Sophie sat down next to Hesta, "Did you sleep well last night?"
"Very good." Hesta replied, "I hung the paper fox on the bedside, thank you."
Sophie lowered her head in embarrassment, "You're welcome."
"By the way, could you share your reading list?"
"……book list?"
"It's the books you were referring to in reply to the letter the night before yesterday," Hesta said softly, "I rarely read publications in Habitable Land before, but there seem to be more new books published in the past two years... What do you have? Any interesting book recommendations?”
"Yes! Of course," Sophie replied immediately. She smiled and looked at Danglars, who had just sat down opposite him. "If I had known that Uncle Danglars wouldn't be allowed to put him back, I would go and help you now -"
"Let's talk after dinner," Hesta held down Sophie's wrist, "I'm not in a hurry."
"OK."
What Hestad didn't expect was that after asking about her reading preferences in detail, Sophie planned to go beyond the reading scope of the night before and customize a recommendation list for herself. Hestad tried to refuse, but she couldn't refuse the kindness, and the breakfast was over. Finally, she had to follow Sophie to the large study room on the first floor.
Although the books here have not been read for a long time, the servants who take care of the study always carefully wipe off the dust on the spines and upper edges of the books, so each book still looks like new.
Sophie pulled out books of different thicknesses one after another from the bookshelf, and thoughtfully shared her thoughts after reading them. Some of them were accepted by Hesta, and some were put back on the shelf by them.
"That's enough, that's enough." Hesta held a stack of books, "I just read to kill time——"
"It's just to kill time, so I need to prepare more books. I don't want to finish reading every book. As long as I lose interest in reading, I can change to the next one immediately."
"but--"
Before Hesta finished speaking, both of them heard some strange movements in the living room, followed by a series of screams and roars from Tanglar.
When Sophie and Hesta rushed to the living room together, they saw Villefort kneeling next to the bookshelf by the window in the living room. Blank photo papers were scattered on the floor. He was sitting on the ground with a fearful expression, still holding hands tightly. Writing the book "Selected Short Stories of Ernest".
Sophie was a little confused, and there was a vague premonition in her heart: "What's going on?"
"Death notice! Sophie!! Your uncle is going to die!" Danglars spat, and his face turned the color of liver again due to excitement, "It's an assassin...it's an assassin coming! The assassin is watching Watching us, the assassins are always here watching us——"
"Take him down." Victoria ordered in a low voice.
"I won't leave!" Danglars waved his arms angrily, "I want to be with the Duke at this critical moment, and no one can separate us-"
"Theresa, come on."
The living room soon became peaceful again.
Sophie's face turned pale. She approached Villefort in a daze and wanted to lean over to pick up the photo paper on the ground.
"Don't move." Zoe said coldly.
A few mercury needles wearing gloves collected all the evidence scattered at the scene - no more, no less, exactly twelve pieces.
Villefort was helped to sit on the sofa beside him. The servant of the manor brought him a cup of hot tea with a worried expression. He held it in his hand without taking a sip.
"Uncle..." Sophie, who was sitting next to her, called softly, "You..."
"What's going on?" Victoria also sat down, "Where did all these photo papers come from?"
Villefort woke up as if from a dream, he lowered his head and his breathing became heavier, "Please... please don't tell my wife what happened this morning."
"Can you hide this kind of thing?"
"...Let me go and tell her in person, okay?"
"Okay," Victoria nodded, "But we can't control Tanglar's side, so you should hurry up."
Villefort bent down and pressed his hands tightly against his forehead. He adjusted himself for a long time before he began to recount what happened this morning to others. Everything was actually very simple. The valet who had been on duty in the living room had already described it to the mercury needles. What happened - Tanglar sat on the sofa chair by the window for a while after breakfast. Because he felt that the furniture in this area was a bit blocking the view, he asked the housekeeper to come over and help move the coffee table, sofa chair and bookshelf.
"I happened to go downstairs at that time," Villefort said. "I saw Danglars and some servants talking there, so I went over to say hello to him. He said that he had just heard that Alvira and I were visiting Donate books to the welfare home and the city library, and ask me if you can take him with you. There are too many books in his manor, and it would be a waste to just leave them unread..."
Villefort's voice dropped, and Victoria asked: "Then what?"
"Then... we started discussing this matter," Villefort looked down at his fingers. "He asked if there were any restrictions on the types of books. I said yes. He asked what the restrictions were. I told him the details... and then he asked me Help me see how many of the books on the bookshelf here meet the standards, and I just...I saw this book."
Villefort raised his hand, still holding the volume in his hand.
"I gave this book to him back then." Villefort's voice became sluggish again, "I, I couldn't help but take down the book and read it, and then, and then those photo papers -"
"Has this book always been there?"
Villefort narrowed his eyes and shook his head, "I...I..."
"No!" Sophie clenched her hands, "I took the book back to the room the night before."
"Did you pay attention to the book at that time——"
“These photo papers didn’t exist back then.”
"you sure?"
"I'm very sure!" Sophie answered decisively, but her voice was trembling, "Because I accidentally dropped the book on the ground the night before yesterday, and a few photos fell out of the back cover, and my aunt put it away."
"What picture?"
Sophie frowned, "I didn't take a closer look, but I remember that it seemed to be, well, it seemed to be..."
"It's a commemorative photo of a child." Hesta, who was not far away, suddenly replied, "Birth, hundredth day, first birthday, etc."
Victoria turned back, a little surprised: "...you were also there?"
"I couldn't sleep that night, and I happened to meet Sophie in the corridor. She invited me to talk about the saints." Hesta replied, "I remember that Susie was on duty that night, and I talked to them before I went back to the room. Said hello."
"My aunt and Eureka were chatting for a while," Sophie recalled with difficulty, "Eureka said she liked one of the stories -"
"It's not that I like it, it's the Duke." Hesta corrected softly, "He once talked about a short story in this book in the early morning of November 27, and Endai was there at that time."
