"Miss Brown, I don't think you need to say her name."
Shade stopped her:
"It was the time she went to an event in Regent's Park. I know you turned away, trying to avoid possible sight, but she recognized you just from your back, so I came."
From this we can see how much psychological trauma the incident eight years ago left on the princess with long light golden hair.
Miss Brown's face showed no signs of panic and despair. She pursed her lips and said:
"She still remembers me?"
Xia De nodded slightly, looking around the small kitchen. The kitchen in Room 1 on the second floor of his house was at least three times the size of this one:
"Yes, she felt sorry for what happened back then. She was even more heartbroken after you 'burned yourself to death' in your apartment in Willendal. I don't think she would have spotted you just by looking at your back if she hadn't been thinking about you all the time."
Shad tells the truth:
"Miss Brown, I am just someone sent by that lady to investigate you. But in fact, I haven't told her that you are from MI6. She still thinks you are just an ordinary maid."
Xia De rested one hand on the table, standing in a very relaxed posture:
"I am the only one who knows your secret."
Then he glanced at the gun on the table:
"And what that Highness will know is entirely up to me."
"What do you want from me? Pounds? MI6 secrets? Or my body?"
Miss Brown bit her lip and asked, but unexpectedly Shade shook his head:
"I don't want to threaten you by saying 'Miss Brown, you don't want your image in His Highness's heart to be damaged'. What I want is for His Highness to accept all this in the best mood, instead of knowing that the maid he felt guilty about for eight years turned out to be a big liar."
His purpose was not to earn bounty from any party, so naturally exposing the other party was not his main purpose.
Miss Brown gave him a long look:
"Sir, what is your relationship with His Highness?"
Of course, Shade would not answer:
"I won't arrange for you to meet her, but you have to write a letter. I won't interfere with the content of the letter. I will bring your letter to His Highness. After that, whether you leave immediately or wait for His Highness to decide whether to meet you is up to you."
He took out a pen and paper from his pocket:
“Write now.”
Then he took the purple cabbage:
"I'll help you cook, don't let your uncle get suspicious."
Seeing Shad pick up the kitchen knife, Miss Brown took another look at the revolver left on the table, and finally did not take the risk.
She hesitated and reminded embarrassedly:
"Before cutting the vegetables, it's best to wash them first... It will upset your stomach."
Mr. Shad hopes that Mr. Brown will accept the "unique" scrambled eggs with purple cabbage for lunch today.
When Miss Brown wrote the letter, she hesitated for a long time and cried while writing in Shade's notebook. From this perspective, MI6's decision to let her retire immediately after that mission was correct. A qualified undercover agent should not have feelings for the mission target, but it is clear that this lady who pursues knowledge and art is a little too sentimental.
By the time Shad had finished cooking the dish of scrambled eggs with purple cabbage, which at least looked good, Miss Brown had only written two-thirds of her letter.
Shade waited for a long time before he got the folded page. He looked at it in front of Miss Brown and raised his eyebrows:
"I expected you wouldn't hide too much, but I didn't expect you to tell it all."
She revealed everything directly, including that she was an undercover agent for MI6, and that she was now free by faking her death again.
"There's no point in hiding those things, sir. If you can find out about me, then so can others."
Miss Brown, standing beside the smoking table, said:
"I will not run away. My family, my fiancé, and my studies are all here. If Her Highness wants to see me, I can always go see her."
Xia De shook his head and didn't know what to say. In his opinion, if he hadn't known everything in advance, this might have been another tragedy that no one would be happy about. The most tragic thing was that Xia De couldn't even think that anyone in this matter had done anything wrong.
"You'd better be careful yourself. If His Highness can find you, maybe someone else will find you. I really don't understand why you want to return to Tobesk."
He took the letter and prepared to leave.
"People always have something to pursue, and mine is knowledge and art."
Miss Brown said softly, and then watched Shad withdraw his revolver:
"I wish your Highness... all the best."
Without even having lunch, Shad took a carriage directly from Noel Street to Canary Manor to meet Princess Margaret who had just finished her morning itinerary.
Since it was not the first time that Shade came to visit, the servants were not surprised by Shade's hasty arrival. He waited in the study for a while before he saw Princess Margaret, who looked a little tired, walk in:
"Yes, he is still alive."
