Whispering Verse

Shade heard from his boss, Director Anlos, that Willendale wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Yuewan Bridge was about to be completed to organize citizens to march on the streets and criticize the corruption of the city hall councilors in the construction of the bridge. Therefore, we can roughly guess the purpose of this gray-gloved officer's visit this time. But Mr. Richard would certainly not say this:

"His Majesty is planning to send members of the royal family to visit Yuewan, and I am here to do preliminary security work."

Earl Hawthorne and Miss Belinder exchanged a look, and the latter asked with a smile:

"I wonder who is coming? Prince Samuel of Anjou? Princess Margaret of Anjou?"

There are only three princesses and two princes in Kasenlik, among whom Samuel Anjou is the eldest, and the second prince William Anjou has been dismissed because of the unfavorable handling of the Randall Valley Masons Association at the beginning of the year. "Lion Ryan" doesn't like it, so he certainly won't be assigned such a job. Margaret was the second princess, and her sister was already married. Although the eldest princess still had some power within the kingdom, everyone could see that she had long since faded away from the political center of Willondale City.

As for the youngest prince, because he is only 12 years old and is not the kind of genius who can take on important tasks even under adulthood, he will not perform such a task. Therefore, the only ones who may be present in Moon Bay are Samuel Anjou and Margaret Anjou, who jointly participated in the Green Lake negotiations some time ago. Among the heirs of the Anjou royal family, it now seems that they two will inherit the throne. The most likely to take the throne.

"I'm really sorry. Even if I really know the answer to this question, I can't say it before the official announcement."

Mr. Richard smiled and replied:

"And it doesn't have to be a prince or princess. It could also be a certain duke or marquis who is highly respected by His Majesty."

But judging from the current situation, on the one hand, the Anjou royal family wants to win over the local nobles of Yuewan, and on the other hand, it needs to send someone who is capable enough to calm the situation, and the person sent cannot be too aggressive. Heavyweight to prevent local citizens from thinking that Willendale was putting pressure on Moon Bay. So, Samuel Anjou and Margaret were the best choices. And if Shade's guess is correct, Miss Sylvia and Miss Benanis will probably take this opportunity to come to Moon Bay to join him.

The banquet was originally scheduled to last until 10:30 in the evening, but it was a troubled time in Yuewan City, and everyone was worried about walking at night. But plans always change much faster than they change. At about nine forty, Shade was sitting on the sofa with the blonde countess, talking with the Marquis of Ankara and several other ladies about starting locally next week. Regarding the beautiful stockings for sale, a scream suddenly came from the east side of the banquet hall, followed by noisy sounds such as "He's dead" and "Where's his head?", and the place became completely chaotic.

【Do you feel it? 】

"Yes, at that moment, the light in the room became very strange."

Thinking in his mind, Shade stood up almost immediately:

"Ladies, please stay here and don't move. I'll go check on the situation."

The maids and servants had already come over to protect these ladies who must not get into trouble, and the Countess cooperated very cooperatively to ask Shade to pay attention to his safety before letting him go.

At this time, a circle of people had gathered around the place where the accident occurred, but there were also more people trying to stay away. After Shade squeezed to the front, he saw a body lying on the ground surrounded by a wall of people.

It's not correct to say it was "a corpse". Only two-thirds of the corpse was left. The body, including the head, neck, and the upper part of the chest, has completely disappeared, and the disappearance of the shoulders has also resulted in the arms being unable to be connected to the upper body, so this should actually be considered a shredded corpse.

The fracture of the corpse was quite smooth. Even if Xia De slashed with his sword, he might not be able to make such a natural wound. In order to avoid suspicion, he had no intention of squatting down to conduct an autopsy, but from the narratives of the people around him, he also learned the general outline of what had just happened.

Withdrawing and returning to the sofa, the frightened ladies wanted to know what happened.

"It is indeed a dead person. The deceased is Baron Mardur Binns. People said that he was dancing with his female companion just now, and then his body emitted a dazzling light as if it was on fire, and then half of his body disappeared. ”

Shade said in a low voice, and the ladies looked at each other, unable to understand what was going on. The witch had worry in her eyes, and when she looked at Shade and saw him nodding, she understood that Shade thought the same way.

If something like this happened, of course the banquet would not be able to continue. The police arrived quickly, and Earl Hawthorne also apologized to the guests and arranged for people to leave as soon as possible.

Shade also followed the witch back to the manor. After boarding the carriage, Miss Belindel said almost immediately:

"Headless Serial Murder Case."

