Chapter 863: Chapter 863: Lecia’s “Prank
That evening before leaving Huntington, Shard visited Mr. Benhart’s estate and asked him to send soone to Professor Drake’s house to transcribe those text materials.
Mr. Benhart was also pleased to learn that Shard’s investigation had made progress, but he ntioned another matter, which was the farewell banquet to be held tomorrow night at the Rothschild Estate.
It was a farewell banquet for Princess Margaret Anjou, representing the Royal Family, visiting Tobesk, hence the event was of a very high standard. Not only were local nobles attending tomorrow’s banquet, but also so Carsonrick nobles who ca all the way from Velindale.
As a well-known local noble, Viscount Benhart had naturally received his invitation letter and he invited Shard to accompany him, to which Shard also agreed:
“Mr. Benhart, my Carsonrick language is not very good, so I might be staying close to you tomorrow night.”
Shard said sowhat apologetically, but Mr. Benhart didn’t mind at all:
“It’s your first ti attending a Carsonrick noble banquet; it will be quite interesting.”
Saturday night was traditionally Shard’s evening class ti. Of course, since the beginning of this month, it had also turned into a ti for his one-on-one dates with Lecia.
Shard, on Saturday morning, inford Lecia through a flower shop on Silver Cross Avenue that he had an engagent in Huntington tonight and thus couldn’t et her in the evening.
Lecia didn’t respond to Shard imdiately, but when Shard arrived at Dr. Schneider’s clinic for this week’s study group holding his cat, he almost instantly recognized the early-arrived Dorothy as actually being Lecia.
He couldn’t sharply distinguish between the two souls, but from the displeased look “Dorothy” gave him, he could tell that it wasn’t the Blonde Writer who felt that way.
Most of this week’s study group ti was spent with Dr. Schneider helping the group mbers calculate their individual credits in preparation for the upcoming year-end exams. When it ca to Shard’s situation, the doctor seed sowhat troubled.
Shard was currently considering applying to skip from the second grade to the fourth grade, and recently borrowed a large number of books from the school library for “study”. However, the problem was he still lacked many practical credits, and ideally, he needed to open a Ti Key each week and encounter valuable events each ti to barely et the required credits.
But obviously, Shard couldn’t possibly achieve such efficiency.
“Miss Danester, the librarian, said she would help .”
Shard quietly inford the doctor of the news, and the doctor, after pausing for a mont, nodded without asking anything, clearly understanding so of the Academy’s channels, albeit not expecting Shard to have such a relationship with a Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer.
After the study group ended, it was only four in the afternoon. “Dorothy” left Dr. Schneider’s clinic with Shard and boarded a carriage in silence. Once the carriage started moving forward, she finally brought up Shard’s plans for tonight:
“Huntington? Are you going to tell , Knight, that you have already t Princess Margaret Anjou?”
The tone carried a hint of questioning.
“Yes, but she believes I’m Mr. Sherlock Hols, not Rejed’s Hamilton.”
Shard honestly said, holding Mia in his arms, apologetically:
“I know I shouldn’t be occupying tonight, but for so reasons, I have to attend that banquet.”
“You don’t need to explain these things to . Do I seem like an unreasonable girl?”
Lecia swept her beautiful blond hair behind her ear, looked Shard up and down:
“I know you have more important matters, but I hope you haven’t forgotten, the ‘Day of the Red Butterfly’ that happens every 22 days is approaching.”
“Yes, this Sunday night.”
The stormy night Shard vividly rembered was a Saturday, the 26th of the Month of Withered Leaves. So the first Day of the Red Butterfly ended on the 27th. Starting from the night of the 27th, the 21-day waiting period began again, thus reaching the second Day of the Red Butterfly on this Sunday night.
Both Dorothy and Lecia preferred to use this title for that special day.
“If you two have no other plans, I can prepare for Sunday night’s and Monday’s activities in advance.”
Shard suggested, and Lecia shook her head:
“On Monday, I need to accompany my mother to welco the visiting group of Margaret Anjou. I have already discussed with Dorothy to postpone the Day of the Red Butterfly to next Tuesday, the 19th of the Frostfall Moon.”
“But there’s also sothing on that day; Tuesday is your sister, Mona Cassandra’s wedding.”
Shard reminded, and Lecia nodded with a smile:
“Yes, so I can et with Dorothy at the wedding reception. Isn’t that more interesting than an ordinary day?”
“Oh, yes.”
Shard suddenly realized, watching the street scene outside, Lecia then closed the carriage window. She adjusted the hair at her ear, her face blushing slightly, looking at Shard:
“Dorothy and I can et you at the banquet, Shard… I’ve prepared a manuscript of Sumr Night Collection ahead of ti; would you be willing to read it with us at the banquet?”
Sumr Night Collection was a famous essay collection that inspired Dorothy’s award-winning work, Midsumr Night’s Wish.
“Reading a manuscript of essays at the wedding banquet?”
Shard was stunned, then realized, seeing “Dorothy” slightly blushed face:
“Of course, yes, reading… Sumr Night Collection with you both at the banquet.”
