"Please trust me, don't drink too fast."
Seeing Miss Carina take the cup, Shade, who had learned his lesson, kindly reminded her. The Duchess looked at him in confusion, then took two sips from the cup. As she swallowed, her throat moved slightly on her white neck.
She followed Xia De's advice and only drank three sips before closing her eyes. Half a minute later, she placed the cup on the coffee table:
“It has some effect.”
No other comment can be made. Although it seems to be effective, the effect is not obvious.
Xia De no longer mentioned helping with the treatment. After taking out the jewelry box containing the necklace, he started talking about what happened in the ruins last night.
The story omitted crucial information about the fight and only talked about the final result, but it still mentioned that when he was grabbed by the neck and lifted up by the vampire, the ancient witch's golden necklace suddenly glowed.
"There are two things wrong. First, I did have direct contact with it, but I didn't have a serious allergic reaction. Second, how come the necklace glowed? Does this necklace have this effect?"
The black-haired maid took the necklace out of the jewelry box and put it on Miss Carina. The Duchess was not surprised:
"This necklace gives the wearer an amplified version of the negative properties of the witch's curse, but it is useless to the witch herself. Otherwise, wouldn't it be ridiculous that the necklace that protects the witch herself would aggravate our curse?"
"It's useless against the witch herself, so I..."
Xia De was surprised and thought to himself:
"You still say you are not..."
Listen on.
"You are definitely not a witch. Witches are more sensitive to their own kind than to men. My guess is that your gender is vague in concept. You can be male, female, or a witch. That's why the witch curse, gender potion, and this necklace all have strange reactions to you."
The Duchess said.
"No, no, I must be a man."
I added in my mind, "God said so," and then shook my head, not wanting to discuss this topic:
"So what is that golden light?"
"Of course it is the magic I left on the necklace to protect you. Otherwise, why did I ask you not to lend the necklace to others? Is it just because you don't want others to touch my jewelry? Of course it is not just that. While my magic protects you, it will also work on anyone else. After all, I don't have the ability to accurately determine who touched the necklace."
Miss Carina said, seeing that Shade wanted to thank her, she told him not to say anything:
"I'm providing you with so much help because your action this time is valuable. So, did you bring what I asked for?"
"Of course I brought it."
In front of the two ladies, Xia De used a handkerchief to restore the bodies of the Silver-Eyed Man and the Vampire hanging around his waist, and pointed out their identities:
"The one without a head is the Silver Eyes, whose head has been evaporated. The one whose original appearance cannot be seen clearly is a vampire. The one with the mercury blood is called Mr. Maddice, from the Blood Spirit School. Although his body is incomplete, but..."
Miss Karina sat up straight, her face flushed with excitement:
"Vampire? Madice? Oh, I think I know who it is. It works. Very well."
She didn't care that Shade had thrown the body on the floor of the study, but took the gloves handed to her by the maid, bent down and stretched out her hands to examine the body:
"You said he was originally active near Tobesk? In this case, the two members of the Blood Spirit School who came to this city from the New World have already disembarked at Coldwater Harbor, but they probably won't continue to move forward as planned. But with this body, I can report to the Council. Very good, detective, very good. This vampire is an important member of the Blood Spirit School, which is very valuable."
This was the first time she smiled today. She then took the letter from the vampire from Shade. She couldn't decipher the ciphertext for now, but the Witch Council had plenty of ways to understand the contents of the letter:
"I got more than I thought. It seems that I was right to lend you this necklace. This way, maybe I can get information about the 'birthing room' directly from this vampire. That's great. Detective, you are really good. Of course, my vision is also really good."
Later, she heard about the relics that Shade had obtained from the enemy, the blood-stained scissors and the small bottle of mercury. She didn't know what they were, but she knew the fangs in the vampire's mouth:
"The vampire fang is a clerical-level relic. It is one of the relics of the vampire race. It can be used by implanting it into the body. For the vampire race, it can strengthen their racial talents. For other creatures, it can allow the user to obtain some of the vampire's abilities. This fang is said to be related to an old god. If the fang is implanted into the body, not only will the person suffer from fear of sunlight and hemophagocytosis, but he may even be affected by the remaining power of the old god in the world. Detective, please sell me this fang. The body of the Silver Eyed One was originally promised to me, but the body of the vampire was given to me as an extra. The fang, the letter, and the body are all given to you..."
She glanced at Shad's clothes. Shad didn't have many outer clothes. Apart from his symptoms, he seemed to be wearing the same clothes every time he saw Miss Carina.
"1,200 pounds? That should be enough."
"Oh, yes, that's enough. You are very generous."
“You are worth it.”
Neither Shad nor the two ladies would use the Vampire Fang, a relic that needed to be implanted in the body, so it was best to sell it to Miss Carina. He knew that the price of 1,200 pounds was actually a bit high, because the corpse, relics and letters were of great significance to the Witch Council, so the Duchess was so generous... ... Or maybe she had always been generous.
"I won't ask about other things in the ruins. Whether it's the Founding Balance you mentioned, or the relics of the Old Ones that you're going to hand over to the church, you can handle them yourself. I'm very satisfied with you, detective, very satisfied..."