Xia De stood up and said, then handed the letter to the princess. The latter took the letter subconsciously and asked hesitantly:
"What's still alive?"
"The maid you asked me to find."
Shade pointed to the letter:
"I have found her. This is the letter she wrote to you. If you still want to see her after reading the letter, I can take you directly there."
The princess with long blond hair finally reacted. She subconsciously exerted force on the hand holding the letter and looked at Xia De with slightly widened eyes:
"She... is still alive? But how is that possible? The fire that year... something happened inside."
Although she commissioned Xia De to investigate, she did not expect to get such a shocking answer, and Xia De's investigation speed was really too fast.
"The answer you want is in the letter. Maybe... the whole story is a little different from what you think, but at least, based on the part of the truth I got from her, you didn't do anything irreparable back then."
He sat back on the sofa and watched Princess Margaret sit on the sofa beside him with the letter in her hand and unfold the letter.
How rich a person's expression can be is something that Shade has never explored. But at least this time, he did see the rich expression of Princess Margaret, a girl who has seen all kinds of things.
It was only three pages, but she took 20 minutes to finish reading it. In Chad's eyes, Margaret of Anjou was always a strong-willed and extremely confident girl, but this time he saw hesitation, anger, relief, and then a very complicated expression on the princess's face.
The letter paper was already wrinkled, and the princess looked at Shade with her beautiful eyes:
"You read the letter, too?"
"Yes, I want to make sure she is not lying."
The princess pursed her lips:
"So, I was deceived for eight years?"
"But at least you don't have to think about those purple cabbages anymore."
Xia De said, looking at him. He knew that Her Royal Highness needed some psychological counseling at this time:
"At least one thing that has been bothering you for a long time is gone."
“But I was lied to for eight years.”
She repeated it again, staring at the letter in her hand.
"Marguerite of Anjou."
Xia De called out the princess' name, and when she looked up at him, he stared into her eyes:
"Then tell me, tell the truth. When you found out that Miss Bella Brown was alive and well, were you very glad?"
She wanted to avoid Shade's eyes, but the moment they looked into each other's eyes, her sight seemed to be firmly attracted by some force. Shade had not learned any "charm" in any sense, but the eyes were the windows to the soul, and the power of the powerful soul spontaneously attracted Princess Margaret's attention.
Biting his lip:
"Yes, to be honest, I am relieved.
"Because no one has ever lost their life because of your picky eating and willfulness."
When the princess heard Shade say "picky eater", she blushed. She thought it was the maid who told Shade about that:
"Yes, I am indeed very happy that no one lost their life because of my willfulness... Oh, but I was indeed deceived by a liar for eight years. She turned out to be a military intelligence..."
"I will not defend Miss Brown. She was your maid but she was disloyal. This is what happened and you have the right to deal with her."
Shade said, and was about to ask what to do with Miss Brown next, but the princess asked him again:
"Aren't you surprised that MI6 is involved in this matter, Shade? Although the ringmaster has seen more strange things, it is MI6 after all."
"But Miss Brown has retired. She is no longer an agent."
Xia De said seriously:
"Besides, I will definitely do what I promised you. MI6 is not an obstacle for me to complete the commission you gave me. You see, although I haven't found the sorceress you mentioned, at least I have found the maid."
Margaret Anjou was afraid to look at Xia De's smiling face for a moment.
"I know you want to comfort me and tell me not to be angry about this matter. Oh, knight, I am the second princess of Carsenrick. I am stronger than you think... You are right, at least she is not dead. Although I was deceived, at least I did nothing wrong."
"You are standing on the moral high ground. In this matter, you are a complete victim. You can despise anyone involved in this matter and punish her with your actions."
Xia De said, and the princess finally smiled, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised. The contrast between her red lips and the fine white hairs at the corners of her mouth was particularly clear:
"Xia De, don't persuade me anymore. I have adjusted my mood."
She looked at the letter at hand:
"In any case, the incident eight years ago has come to an end."
"There are always many stories in life. Looking at it from a bright side, at least the ending of this story is not a bad one, right?"
Shade made a final summary.