Chapter 218: The Russian Maid

Chapter 216 – Russian Maid

Friday was supposed to be Arthur’s workday, but since relinquishing his specific jurisdiction over the police district, he was able to allocate the day to himself instead of sitting in his office at 4 Whitehall Street.

However, although today’s work was substantially less intense than Arthur’s previous work, Arthur wasn’t exactly fishing.

In an unassuming corner cafe in London’s West End, Arthur was holding a cup of black tea and using his sharp black eyes to look back and forth at Miss Fiona Ivan, the newly crowned Queen of Tauerhamletts, who was sitting across from him.

At this moment, Arthur only found this blonde who was soft on the surface, but actually had a fiery temper, slightly holding her chin, hanging her head, her eyes fluttering, and her hands resting on her knees, not daring to move, as if she had done something wrong, in a very amusing and confined posture.

Arthur spoke up and asked, “I told you to cut down on the laudanum. Although it has the effect of calming the mind and relieving pain, taking too much of it will not only produce addiction, but in serious cases, adverse reactions such as epilepsy, dizziness, and vomiting will occur.

And that thing can bring you happiness is always short-lived, once the illusion disappears, your mood will fall into a long period of low. After a long time like this, you will have mental problems.”

In response to Arthur’s kind words, Fiona just playfully blinked her dark gray eyes.

“Please do me a favor, Mr. Hastings. Of course I am aware of the need to control my intake, but you have to realize what a waste of mind it really is to manage a criminal gang of a hundred men.

If I don’t have a little spice in my life, I’m going to get pissed off with them sooner or later. You heard about the case at the West India Docks last week.
One of my asses got into a fight with a sailor over the favor of a textile worker and used a gun in the process. But fortunately no one was killed, otherwise I really don’t know how to explain this matter to you.”

Arthur took a sip of black tea, only to find the tea a little astringent, so he lifted the tin pot filled with milk and blended a little more towards the teacup.

“It’s simple enough how to explain it to me. You send him to Scotland Yard, and all will be happy. Don’t forget the rules we made between us, if one of your men commits a minor offense, I’ll turn a blind eye.

But if it is a felony or a crime of treason, then I am sorry to say that even if I wanted to help you, I could not. Although Tauerhamletts is no longer under my charge, the recently promoted Inspector Braden Jones should still be taking good care of you, right?”

Arthur’s voice sounded gentle, and when combined with today’s bright sunshine and the sight of a man and a woman having lunch together, it might even qualify as sweet talk.

But to the ears of a woman like Fiona, who had spent years at the bottom of the ladder, the big boss was already euphemizing his dissatisfaction with the current progress of work.

Although this kind of harshness wasn’t severe, Fiona didn’t dare to take it lightly.

She was quite aware of how difficult it was for women to make a difference in this day and age.

Everything was realistic for someone from London living in the materialistic nineteenth century.

And this was reflected in the underground world in a much more direct and bloody way.

Just like the reason why Rowan did not dare to move Arthur, not because he was afraid of Arthur’s outstanding ability, but did not dare and Lord Brougham as well as the imminent rise to power of a number of London University Department of the people hard.

Fiona’s ability to hold her ground was not due to her management skills, but rather the groundlings just didn’t have the guts to take on a Scotland Yard superintendent.

Perhaps due to her experiences over the years, Fiona had learned a truth early on – there were many capable people, but very few with backgrounds.

Many people thought that when facing difficulties, ability could solve the problem. But they overlooked the point that if they wanted to solve problems, they could actually rely on their background alone, and the usefulness of their background went far beyond that, which was beyond the reach of the average capable person.

Therefore, don’t look at the fact that Fiona seemed to be in the limelight right now, the moment she lifted her pleated skirt in Tauer Hamlets would cause countless rampaging villains to fall to their knees in front of her, and even if she ordered this group of people to lick her shoes like a pug, they wouldn’t have any opinions.

But as soon as Arthur withdraws his support for her, or even shows the slightest wavering attitude in front of a few of her subordinates, then there is no need for Scotland Yard to make a move, and Fiona will soon be torn apart and devoured by the sharks that smell blood and rush here.

At that point, I’m afraid that even going back to the initial situation of partnering with a companion to engage in a fairy jump would be a good ending for Fiona.

But for this lady, who had spent many years in the company of men, a few witticisms, rather than a serious answer, would have been more useful in such a situation.

Dragging her chin on her slender, lace-edged gloved wrists, she leaned forward slightly to close the distance, so that the scent of her expensive lavender perfume, which was distinctly different from what it had been a few months ago, found its way into Arthur’s mouth and nose as well. Fiona blew in Arthur’s ear, “So, are you trying to punish me?”

