Although Xia De had made a nest for Mia in the wardrobe with old clothes on Tuesday night, the orange cat was still quite unhappy on Wednesday morning.
After being let out by Xia De in the morning, it largely ignored him. Even when Xia De warmed up the goat milk and soaked cat food in Mia's special bowl, it only let out a reserved meow and waited until Xia De returned to his seat before walking over with feigned composure.
Xia De had never expected to see such human-like behavior from a cat.
Sitting at the table, Xia De carefully peeled a boiled egg, and then, under Mia's watchful eye, moved from his seat to beside the cat eating on the table.
He split the still-hot white egg in half, and steam even rose from the yellow yolk.
Mia looked in the direction of No. 2, then widened its eyes at the egg yolk in Xia De's hand and tilted its head:
"Meow?"
"Want some?"
Xia De asked, and the cat blinked, meowing docilely:
"Meow~"
So Mia got an extra breakfast, and Xia De regained his cat's affection.
【Do you need a reminder, it is】
"Yes, it is Miss Mia's cat, I know..."
Pulling Mia's bowl closer to him, and then stroking the well-behaved cat, Xia De sat back down in his seat and opened the newspaper to read the report on Tobesk's autumn harvest statistics for this year. It seemed to be a good year, with excellent grain production around Tobesk.
Ding-dong~
The doorbell rang downstairs. The cat, with goat milk stuck to its face, looked in the direction of the stairs. Xia De stroked it to reassure it. He stood up in surprise, looked down from the living room window, and saw an unfamiliar carriage parked downstairs.
"Oh, a client is here today?"
Xia De was pleased but also slightly frowned:
"It's only seven-thirty, what kind of client is in such a hurry?"
He picked up the clothes from the hanger by the second-floor door, put on his coat over his shirt, and after clattering downstairs, he changed his slippers for leather shoes at the door:
"Please wait a moment."
Xia De called out from behind the door, removed the security chain from the door, pulled back the bolt inside, and then turned the doorknob.
Outside the door was Tobesk's morning, with autumn fog and gray mist mixed together, making the sky somewhat gloomy. There were already some pedestrians in Saint Delan Square, but most were sleepy-eyed and hurried. In the distance, a newspaper boy with a black crumpled hat pestered a middle-aged man carrying a briefcase, while a flower girl at the street corner spoke softly with a Noblewoman leaning out of a carriage.
The mist tinted this scene, making it seem as if a street view from a classical oil painting had come to life. The century-old buildings in Saint Delan Square stood as usual in the center of the capital, and the statue of the girl holding an Aquarius still smiled in the hazy, dark morning mist.
A carriage stopped in front of Saint Delan Square Six. The carriage door was already open, and a red-haired girl in a black pleated floral dress, along with the gem decorations on her dress, added a special splash of color to the oil painting of the morning street scene.
The red-haired girl smiled at Xia De:
"Good morning, Xia De, I hope I won't run into Luvia here."
Of course not, Luvia left very early. She didn't bring a change of clothes and needed to go home to change before going to work at the Prophet Association.
"Good morning, Leia."
Xia De said, very surprised. This should be the first time the two had met in person since the Queen's birthday banquet was unexpectedly interrupted by Darkness a month ago.
"Good morning, Detective!"
Another voice said, and the slightly shorter sixteen-year-old Princess also poked her head out of the carriage. It was Princess Angelina Cavendish, with a big smile on her face. Her youthful face and vibrant, youthful clothing and decorations made her very different from her sister.
"Why are you here? Oh, please come in."
Realizing it was best not to let too many people see Leia and Angelina, Xia De moved away from the doorway, allowing the Princesses to enter. Two maids followed behind, heads bowed, but Xia De hadn't seen them before; they were likely the little Princess's personal servants.
The two Princesses passed by Xia De one after another, their hair brushing his shoulder. Leia still had that familiar lily perfume scent on her, not very strong, which even Xia De, who disliked common perfumes of this era, could tolerate. Angelina, on the other hand, smelled of...
"Flowery perfume."
Xia De couldn't distinguish different floral scents; he didn't have that ability. Leia's perfume scent was something she had told him about herself.
Nodding to the expressionless coachman, Xia De closed the door from the inside, shutting out the misty Saint Delan Square morning.
Although Leia herself had never been to Saint Delan Square Six, she had been there many times through Dorothy's body. Therefore, she didn't need Xia De to lead the way and walked at the front, going up the stairs first. This surprised Angelina, who had intended to go to the first floor. She looked back at Xia De, who was closing the door, but said nothing.
