Chapter 16 Rose Festival 10
As soon as the carriage entered the Rose Manor, Zhu Yu couldn't wait for it to stop. She pulled open the curtain, lifted up her skirt, and jumped out of the carriage.
There is a long distance between the main entrance of Rose Manor and Mrs. Lucia's residence.
On weekdays, when a carriage is seen entering the manor, there will usually be a butler or servant waiting to greet it.
However, when Zhu Yu stopped, he found that the entire front door was empty.
Not to mention a housekeeper, there wasn't even a servant to deliver the message.
Zhu Yu felt something was wrong. She stopped a passing servant and asked:
"Where is Mrs. Lucia? Where is she recovering from her injuries now?"
The servant who was suddenly grabbed by her was obviously startled. He almost dropped the tray in his hand and pointed in the direction of the mansion stutteringly:
"Miss, my lady has been staying in the bedroom since she came back..."
Zhu Yu loosened his hand and gently pressed his forehead.
I was so anxious. Mrs. Lucia was injured, so of course she could only stay in the bedroom to recuperate. Where else could she go?
Zhu Yu turned and walked towards the gate of the mansion.
Before going up the stairs, she paused, turned back and ordered the guards behind her:
"All guards stay. No one is allowed to enter or leave Rose Manor without my order."
She swept her eyes across the guards present, her gaze sharp:
"If anyone breaks in by force, they will be killed without mercy."
The guards immediately obeyed the order.
Afterwards, she entered the mansion with only her two personal maids, Betty and Maggie.
"Miss, do you need to leave two guards with you?"
Betty asked in a low voice. She sensed from Zhu Yu's tense expression that something big seemed to have happened.
“No need.”
Zhu Yu curled his lips and smiled: "Don't forget, we still have a knight belonging to the royal family."
She raised her chin forward, motioning Betty to look at George who was hurrying toward her.
Since her family had come thousands of miles to send him to her, she naturally had to make the best use of him.
George changed his previous guard attire and put on formal knight attire.
The silver armor inlaid with the royal emblem outlines his tall figure, the dark blue knight's cloak rises slightly with his steps, and a long sword hangs steadily on his waist.
George's appearance made the two maids beside Zhu Yu subconsciously tense their shoulders.
This is not surprising. Her "cheap brother" is not an ordinary knight. If she had not decisively cheated when he was assassinated and used the stealth skill card to capture George silently, things would probably not have developed so easily and smoothly.
But now, this person has completely belonged to her.
Zhu Yu withdrew his gaze from George and asked:
"Are you sure that what you sent someone to tell Maggie is true?"
George nodded repeatedly:
"I saw it with my own eyes. It's absolutely true."
His face turned pale, as if he was recalling some disgusting scene.
Even though he was a knight who had truly experienced fighting on the battlefield, he still felt uncomfortable and shuddered after seeing such a weird and disgusting scene.
Zhu Yu watched his expression change and asked:
"No one else noticed?"
George shook his head repeatedly:
"No, I have always been cautious and have not alarmed anyone."
"Since we didn't alert the enemy, what's going on now?"
As soon as she finished speaking, George was stunned, and seemed to realize that something was wrong.
The manor shouldn't be so quiet.
Logically speaking, since Madam Lucia was injured, there should be many servants and guards serving her, but now, the whole mansion was abnormally quiet.
George opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but finally closed it.
Zhu Yu looked at his silent and dazed expression, and sighed helplessly:
"Forget it, let's just go and ask Madam Lucia."
She tilted her head and whispered a few words in Maggie's ear, then walked upstairs and headed towards Mrs. Lucia's bedroom.
However, as soon as they reached the door, they were stopped by two guards.
"Miss Draka, please stop."
Zhu Yu: "I am just worried about Madam's injury. I will go in to take a look and leave."
The two guards looked at each other, and one of them said:
"Madam has just applied the medicine and has gone to bed to rest. Please come back at another time."
Zhu Yu narrowed his eyes. Although the two guards stood in standard posture, their hands on their weapons were too tense, and it was obvious that they were on guard against something.
She didn't waste any more words and said directly:
"Get out of the way."
The guards were still blocking the door, standing still:
"I'm sorry Miss, Madam has instructed--"
Zhu Yu was too lazy to talk nonsense and took a step back.
The next second, George took advantage of the guards not having time to react and attacked directly -
Bang! Bang!
There were two muffled thuds, and the two guards fell to the ground unconscious with a single punch from George before they could even draw their weapons.
This series of conflicts took only a few seconds.
