As Augatha had predicted, Lux, Garen, and Tiana spent a small reunion New Year in Silvermere.
However, unlike the very idle Lux, Garen and Tiana usually had to stay in the military camp and would only return to Silvermere when New Year arrived—during winter, the Northern Region was under martial law, because at this time, the Freljord people from the north would often raid south due to hunger.
Although the towering Dragonspine Mountains were extremely difficult to cross, and half of a raiding party going south might die during the crossing, the Freljord people would still press on without food.
Moreover, on the sea to the west, some tribes would also bypass the mountains when the sea surface froze, entering Demacia's territory.
Therefore, to guard against these barbarians coming south, Demacia's army often gathered and stood guard in the Northern Region during winter; Garen and Tiana, though members of the Crownguard family, also worked very hard at this time.
In this situation, the idle Lux, at Klein's "instigation," began to plan a more detailed investigation around Silvermere.
Although this kind of wandering around was somewhat dangerous, considering Lux's astonishing sword strike against Kodora before, and the fact that the nobles of Silvermere were now all trembling with fear and didn't even dare to hold banquets, making Lux extremely bored, they could only let Lux wander around aimlessly in the end.
Lux, once again disguised as a Hunters' daughter, tried to retrace her previous steps, but what she and Klein never dreamed of was that in just over ten days, her previous great achievements had completely spread throughout Silvermere through countless mouths.
Demacians were very fond of heroism, and Lux's performance in front of many nobles before was even more astonishing—most importantly, for commoners, the Crownguard family's little princess had opened up four precious knight slots and personally conducted interviews with her rich agricultural knowledge.
Coupled with the current slack farming season, commoners who already didn't have much entertainment spontaneously adapted Lux's story into countless versions.
Even in the taverns of the inner city, bards had begun to compose music.
Goodness, Lux was simply a 'goodness' right then and there!
In this situation, even if her disguise was flawless, as an outsider girl, Lux would still receive an abnormal amount of attention.
Or rather, almost every outsider girl accompanied by an adult man, walking through the fields of Silvermere, would be stared at.
Lux initially didn't think much of it.
She just had to say she wasn't her, anyway, the curious commoners...hadn't seen her.
However, even if she denied her identity, when these commoners conversed with her, the topic would not shift away from "Miss Luxanna."
And because of the widespread dissemination and distortion of the story, Lux had to feign curiosity and listen to stories that had been passed through who knows how many hands and were completely unrecognizable.
I'm pretending not to be me, listening to stories from others that aren't mine—my story!
The key was that after sharing one ridiculous story after another, they would also gushingly praise Lux with their limited vocabulary, saying things like 'this kid is great,' or 'Luxanna is reliable,' and the unique enthusiasm and humor of the Northern Region dialect always left Lux wide-eyed.
In this situation, if she still wanted to maintain her disguise...this was undoubtedly a severe test of Lux's acting skills; she even felt that listening to this was more difficult than directly facing those nobles at a noble banquet without Klein's help.
In the end, Lux reluctantly gave up the idea of continuing her investigation.
Forget it, next time I'll have a chance to go somewhere else—I'm tired, let's go home, quickly.
Anyway, she was already twelve years old and had proven that she could stand on her own, so there would always be an opportunity to leave The Capital later.
....
After the New Year, before the snow and ice in Silvermere had melted, Lux was already embarking on her journey back to Demacia Capital.
However, before returning, Lux had one last question.
What kind of souvenir should she bring back?
Even though Lux believed her main gain was seeing the contradictions hidden beneath the calm, from a noble's perspective, her most important achievement on this trip should have been her first time standing on her own and successfully fulfilling her family's expectations.
In this situation, her souvenir also carried a certain "trophy" attribute.
It needed to be carefully selected.
However, Lux wasn't actually very good at this.
And choosing gifts was one of Klein's rare blind spots of knowledge—after realizing that the omnipotent Klein needed a bit of a version update, Lux could only helplessly turn to her guards for help.
Fortunately, after this period of getting along (plus many incognito visits), the guards were no longer so reserved when facing Lux—although they exchanged glances when their young lady asked for help, they eventually came up with a pile of bizarre suggestions at Lux's urging.
From handicrafts to local delicacies, to hand-drawn landscape paintings and new bardic tunes, these guards' suggestions left Lux wide-eyed.
Handicrafts were a bit cheap.
Specialty foods couldn't be brought back.
The bard's songs were all about herself, too embarrassing.
After thinking it over, landscape paintings of Silvermere actually seemed pretty good.
Anyway, with Klein's help, making a printer wouldn't take too much effort.
Giving a thumbs-up to the guard who made this suggestion, Lux grabbed her sketchbook and ran all over Silvermere, quickly preparing a large pile of sketches—all famous sceneries of Silvermere, all drawn by her own hand, perfect for gifting.
Furthermore, Augatha had told Lux before she set off for Silvermere that she wanted to bring back a Northern Region bagpipe.
Mom's gift is ready!
So, now only Sona's gift is left!
Lux considered whether to also give a Northern Region bagpipe, but then she remembered that Sona was currently in the Illuminati choir, where there were all sorts of instruments and even master instrument makers, so she ultimately had to abandon that idea.
What to give?
And regarding this question, one of the guards offered his suggestion.
"How about a Northern Region warhorse!"
Northern Region warhorse?
This suggestion surprised Lux somewhat.
"How did you think of that?"
"I've seen Mr. Dili's white horse—it's so magnificent, rarely seen even in The Capital." The guard was very honest, "So I thought Northern Region warhorses are also quite famous..."
"Mr. Dili's horse cost a lot of money." Lux shook her head when she heard this, "Northern Region warhorses are famous, but ones of that quality are also very rare!"
"But I remember, in Velos, I also saw one." The guard recalled, "It was also a very similar white horse, ridden by a painter at the time... Speaking of which, he seemed to have stayed next door to our inn back then, a very handsome young man who could also play the harp..."
???
Stayed next door?
Played the harp?
Painter?
These three conditions combined made Lux and Klein almost simultaneously recall those annoying "flies" in Demacia Capital who were eventually driven away by Kahina.
Lux maintained a calm expression on the surface, seemingly casually asking about the young man's appearance.
According to the guard's description, except for the age not matching, he was practically identical to Dili.
Realizing there might be a problem, Lux began to inquire about Dili's family information.
Then, she learned of Gao Kan's existence—this person was also considered a "promising young man" in Silvermere, but Lux had never seen him in Silvermere from beginning to end.
Lux had already been suspicious of Dili, and now with the mystery of the white horse, she couldn't help but want to clarify the situation!
Could it be that Dili first discovered she wasn't recovering at the inn and then chose to seek refuge?
But unfortunately, at this moment, Dili had already been assigned a new task by Tiana, and his family had also left Silvermere—the clue was thus broken.
Lux, having gained nothing, somewhat helplessly got into the carriage home.
As for Sona's gift...
With Klein's help, Lux finally decided to cook herself, learning how to make a traditional Ionia pastry.
Although the flavor might be slightly different due to the ingredients, she hoped Sona would like it!
And so, after taking care of everything, Lux and Kulen embarked on the journey back to Demacia Capital.