So Shad spent the rest of Monday in Miss Carina's company, and although she only asked Shad to have dinner and watch the opera with her, in fact, they did not separate from each other from that afternoon until ten o'clock at night.
It took some time to discuss Darkness's affairs. After dinner in the opera house box, Shad heard that Miss Xivi Aurora had left Coldwater Port.
"Oh, I should go see her off."
Xia De was a little annoyed, because that lady had helped him a lot.
"Xiwei doesn't care about this, and if she still wants to see you, I can lead you into the parliament again."
Miss Carina said, and when Tifa closed the door of the box, she said:
"However, we will still investigate what your relationship is with the witch and the parliament."
“I’m actually interested, too.”
Xia De didn't care about this. He was looking at the theater box at this time. The space here was larger than he thought. If the upper half of one side of the wall was not cut open so that the guests could see the theater stage below, this place would be more like a club's reception room.
The walls were covered with golden striped wallpaper, and the gas lamps were designed in the style of the Cavendish family crest. In addition to the coffee table with tea and fruit, the sofa, and even the expensive wardrobe and dressing table, the room also had a lot of furniture.
This box on the top floor of the opera house is reserved for the royal family. Except for Miss Carina, the king and queen, and a few important figures in the royal family, even Leicia cannot use it easily.
"Xiwei asked me to apologize to you on her behalf."
Miss Carina continued, and Shad picked up the teacup, wanting to taste what kind of tea it was. The cat huddled on Shad's shoulder, observing the environment with its head peeked out. Shad planned to give it an apple and let it roll around to play with it.
"Why apologize?"
He asked absentmindedly, sipping the still warm cup of hot tea.
"She said that after you were knocked unconscious by the Sunshine Gun in Coldwater Harbor, she used her hands to check your body to determine whether you were a man."
“Ahem…”
Xia De almost spit out the tea in his mouth.
But the liquid seemed to have entered his trachea, and he couldn't stop coughing. The maid immediately patted his back from behind.
When he stopped coughing, Xia De let go of his hand that was covering his mouth and asked in surprise:
"What did you say Miss Aurora did?"
"Just as you thought. Confirm your body structure."
Miss Carina made an obscene gesture that was not in keeping with her status:
"She said she wasn't the sneaky type, so she had to admit what she had done."
"Then why didn't she tell me in person?"
Xia De asked again.
"Detective, do you really want a lady from upper class society to admit to her face that she has done such a thing? Even if we are witches, we still have a basic sense of shame."
The Duchess asked, looking down from Shade's face.
"Ms. Carina, this kind of look is not what a lady from upper-class society should have."
Shade accused, but the Duchess didn't care at all and laughed:
"In my opinion, your entire person is my collection, so what does it matter? Didn't I say it before? If you can really please me, I don't mind..."
Ask the black-haired maid to go outside and find someone to replace the sofa cushions that were wet with tea:
"I wouldn't mind trying to find out for myself what you are."
Unlike when she first mentioned this matter to Xia De, she must be a little shy now, otherwise she would not have sent her personal maid out to talk.
The name of today's opera is "The Revenge of the Prince". Although it is very similar to the classic plays that outsiders know when they are in their hometown, it is actually just an opera adapted from a famous knight novel in previous years, and it is completely different from the story of the hometown.
The opera has five acts in total. Since Shade didn't know the original novel, he was still very interested in it. During the opera, someone came to visit Miss Carina in the box, recognized Shade, and shook hands with him to chat.
Therefore, it was hard for Xia De to imagine what rumors would spread after this.
Of course, the visitors came not only to see Miss Carina, but also to see Marquis Charles Grassley.
This Marquis, who was in his forties, wore a top hat, a blue suit, and had a beautiful mustache. He was a friend of the old Duke Lucas, who had played Rhodes with Shade. After hearing that Shade had the founding series of Rhodes cards, he had always wanted to play a game with Shade.
Of course, Shade didn't mind, but the witch who hated men didn't want others to delay her from watching the opera, so she asked Shade and the Marquis to play cards somewhere else.
The two were just playing a friendly match, and although there was a win or loss, at Shad's insistence, no gold pounds were used as the stakes. Of course, Shad won, and when Marquis Grassley saw that Shad had drawn the Moon 9 Demon Soul Stealer Bishop, after being allowed to check the card, he excitedly asked Shad if he would attend Queen Diana's birthday party at the end of this month.
"Although I haven't received an invitation yet, I think I will attend."
As Shad gathered his cards, he said that Miss Carina would definitely find a way to get him to attend.
"That's good. My friends and I have already gathered some local Rhodes card players at the banquet and plan to play a few rounds with them."
When Marquis Grassley said this, his eyes seemed to be shining.
"Is it okay to hold a card game at the Queen's birthday party?"