Zhu Yu glanced at the unconscious guards lying on the ground, calmly stepped over them, reached out and pushed open the door, and walked straight in.
There was a faint scent of herbs lingering in the room, the windows were closed, and the light inside was dim. It was obvious that the environment was specially adjusted for the patients to recuperate.
As soon as she stepped into the room, she saw Mrs. Lucia being helped to sit up by the housekeeper. She seemed to have just been awakened by the noise outside the door.
"Elena, why are you back?"
When Mrs. Lucia looked up and saw the "uninvited guest" who had broken into her room, her words of rebuke turned into some surprise and confusion.
"Did something unexpected happen at the 'White Day Celebration'?"
Zhu Yu did not answer immediately, but looked around the room. After confirming that only Madam Lucia and the housekeeper were inside, he walked to the bed and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed.
She lowered her head to Madam Lucia's face, which had not yet regained its color, and said:
"I left before the celebration officially started, but I think it will go smoothly."
As she spoke, she gently patted the back of Mrs. Lucia's hand and comforted her:
"Don't worry, ma'am. I asked someone to ask for leave from the city lord before I left. It won't affect your reputation."
Upon hearing this, Madam Lucia's brows relaxed a little, but she still had a trace of doubt:
"Then why did you come back so suddenly...did something happen to you?"
Zhu Yu smiled slightly, then suddenly leaned forward, staring at her without blinking:
"Ma'am, do you have any secrets that you have been hiding from me?"
"secret?"
Hearing this sudden question, Mrs. Lucia was stunned and did not react for a moment.
"Did you meet Lord Drake on the way?"
She hesitated for a moment and said, "Did he tell you about the purchase and pricing details of Rocosa roses from other florists?"
Madam Lucia propped herself up with her left elbow and adjusted her sitting position with great effort, her tone a little hurried:
"Elena, you should know that as a businessman, I can't reveal all the twists and turns in my business to my customers... But you know that we have been working together for many years, and I have always provided you with the highest quality roses and the most fair prices."
Mrs. Lucia's tone couldn't help but speed up at the end, as if she wanted to explain it as quickly as possible.
But after saying this long string of words, her chest heaved violently and she was a little out of breath.
Seeing this, the housekeeper's expression tensed up, and he immediately stood up and poured a glass of warm water, and handed it to her with both hands: "Madam, drink some water and relax."
Mrs. Lucia took the cup and took two sips. The warm liquid slid down her throat. Her breathing gradually became steady and her expression eased a little.
But when she looked up and met Zhu Yu's disappointed gaze, the discomfort in her chest intensified a little, as if an invisible hand was clutching her heart, making it hard for her to breathe.
She was about to say something else when there was a regular knock at the door.
Zhu Yu stood up, the smile on his lips had long disappeared.
"Ma'am, you should know what I am asking. What you just said was pure nonsense, trying to divert my attention."
She looked down at Lady Lucia and said:
"I've already given you a chance to confess."
After saying this, she nodded slightly to Betty, motioning her to open the door.
The door was pushed open, and two figures, one tall and one short, walked in. They were Maggie and Elvira.
But what was shocking was that behind them, they were dragging a heavy body bag with the mouth tied tightly with a thick hemp rope. It was dragged along the wooden floor, making a low friction sound and leaving a deep mark on the floor, along with a strong stench.
The air in the room suddenly became dull and suffocating.
Betty reacted very quickly. She raised her hand to cover her nose the moment she opened the door. Ignoring the housekeeper's exclamation, she quickly walked to the window, pulled open the heavy velvet curtains, and pushed open all the windows to let fresh air in and dispel the disgusting smell.
"Ma'am, I need an explanation from you."
Zhu Yu walked back to the bed and looked at Mrs. Lucia quietly:
"Why is there something like this buried in the backyard of your Rose Manor?"
Madam Lucia frowned fiercely, and her expression changed slightly:
"Miss, I still don't understand what you mean."
She raised her chin and tried to remain calm:
"This is slander! Someone deliberately framed me—"
"frame?"
Zhu Yu chuckled and said, "Well, since Madam is still unwilling to admit it, let me tell you."
She pointed at George who was standing beside her and said, "I almost forgot to introduce you - this is the official knight of the Royal Knights I mentioned to you before, my younger brother, George Draka."
George took a step forward and stood beside Zhu Yu.
Zhu Yu continued, "In fact, you hid this matter very well. Especially after the plague broke out, you ordered all suspected infected people to be quarantined in the backyard, which made it even more impossible for anyone to discover your secret."
