Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 748 Are you suddenly in a bad mood?
In the study of the Queen in the Crimea Palace, a chess game that was very special seemed to be coming to an end. The reason for using such an adjective was that the identities of the two players in the chess game were very special. One was Her Majesty the Queen who ruled the country, and the other was...

The girl with black hair and black eyes was holding the king's chess piece in her hand, looking a little hesitant, as if she was thinking about how to make a move that would lead her to victory. Although the situation on the chess board was not favorable to her - using the word "unfavorable" to describe it was already a very euphemistic way of saying it, in fact, it should be said that she had no chance of winning. Even if the grand masters of the International Chess Association were sitting in her position, they would have no choice but to surrender in the face of this game, which was a decent thing to do.

However, the girl seemed to still have the idea of ​​turning defeat into victory, so she did not give up easily, but continued to think carefully, as if she was thinking about an important matter concerning the future of the country.

In contrast, Her Majesty the Queen, who was sitting opposite, seemed much calmer. She picked up the white-glazed ceramic teacup beside her, took a sip of warm black tea, and waited for her opponent's next move. She was confident of winning. Anyone who saw Her Majesty the Queen's expression at this moment would have the same thought in their mind. Unfortunately, there was no fourth person in the study, so no one appreciated her elegant and confident demeanor.

And it soon disappeared from that beautiful face.

Because there were suddenly hurried footsteps outside the corridor. A few seconds later, the three people in the room heard the voice of the palace guard, who pretended to be calm but still couldn't hide his panic: "I'm sorry to disturb your rest, Your Majesty, but there is something I need to inform you of."

"What is it?" the Queen asked, putting down her teacup.

The palace guard outside the door swallowed hard and said, "Her Highness Gloria disappeared in her bedroom. Her current whereabouts are unknown."

After the words were spoken, there was deathly silence.

"Gloria... my youngest daughter." The queen's groaning voice broke the silence. She looked back at the chessboard where the victory was already decided and said, "I understand. I will deal with this matter after the game between me and the guest is over..."

"Are you going back to the Ladiste, Bailong?"

"You really work hard. It's good to take a break once in a while."

The black-haired girl threw the chess piece in her hand and said nonchalantly, "It seems that you have encountered a difficult situation, Victoria. This game of chess can only go so far. In my opinion, how about calling it a draw?"

"It seems I should leave too."

"Yes. It is expected that Carabosse will transport the original stone carving of "The First Explanation of Spirituality" back to the Ladist tonight. I will analyze it as soon as possible to advance our most important research."

"I think so."

"The next holiday is in August, and I'm already planning to go on vacation to the Lujianhai area."

At this time, the third person who had been standing by the window gazing at the night view of the garden took a step forward and walked out of the shadow that was not illuminated by the lights, allowing his face to be clearly presented in the girl's eyes: he was a handsome and bookish young man, but judging from his temperament and expression, his actual age should be much older than his appearance.

The queen silently glanced at the chessboard that had been messed up beyond recognition. A hint of helplessness flashed across her eyes, but she still nodded and said, "It seems that this is the most reasonable outcome. Let's do as you wish."

"No need."

"I will keep your advice in mind." The queen replied politely, then stood up and said, "Excuse me for leaving for a moment."

The black-haired girl smiled, then lowered her voice and reminded, "Your little daughter seems a little strange, Victoria. It reminds me of a small misunderstanding that happened in the past. I think you should keep her under control to prevent her from getting mixed up with some unknown guys. As far as I know, this city is not short of ambitious people, conspirators, and self-righteous fools."

She left the study, and the sound of her footsteps gradually faded away. The black-haired girl began to collect the chess pieces that had been disrupted, and put them back to their corresponding positions one by one. It seemed that she wanted to wait until Her Majesty the Queen had dealt with this sudden household chores before starting the next game of chess, and she would definitely win then.

"August." The girl tapped the horse-head chess piece intermittently, making a dull sound. "I don't know if I can spare the time, but there is still time, so we'll talk about it then. Before that, don't forget to ask Fei's opinion, okay? I think she's probably very happy and looking forward to it."

"I'll ask her—you're not going back?"

"Well, I'm going to stay here and wait and see. I have a feeling something interesting is going to happen." "I see. Then please allow me to take my leave first. By the way," the man seemed to remember something before leaving. After hesitating for a moment, he said in a slightly tangled tone, "Although I know you like playing chess very much, can you please stop doing such tasteless things? You always find excuses to ruin the game when you are about to lose. This is why people are less and less willing to play chess with you."

“……” The black-haired girl lowered her head and her lips seemed to move.

"What did you say?" the young man asked hurriedly, not hearing clearly.

"I say, stop talking nonsense, it's time for you to go."

"Uh."

……

Gloria Resbelette Victoria, why didn't I react earlier? Before Professor Heinrich called out the title of Her Royal Highness, I had no impression of the Third Princess in my mind at all, as if such an obvious hint did not actually exist.

No, I can't blame myself. Who would connect an unknown little detective in the Qixingpan District with the most distinguished princess in this country? People who would do this have a very rich imagination. To be honest, they are more suitable to be novelists.

Moreover, if Gloria is really the third princess of the Victorian royal family, then some of the strange behaviors she had shown before have been reasonably explained, but some things that were originally reasonable suddenly became weird.

No matter what, she is still a girl full of mysteries. Whether it is her identity as the third prince's daughter or as a detective, she gives people a mysterious feeling, as if there is a layer of fog between them and her true appearance cannot be seen clearly.

Now, this girl who was holding his arm intimately, under the identity of detective Gloria, was actually Her Royal Highness Gloria, the third princess of the Kingdom of Brittany. And under the identity of Her Royal Highness Gloria, the third princess, she was very likely the young queen... Linger looked at her silently with a complicated expression.

Gloria seemed to have noticed that the young man was in a somewhat subtle mood. She pinched his arm gently from an angle that no one could see, reminding Linger that he should focus on the situation at this time, stop thinking about those messy things, and disguise himself well so that Professor Heinrich would not see the flaws. Otherwise, even if she had the identity of the Third Princess as a cover, she would probably not be able to dispel the suspicion of the philosopher of the association.

Ling Ge naturally knew what was important and what was not, so he quickly restrained his expression and returned to his calm demeanor. Coincidentally, the next second after he adjusted his mindset, Professor Heinrich set his sights on this young man whom he had never met before. The professor showed just the right amount of curiosity about his close attitude towards the Third Princess: "Your Highness Gloria, I wonder who this gentleman is? Forgive my poor memory, I really can't recognize which ancient family he comes from, or which honorable surname he has. Can you introduce him to me?"

"Here, please just call me Miss Gloria."

The girl smiled, then gently pulled Ling'er's arm and pulled him in front of the professor. She said in a tone that was implicitly proud and could be misunderstood: "Please allow me to introduce you. This is Mr. Green, Green El, a very promising young teacher, and also my-"

She tilted her head slightly, looking at Linger with eyes full of tenderness and affection, and a touch of shyness of a young girl appeared on her face at the right time: "Lover."

……

At the same time, in the stable.

Bang-!
A carriage inexplicably made a dull noise, which almost attracted the attention of the servants of the manor.

"Wow, Sister Xia, what's wrong with you? Why are you banging your head against the wall all of a sudden?"

"No, nothing. I just suddenly...feel bad."

"Eh?"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)