Before leaving Huntington that evening, Shad visited Mr. Bernhardt's estate and asked him to send someone to Professor Drake's house to copy the text materials.
Mr. Bernhardt was also very happy to learn that Shad's investigation had made progress, but he mentioned another matter, which was the farewell dinner to be held at Rothschild Manor tomorrow night.
This is a farewell dinner for Princess Margaret of Anjou who is visiting Tobesk on behalf of the royal family, so the standard of the banquet is very high. Tomorrow night's banquet will not only be attended by local nobles, but also nobles from Carsenrick who have come all the way from Willendel.
As a local noble with great prestige, Viscount Bernhardt had of course received an invitation. He invited Shade to go with him, and Shade also meant this:
"Mr. Bernhardt, my Carsenrick isn't very good, so I may have to stay with you all tomorrow night."
Shade said apologetically, but Mr. Bernhardt didn't mind it:
"It will be your first time attending a noble banquet in Carsenrick as well. It will be fun."
Saturday night is traditionally Shad's evening class time. Of course, since the beginning of this month, it has become a date time for Leicia and Shad alone.
On Saturday morning, Shad went to the flower shop on Silver Cross Avenue and informed Lesia in advance that he had to go to Huntington for something that night and therefore could not meet in the evening.
Lecia did not give Shad any response immediately, but when Shad came to Dr. Schneider's clinic with the cat to attend this week's study session, he almost recognized at a glance that Dorothy, who had arrived earlier, was actually Lecia.
He was not able to discern the difference between the two souls, but judging from the dissatisfied look Dorothy gave him, he knew that was not what the blonde writer herself was thinking.
Most of the time in this week's study session was spent by Dr. Schneider helping the rest of the group calculate their credits so as to discuss the details of the year-end exam in a month. When it came to Shade's matter, the doctor seemed to have a headache.
Xia De is currently considering applying to jump from the second grade to the fourth grade, so he borrowed a large number of books from the school library for "study" some time ago. But the problem now is that he still lacks a lot of practical credits. In the best case, he has to open a time key a week and encounter valuable events every time to barely make up those credits.
But it is obvious that Xia De cannot be so efficient.
"Miss Danister, the librarian, said she would help me."
Xia De whispered the news to the doctor. The doctor was stunned for a moment and then nodded. He didn't ask anything. It was obvious that he knew some connections in the academy, but he didn't expect that Xia De had such a relationship with the thirteen-ring warlock.
After the study session, it was only four o'clock in the afternoon. Dorothy and Shade took a carriage to leave Dr. Schneider's clinic. The blonde girl got on the carriage in silence. When the carriage slowly moved forward, she mentioned Shade's plans for the evening:
"Huntington? You are not going to tell me, knight, that you are acquainted with the Princess Margaret of Anjou?"
There was a questioning tone in his voice.
"Yes, but she thinks I'm Mr. Sherlock Holmes, not Rheed's Hamilton."
Shade spoke the truth, holding Mia and sitting opposite the blonde, and said very apologetically:
"I know I shouldn't take up tonight's time, but for some reason, I have to attend that party."
"Don't explain this to me. Am I the kind of unreasonable girl?"
Leicia lifted Dorothy's beautiful golden hair and looked at Shade up and down:
"I know you have more important things to do, but I hope you haven't forgotten that the 'Red Butterfly Day' that comes every 22 days is coming."
"Yes, this Sunday night."
The stormy night that impressed Shad was Saturday, the 26th of the Dead Leaf Moon. Therefore, the first Red Butterfly Day ended on the 27th. From the night of the 27th, the 21-day waiting period started again, so on Sunday night this week, it was the second "Red Butterfly Day".
Dorothy and Lesia both liked to use this name to refer to that special day.
"If you don't have other plans, I can prepare for Sunday night and Monday."
Shade suggested, and Leicia shook her head:
"On Monday I will accompany my mother to welcome the visiting delegation of Margaret of Anjou. I have already discussed with Dorothy to postpone the Day of the Red Butterfly to next Tuesday, the 19th day of the Frost Moon."
"But there's something going on that day, too. Tuesday is the wedding of your sister, Princess Mona Cavendish."
Xia De reminded, and Leicia nodded with a smile:
"Yes, so I can meet Dorothy at the wedding reception, and wouldn't that be more fun than just any other day?"
"Oh, yes."
Xia De suddenly realized what was going on. Leixia looked at the street view outside the window, then reached out to close the window. She lifted her hair by her ears and looked at Xia De with a slightly red face:
"Dorothy and I will meet you at the party, Shad. ... I have prepared a handwritten copy of Summer Nights. Would you like to read it with us at the party?"
A Summer Night's Collection is the inspiration for Dorothy's award-winning work A Midsummer Night's Wish and is a very famous collection of essays.
"Reading handwritten prose at a wedding reception?"
Shade was stunned for a moment, and then he realized what was going on when he saw Dorothy's blushing cheeks:
"Of course, yes, watching ... Summer Nights with you at the party."
