Chapter 45

The process was the same as the first door. After verifying the answer in front of the "bride's corpse", the bedroom door opened. After several people walked into this small inner room, they were all surprised.

The furnishings in the inner room were also a bedroom. Although much better than the servants' quarters, it was far inferior to the outer room. The room was dimly lit, the single bed was narrow, and the bedside cabinet was filled with medicine and blood-stained handkerchiefs. It looked like no one had tidied it in a long time.

"Whose room is this?" Lu Bai asked.

"Here are some papers." Han Chengcheng lifted the pillow and took out the pages hidden under it. "Is this...written by Caspar?"

"Let me see." Lu Bai took it and read it to everyone with the key points.

The story goes that Casper and Serin weren't a happy couple. And while Casper wasn't favored at home, his health wasn't so bad he couldn't write. It was only after marrying Serin that his condition worsened. And while Serin kept Casper on medication, she didn't treat him like a husband. Instead, she kept him confined in this small inner room, often using Casper's name to do things. Casper didn't understand why Serin treated him this way, and he felt he'd never be able to leave. So, he wrote this letter, hoping to expose Serin's egregious behavior to the world after his death.

"Look at what you've done to others!" Lu Bai looked at Yin Li. "They've even written suicide letters accusing you!"

"What's wrong with our Serin wanting some rights?" Yin Li snorted. "If the times didn't allow it, she wouldn't have bothered to do this."

So Yin Li's hidden mission must have failed. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Yin Li, although she felt a little disappointed, but she also seemed to be relieved.

"There's more to this letter."

Lu Bai turned the letter over and continued reading:

"I don't know what Serin is up to, but she seems to be secretly investigating someone in the church. She used to be rather perfunctory about worship, but since the beginning of the year, she's been bringing her family to the church frequently and even spending money on renovations. Although my abilities are limited, I've discovered that the person Serin has been investigating is the youngest priest in the church."

Here we come!

Zhang Xiaotian perked up at the mention of "Father." Han Chengcheng and Yin Li had both failed in their previous hidden missions, and now it was his turn, he felt both excited and nervous.

"Father..." Han Chengcheng also came over to look, "It seems that the next mission will revolve around the priest."

"It should be." Lu Bai saw that Han Chengcheng was reading the letter with his hand but couldn't reach it, so he stuffed the letter into her arms, let the two girls study it, and walked to Zhang Xiaotian.

"Now it's just you." Lu Bai tilted his head and leaned towards Zhang Xiaotian. "What's the name of your character? Loris? Excuse me, Zhang Xiaotian, is Loris a priest?"

If Yin Li's character, Serin, hadn't been revealed in the previous round, he might have been able to recover now, but it wasn't easy now. Zhang Xiaotian and Lu Bai were standing next to each other. Hearing this, he glanced at him with a smile.

"no."

"I don't believe it."

Zhang Xiaotian looked into Lu Bai's eyes, seeing the way Lu Bai's smiling eyes reflected his gaze, and gradually he felt a little overwhelmed. He hurriedly dodged by lowering his head, and then he heard Lu Bai speaking in his ear.

"I'll be watching you, Yin Li, and the other two from now on. Don't try to do anything tricky."

The words exploded in his ears, and then went down his spine, giving Zhang Xiaotian goose bumps all over his body. Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help but push Lu Bai hard:

"Just talk if you want to. Why are you so close?"

Lu Bai was pushed and laughed foolishly. When he looked up, he saw that Yin Li and Han Chengcheng had stopped reading the letter. They both looked at them with dim eyes. Seeing that they had noticed it, they tried to hide their mistake by looking away.

Zhang Xiaotian couldn't even lift his head.

"What are you looking at!" Lu Bai stood up and said to them, "Have you figured out the letter? If you have, go find some clues!"

"What clues are we looking for?" Yin Li crossed her arms and looked at Lu Bai. "Can you show us a way forward, Detective Lu?"

"What else can I look for? Look for the next door."

Yin Li scoffed, "So, where's the next door?"

Lu Bai was stunned when he heard this.

The two doors of the nave and the secret door in Serin's bedroom were opened, but no one saw any trace of the next door.