She suddenly started coughing violently, and the maid patted her back in worry. After a long while, the Duchess raised her head, brushed her red hair that was covering her eyes, and continued to speak:
"Although your action this time is dangerous, it is indeed very valuable. If I had known in advance that this vampire was also in the ruins, I would have let Tifa go with you. Ahem, I didn't expect you to give me such a surprise when I called you here. What I really want to talk to you about is the Transformation Ring."
She pointed to the red velvet ring box on the coffee table, and the box opened automatically with a click. The familiar pebble ring lay in the ring box. This was the beginning of Shade's contact with the extraordinary.
"Detective, look carefully."
In front of Shade, the Duchess picked up the ring and slowly moved it closer to her right index finger. None of the three spoke, but they all saw that as the ring approached the witch's finger, cracks appeared on the surface of the pebble. When the ring was almost put on the finger, the pebble on the ring was about to split into two pieces.
She sighed and removed the ring, the cracks in the pebble slowly healing.
"Look, I can't use this relic. It would rather destroy itself than wear it on my hand. Detective, I promised you that if you brought me the Ring of Transmutation, I would tell you all the secrets of the Council. But the arrival of this ring was planned by me and executed by you, so for now, I can only tell you one secret about the Council."
"Please go ahead."
Xia De looked at the ring curiously, and then looked at her curiously.
"The thirteen great witches of the Council do possess both the witch system of the Fifth Epoch and the extraordinary system of the Ring Warlocks of the Sixth Epoch. We are witches living in the Sixth Epoch. Although we are different from the witches of the Fifth Epoch, we are still witches. The existence of the Council is not for witches to survive together. The Council has two common goals."
She paused and signaled Shad to listen carefully. Although she only told Shad a secret, this time the Duchess was determined to give Shad the greatest trust because he showed his value:
"First, we need to find the chosen one predicted by the Whispering Poems. I will talk to you about this in detail later. Another goal is to find a way to use the power of this era to break the curse on us without losing our own power. For example, the 'birth house' and this ring..."
The Duchess took a look at the Transformation Ring:
"This is just a small attempt. It's not going to be that easy."
She suddenly laughed again, her face looking healthier and healthier. Her dark golden eyes met Xia De's, and her tone suddenly became extremely soothing:
"Detective, do you want to try this ring? You just suspected that you were a witch. Now is your chance to prove it, right?"
Xia De raised an eyebrow and took the ring close to his finger, but there was no reaction:
"Look, I am indeed a man."
With a sigh of relief, Shade put the ring back into the ring box on the coffee table. Miss Carina raised her eyebrows:
"What I mean is, put on the ring, recite the spell 'The transformation of positive and negative is the beginning of a new life', and see what happens. I am very curious whether a man like you who cannot trigger the witch's curse is like us and cannot use similar relics."
"No, sorry, I can't use it."
Xia De shook his head and refused. This was a matter of principle and he would not turn into a woman.
"Give it a try, and I'll pay you. Like... a kiss?"
She tilted her head and joked.
"No, not for any reward."
Xia De continued to shake his head. It was not only because of the negative characteristics of the ring, but also because the two consecutive owners of the ring died violent deaths, and because he had a psychological disorder and would never turn into a woman.
I thought Miss Carina would offer more tempting conditions or force me to wear the ring, but I didn't expect her to end it like that.
The Duchess said regretfully:
"Is that so... All right then. But this ring is of no use to me. Although Tifa is not a real witch yet, I don't want her to become a man. The Transformation Ring is yours, Detective, as a reward for showing your concern for me."
This move of retreating to advance is very powerful. Although Xia De cannot use the Huasheng Ring, he will not refuse to keep it temporarily. And this ring is strictly a stolen property. Not to mention selling it locally, even if it is sold in Lengshuigang City, it is very likely to be caught by the Orthodox Church, which is now determined to catch all the cultists. And if it is sold to the academy that exchanges information with the church, the origin of the ring must be explained, and then the witch will be involved.
Miss Carina probably thought that if the ring stayed in Shad's hand for too long, he might use it.
The witch didn't try to hide her thoughts, but waited for Shade's decision with curiosity. Shade pursed his lips and considered, his fingers on his knees trembled, his face was tangled, but he finally bent down and took the ring box on the coffee table.
After all, this ring is really valuable.
"Thank you for your generosity. I accept the ring... but I won't use it. I'll sell it after half a year when the hype has died down."
Shade emphasized once again, and seeing him like this, even the black-haired maid standing behind Miss Carina smiled.
"I didn't tell you you would use it, Detective."
The Duchess said jokingly, and the maid behind her smiled more clearly:
"But remember, if you use it accidentally, remember to tell me whether it works for you. No matter what the result is, I will give you a sum of...experimental fees. I like this kind of statement."
"No, I won't use it."
Shade emphasized again, then put the ring box safely into his pocket.
"I trust you."
The Duchess is in a good mood now.
I believe you too.
The whispering sound in my ear also carries a smile.