Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, more than twenty years had passed. Ronnie was now in his thirties and had children of his own. He and De Silva both lived near You City, but not in the same city-state. De Silva took off the invisibility cloak and said to Alena, "This thing is useless to me in the city-state now. Should I return it to Father?"
"That's a good idea. He's in 'Shire Town' and at an age where he needs protection." De Silva turned to leave. "Wait," Alena called out to him. A moment later, she came out of the room with a mask. "Wear this. Don't let Amandine recognize you." De Silva arrived in Shire Town and invisibly entered the baron's house, where Amandine lived. After a thorough search, he finally found him in a storage room, playing hide-and-seek with his friends. De Silva closed the door before revealing himself. Amandine wasn't frightened by the appearance of a masked man; instead, he pointed a small finger at him and asked, "Are you an elf? Or my grandfather?"
De Silva thought his father was adorable as a child and asked with a smile, "Why don't you guess?"
"Grandfather is taller than you. You must be an elf."
"Correct. You're very smart. I am an elf."
Amandine proudly puffed out his chest. "Of course, I'm smart. I also know you're a male elf." After a pause, he added, "What do you want with me?"
"Want to see my magic?"
"Of course! Show me now!" Amandine exclaimed excitedly, finding a small stool and resting his chin on his hands, waiting for the performance.
"Then watch closely!" With that, De Silva put on the cloak and vanished instantly. "Hey! Where did he go?" Amandine was astonished and stood up, searching all over the room. Over the past two hundred years, De Silva had perfected the invisibility cloak; it no longer required holding one's breath to become invisible. When he reappeared, "You really are an elf! I was right!"
"Would you like to have this magic?" De Silva asked. Amandine didn't answer but grew suspicious. "Why are you being so nice to me? Are you my dad?"
De Silva quickly explained, "I only want to teach you because I see you have excellent potential. If you don't want to learn, then forget it." He immediately became invisible and hid to the side, thinking to himself that he couldn't be too forward, or it would arouse suspicion. "I want to learn! I want to learn!" his shouts attracted attention from outside. A moment later, there was a knock on the door, and an adult male voice called out, "Young Master, are you in there?"
"It's not me! There's no one here!" Amandine replied.
The voice outside chuckled. "Young Master, come on out. The other children have all gone home for dinner."
Amandine opened the door angrily. "Who told them to go home? I haven't had enough fun yet!" A male butler, around fifty years old, stood at the door with a broad smile and an eager-to-please expression. "They couldn't find you, so they all went home. Young Master, you are truly a master of hiding."
"Of course. No one can find me when I hide."
"Who were you talking to just now?" the butler asked.
Amandine then remembered his search. "Did you see an elf?"
"An elf?" The butler thought the child must be confused from playing. But he said, "I didn't see one, Young Master!"
"Then go away! I'm going to keep looking!" Amandine quickly shut the door, as if afraid the elf would fly away. "Come out!" he shouted as he searched.
De Silva didn't rush to appear; he was afraid the butler hadn't gone far. Just as a disappointed Amandine was about to leave, he reappeared. "Well? Pretty amazing, right?"
"Teach me, quick!" De Silva took off the cloak, draped it over him, and said solemnly, "This is a magical cloak. It can make people invisible, but you must never let anyone know of its existence, or danger will follow." Amandine nodded. "I won't tell anyone. You have to believe me." De Silva then explained how to use it. As he was leaving, he turned back and said, "Live well, and don't let anyone look down on the Watson family."
He removed his mask and strode out of the baron's house. The guards at the gate looked at each other in bewilderment. "When did this person get in?"
The baron had eleven children in total. Amandine's mother, Yurina, was the ninth. As he came out wearing the cloak, a very fat man named "Billy," his eldest uncle, walked by, acting erratically. Billy was followed by three people—two men and a woman—who were responsible for taking care of the young master. Amandine had been somewhat afraid of him before, but this time he wanted to play a prank on his uncle. He quietly walked over and kicked him hard on the butt. "Who was that?" Billy spun around. He stared at one of his attendants and asked, "Was it you who kicked me?"
"Young Master, how would I dare kick you?" the man hastily defended himself.
No sooner had he spoken than he was punched in the stomach, though it was very light. Billy thought it was a branch falling from the sky and looked up, muttering, "There are no trees here!"
Amandine felt his punch had landed like on cotton, which was very unsatisfying. He found a wooden stick, hid it under the cloak, and as he approached Billy, he swung it at the back of his head. The attendants saw a fleeting glimpse of a wooden stick and thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. Billy, having been hit, was furious. He grabbed a skinny male attendant and shouted, "Finally caught you!" With that, he lifted the man and threw him.
The attendant, thrown for no reason, had a wronged expression. Before he could even get up, Billy took a few more steps and stomped on his stomach. "Tell me, do you submit or not?"
"I submit, I submit! The young master is number one!" At noon, Amandine hid in his grandfather's room. A short while later, a man in his thirties entered. This was the master of the house, Baron Frange. In reality, he was over sixty, but he looked young because he had also been injected with "Telomere Rejuvenation Liquid." In this era, the rejuvenation liquid had been fully commercialized, but its price was extremely high, and only a few wealthy individuals could afford it. As soon as Frange entered the room, he closed the door and then sat blankly in a chair. Amandine, hiding under the bed, didn't know what he was doing. After waiting for a long time without any movement, he stuck his head out to see the baron staring intently at a mirror on the table. "What on earth is Grandpa doing?" he wondered.
Just as he was puzzled, the baron began to talk to himself. "What a perfect face. Why am I so handsome? I can never get enough of looking at it. Even the most handsome man in the world couldn't compare!" Hearing this, Amandine grew suspicious. "Who is Grandpa talking about? Is there someone else here?" At this thought, he suddenly shouted, "Come out! I see you!"
The baron was startled by the shout and spun around. "Who is it?"
Amandine thought, "So Grandpa also knows someone is hiding here." Forgetting he was still wearing the invisibility cloak, he crawled out from under the bed and looked around, trying to find the other person. Frange heard footsteps but saw no one. His face turned deathly pale. He let out a strange cry and rushed out of the room.