It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

She stretched out her smooth arm, propped herself up, and sat up in bed. Then she looked at her most trusted maidservant beside her and asked, "Holly, what did I do last night? I only remember what happened before I drank the alcohol."

"Your Highness, if you can't hold your liquor, you shouldn't drink anymore."

Holly said with a mix of helplessness and heartache, "You drank three glasses of wine yesterday, and then just sat on the balcony holding your glass, staring blankly out the window. Later, I saw that you had been standing there for a long time, so I helped you to bed to rest."

"Three cups? I guess I'm not very good at drinking."

Veronica breathed a sigh of relief: "But thankfully, it was just a daze. I was almost worried I was going to have a drunken rampage."

Since the devastation of the fire, she has been in a state of depression and despondency. Yesterday, she even tried drinking, something she's not good at, and after just three drinks, she became dizzy and couldn't remember anything.

Holly saw Veronica's state and opened her mouth as if to say something, but then gave up.

Seeing that she hesitated, Veronica smiled and said, "Just say what you want to say, it's okay."

After receiving permission, Holly took a deep breath and mustered her courage to say, "Although it's not very good for me to say this, Your Highness, the past is the past. You should focus on what to do in the future."

Veronica closed her eyes and shook her head, saying, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing—well, let's get up, it's already so bright."

Then, with Holly's help, Veronica changed her clothes, washed, and combed her hair. She was once again the spirited princess, but now she no longer had the ambition she once had, and instead had a rather complacent attitude towards just getting by.

Today, she plans to stay home and read novels all day.

Upon entering the study, the first thing Veronica saw was the letter Li Cheng had given her before leaving—a letter she had read with great anticipation, only to leave disappointed on her desk.

The letter contained nothing constructive; it merely relayed his itinerary and advised Veronica not to be sad, but to help manage the shuttle weaving factory they had partnered on, as things would turn around in the future.

Transfer?

Veronica shook her head.

Undeniably, this is very profitable, and money is extremely important.

But what's the use of just making money? No matter how eloquently Li Cheng spoke, Veronica couldn't imagine how the so-called bourgeoisie could develop. Could they possibly overthrow Edward by force?

How could that be? Once formally crowned, Edward would be king, symbolizing royal power at the pinnacle of secular authority. In England, a place beyond the Pope's influence, the king symbolized everything.

Incidentally, she no longer calls Edward "brother" but addresses him by his first name.

With a gentle shake of her head, Veronica could clear her mind and instead extend a slender finger, glancing over the books on the shelf.

However, as Veronica was browsing through the chivalric novels on the bookshelf, recalling the miracles of knights saving princesses, she suddenly remembered some words left by Li Cheng in his letter before he left.

If you have the time, Your Highness, you might want to visit Newton's territory; you might be pleasantly surprised.

"In another ten days or so, we'll at least wait until Edward is more at ease. Then we can go to Lincoln under the guise of relaxing and take a look at what Li Cheng is up to over there—anyway, I've prepared everything I can on my side."

Veronica whispered, "But I'll try to stay home as much as possible during this time; that should put Edward at ease."

------

Lincoln.

"Idiot, it's time to get up."

As soon as Li Cheng opened his eyes, he saw Newton standing by his bedside, looking down at him from above, a smug expression slowly spreading across his delicate, doll-like face.

Is it because he woke up earlier than me, and that's why he's so smug? Or is it because he came to wake me up...? As Li Cheng pondered this, he subconsciously reached out and pinched Newton's cheek, pulled it aside, and then let go.

It's smooth and elastic, and feels great to the touch.

Although Li Cheng's movements were gentle, they still hurt a little on Newton's delicate skin.

So she was very angry. Not only did she not blame Li Cheng for not carrying her back to the room last night, but she also came to wake him up herself. She had been very kind to him, but Li Cheng pinched her cheek instead—and even pinched it hard.

But Newton decided to give him one last chance, frowning as he asked, "What were you doing just now?"

As Li Cheng slowly got up, he yawned and said, "It's nothing, I just suddenly wanted to pinch your cheek."

Such a casual reason!

