Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 485: The Cavendishes

"Your Highness,"

Shard looked seriously at the princess in front of him, her face slightly flushed as she gazed back at him.

"I want to tell you..."

Suddenly, he lurched forward, pulling Angelina into the room with him.

But he didn’t charge forward. Instead, as he held the sixteen-year-old girl, he exerted force with his feet, and they both simultaneously spun backward, Shard’s hands crossing behind the princess.

Bang!

Whoosh!

The gun in his right hand accurately hit the head of the man cowering in the right corner of the wall. Although Shard had never trained in shooting, the man was just too close to him.

The four Roder Cards in his left hand flew out, and under Shard’s deliberate control, the cards did not slice through the man’s throat but instead struck his wrists and the fingers on the trigger.

Another bang—the gunshot still went off as the enemy behind the door pulled the trigger, but the pain made him lose his aim, and he hit no one.

"There’s one last one!"

The thumb of his right hand pressed down on the hammer of the Ruger Revolver, and while Shard’s left arm had been holding Angelina, it now wrapped around her right hand as his body turned, bringing her to his side after a full rotation.

This made it easier to aim and also allowed him to shield her from the gun muzzle of the final enemy.

After turning, he raised his gun to face forward. The third enemy, who had not been neutralized immediately, did not counterattack by shooting in the short interval but instead pointed his gun at the head of the young maid, hiding behind her.

Although the black-hatted man was much larger than the maid, given Shard’s marksmanship, he had no confidence that he could shoot the enemy with one shot.

Shard looked at the man, pointed his right hand to the side, and pulled the trigger—

Bang!

The gun smoked as the bullet struck the chest of the man behind the door, who had been clutching his wrist. The force of the bullet sent him slamming back against the wall. He tried to raise his gun to shoot again but failed to grip it properly as a plate bravely thrown by the maid who was near him knocked the gun away.

Shard pressed down the hammer for the third time, looking at the man in front of him, he pointed down and to the side with his right hand.

"Off target, a bit lower. Yes, right there."

Bang!

The man behind the door, leaning against the wall clutching his chest, titled his head and slowly collapsed.

Shard continued to stare intently at the black-hatted man hiding behind the maid:

"Your Highness, please take your servants and leave this place first."

He pressed down the hammer again, still looking forward but fired to the right—bang—the corpse trembled slightly. Shard was preventing the enemy from playing dead.

If everyone else left, even if Shard used the power of a Circle Sorcerer, the only witness would be a maid, which would be easier to handle.

"No, nobody can leave, or I’ll shoot her dead!"

The man’s eyes bulged as he gasped for air, his eyes filled with bloodshot and his face showed a look of desperation. When Shard had rushed into the room holding Angelina, he hadn’t closed the door, and the sound of the gunshots had already spread:

"Don’t be nervous, friend, maybe we can talk. Look, I don’t have a weapon anymore."

Shard kept a close watch on him, and to show sincerity, he even loosened his right hand, letting the revolver fall to the ground. For him, using a gun was the least efficient method of killing.

"Also, throw away the cards on you! I saw it just now! Your cards can kill people!"

"No, I didn’t use the cards to kill just now."

Shard didn’t directly deny it, instead, he reached into his pocket, took out a stack of cards, and handed them to the princess next to him.

"There’s more!"

The man hiding behind the maid shouted loudly.

He probably just wanted to try his luck; little did he expect Shard to reach into another pocket and hand over his backup deck of cards to the princess as well.

In fact, he could only enchant a single deck of cards with the Arcane Technique "Treasured Item"; the enemy was overthinking it.

"There’s more!"

The man, seeing that Shard indeed had more prepared, said again.

Shard hesitated for a moment, then unbuttoned his coat and tossed the "Spear of Kindness" clipped at his waist onto the floor.

"Now I really have nothing left."

He tried to sound as sincere as possible, quickly adding before the other could object:

"Let the princess leave, and you can take the two of us as hostages."

"No, no one can leave."

The man’s gun-shaking hand was trembling, and Shard was really worried that he would accidentally pull the trigger of the Grass Pocket Single-shot Pistol.

"Hmm? MI6’s standard-issue sidearm? That group has been trafficking arms and finally got themselves in trouble?"

Although Shard was taken aback, he didn’t show it. The blonde maid being held hostage was genuinely nervous, biting her lip and closing her eyes, her head desperately tilting away from the gun’s direction.

Footsteps were now audible outside the door, and the sound of the opera stopped after the second gunshot. Shard knew he couldn’t afford to lose:

"Angelina, take your servants and leave."

Shard said it again, then felt the sixteen-year-old princess standing behind him:

"Mr. Hamilton, I’m a little scared."

She hid completely behind Shard, tugging at his clothes as she said so loudly, and on top of that, Shard could actually hear something like the safety on a firearm being disengaged beneath her voice.

His eyes continued to lock with those of the gun-wielding man:

"Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect..."

Bang!

The gunshot came from behind him, hitting the black-hatted man right between the eyes.

The maid screamed and ran away from the corpse, while the man’s eyes bulged, not even having time to leave any last words before his body heavily collapsed to the ground.

"This..."

Shard turned around to look back, and Angelina Cavendish was hiding behind him, with a bright smile on her face and a golden lady’s pocket pistol in her hand, the barrel of which was still smoking.

The trigger of the pistol appeared to be made of gemstone material, and the body of the gun might have been gold-plated. This type of lady’s decorative pistol, which could only store three bullets, including the one pre-chambered, was a weapon for self-defense among the upper-class women.

