Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic
Chapter 1057 True Love

Chapter 1057: Chapter 1057 True Love

The woman in a brown coat, having put away her gun, led Shard to an empty room on the second floor.

Besides a small stool and a brazier burning charcoal, there was no furniture in the room. A kettle, a metal basin, blood-stained bandages, and women’s clothing were scattered on the floor. Although the indoor temperature was raised a bit, it was still very cold. Shard, who hadn’t yet deactivated the "Echo of Blood" effect, saw large patches of blood in the copper basin beside her; she must have been treating her own wound earlier.

Miss Brown sat down with effort in front of the small stool, holding her left leg:

"I was just taking a bullet out of myself, the amount of bleeding caught me by surprise. It’s been years since I did such things, I’m a bit rusty."

"Your uncle was taken away by MI6."

Shard sat directly on the floor, reaching out as if to warm himself by the fire.

"It’s alright, my uncle has a wide network locally, and he truly has nothing to do with this matter; he doesn’t even know what secret I really have."

Miss Brown looked with a forlorn expression at the brazier before her.

"Who came to you at noon?"

Shard asked again, adding:

"I wasn’t the one who reported you."

"Of course not you, sir, otherwise it wouldn’t have been just one person who came to me at noon."

She picked up the teacup to moisten her somewhat pale lips:

"It was the contact I was assigned before leaving Tobesk eight years ago who found me. The bombing incident involving His Highness last week prompted MI6 to send out as many agents as possible, so that’s how he saw me... What bad luck."

She spoke dryly with her head lowered, and Shard didn’t know how to comment on that kind of luck:

"I’ve already delivered your letter, and here’s the reply."

Without asking about the feelings of this woman whose life’s hopes had completely collapsed, he handed over the letter:

"It wasn’t easy to find you."

"It wasn’t easy for you to find me either."

Miss Brown said as she put down the teacup. After opening the envelope, she held one corner of the letter to read its contents.

After reading it, she wordlessly folded the letter back up and threw it into the brazier. Watching the letter being licked by flames and emitting a bright glow, she seemed both a bit entranced and as though she had fallen into some kind of illusion.

After quite some time, she said in a somewhat hoarse voice:

"I didn’t expect His Highness to forgive me so easily. Of course, I also didn’t expect that such a noble lady would scold me in such a tone. His Highness has grown up."

"That was eight years ago, after all. What would happen if she didn’t forgive you? Send me to kill you? Or bring you in front of her to denounce you as a vile woman?"

Shard laughed too at this point, imagining the elegant princess with pale golden hair cursing, which was indeed quite amusing:

"I’ve delivered the letter, and there’s nothing more for me here. Rest assured, I won’t disclose your whereabouts to anyone else. Good luck, madam."

"Please wait a moment."

As expected, she called Shard to stop, looking at him with some hesitation.

"You don’t want me to tell Princess Margaret about your situation and ask her to help you escape, do you?"

Shard asked, and Miss Brown shook her head:

"His Highness not pursuing my disloyalty is already something I couldn’t dare to imagine, so how could I have the face to... Sir, would you be willing to accept a commission from me?"

She took out a letter from the inside of her coat:

"Help me deliver a letter, rest assured, it’s not to someone who can help me, it’s to my fiancé... Anyway, I have to say goodbye to him."

Shard didn’t take the letter, standing in front of the brazier and looking down into her eyes:

"You should know that MI6 has probably already found him."

"No, I anticipated that my affairs would one day be exposed, so besides my uncle, no one knows where he lives, and I’ve never talked to neighbors about his work location. I rarely interact with my neighbors because I know who I really am."

Miss Brown also looked up at Shard:

"Even if MI6 is fast, it’ll take at least until this evening to find him. Before that, give him this letter... With it, MI6 will know he wasn’t involved in my secret identity, and they won’t trouble him... I hope."

Shard sneered:

"So why should I help you? After all, we have no connection. Or do you think I’ve been easily moved by you?"

Shard did indeed have some admiration for her sincere feelings, but to maintain his "emotionless princess agent" persona, he couldn’t agree directly. For him, running errands was simple, but he needed her to give him a suitable reason.

Miss Brown pressed her lips together:

"I can give you money."

