Vice President Mark and Mr. Stan were both Xia De's friends. These two gentlemen seemed to have nothing to do today, as they actually invited Xia De to their office upstairs for a drink after work, and to discuss matters concerning the Great City Player this year.
Drinking was prohibited during working hours, but people liked to decorate their offices with fine wines. Having a small drink with friends and colleagues at the end of the workday was considered a refined hobby for the upper-class gentlemen who worked in offices during this era.
Xia De had always been uninterested in drinking, but he was interested in the Great City Player, so he followed the two gentlemen up to the third floor.
The President's office was relatively simply decorated, not displaying antiques as imagined, and even the oil paintings on the walls were ordinary landscapes. The wine in the room's wine cabinet was the only expensive decoration. The most prestigious Prophet in Tobesk enthusiastically discussed the origins and history of those wines with Xia De.
It seemed that the Vice President of the Association was a rhode cards enthusiast, while the President was a fine wine enthusiast. Fortunately, this was not an ordinary organization, otherwise the Prophet Association's future would truly be concerning.
The three sat down, discussing the demon series rhode cards Xia De had recently acquired, the latest deck compositions, and the various card games big and small in the city. Just as Vice President Mark was entertaining everyone with a joke about rhode cards and drunkards, there was a knock on the office door.
The cat on his shoulder meowed at the door. It had developed a habit at Saint Delan Square Six; whenever someone knocked, it would react naturally.
But it wasn't the receptionist downstairs informing Xia De that Luvia had returned; instead, a middle-aged Fortune Teller from the Association needed to see Mr. Stan. There had been some issues with the divination activities downstairs, and a distinguished guest had sustained minor injuries while performing divination with her companions at the Association.
"Injured? Which room?"
Mr. Stan stood up, frowning.
The Tobesk local association had one President and three Vice Presidents. Among them, Xia De's friend, Vice President Mark, was responsible for rhode cards, while the other two gentlemen were in charge of divination services and the association's logistics management, respectively. If a guest was injured within the association, no matter what, they should not have directly sought out Mr. Stan to handle the problem. Therefore, it was highly likely that the guest's identity was somewhat troublesome.
"Sir, it's the large divination room at the end of the second floor."
Hearing this reply, Xia De and Vice President Mark also stood up. The room at the end of the second floor was a VIP room, typically used to receive guests of extremely noble status or those with strict privacy requirements. Luvia had mentioned that room to Xia De; even ordinary nobles were not qualified to use it.
"Which Lady has arrived? Lady Rose? Lady Raven? Lady Weaving Machine? Or Lady Thorn?"
Vice President Mark inquired, as those distinguished women did not like to use their real names when participating in divination activities.
The female Fortune Teller, wrapped in a scarf, glanced at Xia De, and seeing no one object, she whispered:
"Lady Weaving Machine."
Vice President Mark's expression immediately became serious, and even Mr. Stan was startled. The High-Ring Sorcerer frowned deeply:
"This is truly troublesome."
Saying that, he told Vice President Mark to stay here with Xia De, while he himself left first with the Fortune Teller.
However, with this interruption, Xia De and Mr. Mark also lost their interest in chatting. Xia De, holding the cat, was somewhat curious about the identity of "Lady Weaving Machine." Mr. Mark noticed his curiosity and hesitated for a long time before revealing her true identity:
"Generally speaking, this is not allowed to be said, but since you have a connection with Jialinna, it's fine for you to know The Lady's identity."
"A member of the royal family?"
Xia De asked.
"Yes, it's Princess Angelina Cavendish."
Seeing Xia De's bewildered expression, Mr. Mark added:
"The sixteen-year-old Princess, when she celebrated her birthday this spring, was given a pigeon-egg-sized ruby as a birthday gift by the King. This matter was talked about for several months."
Of course, Xia De did not know about the matter Mr. Mark mentioned; he wasn't there this spring, and the original Xia De was just being taken in and trained by Sparrow Detective at that time, so he wouldn't have paid attention to such things. But he vaguely recalled Princess Angelina Cavendish; among all of Larus III's children, one thing people remembered about this Princess was that she was the Princess most favored by Larus III in private in recent years.
And before Angelina Cavendish, all other Princesses deeply favored by the King had begun their married lives through political marriages. Conversely, daughters not privately favored by the King, such as Leia, who was more like a capable minister in the King's eyes, had a greater possibility of marrying relatively freely.
From this perspective, the royal family was truly incredibly realistic.
Seeing that Mr. Mark seemed to know a lot about noble secrets, Xia De asked him about Larus III's other children.
