and approached his friends.

"Hey Leonard, did we disturb your date?" his friend teased.

Leonard shook his head as he explained "No Charlie, I'm not on a date. I am with my sister. She will be joining us in school this year."

"Is that so? Then you won't mind me and Kylo joining you for lunch right? It's lonely having only a man as company for lunch. Also, stop calling me Charlie, you sound like my mother."

"Not that I want to disturb your date Leonard, but it is indeed sad only having Charlie here, as company." Kylo seconded as he emphasized on the name Charlie.

"Let me ask for Serena's permission first."

Leonard went back to talk to Serena, but his friends followed right behind him leaving him no choice but to introduce them.

Serena meanwhile was busy connecting the dots. She realized that the man earlier must be Charlton Daniel, the only son of the duke of Suffox, and the second male lead in the novel. From what she can recall, Charlton was a sunny and friendly playboy before meeting the heroine. She felt bad for him when the heroine seemingly led him on and later chose Geoffrey. Just like any SML, he is always second best in comparison to the male lead except for his slightly more handsome face. In the novel, he always supported the heroine behind the shadows. He was not a show-off, but his feelings were true. In the end, he let go of the heroine to have her happily ever after with Geoffrey while he never recovered from his broken heart. He spent the rest of his life being a bachelor.

'Poor soul... but anyways, the description in the novel gave him no justice AT ALL! I think my knickers just fell when I saw him make that mock salute! I will never understand why teenage girls like ice cube male leads when there's a perfectly fine Adonis right beside him. Well, whatever, he will make a wonderful first boyfriend. Based on his character, he will have no hard feelings when we break up. Also, I can even save him from his wretched fate of having to spend the rest of his-- life in broken heartedness later because the female lead will never choose him!'

--

TBC

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