Outside the luxurious room filled with antiques at the Red Rose Manor.
Klein stood at the door, questioning the sixth housemaid he had encountered today.
The young maid was wearing a black and white maid's dress characteristic of the era. She was pretty, in the prime of her youth, with slightly wavy brown hair that added a bit of playfulness.
"Who does Mr. Talim usually meet when he comes to visit?" Klein repeated his previous question with a blank expression.
The maid answered almost without pause:
"Mr. Talim generally seeks an audience with His Highness, or goes horse riding with him, or discusses matters. If His Highness happens to be away, he meets with that young lady. They are good friends, and it is permitted by the butler."
Talim is good friends with the commoner girl Prince Edsac likes? They meet privately from time to time? He must be trying to persuade her to leave, so as not to affect the Prince's reputation... Klein nodded thoughtfully:
"Them, I mean, what do Mr. Talim and that young lady talk about?"
As he asked this question, Klein couldn't help but recall Talim's love-struck behavior from a while ago. Relying on his rich "experience" from the information age, he inexplicably conjured up an extremely melodramatic romantic story.
The maid was not afraid of the great detective. She smiled and shook her head:
"We are all asked to leave the room at such times."
This... Klein found it even harder to restrain his imagination, even thinking that Prince Edsac's top hat and helmet should be given a new coating.
Before he could ask again, the maid chuckled:
"Detective Moriarty, if you want to know exactly what that young lady and Mr. Talim talked about, you can go and ask her directly."
"The old butler does not allow it." Klein unashamedly pushed out a shield to block the arrows.
He then smiled:
"You seem to know more than the previous servants. You even know to call me Detective Moriarty."
The maid glanced around, keeping her smile:
"Because I serve that young lady in rotation. She has always wanted to meet you, Detective Moriarty. After all, she was a good friend of Mr. Talim and cares a lot about his death.
"Unfortunately, she always misses you."
"Always?" Klein was very sensitive to words like "always," "happens to," and "miss."
The maid nodded seriously:
"When His Highness first invited you here, she deliberately threw a tantrum, wanting to meet you while going downstairs for a walk. Who would have thought you left in a hurry.
"Afterwards, she took the initiative to suggest going to Mr. Talim's grave on behalf of His Highness, but because she didn't know what you looked like, she couldn't find you.
"And today, she happened to go to the golf course at the back for a horse ride to clear her mind. Otherwise, even if the butler didn't allow it, she would have found a way to meet you."
What a coincidence... Right as Klein was sighing, he suddenly grasped a key point:
On the day of Talim's funeral, it was the commoner girl he liked who went to offer sacrifices on behalf of the Prince!
And what bothered Klein the most that day was that lady wearing a black veil and a sapphire ring. She was very likely in possession of a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, or was herself a powerful existence of the same level!
Suddenly, a scene flashed back in Klein's mind:
That woman in the heavy black dress, with a sapphire ring on her finger, accompanied by two maids, gradually walking away...
One of the two maids had naturally wavy brown hair...
The image of that maid quickly overlapped with the maid before Klein, matching perfectly!
Klein's body suddenly tensed, beads of sweat forming on his back, but his expression showed no change.
Using his "Clown" abilities, he pretended to be reminiscing and asked with a smile:
"On the day of Talim's funeral, did you accompany that young lady?"
The maid responded nonchalantly:
"Yes."
...Fuck, it really was her! Klein kept his smile:
"Good. Next question."
He continued asking about other things as if nothing had happened, then changed to another servant.
However, Klein secretly shortened the process and sped up.
He had to leave the Red Rose Manor before that young lady returned from her horse ride!
At four in the afternoon, before the sky had darkened, Klein took his leave much earlier than expected and took the carriage arranged by the old butler back to the city.
Sitting inside the carriage, leaning against the walls wrapped in silk and cloth, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and had the energy to reflect on the whole matter.