Chapter 887

"Threatening me?"

While Xia De was chatting with Angelina, the middle-aged nobleman wearing a cowboy hat—who was actually a count and had been running in the lead of the second echelon—suddenly slowed down. He then turned toward the slope on the side of the road while kissing his female companion on horseback, his hands even beginning to touch indescribable parts.

Xia De did not know what they would do next, because he had already passed the two of them, inexplicably moving up one position.

"I know, big sister must have also gotten a hold of your weakness and is blackmailing you, right? For example—"

The little princess sitting in front of Xia De continued, then pinched her throat to change her voice:

"Knight, you wouldn't want your cat to suddenly go missing, would you?"

She tried hard to mimic Lei Qianya's voice, and Xia De no longer knew which matter currently shocked him more.

He only heard the laughter and teasing of others behind him, and then heard the count's cursing from below the dirt slope, which grew fainter due to the distance:

"Compared to this damn race, aren't the young ladies more interesting? Go ride your horses! Don't send anyone to look for me in a while!"

Perhaps his point of view could be agreed upon by most people.

Seeing that Xia De did not speak, Angelina continued:

"As an upright, kind, honest, and brave gentleman like you, how could you suddenly fall for big sister Lei Qianya? She doesn't have that kind of charm."

She probably underestimated Lei Qianya's charm, and since she certainly did not know the secret between Lei Qianya and Duo Luo Xi, she could not guess that the story between Xia De and Lei Qianya went far beyond what she saw. Coupled with the fact that every time she saw Xia De and Lei Qianya together, Lei Qianya was always relatively "dominant," she had this illusion.

Xia De wanted to clarify this misunderstanding, but the dirt road ahead was quite difficult to walk, and the ground was pitted and not at all as flat as the road directly in front of the Lake View Manor. He had to concentrate on riding:

"Angelina, actually I..."

"I know, actually you also have a good impression of big sister Lei Qianya."

She finally got this sentence right. As she spoke, she looked up at Xia De's face. Xia De nervously gripped the reins, not daring to look around, for fear of a "traffic" accident.

"Mr. Han Mi Er Dun, don't you think your situation is very similar to mine? Big sister is also using striving for my freedom to control me, but she is also genuinely good to me. I also like big sister very much, but I have always wanted to obtain true, unconstrained freedom."

At this time, more than half of the race had passed. On the bumpy horse's back, Xia De clamped his arms tightly around Angelina to prevent her from falling off. But Angelina's horsemanship was clearly far better than Xia De's; this level of bumping was not a problem for her at all.

"I know big sister Lei Qianya's ambition; she needs me, and I need her. But I really want to... Mr. Han Mi Er Dun, actually we are the ones standing together."

The little princess was trying hard to explain her point of view.

"Um... what do you want to do?"

Xia De asked after hesitating for a moment, suspecting that this sixteen-year-old princess had developed the idea of "I can replace her."

A look of joy appeared on Angelina Cavendish's face:

"Let's help each other in the future, behind big sister Lei Qianya's back. If there are things we don't want her to know, we can communicate by bypassing her."

She whispered, as if worried that Lei Qianya, who was far away in the manor, would hear. Xia De breathed a sigh of relief. Although most of the Cavendish family's offspring were ambitious, the age of sixteen really wouldn't make one think too much:

"No problem."

He nodded and promised. Angelina Cavendish just didn't want marriage to become a bargaining chip in the King's hands. Helping her was a righteous act, and the outsider was very happy to help. As for private communication, Xia De didn't think Angelina could really bypass Lei Qianya; she probably had no idea how many methods Lei Qianya had.

Seeing that Xia De actually agreed, the little princess seemed very happy. She reached out and grabbed the reins that Xia De was pulling, turned her body, and said:

"Knight, it seems that your saying you are not good at riding is really not a lie."

There was a light tone in her words:

"Let go, I'll control it. Now we have only run half a lap, there is still a chance."

As she spoke, her arms opened slightly, actually forcing Xia De to let go of the reins.

Under the reflection of the sunset, the female knight's long red hair also looked so shiny. The position where Xia De and Angelina were originally was already the first in the second echelon. Now that Xia De let go and accelerated abruptly, they actually quickly caught up with Baron Brady, who was in first place.

The Baron's sorcery was quite exquisite. His only weakness was that every time he reached out to pick the note on the wooden pole, he would subconsciously slow down. But this was not a problem for Angelina at all. She didn't even need Xia De to reach out; she could pull the note down nimbly when passing by the servant at high speed.

The second half of the horse race ended as Baron Brady gradually slowed down and Xia De and Angelina approached bit by bit.

