Chapter 130: The Birth of the Underground Queen
Chapter 130 – The Birth of the Underground Queen
The cells of the Greenwich Police Station resounded with the sound of snapping and slapping bars, and occasionally a woman’s hoarse hiss.
Tom and Tony, who were guarding the cell door, couldn’t help but cover their foreheads and shake their heads when they heard the commotion.
Tom said in dissatisfaction, “It’s been a week, why doesn’t she stop?”
Tony bristled, “Hell knows what kind of magic that laudanum has, it’s like we’re killing her if we don’t give it to her.”
Tom said helplessly, “If we can’t, let’s buy her a bottle. She’s been making a mess in there and it’s stirring me up.”
Tony glared at him, “Do you want to disobey Arthur’s orders? Besides, didn’t Arthur make it clear? It’s called some kind of withdrawal reaction, and when this bout passes, she’ll be better.”
Tom exhaled, “For the first time in my life I’m glad I took Scotland Yard’s house rules seriously, if I hadn’t insisted on not drinking, I can’t say I’d have to be addicted to the stuff by now.”
Tony shrugged, “But you say the same about Arthur, wouldn’t you just hurry up and hand the woman over to the magistrates’ court? What’s the point of holding her here all the time when there’s nothing left to continue investigating, just a whore who’s engaged in a fairy dance? She’s been yelling and screaming all day, and it’s put everyone out of their minds.”
The two officers grumbled as they did so, only to suddenly realize that there was no movement in the cell.
They twisted their heads to look inside through the barred window and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Bad! How did she hang herself? Where did she get the rope from?”
The two officers hurriedly opened the cell door and rushed in with one strong step.
They took hold of Ms. Fiona’s legs and removed her from the rope.
Stretching out their fingers and feeling under her nose, the two officers let out a long breath, and they wiped the sweat from their foreheads, “Thank God, there’s still air.”
Unexpectedly, the two of them had just put down their hanging hearts, when suddenly, two white arms suddenly encircled the old officer’s neck.
Fiona, who had just been dying, lay down on Tom’s back and exhaled behind his ear, “Sir, go and get me some laudanum. Just a bottle, no, half a bottle will do, as long as you give me that stuff, you can have all the fun …… you want ……”
Tom smiled twice when he heard this, and he held his hands high in the air, fearing that he might touch something he shouldn’t, as he read, “That …… that won’t do, I’m afraid …… I’m afraid Arthur will go to my wife and say I’m having an affair. ”
Fiona, whose eyes were filled with bloodshot eyes, changed her face when she heard this, and her arms around Tom’s neck tightened violently, then her hands clamped down hard on his throat, hissing and cursing.
“You’re such an eggless piece of shit, just like your asshole boss! You Scotland Yard cops are all eggless!!!”
Tom rolled his eyes as she choked him, and Tony, who was on the sidelines, saw this and hurriedly drew the civilized weapon at his waist and warned, “Ma’am! While I shouldn’t be hitting women, I’m going to have to force myself to do it if you plan to keep doing it!”
But where did Fiona listen to Tony’s warning at this time, she broke into tears, “Come on! Hang my mother on the gallows if you bring the balls!”
“Hey! You stinking bitch!” Tony was furious when he heard this, and he drew out the civilization battle at his waist and was planning to teach his opponent a lesson.
Who knew that just at this moment, a white-gloved palm reached out from his back and pressed on the fingers of Fiona, who was strangling Tom’s neck.
Tony twisted his head to see that it was none other than Arthur Hastings, the new Superintendent of Scotland Yard’s East London Region who was already wearing the crown shoulder badge.
One by one, Arthur broke the fingers that were clasped around Tom’s neck with an ease that was almost as if he were pulling carrots that had just been planted in his own garden.
As he broke them, he chanted, “Miss Fiona, such rude behavior is not the way of a lady.”
Fiona clasped Tom’s neck in a death grip and wouldn’t let go, but when she realized that all resistance was futile, she simply spread her hands and swung at Arthur’s face with her palm up in the air.
But she clearly underestimated Arthur’s sensitivity and Fred’s ability to counterattack with a headache at the sight.
Arthur lifted his right hand seemingly without thinking and grabbed her arm in one go, and then his wrist was just flicked, and Fiona, who was wearing a long skirt, was like a butterfly that had lost its direction, spinning around twice and then collapsing into the pile of thatch spread out on the ground.
Fiona’s face reddened with anger, but she also felt a little aggrieved, she lay down in the pile of grass with red eyes and cursed, “I’m going to complain to the court about your use of violence!”
Arthur pinched his tightened wrist and loosened it, raising his eyebrows and asking with a smile, “I can’t see that you actually know something about the law?”