"Unfortunately..." She paused, her tone slightly cold, "Unfortunately, my knight brother happens to be good at natural magic."
She glanced sideways at George, motioning for him to continue.
George coughed lightly and took over the topic:
"After you left today, I replaced the patrol duty of a guard who was going to the parade. When I passed the backyard, I accidentally noticed that there was something wrong with the smell of the rose garden."
"My knight's blood makes me extremely sensitive to dangerous auras. So, I avoided the servants in the backyard, sneaked into the flowerbed alone, and dug along the remaining corrupt aura in the soil."
"Then I discovered a large number of bodies buried under the flower beds."
"Some bodies were wrapped in body bags, while others were buried directly in the ground... Most of the bodies were already highly decomposed, and some were even weathered to the point where only a broken skeleton remained."
He glanced at the body bag on the ground:
"And this body is the newest, the time of death should not exceed seven days."
The seventh day was exactly the time when Zhu Yu and his party arrived at Beleriand City.
There was dead silence in the room.
Zhu Yu broke the silence by speaking:
"Ma'am, do you want to see for yourself who is inside?"
She slowly bent down and reached out to untie the hemp rope of the body bag.
Just as her fingers were about to touch the hemp rope, two quick voices of stopping her sounded almost simultaneously in front of and behind her.
"No!"
"Wait a moment!"
The first voice, naturally, came from Mrs. Lucia on the bed.
Her face had completely changed, and even the wound on her shoulder was bleeding.
However, to everyone's surprise, the second voice came from Elvira.
The little girl's face was paler than ever, and her lips were trembling slightly.
Elvira looked down at her hands, which were still covered in mud, and said:
"I just met Sister Maggie downstairs, so I helped her carry the body upstairs."
No wonder Avella, who wasn't supposed to be here, suddenly showed up at this occasion.
Zhu Yu glanced at Maggie, who was standing aside with an embarrassed look on her face, and frowned slightly, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.
Elvira swallowed her saliva, pointed at the body bag in front of her with trembling fingers and said:
"But during the transportation process... I sensed a faint trace of residual witchcraft power on the corpse."
"This is no ordinary corpse."
"This is the body of a wizard."
The room suddenly became quiet again.
Even seven days after a person's death, the witchcraft power has not completely dissipated.
This shows that the deceased was not an ordinary wizard during his lifetime, but a being with extremely powerful magical powers.
Zhu Yu slowly closed his eyes, and the guess in his heart gradually took shape.
She already knew the answer.
On the other side, George, who had no idea of the cause and effect and had no idea how the situation had developed, looked at his sister standing there in silence, thinking that she was disgusted by the unpleasant smell of the rotting corpse and was unwilling to touch it again.
He hesitated for a moment, then drew his sword and cut the hemp rope on the body bag cleanly and easily. With a flick of the sword, the bag opened.
A disgusting stench of corpse instantly spread.
The corpse had already decayed, the skin had taken on the bluish-black color unique to post-death, and the facial features were blurred due to tissue decay. The people present had no way of recognizing the deceased's appearance before death.
But there was one thing that clearly revealed the identity of the deceased——
The black robe symbolizes the supreme power of the wizard.
The dead man whose face could not be seen clearly was the black-robed wizard mentioned by Mrs. Lucia, who received an urgent letter before the Rose Festival and hurried to the royal city of Villanova and had not returned for many days. He was also the leader of the Secret Society in Beleriand City.
Her body actually appeared here.
"…I should have known that."
Zhu Yu stared at the corpse, and the scene in prison the night before appeared in his mind.
She looked at Madam Lucia and said word by word:
"If Dinah's last words were really as you said, to make you let go of your hatred and lead the Secret Society to move forward, then why did she mention the 'backyard' of Rose Manor?"
"Her last words were told to me in two sentences."
Zhu Yu took a step forward and stopped in front of the bed: "She didn't mean to persuade you to give up revenge, but to remind me to go to the backyard, dig out the evidence of your crime with my own hands, see your crime with my own eyes, and then help them avenge!"
Having said this, Zhu Yu couldn't hold back any longer.
She rushed forward, grabbed Mrs. Lucia's collar, and pulled her out of bed, her tone revealing an anger that she could not hide.
"Why didn't you object when I said 'they'?"
She gritted her teeth and asked, "Are all the bodies buried in the backyard wizards from the Secret Society of Beleriand City?!"
Under the gaze of everyone, Mrs. Lucia's face turned pale, her hands tightly grasped the hem of her skirt, her eyes flickered for a moment, but she still did not speak.
Silence is the most terrible answer.
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