Chapter 199: The Secret of the Monocle

Chapter 199: The Secret of the Monocle

Wilma returned home with her ice cream.

She seemed unaware of anything unusual, changed her shoes, took off her coat, and sat on the sofa, ready to taste the ice cream.

She scooped up a spoonful, put it in her mouth, and then, as if she remembered something, she placed the ice cream on the coffee table without taking a bite and walked to the bedroom.

"Oh, I knew I left it here!" Wilma picked up a bracelet from the bedside table and sighed in relief.

After putting away the bracelet, Wilma returned to the living room. She immediately saw the ice cream on the coffee table and was about to continue her plan when she suddenly clutched her stomach.

Frowning, she went into the bathroom, closed the door, and stayed there for nearly twenty minutes before coming out. She saw the ice cream on the coffee table again and wanted to go over.

At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and it was Alan, who had just gotten off work.

Alan greeted her, took off his coat, changed his shoes, and saw the ice cream on the coffee table.

"What is this?" Alan asked.

The person who made the ice cream had done a great job. The top of the ice cream was swirled into a beautiful spiral, with pink strawberry syrup evenly drizzled from top to bottom. Although a spoonful had been taken, it still looked very tempting.

Wilma remembered the ice cream as soon as she saw it and replied with a smile, "Oh, I bought this on my way home and forgot to eat it."

As she spoke, she walked towards the coffee table, bent down to pick up the ice cream, and suddenly clutched her stomach with a frown, letting out a soft cry.

Alan quickly stepped forward to support Wilma, discreetly glancing at the ice cream, and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Should I help you rest for a while?"

Wilma nodded, so Alan helped her to the bedroom, helped her lie down, and then said, "I'll go to the bathroom."

Wilma smiled and nodded.

Alan left the room without any sign of abnormality, entered the bathroom, and almost as soon as he closed the door, he heard an exasperated voice:

"Quick, throw away that ice cream!"

Alan looked at the mirror, and sure enough, there was a silver baby in a black baby carriage.

Having long been accustomed to this scene, Alan asked, "Is there something wrong with the ice cream?"

"No, but also yes," the voice still sounded a bit exasperated, "Just taste it, and you'll know."

Before Alan could respond, the scene in the mirror disappeared, and the bathroom was quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Alan pondered for a moment, went to the living room, picked up the ice cream, scooped up a spoonful, and put it in his mouth.

His expression instantly twisted, looking at the ice cream in his hand with incomprehension.

How could there be spicy ice cream in the world? Whose idea was this?

The answer seemed obvious—after all, the last time he made this face was after drinking a cup of coffee with unknown additives.

...

When Alice woke up in bed, she couldn't help but marvel at Amon's kindness.

He actually remembered to send her home! And didn't just leave her on the ground!

Alice, moved, decided to start believing in... uh, never mind, too scary.

Alice dismissed a dangerous thought, got up from bed to check what time it was today.

She got up from bed, tugged at her already wrinkled clothes, and decided to change first.

After changing clothes, Alice held her discarded clothes in her left hand, placed her hand on the doorknob, and prepared to open... huh???

Where was the doorknob?!

Alice stared at the empty hole where the doorknob should be and fell into deep thought.

After a moment of contemplation, Alice threw her clothes on the bed, squatted down, and put her eye to the hole to look outside.

To her disappointment, there was no eye staring back at her, nor any fantastical scenery, just her familiar living room.

Alice stood up disappointedly, pushed open the door, looked at the familiar living room, and sighed heavily.

No need to guess, this was definitely Amon's doing.

Through the date on the newspaper in the mailbox, Alice confirmed that it was already Saturday.

Alice took the newspaper and letters back to her room, touched her stomach, and decided to eat something first.

As one of Alice's two favorite foods in this world, Dixie pie and sweet iced tea were undoubtedly the best companions. In Alice's memory, they always appeared together.

When she took a bite of the Dixie pie, the rich meat aroma and juice filled her mouth, whetting her appetite. At this moment, drinking a sip of sweet iced tea, the refreshing sweetness would dispel the greasiness brought by the meat juice, providing a wonderful dining experience.

Alice followed the aroma to find the Dixie pie and sweet iced tea, happily bought them, and couldn't wait to take a bite.

She fell into deep thought.

Her sense of taste... seemed to have disappeared.

Alice closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and the rich aroma lingered at the tip of her nose.

She took another bite; she could feel the granular minced meat, the splashing juice, the outer crust, but she couldn't taste anything.

Alice took a sip of sweet iced tea, the cool liquid slid through her mouth, down her throat, into her esophagus, flowing down without revealing any taste.

Standing on the street, Alice's eyes became dazed. She subconsciously pushed the monocle on her right eye and found it unmoved.

Hmm?

Alice reached out again and pushed the monocle hard, but it still didn't move.

Alice fell into deep thought.

Thinking of the missing doorknob on her bedroom door, she realized this was definitely Amon's doing too.

...So what should she do?!

Alice chewed a few more bites, deeply feeling how terrifying it was to eat without taste, and began to confirm what exactly had disappeared.

After tasting the five flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty one by one, Alice finally understood—spicy was indeed a kind of pain.

This didn't help Alice solve the problem. She reached out and pulled the unmoved monocle hard, realizing that if the current situation was caused by the monocle's side effect, this matter might not be easy to solve.

Putting the "praying to Amon" option, which sounded extremely dangerous, at the bottom of all choices, Alice pondered for a moment and decided to go home and reply to a letter first.

...If she didn't reply soon, Evelyn might really come looking for her.

After replying to the letter, Alice, who was very sure that the monocle that couldn't be removed was definitely related to the problem, tried to divine the monocle's effect.

The divination gave an answer: while enhancing her thieving skills, the monocle took away her sense of taste as a price.

This was a harmless side effect, but the monocle carried a strange curse—once worn, it couldn't be removed or moved.