The blonde girl bit her lip lightly, her eyes shining as she looked at Shard:
“I am really looking forward to Tuesday… oh goodness, today was supposed to be our date ti.”
“After Princess Margaret Anjou arrives in Tobesk, there should be many large parties and balls in the city… at that ti…”
Shard lowered his voice slightly and took Lecia’s right hand with his left hand:
“You can even et
with your body, do you want to dance together? Attending banquets and balls is our reasonable chance to et.”
Lecia showed a smile:
“Yes, speaking of it this way, Margaret Anjou’s visit is actually a good thing. Knight, I’m glad that while you are thinking about the blonde, blue-eyed girl in front of you, you also think about my body.”
She reached out to touch the cat in Shard’s arms. The sleeping cat made a displeased sound, wriggling as it tried to avoid the hand.
“Since you are attending the banquet tonight, why not play a prank on the Princess of the Anjou family.”
As she spoke, Lecia took out Dorothy’s notebook from her handbag, hurriedly wrote a line, and handed it to Shard:
“Put this by Margaret Anjou’s side, but don’t reveal that it was you who placed it. I rember this princess is even older than ? During this sumr’s visit to Carsonrick, I also dealt with her. She is a very interesting lady.”
Lecia wrote in the Carsonrick Language, controlling the writing style so that it didn’t look like her handwriting at all——
[Greetings to you, Your Highness. The purple cabbage at the banquet is still as delicious as it was back then.]
Shard looked over the ssage several tis, making sure it didn’t have any hidden anings he couldn’t understand:
“What does this sentence an? Purple cabbage, is it a taphor?”
“No, it’s just purple cabbage.”
Dorothy’s face showed a rare expression. It was a smile, a malicious smile:
“You probably don’t know the Velindale purple cabbage incident from eight years ago. The then teenage Margaret Anjou, disliking the taste of purple cabbage, falsely accused her maid of adding sand to the vegetable salad during an autumn dinner in 1845 to avoid eating it.
The poor maid, who did nothing wrong, was almost imdiately dismissed. A few weeks later, the maid self-immolated at ho; only partial remains were found. In a letter she sent to a friend before her death, she wrote that she hadn’t done anything wrong but was still treated so badly, her reputation was imnsely damaged, and she no longer wished to live.”
The blonde girl narrated the story, but her face showed no regret, and Shard understood, his mouth slightly agape:
“You wouldn’t say this has anything to do with MI6, would you? The kingdom’s political struggle? Or a silent battle between spies?”
Lecia laughed:
“Yes, Shard, you are always this perceptive. I only learned the truth from Galina three years ago.
That maid was actually a spy planted by MI6 within the Anjou Royal Family. The abrupt dismissal led MI6 to misjudge, thinking she was discovered. They urgently relocated her and replaced her with a similarly built corpse.”
The carriage wheels ground over the road, moving smoothly towards Saint Delan Square. Listening to the old spy secret, Shard cautiously noted:
“This must have caused quite a psychological shadow for Princess Margaret Anjou, right?”
After all, it was just because she hated purple cabbage that the maid “self-immolated.”
“Yes, tonight you can also try serving a dish with purple cabbage to the princess.”
Lecia suggested, and Shard shook the note in confusion:
“Then, the purpose of giving her this note is…?”
“To play a little joke on her and also to revenge for her taking up my date ti tonight.”
Lecia’s face still wore a smile, but Shard knew very well that the latter reason was the real one.
The young outlander wisely did not point this out. Considering giving her the note would only ruin the princess’s mood for the night without causing bigger troubles, Shard agreed.
“Is MI6 always planting spies around the Anjou Royal Family?”
He curiously asked again.
“I do not handle those matters.”
Lecia shook her head but then confidently said:
“However, at tonight’s banquet in Huntington City, there will definitely be MI6 operatives… and no, I’m not referring to you. Even if the Circle Sorcerer from the Pantanal Voodoo Society doesn’t show up, there will surely be intrigues and sches surrounding the banquet.”
“In tis of peace, agents are still so busy.”
Shard sighed as he turned to look at the winter streets of Tobesk from the carriage window. The streets were bustling with people who had been busy all year long, not relaxing even at the year’s end. In such a prosperous era, undercurrents were always surging.
Lecia did not continue the topic:
“I helped you replace that bed a while ago… Dorothy was too excited that night, so I also replaced the old furniture in the master bedroom and confird that the fireplace is usable. Do you need
to prepare firewood for winter in advance? If needed, I can send soone to waterproof the basent in a few days; otherwise, the firewood will get damp, and the smoke will be too much.”
Her Highness the Princess covered Shard’s mouth, her green eyes “glaring” at him:
“I have plenty of gold pounds. If I don’t handle these trivial matters for you, wouldn’t Galina? Are you refusing my help to accept her goodwill instead?”
At that mont, Shard could almost see Lecia’s soul through those beautiful eyes.
She released her hand, tossed the cat aside, then directly hugged Shard’s neck and kissed him, not giving him any chance to refuse.
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