Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 623 - Princess in the Morning

Chapter 623: Chapter 623: Princess in the Morning

Chapter 623: Chapter 623: Princess in the Morning

Although Shard had set up a nest for Mia in the closet with his old clothes on Tuesday night, the orange cat was still quite displeased on Wednesday morning.

After being let out by Shard in the morning, it largely ignored him. Even when Shard heated the sheep’s milk and soaked the cat food in Mia’s special bowl, it only meowed reservedly and waited until Shard returned to his seat before reluctantly approaching.

Shard had never thought that he could see such human-like behavior from a cat.

Sitting at the table, Shard carefully peeled a boiled egg and under Mia’s cautious gaze, moved from his seat to beside the cat, which was standing on the table eating.

He split the still warm white egg in half, the yellow yolk even steaming slightly.

Mia glanced towards room two and then, with wide eyes, looked at the egg yolk in Shard’s hand, tilting her head:

“Meow?”

“Do you want some?” Shard asked, as the cat blinked its eyes and meowed gently:

“Meow~”

Thus, Mia got an extra addition to her breakfast, and Shard regained the affection of his cat.

“[Do I need to remind you that it is…]”

“Yes, it’s Miss Mia’s cat, I know.” Shard responded, pulling Mia’s bowl to his side, then patted the compliant cat, and sat back in his place, unfolding the newspaper to read this year’s Tobesk autumn harvest statistics. It appeared to be a bumper year, with very good crop yields in the areas surrounding Tobesk.

Ding-dong~

The sound of a doorbell came from downstairs, and the cat, its face smeared with sheep’s milk, looked towards the stairway. Shard gave it a pat to reassure it. Surprised, he stood up and looked down from the living room window to see a strange carriage parked downstairs.

“Oh, do I have a client today?” Shard mused, his face slightly wrinkled with a frown:

“It’s only seven thirty, what client would be in such a hurry?”

Picking up the clothes from the coat rack at the second-floor doorway, he threw on a coat over his shirt and clomped downstairs. At the door, he swapped his slippers for leather shoes:

“Please wait a moment.” Shard called from behind the door, removing the door’s security chain and sliding back the deadbolt before finally turning the doorknob.

Outside was the Tobesk morning, autumn and haze mixed together, darkening the sky slightly. Saint Delan Square already had some pedestrians, but most were bleary-eyed and in a hurry. In the distance, a boy selling newspapers in a black, deflated cap was pestering a middle-aged man with a briefcase, while a flower-selling girl at the street corner quietly conversed with a lady poking her head out of a carriage.

The fog added a touch of color to this scene, making it seem somewhat like a classical oil painting of a street scene had come to life. The century-old buildings of Saint Delan Square stood in the center of the Royal Capital as usual, with the statue of a girl holding a water jug, still smiling through the foggy, dark morning.

The carriage stopped in front of No. 6, Saint Delan Square, its door already open. A red-haired girl in a black pleated floral skirt, her dress speckled with gemstone decorations, added a special splash of color to the morning street scene.

The red-haired girl smiled at Shard:

“Good morning, Shard, I hope I won’t bump into Luviya here.”

Of course not, Luviya had left early, she hadn’t brought a change of clothes and needed to go home to change before going to work at the Prophet’s Society.

“Good morning, Lecia.”

Shard said, quite surprised, as this was their first encounter… physical encounter in a month since it was interrupted unexpectedly by Daknis at the Queen’s birthday party.

“Good morning, detective!”

Another voice said, as a slightly shorter sixteen-year-old princess also popped her head out from the carriage—it was Princess Angelina Cavendish, her face beaming with a broad smile. Her youthful face and the youthful embellishment of her attire made her look quite different from her sister.

“What brings you two here… Oh, please, come in.”

Realizing it would be better not to let too many people see Lecia and Angelina, Shard stepped aside from the doorway allowing the princesses to enter. Following behind were two maids who kept their heads down, but whom Shard hadn’t seen before; they likely were personal attendants to the Little Princess.

Both princesses passed by Shard, their hair tips brushing his shoulder. Lecia still wore the familiar scent of lily perfume, not too strong, which even Shard, who disliked the common perfumes of the era, could accept. Angelina’s scent was…

“Floral perfume.”

Shard couldn’t distinguish between different floral scents. He didn’t have that ability; Lecia had mentioned her perfume’s scent herself.

Nodding to the emotionless coachman, Shard closed the door from the inside, shutting the foggy morning of Saint Delan Square outside.

