Chapter 61: The Rich Young Miss Is Gradually Turning Dark

Leticia had been losing sleep.

Her family’s seat in the College of Cardinals allowed her to learn about the progress of Hall’s marriage contract earlier than others.

Just a few days ago.

For some unknown reason, the Seventh Princess of Great Xia, Ye Wangxue, had unusually expressed that the engagement time could be moved forward.

She said she would come to Saint Louis in half a month to get engaged to Hall.

This left Leticia at a bit of a loss.

Ever since she learned that Hall had an Eastern fiancée, she had been on high alert.

After returning home each day, she specifically collected intelligence on Ye Wangxue.

The Child family’s reach was vast; there was nothing that money couldn’t accomplish.

Subsequently, Leticia discovered that Hall’s fiancée had spent the last three years studying swordsmanship under an Eastern master, and had of course also learned Western etiquette and dress.

But it seemed she was forced to learn it, from which one could infer.

The other party was likely not keen on this political marriage.

Otherwise, why did Ye Wangxue study the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting before the engagement, but then switch to swordsmanship after the engagement was arranged?

One could only say, it was very strange.

Ye Wangxue’s whereabouts were also very strange; about half a year ago, she seemed to have vanished into thin air.

To say she went into seclusion was also unlikely.

Leticia had the family’s intelligence department analyze it specifically, giving them a direct order.

The Child family’s intelligence department was very excited about Leticia’s command.

Most of them were of commoner origin, recruited from all corners of the world by Leticia’s late father to build and consolidate his commercial empire.

With the stabilization of the Child family’s commercial empire, after the old master passed away, they were rarely used.

When they were used, it was usually not a direct order from the family head, and it was never a major matter.

As for what the princess of the Xia Kingdom had been doing during her six-month disappearance.

Someone in the intelligence department quickly came up with a grand conclusion.

“Family Head, we can boldly infer that after this so-called Seventh Princess of Xia achieved great mastery in swordsmanship, she most likely went to do intelligence work, which is why she disappeared. If she does not want to marry Hall Faxtius, gaining leverage by serving her country is her only choice.”

The people in the Child family’s intelligence department always analyzed problems from the most dangerous and incredible angles.

Someone even got carried away, suggesting that the one codenamed “Chick Phoenix” who had attacked Leticia and Moyel earlier was Ye Wangxue herself.

They stated that when Ye Wangxue married over, the Child family would have to target her properly.

If Leticia wanted to deal with Ye Wangxue directly without considering the consequences, this group said they could be the first to act.

Leticia felt there was some truth to it after listening.

She didn’t resent Ye Wangxue for attacking her. If Ye Wangxue hadn’t attacked her, she wouldn’t have been saved by Hall.

Rather, it seemed Ye Wangxue really didn’t want to fulfill this marriage contract.

In that case, she was relieved.

If Ye Wangxue didn’t fulfill the marriage contract, then this person was no threat.

She was originally relieved, but this time, it was Ye Wangxue who had uncharacteristically taken the initiative.

This made her suspect that there might be something fishy going on.

The timing was too coincidental. It was right after Hall had made a name for himself in Saint Louis that she proposed to move things forward.

Could it be that Ye Wangxue’s impression of Hall had changed?

Or perhaps, there were other reasons.

So she asked Hall out, and out of selfishness, she chose the place where they had first formally met.

This was the deepest part of the garden, with two benches and a small fountain in the center.

Back then, she had sat on the left bench, watching Hall sit on the right bench reading that strange book.

Before going out today, she had also dressed up specially.

Her rose-colored long hair was tied into a long ponytail, and the style of her dress was luxurious but not cumbersome. Now in late autumn, the rose-colored skirt was not long.

Because Leticia’s constitution was not very good and it was a bit cold, she chose thicker flesh-colored stockings, with cute, fluffy white balls hanging from the knees of the stockings.

She wore white round-toed leather shoes and sat on the bench, swinging her small legs, her toes not touching the ground.

Her gaze switched between the setting sun and the only entrance to this deep part of the garden.

When the wind blew occasionally, she would blow on her palms.

The weather now was certainly not warm.

She had been waiting for a very long time. Before Moyel left, she had wanted to put a fox fur coat on Leticia, but was refused.

After another twenty minutes or so, the person the girl had been waiting for for so long finally appeared in her field of vision.

She stood up from the bench with some urgency. Leticia stood in the sunset, her shadow stretched long, reaching the edge of the artificial fountain.

“Hall, you’re here.”

Leticia waved to him in greeting.

The young man was slightly stunned by her enthusiasm for a moment, but he still calmly addressed her by her title.

“Duchess Leticia, I’ve arrived.”

“Mmm…”

The girl, addressed by her title, looked a little disappointed. She said, “It’s just the two of us now. I told you last time, you don’t have to call me that.”

Leticia was not without emotions. She stomped her foot, “If you call me that again, I’ll get angry…”

Hall thought he couldn’t be too intimate, so he said, “But etiquette…”

“No buts. If you value etiquette so much, then I, as a duchess, command you to call me Leticia from now on.”

The hierarchy among the nobles of the Papal State was still quite strict.

The reason someone like Lenny, the son of an earl, could mock Hall in the past was entirely because Hall’s reputation was so bad that everyone felt he deserved it.

The two most important things that determined a noble’s status were honor and position.

Seeing Leticia being so resolute, Hall felt a sense of foreboding, because in the story, Leticia wasn’t the type of heroine who liked to force others. Her personality was very easygoing.

In the main storyline where she was the main heroine, if the Child family wasn’t made to deliberately help a certain kingdom or publicly oppose the Papal State, then Leticia’s own plot significance was even less than that of the other heroines recruited later in the team.

Because Leticia herself was very chill, and to others’ opinions and suggestions, she would often just say “Mmm” or “Okay.”

She rarely expressed her own opinion.

Let alone commanding others with her status.

Now Hall could only compromise first and then change the subject, to prevent Leticia from becoming even more assertive.

“Alright then, Leticia. I heard from Moyel that you asked me here because of my fiancée?”

Hearing this, Leticia became a little flustered. He had instantly taken control of the conversation.

“Yes, that’s right. Hall, your fiancée… what do you think of her?”

Leticia felt a little conflicted inside.

“What do you mean, what do I think? I haven’t even met her yet.”

Hall said without changing his expression.

“What if… she’s very beautiful? She’s a princess of a country, after all… she must be…”

According to intelligence, Leticia knew that Ye Wangxue was indeed very beautiful. In the Xia Kingdom, she was described as “overshadowing the moon and putting flowers to shame.” When that young girl came of age and stood by the bridge of the imperial city, the lights on both banks lost their color.

Most importantly, her legs were longer than hers.

Hall liked long-legged beauties!

“Ah, that’s hard to say. Even if she’s very beautiful, what if she doesn’t like me? Besides, I might not like her either.”

“Ah… that’s true.”

Leticia heard Hall say this.

She once again remembered her deceased mother’s words about being unscrupulous.

Yes, setting aside whether Ye Wangxue liked Hall or not, she had to ensure that Hall didn’t like Ye Wangxue.

So she said.

“Hall, you have to be careful of her. According to the intelligence my family has gathered, she is very likely the Chick Phoenix who attacked us that day!”

Originally, she didn’t like to speak ill of other girls.

Hall, on the other hand, showed a momentary expression of disbelief.

‘Could it be that the Child family already knows?!’