Chapter 1003

Xia De did not wait long; it was only five or six minutes before the unique sound of high heels hitting the carpet echoed in the corridor outside the door. Listening to the footsteps, Princess Lei Qianya seemed to have brought quite a few maids.

He rose from the sofa to greet her. After Princess Lei Qianya's maid opened the door, Princess Lei Qianya and the little princess Ajielina, who was wearing a red long dress, walked in together.

The little princess greeted Xia De very elegantly, then looked up and asked with concern:

"Knight, are you... alright on Wednesday night?"

This was the first time she had seen Xia De since the reading salon.

"I'm fine, just unconscious for a day."

Xia De replied, then looked at Princess Lei Qianya. Her Highness the Princess nodded at him with a smile, appearing very polite:

"Mr. Hamilton, the accident on Wednesday night caused you to suffer misfortune for no reason. Inviting you to watch the opera together today is a formal apology."

Although he didn't know why Princess Lei Qianya spoke like this, Xia De still followed her meaning and replied:

"You don't have to blame yourself, and the responsibility for this matter mainly lies with the Prophecy Association; they have already compensated me. I heard that you also spoke up for me in order to win that 【Founder · Knowledge】, for which I am very grateful. I am very healthy now and have not been left with any sequelae from that incident."

Princess Lei Qianya nodded, and this royal lady said softly:

"That still requires a proper apology. I can check your body myself; gas poisoning is no small matter."

Ajielina opened her mouth slightly and looked up at her sister. Princess Lei Qianya's expression was very serious, as if she were talking about something very proper:

"The cause of this matter, after all, was that I invited you to participate in my reading salon, so I must take responsibility."

As she spoke, she waved her hand at the maids behind her. These were Princess Lei Qianya's personal maids, so they naturally knew what Her Highness the Princess meant and retreated one by one from the side door to the next room.

Princess Lei Qianya said to Ajielina again:

"I want to talk to the Knight about the compensation for him, and also help him check if he has any other problems left behind by the gas poisoning. Ajielina, you go to the next room to guard the door for us and don't let anyone else in. If others misunderstand that we are doing something bad, that would be very indecorous."

"Check the body..."

The little princess pursed her lips and looked at Xia De. From Xia De's expression, she understood that Xia De didn't know about the "check the body" excuse before he came; he might have been tricked into coming for other reasons.

"I... understand."

Ajielina said somewhat dejectedly, looking at Xia De with some reluctance. And while she walked toward the side door pitifully, looking back every step of the way, Princess Lei Qianya had already taken off her red strapped high heels, held the shoes with the fingers of her right hand, shook them twice in front of Xia De with a smile, and then placed them on the coffee table in a very uncivilized manner.

Princess Lei Qianya sat sideways on the sofa, her legs in white stockings with garters pressing over Xia De's thighs. Xia De looked at the stockings and thought of the witch's clothing he had seen in the previous era of 5177.

Princess Lei Qianya stretched out her arms, affectionately hugged Xia De's neck, and turned to look at her sister who had not yet left, her tone somewhat stern:

"Ajielina!"

The little princess walked out of the side door with her head down, and with a click~ sound, locked that door from the other side.

"Wear the Demon Hunting Ring, the matter of the demon..."

Xia De still wanted to speak.

"She might think that I tricked you into coming here with other reasons."

After casting a silence spell, Princess Lei Qianya interrupted Xia De with a smile, placed the ring next to her high heels first, bit her own rosy lower lip with her fair teeth, and looked at Xia De at close range with her beautiful eyes.

Princess Lei Qianya could guess exactly what Ajielina was thinking. Of course, Princess Lei Qianya didn't care how Ajielina thought tonight; she would not waste this precious weekend date time:

"Knight, let me check your body for you. I really hope you don't always covet our writer lady; princesses sometimes need you too. The opera is about to start; it's truly wonderful, a date once a week..."

(Iluna is writing a report...)

If you don't rest well, even a Ring Mage will not be in good spirits the next day. Returning home on Monday night was at eleven o'clock, but it was already midnight when going to sleep.

In short, early Tuesday morning, Xia De, who was yawning and wearing slippers to go downstairs to get the newspaper and milk, after pulling the long golden hair that made his neck itch out of his pajama collar, saw the letter sent by Miss Gao De on the doormat at the entrance.

The letter from last month didn't arrive until almost the middle of the month, but this month's letter arrived on the third day.

The return address on the envelope was still a remote small town in the eastern coastal area of Delarion. Xia De was already quite familiar with Miss Gao De's handwriting, and in this letter, that lady told Xia De some good news.

"Miss Gao De's illness has completely recovered."

Sitting at the dining table, Xia De, who had opened the letter, said happily. The writer lady, who had begun a short period of cohabitation, was stroking Little Mia while eating. Given that she had cooked breakfast, the cat did not resist.

"In the previous few letters, this lady also said that some strange phenomena had appeared in the town where her family was located, and I was a bit worried at the time. I didn't expect that in just over half a month, the matter would be temporarily resolved by the church, and Miss Gao De's illness would be almost better."

He said while continuing to read the letter.

