After bidding farewell to Baron Lavender and his friends, Shad followed the servants up the stairs. The first and second floors were both large banquet halls, but the third floor was just an ordinary corridor with rooms on both sides.
Miss Carina and the maid Lana were waiting for Shade in the study near the stairs. Shade found that the witch seemed to like talking to people in the study.
"Good evening, Miss Carina."
This time they met in person, not through a door. The red-haired Duchess sat on a chair behind the desk, and her personal maid, Miss Tifa Servet, stood beside her. The Duchess wore a black and white evening dress, and she looked even more beautiful than the last time they met. Given this outfit, Shade guessed that she would appear in public soon.
"Good evening, Detective."
She motioned for Shad to sit down anywhere.
The conversation did not start immediately. Miss Carina looked at Shade curiously before she spoke:
"I really didn't realize that you still think of Leicia?"
"Who? Oh, Princess Leithia Cavendish, yes, I know her... yes, I know her."
I haven't figured out the situation yet, so I can only go on with what I'm saying.
"Congratulations, Detective. There's a big surprise waiting for you tonight. Do you want to guess what it is?"
Miss Carina asked. Xia De sat on the sofa and immediately thought of what Mr. Anros said in the morning. There was no need for Xia De to guess. Miss Carina gave a direct answer:
"The title of knighthood, which has not been awarded for hundreds of years, is being awarded again."
She said, and then saw with satisfaction the confusion and surprise on Xia De's face:
"Knighthood? Me?"
Shade really didn't expect this surprise. The title of knight did not fit in with the background of the Steam Age at all.
"Yes, the title of knight. Anros and I tried to get it for you, but it was only the Delarion Knight Medal of Honor. I didn't expect that you even knew Resia. Resia wrote a letter to me. She cleverly didn't write directly to our King, but to Queen Diana, who then asked the Queen to lobby the King. So, the title of knight belongs to you."
She said with a sigh, and then asked in a teasing tone:
"Tell me, Detective, what is your relationship with my great-niece?"
This way of addressing made Xia De think for a while before he could figure it out:
"This... is a friendship."
This must be a letter from Miss Louisa to Princess Leicia, so the princess, who was on her way back from a visit abroad, wrote back to fight for the title for Shad.
This once again made Shad realize how good the relationship between the female writer and the princess was. He owed more and more favors to the blonde.
"Friends?"
Not only Miss Carina didn't believe it, the maid also smiled and obviously didn't believe it, but fortunately they didn't ask more questions:
"Anyway, congratulations, detective. I've received the news in advance that you have been awarded the title of 'Knight of Regede'. Of course, it's just a title, but no fiefdom, which is equivalent to just an honor, and it can't be passed down to your descendants. But compared to the medal of honor, the title of knight is already a high compliment."
"Regede" is a small town under the jurisdiction of the city of Tobesk. In the past, the title of knight often meant a small fiefdom, so it corresponds to the place name.
Seeing that Xia De hadn't reacted yet, Miss Carina added:
"Let me think about it. With this title, you can introduce yourself as... 'legend of Hamilton'. Oh, doesn't it feel good?"
"very nice... ... "
Xia De nodded, not really feeling the honor, after all, he was not a person living in this era. He did not have a deep understanding of things like honor, and the title of knight was just a title. Is there any gold pound to be won
"Ms. Carina, what are the benefits of this title?"
This was what he was concerned about. The Duchess behind the desk had expected Shade to ask this question:
"The title itself is an honor. You can be considered a noble... the lowest level of nobles, but at least not a commoner. With this, if you can contribute to the kingdom again, the difficulty of directly being knighted will be greatly reduced."
"No, I mean, does the title itself have..."
He twirled his fingers awkwardly. It wasn't the first day that Miss Carina knew Shade, so she wasn't surprised by his thoughts.
"No, even the knights in the past had to pay part of the territory's taxes to the kingdom on a regular basis. But if you are short of money, when you are rewarded later, it seems that in addition to the title, there will also be rewards from the royal family..."
She turned to the maid and asked:
"What exactly will they give? In our time, no one has ever seen such a knighthood ceremony."
"The Delarion Knight Medal of Honor, and a knight's sword that symbolizes one's status. The kingdom hasn't granted knighthood for a long time, so this sword is an antique found in the warehouse. The value of the medal is inestimable, because no one has ever sold it. The specific valuation of the antique knight's sword will not be less than 100 pounds... But it's best not to sell it, it's a matter of honor."