The group arrived in the second-floor living room. Leia naturally sat on the sofa and asked the two maids to prepare tea in the kitchen. The cat, seeing a group of strangers in the house, was clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere. Frightened, it didn't even bother with the remaining goat milk in its bowl and quickly ran towards Xia De as the maids approached the kitchen.
"Mr. Hamilton, are you having breakfast?"
The little Princess was very curious about the place, but due to her status as a "Royal Lady," she didn't look around aimlessly and instead sat obediently beside her sister.
Leia's age was similar to Dorothy's, both slightly older than Xia De's current body. In fact, Luvia was actually a bit older than Leia. Sixteen-year-old Angelina didn't have as many worries yet, and coupled with the light blue Princess dress she was wearing today, which was a younger style, she appeared even younger.
"Yes, I usually have breakfast at this time. Why are you here so early? Is there something urgent?"
Xia De sat on a single armchair on one side.
"Nothing urgent. It's because if it weren't this early, I wouldn't be able to come here."
Leia said, her eyes scanning Xia De. She knew Xia De had entered the Between Life and Death:
"After my brother Sax was executed, someone had to take over the New World affairs he managed."
"Is it under your control now?"
"If only that were the case, but clearly, in Father's eyes, I'm not yet capable of handling these matters."
"Since Sister Leia returned from Carson Rick, Father has been entrusting her with diplomatic affairs. Meeting with foreign ambassadors, attending banquets, or giving speeches in the Royal Council, things like that."
Angelina said. Leia, who had successfully completed the visit to the Southern Kingdom on behalf of the royal family, had successfully gained greater power.
"Yes, yes, the taste of power is very good, but it also takes up a lot of time. Fortunately, I can still manage it."
Leia smiled, then the red-haired Princess looked at Xia De:
"I have to go back before nine in the morning. As for coming to see you so early, it's because last Saturday, you were busy saving your friend, didn't you miss our lesson?"
"That's right."
"So we need to make it up. Ling Rune matters cannot be delayed, especially for you."
Xia De didn't speak but glanced at Angelina. Leia shook her head:
"It's okay, Angelina is trustworthy. And she's very talented. No, I don't mean she's already a Ring術士. Angelina has been... very intuitive since she was little." (Note)
"Yes, guessing heads or tails of a coin, as long as the data is large enough, I can achieve over eighty percent success rate!"
The little Princess said, then smiled and waved to the cat huddled in Xia De's arms, but the cat completely ignored her.
"Oh, such strong intuition?"
For ordinary people like this, it's almost certain they will awaken at some point in the future. Of course, it's only "almost"; it's possible it's just good luck.
"Then guess this, how about we guess ten times?"
Xia De took out the 【Standing Coin】. Dorothy had heard Xia De mention something he bought from Middlesburg, so Leia also knew about it:
"Don't bully my sister. This coin can only land upright. Xia De, let's talk business. I want to entrust you with something."
"What is it?"
Xia De asked curiously. Leia took out a photo from her dress pocket. It showed a man in a Delarion Royal Army uniform, a Lieutenant judging by his epaulets.
Flipping to the back of the photo, it read "Windy Path - Red Water Camp First Company - Lieutenant Xiu Dun."
"If you have time, please help me investigate this person. It doesn't need to be very detailed; I just need to know if he has had any strange large expenses recently."
Xia De raised an eyebrow:
"No problem, that's very simple."
Yesterday, he had just helped the Corporal who died in the 【Life and Death Gap】 return his pistol to Captain Ronald at Red Water Camp. He didn't expect another mission related to that place. Perhaps he should take a trip to the traveler's camp next to Red Water Camp on Windy Path; it would also be a good opportunity to go into the mountains to find that Demon Hunter's sword.
"After I receive your reply, I will give you appropriate remuneration. No, no need to refuse, you know what I lack least is pounds."
Leia waved her hand but didn't explain what was wrong with Lieutenant Xiu Dun. She brought up another matter:
"Regarding your 【Sleep】, in that lesson two weeks ago, we already started trying to read 'sleeping princess.' How is the progress recently?"
"Not bad, I try to copy the stories written in ancient script every day. The parchment is in the drawer now..."
Xia De emphasized again:
"This time, I didn't burn it."
He emphasized this because the parchments Leia had provided, which recorded the ancient texts of the "match girl" and "Kiss of the Tree" fairy tales, had both been destroyed by Xia De as the price for obtaining the Mystic Lock.
PS: In Chapter 484, Angelina mentioned, "When I first saw you in the courtyard from the second-floor terrace of Lakeview Manor, I felt you were different from everyone else."
This sentence was not just a polite remark.
