Chapter 434: Trained Cat

The dress of the maids behind the sofa was the same as the maid who went to find Xia De with President Stan, which meant that these three maids were all brought out of Yodel Palace by the princess.

President Stan signaled Xia De to tidy up his clothes. When Xia De went to touch his collar, he actually touched furry claws. He was startled, and only then realized that Little Mia was actually still on his shoulder.

This cat was too well-behaved just now, so Xia De completely forgot that it was still there.

"Is it impolite to bring a cat to a commission?"

Thinking in his heart, Xia De turned his head to look at his shoulder. Mia's amber eyes were really beautiful.

"Must be well-behaved."

Whispering, he tidied up his collar, and then President Stan introduced Xia De to these "distinguished guests".

Looking at Angelina Cavendish from the front, one could easily capture traces of Lei Qianya and Miss Galina from the face of the sixteen-year-old young girl. It was just that the witch's charm was really beyond normal people, Lei Qianya was more determined and decisive, while the princess in front of him had a completely different temperament from them.

Angelina Cavendish was the girl who was unfortunately injured during fortune-telling. Her right hand was now being bandaged. It was just that the naked eye couldn't capture the blood seeping out from under the carpet or gauze, which meant that it was actually just a small wound and not serious.

Princess Angelina wore a blue dress, and her hair was simply tied up and hung behind her. She wore light makeup and didn't have many accessories on her body. Only the waist of the dress was dotted with some broken gems. Compared to her identity, this little decoration was really not much.

She was relatively cold to Xia De, just nodding as a greeting. On the contrary, her friends were more enthusiastic about the detective with a cat on his shoulder, and someone actually jokingly mentioned Miss Galina, it seemed that they recognized Xia De's identity.

Xia De asked the maids and these noble girls to inquire about what happened just now.

This was not complicated. The girls gathered together and played fortune-telling games at that stone table that was clearly made old. It was just that they didn't use the standard tools provided by the Prophet Association, but brought their own fortune-telling supplies.

Today they chose fire divination, which was to burn tortoise shells in a fire basin, and after the tortoise shells cracked due to heat, they tried to obtain so-called "instructions of fate" by interpreting the cracks on the tortoise shells.

This was not their first time participating in such activities, but this time the tortoise shell actually "exploded" just after being heated. It was not an explosion to the extent of a steam bomb, but the bone fragments at the edge of the tortoise shell splashed after the deflagration, and then unfortunately scratched Princess Angelina Cavendish's hand.

"Sounds like an accident caused by uneven heating of bone fragments..."

Xia De thought, and then asked:

"Ladies, may I ask who proposed this 'fire divination', and which lady brought the tortoise shell and charcoal?"

The girls who were laughing and laughing gave Xia De the answer. The proposer and the person who brought the things were the princess herself.

"Besides fire divination, we originally planned to play with a spirit board said to be dug out of a graveyard, and small rituals on ancient books collected from old book stalls."

The black-haired lady who was laughing introduced to Xia De. This was the second daughter of Count Solar, looking at Xia De with a very charming look. If Xia De had any intention of having something happen with the other party, it would probably be very easy.

It was not that Xia De's appearance was excellent enough to easily capture the favor of the girls, this should be related to the rumors about him and Miss Galina.

"Although it has nothing to do with this accident, it is better not to try such... stimulating games."

Xia De advised, but seeing no one paid attention to him, he went to the stone table to check the fire basin that had not been taken away.

The fire basin was also stone, the basin mouth was hexagonal, there were obvious collision marks, and the outer surface had some strange symbols that looked like ancient characters, but Xia De couldn't interpret them. This was also likely to be something made old. Xia De touched them separately with his hands and judged that all the items here were ordinary goods.

He put on the gloves he carried with him, confirmed that the cat on his shoulder was squatting there looking around well-behaved, calculated that the time was still far from Mia's feeding time, and then felt relieved to take the burnt bone fragments out of the stone basin with his hands.

The bone fragments still had residual heat. Xia De wiped off the black ash and looked at it, then put it in front of his nose and sniffed it gently, but found no abnormality. 【434-28

"Could it really be an accident? Did President Sitan divine that it was just an accident, but then worry that no one would believe him, so he brought me in to investigate?"

Xia De thought suspiciously, turning to look at President Sitan, only to see the man with his back to him, conversing outside the door with two middle-aged men who appeared to be the Princess's guards.

"Not focusing on observing me for the moment, good... Echoes of the Past!"

The miracle was activated, and the voices of the girls reached his ears. Just as Xia De had thought, this room was not easily opened, so the human voices within the last 48 hours were only those of the noble young ladies who had come for leisure today.

It was just that those voices did not provide Xia De with any further clues. He heard the girls' laughter and chatter during the burning of the tortoise shell, then heard a clear explosive sound, followed by exclamations.

"The course of the accident is indeed as they said. If this wasn't an accident, it could only be that someone tampered with the tortoise shell halfway through the divination."

