Chapter 66 Miguel Gives Cressida a Butterfly Lamp
Today was overcast, and the wind felt a bit chilly.
Cressida wore a lace shawl embroidered with dark gold vine patterns, with a misty blue satin gown underneath. A sapphire hairpin in a matching shade adorned her hair as she walked gracefully toward the main hall of the mansion.
As soon as she stepped into the entrance, she was captivated by the scene before her and stopped in her tracks.
Seven or eight uniformed servants were working together to carry in a giant butterfly-shaped ornament, nearly 6.56 feet tall and 9.84 feet long—it was actually an elaborately crafted floor lamp.
Despite its massive size, the lamp's overall construction was surprisingly delicate. The butterfly's spread wings looked so lifelike, as if it might take flight from its base at any moment.
The butterfly's wings were outlined with intricate patterns woven from silver thread and gold plating. The wing edges were wrapped in moonlight-white silk with a pearly sheen. Inside the lamp base was a mermaid oil lamp—the oil was so clear that even unlit, it gave off a warm, gentle glow.
Jessica and Rita had already heard the news and were standing to one side of the hall. When they saw Cressida enter, they came forward. But when their eyes fell on the butterfly lamp, shock instantly appeared on both their faces.
Jessica instinctively raised her hand to cover her mouth, her voice full of disbelief: "It's the Butterfly Lamp King from this year's Flower Festival! How did it end up at our estate?"
Mabel, who had been standing by the lamp examining it, turned around. Her gaze fell on Cressida as she explained calmly: "It was delivered to our door early this morning. They said someone specifically wanted to give it to you."
Everyone's eyes turned to Cressida.
Even she was puzzled.
"Who sent it?" she asked.
Mabel shook her head: "Those people left right after dropping it off. When we asked, they wouldn't say—just that it was for you and you could do whatever you wanted with it."
"An anonymous sender? Who would be so generous? To get this Butterfly Lamp King, you'd need not only serious money but also tons of connections." Rita's voice carried obvious sourness, her eyes full of resentment as they swept over the butterfly lamp.
Rita's words did remind everyone. To win the lamp king in this special auction, you had to pass two rounds. The first round was purely about money—the starting bid was ten thousand dollars with no upper limit. Only the top twenty bidders could advance to the second round: a written test on culture, focusing on art appreciation and literary knowledge.
In the second round, whoever could bring in more famous scholars and writers would have a huge advantage in the question-and-answer section and stay in the competition. Those renowned scholars charged extremely high fees—just for providing ideas on a single question, they'd charge ten thousand dollars in consulting fees.
"Last night's bidding was completely anonymous, but the person who came in first spent four hundred thousand dollars just on bidding, then hired sixteen famous writers and scholars to help him strategize before finally winning this butterfly lamp." Rita looked at Cressida with scrutiny. "Cressida, you'd better think carefully. Such an expensive gift from someone who won't even reveal their name—be careful it's not a trap."
Last night Pearl didn't even make it past the first bidding round and took her anger out on Rita. Now seeing Cressida get such a treasure for free, Rita felt deep down that Cressida didn't deserve it.
"What trap? Someone won this fair and square and gave it to Cressida out of goodwill. I think you're just jealous." Jessica immediately shot back, her tone full of disdain for Rita.
"I don't want to talk to you!" Rita turned and left.
Everyone looked back at Cressida, only to see her circling the butterfly lamp, checking it from front to back, left to right, top to bottom.
Mabel asked: "Cressida, what are you looking for?"
Cressida: "I'm checking if someone's hiding inside, or if there's some kind of mechanism."
Verity, standing in the crowd, heard this and quietly lowered her head, holding back laughter.
Did Miguel really seem that untrustworthy? Well, it was probably good that Cressida was being cautious.
In the end, Cressida found that the butterfly lamp was fine—it really was meant for her.
She had guessed it could only be from Miguel. No one else would send her something so expensive.
"Then I'll keep it. Put it in the courtyard."
"Cressida, can I borrow it for a while? I love it so much. I've never seen such a beautiful lamp up close before." Jessica hugged her arm and pleaded.
Cressida smiled softly: "Sure, you can keep it in your courtyard for a while. The lamp uses mermaid oil—it never goes out."
"That's wonderful! Thank you, Cressida." Jessica was thrilled.
