Although he was surprised at Her Royal Highness's active cooperation, he still carried the cat to Ajelina Cavendish, bent down and put the cat, which was grabbed by the back of the neck, into her hands.
Mia doesn't have the habit of biting people, so she didn't open her mouth to bite the beautiful hand stretched out in front of her. She adheres to the principle of sniffing everything to determine whether it is food, and she really sniffed. The cat is now slightly curled up, and coupled with its good looks, this look is really attractive.
The sixteen-year-old princess actually tried to touch it with her uninjured hand, but was rejected by the cat's claws. This did not make Ajelina angry, but made her and the girls around her laugh.
"Very good, it seems that Her Royal Highness is fine. Next."
Xia De was very satisfied with Mia's obedience.
With the princess being the first to try being sniffed by a cat, the other noble ladies also laughed and asked Shade to hold the cat to sniff their hands. Shade always emphasized that his cat would never, ever miss anyone with a special smell on their hands, but in fact Shade didn't care what Mia would smell, but carefully observed everyone's expression.
When the cat had completed two-thirds of the sniffing of the hand, Xia De finally discovered that the girl who had been sitting on the sofa without saying a word, wearing a blue dress with lace edges, was quietly rubbing her hands on the skirt.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence, but..."
When it was her turn, Xia De came to her with the cat in his hand, bent down and put the cat down:
"Ma'am, please hold out your hand."
The brown-haired girl who said nothing obviously didn't want to stretch out her hands, but now everyone was looking at her, she could only hesitantly stretch out her hands, but half of her palms were hidden in the sleeves with beautiful patterns.
Mia's height was lowered by Shade, but she was tired of sniffing her hand.
"Meow~"
The cat actually meowed... ...because Shade's left hand quietly patted its tail.
"oh?"
The detective frowned, as if he had encountered some difficult problem, and his exclamation was also caught by the noble ladies watching.
Xia De looked at the girl in front of him very cautiously, examining her outfit with an inquiring gaze. The girl in the gauze skirt looked at him timidly, then asked cautiously:
"Excuse me, Detective, why did you stop so suddenly?"
"this... ... "
Xia De looked embarrassed because he didn't know if he had found the right person.
But he knew someone knew the answer, so he looked at President Stan who had already walked back. The middle-aged man, who was slightly thin, with a high nose bridge and deep eyes, stood aside and looked at Shade in surprise, with a faint smile on his face.
Shad knew he had found the right person.
"Ma'am, what did you get on your hands?"
He asked softly, picked up the cat and put it back on his shoulder, then gently stroked its little head. A look of fear flashed across the face of the girl in front of him for a moment. She had no special training, and all her emotions were shown on her face.
So Shade said nothing carefully, but looked at Princess Ajelina Cavendish. The sixteen-year-old princess looked at the girl in front of Shade with a stern expression, and the latter moved her lips:
"Ajeli..."
She lowered her head.
Now, the girls who had been laughing and watching Xia De holding the cat and sniffing everyone's hands were silent, and the originally lively atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
Shade glanced at President Stan again, and when he saw that he didn't say anything, he knew that he had found the right person. So he held the cat in his arms and stroked it, as a way of thanking it for its little help, and then bowed slightly to Ajelina Cavendish:
"Then, Your Highness, I think this investigation commission is over."
"Hamilton of Rejade, you did a great job."
The red-haired girl said softly, and her expression at this moment made her look more like Leicia.
The princess stood up and prepared to leave. Two maids followed the girl who was "discovered by the cat" on the left and right, and the princess's other friends followed behind with their mouths shut.
"The reward for the investigation will be given to you later."
Having said that, he walked out of the door. Shade looked at President Stan who was also standing beside him. The middle-aged man made a gesture to keep quiet and followed Shade behind the crowd.
The group returned from the second floor to the first floor, and then went outside from the lobby on the first floor. It was almost dusk, and the sky gradually darkened. Three carriages drove in from a distance and stopped in front of the Prophet's Association one by one. The girls got on the carriages one by one, and then drove towards the Yodel Palace.
Whether they went to the Yodel Palace or not, and what would happen to the girl who was caught, was none of Shade's business.
He and President Stan stood in front of the Prophet Society and watched the convoy leave.
The prophet asked Xia De softly:
"Does it feel a bit weird?"
"Indeed, even if you want to hurt someone, you shouldn't use such a mild method. If it was an accident, then why didn't you apologize immediately."