"You originally planned to take a steam train to that town in the spring of 1854 to see it and complete the last commission of the previous detective. Can you start the travel plan now?"

"Yes, if everything goes well, I plan to set out in April next year."

Xia De nodded and read the last line of the letter. When Miss Gao De wrote a letter, she would always stamp it at the end. Judging from the traces, it was an ancient metal seal, probably left by her ancestors:

"The matter in the town is temporarily resolved. Miss Gao De plans to repair the ancestral home this winter, sell off family collections that are not needed, recover the land deeds buried in the courtyard, and by the way, deal with the family's abandoned banquet manor and farm. She told me that if the plan goes well, she wants to repair the bay's pier and restore the town's maritime trade."

Xia De said with a smile:

"It seems that the lady will not leave the town for a short time, and she will not return to Tobesk either. I am confident in persuading her to sell Little Mia to me."

"Did she mention Mia in the letter again?"

Dorothea asked curiously, and Xia De nodded again:

"Yes, this lady asked me again to hold the cat and take a photo to send to her. She still has quite a lot of affection for Little Mia; she wants to see the cat again before the end of this year."

"Take a photo?"

Dorothea's eyes lit up, and she said casually:

"I noticed that apart from the photo you sent to Miss Gao De in the autumn, there are no photos of you in this house. Since you are going to take photos, why not take a few more? I know you don't like your face to appear in photos, but if it's hung at home, I think it's no problem. In fact, it would be strange if there were no photos of yourself at home."

Xia De thought for a while and tilted his head to look at his living room:

"That makes sense... I'll make an appointment at the photo studio in the afternoon. How about we make an appointment to take photos together?"

He then proposed, and Dorothea nodded with satisfaction:

"Also, let's go take photos together. Since it's the end of the year, I also want to commemorate this extraordinary year. Take a photo and keep it; maybe the literary award at the end of the year will really need my photo."

This slightly boring Tuesday daytime did not have anything interesting happen. Xia De did not stay out all day; besides reading books at home, he also wrote a reply to Miss Gao De. Of course, he did not forget to ask about Little Mia's breed in the letter.

The investigation report for Baron Cameron was not urgent, so Xia De only went to the photo studio in the afternoon to make an appointment for photos. At the end of the year, the business of photo studios in the city was very good. In addition to customers going to take photos themselves, photo studios could also let photographers and apprentices bring equipment to the door to take photos.

The former requires an appointment, while the latter only requires paying an extra sum of money, and photos can be taken immediately.

To save waiting time, Xia De made an appointment for the photographer to come to his home at four o'clock this afternoon. After returning home and telling Dorothea, the blonde young lady complained that Xia De didn't leave her enough time to put on makeup.

And Xia De only remembered the gift of the "God's Gift Box" for this week near dusk.

At that time, the photographer had been busy for more than an hour and had just left, and it was agreed that Xia De would go to pick up the photos on the weekend.

He was preparing to go out for dinner with Dorothea. The clothing needed for winter travel is far more troublesome than in summer. The writer lady finally finished packing and wrapped a red mink scarf around her neck—this was something she bought herself with her manuscript fee a few days ago.

Xia De didn't want to keep Dorothea waiting for him any longer, and in his view, picking up a gift every week was a very "sacred" ritual that shouldn't be done in a hurry. Therefore, the two and one cat went to Silver Cross Avenue for dinner first, and only after the street lights were lit did they go for a walk in the university district together.

After returning home, Xia De finally went to the basement to take out the "God's Gift Box." He stroked Little Mia to increase his luck and then reached his hand into the box:

"So far, I have only touched one relic, the 【Master Key】. Let's see if I have any luck this time..."

His palm touched a slender metal object at the bottom of the box. After taking it out, he found it was a fountain pen. Of course, although it looked good and there were handwritten letters on the surface of the pen cap, it was just an ordinary item.

"Still no luck."

Xia De sat back on the sofa in disappointment and handed the fountain pen to Dorothea.

"This is the 1844 commemorative Mendy fountain pen."

Dorothea took the pen from Xia De's hand, her tone implying that Xia De didn't know the value of the goods:

"Purely handmade, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the writing of 'Poetry Collection · Emperor's Ride', only 300 were made, and most of them were given to well-known writers. Each one has a special number. Last year, an auction house in the city sold one for a high price of 287 pounds!"

Obviously, three years ago, Dorothea was not yet a well-known writer, so she had only heard of it.

"Now the total has become 301."

Xia De said with a smile. Dorothea pulled off the pen cap to check the number on the inside, then reached out and wiped it, smoothing out the position of the number:

"This one belongs to me."

She said with a smile, checking the fountain pen lovingly.

Xia De nodded:

"Do you want to guess what my task is this week?"

"Since the gift is a fountain pen, is the task to write an article?"

"No, no, the children's tasks won't be that troublesome. It's practicing calligraphy, or rather, copying. You can copy anything you want, as long as the total reaches 300 words."

"That God of the Old Days really favors you, big boy."

Dorothea said softly, stretching out her right arm to wrap around Xia De's neck, letting him lean toward her:

"I really don't know in what aspect you can be classified as a 'boy'."