Endai fell into silence. She quickly ran through Si Lei's reasoning in her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more sense it made.
"But why do you say there's no point in talking about it now?"
"Because these are all assumptions. What if the assassin didn't think so?"
"No! That must be it!"
A voice came from the side of the two of them, and Si Lei turned his head - Sophie was standing at the corner of the living room at some point.
Her face was pale, and the tears on her face had not yet dried.
"Sophie..."
"This must be Officer Si Lei!" Sophie almost ran over and held Si Lei's hand firmly. "There is no way my uncle is involved in such a murder. He saw him while hunting. The injured rabbit couldn't bear it, how could he participate in the slave trade or even kill someone with his own hands!?"
"Ms. Sophie, calm down..."
"Didn't you hear what people outside said about him?" Sophie's voice trembled, tears dripping from her cheeks again, "They said that everything my uncle has done in these years was a disguise, and that his hard work was just a disguise. To hide their sins—what do they know…what do they know!”
"...I agree with you to a certain extent, but-"
"We have lived together for ten years. I know what my uncle is like. He always values his reputation more than his life. He is a truly good person in this world. Such a person will never do it for his own selfish interests-"
"Sophie!" Si Lei interrupted her loudly, "Listen to me!"
Sophie was startled, she trembled and her voice stopped abruptly.
Si Lei held Sophie's shoulders and pulled her to sit on the sofa next to him.
"Look, the fact that I'm going to infer that means I'm also inclined to think the Duke is innocent, isn't it? But now is not the time to talk about that."
"...Why?" Sophie murmured.
"Because we can't risk your uncle's life," Si Lei bent down and crouched below Sophie's eye level. "Indeed, maybe the assassin's murder plan has ended, just like I just speculated, but This does not mean that another possibility does not exist.
"If we change our strategy rashly now, what if the assassin appears again later?"
Sophie covered her face with her hands, shook her head, sobbed, and uttered a string of murmurs that no one else could understand. Si Lei gently patted her shoulder.
"Be strong, Sophie, and don't let fear take hold of you."
"I just... don't understand..." Sophie struggled to squeeze out a few words from her throat, "He was already prepared to die... why... he still had to endure such an unwarranted... frame-up? Why? ...Why is fate so cruel to him?"
Si Lei remained silent.
The housekeeper quickly helped Sophie go upstairs. Si Lei watched her leave with a somewhat complicated mood.
Endai said with emotion, "She is so pitiful."
After saying that, she looked at Si Lei - the police officer had retracted his gaze and was looking ahead in a daze.
"Officer Si Lei, what are you thinking about?"
Si Lei didn't answer immediately. After a while, she suddenly sighed and said, "What does 'conscience' mean?"
"……What?"
Si Lei shook his head, "I'll go back to the room and make a phone call first. If you need anything, call me."
…
At dusk, Victoria appeared in Villefort's room. She had already had a long and in-depth conversation with Alvira. After gaining the duchess's full trust, she finally succeeded in convincing Villefort to wear one again. Positioning rings can be issued at any time.
Compared with the previous chip, this ring can give much less information, but it retains the two most critical data-Villefort's coordinates and whether he is still alive.
The dark clouds in the distant sky surge towards Tan Yi, bringing with them a cold wind and a sign of rain.
Villefort had not eaten his supper, but he had no appetite either. He refused everyone's company, opened the bedroom window alone, and let the moist raindrops flow into his bedroom with the wind. The biting winter wind made his teeth chatter, but this painful awareness made him strongly Feel yourself alive.
Villefort sat down at the desk, turned on the light yellow desk lamp, then took out the pen and opened the diary.
"I didn't do anything"
His hand held the pen so hard that the metal tip of the pen split apart.
Villefort gritted his teeth, and he felt a hot surge of molten lava burst out from the bottom of his heart, grievance, anger, unwillingness... They were intertwined into an unprecedented courage.
Villefort's breathing became rapid, he pursed his lips tightly, and wrote in the next line:
"I didn't do anything."
He has never been more eager to see the assassin than now. He is eager to clarify everything in the past to this demon that everyone fears.
While copying over and over again, Villefort gradually regained his composure. It was already raining heavily outside the window, and the raindrops made a noisy sound on the glass window.
The night outside the window was so bottomless, but it comforted him.
Near midnight, there was a knock on the door. Villefort got up to open the door, and Sophie stood outside.
"...You're here." Villefort quickly adjusted his expression, trying to look more relaxed, "Come in quickly."
The bedroom door closed gently, and Sophie walked into the bedroom she was all too familiar with. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, kid." Villefort took a deep breath, "...I need you to do me a favor."
Sophie was startled, and her haggard face regained some energy. She nodded quickly, "I know, when Mr. Townsend came to give me a message in the middle of the night, I knew that you must be looking for me for a reason. What do you need me to do?”
"Here, hold out your hand."
Sophie didn't understand why, but she did it anyway.
Villefort raised his left hand, and then quickly changed the ring on his index finger to Sophie's hand.
"……This is?"
"Shh." Villefort made a silencing gesture. He looked at the window and door nervously - half a minute passed, and everything was calm.
Villefort breathed a sigh of relief, "Good boy, listen to me...this is the tool used by the mercury needles to monitor me——"
"They are protecting you." Sophie whispered.
"Yes, that's right, they are protecting me, I know." Villefort whispered, "But surveillance is surveillance. No matter what beautiful words are used, we all know that it is surveillance."
"But……"
"Don't worry, good boy," Villefort said softly, "I'm tired of taking off these monitor mercury needles and breaking into the door immediately... Just sit here with your ring on, okay?"
"But where are you going?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Villefort replied, "I just want to go inside to say a clean prayer and stay alone for ten or twenty minutes. Can you do me a favor?"
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