In the evening, Eta Heddah sat under the veranda of his garden, staring blankly ahead, his eyes unfocused, and three or four bottles of wine lying crookedly on the ground

Since he was persuaded by his father and brother to "return" to the family on the right track, nearly half a month has passed, looking back on this time, he seems to have been valued a lot at home, the portrait of his mother was hung back on the wall of his father's study for the first time after her death, the two little brothers will also say hello when they see him, and the attitude of the servants is also a lot more respectful, and on the side of the knights, the boss even hinted that he was willing to write a book for him and let him be transferred to the royal knights

However, he always felt that this was not what he really wanted...

He wanted to gain the king's approval by his own skills, not with the help of family power, and if he did, what difference would he have from other noble gentlemen? So what is the effort he has been working on?

Also, the situation at home also made him feel that something was wrong, he had been drinking too much recently, and his mood was low, but his father only cared about his work, kept asking him about his daily tasks, and didn't care about anything else; The eldest brother, Esparo, seems to come to him often, but every time he is asked for his help, and even asks him to help install a large number of men into the city guard; The stepmother, Lady Helen, though kinder than before, still had the same contempt in her eyes as before; Even the stewards and servants, he felt that they did not really respect him, but more like the result of obeying the orders of the male and female masters As for the knights? The previously cordial and friendly gaze was almost gone, and all that remained was whispering, disdain, and fear, and everyone was privately talking about him framing his friend

Why is this happening? Isn't it Anlong who betrayed friendship? Why is everyone's attitude saying that it is he who is wrong?

He's not wrong, he's right, damn Anlong

He grabbed one of the bottles and tried to pour them into his mouth, but he poured nothing out, threw away the bottle and grabbed another, but all the bottles were empty, and he threw them to the ground in anger and shouted, "Someone, bring me wine!" ”

There was a trembling voice behind him, and when he looked back, it was a little girl dressed in a low-level maid costume, eleven or twelve years old, with flaxen hair and blue eyes, thin and small, staring at him timidly: "Third Young Master, what do you command?" ”

Etta narrowed her eyes, "Where are you?" Why haven't I seen you? ”

The little maid bowed her head in fear: "I... I'm a garden handyman... It's not long since I arrived..."

Etta never took these little people to heart, and waved his hand casually: "Go!" Bring me a bottle of good wine! ”

The little maid whispered in reply, and he sat down boredly, feeling that everything was boring

There was a sound of footsteps behind him, and he didn't look back, but the person who came obviously came to look for him: "Brother, what are you doing?" Drinking again? "It's Esparo

Eta asked, "Who is going to enter the city guard?" As I said, there were too many people in the arrangement a few days ago, and the team was already dissatisfied."

Esparo smiled: "It's not this thing, it's that Little Fox is here, he wants to meet the man, ask where the missing little mouse can go, he said, it's likely that the thing has fallen into the hands of our enemies"

"Afraid of what?" Etta frowned, "Didn't you say it was all falsehood?" The evidence is also fake, and even if they take it out, sooner or later it will be debunked"

Esparo paused and said with a smile: "It's true, but no one knows if those people will attack us in front of His Majesty the King, although we are innocent, but it is also very troublesome to get into this kind of thing, it is better to eliminate the hidden danger as soon as possible" He stretched out his hand and put his hand on his brother's shoulder: "Come, my dear brother, let's go and meet your old friend together, let him know that those who betray their friends will never end well"

Etta sat there expressionlessly, and when he didn't react, Esparo leaned into his ear and asked, "What?" You can't bear it? Do you still think he's your friend? ”

"I don't have such friends," Etta said lightly, getting up and walking towards the mansion, and Esparo followed with a wicked smile

The little maid who appeared just now flashed out from behind the flowers, looked at the two brothers in the distance and sneered slightly, the timid nirvana just now has completely disappeared

She was none other than Minna

After hearing that her parents were in distress that day, she repeatedly asked for permission from the white-haired man to know her parents' whereabouts without revealing her true identity

It turned out that after Anlong and Dora escaped from the city, they were about to take a boat back to Port Matt in the docks, but they were accidentally discovered by the Heda family, and during the fierce fight, Veronica and two other security department personnel were seriously injured and are still unconscious in the infirmary, while the mother Dora resolutely refused to leave her husband and was taken away by those people

The people of the Security Department have inquired about all the prisons in the city, and no one similar to An Long's husband and wife has entered, and the Law and Political Affairs Department and the City Guard Knights, there is no news about An Long's arrest, the latter is also worried about the disappearance of the two soldiers, and there is no time to pay attention to other things for the time being, and the Intelligence Department of the Security Department has analyzed that An Long is very likely to be taken to the private prison of Heda's family, and it can be inferred from what they said when they captured An Long, they have no intention of killing people for the time being, so the Security Department decided, We have to find out the location of Heda's private prison so that we can save people