The housekeeper disappeared after opening the inner door. The four of them searched everywhere in the rooms, looking for secret doors on the walls, mechanisms that looked like ornaments, and even touched the ceiling, but they couldn't find any place that looked like the next door.

"There must be a way out of this room!" Lu Bai threw himself onto the four-poster bed, his tone filled with frustration after a fruitless search. "Otherwise, how did that old man get out just now?"

Yin Li also said, "Search! Keep searching! You'll definitely find it!"

"But we've searched everywhere." Han Chengcheng was a little tired of searching, so she leaned against the wall and spoke.

"So what do we do now?" Lu Bai sat up with a jerk. "I can't find the door, there are no new clues, and the NPC is gone."

Han Chengcheng looked around the room, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's first find a breakthrough based on the clues we have."

The other rooms were small, and no one wanted to sit on the cold, hard bench in the nave, so several people gathered the scattered clues and finally sat around the large four-poster bed in Serin's room.

Zhang Xiaotian looked at the various clues placed in the center of the group: the nun's diary, the church's visitor log, Villetta's wooden box and album, the jewelry box, the marriage contract with Serin, Serin's account book, and Caspar's suicide note. These items had all been used in previous games, some multiple times, so there shouldn't be any missing.

Let's look for it again. Zhang Xiaotian picked up the nun's diary and flipped through it while listening to the other three people talking.

"Where do I start analyzing?" Lu Bai lay on his side on the bed, supporting his head with one hand, and picked up the nearest contract with the other hand, rolled it up, and knocked his neck against it repeatedly.

"We just saw that Casper left a suicide note." Han Chengcheng supported herself on the bed with both hands. "The letter said that Serin was secretly investigating the youngest priest in the church."

"Yes, this is it!" Lu Bai said, and then secretly glanced at Zhang Xiaotian. Zhang Xiaotian pretended not to notice.

"Although I don't know if it's the same person, there is indeed a mention of a priest in the diary in Xiaotian's hand."

After Han Chengcheng finished speaking, he took out the portrait and said, "There's also a person dressed as a priest in this painting."

"Why is Serin investigating this priest?" Lu Bai leaned over and lay on his back on the bed. "Didn't you previously analyze that this man was Kelin's lover? Maybe Serin, as an older sister, is afraid that her sister will fall in love with a bad guy, so she's secretly investigating."

"I think Serin seems to be investigating the priest and then looking for an opportunity to get rid of him," Han Chengcheng said. "After all, Colin is about to marry the Earl. This marriage must be of great importance to both Colin and the Solemn family."

"Um..." Yin Li said, "I have some clues about this."

"When we were searching for evidence separately, the butler showed me Serin's memories. Serin did investigate Colin because he noticed he had developed feelings for a priest in the church, but I don't think he was worried about Colin, nor did he want to get rid of him."

Yin Li recalled what the housekeeper had shown her and said, "After Serin's father left the family, Serin used Caspar's name to rule the family. But she was no longer satisfied with the power she had at the moment. After deciding to marry Colin to the count, she wanted to use this marriage to gain greater benefits. But although Colin was kind by nature, he was also a person with his own ideas. Serin felt that Colin was difficult to control and could not help her satisfy her desires..."

"Hey!" Zhang Xiaotian suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Yin Li's words. Lu Bai jumped up.

"What's wrong?"

"It's okay, go on." Zhang Xiaotian looked at the papers scattered on the bed with some worry. "This diary is a thread-bound book, and I accidentally broke it apart."

"Just clean it up." Lu Bai hurried to help. Zhang Xiaotian picked up the scattered pages and, while the other three weren't paying attention, secretly hid one of them under his wide skirt.

"Then let me continue," Yin Li continued. "One day, by chance, she discovered that Colin seemed to have a crush on a handsome priest in the church. So, she took advantage of the situation and started taking Colin to church regularly. She even arranged for the priest to renovate the church, hoping to create an opportunity for Colin and the priest to get closer as soon as possible."

"So, sister Serin indulged her sister Colin in falling in love with the priest, while at the same time creating pre-marriage anxiety for Colin at home. She waited until Colin took the initiative to tell her that she didn't want to marry the count, and then she offered to help her."

"Her method is to find a maid to marry in her place?" Lu Bai asked.