Looking at Li Cheng, who was wearing pajamas and constantly yawning, Newton became even angrier:

"Li Cheng, you need to recognize this fact: you are merely my assistant. The fact that you can live in this castle is a great act of mercy from me! You should be grateful, not just casually pinch my cheek whenever you want!"

Although she sounded quite angry, the woman's words were rather unconvincing, especially since she had just spent the night being held and slept by her assistant.

Li Cheng nodded without any remorse and said, "Yes, I understand. I'll be more careful in the future—I need to get dressed. Do you want to go out for a bit?"

......

After putting on his coat and trousers, washing up, and having a meal, Li Cheng went to his study to calculate the available funds.

Although he has a lot of assets in name, he doesn't have much cash on hand right now. Apart from some vouchers he brought with him initially, most of the rest is still in London and invested in the crazy expansion of the shuttle textile factory. It's estimated that it will take at least two or three months before he can start making money.

Therefore, the coal stove business was quite important. In addition to establishing the initial personnel and industrial base for the territory, it also provided the conditions for self-sufficiency, so that funds did not have to be transferred from London all the time.

A few days ago, Li Cheng also handed over the machine tool blueprints he had designed to the blacksmith, in order to speed up their production of coal briquette stoves.

The world's earliest lathe dates back to 300 BC. It was powered by a hand-cranked lever with a rope wound around the central axis, requiring an assistant to crank it. After Leonardo da Vinci designed a foot-operated lathe in 1480, skilled craftsmen invented various modern lathes, ranging from those powered by water to those by electric motors.

The blacksmiths who were hired were all amazed by the ingenious and complex machine tool, but they did not raise any questions. Instead, they obediently followed the instructions to build the machine tool... However, even if they asked, Li Cheng would not tell them.

After doing the math and confirming that the financial burden of Newton's territory had been entirely transferred to the branch, Li Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, I had the connections I made in London, and the coal briquette stoves do seem to have a promising future, so Chairman Smith was willing to give me an advance. Otherwise, just getting started here would have taken an extra month or two, which would have been a real hassle."

"I'll go to Lincoln with Annie tomorrow, and while we're at it, we'll also visit Chairman Smith... It hasn't even been a month yet, Chairman Smith's daughter should still be in solitary confinement, right? I really don't want to run into that brat again this time."

Knock knock knock—

"Please come in."

Li Cheng shouted without turning his head.

Then the door opened, and Susie walked in wearing a dirt-resistant, dust-resistant coarse cloth coat (the flying coal dust was not easy to wash). She said with a serious face, "Li Cheng, there is something I think I need to tell you."

Seeing her so serious, Li Cheng assumed it was about work, so he also became serious.

He asked, "What happened? Is there a problem with the coal briquette production?"

Susie shook her head: "The coal production is going smoothly. Every day, Lincoln's carriages transport coal briquettes to the city. The loopholes in the previous statistics have been corrected after we pointed them out."

Li Cheng asked in confusion, "What's the problem?"

Susie hesitated for a moment, but still said, "I suspect there might be thieves inside the castle."

Chapter 171 Maximum Imagination

When Susie mentioned the thief, Li Cheng's first thought was, "Could it be Dior?"

But then I thought, stealing is such a low act, especially for peasants to steal from a lord. In those days, if caught, even if you were lucky enough to have a short-tempered lord, exile to Scotland would be considered a lenient punishment.

But thinking about it wouldn't give him the right answer, so he asked, "Did you lose something?"

Susie walked up to Li Cheng. Today, she was wearing a durable and stain-resistant blue oversized coat, paired with neat and tidy short brown hair. Unexpectedly, she gave off a dashing and capable image, which was a bit of a subversion of the previous perception of her as somewhat clumsy.

"It seems like it's lost, but it also seems like it isn't," she said.

?

Li Cheng frowned: "Where did you learn this way of speaking from?"

"I just lost some small things."

Susie quickly waved her hand, then said with some confusion, "It's some pretty little stones I collected when I went out, tree branches with a complete five-pointed star cut, and... I used to just put them on the shelf in my room, but recently they've been disappearing little by little, one day at a time. I would have forgotten about them if I hadn't been paying close attention."