Although Lecia hadn’t been to No. 6, Saint Delan Square herself, she had been here many times through Dorothy’s body. Thus, without needing Shard’s guidance, she led the way upstairs first. This surprised Angelina, who hesitated before looking back at Shard, still closing the door, but she said nothing.

Once the group reached the living room on the second floor, Lecia naturally took a seat on the sofa and directed the maids to prepare tea in the kitchen. Seeing a group of strangers in the house, the cat was obviously uncomfortable with the atmosphere. Out of fear, and disregarding the remaining sheep’s milk in its bowl, it quickly ran towards Shard as the maids approached the kitchen.

“Mr. Hamilton, are you having breakfast?”

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The Little Princess was very curious about this place, but due to her “royal lady” status, she did not peek around but rather sat obediently next to her sister.

Lecia was about the same age as Dorothy, both slightly older than Shard’s current body. In reality, Luviya was even older than Lecia. At sixteen, Angelina had fewer worries, and today’s sky-blue princess dress, which was a younger style, made her look even younger.

“Yes, I generally have breakfast at this time. Why have you come so early? Is there an urgent matter?”

Shard sat down on the single-seater sofa nearby.

“There’s no urgency, it’s just that if it weren’t this early, I wouldn’t be able to come here.”

Lecia said, her eyes scanning Shard, aware that Shard had ventured into the Interstice of Life and Death:

“After brother Sax was sentenced to death, someone had to take over the affairs of the New World that he used to manage…”

“They entrusted it to you?”

“If that were the case, it would be great, but clearly, in the eyes of my father, I’m still not ready to handle these matters.”

“Since returning from Carsonrick, father has consistently had her deal with diplomatic affairs. Meeting with foreign ambassadors, attending banquets, or giving speeches in the Kingdom Parliament, that kind of stuff.”

Angelina mentioned that successful representation of the royal family on a visit to the Southern Nation had gained Lecia greater power.

“Yes, yes, power tastes quite nice, but it is also very time-consuming; fortunately, I am still managing it.”

Lecia said with a smile, and then the Red-Haired Princess looked at Shard again:

“I must return by 9 AM. As for why I came so early to see you, remember last Saturday? You were busy saving your friend and missed our class, didn’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“So, we need to make up for it. We can’t delay the matter of Spirit Runes, especially in your case.”

Shard didn’t speak but glanced at Angelina; Lecia shook her head:

“It’s okay, Angelina can be trusted. Moreover, she’s very talented, not just because she has become a Circle Sorcerer. Angelina has always had a very strong intuition since she was young.”

“Yes, in flipping a coin to guess heads or tails, as long as there’s a large enough sample size, I can achieve over an eighty percent success rate!”

The Little Princess said, then smiled and waved at the cat curling up in Shard’s arms, which paid her no attention.

“Oh, such a strong intuition?”

For such ordinary people, it was almost certain they would awaken at some point in the future. Of course, it was only “almost,” and it might just be good luck.

“How about we try guessing this one? Let’s do ten guesses, shall we?”

Shard took out the Standing Coin. Dorothy had heard Shard mention something he had bought at Midshire Fort, hence Lecia also knew about it:

“Don’t tease my sister. When tossed, this can only stand upright on the ground. Shard, let’s talk business, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

Shard asked curiously, and Lecia pulled out a photograph from her dress pocket. It showed a man in a Draleon Royal Army uniform, a lieutenant by his shoulder badges.

On the back of the photo was written “Rising Wind Trail – Red Water Camp – Lieutenant Houghton.”

“If you have the time, could you investigate this man? It doesn’t need to be detailed, just need to know if he has had any unusual large expenses recently.”

Shard raised an eyebrow:

“No problem, that’s easy.”

Yesterday he had helped the Sergeant who died in the “Interstice of Life and Death” by returning a pistol to Captain Ronald of the Red Water Camp. It seemed he had another task related to that place. Perhaps he should visit the Traveler’s Camp near the gateway to Rising Wind Trail, an excellent opportunity also to search for the Demon Hunter’s sword.

“After I receive your response, I will provide you an appropriate reward, no, don’t refuse, you know I’m never short on Gold Pounds.”

Lecia waved her hand but did not clarify what was wrong with Captain Ronald, then she brought up another topic:

“Regarding your Slumber, in the class two weeks ago, we began to try reading ‘Sleeping Princess.’ How has the progress been recently?”

“Not bad, I try to transcribe those stories written in Ancient Script every day. The parchment is now in the drawer…”

Shard emphasized:

“This time, I didn’t burn it.”

He emphasized because the parchment containing the stories of the Matchstick Girl and the Kiss of the Tree, provided by Lecia and used in obtaining the Maze Lock, had been destroyed by Shard.