Chapter 3

Hoshino followed closely behind, and incidentally turned on the courtyard lights in a corridor on the left rear side.

Rina stepped forward to check the situation, while Hoshino stood still and raised an eyebrow.

Miao Zi collapsed on the lawn with a knife stabbed in the chest. Her face was contorted in rage, and her wide-open eyes seemed to hold a hint of hatred. There were bloodstains of all sizes around her body, making for a horrifying scene.

However, Natsume Kanon showed no fear whatsoever...

They were in the backyard of the villa. The servants lived in the rooms on the left side of the corridor. The commotion was quite loud, and soon someone came out to check the situation, followed by another scream.

Hoshino avoided those people and casually sized up Rina.

A moment later, Takase rushed to the scene, panting, and asked, "What happened?"

“The person is dead. Call the police immediately,” Rina stood up and glanced briefly at the group of people behind her. “Don’t touch anything. Preserve the scene as it is.”

"Who died?" Takase's expression showed unease. He rushed forward to check the situation without paying attention to anything else, but was stopped by Hoshino.

Fortunately, one of the maids realized what was happening and immediately ran back to the room to call the police.

"Aoki Taeko." After saying that, Rina left the corpse, took out a flashlight from her pocket, walked to the wall, and shone it around.

Takase looked shocked, his hands trembling. "How could this be? I clearly took her back..."

Rina didn't speak, standing in front of the wall, somewhat shocked like Takase.

It rained here two days ago, and stepping on the lawn would have left mud or water stains on your feet, just like hers. But the wall here is nearly three meters high and made of bricks, yet there are no marks left on the wall.

How did that person get over there?

Rina turned around to observe everyone's reactions: fear, tears, doubt...

Twenty minutes later, the police arrived.

Sato glanced at the body, then turned to Rina in the corner and raised an eyebrow. "Who discovered the body first?"

Takase tried to hide his sadness, holding a small blanket in his hand, and replied, "It's Mrs. Kawashima. She's been quite frightened."

As he spoke, he continued to perform his duties as a butler, walking up to Rina and handing her the blanket. "Madam, it's chilly outside, please go inside."

Rina leaned against the camphor tree, still searching for any clues left by the person who had just climbed over the wall. "What's behind this wall? I saw someone climb over here when the incident happened."

Takase paused for a moment, about to speak, when Sato coughed and reminded her, "Mrs. Kawashima, please recount what happened."

Rina glanced at him: "At 12:20, I heard a noise in a room. I arrived at the scene a minute later and found Miaozi lying on the ground."

Sato nodded slightly in confirmation and asked, "Where is that room?"

Takase was so startled that his hand trembled, and he looked at her as if he had seen a ghost, almost dropping the blanket on the ground.

He stammered, "...Go through that corridor over there, and it's just a few more steps away."

"So you arrived at the scene right after the incident," Sato said with a nostalgic "Ah," then added seriously, "Were there any other witnesses?"

Rina ignored Takase's reaction and casually pointed with her long, pale finger, "Hoshino is here too."

Sato suddenly turned around and saw the boy standing in the corridor, nodding slightly.

Shocked, he cleared his throat and stole a glance at the forensic pathologist, Miyako, who was performing the autopsy—a stunningly beautiful, tall woman in a police uniform.

There had been rumors about the two of them before, and now it seems they've been caught red-handed? Thinking of this, Rina avoided Hoshino's gaze and reminded him, "While the forensic doctor is examining the body, you should ask some simple questions."

The servants kept glancing back and forth between Rina and Hoshino with strange looks.

Sato immediately understood what she meant and called over two officers, "Go check the situation on the other side of the wall."

After this safety precaution was taken, the maid was taken to the room for questioning.

Rina took out a pair of white gloves from somewhere, put them on, and checked the surrounding situation.

Especially the grass around the wall.

While preparing the evidence bag, Miyako asked, "What are you up to now?"

Rina didn't answer. "Was the time of death just now?"

Miyako stared at her with a serious look. "Yes, the joints and muscles are relaxed. Lividity will appear within thirty minutes of death. You should be able to tell."

