Chapter 2197

With so many people eating together, the dining table at home was certainly not large enough, but fortunately, when this house was being renovated, the basement had been left with some extra furniture. Thus, three dining tables were tilted and floated into the staircase and carried upstairs. After temporarily moving the living room furniture to the walls, the combined tables were enough for everyone to sit together.

The maids had originally disagreed with sitting together with their master, but under Miss Jia Lin Na's insistence, they sat down together. Xia De was now quite familiar with the maids from Miss Jia Lin Na's manor; he could recognize most of them, such as Miss Rachel Draven from the High Ring, Miss Courtney Mitchell from the Middle Ring, and so on.

The sky outside the window gradually turned dark, and the farewell dinner proceeded very smoothly. Of course, the Duchess did not forget, while raising her glass to wish them a successful journey, to specifically emphasize that after arriving at Moon Bay, they must first obey Xia De's orders, followed by the orders of Princess Lei Qianya and the Head Maid Difa, and only lastly the orders of the local Great Witch of Destiny.

This requirement was very practical. Xia De had long been regarded as the master of Jia Lin Na's manor, so Xia De did not say any nonsense like "no need to listen to me." However, when Angelina was clinking glasses to say goodbye to her great-aunt, Miss Jia Lin Na specifically instructed:

"Angelina, you are already a seventeen-year-old young lady. Although my maids will take care of you in Moon Bay, you must also take care of yourself. Sending you to Moon Bay this time does not require you to make any contributions; I just hope you understand what we are actually going to face."

She arranged for Angelina to sit beside her, so she could reach out and hug her:

"You and Lei Qianya are the young ladies in the family that I value the most. Lei Qianya has already gone further than you, Angelina; you should also grow up... in various aspects."

Saying this, she laughed herself, and the maids, and even Luweiya and Dorothy, covered their mouths and laughed. Angelina immediately blushed, whispered her thanks, and when she sat back down, she secretly looked at Xia De.

The young ladies' luggage had already been sent to the train station in advance, so after dinner, the maids changed out of their maid dresses and put on their respective casual clothes. They then took carriages that had been waiting at St. Deran Square, detoured separately into the city, and only then arrived at the Tobesk train station in batches.

Although there was reluctance, the time for parting had arrived. On the platform of the VIP carriage, Xia De hugged and said goodbye to Difa, Dorothy, and Angelina separately. The black-haired head maid smiled and said "See you in Moon Bay," while Dorothy instructed Xia De and Luweiya:

"Don't forget to help me ask for leave from the doctor on Saturday afternoon, and explain to him that I will be back next week. I haven't forgotten about next Sunday's exam."

Angelina only sobbed twice when she hugged Xia De; after all, this was her first time being far away from Tobesk without the company of relatives. She had thought she was very strong, but only at this moment of parting did she realize her self-awareness was quite insufficient.

"Why are you crying? Am I not accompanying you to Moon Bay?"

Dorothy blinked, and then Princess Lei Qianya's soul arrived. She said to Angelina from the side, and also frowned to express her dissatisfaction:

"A seventeen-year-old young lady, why are you crying?"

Although it was not a familiar person, the familiar tone still made Angelina stop sobbing. Just as she wanted to apologize, Princess Lei Qianya hugged her again:

"You must be careful when you are out on your own, and remember what I told you. Angelina, I am very proud of you."

"Miss, please take care of yourself while I am away."

Difa also bowed respectfully to Miss Jia Lin Na to say goodbye from the side, and Miss Jia Lin Na just nodded indifferently, even glancing at Xia De when Difa said goodbye. Xia De was very sure that both he and the black-haired head maid probably understood what she meant.

However, this was also their first long separation since Difa became Miss Jia Lin Na's maid. Therefore, although she pretended to be indifferent on the surface, the red-haired Duchess in casual clothes still hugged her head maid and apprentice:

"Take care of everything."

She instructed, but did not say anything more.

In short, the maid group, along with Dorothy and Angelina, left Tobesk City by train at seven o'clock that evening amidst the farewells of Xia De, Miss Jia Lin Na, and Luweiya. The three of them waved goodbye to the departing train on the platform together, and when the tracks really became empty, the three of them felt very melancholy in their hearts.

"I will definitely go to Moon Bay at the end of the month. Are you really not going?"

Lowering her hand, Luweiya asked Miss Jia Lin Na again, and the latter shook her head:

"I cannot leave Tobesk for a long time. If it is really necessary to go, it will probably just be to participate in the final battle through spatial movement. After all, we were too high-profile in the previous few times."

