Although Shad made a bed for Mia in her closet with old clothes on Tuesday night, the orange cat was still quite unhappy early Wednesday morning.
After being let out by Shade in the morning, she had been ignoring him. Even when Shade heated up goat milk and put cat food in Mia's special bowl, she only called out reservedly, and waited until Shade returned to his seat before pretending to come over reservedly.
Xia De never thought that he would be able to see such humane behavior from a cat.
Sitting at the table, Shad carefully peeled the boiled eggs, then under Mia's cautious gaze, moved from his seat to the side of the cat standing at the table eating.
He split the still hot white egg in the middle; the yellow yolk was even steaming.
Mia looked in the direction of Room 2, then stared at the egg yolk in Shade's hand with wide eyes and tilted her head:
"Meow?"
"Want to eat?"
Shade asked, and the cat blinked and called out meekly:
"Meow~"
So Mia got a breakfast treat, and Shad regained the affection of his cat.
Need I be reminded that it is...
"Yes, it's Miss Mia's cat, I know."
After pulling Mia's bowl to his side and stroking the well-behaved cat, Shad returned to his seat and unfolded the newspaper to read the report on the Tobysk autumn harvest statistics this year. It looks like this year is a good year, and the grain production around Tobysk is very good.
Ding Dong~
The doorbell rang downstairs. The cat with goat milk on its face looked towards the stairs. Xia De touched it to reassure it. He stood up in surprise and looked down from the living room window. He saw an unfamiliar carriage parked downstairs of his house.
"Oh, did a client come to your house today?"
Xia De was delighted, but frowned slightly:
"It's only half past seven. Why is the client in such a hurry?"
He picked up the clothes on the hanger at the second floor door, put on a coat over his shirt, and went downstairs, then changed his slippers into leather shoes at the door:
"Please wait a moment."
Xia De shouted from behind the door, took off the security chain on the door, pulled out the bolt inside the door, and then turned the door handle.
It was early morning in Tobysk, with autumn fog and gray mist mixed together, making the sky a little gloomy. There were already some pedestrians on Saint Teresa's Square, but most of them were sleepy and in a hurry. In the distance, a child selling newspapers in a black flat hat was entangled with a middle-aged man with a briefcase, and a girl selling flowers was talking quietly to a lady who leaned out of the carriage at the street corner.
The mist added some color to the picture, making the scene look like a street scene in a classical oil painting. The century-old buildings in Saint Teresa's Square stood in the center of the capital as they did in the past. The statue of the girl holding a water bottle still smiled in the misty dark morning.
The carriage stopped in front of number six, Place Sainte-Teresa, and the door was already open. The red-haired girl in a black pleated floral dress, together with the jewel decorations on her dress, added a special touch of color to the oil painting of the morning street scene.
The red-haired girl smiled at Shade:
"Good morning, Shade, I hope I don't run into Luvia here with you."
Of course not, Luvia left very early, she didn’t bring any change of clothes, and she needed to go home to change clothes before going to work at the Prophet Association.
"Good morning, Leicia."
Shade said in great surprise that this should be the first time the two had met in a month since the Queen's birthday party was accidentally interrupted by Darkness... a physical meeting.
"Good morning, Detective!"
Another voice said, and a shorter sixteen-year-old princess also poked her head out of the carriage. It was Princess Ajelina Cavendish, with a big smile on her face. Her green face and youthful clothes made her very different from her sister.
"Why are you here... Oh, please come in."
Realizing that it would be best not to let too many people see Leicia and Ajelina, Shad made way for the princesses at the door. Behind them followed two maids with their heads lowered, but Shad had never seen them before. They were probably the little princess's personal servants.
The two princesses passed by Shade one by one, their hair brushing Shade's shoulders. Leisia still had the familiar lily perfume on her body, which was not very strong, and even Shade, who hated ordinary perfumes of this era, could accept it. Ajelina had... ...
"Floral perfume."
Xia De couldn't distinguish the scents of different flowers. He didn't have that ability. The smell of perfume on Lesia was what she said herself.
Nodding to the expressionless driver, Shad locked the foggy Saint Teresa Square outside from the inside in the early morning.
Although Resia had never been to No. 6 Saint Teresa Square, she had been there many times through Dorothy's body. Therefore, she walked in front and went up the stairs first without Shade's guidance. This surprised Ajelina, who wanted to go to the first floor. She looked back at Shade who was closing the door, but said nothing.
