Whispering Verse

"Mr. Hamilton!"

There was Tifa's voice outside the door. She was back again, and her tone was a little anxious:

"Queen Diana wants to see you, but you can't be found anywhere. The lady asked me to take you back quickly."

Shade looked at Lesia's expression again. She was breathing heavily with a sullen face.

Agelina held the cup and sipped the hot black tea, looking back and forth at the two people here with interest:

"Mr. Hamilton, you'd better wipe off all your lipstick before setting off."

She also kindly reminded Shade, and when Shade looked at her, she even took out her handkerchief. It was a silk handkerchief with a butterfly pattern embroidered on it:

"I can lend you this."

Because of Princess Agelina's reminder, there was no trace of disrespect on Shade's face when he met Queen Diana. The meeting place was the same waiting room where Shade was waiting to meet Larousse III after he was shot in the street last time.

Queen Diana did not meet with Shade alone, so in addition to Miss Carina, she was accompanied by several noble ladies whom Shade did not know. Because they were the ones who accompanied the queen down from the third floor just now, Shade guessed that these should also be people related to the royal family.

When Shade was brought into the room by the attendant, Queen Diana was holding the round pearl, which was more than half the size of a fist, showing off to others under the light of the gas lamp.

This kind of jewelry that neither men nor women can refuse, even the queen has never seen. After all, even if a naturally formed pearl is larger than this one, it will never be as round as this one.

"Good evening, your highness. Good evening, ladies."

Shade greeted everyone here. Since he didn't know most of them, it was appropriate to use the title "ladies".

"Look, who's here?"

Queen Diana's enthusiasm seemed to be a little too much. She smiled and called Shade over and handed the pearls in her hand to others for inspection.

Half of the people here are looking at the pearl, and the other half are looking at Shade.

The ladies occupied the sofa, but fortunately a servant brought a chair in time to give Shade a place to sit.

"Detective, I heard about what happened at the Opera House a few days ago. Thanks to you for saving little Agelina, otherwise I really don't know what would have happened."

In fact, judging from the situation that day, even without Shade, Princess Agelina should be fine.

"It's my duty."

Shade said, he looked at Miss Carina beside the Queen, who nodded to him.

"So, I mean there is nothing to pay attention to in the following conversation."

Shade was thinking in his mind, and the queen spoke again:

"Today is my birthday. I didn't expect you to give me such an expensive gift. It's very good. This is probably the most precious gift I have received this year."

Before coming, Lesia told her how to answer this, so Shade started reciting directly:

"Such a beautiful piece of jewelry is only worthy of being owned by a noble lady like you."

"Look, the knight is talking like he is performing an opera. However, I know that you are not that kind of rich man, so I will not take this gift for nothing. The last time we talked here, I promised to give you a A cherished Rhodes card."

She nodded to the maid standing behind Shade, who placed a metal box on the coffee table in front of Shade.

Made of brass, but with a glass panel on top. The interior is visible through a glass panel and is lined with soft velvet, with a card placed on the lining.

The card was turned upside down, and Shade could only see the pattern on the back of the card.

"That's very kind of you."

he said with a smile.

"Yes, I'm very polite."

Queen Diana's answer was unexpected. She unfolded the white bone folding fan dotted with glitter in her hand, covered her mouth, lowered her head slightly, bent her eyes, and smiled:

"Take a look at this card. It's not easy to get it."

Miss Carina raised her eyebrows at Shade, and Shade nodded in surprise:

"Okay, Your Highness."

He picked up the box and found that among the four side metal plates, there were small grooves on the top of the two left and right plates, which embedded the upper glass plate. So he carefully pulled out the glass plate. Just as he was about to reach out, he shook his head, took out the prepared white gloves from his pocket and put them on.

This move made the ladies laugh. Shade did not raise his head, but turned the card over to check the card surface.

The face that originally had a relaxed smile showed an expression of astonishment at the next moment:

"What?"

The front of the card is only white, black and a cool color around the two colors. White occupies most of the card surface, and a black humanoid creature is in the center of the card surface, with half of its body exposed and its side facing the outside of the card surface. He has no hair on the top of his head, and wings extend out from his back. There are curved spikes on the top of the wings, and the eyes revealed are clearly snake eyes, and they seem to be looking at the person outside the card at an angle. There are traces of weird-shaped continuous scales on the face of an unknown creature.

