Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 484 Kidnapping

The Princess, with a smile, addressed the astonished Shard and then gestured for him to sit down and talk:

"What a coincidence to meet you here, would you like to join me in watching the opera?"

In the box, aside from her, there were only those Maids. This time, Angelina Cavendish had come to see the opera alone.

But she shouldn’t have known that Shard was waiting for her sister, she truly wanted to invite Shard to watch the opera together; otherwise, she definitely would not have invited Shard to stay.

Shard himself didn’t want to get more involved with the Cavendish family, as that would lead to a lot of trouble. He was inclined to find an excuse to decline the invitation, but perhaps sensing Shard’s reluctance, Princess Angelina then said:

"Knight, do you have any other companions? Or are you waiting for someone? Oh, it’s fine, you can invite them to join us."

Princess Angelina Cavendish’s attitude was very sincere, and seeing this Shard could not well refuse anymore, but recalling the message from Lecia a moment ago stating she would need at least half an hour to arrive, he then said:

"Alright, Your Highness, but I can only stay here for half an hour, I have other matters later. I came today because I was assigned a commission to watch the opera."

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

Her Highness the Princess, sixteen years old, happily said, then signaled for Shard to sit and talk while she had her Maids pour tea and bring over new cookies.

Compared to watching the opera, it was their conversation that truly piqued Shard’s interest.

To outsiders, Princess Angelina might seem like the type of princess who was doted on by the King, frequented parties and salons, and was simply waiting to be matched in a political marriage by Larus III, but when it came to domestic politics and the recent news from Carsonrick, she easily articulated her own opinions and insights, no less impressive than Shard had imagined.

She even possessed knowledge about the New World, and although Her Highness disliked such remote places that lacked even a cake shop, when she spoke about the Kingdom’s gains from the New World, she was quite eloquent.

Of course, it was limited to very superficial explanations, most of it second-hand from those around her. For instance, she excitedly told Shard about a creature in the New World that was smaller than the common rat, very cute and docile, didn’t shed hair, had a small appetite, and defecated regularly at eight o’clock in the morning.

But this ideal pet, which only feeds on fresh leaves of a plant only found in the New World called "Cat Tail Mouse Grass," had not been brought before the princess by the explorers, and so they nicknamed it the "Mouse Cat."

"As soon as that grass can be transplanted to the Old Continent, I must get one," the Princess told Shard, but Shard couldn’t quite picture himself adding a new pet to his life.

He could vividly imagine his orange cat, Mia, crouching on the tallest cupboard at home, the entire cat melding into the darkness, glaring ominously at the terrifying scene below where Shard interacted with his new pet under the gas lamp.

The two talked and watched the opera, and such half an hour flew by quickly.

Princess Angelina let Shard leave as promised, but before he left, she once again invited him to attend her salon when he had the time:

"The first time I saw you in the courtyard from the second-floor terrace of Lakeside Manor, I felt you were different from others," praised the Little Princess.

"Do not refuse my next invitation, Knight, I have a good impression of you."

Shard smiled and accepted, but then excused himself by saying he was very busy and it would be several months before he had time.

After saying farewell to the Princess at the door of the box, Shard walked along the corridor toward the staircase, planning to return to the box to continue waiting for Lecia.

At the corridor’s corner, he encountered three strangers hurrying by in black overcoats, and Shard stepped aside to let them pass. The tall man in the lead, wearing a black hat, nodded at Shard as a gesture of thanks, making Shard curious about the three gentlemen who were at the opera in regular clothes.

"They are probably guards for some Grand Noble," he thought, pondering what Lecia might say when she finally arrives, as he walked with his head lowered. Since he was looking down, his gaze involuntarily fell to the carpet on the floor.

Therefore, he noticed a non-dense sequence of red halos on the red carpet at his feet.

"Hm?"

His steps did not stop, but his eyes blinked twice, immediately recognizing what it was:

"Is this an Echo of Blood? It can be displayed passively now?"

Shard thought in surprise, these red halos were indeed a manifestation of the Arcane Technique Echo of Blood in effect. But he had not activated any Arcane Technique, which meant that this Technique could display fresh blood traces at close range passively.

He thought for a moment, and the halos disappeared immediately, suggesting that the passive state, once noticed and turned active, could still be canceled anytime by Shard.

"But where did these bloodstains come from? Those three men’s shoes, perhaps?"