Shard smiled a little:

"Money?"

Then he took the letter, opened the folded paper in front of Miss Brown to ensure there was nothing suspicious inside:

"How much money?"

"...20, no, I mean, how about 50 pounds?"

She looked somewhat embarrassed at Shard:

"I don’t have much savings myself. After faking my death to escape, most of the money went to paying tuition and renting a safe house... The housing prices in Tobesk are just too high."

"If it’s just delivering the letter, 30 pounds is enough. Taking more of your money would make me owe you a favor. I’m loyal to Her Highness and won’t easily owe others."

Shard said, folding the letter and tucking it into his pocket:

"I won’t take a deposit, but don’t try to run, otherwise, even if you flee to the New World, I can still find you."

"In my current state, I can’t go far."

Miss Brown remarked self-deprecatingly. As Shard walked out, he heard "her" laugh:

[You are not suited to playing such a person.]

"Of course, but it’s nice to experience it occasionally... How did I do?"

"She" whispered softly in Shard’s ear:

[Terrible.]

Miss Brown’s fiancé, Mr. Felinga, came from a local working-class family. His mother died of a plague when he was ten, and his father was mugged and stabbed to death in an alley when he was thirteen. Although tragic, such stories were not unimaginable in this era.

Fortunately, Mr. Felinga had no relatives, so he was able to inherit everything and, with this inheritance, his effort, and the benefits of the time, he successfully graduated as a mechanic and currently works in the Steam Factory in the west of the city.

When Shard found this gentleman, it was near four o’clock on Wednesday afternoon. The gentleman, unaware of what had happened, was in his narrow office, holding a tea cup while examining blueprints, occasionally marking them with a pencil.

When Shard politely entered the room, Mr. Felinga thought Shard was someone from the factory.

"Your fiancée had an incident."

Shard shattered the gentleman’s leisurely afternoon with a brief sentence, and the letter’s content further destroyed his dreams about life:

"Where is Bella now?"

The man of average looks but well-proportioned build held the paper tight and questioned Shard, his eyes wide with a bit of breathlessness. His eyes were brown, just like Miss Brown’s.

"I can’t say. Even if I did, what could you do? Sir, with your build, you’d survive at most three bullets. No, perhaps only two; MI6 agents generally have good marksmanship."

Shard mocked, and Mr. Felinga immediately said:

"Although her identity is hard to accept, I still want to marry her.

We can leave here together, go to the New World, or to the southernmost part of Carsonrick, or even live on a secluded overseas island. We originally planned to leave Tobesk, our luggage is packed, and my savings have long been withdrawn and stored at home. As long as she’s willing to go with me, we can leave everything behind at any time."

He stood up, almost pleadingly looking at Shard:

"Sir, I beg you, tell me, where is she? She is my true love, my only family in this world; I don’t care who she used to be, as long as she still loves me..."

He wanted to grab Shard’s hand, but Shard avoided him.

[Do you think his current performance is genuine?]

"She" asked softly in Shard’s ear.

"You should know my judgment."

Shard responded inwardly, sizing up Mr. Brown, and before he could plead further, added:

"I won’t directly help you; the risk is too great for me.

MI6 should soon find you, so go home immediately, take your cash and luggage that you can carry, and hide for now. I can tell Miss Brown of your decision; if she’s willing to leave with you, I’ll come back to find you; if she’s not, and you don’t see me by ten tonight, you can go to the police and turn yourself in. If you’re caught by the police before I return, it means your love wasn’t blessed by the goddess of fortune."

Mr. Brown immediately nodded with joy:

"A few years ago, while helping repair underground steam pipes, I got the blueprints of the Tobesk sewers and know the safest spots to hide."

He shared with Shard his planned hiding spot within the sewers of Tobesk’s core district, ensuring Shard could find him quickly from any direction in the city:

"Sir, I don’t know how to thank you."

He grasped Shard’s hand, shaking it vigorously.

"Just give me money."

The recently cash-strapped Shard said. Mr. Felinga was momentarily taken aback but then smiled:

"No problem, I have some savings from these years. I’ll go home to pack immediately; may the Father of Peace bless us. I don’t wish to harm anyone, nor do I wish anyone to be harmed; I only hope to leave with her and completely forget everything from the past."