Chapter 218 Case File 3: Twin Butterfly Dance at Rose Villa (6)
Andre's eyes moved slightly. He had also heard of this rumor.
"The Queen quickly suppressed this matter with an iron fist. It didn't cause any public outcry, but undercurrents surged throughout the palace. The old baron resigned and returned home shortly thereafter. This should be the last entry in his notebook." Elenor smiled. "But I don't think this scandal has much to do with this incident."
"Indeed." Andrei still diligently wrote down every clue. Who knows when it might come in handy.
Elenor finished the last mouthful of soup and breathed out a breath of warm air comfortably. "Thank you both for the soup. I also hope that you can catch the murderer who killed my husband as soon as possible. Camus may not be a perfect person, but he has been my closest family member and most intimate friend for so many years."
"Okay, please be extra careful over the next few days. If you find anything amiss or anyone suspicious, you can ask Earl Winston and I for help."
The Baroness curtsied in gratitude and leisurely left the kitchen. Jiang You gathered up the ingredients and pots and pans and looked at Andrei. "What are your plans?"
"I'm going to the hot springs to investigate," Andre said. "I can't completely rule out Valentine's suspicion. I need to go and see the scene first."
"Ah! Hot springs!" Takumi's eyes sparkled. "Speaking of which, it's time for us to use the hot springs as we please! I need to go take a good soak! Because of that incident this afternoon, I've been smelling a strong scent of white pepper all day!"
The image of white pepper bone soup flashed through Andre's mind for a moment, and he silently dispelled this inexplicable thought.
"The only problem is, it's raining heavily outside," said Takumi. "Even though I'm just a skeleton, I don't want to get wet at all, whether before or after taking a hot spring bath."
Leila, who had just finished washing the dishes, suddenly spoke up: "If you need to use the hot springs, I know a shortcut that won't get wet in the rain."
"Hey? That's great!" Jiang Youxi said happily, "Can you take us there?"
Leila nodded, turned and walked out of the kitchen. She took out a few large, clean, fluffy towels from a small room at the end of a passage, held them in her arms, picked up a candle, and opened a secret door. "Please follow me."
There are two ways to the hot springs in the back mountain. One is through the back garden and up the stairs to the sauna and hot spring baths. The other is a secret passage for the owners, which leads directly to the hot springs through an underground cave, avoiding the sun and rain.
"My lady used to ask me to take the young master to the bathhouse along this road, so that we could go to the hot spring and give him a bath without disturbing anyone." Leila led the way, chattering about the past with Jiangyou.
Andre: “…” This is strange. No matter how they asked this puppet maid before, she would only give errors. Why does she talk nonstop when she starts talking to Little Bone?
After climbing up a stone staircase, they came to a small room filled with various women's and children's clothes. Leila opened the door and walked out first. Andre took a few quick steps to catch up. When he looked up, he found that they had already entered the changing room of the bathhouse.
Exiting the locker rooms, to the right are several hot spring baths, and to the left are the shower area and sauna. The hot spring baths are divided into indoor and outdoor areas, each separated by a small room or screen. Whether you want a private space, a shared bath, or want to chat while soaking alone, the facilities here meet all guest needs.
The road from the basement of the mansion to the hot spring in the back mountain is not far. Andre calculated the time and it would only take five minutes to get there.
"Leila, is there another exit from this secret passage?" Andre asked. "For example, an exit to the back mountain?"
"Yes," Leila nodded. "The underground caves are interconnected, leading to anywhere within the mansion and the entire back mountain. However, many passages have not been repaired in years, and venturing through them rashly could lead to getting lost or getting injured. If you absolutely must use the underground cave passages, we recommend that you use one of our puppet servants to lead the way."
"Does anyone know the path to the underground cave?" Andre asked.
"Master, Butler Luke, and us servants," Leila replied sternly. "And the Madam. She had a number of passages renovated, and she often uses them to enter and exit the mansion."
"What about Valentine?" Andrei asked eagerly, "Does he know about this secret passage?"
"I don't know." Leila blinked her mechanical eyes. "Outside guests are not supposed to know these passages. Servants cannot take guests into the secret passages on their own initiative. They can only rescue guests who have strayed into the secret passages. The secret passages are supposed to be used only by the master and the mansion's servants. This is for the safety of the mansion, a rule that was passed down long ago. All puppet servants will abide by this rule."
Andre was a little confused: "Then why did you take us through this secret passage?"
Jiang You's eyes swung a few times, realizing they had hit a new snag: the underground cave passages provided easy access to various locations in the villa, offering both shelter and elusiveness. However, if these passages were freely accessible to outsiders, they would pose a significant threat to the villa's security. However, while the villa owner could freely use these secret passages, the servants also had the right to do so.
The servants needed to move through the villa without being noticed, and get to the places their masters needed quickly and silently. These secret passages were also the servants' work passages.
Takumi and Andrei had arrived at Rose Manor not as guests, but as "servants" hired by Madame Butterfly as cook and kitchen help. When the housekeeper assigned Leila to Takumi, this meticulously programmed puppet maid had already identified Takumi and Andrei as "servants of the manor."
Therefore, Jiangyou and Andre can naturally use this servant work channel.
She leaned close to Andre's ear and explained everything. Andre looked at her with a little more admiration in his eyes: "Thanks to you, we were able to obtain this unimpeded identity."
"Hehe~" Little Bone snorted proudly, hands on his hips. "Who makes the nobles of this era always unconsciously ignore the existence of servants? They rely too much on servants, but they don't pay attention to them. This is the legendary person who can pass through any place without any hindrance by just wearing maintenance workers' clothes and carrying a ladder!"
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