The blonde bit her lip and looked at Shade with sparkling eyes:
"I'm really looking forward to Tuesday... Really, today is our date."
"After Princess Margaret of Anjou arrives in Tobesk, there will probably be many large banquets and balls held in the city. By then..."
Xia De lowered his voice slightly and held Leisia's right hand with his left hand:
"You can even meet me with your body. Do you want to dance with me? Attending banquets and dances are reasonable opportunities for us to meet."
Leicia smiled:
"Yes, in that case, Margaret of Anjou's visit is a good thing. Knight, I am very happy that you can miss my body while thinking about the blonde in front of you."
She reached out and touched the cat in Shade's arms. The cat, who was sleeping soundly, made a dissatisfied sound and squirmed to avoid the hand.
"Since you are going to attend the banquet tonight, why not play a joke on the Princess of Anjou?"
As she spoke, Leicia took out Dorothy's notebook from her handbag, wrote a line of words in a hurry, and handed it to Shade:
"Put it in the hands of Margaret of Anjou, but do not let it be known that you did it. I remember this princess, a little older than I am? I also dealt with her during my visit to Carsenrick this summer. She is an interesting lady."
What Leicia wrote was in the Kasenric language, and she controlled the writing method, which didn't look like her handwriting at all—
Greetings, Your Highness. The purple cabbage at the banquet is still as delicious as it was back then.
Xia De read it several times suspiciously, making sure that there was no deeper meaning in it that he could not understand:
"What does this sentence mean? Purple cabbage, is it a metaphor?"
"No, it's purple cabbage."
Dorothy's face showed a rare expression. It was a smile, a malicious smile:
"You probably don't know about the Villendaine purple cabbage incident eight years ago. Margaret of Anjou, who was only a teenager at the time, didn't like purple cabbage. At a dinner in the fall of 1845, she deliberately blamed her maid for mixing sand into the vegetable salad. She wanted to avoid that vegetable.
The poor maid was fired almost immediately even though she had done nothing wrong. A few weeks later, she burned herself to death at home, and only her partial remains were found. In the suicide note she sent to her friends in advance, she said that she had done nothing wrong, but was still treated like this, and her reputation had suffered a great loss, so she did not want to live anymore.
The blonde girl told this story, but there was no regret on her face. Shade understood and opened his mouth slightly:
"You're not saying this is related to MI6? The political struggle of the kingdom? Or the silent fight among spies?"
Leicia smiled:
“Yes, Shad, you have always been so perceptive. I only heard the truth from Carina three years ago.
The maid was actually a spy planted by MI6 in the royal family of Anjou. Her sudden dismissal caused MI6 to misjudge her and think she had been discovered. So they urgently moved the maid and bought a female corpse of a similar figure locally to replace her.
The carriage rolled over the road and drove slowly towards Saint Teresa's Square. Xia De listened to the spy secrets from many years ago and sighed carefully:
"This should have caused a great psychological trauma to Princess Margarita of Anjou, right?"
After all, it was just because she hated purple cabbage that led to the maid's "self-immolation".
"Yes, you can try it tonight and bring the dish with purple cabbage to the princess."
Leicia suggested, and Shade shook the note in confusion:
"Then the purpose of giving her this note is..."
"Just a little joke on her. And by the way, I want to get back at her for squeezing into my date tonight."
There was still a smile on Leicia's face, but Xia De knew that the latter was the important reason.
The young stranger was very wise not to point this out, and considering that giving the note would only make the princess feel bad for the whole night and would not cause any greater trouble, Shad agreed.
"Has MI6 been planting spies around the Angevin royal family?"
He asked curiously again.
“I’m not responsible for that.”
Leicia shook her head, but said with certainty:
"But there will definitely be people from MI6 at the banquet in Huntington tonight... I'm not talking about you. Even if the ringmaster from the Pantanal Voodoo Society you mentioned didn't show up, there would definitely be a lot of conspiracies and plans surrounding that banquet."
"Even in peacetime, agents are still so busy."
Shade sighed, turning his head and looking out the window at the street scene of Tobesk in the deep winter. People were coming and going on the street. People who had been busy for a year would not be idle even at the end of the year. In such a prosperous era, undercurrents were always surging.
Leicia did not talk about this topic anymore:
"I helped you replace that bed a while ago... Dorothy was so excited that night, so I also helped you replace the old furniture in the master bedroom and confirmed that the fireplace can be used. Do you need me to prepare the firewood for you in advance? If necessary, I will send someone to waterproof your basement in a few days. Otherwise, the firewood will get damp and there will be a lot of smoke when it burns."
Her Royal Highness the Princess covered Xia De's mouth with her hand and stared at him with her emerald green eyes:
"I have plenty of gold pounds. If I don't help you with these trivial matters, won't Carina help you too? Do you want to refuse me and accept her kindness?"
At this moment, Xia De could almost see Lecia's soul directly from those beautiful eyes.
She loosened her hand, threw the cat in Xiade's arms aside, then hugged Xiade's neck and kissed him, not giving Xiade any chance to refuse.