Chapter 485: Kidnapping

The Princess said to the stunned Xia De with a smile, then gestured for Xia De to sit down and talk:

"Since we happened to meet here, would you like to watch the opera together?"

Aside from her, there were only those maids in the box; this time, Lei Qianya was out watching the opera alone.

But she likely didn't know Xia De was waiting for her sister, and was genuinely inviting Xia De to watch the opera; otherwise, she absolutely would not have asked Xia De to stay.

Xia De himself actually didn't want to get more involved with the Cavendish family, as it would lead to a lot of trouble. He intended to find an excuse to decline the invitation, but perhaps noticing Xia De's intent, Princess Lei Qianya said again:

"Knight, do you have other companions? Or are you waiting for someone? Oh, it doesn't matter, you can invite them along."

Lei Qianya's attitude was very sincere. Seeing this, Xia De found it hard to refuse again, but thinking of the message Lei Qianya had just sent saying she would take at least another half hour to arrive, he said:

"Very well, Your Highness, but I can only stay here for half an hour; I have other matters to attend to shortly. I only came to watch the opera today because I received a commission."

"No problem, but next time you must attend my salon; my friends are very interested in you."

The sixteen-year-old Princess said happily, then gestured for Xia De to sit down and talk, calling for her maids to pour tea and bring fresh cookies.

Compared to watching the opera, the conversation between the two was what truly interested Xia De.

Although to outsiders, Princess Lei Qianya was the type of princess doted on by the Emperor, lingering at banquets and salons, just waiting to be betrothed in a political marriage by Emperor La Lu Si III, when discussing domestic politics and recent news in Kaisenrike, she could easily provide her own views and insights, which were no worse than what Xia De had imagined.

She even had an understanding of matters in the New Continent. Although the Princess herself did not like that remote place where there wasn't even a cake shop, she spoke quite eloquently about the Kingdom's gains from the New Continent.

Of course, this was limited to very superficial explanations, mostly strange anecdotes she had heard from those around her. For instance, she excitedly told Xia De that there was a type of cat in the New Continent smaller than an ordinary rat, which was very cute and docile, did not shed, had a small appetite, and defecated at a fixed time every morning at eight o'clock.

But this idealized pet's diet was limited to the fresh leaves of the "Cat-Tail Rat Grass" that only grew in the New Continent, which was why this strange creature, dubbed the "Rat-Cat" by the expedition team, had not been brought before the Princess.

"When that grass can be transplanted to the Old Continent, I must raise one."

The Princess said to Xia De, but Xia De could not imagine the scene of himself adding a new pet.

He could easily imagine the terrible scene of the orange cat, Xiao Miya, crouching on the highest cabinet in the house, the entire cat submerged in darkness, looking gloomily under the gas lamp at Xia De interacting with a new pet.

The two chatted while watching the opera, and the half hour passed quickly.

Princess Lei Qianya let Xia De leave as promised, but before he left, she invited Xia De again to attend her salon when he had time:

"The first time I saw you in the courtyard from the second-floor balcony of the Lake View Manor, I felt you were different from everyone else."

The little Princess praised:

"Don't refuse the next invitation, Knight; I have a very good impression of you."

Xia De agreed with a smile, but pushed it off, saying he had been very busy lately and would only have time in a few months.

Bidding farewell to the Princess at the door of the box, Xia De walked along the corridor toward the stairwell, intending to return to his box to continue waiting for Lei Qianya.

At the corner of the corridor, he met three strange men in black trench coats walking in a hurry, so Xia De stepped aside to let them pass first. The tall man in the lead, wearing a black hat, even nodded at Xia De as a gesture of thanks. Xia De was quite curious that these three gentlemen were actually wearing casual clothes to watch the opera.

"Probably guards for some great noble."

He thought about what he would say when he saw Lei Qianya in a moment, continuing to walk forward with his head down. Because he was looking down, his eyes unconsciously looked at the floor beneath his feet.

Thus, he saw a string of not-so-dense red halos on the red carpet at his feet.

"Hm?"

His footsteps did not stop, but his eyes blinked twice, immediately identifying what this was:

"This is Blood Echo? Can it be displayed passively now?"

Xia De thought in surprise; these red halos were indeed the manifestation of the 【Blood Echo】 in effect. But he had not activated the miracle, which meant this miracle could actively display relatively fresh bloodstains at close range.

His heart stirred, and these halos immediately disappeared; it seemed that for passive states, once detected and turned active, Xia De could still cancel them at any time.

"However, where did the bloodstains come from? Stained on the soles of those three men's shoes just now?"