Minna participated in the rescue plan as a temporary intelligence officer, the Security Service prepared all the background information for her, and with the help of magic leaves, she changed her hair and eyes, and infiltrated the Hedda mansion to become a trainee maid She came for seven or eight days, and she traveled all over the mansion, but she never found the location of the private prison, and even almost showed her stuff, and Melory, the white-haired man, sent a note, severely condemned her recklessness, and taught her some tips to find clues, and she barely managed to bear it, Keep an eye out for the spider silk trails around you

As a result, she found that almost every evening or evening, one or two people from Heddah's eldest son, Esparo, and his third son, Eta, would come to the flower room and stay for a long time before leaving, and during this time, no one was allowed to approach the flower room, and she suspected that there was something special in the flower room, so she tried to transfer herself to the garden

Originally, she was assigned to work as a cleaner to move around the mansion, but after a few packets of spills on the original gardener's assistant, he was finally fired for slacking off, and Minna took the opportunity to reveal her "talent" for gardening work, and successfully became the old gardener's assistant candidate

On the first day she was transferred to the back of the garden, she had quietly slipped into the flower room to investigate, but she didn't find anything, however, just last night, she unexpectedly found that Etta who had entered the flower room actually walked out of the mansion drunk.

Today is a rare opportunity, she must seize it!

Minna put on a sluggish and simple expression again, walked towards the wine cellar, and met another maid on the way with the guests in, recognized that it was the little Fox who had met in Encore City, hurriedly lowered her head timidly, pretended to be timid and afraid of life, stood aside and respectfully invited the guests to go first, Little Fox was full of worries, she didn't notice a little maid at all, swaggered to the small living room in the southeast corner of the mansion Minna secretly wrote down his whereabouts, ran to the wine cellar and asked for a bottle of wine in the name of the third young master, then quietly avoided the others and slipped to the small living room, Passing by a certain living room, she heard several young maids talking about the young masters, glanced at her mouth, and took advantage of their unpreparedness to flash over to the small living room, and she hid in the corner of the corridor, and did not say a word until the Etta brothers and little Fawkes finished talking and left, and then quietly followed

Taking advantage of the darkness of the twilight, she avoided a few groups of servants along the way, followed the three men to a corridor northeast of the mansion, and dug up the floor plan of the mansion in her mind, and found that this place was only seventy or eighty meters away from the flower house, almost in a straight line

Esparo turned around a pot of flowers at the end of the hallway, and the wall at the end of the hallway opened, revealing a low doorway that seemed to be a downward staircase, and Minna was glad to know that she had probably found the place of her private prison

At this time, there was the sound of footsteps not far behind her, and Minna hurriedly took a few steps back in her heart, came to the intersection of another corridor, looked around and pretended not to know the way, and deliberately picked up the wine bottle in her hand

"Who are you? What are you doing here?! When a man guarding Nirvana saw her, he shouted loudly, and led the Eta brothers, who were about to leave the secret room, and Esparo stared at Minna tightly, and asked gloomily, "Why did you come here?" Who asked you to come? ”

Minna looked stupid: "The third young master told me to take wine..."

Esparo frowned and turned to look at Eta, who thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, there is such a thing, but that's what I said half an hour ago" Esparo looked back at Minna: "Why did it take so long?" Also, how did you get here?! ”

"I don't know the way to the cellar... I can't find the third young master again... I heard that the third young master was in the small living room, and when I went there, the third young master walked away again, so I came with me..."Minna lowered her head timidly, and Little Fox didn't seem to notice anything wrong with her, which made her feel much more at ease

"I'm sorry, what's going on?" The housekeeper trotted over, and when he saw Minna, he scolded: "This is not the place where you came, why are you so bold?!" He apologized to the young master and guests: "It's all my negligence, this is a trainee maid doing chores in the garden, not waiting in the mansion, I'll let her leave immediately" turned around and scolded Minna: "Don't you get out of here?!" ”

Minna picked up the wine bottle with a puzzled expression: "What the third young master wants..."

"Just put it in my room!" Etta looked impatient, a stupid girl, he didn't have time to care, but Esparo looked at Minna several times, saw that she was childish, and felt that he was thinking too much, and waved his hand: "Go, go, go"

"The third young master's wine..."Minna was still there, but the housekeeper snatched the wine bottle, twisted her ears and dragged away: "You don't understand, do you?" Follow me! ”

Walking all the way to the entrance of the garden, the housekeeper let go of Minna, called the old gardener and scolded her, and the old gardener scolded Minna again: "Aren't you working in the mansion now, don't you know that you can go in there?" ”

"But the third young master wants me to send wine," Minna pretended to be stupid and tilted her head and asked, "The second housekeeper said that what the master tells you to do, you must do it."