Since he had nothing pressing at the moment, Shard stopped and retraced his steps back to the corner of the corridor, tilting his head to look back at the three men.

The three men stopped in front of Angelina’s box. After knocking on the door, the foremost person seemed to cover the mouth of someone inside. They dashed in and closed the door behind them.

The corridor returned to tranquillity, with only the sound of the opera echoing. The three men had not noticed Shard peeking around the corner, so they were unaware that Shard had witnessed the scene.

"What’s going on?"

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Shard raised an eyebrow and straightened his tilted body.

When they brushed past him just now, his Arcane Technique didn’t alert him that the three people were Circle Sorcerers, so it was unlikely that Shard had run into another mysterious incident.

But there was clearly something off about the three men, so Shard restored his revolver, which had been transformed into a toy, back to its original state. Since he had stumbled upon the situation, he naturally felt obligated to intervene, especially since Princess Angelina was Lecia’s younger sister.

He returned to the door and knocked, then loudly said,

"Your Highness, I’m sorry, but I’ve left my..."

He was going to say that he had left something behind, but then he thought that if the three men discovered there was no item inside the room that Shard claimed to have left, they would know Shard had come prepared.

So, Shard said,

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

There were five women in the room, and Shard didn’t believe they couldn’t find even a single garter. Plus, the Princess had not mentioned giving a garter to Shard, so this would signal to them that Shard had realized something was amiss.

These noble boxes had excellent soundproofing, so while the people inside should have been able to hear Shard speaking loudly, he couldn’t hear anything from inside. After a while, the door cracked open slightly, and the trembling Miss Maid stood in the doorway, her mouth closed, looking as if she wanted to speak but didn’t dare.

She actually handed Shard a garter.

Decorated with white lace and a light pink bow secured by pearls, Shard could even feel the warmth on it when it reached his hands.

"Your Highness!"

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

"I know I’ve upset you just now, so you don’t want to see me, but please believe me, that was definitely not meant to offend."

He blinked at the Miss Maid in front of him, who bit her lip and looked at him.

"Please forgive me, otherwise I will not leave today!"

That’s what he said.

It took a few seconds more before Angelina’s voice came from behind the door:

"Yes, Detective, I forgive you."

There was something wrong with the way she spoke, too. Shard, curious about who dared be so bold, continued:

"Your Highness, your eyes are as bright as the stars, and your lips more charming than rosy flowers. I beg for your forgiveness. Please, grant me one final meeting—if you reject me in person, I will certainly give up this time."

Of course, these words were not Shard’s own invention but something he had heard at the opera moments before. The three men who had just arrived obviously hadn’t heard the actors reciting these lines.

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

Angelina’s voice from behind the door was hesitant, and Shard immediately answered:

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

There was quiet inside for a while, and after at least half a minute, the Miss Maid blocking the door was suddenly pulled back, and then Angelina, as if pushed from the side, appeared again in front of the door.

The Little Princess pursed her lips and looked at Shard, her body blocking the view from outside into the room, but also the view from inside out. Shard didn’t know if Angelina Cavendish had the same habit as her sister, always carrying a Steam Bomb when leaving the house and liking to hand them out to others; therefore, he assumed she was not capable of fighting.

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

"Be careful."

He mouthed these words and then, regardless of whether Angelina understood, continued with the opera lines he had heard:

"Even the stars shining in the night sky are no match for your..."

Angelina blinked at Shard, and her right hand suddenly moved, with her index finger pointing in three different directions. From behind the door, one could vaguely hear breathing, indicating she was trying to convey the enemies’ positions to Shard.

"It seems she’s not entirely useless after all."

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Shard didn’t even notice what he was saying out loud. But he knew he couldn’t drag things out any longer, as even the dullest person inside would soon realize Shard was stalling for time.

"Ordinary people are present, so I can’t rashly use the power of a Circle Sorcerer. Even if I do, it must be something that won’t raise suspicion. It’s a pity I haven’t obtained the ’Mind Crystal’ from the doctor. The Ruger Revolver Cylinder issued by MI6 has six chambers, but they can’t be fired in rapid succession; in the first instance, I can only take down one person with the gun..."

Having made up his mind, Shard readied his right hand with the gun, and with his left hand, he pulled out four Roder Cards from his pocket, tucking them between his fingers.