When they returned to the straight road in front of the Lake View Manor and could see the people waiting at the finish line from afar, Angelina let go of the reins again, letting Xia De control the rhythm of the horse again.

Because Xia De and Angelina were in second place from beginning to end, no one discovered that the rider had changed halfway. And on the final straight road of acceleration, this racehorse, carefully selected from the Lemaire Racecourse, showed excellent straight-line acceleration technology.

At the start of the straight-line acceleration, it was still a full horse's length behind Baron Brady in front, but when it finally crossed the finish line, it was actually a horse's head distance faster than the Baron.

When Xia De pulled the reins to slow down, cheers had already come from behind. And compared to Xia De's frantic attempt to stop this horse that had run happily, Baron Brady stopped very easily behind Xia De:

"Knight, I didn't expect that not only are you good at playing Rhodos cards, but even your horsemanship is so exquisite."

The Baron said very decently, although he lost the race. Of course, he got a kiss when helping his wife off the horse, which was probably the reason why this middle-aged nobleman was in a good mood:

"The final straight-line acceleration was great."

He took off his gloves, reached out to shake hands with Xia De, and Xia De felt a little embarrassed.

"Yes, the horsemanship of the Hamilton of Lei Jiede is quite good."

Angelina, who had already gotten off the horse's back, said with a smile. After standing firmly on the ground, she learned the movements of the female companions of the other riders who arrived one after another, stood on tiptoe, and kissed Xia De on the side of his face.

Although Xia De was rumored to be Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's lover, it was normal to give a kiss to the knight who won the championship after the horse race at the wedding banquet. So, although Xia De felt even more embarrassed, everyone else thought it was quite normal.

The people who returned one after another congratulated Xia De, and the people watching the race also praised Xia De's final straight-line acceleration as quite professional. The horse racing experience at the Lemaire Racecourse in the autumn seemed to have been told by Queen Diana. Therefore, people assumed that Xia De was really good at riding and were not surprised by this result at all.

Only Xia De himself knew that winning had little to do with him; it was mainly because the horse's bloodline was too excellent.

But no matter what, amidst the praise of the crowd, he did indeed win the championship of the first large game of tonight's banquet.

The middle-aged butler of the manor sent the prize over very politely. Under the gaze of the crowd, Xia De put away the gold-plated silver brooch and then handed the small mirror to Angelina.

Xia De hugged his cat back, and the little princess took the mirror without handing it to her maid for safekeeping. Just as the butler said when they set off, the sunset had completely disappeared at this time, and the starry sky was twinkling overhead. Princess Angelina's face was slightly red, and she said goodbye to Xia De with her free hand:

"Knight, enjoy tonight's banquet. I'm going to change back into a dress. Although this outfit is convenient for riding, it's really too ugly... I had a lot of fun."

She said the second half of the sentence as if she were a little shy, then walked back to the manor with her maid, and soon disappeared into the crowd in the brightly lit courtyard.

Xia De looked at the silver brooch in his hand, accepting people's congratulations while pinning it to his chest:

"Does this count as proof of strength?"

【What kind of proof of strength is horse riding? No, this is far from enough.】

Xia De looked at the bustling courtyard in front of him, listening to the music and laughter, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth:

"Yes, just now doesn't count, next I will win a game myself!"

There was still a long time left tonight, and Xia De still had many things to do.

After the horse race ended, the news of Xia De winning the race somehow became known to everyone in a short time. While Xia De continued to stroll around the banquet, people would occasionally ask Xia De about the detailed experience of the horse race just now, and then laugh loudly, praising the extravagance and spending of this banquet.

Of course, no one would think of this as a waste. In the eyes of the nobles, this was a good opportunity to demonstrate the family's prestige. And looking at the royal family's attitude, after this wedding, Duke Ai Si Bo Ge would probably further control the power of the Northern Legion and be more valued by the King.

It was just that Xia De was very curious why Larus III, who had always been wary of others meddling with too much power and could even ruthlessly execute his own son, had no precautions against Duke Ai Si Bo Ge at all.

Xia De did not stroll for long. Less than ten minutes after the horse race ended, he met his neighbor, old Mr. Shi Misi, by the long table in the courtyard.

Mr. Shi Misi was dressed in an old-fashioned style with a black formal suit and bow tie. Before retiring, he was the chief secretary of the Kingdom's Ministry of Finance. After retiring, he not only received the Kingdom's Medal of Contribution but even obtained the title of honorary baron.

Although he was only a non-hereditary honorary baron, relying on his contributions and connections before retirement, this old gentleman who would go out to walk his dog with his wife on time every day and would greet Xia De enthusiastically when meeting him was actually more prestigious than those down-and-out hereditary nobles.

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