The maid also knows Shade very well.
"I won't sell it."
Xia De said this while actually calculating how much money he still needed to repair his third floor without affecting his life.
"Ray Jedd's Hamilton... what a strange statement."
He himself sighed.
"This title is often used in chivalric novels, but in reality, few people call themselves this. After all, the era of knights is over, but people seem to think that the spirit of chivalry still exists."
Miss Carina said, but the first half of the sentence is not entirely correct, because nobles with fiefs can call themselves in this way. For example, Miss Carina's fief is Saradir County, so she can call herself "Gavendish of Saradir".
"Chivalry? No, I don't have that spirit."
Since they were all acquaintances, Xia De didn't have to be shy about anything. What happened on Wednesday afternoon was purely a coincidence. He just happened to have time, and it didn't do much harm to his own interests.
“Your opinion is not wrong, but people cannot always evaluate themselves correctly.”
Miss Carina said.
"Who said the second half?"
Xia De asked curiously, thinking that it was a sentence left by a great writer from this world.
"I said so."
The witch played with the golden pen in her hand and gave her answer.
With the reward and compensation, Shade will naturally pay attention to the development of the case. Last time, Mr. Anros said that this was not the person with gray gloves, but there was no follow-up:
"By the way, Miss Carina, have you found out the background of the murderer who assassinated the queen?"
"The investigation into this matter has been concluded."
The Duchess said, shaking her head with a look of regret.
"Do you know who sent the gunman?"
Shade asked again, then saw the maid standing next to Miss Carina and shook her head slightly at him.
"Of course I don't know. Detective, I know you're curious why they didn't investigate further. That's because MI6 didn't dare to investigate further."
"What's the meaning?"
Miss Carina just smiled and said nothing. The maid behind her answered:
"The royal family specifically asked the Orthodox Church to protect the Yodel Palace, but no suspicious persons were found. Queen Diana was attacked immediately after appearing in public for the first time in a few days. The attacker seemed to know that the area around the Yodel Palace was dangerous, and the Queen was not accompanied by any Orthodox Church guards when she went out. This in itself is a bit of a coincidence."
Xia De was shocked. As a foreigner who was used to seeing similar plots in his hometown, he immediately came to a shocking conclusion under the tone of conspiracy theory, so he lowered his voice and asked in a low voice:
"Is it... the king? To frame Carsenrick and provoke a war? To achieve his ambition of unifying the Old World."
Miss Carina and the maid laughed:
"Oh, what makes you think that? Of course not."
Miss Carina smiled and shook her head, putting down the pen in her hand:
"No one wants to continue the war now, including our king. MI6 found out that it was one of his disappointing sons... Detective, you should know that in recent years, as the heirs have gradually grown up, the idea of the crown has changed... Moreover, Queen Diana is not the first wife of the current king. Among the current princes and princesses, only a few such as Resia are... The others are not all hers..."
The Duchess paused and winked at Shade:
"Do I need to continue?"
"No, no, no."
Xia De immediately shook his head. He didn't want to get involved in this kind of thing:
"This information is enough to make me think of the complicated palace political struggles that outsiders would never understand, or the plots of those vulgar palace erotic novels. These things have nothing to do with me, so please don't let me know."
This is the truth. The court political struggle is not something that a newcomer from outside the city can participate in, and there is no benefit in getting involved.
"I'm glad you know how to be cautious. I don't even want to bother with this kind of thing. But, you're actually reading erotic novels?"
She looked at Shad with a little surprise, but in fact Shad was just looking through Sparrow's belongings to determine which novel was the so-called "code book".
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's get back to the point. I asked you to come here not just to tell you about the title of knight. The ceremony for conferring the title of knight is very complicated. Do you understand the rules?"
Miss Carina asked again, but her tone changed slightly. After the conversation about the identity of the gunman, her mood seemed to have suddenly become a little worse.
"don't know."
"Then you should go and learn it one hour before the king shows up. I think it will be too late for the king's etiquette officer to teach you urgently by then."
She waved to the maid behind her, and the maid wanted to lead Xia De out.
But Shad sat there without moving, and looked at Miss Carina, who looked at him puzzledly, knowing that he had something else to say.