"That's right. This way, Colin will willingly follow her arrangements. At the same time, a maid is obviously easier to control than a biological sister, so Serin can achieve her goal." Yin Li nodded. "That's why Serin doesn't worry about her sister. It's wrong to want to have a relationship with a clergyman. If she really worried about Colin, she should have stopped her instead of always taking Colin to church. Later, she saw Colin always going to church alone and ignored her."

Han Chengcheng nodded after hearing this. "Indeed, Caspar's letter also said that Serin didn't take worship very seriously, but he still often took his family to church."

"Yes. In addition, after discovering that Colin often went to see the priest alone, Serin did not take action immediately. This should also mean that Serin had no intention of getting rid of the priest." Yin Li said.

So that's how it is. It seems that Serin deliberately let Colin appear in front of Father Loris, which led to Colin falling in love with Loris later.

Zhang Xiaotian stared at the things on the bed, listening carefully to every word the three of them said.

"I see." Lu Bai rubbed his chin and suddenly asked Yin Li, "Why didn't you tell us this just now? You made everyone look for it like a headless fly."

"I was just busy looking for the door, and now I remembered..." Yin Li stuck out her tongue.

"The key now lies with the priest," Han Chengcheng said. "Don't forget our original goal was to restore the truth of the incident. Why did the bride, Colin, die at the wedding? If we follow the current story, Colin should have followed Serin's instructions on her wedding day and stayed where no one would see her. Why did she die in such a tragic way at her wedding?"

"What happened before her wedding?" Han Chengcheng pondered, "Did the priest do something to him..."

"Isn't Xiaotian a nun?" Yin Li suddenly remembered, "Xiaotian must know something."

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to Zhang Xiaotian. Lu Bai shrugged and gave Zhang Xiaotian a helpless expression.

"...I do know a few things."

Zhang Xiaotian thought to himself that this was not good, but he was not completely unprepared.

His hidden mission was twofold: first, to prevent anyone from knowing he was "Father" Loris before opening the final door; and second, to prevent anyone from knowing that Father Loris was a scumbag who had an affair with a noble lady. Furthermore, his fragmented memories revealed that Father Loris had once harmed Miss Colin.

If I can mislead you a little bit in this regard...

"The nun I play has heard some rumors about the priest while she was in the church."

Zhang Xiaotian paused, then evaded the main point, saying, "It's said that the priest grew up in a monastery. Because he was cared for by the nuns, he often felt compassion for fragile women. He treated visitors regardless of their social status and often received female believers individually, listening to their confessions and helping them to unravel their inner conflicts."

Having said this, he seemed to be uncomfortable, moved his buttocks slightly, and subconsciously reached out to adjust the hem of his skirt, but retracted his hand halfway out.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Lu Bai reached out to help him, but Zhang Xiaotian blocked his way.

"Maybe it's the fabric that's bad, I'm a little allergic." Zhang Xiaotian shook his head, "It's okay, I'll continue."

"Because of his outstanding appearance, some people were secretly jealous of him. On the night before the wedding, the nun saw the priest go out late at night, but he returned soon after with injuries. The nun asked where the priest had been, and the priest said he was going to hear the confession of a young lady who was uneasy about her upcoming marriage. However, during the confession, someone attacked the young lady. The priest stepped forward to protect her, but to his surprise, the young lady confessed her love to him and wanted to elope with him."

"Then what?" Lu Bai asked.

"Then, the priest rejected the young lady, and the next day the bride died at the wedding."

"This priest sounds quite innocent." Lu Bai held his chin with his hand, his tone pointed, "It was someone else who attacked the noble out of jealousy, and it was someone else who wanted to elope with him. He, on the other hand, is innocent and untainted by the dust."

"Whether the priest is innocent or not is beyond the nun's comprehension. She's only heard rumors and the priest's one-sided account." Zhang Xiaotian resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Lu Bai. "Also, the Serin Caspar part already involved men and women changing clothes. Do you think the priest's part will also incorporate this?"

"Maybe?" Lu Bai had a smile on his face and looked at him with a sly look.