"Yes, in those cases, the head of the deceased should suddenly light up and then disappear. But the serial murder case is most likely man-made, and tonight's incident seems to be just a natural phenomenon."

"natural phenomenon?"

The witch asked in disbelief. She took the fortune-telling cards handed over by the maid on the side, shuffled them quickly, pulled out three cards and put them on her lap. After confirming the cards, she groaned and covered her face with her hands:

"It really is. I would rather what happened tonight was a man-made event."

Shade leaned on the soft cushions of the carriage seat and looked at the scenery of Yuewan Bay outside the window:

"It's finally begun. Disasters on the earth originate from the earth, and disasters in space come from space. When light also becomes a disaster, can people really abandon the light?"

"At least until we figure out what's going on, we'd better stay away from the light."

The carriage drove toward a distance with sparse starlight, and the light of the kerosene lamp in the carriage was extinguished. Darkness has enveloped the land of Yuewan. Compared with light, darkness is indeed safer now.

Shade didn't say goodbye until he accompanied the witch back to Belindel Manor. The Countess seemed to really want Shade to stay the night, but Shade insisted on leaving. So before leaving, he accepted a gentle kiss from her as a thank you for accompanying her to the banquet.

But Xia De will come again tomorrow morning. Last Sunday, the cultists launched a ritual to summon the evil creature from the deep sea - the player of the Seven-Tails - on the coast of Moon Bay. She has already figured out some clues. And with this, Shade's last time exploration in the Sunless Sea has finally come to an end.

The glass slipper was thrown out, and then the figure of the stranger holding the glass slipper appeared on the stairs of the second floor of No. 6 Saint Teresa Square. Shade had just taken two steps up when he met little Mia who came to greet him happily. After arriving on the second floor, he saw that he was alone in the home where the elf girl had been staying a few days ago. Even a foreigner who was used to living alone felt a little melancholy:

"I wonder where Emilia and their train are now."

"Meow~"

The cat happily rubbed Shade's chest in his arms. Any lady might miss every night here, but little Mia would definitely be by Shade's side.

After washing, he returned to the bedroom to turn off the lights and rest. When he fell in his dream and looked up at the silvery moon on the field ridge that seemed to be an endless wilderness, Xia De suddenly asked:

"Where did the people who became the light go in the end?"

【You will not become light. 】

"She" smiled softly, like a gust of wind in the wilderness, like a piece of grass under Shade's feet.

"Why?"

Shade asked in confusion, thinking that "she" was hinting that he didn't need to be afraid of the disaster coming from the light.

"She" just smiled and didn't answer. Shade continued to look at the moon, and then suddenly laughed too:

"yes."

He looked down at his glowing hands:

"The moon and the sun are themselves light."

After a good night's sleep, it's Friday. When he went downstairs to get goat milk and newspapers, Shade was still thinking about the coming of the next Red Butterfly Day. Then when he went upstairs to prepare breakfast for himself and the cat, he hesitated about the time key that was already available. Should I wait until the next time I see Miss Eleser to use it, or should I go to Miss Belindle and get the information and use it later?

During breakfast time when the girls were not around, nothing else happened except that the cat was slightly dissatisfied with Shade's craftsmanship. The newspaper news still has the photo of His Majesty the King on the front page. There have been no major events worth mentioning in Tobesk City recently. Instead, the discussion about war and peace has become a topic for commentators, but outsiders do not care about this.

Originally, he was going to Yuewan City after breakfast, but the unexpected doorbell downstairs disrupted Xia De's plan.

After going downstairs to open the door in confusion, Bill Schneider was standing outside the door. Shade was surprised at first, and then welcomed him with a smile:

"Doctor, are you back from an academic conference?"

The blue-eyed psychiatrist smiled and nodded:

"I came back last night. I received the letter you sent me. I didn't expect that I had only been out for half a week and you would have encountered such a thing."

He took off his hat and entered the door. After following Shade upstairs, he listened to Shade telling the general story of "Emilia's Unfortunate Stories".

"[Friendly Neighbors] [Malicious Serial Curse Letters] [Ghosts in the Afterglow] [Ghost Bone Tree], I have never heard of anyone encountering so many malicious relics in a week."

Even though he knew the general story of the matter in the letter, the doctor was still very surprised:

"But you are really capable. You can safely dispose of so many relics. However, does the [Cult of Doom] you are talking about actually have this ability?"

"This is the only doubt at present, but the captured prisoners have admitted that it was indeed them who cursed Emilia."

Seeing that the doctor was a little worried, Xia De added:

"And since the curse was lifted, Emilia stayed at my place for three days, and nothing happened during that period."

“Could this be because your house itself is so sinister?”