Mabel shook her head beside them and said indulgently: "Cressida, don't spoil her too much."
Cressida: "It's fine. It's just a lamp. As long as everyone likes it."
If it weren't for the lamp being too big to throw away, she really wouldn't dare accept it.
Cressida felt uneasy that she hadn't really helped Miguel with anything, yet he kept suddenly sending her gifts.
Mabel glanced around, took Cressida's hand, and said in a low voice: "Did you hear about what happened last night? There were suddenly some criminals at the lamp market causing a riot. Rose blocked a sword for someone of noble status and was taken back by that person."
Cressida's delicate eyebrows rose: "Who did she save?"
In her previous life, Rose had blocked a knife for Marshall at the Flower Festival. In this life, Cressida had sent Rose to a remote place, yet Rose still managed to save someone?
Mabel said: "It was Mr. Howard's young grandson. Your father probably doesn't know about this yet. If the Howard family wants to come thank her in person, I'm afraid she'll be brought back to this estate."
Cressida's eyes flickered as she made a mental note of this.
The butterfly lamp had barely been moved when Cressida saw Patrick coming in through the courtyard gate.
Patrick asked: "The gatekeeper said someone just delivered something?"
Cressida nodded: "Someone sent me the lamp king."
"Who?" Patrick stopped in his tracks.
Cressida shook her head: "I don't know. The person wouldn't reveal their name."
Patrick looked at Cressida before him with some surprise.
She had only been back in Emerald City for a short time and hadn't really met many people. How could someone send her the lamp king?
After all, everyone knew that to get the lamp king, you needed both money and connections.
Last year's lamp king winner was Marshall, who publicly gave it to his fiancée Emily.
"Cressida, be careful in what you do. Don't cause trouble." Patrick didn't know what else to say, so he pulled out his fatherly authority and scolded her first.
Cressida nodded: "I know. By the way, Father, did you find out what actually happened last night when you went to the palace?"
Patrick walked ahead with her following behind as they headed to the main hall.
A maid came in to pour tea. Patrick quickly drank two cups before saying: "Bandits caused trouble but were caught in time by Prince Marshall's men and sent for questioning."
"But those people claimed they were hired by Prince Yosef. This morning at court, the ministers argued about it so much it gave me a headache!"
Hearing this, Cressida quietly asked: "How did His Majesty the King handle it?"
Patrick dismissed it: "Such an obvious fake story—of course His Majesty didn't believe it. So he had those bandits executed. But he also reprimanded Prince Marshall, blaming him for the poor performance of the Royal Capital Guard Second Division under his command, letting two bandits escape. He's no longer letting Prince Marshall control the Royal Guard."
Cressida hadn't expected that even though Marshall had prepared in advance, Doyle still punished him.
Control of the Royal Guard was now back in Doyle's hands, but Doyle hadn't said who would manage it.
Cressida then heard Patrick say that Doyle had comforted Yosef, saying he felt bad that Yosef was working so hard and would give him a more relaxed position.
Instantly, Cressida understood clearly—Doyle hadn't let Yosef off at all. He had promoted him in name but demoted him in reality, stripping Yosef of his main power.
Yosef must be furious right now. Compared to how Doyle handled Marshall, Doyle's treatment of Yosef was a heavy blow.
Now neither Marshall nor Yosef got anything good out of this—both were punished by Doyle.
Cressida could roughly guess what Miguel had done behind the scenes.
No wonder he hadn't followed her advice to act directly.
Because in that chaotic situation, whatever Miguel did would be wrong. Doyle would suspect Miguel of deliberately setting up the situation to take credit.
She pushed aside her other thoughts and said: "Father should send someone to look for Michael."
"He's still not back?" Patrick was surprised.
As soon as Patrick finished speaking, Clio's panicked crying came from outside the door.
"Mr. Hamilton, something's happened! Something's really happened this time!"
"What now? Don't make such a fuss. Whatever it is, explain it slowly!" Patrick was full of dissatisfaction and impatience with Clio.
Clio came in with Nanny following behind her, dragging the servant Dax.
Dax was pushed inside. When he looked up and saw Cressida sitting there calmly and composed, his face went pale.
Dax's knees went weak with fear and he dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Mr. Patrick Hamilton, this is bad! Mr. Michael Hamilton, he..."