Xia De asked hesitantly, but the Marquis waved his hand indifferently:
"Look at what you said, Knight. What's wrong with this? Queen Diana's birthday party is supposed to be a place for people to have fun. What's more, Rhodes cards with special cards involved are a very elegant hobby. Moreover, our card game can be regarded as a warm-up for the players in the big city next month."
The Marquis put away his deck, his expression became serious, and he extended his hand to Shade:
"Well, Knight Hamilton, we agreed that we must play a game on the day of the party. I didn't expect to meet you at the opera house today, so I didn't bring my special cards, but on the day of the Queen's birthday party, we will use special cards to gamble."
Hearing about the special cards, Shade also smiled. He was planning to collect special cards and put together a whole deck of special cards:
"No problem, Marquis, I will bring Founder Silver Moon with me then."
It is not like two months ago now. Shad is no longer the unknown detective of Tobesk, nor is he without the ability to protect himself. Therefore, he would not be too worried even if more people knew about Founder Silver Moon.
"That would be great."
The two men held hands together. Although there was a big difference in age and noble rank, as Rhodes card players of Tobesk, they were qualified to compete on equal terms.
Miss Carina did not comment on Shad's hobby of playing Rhodes. During the rest of the time in the opera house, she only discussed the content of the opera with Shad, commented on the ridiculousness of the pretentious aristocrats in big cities like Tobesk, and laughed at Shad for knowing nothing about opera.
This was not an unreasonable accusation. Shade really knew nothing. Not to mention Miss Carina, who had been influenced by her since childhood, even the black-haired maid knew more than him.
"Would you like me to hire some tutors for you in literature, etiquette, and mathematics?"
Miss Carina asked jokingly, and Shad immediately shook his head. He was very confident in mathematics, he could learn literature from Dorothy, and he could learn etiquette on his own, there was no need to hire a teacher.
When the opera was over, the carriage took Shade back to St. Teresa's Square. But Shade was not idle that night. He took advantage of the night to go to Coldwater Harbor again and left a list of Dr. Schneider's materials at the Seven Broomsticks Tavern, asking the tavern to help purchase them.
Xia De will never forget what he promised his friends.
Tuesday is the time for Resia to return to Tobesk, but the royal guard of honor will go to greet her. After that, Resia will need to go to the Yodel Palace to report her itinerary in Carsenrick to Larousse III and accept a newspaper interview, so Shad will not be able to see her alone in the next two days.
After breakfast in the morning, Shade left the cat at home and went to the Prophet's Association to find Luvia. He showed her the wishing coin:
"Look at this! I just wanted to do some divination recently."
Xia De handed the coin to Luvia with a smile. Luvia put on light makeup before going to work. In the hazy morning light, she looked unusually energetic.
"Wishing coin, did you buy this from Coldwater Harbor?"
She picked up the coin and examined it.
"No, Miss Carina gave it to me."
"That witch?"
The purple-eyed girl put down the coin again and looked at Shade with uneasiness:
"Shad, what price did you pay this time?"
"nothing."
He did not want to say that he had dined with Mademoiselle Carina and gone to the opera.
Luvia showed an even more uneasy expression:
"You've sacrificed so much for us."
"No, no, it's nothing really."
"But witches have a bad reputation, and they are famous for liking women and hating men... I'm sorry, Shade, you really have given too much for us."
Xia De didn't know what Luvia thought he had paid, but asking him to explain this series of things was too cumbersome, so he simply avoided the topic:
"I want you to use this coin for divination."
"For what? Ivan Darkness's location? Or the dark ritual of the Chosen One? But one coin may not be enough."
Luvia asked, flipping her hair and absentmindedly playing with the coin.
“No, no, Miss Carina has already told me the location of Darkness. The Witch Council also has very powerful fortune tellers... Don’t look at me like that. I really didn’t give anything. I just want you to tell me how to get the relic Demon Hunting Seal.”
Shade recounted his experience of meeting Mr. Riddle for the second time, and then talked about the potion and the seal:
"Darkness currently has three problems: his level as a six-ring warlock, the demon that absorbs negative emotions, and his dark talent. The dark talent is suppressed by Iluna's balance. Although the power of the six rings is stronger than ours, it is also within the expected range. Only the demon is the most unstable factor. Even though I have obtained a precious potion to fight the demon, I still cannot guarantee that we can deal with the demon."
Luvia nodded:
"Have you got the weak angel potion you mentioned last time? That's really fast, but I really have never heard of this kind of potion, nor have I heard that there is such a powerful potion master in Tobesk."
After taking the test tube handed to her by Shade and examining it, Luvia almost immediately sensed the rich miracle elements and spirits in it.
She raised her eyebrows:
"Your analysis is correct, so the biggest problem at the moment is still fighting the Human Pus Demon. Yes, I can use this coin for divination. But Shade, divination is not omnipotent, and divination is not a wish-making technique. You need to give me more detailed requirements. The more detailed the information you provide, the more details a coin can predict." (To be continued)