"Oh, my dear Anne, although Mama wishes you could stay forever at Rosings Manor, stay by Mama's side, you must understand, my treasure, you are already eighteen this year, and at most in two years it will be time for you to start a family.
My dear, you must admit that being an old maid at this time is not exactly a respectable existence."
Holding her precious daughter in her arms, Lady Catherine's well-maintained face clearly showed disapproval.
"Of course, my dear treasure, I must say, up until now, you have seen far too few excellent gentlemen, so not making a hasty decision is quite right. Perhaps in a few days, after meeting more gentlemen, Anne, my dear daughter, you will suddenly realize that Mr. Holmes is nothing special, without any particular qualities worthy of a lady's favor..."
Oh, well, she should have known.
Lazily leaning against the chaise lounge, An Ning wasn't surprised in the slightest.
Her love for her daughter was genuine, but in the eyes of Lady Catherine, who had received aristocratic education since childhood, family honor still surpassed everything.
But before that, she was willing to give her daughter, meaning the current her, greater autonomy, which could already be considered quite exceptional for the times...
Over the next two months, taking advantage of occasional social opportunities, An Ning brought her young cousin along to attend various social gatherings one after another.
One had to admit that the "gentlemen" of this era were quite amusing when it came to flattering others. Of course, this was provided one ignored their various romantic entanglements, even mistresses.
Oh, and one more thing—after hearing the familiar Shakespearean sonnets for no less than the tenth time, the expression An Ning had been maintaining finally began to crack.
Having finally found a gap to escape to a less noticeable corner, she unexpectedly heard a familiar voice beside her.
"Good day, Miss de Bourgh!"
"I had thought you weren't actually very keen on these rather unoriginal social affairs?"
"I had also thought, given your temperament, sir, that the previous ball was already quite an exceptional occurrence for you?"
In the ballroom, the familiar waltz carried an elegance tinged with liveliness. Raising her eyes to meet the familiar gray pupils before her, An Ning couldn't help but retort with a smile.
Months later, seeing this famously renowned Mr. Holmes again, to be honest, An Ning was actually somewhat surprised.
Given his temperament, she had thought it more likely they would maintain correspondence over these past two months.
After all, these social balls were indeed, as he said, boring and rather unoriginal.
Additionally, observing his noticeably thinner figure compared to their last meeting, and the gradually handsome features emerging after the weight loss...
After a skillful spin, An Ning finally couldn't resist letting out a delighted laugh:
"Doughnuts, chocolate cake, peanut milk candy..." She listed over ten types of desserts in one breath before playfully winking at him:
"Have these already lost their appeal for you so quickly, Mr. Holmes?"
"Oh, that truly is a rather regrettable matter. You really are a heartless gentleman..."
After a moment of silence, the gentleman before her rarely showed an expression that could clearly be described as pained. But it was fleeting:
"Privately, I believe no one understands this better than the clever Miss Anne, isn't that right?"
Gazing directly into the bright eyes of the young lady before him, this Mr. Holmes unusually adopted something of a gentleman's lament:
"Believe in yourself, noble Miss Anne de Bourgh.
If, years from now, I were most unfortunately—oh no, I should say most reasonably—to become a middle-aged gentleman afflicted with obesity, baldness, and a prominent potbelly,
I dare guarantee that your noble gaze would not linger upon my humble self for even one pitiful second longer."
"Oh, or perhaps it wouldn't even wait until later..."
Mycroft thought with near certainty.
After all, this young lady before him insisted that even the protagonists, even the villains in her writings, must be sufficiently handsome and dashing, possessing strikingly beautiful faces...
This persistence was particularly unique in the current era where rugged, even disheveled gentlemen dominated the detective genre.
Earlier, Sherlock had even expressed dissatisfaction about this, believing that Detective Carl, the protagonist, paid too much attention to his external image, unnecessarily complicating daily investigative operations.
And from the way her gaze fell upon him more frequently this time compared to before confirmed that his previous deduction... no, it couldn't really be called deduction...
After all, wasn't this utterly obvious?
This was truly a enormous dilemma. Mycroft had to admit it was several times more difficult than the most complex mathematical problem he had ever solved.
This... really left no room for rebuttal whatsoever! But An Ning didn't mind in the slightest, even feeling quite justified:
"Facts prove that frequently admiring beautiful people or things is the unparalleled method for maintaining physical and mental pleasure, isn't it?"
In the ballroom, as they danced, the young lady's azure blue skirt occasionally swept out exquisitely beautiful arcs with each spin and leap, achieving an extreme of grace and lightness.
After a moment, Mycroft had to regretfully admit:
"Perhaps you are right, Miss Anne. But I still maintain that life is long and tedious. A clever mind and a sufficiently interesting soul are what make future life less dull, aren't they?"
And clearly, in this regard, the two of us are truly on the same wavelength...
On this point, this gentleman clearly possessed unparalleled confidence. This confidence wasn't without reason, as evidenced by their almost uninterrupted correspondence over the past two months.
Of course, the final sentence would have been far too embarrassing for the Mr. Holmes of that time.
Even so, it didn't prevent An Ning from laughing out loud again:
"If you insist on putting it that way, may I somewhat narcissistically assume that you are indirectly complimenting, even promoting, yourself?"
"This... Mr. Mycroft Holmes!"
The young lady's clear, sweet voice still lingered in his ears. After many days, the man before her found his dance steps unusually faltering for a moment. Only after a long pause did he speak in an extremely low yet solemn voice:
"Evidently, noble Miss Anne de Bourgh, regarding myself, you have every right to interpret this in any meaning you choose..."
"Then now, allow me to ask presumptuously, how much longer must I wait humbly before having the honor of receiving an opportunity to visit your residence?"