Chasing Time

“Next, we have the most noble recipient of the Order of the Garter, the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George, the Grand Cross of the Bath, the Victoria Cross and the lower grades of Knighthood, the leader of the anti-colonial movement, the bell-ringer of the East India Company, the hero of the Crimean War, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifelong dear friend of literary giants such as Dickens and Great Dumas, a steadfast supporter of scientific luminaries like Faraday and Darwin, having served as assistant under-secretary, deputy under-secretary, and permanent under-secretary in departments of the Home Office and the Navy Department of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the inaugural Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, the first graduate and most distinguished alumnus of our school. Please welcome Sir Arthur Hastings to deliver a speech on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the University of London.”
Arthur's gaze swept across the crowd before him, looking at the young faces and murmured, “Agares, what do you think I should say?”
The Red Devil's wraith hovered behind him, saliva almost dribbling from the corner of his mouth, “Look at these ignorant souls; they still worship you as a hero. Why not say something they'd like to hear?”
Arthur took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar, “Oxford is a bunch of whores' bastards!”
“Oh!!!!”
The audience erupted into thunderous applause.
“Cambridge is the same!” he added immediately.
The applause grew even more fervent...
(The protagonist, possessed by a devil, travels through 19th-century Britain in a world without magic)

The Shadow of Great Britain

West London, Bayswater, 36 Lancaster Gate opposite Hyde Park.


Through the gaps in the maple leaves and the glass of the white fluttering casements, one could see a man dressed in a brand-new tailcoat sitting in front of a desk on the second floor, reading documents in his hands.


A gust of wind blew past, opening the slightly ajar window, and also lifted a scatter of parchment bags and a pile of documents and old news clippings on the desk.


Arthur did not look up; he simply pinched the edge of a document bag that was about to fly out the window's edge and pulled it back in with two fingers.


He stood up, closed the window again, and the returning Red Devil finally got a clear view of the titles of several documents on the desk.


Amelia Stewart, Sarah Villiers, Emily Cowper, Mary Molyneux, Countess of Sefton, Clementina Drummond-Burrell, Theresa Esterhazy, Dorothea Lieven.


Chapter 121: Lady Ormac VII (4K4)