As Noah expected, this meeting did not reveal any meaningful information; it was even somewhat of a probing attempt.
Noah listened for a long time and only felt that these 'fishermen' were aggressively throwing bait her way, completely unconcerned whether she wanted to bite or not.
Of course, if she did bite, Noah would probably subtly become one of the fish in their catch.
So Noah remained silent throughout, like a silent prey in a dark forest. She was not yet a hunter; expressing any opinion would only attract the hunter's rifle. The saying 'the bird that sticks its head out gets shot' perfectly described the situation.
After the meeting, Noah originally wanted to leave immediately to check on Maria's condition, but Mackey stopped her. He scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed, and then spoke.
"I finished reading the poetry collection from earlier."
"Oh, really?" Noah smiled. "What are your thoughts on it?"
"…I don't want to lie. It was Viviana's first time writing poetry, so…"
"Hmm, you really did read it carefully," Noah nodded. Indeed, although Viviana loved poetry, it was her first time writing it herself. It was unrealistic to expect to make a splash with her first attempt. The quality of this poetry collection was not high. Mackey did not praise it mindlessly just because Viviana wrote it. In this regard, Noah truly appreciated the spokesman in front of her.
"But being too direct will make people dislike you. I hope you'll think about how to answer again. Of course, I appreciate your honesty." Noah smiled and nodded, then motioned for Kuro to push her wheelchair into the elevator.
Mackey's gaze followed Noah as she left. He couldn't help but shake his head silently. He still wasn't sure how to evaluate it. Perhaps, as Miss Noah said, he should think more about how to phrase his critique.
"…Viviana? Yes, it's me."
After leaving the elevator, Noah called Viviana. Faced with her best friend's call, Viviana was first happy, then asked with confusion, "Is there something you need me for?"
"Can't I call you unless I need something?"
"No, it's just that your voice sounds very happy. So I'm curious—"
"Can you tell? Actually, I sold your poetry collection, and the reviews are pretty good."
Noah said with a smile, "But it might take a little more time for the full review to be brewed. Oh, and about the identity of the person, please allow me to keep it a secret for now, but I've never lied to you, have I?"
"Really?" Viviana instantly fell into a mix of excitement, wanting to know how her poetry collection was being evaluated, and a bit of shame, fearing her poetry wasn't good enough to be seen. "That's really… if they're as sharp-tongued as you, I might just give up writing poetry."
"Mine is called honesty," Noah chuckled. "Are you free recently? Let's meet up. I got tickets for a recent theater performance and was planning to go with you."
"I usually think you're the busier one, right? Okay, just tell me when, and I'll make time." Viviana shook her head, her large antlers like coral. It must be said that when Noah read that poetry collection written entirely in Braille, her heart was indeed filled with emotion, but soon that emotion was stifled by the collection's formulaic content. Poetry, as a genre, inherently requires boundless imagination and innovative ability to produce stunning verses—but Viviana's poems were as conventional as she herself was.
These works all seemed to let Noah find prototypes in similar formats. Of course, Noah believed Viviana herself did not intend to follow in the footsteps of previous works, but she unconsciously composed her poetry in the Manner of those before her.
So Noah commented at the time—
"It reads too formulaic, like a themed essay."
This comment seemed to hit Viviana hard; she didn't speak to her for about two days. Although Noah later managed to reconcile with Viviana, she carefully kept the Braille poetry collection and promised to ask other people with discerning taste to evaluate Viviana's poetry collection. Only then did Viviana stop sulking. However, it wasn't unusual for her to sulk with Viviana.
How should I put it… someone like her would only act so impolitely if she truly considered you a friend.
No one expected the reason Noah and Viviana became best friends was that one time when Viviana was admiring a flower garden, her antlers got stuck in a grape arbor. While those large antlers were aesthetically unique and perfectly matched Viviana's temperament, they caused Viviana a lot of inconvenience—
Like getting stuck in doors, not being able to sleep on her side, needing custom-made beds, and so on and so forth—
More importantly, although Viviana herself had gotten used to it, in a way, her antlers made her a bit top-heavy, even training her to develop a superhuman sense of balance. To prove this, Viviana even performed walking around with a basin on her head; the basin remained perfectly still on her head, as if it had a stabilizer.
The girl who was once stuck in a grape arbor is now Noah's dearest friend, whom she loves from the bottom of her heart. In this time, she also learned that Viviana was not the extravagant woman described in the Wine Report, nor did she have hundreds of male servants, nor did she have a habit of bathing in wine—rather, wouldn't bathing in wine be like pickling herself? The editor of the newspaper that spread that rumor probably only had gossip in their head.
More importantly, she was a girl with very ordinary hobbies. She loved reading books, poetry, and dolls. Her room was also very girlish. In Noah's eyes, the noble and luxurious Candle Knight was completely an idol built up by others; the real her was just a somewhat introverted girl.
However, indeed, Viviana's beauty was enough to make her a topic of conversation. The news about Viviana in the Wine Report always attracted more attention, after all, Viviana was indeed a girl who perfectly fit everyone's aesthetic.
Noah, who had personally touched Viviana's cheeks and antlers, could give such an evaluation—if it got out, many people would probably be green with envy, right?
However, Noah could only really perceive others' appearances through touch. There was no other way—
Just like when she went to the opera with Viviana, she could only enjoy the singing, not see the performers' strenuous acts.
So she only went to the opera with Viviana—after all, she liked it, and Noah could feel a little bit of the lingering charm from her emotions. This was also Noah's way of appreciating opera.