The background of the card is a dense collection of temples and minaret ruins.

The upper right corner of the front is marked with the number 11, and the upper left corner is a small symbol of a star. Between the two, in the center of the front of the card, there is a black vertical line drawn in a white circle, which is the logo of the "Original" series.

At the bottom of the card, there is a slight blank space, and there are two lines of small words written there:

[If this card is drawn, if this card is the first dark card, the player will win directly regardless of any rules and conditions; if this card is drawn, and this card is not the first dark card, before the end of this round, the card holder has The remaining cards will not be displayed, and you can continue to draw cards after exploding the cards. 】

"Origin·Darkness?!"

Shade could barely control his voice.

Miss Carina obviously knew about this card in advance, and the few other ladies who knew about the Rhodes card also raised their eyebrows.

Queen Diana, who covered the lower half of her face with a folding fan decorated with feathers, nodded, and the smile in her eyes became more obvious:

"Yes, [Origin·Darkness]. It's not easy to get this card. It was accidentally discovered by the ice mining corps in the far north of the old continent at the top of the Sotos Glacier in the far north. It was frozen in the ice At the top of the glacier, in the ice like an altar, I don’t know how many years I have been lying in the ice facing the sun. Seventy years ago, this card was brought to Tobesk by the then army commander and dedicated to The royal family, and since then the playing cards have been lying in the royal family's treasury, and can only be found in the warehouse catalog. I think, knight, you will like it."

The "Ice Harvesting Corps" does not mean that this army specializes in harvesting ice in the Far North, but that they are stationed in the north of the Old World all year round, hence the nickname. The official name is the Northern Garrison of the Third Regiment of the Royal Army of Delarion.

"I like it, I like it very much, but Your Highness, the value of this card is too great."

Shade stood up from the chair and said with some fear.

The fear was of course feigned. After being reminded by [Innocent Creator], Shade understood the value of the Impermanence Cards, so he became determined to collect all thirteen Impermanence Cards. Now he wished he could just stuff the cards into his pocket, run home quickly, hold the cat in his arms and laugh loudly in the study room without the lights on.

It's just that in this situation, you still have to pretend.

"You saved me, helped little Agelina, and gave me this birthday present."

The queen took away the fan in front of her face and took the pearl from Miss Carina's hand:

"But you are right, the value of this card is a bit too high. How about this? I heard that Rhodes players like you like to win Rhodes cards in a winning way."

Special rules: A Rhodes card starts at at least 40 pounds. Depending on the year of the haircut and other historical values, there is almost no upper limit on the price of the card. It is not uncommon among nobles to exchange a house for a card. But for top nobles like Duke Lucas, spending money to acquire a set of 54 special rules cards may take some time, but it is definitely not impossible.

But real Rhodes players can allow themselves to spend money to buy playing cards, but they prefer to obtain playing cards through gambling. Therefore, even though Shade has played playing cards with many nobles, he has never seen anyone with more than ten cards. A special rule card.

"Yes, we prefer playing Rhodes cards to win Rhodes cards."

Shade nodded, almost knowing what Queen Diana was thinking.

"The Marquis of Grassley held a card game at my birthday party. How about this. This card is placed with me first. You need to beat your opponent in the game before this card belongs to you. And if you lose If it falls, I will auction this card.”

She smiled and glanced at Miss Carina:

"When the time comes, you can ask others to buy this card for you."

"This is a good idea, Your Highness."

Shade put the cards back into the box.

"Oh, Rejed's Hamilton, are you so confident?"

the queen asked with a smile.

"Yes, Your Highness. After all, I have never lost in playing Rhodes."

When he said this, the strong confidence on his face almost made the man standing under the crystal chandelier seem to be glowing all over.

The news that Queen Diana was going to take out the [Origin of Darkness] Rhodes card from the royal family's collection, and bet against Reged's Hamilton at the banquet card game on the condition of winning, quickly spread throughout the Yodel Palace. .

She wanted to watch the card game in person, and after hearing the news, Marquis Grassley, who had originally invited Shade, immediately renegotiated the rules with the staff of the Prophet Association, and after getting permission, asked the people of Yodel Palace to The servants brought a huge round conference table and placed it in the center of the banquet hall on the second floor.

Around this round table, other guests attending the banquet can continue to enjoy the banquet without disturbing the flow of the banquet. Guests who like Rhodes can watch from the side.