Chapter 216 Case File 3: Twin Butterflies Dance at Rose Villa (4)
"You see, this is a very interesting choice of murder weapon. Once the nuts are ground into powder, they can be added anywhere without anyone noticing. If you prepare some snacks and drinks during the transaction, and then add the nut powder, then after the baron is dead, the murderer can take the notebook without spending a penny.
"But what's strange is that the baron returned to the room with the 600,000 gold bond, handed it to you, and then was murdered several hours later using almond powder. Furthermore, almonds aren't a completely colorless and odorless powder. If the murderer had been prepared, they might have had a wider selection of more suitable nuts. Therefore, I believe the murderer completed the transaction sincerely. 600,000 gold might be a fortune for others, but for the murderer, it was a small amount he could spend without blinking an eye.
"It was a good buyer, until, after reading the contents of the note, it suddenly decided to kill the baron who knew the contents. To do so, it devised the murder plan in just a few hours, obtained almonds, and prepared an alibi... It must have been a very resourceful person.
"I believe that notebook must contain information that the murderer absolutely cannot share with anyone else. To protect this secret, he will be determined to kill anyone who might know it. And you, as Baron Chandler's bedmate, are the most likely person to know this secret. This means that you are likely to become the murderer's next target... regardless of whether you actually know this secret or not.
"If you truly possess some unknown information, now might be your best chance to reveal it and protect yourself. Only if we capture the criminal can you completely escape the threat of death and live a comfortable and carefree life with your 600,000 gold bonds."
Mrs. Eleanor Van Chand shuddered again, sniffed sharply, wiped her tears with her handkerchief, and walked to the chair. "Do you have any more of that creamy soup? I don't need the puff pastry. I just want the soup."
"The soup is finished, but I still have the ingredients. I can make it now," said Jiang You. "Are you willing to wait?"
"Of course." Elenor smiled with red eyes, "It looks like tonight will be a long night. I have plenty of time to wait."
So, Jiangyou took out the carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, celery and fish again, took out the kitchen knife and started cutting the vegetables. Amid the rhythmic tapping sounds, Elenor began to tell her story.
"Kamo and I have known each other since we were young," Elenor said. "Our fathers were comrades-in-arms who shared life and death together. After they were granted titles, their territories were close to each other, so our two families have always visited each other frequently and maintained a good relationship.
"My father died when I was very young, having died protecting King Delman. After that, old Baron Chand took us, an orphan and a widow, under his wing and cared for us with all his heart. Later, I got along well with Kamo, and naturally, we married and became a family.
"You guessed right. I did lie at the banquet just now. I can actually read and write the secret language passed down by the Chandler family. After old Baron Chandler passed away, the notebook was kept in our study. When we were racking our brains to raise money to pay off our debts, I flipped through and read the notebook again and again... Yes, I remember everything in the notebook, but I can't figure out what secrets in it would lead the murderer to kill Camus."
Andrei and Jiang You exchanged a glance, and he soothed him, "Don't worry, start from the beginning."
Takumi took out the Crucible of Time and poured the fried onions, chopped carrots, sweet potatoes, butter and milk into the pot to cook. With the sound of "1, 2, 3... Ding", the rich aroma of cream soup wafted out of the pot.
Jiangyou opened the lid of the pot, turned off the acceleration magic of the Crucible of Time, and once again put the boneless fish and celery into the pot. Elenor greedily sniffed the soothing aroma and sorted out his thoughts.
"Old Baron Chand's notebook consists of thirty chapters, a summary of his lifelong military career and his service as a royal guard. It does contain quite a few anecdotes about Rudolf Delmann's family. But as I said before, we never took these anecdotes seriously. If it weren't for Madame Butterfly's invitation, we wouldn't have even considered them to have any value, let alone why someone would kill for such secrets."
Jiangyou poured a large bowl of fish cream soup and placed it in front of the Baroness. Elenor took the spoon, took a big sip, and slowly exhaled a breath of hot air.
"I do have a guess," Andrei said. "We learned from the puppet servants here that the princess gave birth to a son in this villa, and later gave the son to a count to raise. Is there any record of this in that notebook?"
Elenor recalled seriously, "Old Baron Chand was a member of the King's personal guard. He had accompanied the King and Queen to this manor dozens of times in his life, but never stayed long. I remember he once described in detail how he escorted the infant princess to the manor. The nurse who held the princess at that time was Lady Samantha.
"The last time old Baron Chand escorted the Queen to the manor was when she was 22. He wrote in his notes that the Princess had been seriously ill and had been away from people for months. The doors and windows of the manor were locked, the curtains were drawn, and the puppet servants guarding the Princess had somehow failed to report the incident. When the Queen arrived at the manor to celebrate her birthday as usual, she found her bedridden and extremely weak."
Jiang You tilted his head: "Could it be that the princess wasn't sick at that time, but had just given birth?"
"It's very likely." Elenor nodded. "Now that I think about it, there's a very strange record following that. The Queen was furious, believing the princess had contracted an epidemic in the nearby villages. So she ordered Baron Chandler to lead his troops and massacre all the men in the three villages in the valley where Rose Hill is located, under the guise of eradicating the epidemic. Baron Chandler was confused and even repeatedly confirmed the order with the Queen, but in the end, he had no choice but to obey."
"Hiss." Jiang You took a breath.
"That night, the area surrounding Rose Manor was engulfed in flames. When the princess heard about this, her condition not only didn't improve, but it took a sharp turn for the worse, nearly killing her. The queen hurriedly summoned several renowned doctors and potion masters to bring her back from the brink of death."
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