“Know something about the law?” Fiona was furious and angry, but she knew she couldn’t beat Arthur, so she simply grabbed a ball of hay and threw it towards Arthur, “Do you think I’m one of your trashy patrolmen who don’t know how to behave like a gentleman? If it wasn’t for my gambling old man who is not good enough to break the family’s fortune, I would have made you all look good!”
Arthur half-squatted on the ground and smiled as he leveled with her, “I can’t see that you turned out to be a rich girl. In that case, you must have also received a considerable degree of family education, in that case, why don’t you find a normal job to do and have to do this kind of business?” “A normal job? If you call working fifteen hours a day and earning seven to eight shillings a week as a textile worker a normal job, then I really don’t want to do it!”
Arthur shook his head, “No, that’s not what I’m talking about, and I know that textile women earn low wages. But aren’t you educated? Go and find a job as a governess, not only can you solve the problem of room and board, but your income should also be quite a bit higher than that of a textile woman laborer, right?”
“A governess?”
Fiona couldn’t help but burst out laughing in exasperation at the word, and she reached out and patted Arthur on the side.
“My dear, doesn’t a young master like you know what a governess actually does? A normal large family that wants to hire an educated governess will more than likely hire a male. If you find a female governess earning a good income, then there is more than likely something fishy going on in there.
What’s the difference between that kind of tutor and the business I’m in now? At the very least I’m quite free now, I can do business if I want to, and if I don’t want to, I can just call out to someone, and I don’t have to hook up with the mistress of the house, and I live a carefree life, and that’s quite good.”
“So that’s how it is?” Arthur cupped his chin and pondered for a while, he murmured, “Those stories that Elder read, was it turned out to be considered documentary literature?”
Seeing that Arthur did not reply for a long time, Fiona impatiently asked, “Let’s open up the sky and talk, there is no need to cover up, this time my little fellows and I have admitted to it, what exactly do you want from me? Money or body? It’s okay if you don’t like me, we have other girls here. But I think if you can’t even look at me, you probably can’t look at Hannie and the others either. Or maybe you don’t like women at all? Forget it, I don’t care about that much, as long as you let me out quickly, I can give you everything I can.”
Hearing this, Arthur just smiled and sighed, “Ms. Fiona, I mean, have you ever considered being a good woman, or at least not being so completely bad.”
“Huh? Is that your condition?”
When Fiona heard this, her willow brows couldn’t help but furrow as she asked, “Why do you stinky men always like to do this kind of thing? This world pushed me to the point where I had to sell my body, and when I got used to this kind of life, you guys came back to persuade me to change my ways, is there something wrong with your head?”
Arthur raised his eyebrows and smiled gently, “So, are you going to answer or not?”
Fiona grunted disdainfully, “Of course I can if I’m asked to be a good woman. If I had 5,000 pounds, I’d act more ladylike than any noble lady in London. So what, can you afford five thousand pounds?”
Hearing this, Arthur turned his head and glared at Tom and Tony.
The two officers nodded knowingly, and then exited the place without a word, bringing the cell door with them in the process.
Seeing this scene, Fiona couldn’t help but give Arthur a blank look: ”I knew you guys were no good. In the end, it’s not because you’re afraid of being seen by the others. I knew that no one could remain unmoved by me.”
At the end of her words, she laid down on the straw pile, and also smoothly pulled her shoulder strap downwards, “Come on, finish it quickly and let me out.”
Arthur couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of her dead-fish expression.
Arthur said, “Miss Fiona, what are you thinking? I’m just trying to give you a chance to make five thousand pounds.”
“Huh?” Fiona sat up from the straw, “Boy, are you playing for real? You want to marry me?”
Arthur smiled, his eyes glinting a pale red, “It’s not that I want to marry you, it’s that I want to marry you off.”
Fiona was confused, “Who do you want to marry me off to?”
Arthur rubbed the side of her face, his smile had a deadly charm.
“To dominate ‘Cambridge’s Little Brother’ as a woman, Fiona, is more than enough to see what you are capable of. If you are willing to use your mind flexibly, from now on, you will never have to sell your body again.
I would raise you to the throne that belongs to the East End of London, and in the darkest, lightless reaches of Tauerhamletts lies the treasure that once belonged to Fred, go and inherit that legacy.
I would dress you in a scarlet pleated gown, and put on you a laurel crown embellished with brilliant jewels, and then I would marry you off under the roiling stars of the dark night, and I would give you in marriage to the vast East End of London, and to the bloodiest, foulest hell of all.”
Fiona’s eyes grew misty, and at the barred window above her head was a smiling Agareth, and between the red devil’s two hands were streaks of intricately strung blood-red silk threads as he patiently toyed with a game of flipping ropes.
Arthur drew a brand new pipe from his jacket pocket and placed it gently in Fiona’s hand.
He whispered in Fiona’s ear, “From now on, drink less laudanum, it will retard your keen nerves. I’d rather you were addicted to tobacco than that stuff.”
(End of chapter)