Chapter 744

The royal guards in uniform stood in front of the steps leading to the seats above the south spectator area; even though the surrounding crowd was boisterous, it seemed they were unaffected.

In this era where the new age and the old age were alternating, the equipment of the royal guards was also quite interesting. Firearms naturally existed, but besides that, everyone wore heavy armor, held spears, and had sharp longswords hanging at their waists.

Xia De had heard that sometimes agents from MI6 also needed to temporarily act as royal guards, and he very much hoped he would not encounter such a mission; this set of equipment looked heavy as hell just by looking at it.

Xia De walked over with the cat. After the loyal guards inquired about his identity and background, one of them walked upward, stopped at a position three rows of seats away from the noble ladies, and explained the visitor's identity to the maid.

At this time, a small number of people had already noticed Xia De's arrival, so before that guard returned, Wang Hou Diana, Miss Galina, and Tifa behind Miss Galina also shifted their gazes from the horse track to Xia De.

Wang Hou Diana, wearing a silver openwork crown inlaid with rubies, held a feather fan made of colorful feathers today. She used the fan to block her mouth, tilted her head, and whispered a sentence to Miss Galina, which made the women nearby laugh.

Xia De naturally received permission to continue walking upward; he tidied his attire and soon arrived at the high level on the sunshade.

Miss Galina wanted to get up to talk to Xia De elsewhere, but was stopped by the queen who was clearly over forty years old but still looked youthful and energetic:

"Let the knight sit over directly."

She ordered.

Thus, Xia De, who originally only wanted to see the world and incidentally ask about items related to the sun, sat on Miss Galina's right hand side in such a muddled way.

To his right was an empty seat, and further to the right was another noble lady who looked to be in her thirties; according to the address, she was the daughter of a certain duke. And on Miss Galina's left hand side was Wang Hou Diana; the queen looked at Xia De with great interest:

"Knight Hamilton, long time no see, good day. Do you have any important matters to find our duchess for?"

She affectionately placed her hand on Miss Galina's shoulder, and the witch had no expression.

"Good day, Your Majesty, good day, Miss Galina. Cleaning the house some time ago, thanks to Miss Galina's help, I specially brought wine today to visit her at the manor to express my gratitude. It was the manor butler who told me that Miss Galina was here; I hope my visit is not particularly presumptuous."

As he spoke, Xia De reached his hand into the inside pocket of his coat. After his hand paused for two seconds, under Wang Hou Diana's interested gaze, he took out two wilted roses. His right pinky, ring finger, and middle finger held them, while his thumb and index finger pinched those two beautiful flowers.

Because he could not see the detailed situation in his pocket, the two flowers he pulled out were one red and one white, not completely identical:

"A gift for the two beautiful ladies."

He said with a smile, and a smile finally appeared on the red-haired duchess's face:

"Knight, this is the first time you have brought me flowers. Although they look no longer fresh, they are not bad."

Although the queen's status was higher, Miss Galina, as the elder, still chose the red rose first, while Wang Hou Diana took the white rose.

Both ladies looked very happy, and Xia De also smiled and put his hand down. His gesture just now was very awkward; that was because between his right pinky, ring finger, and middle finger, he was still holding a small flower-shaped pendant toy.

At this time, he put his hand down, wiped it gently on the inside of his coat hem, and another red rose appeared.

Xia De quietly reached his hand behind his back and passed the flower to the rear from the gap in the seats. On the surface, he still talked to the queen with a polite smile.

Standing behind was Tifa; the maid was originally paying attention to the banter between the queen and Miss Galina, when her peripheral vision caught a flower slowly extending from below. That was Xia De's hand, and his fingers even hooked slightly, signaling Tifa to take the flower away.

The maid's black eyes swept toward Xia De, who was talking to the queen; if she hadn't seen the small movements of his hand, no one would have guessed that the flower was passed by him.

Looking left and right, she quickly bent down and took the flower from Xia De's hand. With her left hand behind her back, she slowly twisted the flower branch, and a smile she was trying hard to control appeared on her fair face.

"Knight, I have often heard my daughter talk about you recently."

Wang Hou Diana said, while her eyes had already looked at the horses running on the track again. Xia De was shocked in his heart and was about to explain his relationship with Leciya when he heard Miss Galina interject:

"What did little Angelina say about Xia De?"

"Angelina recently complained to me that she invited Knight Hamilton to her salon many times, but Mr. Knight could always find reasons to decline every time."

This was a bit of a grievance against Xia De; except for every time he met Leciya, Angelina would say she wanted to invite him, he had not received any written invitations. Moreover, he was really busy this autumn; there were too many things in Midhillburg.

