Villefort noticed Danglars' gaze, and he looked back tentatively. However, Danglars glared at him with hatred, and then looked away silently.
"Who's next?" Paran asked.
"Can I try?" Teresa asked softly, raising her hand.
"Of course." Paran passed the rattle, "Don't forget the rules."
Teresa smiled, she coughed slightly, "Of course, please listen carefully: my father, my husband, my son... only after I lost them one by one did I finally realize that I The only person you truly love is yourself..."
In the candlelight, Teresa's voice seemed to be covered with a hazy mist. This scene suddenly reminded people of the dangerous sirens in the fog, who always used their seemingly beautiful singing voices to lure ships away from their normal trajectories.
"... try to reason, what happened?"
Danglars shrank his neck when he heard it, and felt a sense of discomfort on the spot - both Teresa and her story made him feel a chill all over his body.
Teresa looked at Danglars, who had a face like pig liver, "Mr. Viscount, do you want to take a guess first?"
Tangglar picked up the wine in front of him and took another sip, "Haha, no need."
On the side, Endai was eager to give it a try: "Then I'll go first! Are there any supernatural phenomena in the story?"
…
There are supernatural phenomena. Someone died. Died by murder.
The place of death is unimportant, the time of death is unimportant, and the manner of death is both important and unimportant.
The deceased were all physically mutilated. Missing heart. "I" am the murderer.
However, "I" do not hate the dead. In fact, "I" love each of them.
…
For Teresa's story, everyone guessed for more than half an hour, and only a few valid questions were answered. However, the more this happened, the more interesting it became for the players. Si Lei even took out a pen and paper and summarized several clues that were clearly affirmed or denied.
Just as everyone was thinking hard, Teresa looked at Hesta again: "Where's Eureka? Do you have any ideas?"
Hesta lowered her eyes slightly.
"...Is there a 'sacrifice' plot in this story?"
Teresa's eyes brightened slightly, "Yes."
Si Lei looked at his notebook and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "I may understand."
Teresa laughed: "Where's Youleka, you just put forward the key clue, do you have the answer now?"
"No, I just asked casually," Hesta raised his hand to signal Si Lei, "...leave it to Officer Si Lei."
Teresa looked at Si Lei: "Please."
"I think that the protagonist in the story sacrificed her father, husband and son successively in order to obtain something. The conditions for the sacrifice here are probably something like 'offer the heart of the person you love most', but in this case After the death of her father, husband and son, what the protagonist expected did not appear, so in the end she suddenly realized that the person she loved most was not any of the deceased, but herself, right?"
Teresa clapped her hands: "Congratulations."
"Is this the original story?" Si Lei asked, "What is it for? It feels like there are still many details that are not clear."
Teresa said warmly: "The original story is: I met a god in the wilderness, and he promised me: If you offer the heart of the person you love most, I will give you eternal life, so I killed my father in turn. , husband and son, dedicated their hearts. However, God told me that they were not the people I loved most, so I understood that the person I loved most in the world was myself - although some details were incomplete. , but Officer Si Lei has roughly guessed it, so this should be regarded as a successful solution of the mystery, right?"
"Forget it," Palan nodded in approval, "I've guessed all the important points in the story. I think it's fine. What about the others?"
As everyone nodded, the butler put a piece of rusk into Si Lei's bowl.
Everyone began to review the reasons for deviating from the answer in the game before. Amidst the noisy arguments, Hesta was always observing Villefort's face with his peripheral vision.
The Duke never joined anyone's conversation. He just sat there quietly, looking ahead distractedly. A look of sadness similar to that seen during the previous night's conversation appeared on his face. His face was pale and haggard, and his expression was in a trance.
Not long after, Paran signaled everyone to quiet down, "Shall we start the next round of the game? Who will give the question?"
Hesta raised her hand proactively, "I'll do it."
"Okay." Teresa stood up and handed the rattle to Hesta.
Everyone's eyes were focused on Hesta. However, after Hesta received the bell, he was not in a hurry to speak.
The sound of rain, the sound of breathing, the harsh movement of seats as people changed positions... The room was extremely quiet, as if time had frozen, with only the occasional jump of candle flames, moving the shadows cast by everyone behind them.
Hesta stared at the wind and rain outside the window and whispered:
“First it was animals, then the corpses of its own kind, then its own kind, and finally itself.
"Try to reason about what happened."
After a moment of pondering, Theresa raised her hand first: "...Does your story also have a 'sacrifice' plot?"
"Yes." Hesta looked sideways, "Yes."
Suddenly there was a flash of lightning in the distance, without any warning, the entire hall turned pale. Villefort shuddered unconsciously. He suddenly retracted his hand on the table, but accidentally knocked over the glass holding the wine. ——
There was thunder and the sound of breaking glass at the same time.
Hesta looked at Villefort: "What's wrong with the Duke? Is he okay?"
Villefort forced a weak smile, "It's thunder... This thunder scares me a little."
"Pull up the curtains!" Danglars couldn't bear it anymore. He slapped the table angrily, "Turn on the lights! Turn on the lights! Turn on all the lights!"
The housekeeper quickly turned around and pulled up the curtains. Following the servants' actions, all the lights in the hall were turned on.
Being in the brightly lit hall again, many people felt like they were in another world. This feeling is so magical - the light dispels all the haze, as if they are directly brought back to civilized society from a precarious black iron dynasty.
Look at the gilded dishes with gilded edges, the intricately carved candlesticks, the exquisite and delicious food and wine...their existence is like a sign, a promise: no matter how violent the wind outside the window is, here, in this magnificent mansion , everything will always be calm and peaceful, impervious to wind and rain.
Hesta looked at Tanglar: "Is the Viscount also scared?"
"Why are you scared? You guys are just having too much fun!"
Hesta smiled slightly, replaced the wine with water, and raised a glass to apologize to the Viscount. Danglars turned away with a pale face and ignored him. Although he was no longer in the mood to continue the game at this moment, the wind and rain outside the window frightened him. He really did not have the courage to leave alone and could only watch the game continue uneasily.
I received a reward from the leader yesterday, and I happened to have another manuscript in hand, so I dropped it and added more! (Ouch!
(Despite this, there is no guarantee that updates will be added when I meet the leader_(´ཀ`‖∠)_. Everyone’s follow-up reading is already a great support to me.
Finally, thank you readers again for your little carbon.
