"You really are causing me trouble."
That evening, in the Duchess's manor in the southern suburbs of Tobesk, Miss Carina spoke to Shad who was sitting on the sofa while holding a cup of tea.
At this time, Shad had just returned from Huntington City. The murder case that happened in the White King Club ended with Miss Martha being arrested, the tobacco merchant and the university lecturer being taken away, and the dead earl being disgraced. However, Shad still visited Mr. Bernhardt's estate as agreed.
Holding the cat, Shad thanked Tifa who was pouring tea, with a very sad expression on his face:
"I don't know how I met her. Now that I think about it, it's not a good idea to rashly touch a relic that brings luck. I feel like, ever since I walked out of that wine cellar, it seems like fate has led me to be involved in that inexplicable incident, and then I met Miss Sylvia. Is this good luck or bad luck?"
"Meow!"
The cat opened its mouth and meowed, dissatisfied with the slower pace of Shade's stroking.
"This should be considered good luck. The young witch seemed to be very impressed with you."
Miss Carina had listened to Shade's description, took a sip of tea from her red lips, and then added:
"All the witches who have seen you so far have a good impression of you."
"Oh, Miss Carina, please stop teasing me."
Shade said, and then heard Tifa laughing. But when he looked up at the beautiful black-haired maid, she clearly had no expression, but instead opened her beautiful big eyes and blinked twice in confusion.
"Speaking of good luck, is it okay for me to stay at the manor today?"
Shade asked, and Miss Carina raised her eyebrows.
"What does good luck have to do with staying overnight? Do you want to take advantage of your good luck today and try your luck in my bedroom?"
She was definitely joking. Their relationship was still pretty close, so this level of joking wasn't considered excessive.
"No, no, I used the relic, the golden lucky rabbit leg, today, and I'm worried that something might go wrong at night. If you stay at the manor, you can still help me if I get into trouble."
"That's no problem, but the golden lucky rabbit leg... the Secret Keeper-level one? You're amazing to be able to find something like this."
"But why did the Pantanal Voodoo Society use an ordinary person to poison and murder the Earl of Huntington?"
Shade said again.
"According to what you said, the earl's social connections and interests are so complicated that there must be many people who want him dead. However, the Pantanal Voodoo Society was also unlucky this time. They specially sent a six-ring warlock to take over in order to prevent any accidents, but in the end the earl died in front of the princess and even ran into you and then ran into Sylvia. I can't think of anything more unlucky than this."
The Duchess chuckled. She had nothing to do with the incident, so she could just treat it as a joke:
"However, the Ring Warlock Organization attacked ordinary people and was discovered. This is a direct violation of the rules set by the church. I'm afraid that the Huntington Diocese will not be at peace for some time to come."
Miss Carina looked at Shade lazily:
"I'm not sure if you have anything else to do in Huntington besides bringing me a few bottles of local red wine and snacks."
Shad did not come empty-handed, and the red wine was a gift from Mr. Bernhardt.
"But Shade, you should try not to get involved in matters involving nobles and ring sorcerers, otherwise you will get into big trouble."
"I understand. I went to Huntington City to find something, not to get into more trouble."
Shade nodded, but it was not until he got back to the White River Valley Vineyard in a carriage that he remembered why he had gone to that strange city today. Fortunately, the blood-sucking clan that Mr. Bernhardt belonged to was well-informed in the local area and could help him get information, so Shade's time today was not wasted.
Outside the study is the brilliant starry sky of early winter night. As the Frost Month is halfway through, winter has really arrived. However, the first snow in Tobysk usually appears at the end of the Frost Month, so it has not snowed yet, and the night temperature is not unbearably low.
At least in the study of the manor, even though the fireplace had not been lit, it was still warm and comfortable. Miss Carina chatted with Shade about her encounter with Leicia at the Yodel Palace today, and then asked Shade about the preparations for the next time key.
After discussing these topics, Xia De mentioned the bounty on Poison Ivy Maggies and said uncertainly:
"Is Miss Emma Sylvia very short of money? Maybe it's my illusion that she is a little concerned about the 3,000-pound reward."
"She is different from us. Although the young Thirteenth Princess inherited a large amount of money from the previous generation of witches, she does not have a sustainable and profitable industry. I once told you that Sylvia is a very smart girl who has a long-term vision. If we only look at her assets, she is not particularly short of money, but from the perspective of the future, she is indeed short of money. After all, it costs money for a witch to develop her own followers."
