The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 361: Futile Efforts

Midnight.

The dry branches ceased their violent swaying.

The downpour subsided.

"Do you still remember what she looked like?" The lamplight traced the contours of Lu Li's face.

[Sara couldn't help but think of "that person." In her hazy memories, her mother appeared with long, waist-length, pale-yellow hair that rippled like the surface of water. She wore a white dress, sitting atop a tower and gazing out over the plains...]

"I visited your mother recently. She's as beautiful as she was years ago, when the viscount took you away. Her hair has grown even longer."

Lu Li used information from the story to embellish his fictional persona.

[Sara looked at the wounded servants in disbelief. "Is that really true?"]

["It can't be! If my mother asked you to take care of me, why did you betray me and destroy Adam?!" Sara lost her composure and screamed at Lu Li and Aileen, her trembling hands clutching the dagger tightly.]

"It wasn't me."The Baroness, knowing how to play her part, shook her head. "I don't know why you think I was the one who informed on you... But you remember, when we were children, I was your personal maid. We played together from the very beginning; you were my best friend. How could I ever betray you?"

["Father himself said that the servants around me were spying on me!"]

"Did he say who it was?"

Sara couldn't answer, because her father had never named the informant. He had only said there was a spy among the servants... David? Rola? Vincent? Or one of these two.

"The day you met with Adam, I helped you cover it up," Lu Li said, looking directly at Sara, his words carrying weight. "But unfortunately, the viscount found out the truth through other means."

[Sara couldn't help but recall the day she had seen Adam. Now, his handsome face, covered in blemishes, was frozen in a dark corner of the cellar. A pang of pain shot through her heart, but she also remembered how Lu Li had helped her, and his gaze, full of hidden meaning.]

[Sara began to calm down. She believed them, because they knew about her mother.]

Anticipating that Sara might start asking about her mother's whereabouts—something neither he nor the Baroness knew—Lu Li decided to change the subject. "Do you have any idea who might have betrayed you?"

They weren't safe yet. Sara, consumed by paranoia, could be swayed by a new thought at any moment. So Lu Li needed to find her an enemy, a common enemy, toward whom he could redirect all her hostility.

"Who would want to frame me and make you do all this?" the Baroness asked, right on cue.

[Aileen's words made Sara think of someone. A figure with a malicious smile, the cause of all this... the Devil!]

The Devil?

Anna and Lu Li exchanged a look.

The story had suddenly become convoluted. Was there some "Devil" standing behind Sara as well?

"You remember now?" Lu Li asked calmly.

[Sara nodded, recalling the figure who had pretended to be her uncle Andrew, the one who sent shivers down her spine. A dreadful thought even crossed her mind: what if this was all part of the Devil's plan? Maybe Adam had been his victim, too...]

Sara was beginning to lose her composure again. The Baroness spoke up to soothe her.

[Sara felt a little better. With a sense of guilt and impatience, she asked Aileen, "Where is my mother now?"]

The Baroness didn't know what to say and fell silent. Lu Li answered for her, "We can't tell you."

["Why not?!" Sara stared at Lu Li.]

A master at fabricating things that didn't exist, Lu Li replied, "It's connected to why the viscount took you from your mother and forbids you from seeing each other."

These words gave Sara pause.

The Baroness seized the moment, winking at Lu Li. Their situation was dreadful. One of them was lying on a table like a fish on a cutting board, while the other was chained to the wall...

Lu Li tilted his head in response, showing he didn't understand. The Baroness sighed.

"Sara, let us go..." The Baroness tried to speak with sadness, but the narrative did a better job for her.

[The weariness in Aileen's voice stirred Sara's sympathy. She approached Aileen. The cheerful laughter, the constant presence by her side, the young face with its freckles... In the dark, damp cellar, Aileen's eyes were red and swollen, her legs bound with a dirty cloth, and below her knees—there was only emptiness... Sara pressed her lips together, knelt before Aileen, and asked softly, "Don't you hate me?"]

"I do."

The Baroness knew what she had to say.

A lie would only deepen Sara's suspicion.

So the Baroness tried to speak with the sincerity of an ordinary person, one incapable of forgiveness. "But I know you didn't want this... You were always kind and gentle, you never treated the servants the way other aristocrats did... I hate the one who turned you into this monster even more."

[Sara felt an even greater pang of guilt. Her grimy hands, stained with moss, gently stroked Aileen's cheek.]

The Baroness didn't flinch, allowing the shadowy figure to touch her face.

["I'm sorry," Sara said simply, then stood and turned away.]

The Baroness watched in surprise as Sara walked away resolutely, as if she had come to a decision.

The Baroness's heart began to pound, once again seized by a baseless fear.

"We can help you! Let's bring Adam back together..."

The Baroness's voice trailed off. From the indistinct, ancient sounds that reached her, she understood what Sara was planning...

[This will arouse suspicion...]

[This will arouse suspicion...]

[Three servants have disappeared, and two more are gravely injured. They cannot, and should not, appear in public. So when this night ends, everyone in the estate will notice the servants are missing. When they find the bodies, they will realize it was all her doing!]

[Sara suddenly understood that she had no more time, no way to turn back.]

All their efforts had become meaningless, because the plot had once again turned them against Sara.

"Look around you. Is this what you wanted?" the Baroness continued her useless shouting.

"They all died because of you!"

"Was it worth it? For Adam?!"

"Don't you want to know where your mother is?!"

Sara remained silent, arranging candles around Lu Li.

"Why?" Lu Li asked calmly, looking up at Sara. The moss on his body had dried, clinging to his skin like a crust.

After setting the candles, Sara picked up a rope and slipped it over Lu Li's head.

["I have to do this," she answered grimly.]

Sara tightened the rope around Lu Li's neck.