The butler rolled his eyes beside him: "You can ask other maids to do it, why do you send it yourself?" ”

"I wanted to find other maid sisters to send it, but they ignored me... They were talking about the second young master giving Dorothy a pair of jeweled earrings."

The butler narrowed his eyes: "Dorothy? Hum! He looked at Minna: "Alright, get back to me!" In the future, you are not allowed to come back to the mansion without permission! Did you hear that? ”

Before Minna could answer, the old gardener took the lead and said, "Don't worry, I will never let her do it again, I will definitely teach her a good lesson."

Waiting for the housekeeper to leave, the old gardener glared at Minna: "It's all you, why are you so stupid after I was scolded?!" ”

Minna lowered her head and didn't speak, the old gardener looked at her well-behaved, and couldn't help but sigh The original assistant was a little clever, but it was a pity that he was lazy all day long to tease the young maids, and even Dorothy dared to provoke the little girl now, although she was willing to work, she was a stupid and dull person, but if you think about it, he really would rather be stupid than be stupid than love to cause trouble

Minna didn't take his words to heart at all, and even the rosebuds that he had punished to collect and dry went happily and watched the old gardener sigh and smoke from a distance, Minna bent the corners of her mouth, carefully squeezing out the juice of a blue fern that she had picked before, and applying it to a part of the rosebuds

This kind of blue fern is cute, it is a common foil for flower arrangement, it is very common in the garden of aristocratic people, its juice is tasteless, it can enhance the fragrance of roses, but mixed with roses, it will have a side effect, make people drowsy, sleep very sweetly, and wake up without realizing This is part of the recipe made by a magician decades ago in order to coax his daughter who hates eating herbs to drink cold medicine, few people know, but Minna happened to see it

Lady Helen, the mistress of Heda's house, had a habit of having all the family drink a cup of rose tea every day after dinner, and chatting about the fact that she would not allow anyone to be absent, even Etta, who had never been treated well by her, would participate in this habit every day, giving Minna a good opportunity to start

Minna put the rosebuds into the big bowl, carefully put the ones on the surface, tightened the caps, said hello to the old gardener, and took them to the side door of the mansion, and handed them to the maid who had been waiting for a long time, and gave her a blank look: "Why did you get it so long?" Waste my time! With that, she took the bowl and went away, and Minna didn't bother to turn back to the garden to continue her work

She slept early in the night, but suddenly opened her eyes, she got up and changed into soft-soled cloth shoes, and walked out of her hut without a sound, and overheard the snoring of the old gardener, she smiled slightly, and went to the mansion

Coming to the window of an empty room in the mansion, Minna pointed to the window and said a spell softly, and the window opened, and she jumped in, still closing the window, and carefully eavesdropping on the door to make sure that there was no one outside, and then flashed out

The corridor was silent, no one passed, Minna knew that her preparations had worked, and the masters fell into a coma, and the servants slept in the servants' rooms on the periphery, not in the mansion at all

She walked lightly towards the northeast corridor in her impression, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a light approaching at the corner in front of her, and hurriedly retreated quietly, hiding in a room, hearing the loud snoring in the room, she frowned, closed the door, and waited until the light passed, she saw that it was the third housekeeper, probably on night patrol, and secretly shouted bad luck in her heart, this guy has always worked hard, and it was his turn to be on duty tonight! If it's someone else, it's only two patrols before midnight and early in the morning

The light disappeared around the corner, and the surroundings fell back into darkness, Minna slipped out of the room, groped her way forward in the darkness, and finally came to her destination, and gently turned the flower pot at the end of the corridor, and the door hole was exposed, and it was dark inside, but there was a faint fire underneath, and Minna only hesitated for a moment, then walked in, and the door was quickly closed

Minna didn't know what was going on below, and she didn't dare to use lighting, so she carefully touched the wall and walked down slowly, and gradually, there was light, and when she approached the bottom of the stairs, she saw that there was a lot of space below, lit with a few dim oil lamps, and there were many prison-like fences in the depths, and a large stone jar next to it was filled with red-hot coal

Just about to go further, Minna was suddenly frightened by a moan, looked from a distance, and found that not far from the charcoal tank, there was a black shadow hanging, reflecting the firelight, and she could vaguely see that it was a person, whiplashes everywhere, covered in blood, and there was no complete place on the whole body She was shocked, and looked carefully, and found that the person was a little short, obviously not his father, so he breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head to look at the rows of prisons, and couldn't help but be a little worried, can she find her father without alarming others?

Just as she was in trouble, there was a sudden sound of footsteps overhead, and she was walking down step by step, and Minna was suddenly shocked