Chapter 236

"What do you mean?"

The Duchess tapped the armrest of her single-seat sofa with her slender index finger, which likely betrayed her inner restlessness:

"A certain great prophecy—I cannot speak of it, not even a single word. It concerns the future of this world. You could consider it a kind of ritual, or perhaps an epic from a knight's novel, that is about to begin. That is why I returned to Tobesk. The Church, the Academy, the Parliament, and many ancient organizations are all scrambling for this, yet ordinary Ring-Mages know nothing of it..."

Xia De looked at her, not saying a word. He would not reveal anything about Miss Beiyasi to anyone else. Galina interpreted Xia De's expression as confusion:

"News has come from the Parliament; there is a new direction in the interpretation of the prophecy. The first one... is about to appear... Do you understand?"

She asked hesitantly.

"I don't understand at all."

Galina covered her forehead:

"Oh, I knew you wouldn't understand if I put it that way, but this kind of thing cannot easily involve you. It is just as well that you don't understand. In any case, if you discover a female sorceress with strange powers from the Orthodox Church recently, remember to tell me."

She looked at Xia De with some annoyance:

"Actually, I don't fully understand what that prophecy means either. Perhaps it is the end of the world, perhaps the beginning of a new era, or perhaps the return of the gods. No one knows, but it is bound to happen... The Parliament hopes to find them; if it is a woman, she can be brought into the Parliament. I imagine other organizations that know of the prophecy think the same, so everyone is searching."

"Bound to happen, what?"

Xia De asked a question he already knew the answer to. Galina hesitated for a moment:

"Sorry, Detective, I really cannot say. But... it is bound to happen. A grand epic is about to begin, but no one understands what that truly means. Everyone wants to find them, no one is an exception."

A knock at the door sounded; it was the maid returning with the jewelry box. Galina shook her head at Xia De, signaling him not to discuss this matter further, before letting the maid, Difa, enter.

Next, Galina explained the arrangements for Thursday night to Xia De. Her plan was indeed more detailed than the one Xia De and his two companions had, but the more complex a plan is, the easier it is for problems to arise.

By comparison, Xia De actually thought the operation to break into the ruins the night after next had a lower chance of going wrong.

By the time the carriage returned him home, it was already eight o'clock in the evening. Galina had hosted Xia De for dinner at the manor; if he hadn't been thinking of his cat, she even intended to have him stay the night.

And so, Tuesday passed peacefully. The Document-level relic 【Bordeaux Candle】 and the precious Sage-level relic 【Ancient Witch's Golden Necklace】 once again added weight to the success of Thursday's operation.

As the planned date drew closer, Xia De, waking up on Wednesday, prepared not to leave the house all day, reviewing the entire plan for Thursday night at home while waiting for Miss Annette and Miss Beiyasi to visit.

Yet unexpectedly, at seven o'clock in the morning, while having breakfast with his well-behaved cat, the bell downstairs actually rang.

At that time, Mia the cat was obediently licking goat milk soaked with cat food, while Xia De was holding bread and reading the newspaper. The "Steam Bird Daily" published many good articles, and since the academic report last week, Xia De had been thinking about whether he could make a profit by investing in steam machinery, so he paid extra attention to the "Steam Bird Daily."

Mia drank goat milk in the morning, while Xia De drank water. A few weeks ago, he could indeed have two bottles of milk every morning, but since he felt the milk had a strange taste and he happened to need to pay the monthly fee, Xia De had stopped this morning expense.

After all, this body had already passed the age of growing, so there was no need to worry about calcium supplements.

When the bell rang, both the cat and Xia De looked downstairs in surprise. And while Xia De got up to go downstairs to check the situation, Mia lowered her head and quickly licked up the last of the goat milk, then followed Xia De downstairs.

After first asking who the person outside was looking for and confirming it was Detective Xia De Hamilton, Xia De opened the door.

Two people stood outside; an elderly woman with a slightly hunched figure leaning on a cane stood in the front position. Xia De noticed the gold ring on the hand she used to hold the cane.

The man behind her was slightly younger, and standing there, he felt somewhat like Captain Lei Jiede.

"Is the man a bodyguard?"

Xia De guessed, then greeted the guests who had come to visit:

"Hello, I am Detective Xia De Hamilton. May I ask who you two are..."

"Lavende introduced me."

The old woman said in a somewhat hoarse voice, with a very heavy Tobesk accent; Xia De almost didn't understand the name Baron Lavende.

But seeing her hand over the business card he had once distributed and Baron Lavende's business card, he knew it was an introduction from an acquaintance, so he let the two in first. As they brushed past, he confirmed that both of these people were ordinary people.

