Chapter 14: Behind the Manor Stable
Just when the three big men were worried about their future and fate, Hydra appeared in front of them at an inopportune time. Albert had a meeting with the 'woman' when he entered the manor. But the impression was not very impressive. At that time, Xiao A was thinking about old Benedict, and he had no time to take care of him, but now the feeling was completely different. Hydra's elegant dress and sweet and natural smile all 'stirred' ripples in the young duke's heart. Little Ah couldn't help but think of Claudia of Destinipe.
As the saying goes, a slap doesn't make a sound.When Albert was thinking about it.Hydra also had a good impression of the well-proportioned and handsome young man in front of her.She took Valentine's hand.,Teasedly, "You're so lucky.If I had met the Duke some time ago.,Then the man of the cottage would have been him."
"Of course, of course, Duke Borot is one of the best in the entire Bodi Continent." Valentine praised as he 'smoked' his free time and 'smoked' his Bodhi cigarette again.
Suddenly, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the corridor, and the chief butler of the manor shouted out of breath...... You, and you, prepare the best sesame oil right away, be sure to cover the breath...... You, you, and you, on fast horses, searched ten miles around the manor, and saw if they could get some useful clues......"
"What's going on, is something going on?" Hydra asked in a loud voice as he pushed open the door.
The butler dragged a heavy body to the 'woman' and explained: "A rotting corpse was found behind the stable.
"How could this happen? Hydra looked surprised and anxious.
"It's hard to tell what it looks like, only the people below have counted it, but according to what we know so far, the back of the stables may only be the second scene, otherwise, the stench would not have been covered up a few days ago."
"I'm going to take a look." Hydra was adamant. Not at all casual.
The butler was embarrassed, and he didn't know how to dissuade him.
Valentine interjected at this time: "I'll take a look with you, maybe I can find out the cause of the murder.
Hydra nodded slightly, and the young couple followed the butler hand in hand and side by side to the stables.
The corpses had been removed, but the stench of putrid in the air still stubbornly remained, and there was a distinct mark on the ground.
Valentine squatted down and touched it lightly with his fingers, and then put it to his nose and sniffed: "Why is there a smell of sheep?"
The butler scratched his head, and couldn't say why.
"Could it be that they temporarily repurposed the stable?" Hydra asked.
The butler still didn't know, because Thrushcross Lodge was huge, and it was impossible to report these things in detail.
Valentine secretly scolded in his heart: "I don't know what I want you to do." He was still silent on the surface, and then looked at the scene carefully.
Not far from the stable, he noticed a small half-man-high 'door': "This leads to where?"
"Oh, this one......" the butler sorted out his thoughts. There lived an old widow in the back, whose husband had worked in the manor in the past, and then unfortunately drowned, and the old master had placed the widow there, and had provided her with food and clothing at regular intervals, so that she would have no worries for the rest of her life."
"I've never heard of it." Hydra blamed herself, if she had known that there was such a subordinate, she would have given 'spirit' care all the time, not just food and clothing.
"Master, this old woman has a strange temper, and besides, there are hundreds of people up and down the manor, and there are those nearby farmers. The butler said in a complaining tone, "Although he also likes Hydra's generosity, there must be a limit to everything, and if you go too far, you will harm others and yourself."
Valentine was already alone at this moment towards the little 'door', and he bent down from time to time, and gently dug a handful of dirt and stirred it in his hands.
The cardinal motioned for the other three to stay out of the way, and cautiously dodged to a mysterious hut separated from a tree by a 'door'.
In broad daylight, there seemed to be candlelight coming out of the window, and Valentine secretly put his hands behind his back, stockpiling up a few instant spells.
The 'door' of the room was hidden, and at the moment when the cardinal was about to step in, he was suddenly completely blown open by a strange gust of wind.
I saw an old 'woman' with half-black and half-white hair sitting on a square stool with her back bent and knitting a 'woolen' coat.
The young man was a little confused, and he quietly used the evil detection technique to roughly sweep the room, but found nothing, so he had to ask, "Old woman, have you noticed anything unusual in the neighborhood lately?"
"Ahh The 'woman' who weaves the 'woolen' coat speaks slowly and logically, and a syllable drags on for a long time." Nothing, nothing out of the ordinary."
Valentine suddenly noticed that the candlelight that had been shining through the window was actually a trinket in front of the old man's chest.
"If you have to say something...... "The old woman suddenly muttered to herself." It's just that there is an inexplicable bouquet of roses in front of my window."
"Roses 'Flowers'." Valentine was taken aback, and he immediately thought of the Crimson Rose, a killer organization.
"I can't walk my old way anymore, how can anyone bring me roses." The old woman laughed self-deprecatingly, her eyes twinkling, as if she remembered the happy old days of her youth.
"Is that rose still there?" Valentine asked, "This might be the key piece of evidence."
The old woman put down her needlework, straightened up tremblingly, declined the young man's support, and staggered to a cabinet in the corner of the wall that had fallen paint. That's it."
"How long has it been since this 'flower' appeared?"
"It's been almost a week, if my head is fine."
The fact that the 'flower' of roses, which had not been watered for a week, could still remain so delicate and 'beautiful', made Valentine almost certain that this matter must have involved the killer organization that the dragon did not see.
However, it is not entirely unambiguous.
First of all, why do they put their sign in front of the 'door' of an old woman's house that is about to enter the earth?
Secondly, why did they commit murder here at Thrushcross Cottage, and why did they abandon the corpse behind the stable, who was the deceased, and would Crimson Rose kill an unknown man?
Finally, the smell of sheep is not so strong.
Valentine pondered and meditated, searched up and down, and finally had a flash of inspiration, and a somewhat terrible thought popped up: "There is a thing, although it has nothing to do with sheep, but it will more or less emit the smell of sheep from its body. That's vampires."
The young cardinal vividly remembered that there were explanations for the ins and outs of vampires in the liberal literature, and there was also a reason why vampires smelled this way.
Legend has it that when God created all things, he also assigned a number of guardians to go to several ends of the world. The ancestor of the vampire may also be one of the guardians, but he was too lazy to eat, not only did he not fulfill his duties, but he ate and drank there all day long. Eventually, the ancestors of the vampires became more and more isolated and murderous, and slowly began to suck blood as a means of livelihood.
Of course, this legend should not be taken seriously, because some vampires do not have a clear sheep' flavor, and some folk vampire origins are a different version entirely.
However, Valentine is not a scholar who sits in his study and does research, he now has to apply these things to practical life, so it is the best choice, and there is no need to think and hesitate.
Although he had just used the Evil Detection Technique to probe it, there was no guarantee that nothing had slipped through the net, and some things could be hidden by special means.
"Just don't collapse the room." The old man didn't show any taboo expression.
After just a few spells, Valentine smiled and said, "Now the demons have no place to hide.
"It's okay, I've stepped into the coffin with half a foot, and I'm afraid of some cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods."
Valentine was just about to say a few more words of persuasion, when he suddenly noticed that the necklace around the old man's neck was glowing a dazzling red.
"Mother-in-law, what's the origin of your necklace?" Valentine single-handedly goes straight and doesn't beat around the bush.
"The only thing left of my dead husband." The old man 'rubbed' his eyes, and then began to '' and 'do' needlework.
"Can you show me, you can't feel it glowing yourself."
"Young man, I'm old, but my eyes are pretty good, and if this thing glows, I don't know."
The old woman's answer made Valentine even more amazed, could she be the only one who could see this brilliance?
'Want' to know what will happen next, and listen to the next breakdown.