In response to Fiona’s innuendo, Arthur just put down his coffee cup nonchalantly, and then calmly drew the Scotland Yard police officer’s pride of ‘civilization staff’ from within his trench coat and slapped it on the table, “Are you sure?”

Fiona looked at the civilization staff and her eyes popped three times, “While I know you are consistently violent, this ……”

Arthur said calmly, “Come on Fiona, you’re lucky today because I left my flintlock pistol with Mr. Wheatstone. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be using my civilized staff to teach you a little lesson.”

Hearing this, the Red Devil sitting at the next table got a blonde wig from somewhere, and changed into a pair of large Kazran eyes just like Fiona’s who had ordered belladonna eye drops.

The Red Devil folded his arms and mimicked Fiona’s inner monologue with his purposely nauseating flaming red lips, “Fuck, will someone please tell the old lady what kind of stinking douchebag this Arthur Hastings came from?”

Arthur’s hand that lifted the white porcelain teacup suddenly gave a start, he stared at Fiona’s pretty face and spoke, “If you want to scold me, you can say it to my face, I still have this tolerance. If you curse out can feel free, at the very least you can go back and drink one less bottle of laudanum later, which will definitely be a good thing for your state when you carry out your work.”

“Curse you? No, no, Mr. Hastings, you may be mistaken; I adore you more than I can say. You may not know that fellows like you have always been popular with the girls.”

Fiona was laughing and smiling, and it was completely impossible to see any trace of blushing on her pale concealer powdered face. Not only that, but she also raised her arm rather cooperatively to compare it with the civilization staff that was placed on the table.

“You see, even if I don’t look at your handsome appearance and robust figure, I must at least fear your force, right? Look at this, this staff is almost as thick as my small arm, I might not be able to get out of bed for a few days if I were to take a hit, a girl can’t afford something like this. You’d be better off taking that to the meanest of London’s fiercest sluggers, like something like Fred, for instance.”

Arthur just stroked his hair when he heard this, “Very well, Fiona, it’s enough to make a dirty joke in my face. How dare you question me about my sexuality, do you really think I’m incapable of hearing anything?”

When Fiona heard this, her originally bright smile suddenly froze, “You …… you originally understand …… no, what are you talking about? How dare I ridicule you, after all, there are thirty to forty girls in the entire Tauer Hamlets who are counting on you to eat. Why don’t I bring them all to let you take a look, I can’t get into your eyes, doesn’t mean they can’t ah.”

Arthur impatiently tapped the table with his finger, “Fiona, it’s not the girls I want to talk to you about now, it’s you. What am I going to do with them when you messed with me?”

“You …… “Hearing this, Fiona first stared at Arthur for a while, then glanced at the civilization staff on the table, and then revealed a tearful expression, “Are you serious? ”

Arthur shook his head, “I’m not very civilized, but I’m not so civilized as to make a direct move on a lady. But the part you just said can’t just be left alone. Tell you what, I have a job in hand, if you can finish it smoothly, then what just happened will be written off. But in case you mess up, then the payment for sending someone to follow Hatherington and Mrs. Norton can be ……”

Fiona was simply furious to hear this, after getting it wrong, this Scotland Yard Superintendent, who was a few years younger than her, turned out to be just trying to renege on a debt.

She had known that it was impossible to find a good man in the police, and men were almost exclusively bad, and that the two identities, even when combined into one, could not be made negative or positive.

But before she could finish greeting Arthur in her mind, she heard the gentle voice ring out again.

Arthur laughed, “However, Fiona, you shouldn’t be in a hurry to get angry. Correspondingly, if you can complete this next single task, not only will the previous task’s reward be paid as usual, but I will also pay you double.

The reason I’m announcing this to you is not because I’m trying to renege on the payment you deserve. It’s because the Criminal Investigation Department, which I’m in charge of, doesn’t have a penny to spend on office expenses. The other organization under my control, again, is a temporary body, so naturally, it does not enjoy financial allocations.

But if you can make this order, then I will have the confidence to apply to my superiors to transform the temporary organization into a permanent institution, and in this way, I will naturally have money on hand.

Or, even if I can’t turn it into a permanent organization, I can at least apply for a special bonus from the Ministry of the Interior on the basis of this case. When I have the money, I will naturally be able to pay you as well.”

When Fiona heard this, the anger in her chest gradually subsided, and she pursed her lips and replaced it with an innocent and bright smile again, “Then, Mr. Hastings, what is the mission this time?”

Arthur fished out a iterated copy of the job offer from the inside pocket of his coat and threw it in front of Fiona, “Your last name is Ivan and your father was a second generation Russian immigrant to London, I do hope he taught you Russian or German properly before he died of an illness or your beautiful exotic looks would have been completely wasted.”

Fiona unfolded the posting and just scanned it before looking up in surprise, “You want me to apply for a job as a maid at the Russian Embassy?”

(End of chapter)