"With stones and branches gone..." Li Cheng grumbled, "Nobody but you would want to collect these things, right?"

There are many people in the world who like to collect things, and the types are varied, but Susie's collection is still quite hard to describe - she seems to have no collection criteria at all, she just wants to collect things that look good to her, and treats them all as treasures.

"I knew it, but it's really gone!"

Susie opened her eyes wide and made a grabbing motion in the air to indicate that it was really gone.

"Oh."

Li Cheng yawned, looking rather bored: "But it's no use you coming to me. It's not like I stole it. Why don't you go find the butler or Freya and have them ask the people in the castle?"

Susie shook her head repeatedly: "No, no, I'd feel bad asking them for help with something so small. Besides, they probably wouldn't understand why I collect those things."

So you think I'm completely okay with all this trouble? And I also completely don't understand why you collect all this random, useless stuff!

Li Cheng stood up, seemingly unconcerned.

Susie clasped her hands together: "Could you please use magic to help me find it? Please, it's very important to me."

Li Cheng: ...?

Why is this setting still in place? Is it ever going to end? Believe me or not, I'll exile you to Scotland right now to grow potatoes!

Li Cheng stood up expressionlessly: "No, it's too much trouble. Go find it yourself."

"Please help me find it! Please help me find it! I'm begging you!"

Seeing that the only person who could help was about to run away, Susie quickly stepped forward and grabbed Li Cheng's arm to stop him from leaving: "Just once, just once. Besides, you've already lost all my things in London. Please help me find them this time, for the sake of the previous time!"

Li Cheng said with a dark expression, "I've said it many times, I really don't know any magic, witchcraft, or any spells."

However, for Susie, who has witnessed Li Cheng's resurrection and whose worldview has been shattered and reassembled once, her newly established worldview is already firmly established and unbreakable. The only hope for her to shatter and rebuild it again is probably memory erasure (physical), something Newton should be more familiar with.

Recently, even though Susie doesn't call Li Cheng "Master Wizard," she only feels that he wants to hide his identity rather than succumb to Li Cheng's lewd threats and coercion. In this respect, Susie is still very... well, I don't know whether to say she's stubbornly obstinate or has a firm will.

"If you really don't know, could you please ask Newton for me?"

As Susie spoke, she gradually changed from grabbing Li Cheng's arm to a tighter hug, her elastic body pressing against Li Cheng's arm without reservation, twisting and deforming it: "She's a vampire, maybe she can help."

Before Li Cheng could even fully grasp this level of understanding that Newton would probably never reach in his lifetime, he was completely dumbfounded by her words: "Huh, what did you say about vampires?"

"It's Newton, you don't need to hide it from me, I figured it out myself."

After Susie finished speaking confidently, she began to explain: "It's just that one day, when I passed by your room, I heard you arguing with Newton."

Only after her explanation did Li Cheng realize that Susie had once suspected that Newton might be a vampire.

Because she overheard Newton arguing with Li Cheng, saying that he was 17 years old (it was 1667), so why couldn't he drink alcohol?

But in Susie's view, a 17-year-old human female should not be the size of Newton. Her worldview was shattered and rebuilt, and she quickly began to suspect that Newton was some kind of non-human being.

So she observed Newton's daily routine: he got up very late in the morning (purely because Newton was lazy to get out of bed), he didn't go out all day and liked to stay in his room reading and tinkering with all sorts of unfamiliar things (in the girl's experiment), his skin was particularly fair and delicate (natural), he lived in a castle (purely far-fetched)... and so on, a series of pieces of evidence.

Of course, the most important thing is that after Li Cheng and Newton argued about drinking alcohol and milk, Susie noticed two rows of teeth marks on Li Cheng's arm, and on either side of the middle of the teeth marks, there were two particularly sharp points, which were obviously left by sharp teeth.

What are fangs, comrades? They're a vampire's standard equipment!

Based on all the evidence above, Susie made what she believed to be a very correct judgment.

Newton was a vampire!