The only thing Xia De couldn't understand was this.
“This matter is complicated. Although the association is close to the Yodel Palace, we should not discuss too much about what happens there.”
President Stan sighed slightly:
"Politics has always been the most troublesome thing."
The sunset glowed through the mist, illuminating the sky of Tobysk. The two men stood together on the busy Silver Cross Avenue, and stood together at the entrance of the Prophet's Association where people were coming and going.
The carriage passed by them, the wheels rolling on the road made a rhythmic sound, and the metal pipes clinging to the walls reflected the light in the afterglow of the sunset, making the street look particularly bright. They looked at the Yodel Palace under the fiery red sunset, and in the misty distance, the steam-era street scene of Tobysk, the pearl of the north.
The setting sun made Mia's cat fur on her shoulder seem to be glowing. The cat opened its mouth and yawned, not sure if it was hungry or sleepy, but suddenly it became interested in the bird flying overhead.
The bird flew over the Silver Cross Avenue, flew over the city's densely packed skyline, flew over the chimneys spewing black smoke, flew over the heads of barefoot workers carrying sacks, flew over the heads of well-dressed gentlemen, and flew over thousands of homes in Tobysk.
August is approaching the middle of the month, the hottest days of the year are coming to an end, and autumn is about to arrive.
(Iluna is praying...)
When Luvia returned to the association and saw Shad in the divination room on the second floor, Shad was facing the window, counting a stack of one-shilling bills in his hand in the setting sun outside the window, while Mia squatted beside him, staring at his hands, counting the banknotes skillfully.
Luvia even saw an afterimage of Shad's hand. He was really good at counting banknotes.
"What are you doing? Even if you want to show that you are rich, you should at least count the 1-pound notes, right?"
The purple-eyed fortune teller said curiously, turned on the gas lamp on the wall, put her handbag on the table, and then pulled out a chair and sat opposite Shade. But neither Shade nor the cat looked up at her, and both the man and the cat focused on looking at the banknotes.
"Wait a moment... Well, good afternoon, Luvia, you are still as beautiful as ever. This is what your president, Mr. Stan, gave me. It is the fee for the investigation commission. These are 10 pounds, a total of 200. The association is really generous. But it's all change. I have been counting it for a while."
Shade smiled, put the money into an envelope beside him, covered it with a handkerchief and put it in his chest pocket. Mia was also very happy with her neck tilted up, this cat understood the meaning of "coin".
"The association's Rhodes brand appraisal business will generate a large amount of change. So if there is a chance, the cashiers are more inclined to spend the change that is difficult to keep."
Luvia understood this very well. Seeing Xia De put the money away, she did not ask what happened just now, but asked nervously:
"I've heard that the Coldwater Harbor incident was resolved yesterday morning, but you mentioned Darkness..."
"He ran away."
Xia De answered lightly, and the purple-eyed girl showed an expression of "as expected":
"Look, Shad, the first candidate for the Chosen One, does have some skills."
"I used a magic trick to get a 12th-ring sorceress to catch him, but Darkness managed to escape. The only thing that caused effective damage to him was the sunlight spear I threw with Iluna's alchemical item. I think he will probably recover on the way to Tobesk."
Avoiding the details of Xiwei Aurora's identity and the relationship between Dorothy and Leicia, Shade briefly described his experience in Coldwater Harbor. He even talked about the Level 0 relic desire he encountered and showed Luvia the chain of sin extracted from that piece of flesh.
As expected, Luvia was really worried about Shade. She had never heard of anyone daring to eat a part of a Level 0 relic. She took Shade's hand and examined it for him, but just like Shade himself, he got nothing but benefits except that his desire was strengthened.
"A gift from fate..."
"... ... the price has already been secretly marked."
Shade continued Luvia's words, using the language of the Fifth Age, which Shade happened to have learned in his textbooks:
"It was the Blood Spirit School that offered the price, and it was the Puppet Master's Notes that led me to the dark room behind the damp chapel and helped me gain power."
"But why do I feel that even without that relic, you can still gain power?"
Luvia was a little distressed:
"What happened to you is definitely not normal. Think about it carefully, Shade. How much have you been through in the two months since we met you?"
"But aren't all the accidents I experienced related to the Chosen One? In Tobesk it was because of Iluna, and in Coldwater Harbor it was because of Ivan Darkness. It's not my bad luck."
Xia De was quite open-minded about this.