“There are many ways to delay death. You need to be more careful with the autopsy,” Rina said, exchanging a glance with her before looking away. “The deceased’s name is Aoki Myoko, nineteen years old, a maid at the Haicheng Manor. She was gentle, reserved, and quiet, with simple interpersonal relationships. Such a person rarely makes enemies. However, she had an affair with the butler, Takase Kouta, and had also argued with Kawashima Makoto this morning. Her chest was stabbed with a sharp weapon like a dagger. The initial assessment of the weapon is that it was a short knife. The wound was clean and fatal, indicating that the murderer entered the scene with the weapon, premeditatedly. The remaining details will need to be confirmed by the forensic doctor.”

The young police officer next to him listened and took notes.

As the three were talking, a young police officer came over to report, "Sir, that's a dark forest over there, the road is full of potholes, and the surrounding area has been searched, but there are no footprints in the muddy ground."

"What!?" Sato froze, gasping for breath, then turned to Rina. "This is terrifying! Are you sure you saw someone climb over? No, you're not wearing your glasses, and it's so dark, could you have imagined it?"

Miyako was full of doubts, and her brows furrowed: "Go and call that Hoshino here."

Lina said, "There is another passage in the flower bushes on the right side of the lawn. People often walk there. I have already checked it. The footprints are messy, and there are wooden clog prints everywhere. It is not of any reference value."

Sato exclaimed excitedly, "That's not the key point! The key point is that you saw someone climb over the wall, but they didn't leave any trace!"

Rina: "......"

If Sato's father weren't her university professor, she probably would have started swearing.

When Hoshino walked over, he saw Rina's indifferent expression as she took off her white gloves and threw them into a bag to the side.

Sato kept wiping the cold sweat pouring down his forehead. Seeing his pathetic state, Miyako took over his work. "After arriving at the crime scene, what strange noises did you hear or what did you see?"

Hoshino spoke slowly and deliberately, "I didn't hear any strange noises, but I did see that figure."

A cold wind blew by, sending a chill down Sato's spine. He swallowed hard. "Shall we go inside and question them?"

Miyako was speechless and whispered, "Please, you're a director, after all."

“The director is human too.” Sato walked forward, flashlight in hand, and seeing Rina heading in another direction alone, he asked, “Where are you going?”

Rina sneezed, fully waking up from her meditative state. "I need to rest."

“No…” Sato said evasively, “You need to assist in the investigation. Witnessing the crime is a very dangerous thing. You can’t act alone.”

Rina said, "I already know."

“You can’t act alone,” Sato made up his mind immediately, but it was all a jumble of words. “You can’t even open a water bottle cap; you need someone to protect you closely.”

"What's the connection between these two things?" Miyako sighed and walked up to Rina. "Let's talk about it."

A shadow fell over Rina's face, and she was momentarily speechless.

"You're worried about this woman who says one thing but means another, aren't you?" Sato muttered to Miyako's back, then complained to Hoshino who was standing next to him, "People who are easily blown away by the wind shouldn't be running around."

Hoshino nodded indifferently, looking at him with her usual indifferent gaze.

Those blue eyes were both deep and pure, yet completely devoid of any sunlight.

However, all of this was hidden by his bangs.

“Don’t disbelieve me, Mrs. Kawashima really is like that,” Sato felt a chill and, unable to figure it out, changed the subject to something more important.

He took out his notebook and asked seriously, "Before the incident, were you always with Kawashima Kanon? What was your relationship with her? Please tell me the whole story."

Hoshino: "......"

Rina returned to her room, took a shower, and spent a long time choosing from the wardrobe before changing into a light pink kimono-style silk nightgown.

Miyako didn't look at her, but stood by the window, gazing up at the starry sky. "The night sky is beautiful tonight."

Rina hummed in agreement, but said nothing more.

In the ensuing silence, Miyako hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting around as she carefully chose her words, "About your sister..."

“It’s all in the past,” Rina slowly lifted her eyelids and then closed them heavily again. “I’m only here to find out why she committed suicide. I won’t do anything unnecessary, and I have absolutely no interest in politics.”

Hideo Kawashima was less a local celebrity and more a behind-the-scenes manipulator of the financial world.

The forces behind him are unfathomable.

Miyako didn't mean it that way at all. Knowing that she didn't want to say more, she didn't press the matter further. "Get some rest. I'll let you know if there's any progress in the case. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Rina picked up her porcelain cup and watched her departing figure.

At this moment, Sato was leaning against the stairs, looking at the transcript. There seemed to be no progress in the case. He opened and closed the notebook several times.