The group came to the living room on the second floor. Leisia sat on the sofa naturally and asked the two maids to go to the kitchen to prepare tea. The cat was obviously not used to this atmosphere when seeing a group of strangers coming to the house. Because of fear, it even ignored the remaining goat milk in the bowl and ran quickly to Shade when the maids approached the kitchen.
"Mr. Hamilton, are you having breakfast?"
The little princess was very curious about this place, but due to her status as a "royal lady", she did not look around, but sat obediently next to her sister.
Leicia was about the same age as Dorothy, both slightly older than Shade's body. Actually, Luvia was even older than Leicia. Sixteen-year-old Ajelina didn't have that many worries yet, and the sky blue princess dress she was wearing today was a younger style, so she looked even younger.
"Yes, I usually have breakfast at this time. Why are you here so early? Is there something urgent?"
Xia De sat on the single sofa on the side.
"There's no rush, because if it wasn't so early, I wouldn't be able to get here."
Leicia said, her eyes scanning Shade. She knew that Shade had entered the narrow space between life and death:
"After Brother Sachs was sentenced to death, someone had to take over the affairs of the New World that he had originally managed..."
"It's your responsibility now?"
"That would be great, but apparently I'm not good enough to handle these things in my father's eyes."
"Since Sister Lecia came back from Carsenrick, my father has asked her to handle diplomatic affairs. Meeting with foreign ambassadors, attending some banquets, or giving speeches in the Kingdom Parliament, probably things like that."
Ajelina said that Leicia, who successfully completed the visit to the South Country on behalf of the royal family, successfully gained greater power.
"Yes, yes, power feels good, but it also takes up a lot of time. Fortunately, I can still handle it."
Leicia smiled, and then the red-haired princess looked at Shade:
"I have to be back before nine in the morning. As for coming to see you so early, it's because you were busy rescuing your friends last Saturday. Didn't you miss our class?"
"That's right."
"So we need to make up for it. The matter of the spirit rune cannot be delayed, especially for you."
Xia De didn't say anything, but looked at Ajelina. Leisia shook her head:
"It's okay. Ajelina is trustworthy. And she is very talented. No, I don't mean that she has become a ring wizard. Ajelina has had a very strong inspiration since she was a child." (Note)
"Yes, guessing the head or tail of a coin, as long as the amount of data is large enough, I can achieve a success rate of more than 80%!"
The little princess said, then smiled and waved to the cat curled up in Shade's arms, but the cat ignored her.
"Oh, such a strong inspiration?"
For ordinary people like this, it is almost certain that they will awaken at some point in the future. Of course, it is only "almost" and it may really be just luck.
"So guess this, how about we guess it ten times?"
Shad took out the upright coin. Dorothy had heard Shad mention something he had bought from Midhill Castle, so Leithia knew this too:
"Don't bully my sister. If you throw this, it will only stand upright on the ground. Xia De, let's talk business. I want to entrust you with something."
"What is it?"
Shade asked curiously, and Leicia took out a photo from her skirt pocket. It showed a man wearing the uniform of the Royal Army of Draerion, and judging by the shoulder straps, he was a lieutenant.
Turning to the back of the photo, it says "Windy Trail - Red Water Camp, First Company - Lieutenant Shuton".
"If you have time, please help investigate this person. You don't have to be very detailed, just want to know if he has any strange large expenses recently."
Xia De raised his eyebrows:
"No problem, it's easy."
Yesterday, he helped the corporal who died between life and death to return the pistol to Captain Ronald at Red Water Camp. He didn't expect to have another mission related to that place. Perhaps, he should go to the traveler's camp next to Red Water Camp on the Windy Trail, and go into the mountains to find the witcher's sword.
"After I get your reply, I will give you a suitable reward. No, there is no need to refuse. You know that the last thing I lack is gold pounds."
Leicia waved her hand, but did not explain what was wrong with Captain Ronald. She talked about another matter:
"Regarding your sleep, in the class two weeks ago, we started trying to read "The Sleeping Princess". How is the progress?"
"Not bad. I try to copy the stories written in ancient characters every day. The parchment is now in the drawer..."
Xia De emphasized:
“I didn’t burn it this time.”
This sentence is emphasized because the parchments provided by Leicia containing the ancient texts of the fairy tales of "The Match Girl" and "The Kiss of the Tree" were destroyed by Shad as the price of obtaining the maze.