The clock pointed to twelve o'clock, and a gust of wind suddenly blew countless raindrops on the window, making Sophie look up suddenly in surprise.
The lamp on Villefort's desk casts a pale yellow halo on the dark gray glass window. Compared with the sudden rain and wind outside, the quiet bedroom at the moment looked like an isolated island surrounded by wind and waves.
Sophie looked down at the ring and suddenly felt a chill for no reason. Some horrific imaginations came to her mind. She couldn't help but get up from the chair and quickly walked towards the narrow door leading to the inner room.
"Uncle?"
Sophie called softly, but no one answered.
She put her ear against the door, but she could only hear her own breathing and heartbeat.
Sophie hesitated for a moment, then pressed the door handle - the door was locked from the inside!
"Gu——"
There was a sound of footsteps, and Villefort's haggard face appeared behind the narrow door, "What's the matter, Sophie?"
"...Oh, it's okay," Sophie took a step back at a loss, "I never heard the sound inside, so...I was worried that something had happened to you."
Villefort sighed, "...Give me a complete prayer time, okay?"
"Sorry," Sophie squeezed her hand guiltily, "I won't bother you anymore."
The door closed again, Sophie clutched her sleeves and returned to her original seat. After taking a few deep breaths, she also held the cross hanging on her chest and prayed to the savior in the distance.
…
After comforting Sophie for the first time who couldn't help knocking on the door, Villefort quickly changed his clothes. He used all his strength to pull the wardrobe against the wall out a few centimeters. In the process, he felt that the wound he had bandaged during the day seemed to be stretched open. He had to change his position and use his other shoulder to continue pushing the wardrobe up. open.
When the distance between the wall and the wardrobe was barely large enough for a person to pass through, he saw the secret door—the secret door leading to the Palace of Rohan.
The deep and cold stone steps extended downward. Villefort held on to the wall and walked forward slowly. He had only walked this road once with his father in his childhood. If it hadn't been for this unexpected disaster, he would have almost forgotten the meeting with Rohan in his villa. There are also several secret passages between the palaces.
Villefort did not dare to bring any lighting tools, for fear that something unexpected would attract the attention of those mercury needles during the process. However, the slight echo of his footsteps still aroused fear in his heart. He forced himself to count the steps. Soon, he felt that After walking all the downhill steps, the stone path began to become flat, and finally there was a narrow spiraling stone step.
The diameter of the stone steps is only one meter, leading to a secret room in the center of Roang Palace. If you look down at the floor where the secret room is located from directly above the building, you will find that it is sandwiched between the concert hall and the observation deck. The dressing room and washroom cleverly conceal its existence. Behind the heavy sound insulation materials, an 18-square-meter conversation room is perfectly invisible.
The moist wind kept blowing from above Villefort's head. When he tremblingly came to the only exit of the stone steps, he found that the door here was ajar, and the padlock on the door was carelessly discarded on the ground.
Villefort took a deep breath, and then opened the door, but the darkness in the secret room was no different from that in the stone passage - he still couldn't see anything.
Villefort touched the wall, walked carefully along it, and soon found matches and candles on a table.
The moment the candle was lit, he saw the black cloak beside the table. Although he was mentally prepared, Villefort's hand still trembled. The burning candle fell from his hand and was caught by a black hand before it hit the ground. .
The man in black didn't say anything. She placed the candle horizontally, waited for the melted wax to drip onto the table, and then pressed the bottom of the candle onto it.
"...Assassin." Villefort finally made a voice.
The dark mask turned towards him.
Villefort felt a strong palpitation again, which almost made him unsteady for a moment. He quickly grabbed the edge of the table and barely managed to avoid falling.
"I... finally saw you." Villefort whispered, "Finally... I saw you."
Behind the candle, the assassin's head tilted slightly to one side, as if he didn't understand what he was saying.
"I knew you were the one who left me that note... Except for you, no one would ask me to meet here at this time... I wanted to come over yesterday... but..." Villefort murmured incoherently, "fine--"
"Let's get to the point." A synthesized electronic voice came from under the mask, "Don't you always want to see me?"
Villefort's breath froze. In a moment of trance, his eyes slowly opened wide. Countless emotions were mixed and flashed across his face. He kept opening his mouth, but could not say a word.
The candle was burning loudly, and Villefort's breathing became heavier and heavier. He sat not far from the assassin, his hands clasped tightly together.
"This day will come sooner or later, I actually... always knew it." Villefort lowered his head, his whole face hidden in the shadows, "I... don't ask for your forgiveness, I have never... never asked for this. A little, but...but..."
Villefort's throat trembled slightly, he clenched his fists and looked up at the assassin not far away.
"Alvira is innocent. She...and Sophie should never be implicated!"
Facing the assassin's dark face, Villefort's voice gradually became determined.
"I have long been prepared to die. If you have been following my life like the mercury needles said, you will know that this is not just talk. As long as it can calm the resentment in your heart , no matter how you plan to deal with me, I... have no complaints.
"But what's happened these days - I don't know if they were part of your plan, I hope not - has been... far beyond my expectations."
The assassin leaned back slightly, tapped her chin with her index and middle fingers, "Go on."
"The evil deeds committed by Danglars and the others outside have caused uproar in the city, and you, you piled all the corpses in the Rohan Palace, and deliberately put me in the last column of the death list... Now everyone thinks that I am too One of them was complicit - do you know how serious an accusation like that is!
"I...I never feel that I am morally perfect, but I, I can swear to God, I have never committed any crime that harmed the lives of others - I am just an ordinary person, and there will be ordinary people. Because of human weakness, you can punish me at will, but you should never make up baseless charges... They will bring endless pain to my family, do you understand?"
Speaking of the excitement, Villefort shed tears, "They... are innocent, they are simply——"
"There is a saying, Duke," the assassin lazily interrupted Villefort's defense. "You and Danglars are essentially two different people - I have heard no less than three people say this during this time."
She stood up from her chair.
"But in fact, Villefort, you and they are of the same kind."
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