Chapter 1225

"Regarding the Osenfort family, Miss Mirya, how much do you know? I know it's a fallen family, because of Stone Osenfort's rise again, it appeared again. Besides that, do you know anything else worth mentioning?"

Xia De asked suddenly, and the young maid who was flipping through the account records thought for a moment:

"Stone Osenfort often entrusts us to auction antiques, which are mostly cultural relics of the extinct Stoneville Kingdom. Besides that, he often purchases various precious porcelain, oil paintings, or antiques, not caring about the price at all, buying them as long as he likes them."

Xia De thought for a moment:

"Does this spending match his own economic situation?"

The auction house has an obligation to keep secrets for guests, but fortunately, Xia De isn't an outsider to Cassandra Auction House:

"It doesn't match; with Stone Osenfort's consumption status, even a great noble like the Granger family couldn't afford it."

Miss Mirya said, clearly knowing the local situation very well. Seeing Xia De's thoughtful look, she added new news:

"In addition, more than a year ago, Stone Osenfort secretly visited here on a rainy night and requested to purchase statues or similar items that could resist evil. I wasn't responsible for the local area at that time; I saw these from the records."

"Resist evil—did the auction house take this business at that time?"

"No."

The maid shook her head slightly:

"This kind of thing that might involve trouble, we only participate if an acquaintance comes to the door. Stone Osenfort's rise wasn't glorious, he was an ordinary person, not even a good person, so the other manager who received him at the time suggested he seek help from the Orthodox Church and gave him a silver cross for free—that actually didn't have any effect. Later, there was no follow-up to this matter; I only saw it from the old documents after I came to the local area."

The local Cassandra Auction House, because of business reasons, instead contacted Stone Osenfort more frequently than the Golden Dawn, so Miss Mirya knew Stone Osenfort better than Miss Lathers.

"Then, what kind of person do you think Stone Osenfort is?"

"Definitely not a good person. And according to rumors, his relationship with his wife is very indifferent; he rarely brings Haigu Osenfort into the city to handle affairs. In fact, except for the wedding two years ago, most people in the city haven't seen the current mistress of the Osenfort family much."

"Do you know about the Osenfort family's heirloom ring, the Osenfort family's 'Karsenrik Third-Class Combat Hero Badge,' and the sapphire earring with a drop of blood sealed in glass?"

"Sorry, what?"

Miss Mirya asked in confusion, and Xia De shook his head.

"Do you know about the gold mine discovered locally?"

"There is such a rumor; because of some things, the auction house investigated it deeply. It seems that Osenfort found a gold mine in the mountains and cooperated with big figures in Wilendale to develop it. But this is just a rumor, and there are some suspicious points in it."

"It's William Anjou."

He frowned suspiciously, looking at the photo of the old Osenfort house clipped inside the file. Regarding Stone Osenfort, the mystery seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

Searching for clues at the auction house wasn't very smooth, so Xia De planned to write down the suspicious records and discuss them with everyone at Miss Benanice's place in the afternoon. And watching auction records occasionally would also see some very interesting auction items. Precious antiques and oil paintings went without saying, and special-rule Rhodes cards were also a business the auction house liked to meddle in.

And besides that, Xia De also saw a live cat being auctioned. It was a beautiful kitten of the "Rhodes Desert Shorthair" breed, with fur like sand, blue eyes, and ears that stood up looking very large like a fox, and a very large tail; the kitten in the photo looked dull, with a not-very-smart appearance.

That cat was bought by a Marchioness who came all the way from Wilendale at the time, and the transaction price was 230 crowns, which was about 3,000 pounds.

"Look at this cat."

Xia De specially took this photo to show Mia,

wanting Mia to understand what her expensive kin looked like. Unexpectedly, little Mia actually stretched out her claws and grabbed the photo, showing a quite aggressive appearance.

By the time all the files and account books were sorted out, it was already 11:30 in the morning. Having been busy all morning, Xia De stretched on the sofa, while Miss Mirya asked Xia De if he wanted to have lunch at the auction house.

"No need, I... has the auction Princess Margaret attended ended?"

He asked, and Miss Mirya sent someone to inquire, soon learning that the auction hadn't ended yet, and Prince William Anjou and Princess Margaret Anjou were not in the same box.

Five minutes later, Margaret, who was waiting boredly in the box for the item she wanted to appear as the finale, heard a knock on the box door, and then, without her permission, her personal maid opened the door directly.