There were twenty people in the annex. At the time of the incident, fourteen servants in the courtyard were sleeping in their rooms. Apart from Hoshino and Rina, who could corroborate each other's statements, only Takase and two maids remained.

After taking Miko back, Takase went to his room to take a shower, leaving him without an alibi.

The other two maids went to the toilet together; at the time of the incident, they were still some distance away.

Of course, all twenty people in the annex, excluding the deceased Aoki Myoko, were subjected to body searches by the police.

The deceased had been stabbed in the chest; when the murder weapon was pulled out, a large amount of blood would inevitably spurt out.

But there was no blood on them, and even at the crime scene, there was only blood around the body.

Is it possible to kill someone, clean up the scene, and escape in just one minute?

He muttered to himself, "That's strange, there are no security cameras in this villa."

When Miyako approached, the two locked eyes. Sato's gaze lingered for a moment before he whispered, "The case is still unresolved, but a maid just said that the shadowy figure is the vengeful spirit of a prostitute who hanged herself fifteen years ago. That might be a direction for our investigation. By the way, how is Rina?"

“Her weak body can’t take it anymore,” Miyako said, taking the form from the officer and signing it. She spoke in an extremely kind tone, “However, she must have discovered something and is hiding it from us. She’d rather cut out her tongue than say anything more.”

This was clearly resentment caused by excessive worry. Sato comforted her, "She's always like this, nothing will happen to her."

“That would be best,” Miyako said.

The next morning, after Rina woke up, she tidied herself up briefly and went to the woods next to the west wall of the backyard.

The bloody smell of the murder has faded, but the story of the vengeful spirit has spread far and wide. The servants go about their work in groups.

Lina deliberately avoided those people, wandered around the woods, and after careful observation, found a broken branch on a tree about ten meters away from the wall.

She looked up at the tree branch and sighed, realizing that it would be quite difficult for her to climb up to that height.

"What are you looking at?" Hoshino appeared in her sight, carrying a vegetable basket in one hand and a sickle in the other, covered in dirt.

The boy exuded a strange and eerie aura. Rina looked him up and down, her doubts deepening slightly.

Hoshino chuckled easily, revealing a small part of his canine tooth. "I occasionally come here to dig for wild vegetables to feed the chickens."

Rina asked him, "Can you climb trees?"

Hoshino nodded. "We can go up."

“Then I’ll trouble you to climb up there,” Rina said, “and check the situation.”

Hoshino put the shopping basket on the ground and straightened her clothes. "Did you find any clues?"

Rina raised an eyebrow slightly and said mysteriously, "The murderer will definitely return to this place after the crime."

The forest was shrouded in a light mist. Hoshino was covered in dew. He brushed the small water droplets off his sleeves, rolled them up to his elbows, revealing his fair forearms, which looked like fragile white porcelain vases.

But Rina was clearly more focused on the muscles in his forearm, the veins throbbing under his skin, and he moved quickly, using the scattered branches to climb up in no time.

He just looks thin.

“Madam…” Hoshino said, “the marks of friction on the tree trunk.”

Rina said nonchalantly, "A rope?"

Hoshino replied, "It should be. There might be a rope wrapped around it twice."

Rina glanced at the mushrooms in the basket. "Come down."

If I had come over last night, I might have been able to catch the murderer who disposed of the murder weapon.

Something is very wrong with her right now.

Hoshino retreated to the tree trunk, and jumped down from a height of more than two meters above the ground. Without changing his expression, he asked, "Madam, how do you know it's a mark left by a rope?"

Lina said, "The shadow I saw last night used this mechanism to climb over the high wall."

Hoshino's eyes held a hint of disbelief. "But that tree trunk can't support a person's weight, can it?"

"Did I say I was a person?" Rina asked, her hands in her pockets, looking at him with a sorrowful expression.

Hoshino hesitated vaguely, "A demon?"

"Shouldn't ghosts pass through walls?" Rina looked disgusted and turned to leave, but then suddenly remembered something and turned back to look at him.

The boy stood there, picked up that stupid vegetable basket again, looking innocent and aggrieved.

But this will not earn her forgiveness. "I don't like being followed, this is the only time."

Rina cast an unpleasant glance his way. Hoshino wasn't sure what emotion was welling up inside him, but the curve of his lips was quite alluring.