In order not to attract attention, the carriages from just now had already left. Xia De took the initiative to go out of the station first to find a new taxi carriage, while Miss Jia Lin Na and Luweiya walked slowly behind. They were both wearing floral dresses, just one was purple and one was blue and white. The hats they carried covered half of everyone's faces. Although Luweiya was shorter than the witch, walking side by side did not make people feel discordant at all.

The purple-eyed young lady looked up and saw that Xia De had walked far away, and then she smiled and asked:

"You let Difa lead the team to Moon Bay alone this time, is it because you deliberately want her and Xia De to make a mistake?"

She pursed her lips and smiled, and this was not teasing:

"Since your apprentice and Xia De have long been unclear, it is better to deliberately give them a chance. In this way, once they really cross the meaningless red line you drew, the guilt they feel towards you will doom their future relationship to always be under your control, and you will also always stand on the moral high ground when facing them."

"Luweiya, what kind of image do I have in your heart?"

The Duchess certainly would not admit it. She also looked up and looked forward, confirming that Xia De had already walked far away, so she also asked:

"Do you want to bet with me? Let's bet on whether Xia De and Difa will, in Moon Bay..."

Luweiya smiled and shook her head:

"Of course I won't bet. What good would that do me? But in my opinion, before you take the initiative to loosen your mouth and agree, neither Xia De nor Difa will ever do such a thing. I don't know Difa particularly well, but I know Xia De's character very well."

The red-haired lady then sighed:

"That's why I'm worried. In this way, I become the villain. But if you let me agree... Hmph~ I want to see how long they can endure. Luweiya, I am not as 'generous' as you~"

Luweiya smiled and said nothing. Even without divination, she knew that Jia Lin Na Cavendish would most likely be counterproductive in the end. As for being evaluated as generous... the purple-eyed young lady smiled without saying a word. On one hand, it was for a greater cause, but on the other hand, Xia De would feel guilty towards her for the rest of his life because of this.

This determined that she would always be the first in Xia De's heart. And this was the little scheme of the young ladies.

When the three returned home, the maids who stayed behind had already restored the living room to its original state. Neither Luweiya nor Miss Jia Lin Na seemed to have any intention of leaving tonight, and Xia De naturally would not drive anyone away.

At this time, the sky outside had turned completely dark. He told them that he had some private matters to deal with, so he took his notebook and the translated text from Megan and Audrey and went to the study alone, and Little Mia also followed behind him with her short legs.

That notebook was actually Detective Sparrow's private diary, or "notepad," used to record some important things to prevent himself from forgetting. After all, humans have limits; no matter how excellent an agent's memory is, it is difficult to remember the important experiences of every day in the past for decades.

The content in this notebook was all records left by Detective Sparrow when he was in the Moon Bay area more than ten years ago. If it were normal times, Xia De would be very interested in the content and would very much want to understand Detective Sparrow's past adventurous life. But this time, he still focused on seeing what was recorded in that note with the photo of Mount Karas tucked in it.

"Mount Karas is within the territory of Delarion, very far from the Moon Bay area. It is reasonable to say that during Detective Sparrow's operations in Moon Bay, it is unlikely that he would temporarily go to Mount Karas to take landscape photos and then come back."

Fortunately, there was indeed relevant content on that page of notes, but those records were a bit different from what Xia De imagined—

【... When developing the film of Viscount Wright's secret meeting with his lover, I accidentally discovered that the film of the souvenir of Mount Karas was also on me, so I developed it together. I can be sure that there is no sensitive content in the landscape photos...】

This only explained the origin of that landscape photo. Xia De flipped back several pages, almost to the end, before he saw the description of "Mount Karas" again:

【... The informant "Big-Mouthed Sparrow" originally set the location for the timed exchange of information at Mount Karas. Now it seems like a good idea. Calculating the time, next year is the day for information exchange again. I hope everything goes well.】

Beyond this, there was no more content related to "Mount Karas." However, on the last page, Xia De discovered that the word "Shadow" describing "shadow" was circled.

He thought for a while and reached out to touch the circle. Then, the power hidden in the paper checked and confirmed Xia De's identity. Then, a line of gorgeous flowery letters floated above the paper, glowing. It was the handwriting of Megan and Audrey:

"I am rushing to Moon Bay soon. Xia De, if it is convenient for you, please prepare a suitable room and a 'Do Not Enter' sign in advance, and clear a whole day of time—Love, Megan/Audrey."

There was also a simple smiley face symbol behind it.