Laura is taciturn.

So far, she has behaved in the exact opposite way than what I expected. I expected screaming, anger, pure rage. But not this.

She’s sipping a second cup of hot cocoa in silence. She hasn’t interacted with me at all except to ask for a refill. This is subverting everything I had assumed about the girl.

We sit in silence, exchanging gazes. For some reason, it doesn’t feel as awkward as staring at each other usually does. We don’t avert our eyes, feeling at ease with each other's gazes. Nothing is going on between us at this moment, just pure, meditative quiet.

This might be the first time in my entire life that my mind is so quiet. I'm not trying to silence my thoughts. They are just gone, slumbering in their deep chambers. And they don't threaten my inner self, my ego, or my soul.

Princess Laura, I think to myself.

I'm sharing hot cocoa with a Princess instead of talking to a snob Goblin. That's progress.

What do I make of her character? Speciesist, angry. Is she arrogant? Like, do I have proof that she actually is?

She's also tall, beautiful, and strong. Or at least she looks strong.

She could probably hold her own in a zombie apocalypse. Plus, she seems very restrained and calm now. This is really throwing me for a loop.

One thing is for sure; I need to be careful around this woman. She’s so beautiful I can see myself falling for ‘Lucinda’s trick’ again. Flirting is good; being an idiot is not.

Come on, Joey. You can do it. You don’t need to fall in love with every psycho woman in this world. Why don’t you ask Violante out? The employer of Happy Bakery has a very large… heart. Wouldn’t that be better than the woman who’s currently staring at you in silence?

Sometimes I find myself thinking that psychology really doesn’t work. Aren’t men supposed to find women similar to their mothers? My sweet mother is the kindest woman in the world, always taking care of me and whatnot. Why do I look for women who seem more interested in killing/hurting me than taking care of me?

“I’m going to change,” Princess Laura gets up from the stool and points to the stairs with a lifted eyebrow.

“Yep. Last door to the right.”

She goes up without a word more.

Why didn’t I try to strike a conversation? This is not like me. I’m usually put off by silence, and I try to fill it in every way possible. Did she use a spell or something?

Huh.

She didn’t.

And that’s how I fall from my stool.

Goddamnit.

“Juler, for God’s sake. You gave me a heart attack! And you can read my thoughts? How does this even work? Aren’t you in the book? The book is in my bag of holding at the moment.”

I bridged the book and your soul to have direct access to you. Being in soul-form means that I can only do so much in the physical world; however, it also means that the physical world can only limit me so much. Thanks to this bridge, I have access to most of your surface thoughts. Using a simple spell, I can convert them into what you are actually thinking. So, you don’t need to speak. You can simply think of something, and I’ll know it: it’s convenient for both of us. I’ll be able to communicate with you during our magic research – I’ve already made progress on that front – and you will not look like a madman speaking to yourself. In this era, I doubt anyone remembers what a soul is capable of, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry—especially around that [Druid]. And, by the way, the Princess wasn’t using magic.

This man speaks too much.

Way too much.

[Thunderbolt Curse]

My body seizes, still on the ground.

Souls have the same conception of time as normal people, more or less. I kept myself in a slumber, obviously – otherwise, I would have gone crazy. But now, we have the opportunity of a lifetime. I’ve already jotted down the calculations, and I think we can use amplifying spells to accelerate the particles indefinitely in a simple [Light]. We can augment the mass of said light, add an electromagnetic field, and see if we can have it shed some gamma radiation.

I look at the ceiling, still on the ground.

“I haven’t even checked the book, Lord Juler. Can I do that first? And before doing that, can I take care of the massive mess I made?”

I can teach you a spell to read that woman’s thoughts. It’s not that hard. That should definitely solve the problem of having to interpret her body language, cryptic words, and bouts of anger. That’s how I used to deal with women in my days.

I snort. I can’t help it.

“No, thanks. It would take the fun out of it.”

Silly student. One day, you will learn the importance of focusing on one thing at a time. But now, your Princess is coming down; you want to avoid speaking out loud as you’ve done until now.

I get up from the ground and my eyes land on Laura coming down the stairs. She’s wearing a plain white robe, not unlike a long dress. The long and loose sleeves take away whatever sexiness that outfit could potentially have. However, it still looks very good on her.

I mean, she’s gorgeous!

Oh, Joey! Stop it! Stop it!

When Laura crosses the door to the kitchen, I wonder if I should say something funny or not. For some reason, I opt not to say anything in particular.

“I’m ready to work,” she declares.

“You probably want to roll up your sleeves before I teach you anything. They will get dirty.”

“I have a [Cleaning] enchantment on this robe.”

I shrug and nod. Good for her.

I gesture to a cupboard, and she follows me silently.

“Novices should learn the easier stuff first. I’ll have Tiberius and Quintus teach—”

No.

“No, right. I’ll personally teach you the ropes. I don’t really have much to do around here. I come up with new stuff from time to time, but the daily administration falls to Stanimal, and Quintus and Tiberius are competent enough to run the whole food operation.”

She doesn’t react to my words at all.

“Well, let’s start from the basics, then.”