The blonde princess turned around in surprise, seeing Xia De walk in holding a very ugly dog:

"Where did you get a... oh, so it's your cat. Good morning, Xia De, sit down quickly! Did you come to find me on purpose? After we separated last Sunday, although I heard about your affairs from Miss Benanice, I was still worried for a long time."

She hugged Xia De gently, happily pulling Xia De to sit on the sofa together.

Margaret came here today for a batch of old statues from the Stone Mason Association. Those were the works of a stone carving master who passed away last year and were very collectible. Margaret wanted to use this batch of statues to establish an initial relationship with the Stone Mason Association and ease their prejudice against the descendants of the Anjou family, so she decided to raise the price a bit later:

"The valuation of that batch of statues is 200 crowns, and I plan to raise it to 300 crowns."

"Did you read the information I asked Miss Lathers to give you? Delarion's Military Intelligence Agency can also influence the Stone Mason Association; if you need help, please don't hesitate to speak."

"Of course, I won't be polite to you."

She smiled and hugged Xia De's neck. The goods the Princess wanted still had to wait a while before appearing. Before that, the enthusiastic girl wanted to test her lover's passion well:

"Since coming to Randall Valley, I haven't kissed you properly yet."

She said reproachfully, putting her hands behind her head, putting up her long golden hair, and then kissed him passionately. As "lovers who can only kiss," she and Xia De could only maintain such intimacy for now.

After the special training from the witches, Xia De's kissing skills could finally be called proficient. It's just a pity that the two had only just made contact when a knock came from outside the box door again:

"Your Highness Margaret, His Highness William has something to talk to you about!"

"Really."

Margaret let go of Xia De with some displeasure, and Xia De hurriedly walked toward the wardrobe holding his cat—he didn't know why the auction house box had a wardrobe either.

After Xia De hid, Margaret let her brother in. And Xia De covered his cat's mouth, looking outside through the crack in the wardrobe door, and the sound was very clear.

"What's the matter?"

Margaret looked very cold; any girl wouldn't show a good face when interrupted at such a time.

The door was closed, and the Prince in a black suit walked in:

"Have you decided on the local mining business we talked about last time? 30,000 crowns, I'll give you a 20% share dividend for a ten-year term."

"What on earth are you doing? Are you so short of cash recently?"

Margaret frowned slightly:

"Also, do you have any misunderstanding about me? Although I am also doing some small business, how could I possibly come up with 30,000 crowns in cash at once? I can lend you some money for an emergency, but you must tell me what you are doing? Don't use the gold mine in the mountains to fob me off; I don't trust Stone Osenfort."

Actually, it was because Xia De said Mr. Osenfort was very strange, and Margaret had already established a relationship with Rhesia, so the two princesses cooperated to do some business, and there was no need to care about industries like gold mines that required large upfront investments.

【This line is a continuation of the previous one.】

"Osenfort is a very capable person."

Prince William shook his head slightly, then scanned the room before lowering his voice:

"To tell you the truth, the gold mine was a rumor I let out; how could the gold mine in the mountains be found so easily? The news of the gold mine was to cover up people's attention; in fact, Osenfort's people discovered a silver mine vein near the west coast. It's very close to the continental shelf, and a captain familiar with the sea and land can reach that island in three days by ship. My people have followed to check, and it's an open-pit rich mine, with an estimated reserve of..."

He made a gesture, and Xia De couldn't see it because of the angle.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't just come to Randall Valley City to cut the ribbon for the shipyard. The gold mine in the mountains was a rumor I let out to prepare for recruiting manpower to develop the open-pit silver mine near the sea. Margaret, my dear sister, this is a real big business; you can't imagine what I found this time. If I couldn't eat it all by myself, and you happened to be here, I wouldn't have shared the opportunity with you."

"Silver mine?"

Margaret looked at her brother suspiciously:

"Gold mine here, silver mine there, have you ever thought that Osenfort might be a liar?"

"Don't worry."

The Prince understood his sister's suspicion very well:

"My people have personally gone to check; that island does exist. I recruited an old geology professor in Wilendale, and he set off by ship in the name of a scientific expedition, which also proved that the silver mine is real. The reserves of that mineral deposit are twice as large as the largest Wolf Silver Mine in Karsenrik currently! We are going to get rich!"

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