Anyway, having nothing to do now, Xia De stopped and backed up to the corner of the corridor, tilting his head to look back at the three men.

The three stopped in front of Lei Qianya's box, and after knocking on the door, the person in front seemed to reach out and cover the mouth of the person inside. The three rushed in at once, then closed the door.

The corridor returned to calm, with only the sound of the opera still echoing. The three men did not notice Xia De's head poking out from the corner, and naturally did not know this scene had been seen by Xia De.

"What's the situation?"

Xia De raised an eyebrow and straightened his tilted body.

When they brushed past just now, the voice in his ear did not indicate that the three were Ringed Shushi, so this shouldn't be Xia De being unlucky enough to run into a mystical event again.

But the three were clearly not right, so Xia De restored his revolver, which had been turned into a toy, to its original state. Since he had run into such a thing, he naturally had to intervene, especially since Princess Lei Qianya was Princess Lei Qianya's sister.

He returned to the door and knocked, saying loudly:

"Your Highness, I'm sorry, I left..."

He originally wanted to say he had left something behind, but then thought that once the three men found that the item Xia De claimed to have left behind didn't exist in the room, they would know Xia De had come prepared.

So Xia De said:

"Your Highness, I left the garter you gave me here."

There were 5 women in the room; Xia De didn't believe they couldn't find even one garter. And the Princess hadn't said she would give Xia De a garter just now, so they would know at this moment that Xia De had sensed something was wrong.

The soundproofing of this noble-only box was excellent; Xia De spoke loudly, so they should be able to hear inside, but he couldn't hear the sounds inside. After a long while, the door was opened a crack, and a trembling maid blocked the gap, her mouth shut, looking like she wanted to speak but didn't dare.

She really handed Xia De a garter.

White lace decoration, with a light pink bow fixed by pearls on it. When Xia De took it, he even felt the body heat on it.

"Your Highness!"

He grabbed the door gap, not giving anyone a chance to close the door, but he also had no intention of pushing the door open:

"I know I made you angry just now, so you don't want to see me, but please believe that what happened just now was absolutely not an offensive act."

He winked at the maid blocking the door, who bit her lip and looked at him.

"Please, you must forgive me, otherwise I won't leave today!"

He said this.

After another few seconds, Lei Qianya's voice came from behind the door:

"Yes, Detective, I forgive you."

The tone of her speech was also wrong. Xia De was curious about who was so bold, so he continued:

"Your Highness, your eyes are as bright as stars, your lips are more moving than beautiful roses, I beg for your forgiveness. Please see me one last time; if you refuse me to my face, I will definitely give up this time."

Such words were of course not made up by Xia De; they were heard while listening to the opera just now. And the three men who had just arrived clearly hadn't heard the actors recite this line just now.

"You really... after seeing me... will leave?"

Lei Qianya behind the door said intermittently, and Xia De immediately replied:

"Oh, yes, Your Highness, please believe me."

The room was quiet for a while again. After at least half a minute, the maid blocking the door was suddenly pulled back, and then Lei Qianya was pushed out from the side, blocking the door again.

The little Princess pursed her lips and looked at Xia De. Her body blocked the view from outside to inside, but also blocked the view from inside to outside. Xia De didn't know if Lei Qianya had the good habit of carrying steam bombs when going out and liking to stuff steam bombs to others like her sister, so he assumed she had no combat power.

After cocking the hammer of the gun in his hand, he waved it in front of the Princess:

"Be careful."

He made this lip shape, and then regardless of whether Lei Qianya understood, he continued to say the opera lines he had just heard:

"Even the stars shining in the night sky are not enough for your..."

Lei Qianya winked at Xia De, and her right hand suddenly moved, her index finger pointing to three different directions respectively. From the direction behind the door, breathing could be vaguely heard, which meant she was trying to tell Xia De the enemy's position.

"It seems she is not completely useless."

Thinking about things in his heart, as for what he actually said, Xia De was not aware. But he knew clearly that he couldn't drag it out, otherwise, no matter how stupid the people inside were, they should understand that Xia De was stalling for time.

"Ordinary people are present, so I cannot rashly use the power of a Ringed Shushi. Even if I use it, I can only use one that is not easy to arouse suspicion. It's a pity that the doctor hasn't obtained the 【Mental Crystal】 yet. Although the Luger revolver issued by MI6 has six chambers, it cannot fire continuously. At the first moment, I can only knock down one person with a gun..."

Thinking to himself, Xia De had already made a decision. He held the gun in his right hand and took four Luo De cards from his pocket with his left hand, tucking them between his fingers. ===== CHAPTER 486 =====