Miss Carina smiled at Shade and said:
"Besides, she probably wouldn't care too much about a small sum like 3,000 pounds. The 3,000 pounds you mentioned should only be the reward offered by the Church of Nature. A guy like this who is offered a high reward by the Church of the True God would definitely not only have a wanted order on his body. By this calculation, the ring warlock of the Pantanal Voodoo Society is worth at least five figures in gold pounds."
“Oh, this is really not a small amount.”
Xia De sighed quietly, but he didn't feel that Miss Sylvia had taken his money. After all, she caught the bald man alone, and she had to find a way to get the reward by herself, which Xia De couldn't do.
"Tifa, when is the meeting time between Sylvia and I?"
Miss Carina, who was looking at the starry sky through the window behind Shade, asked her personal maid, and Tifa replied:
"Miss, it's eight o'clock."
"Five more minutes."
Shade reminded.
"Shad, then you can come with us to the parliament. Sylvia asked me to meet her alone, and no one else in the parliament will enter at this time. You don't have to worry too much. Young Sylvia is much easier to deal with than Xiwei and Grandma Cassandra."
Miss Carina said confidently, stood up, took off her gold necklace, and asked Tifa to hand it to Shade:
"This time, you open the door."
With the cat on his shoulders, and Tifa and Miss Carina following behind him, the three of them walked into the long ancient corridor together in the corridor, accompanied by Shad's somewhat off-tune singing.
After passing through the fog door at the end of the corridor, they entered the white fog. Tifa and Miss Carina reached out and grabbed Shade's arm. Shade held the witch necklace in his hand and whispered:
"May the hidden chaos protect me, a fellow witch!"
The white mist dissipated, and an unknown light illuminated the dark interior of the parliament. In the center of the circular flat ground was an old stone round table, surrounded by stairs leading up. Now there was no one in the parliament, it seemed that Miss Sylvia did not arrive early.
"We discussed something during a meeting some time ago."
After taking back the necklace from Shade, Miss Carina found her own stone chair and sat down:
"Sister Defulin has become an important partner of the parliament. The Speaker is discussing with us whether to allow her to attend the parliament."
There were many more real witches in the Fifth Era than there are now. Although only thirteen of them were qualified to have seats, other witches were also qualified to attend the meeting, but they did not have the right to vote.
"Attending the meeting? What good will that do for the nun?"
Shade asked as he looked around.
"They can take part in our deliberations on important issues and have limited independent access to Parliament."
Miss Carina said, Tifa stood behind her, the cat on Shad's shoulder looked around, and Shad looked at the witch suspiciously:
"Into the parliament alone?"
"Yes, in addition to the thirteen pieces of gold jewelry, the ring sorcerers attending the meeting can enter the parliament with restrictions through the certificate issued by the Speaker. Oh, Shade, don't look at me, I'm not the Speaker. Besides, even if I give you the certificate, what can you do here?"
She thought she saw through Xia De's thoughts:
"To enter the parliament, you need to sing the song completely in an empty environment, so it cannot be used as a temporary shelter when encountering enemies. Even if you are given a certificate, you can't use it here."
"I see."
Xia De nodded. He was just thinking that if he could enter here at any time, then the voting rights he obtained through the two witch reverberations might be able to explore more uses.
As the two were talking, footsteps were heard, and Miss Emma Sylvia, with short black hair, appeared in the parliament as if she had walked out of thin air. She was still wearing a red dress, but the style was different from that in the afternoon. In addition, she also had a long-sleeved white fur cape on her upper body. The night in Huntington must have been quite chilly.
She first saw Miss Carina who was already seated, and nodded respectfully. She was not surprised by Tifa's appearance, but when she saw Shade, her brows furrowed deeply:
"So, this gentleman is really a lady?"
As he was talking, he found his seat. When the second witch sat down, the light around him became stronger.
"No, of course it's a man, I checked."
Miss Carina said, and seeing Miss Sylvia looking at her suspiciously, she added:
"I can only confirm that he is a male based on his body structure, but I think my judgment should be correct. Then, let me tell you what the situation is now."
Miss Carina motioned for Shade to come over, and then, under the gaze of Miss Sylvia, the red-haired Duchess raised her arm to let Shade bow his head, then she put her arm around Shade's neck and kissed him. It took a long time before she looked back at the surprised young witch:
"Shad Sulen Hamilton, a man who can be touched by witches and can use the power of witches. According to the rumors in Tobesk, he is my lover."
Miss Sylvia didn't expect to hear such news right after she arrived. She hesitated:
"The reality is..."
"It's similar to the rumors, but not as exaggerated as the rumors."
The red-haired Duchess smiled, but her expression was smiling, but her eyes were not smiling at all.
"Sylvia, I think you should know what Mr. Hamilton's existence means to the parliament."