But Xia De was not a highly professional detective after all; he had no way to further process the charred tortoise shell in his hand.

He brought the tortoise shell to his nose and sniffed it again, but there was still no scent at all. Just as he was thinking of trying his luck with "Blood Echo," he didn't expect the well-behaved cat crouching on his shoulder to suddenly mimic Xia De's posture, stretching out its head and sniffing with its small, pink nose.

It was probably imitating Xia De's movements, and then, because of its keen sense of smell, it was immediately choked by the acrid, burnt smell on the tortoise shell.

"Meow~"

Although Xia De didn't understand cat language, he could hear this dissatisfied cry.

A smile couldn't help but appear on Xia De's face, and he raised his hand to pet the cat to comfort it, but Mia actually swatted Xia De's hand away with her paw. Xia De's gloved hand was now covered in black ash; touching the orange cat's head directly would dirty its beautiful fur.

"You really are getting smarter."

Praising Mia in a low voice, Xia De placed the tortoise shell back into the stone basin.

He turned around, intending to find Mr. Sitan to announce the results of his investigation, but after glancing back at the orange cat on his shoulder licking its paws to itself, Xia De returned to the stone table and picked up the tortoise shell again:

"Is there any special smell?"

He wanted to bring the tortoise shell close to Mia's nose again, but the cat's small paw pushed Xia De's hand away directly.

"Is there any special smell? Besides the burnt smell, is there anything..."

Even though this cat was very smart, halfway through speaking, Xia De realized that it was still difficult to make it understand human language. After all, when Xia De was speaking, the cat was still licking its paws, not paying attention to Xia De's meaning at all.

Both cats and dogs have very keen senses of smell and can detect odors that humans cannot. A qualified detective should keep an obedient dog as a detective partner, and Xia De believed that Mia was also capable of fulfilling the task of a detective partner.

Although he failed to make Mia understand his meaning, Xia De gained a new inspiration.

He walked back to the sofa, stood to one side, and coughed:

"Ladies, I think after a small test, I will be able to give you an answer."

"Detective Hamilton, what do you want to do?"

A girl with long, draped hair asked with a smile; they didn't think detective work was a serious matter.

"It's like this: since the tortoise shell and charcoal were brought by Her Highness herself, even if someone could tamper with them, they must have done so here. And things like black powder that cause explosions leave a scent on the hands. Very good, I noticed that none of you are wearing gloves; that is very good."

"Detective, do you intend to sniff our hands one by one?"

A bold girl asked, and then truly extended her fair hand toward Xia De, which caused a burst of laughter:

"Sir Knight, that is truly not gentlemanly."

Xia De coughed, indicating that he was very serious:

"No, my nose is not keen enough. I would like my cat to do the sniffing."

He pointed his hand toward his shoulder. Mia immediately stretched out her paw to touch Xia De's finger, but because her paw was too short to reach, she could only sulk there.

"Both cats and dogs have keen enough senses of smell, and my cat has undergone standardized, rigorous training, sufficient to handle tasks that its peers cannot complete."

As he spoke, Xia De took the cat off his shoulder. His right hand pinched the back of the cat's neck, while his left hand supported it from below to prevent Mia from falling due to restless squirming.

And Mia, staring with amber eyes, meowed at the human women on the sofa. Finding that Xia De wouldn't let her go after struggling, she tried to turn her head and meow at Xia De to express her dissatisfaction.

This appearance made the noble young ladies laugh happily again.

"Ladies, please come before me in turn, and then bring your hands under my cat's nose. If anyone has an unusual smell on their hands, a professionally trained cat will certainly discover it."

The "professionally trained" cat's tail was curled, and its body was swaying back and forth, seemingly finding amusement in it.

"Detective Hamilton, I have only heard that dogs have a developed sense of smell; I have never heard that cats have a developed sense of smell as well."

On the single sofa to the left, a blonde girl wearing gold-rimmed glasses said. She was the eldest daughter of the kingdom's current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Lewis Ludwig, and appeared to be the quietest one among these noble girls.

Xia De explained without panic, which is to say, he spouted nonsense:

"One theory holds that a cat's sense of smell is also keen enough. It's just that because these cute little creatures don't listen very well, people don't like to train them. But I have professional cat-training techniques, having put this domestic orange cat through professional training. Ladies, please extend your hands; as long as there is an abnormal scent matching that on the tortoise shell, Little Mia will certainly be able to sniff it out."

These noble girls actually laughed again, noisily commenting on Xia De's words.

Xia De had been worried that no one would respond to his call, but he didn't expect Princess Angelina Cavendish, who had been silent the whole time, to take the initiative and say:

"Then let me go first."

She extended her hand to Xia De, and the laughter stopped immediately. Xia De also understood that Angelina Cavendish was the absolute leader of this small group. After all, as Lexia's younger sister, Princess Angelina did not appear to be as ignorant as Xia De had imagined.