After entering the second floor, only Xia De and the old woman walked into the living room, while the middle-aged man with a serious expression stood with his hands behind his back at the entrance of Room 1 on the second floor, facing the stairs.

The old woman sat down slowly, and Xia De also went to prepare tea.

He sat down to talk only after putting down the teapot and filling the teacup, but before the client spoke, Xia De declared first:

"Sorry, I am busy with another commission recently and won't be able to conduct a new investigation until at least Sunday. So, if you want to commission a detective here, please consider it carefully before speaking."

He had to be busy with the Silver-Eyed One's affairs before Thursday, accompany Mrs. Lemaire to receive her inheritance on Friday, and have a meeting on Saturday afternoon and Miss Louisa's class in the evening, so indeed, he would only have free time on Sunday.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, my commission is very simple."

The old woman held the teacup with trembling hands that had obvious age spots, making Xia De worry for a moment that the teacup would fall to the ground halfway.

She took a sip of tea as if in slow motion, then placed the teacup back on the coffee table with trembling hands, only then taking out her business card to hand to Xia De.

During the time the old woman was performing these actions, Xia De and the cat standing on the back of the sofa behind his head both stared intently at the old woman's movements. The former was worried about the safety of the teacup he used for guests, and the latter was curious about what the stranger who had broken into the house was doing.

The old woman's name was Greta Watson, a widowed owner of a large factory in the South District of Tobesk. She was a long-time friend of Baron Lavende; as for how they met, Mrs. Watson didn't say much, but it likely had to do with Baron Lavende's side business of reselling antiques and perfume.

In short, the elderly and frail Mrs. Watson recently needed someone to do something, so when they met by chance, she talked to her friend Mr. Lavende. After the latter heard the full story, he introduced her to the detective at St. Deran Square.

"Specifically, about half a month ago, when the servant was cleaning the basement, he accidentally broke the wall and discovered a large hole behind the basement wall."

Xia De's expression remained unchanged:

"Treasure? A cave? Or bones?"

The old woman looked at him with surprise:

"You detective really have some skills; it is a skeleton."

There was no expression on her face, and her tone when speaking was very slow, as if speaking faster would endanger her health.

"Then did you call the police? Even if it was someone who died hundreds of years ago, you should let Ridgewich Field take a look, right?"

Xia De suggested; he actually hadn't taken on a commission related to a murder case yet.

"No need to call the police."

Mrs. Watson said.

"Why?"

"The police have already been here. They and I both know whose skeleton this is, and we also know why they died."

The old woman's mouth was wrinkled due to her age, and one could barely see the movement of her mouth when she spoke.

"Then may I ask, who is this?"

Xia De felt a slight sense of vigilance in his heart and glanced at the middle-aged man standing at the door.

"Judging from the clothes and some miscellaneous items found at the same time, that should be my husband who went missing thirty-two years ago."

The expression on her face remained neither sad nor happy. Xia De thought he had gotten himself involved in a troublesome matter, but Baron Lavende had no reason to let him get involved in such things.

"I see..."

"As for the murderer, it should be my good-for-nothing younger brother. When he was young, he had conflicts with my husband, but both of them liked to drink, and after drinking, they both... After my husband went missing, the first person I suspected was him. He also admitted it and even took the initiative to go to Ridgewich Field to surrender. After serving a few years in prison, he was much better behaved, but he just refused to say where he had hidden the body. Because of this, we almost never saw each other again for the rest of our lives... Counting the time, he has also been dead for almost ten years."

She sighed slowly, looked down at the teacup on the table with drooping eyelids, and added:

"Ridgewich Field can find out all these things, so you don't have to worry about me lying to you."

"A person like you would certainly not lie to me."

Xia De said words he didn't even believe himself, and asked again:

"Then you are commissioning me because you want to..."

"When I was young, I thought that one day I could find him and bury him properly, so that after I die, I could be buried by his side. So, the grave was bought decades ago, and it has been kept all these years. Now that the body has been found, I have also notified Ridgewich Field, and the case is closed. I notified the people of my husband's family, wanting to hold a funeral. Although he didn't have a title during his lifetime, he was born into an Earl's family. I want to bury him, but the people of the Watson family insist on having a noble present to read the eulogy, otherwise they won't attend."

"Why do the people of the Watson family make such a request?"

"His death made the people of the Watson family very dissatisfied, thinking that it was my brother and I who conspired to kill him for the sake of the factory's shares."

Judging from the results thirty years after the incident, this view was actually not wrong. Because judging from the information on the business card, the person in control of the factory was indeed the old woman in front of him. After Mr. Watson died, everything belonged to this poor widow.