Angelina smiled shyly at Shard, then, in an unladylike fashion, lifted her skirt to reveal the black little leather shoes and white stockings underneath.

The garter on the right side had disappeared, and she put the gun back into the small leather holster attached to the white lace fabric leg garter on the left:

"Knight, it’s good that you asked for my garter. When I reached under my skirt to fetch the garter, I was just able to get the gun out of the holster and hide it in my sleeve."

She let go of her skirt and looked up at Shard, while maids were running around her, calling out to others, and people from outside burst in, looking at the messy and brutal scene inside the room in surprise.

In the center of the room, on the red carpet, the sixteen-year-old Angelina Cavendish was looking up at Shard with a smile, a smile that almost completely overlapped with that of Galina Cavendish and Lecia Cavendish:

"Knight, quickly tell me, how did you use the card as a weapon to throw it? Oh, that scene just now, was really dashing."

"I..."

Shard somewhat bewilderedly accepted his own card from her hand:

"It wasn’t a steam bomb, it was a pistol... The ladies of the Cavendish Family are truly impressive."

(Mia running...)

Half an hour later, the Opera House was heavily surrounded by police from Riddlevitch Field and agents from MI6. A number of high-power gas lamps were evenly distributed around the Opera House, making the whole Tobesk Grand Opera House seem as if it had gone from night to day.

Outside the Opera House, Royal Attendants were surrounding the coach, within which sat two princesses and Shard.

Lecia, wearing a red long dress, was holding her forehead, having mostly understood the night’s events from Shard’s description. They were staying there because they could only leave after MI6 had finished inquiring about the specific details.

"So what exactly happened? Is it Grey Gloves at work again this time?"

Shard still didn’t understand.

"No no, it’s not the Grey Gloves."

Lecia looked very troubled:

"It’s still related to my brother, Sax Cavendish."

"Hasn’t he been arrested already?"

"But his cohorts are still around."

Angelina said, as she had been behaving very meekly ever since Lecia appeared, as though she was fearful of her.

"Yes, some people’s interests are tied to Sax Cavendish. Now that I am back in Tobesk, and father’s sentencing of my brother is about to begin, some people want to take a desperate gamble."

Lecia sighed:

"Although the three people just now didn’t have any special markings on them and the firearms used were the standard issue from MI6, there aren’t many who would be forced to resort to such means. It will be investigated thoroughly."

Shard noticed that Lecia had always been calling her brother by his name.

It was not that Angelina Cavendish went out without a guard, but her guard was not with her in the third-floor box; they were in other positions on the third floor and downstairs on alert. The bloodstains Shard had just seen belonged to those guards who were killed.

But even if he didn’t appear, Angelina would not be in danger. Apart from the princess herself carrying a small pistol, there were also many senior officers from Tobesk in the audience seats downstairs tonight, said to be a collective entertainment event organized by Tobesk’s Old Soldiers’ Club.

In fact, at the same time as the standoff on the third floor, the bodies of the killed royal guards had already been discovered, so this rather sloppy kidnapping attempt was doomed to fail.

Because it involved the Royal Family and the guns deployed by MI6, the matter would be led by MI6 and conducted in conjunction with the police from Riddlevitch Field. Shard, as a key individual, would also have to be questioned, but he would find it hard to explain why he was here tonight.

But fortunately, before Director Anlos appeared, Angelina Cavendish took it upon herself to suggest that she had invited Shard to the opera tonight. Lecia gave her a look, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn’t. Instead, she bowed and moved from beside her sister to Shard’s side:

"Really, this is our first meeting in Tobesk tonight, and I specially chose this dress. I was planning to give you a surprise."

Lecia looked indeed beautiful tonight, which Shard had already complimented when they met earlier.

"I think we won’t have time alone tonight."

She said this in front of her sister, her beautiful eyes locking onto Shard’s. Her look was similar to Dorothy’s but not identical.

"Shard, Lecia and I will be returning directly to Yordle Palace later. I suppose our next meeting will have to wait until Mother’s birthday banquet next Wednesday, and you must come."

As she spoke, Lecia embraced Shard for quite a while before letting him go.

Shard caught the scent of Lecia’s perfume, it seemed she had indeed made many preparations for her return and their first meeting.

R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freewebnovёl.ƈom Only.

"It’s such a pity to encounter this sort of incident."

Expressing dissatisfaction, Lecia looked towards her sister again, who now had a very well-behaved demeanor:

"Sister Lecia, I’m sorry I shouldn’t bring this up at the moment, but I heard Mr. Hamilton and Aunt Galina..."

"Oh, that woman."

Lecia’s attitude toward Miss Galina was the same as usual as she shook her head:

"Angelina, really, why did you run to the south of the city to see an opera so late?"

Taking the stance of the older sister, the Little Princess immediately dared not speak, but Shard felt that in her heart she must have been commenting on how her sister also came here late to meet a man.

"Shard, Angelina and I get along very well, you can trust her."

Lecia said to Shard again, but didn’t explain the implications:

"If you can’t find me later, or get hold of Dor... if you can’t find Angelina, it’s the same."

"Yes, Mr. Hamilton, I will do my best to help you."

The sixteen-year-old princess lifted her head and smiled at Shard.

The voices coming from outside signaled that Mr. Anlos had arrived, and he was getting a report from the guard Lecia had brought and the police who had arrived early. Only then did Shard remember something and pulled the garter from his pocket:

"Your Highness Angelina, I am truly sorry for earlier, here is this back."

Although taking out the garter in front of Lecia was not ideal, bringing it home would be even worse. Moreover, Shard didn’t want Angelina to think he collected garters.