"Sitting here and daydreaming won't lead to anything," Yin Li interrupted. "I suggest we divide the work. Chengcheng will stay here and analyze the clues and sort out our thoughts, while the three of us go out and look for other clues."

Yin Li went into Casper's room, Lu Bai went to the nave, and Zhang Xiaotian went to Viretta's room. They split up and before Zhang Xiaotian had been alone for long, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw, as expected, it was Lu Bai.

"I've thought about it, and I can't leave you alone."

"You'll only reduce our efficiency by doing this." Zhang Xiaotian turned his head back and continued to rummage around the dressing table.

There was no movement behind him for a while, then suddenly there was the creaking sound of a wooden door hinge closing. Lu Bai took a few steps forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Zhang Xiaotian. "If you tell the truth, we'll only be able to move faster."

"Why are you still doubting me?" Zhang Xiaotian took out the jewelry that Serin had given to Viretta one by one and placed them on the table. "Using the same joke twice is really too boring."

"Boring? I think it's quite interesting." Lu Bai said with a smile, "Or is it because you were unlucky that you got women's clothing?"

After saying this, he looked Zhang Xiaotian up and down again and said, "But it's not too unlucky..."

"This book originally had the label of 'cross-dressing', but I was just unlucky..."

"Really?" Lu Bai interrupted him, "Then why were you so nervous when Yin Li asked you to tell her the clue?"

Lu Bai's eyes were sharp. "You might not know it yourself, but you actually have a lot of little habits. For example, when you're thinking about a problem, you black out all the spaces with closed structures in the stem, and you habitually arrange things neatly within your field of vision..."

Zhang Xiaotian subconsciously looked at the necklaces and jewelry that he had neatly arranged on the dressing table.

"Also, when you're nervous, you like to tidy up your clothes and don't like anyone helping you."

"That's all your speculation," Zhang Xiaotian retorted. "I'm really allergic."

"But you are hiding something from everyone, right?"

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaotian looked at Lu Bai again.

"What? Am I wrong, Your Excellency the Priest?" Lu Bai raised his eyebrows.

Really difficult. Zhang Xiaotian's eyes slid behind Lu Bai, and instead of answering his question, he asked:

"Why did you close the door?"

"Hmm..." Lu Bai walked over Zhang Xiaotian and placed his hands on the dressing table. "Is it convenient for you to do your little tricks?"

"I don't think so."

Zhang Xiaotian faced him, leaned back slightly, and sat on the edge of the dressing table. "Are you going to torture me, Mr. Detective? This is not how a gentleman should behave when facing a woman."

"You..." Lu Bai's face went blank for a moment, and then he suddenly turned his head to the side, "You are obviously the priest."

"Where's the evidence?"

"I'm looking for it!" Lu Bai looked a little annoyed.

"Why don't you go find it quickly? Why are you wasting your time here with me?" Zhang Xiaotian grabbed Lu Bai's hand that was on the dressing table and pushed it down. "Only when you find the clue can you expose me."

Lu Bai was speechless for a moment, and there was an ambiguous look of unwillingness in his eyes. Finally, he turned around and left in hatred.

Zhang Xiaotian only felt that his heartbeat was violently hitting his eardrums. He watched Lu Bai walk out of the room and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, when Lu Bai leaned over to lean on the dressing table, his hand brushed against the hem of Zhang Xiaotian's skirt. Under the piece of fabric was the diary that Zhang Xiaotian had hidden.

At that moment, Zhang Xiaotian thought Lu Bai had discovered it.

He listened to the footsteps for a while, and after making sure that there was no one outside the door, he took out the page of the diary and looked at it carefully.

"June 21st. Today is another peaceful day, except for one strange thing. Tonight, I was going to night prayer with the sisters, and I suddenly saw a nun flash by at the end of the corridor. Night prayer was about to begin, so where was she going? I was worried about her, but during night prayer, I found that all the sisters were there... Was there a new sister who came who I didn't know about?... I heard that Father Loris didn't come to night prayer tonight..."

Zhang Xiaotian read it word for word, thanking himself for hiding this page. This short diary entry not only exposed the fact that Loris was a priest, not a nun, but also hinted that the priest had changed his clothes and gone out late at night. If Han Chengcheng saw this, even if he tried to cover it up, it would probably be difficult.