Mr. Mark's attitude, like most nobles now, believed that Larus III's harsh treatment of his children and his allowing many adult children to participate in politics without determining an heir, would very likely lead to drastic changes in the kingdom decades later.
He did not say what "drastic changes" meant, but Xia De could guess it was a change in the throne.
Unlike Leia, who had early exposure to political affairs and could even be sent to Carson Rick for visits, Princess Angelina Cavendish, who occasionally came to the Prophet Association with friends for divination activities, was the kind of traditional Princess Xia De could imagine.
Trained in etiquette, dance, and literature, not involved in kingdom affairs, frequenting banquets and noble salons, fond of secretly sneaking out of Yodel Palace to play with friends... Considering that the Prophet Association was not far from Yodel Palace, even the sloth cat held by Xia De could travel between the two places in ten minutes, so whether such "sneaking out" was with the King's tacit approval was truly hard to say.
But no matter how Larus III treated his children, a Princess being injured at the Prophet Association was not a good thing for the Association after all.
President Yadis Stan was the most outstanding Prophet in the Tobesk area. Xia De originally thought that if he handled this matter, he would quickly know the truth and make proper arrangements. Unexpectedly, just as Xia De and Mr. Mark were discussing the rumor of "Prince Sax breaking into Yodel Palace with a gun" that had suddenly appeared in the city a few days ago, Mr. Stan walked back in, followed by a somewhat flustered maid.
Xia De and Vice President Mark immediately pretended to be discussing rhode cards.
"Mr. Hamilton, I remember you are a Detective?"
Mr. Stan asked apologetically.
"Yes."
Xia De nodded, his eyes sizing up the maid. The Prophet Association only had employees and servants, no maids in maid dresses, so this must have been brought by a noble lady.
"I apologize, what happened downstairs is a bit troublesome, and I need your help to investigate. Please rest assured, regardless of the outcome, this will be considered a commission from the Association, and there will be appropriate remuneration."
He said again. Xia De hesitated for a moment before standing up and nodding in surprise:
"Understood, I think there's no problem."
Actually, there was a big problem. The matter of the Princess sneaking out and unfortunately getting injured was indeed not suitable for publicizing. Not going to the police, but instead coming to "Hamilton of Leijiede," who happened to be at the Association, to investigate, could normally be understood.
But as the most outstanding Prophet in Tobesk, Mr. Stan absolutely could not have failed to discover the truth.
Even if it involved a relic, and Fortune Tellers could not divine, then as a Ring術士, he had no reason to ask the "ordinary person" Xia De to handle this matter.
Therefore, thinking this way, the only possible reason could be that Mr. Stan had already discovered the truth, but it was not appropriate for him to reveal the truth from his perspective, which is why he came to Xia De, whose identity was suitable.
"But what identity advantage do I have over Mr. Stan?"
As he walked along the corridor towards the staircase, Xia De thought to himself:
"Could this involve some political factors, so Mr. Stan doesn't want the Association to easily get involved?"
But that was also impossible. Mr. Stan did not seem like the kind of Ring術士 who would throw his troubles to ordinary people.
Xia De could refuse this commission, but since the Prophet Association would back him up no matter what, he didn't have too many qualms.
Arriving on the second floor of the Prophet Association, he immediately saw several female employees of the Association standing at the end of the corridor, placing
"Do Not Enter" signs.
After Mr. Stan greeted them, he led Xia De further forward.
Two burly middle-aged men guarded the door of the room at the end. Since they did not have the Prophet Association's ouroboros emblem on them, Xia De guessed they were the Princess's escorts when she went out.
They actively helped Xia De and his party push open the door. The area of this VIP divination room was twice that of a normal room, looking as if the decorative wall between two rooms had been knocked down.
The room was hung with drapes everywhere, and the red carpet was embroidered with interesting, strange patterns in gold and silver threads. The windows were tightly closed, the curtains fully drawn, and a pungent scent of spices permeated the room.
When noble ladies performed divination, they probably deliberately created a darkroom atmosphere, but now all the gas lamps on the walls were turned on, making the room very bright.
Xia De first observed the abstract landscape oil paintings hanging on the wall, used to create a divination atmosphere, and then looked at the stone round table placed in the center of the room.
Xia De was quite curious how this thing was moved to the second floor.
There were many people in the room. Young women in dresses were resting on the sofa sets against the wall, roughly seven or eight of them. An old doctor was bandaging a red-haired girl who had her back to Xia De, accompanied by his apprentice, while two maids stood by the sofa, warily looking at the strangers entering the room.