"Detective commission work is heavy; recently I received a big business, and the commission left by Uncle Sparrow also needs to be wrapped up."

Xia De said apologetically and wondered why Angelina always mentioned him:

"Of course, I still want to express my apologies; I will not refuse Her Highness the Princess's next invitation."

"Angelina will probably be very happy. Speaking of which, Mr. Hamilton, you are not young anymore; I remember you are not married yet? Oh, then you should participate in such activities more; a gentleman as handsome and excellent as you, I think, is very popular in the eyes of the ladies in the capital."

This topic made the noble ladies around participate with interest. Only Miss Galina gave the queen a strange look; now almost everyone had heard the absurd rumor that Xia De was her "lover."

"Marriage is not urgent; I have even heard of nobles in the local area who only get married in their thirties."

Xia De said while teasing Mia; although Mia was a bit worried about the strange environment, since Xia De was still by her side, she would not be scared.

"That is only a minority of examples..."

The queen suddenly smiled, then turned her head to ask Xia De:

"Knight, can you ride a horse?"

"Of course..."

Xia De wanted to shake his head.

"Yes."

Miss Galina finished the next sentence for him, and then, in Xia De's surprised eyes, took over the following matter for him:

"Why not let Xia De go down and ride a horse for a lap."

The witch said, and it didn't look like a joke, because she had already turned her head to look at her maid:

"Tifa, you take Xia De to choose a horse; I hope he can choose a suitable mount."

As she spoke, she "snatched" little Mia from Xia De's arms and then gave him a look.

"Yes, Miss."

Tifa said softly, and at the same time, Marchioness Lemaire, who was sitting in the front row, also stood up and arranged for servants to follow them to choose a horse.

"This is really interesting; why don't we add some stakes."

Wang Hou Diana said:

"Knight, if you can win the top three in the next round, this fan will be given to you. As a thank you for that beautiful white rose."

That feather fan should be ivory-boned, and the pendant is a purple gemstone. A rough valuation would not be lower than three digits, equivalent to a special rule Luo De card.

"This idea is not bad, Xia De, if you can cross the finish line in the top three..."

The witch shook her finger:

"This ring will belong to you."

On her hand was a golden ring, with extremely faint traces of enlightenment elements that no one could discover except Xia De. This should be some kind of alchemical item, just don't know the specific effect.

"Okay, two ladies, please look forward to my performance."

Xia De, who couldn't ride a horse at all, stood up pretending to be calm and followed Tifa and the Lemaire family's servants downward, preparing to go to the stable to choose a horse.

"It's okay, don't be nervous."

The Lemaire family's maid walked in the front, Xia De in the middle, Tifa slightly behind. She spoke in Xia De's ear in a very light voice, clearly understanding the witch's intention:

"Her Highness Angelina is a pawn that King Larus III is preparing to use for a political marriage. The queen is testing your relationship; in order to prevent saying the wrong thing and even exposing your relationship with Her Highness Leciya, Miss proposed to let you leave temporarily."

"But I really can't ride a horse."

He pretended to look at the people in the opposite stands and whispered.

Last time Tifa only taught him how to get on a horse and how to maintain the correct posture on the horse; he really couldn't ride a horse.

"It's okay, please hold this well."

Tifa unobtrusively stuffed a metal charm into Xia De's hand:

"Hold this, it will make animals become docile, at least it won't let you fall off."

"And then..."

"Remember the horse-riding tips I taught you last time."

"That was only the theoretical part."

"Yes, that's enough; a trained racehorse won't make things difficult for you."

Tifa's voice paused for a moment:

"I will do something to the hooves of another horse, a delayed 【Limp Curse】; you at least won't be the last one."

But Xia De was still uneasy; losing to a lame horse seemed even more embarrassing.

Next was to go to the stable with a strong smell to choose a horse that could serve as a mount. Given that Xia De couldn't ride a horse, Tifa chose for him a jujube-red Delarion Highland horse with a relatively docile personality.

That was a mare; when Xia De approached it, it was lowering its head eating fodder. When Xia De patted it with the charm, the horse just glanced at him, as if blaming Xia De for disturbing its eating, but had no other reaction.

Of course, Xia De would rather find a horse with the same color as little Mia. But in this world, there is no orange horse as dazzling as the sun.

"Don't know if I can find a relic ring that makes little Mia bigger in the future; riding a giant cat seems not bad either. That cat is very bold when facing animals smaller than itself, similar in size, and its own kind."

Looking uneasily at the Lemaire family's maid talking to the groom, Xia De was thinking about messy things in his heart.