Page 155
"Oh, it's the dungeon of the kingdom, where all the terrorists and criminals who have committed treason are imprisoned." Hans explained, and also reminded the two:
"Ms. Mary, Ms. Karasuma, the dungeon is not open to the public and there are guards there at all times. So in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, I don't recommend you get close to it."
"Don't worry, we understand." Mary nodded in response.
"Well, in previous years, there were always many tourists who wanted to sneak into the dungeon out of curiosity, and ended up being accidentally injured by the guards, so... Anyway, you two just remember not to get close to this place."
Hearing Hans' reminder, Wu Wanying deliberately took a closer look at the dungeon castle and happened to see an old guard coming out of the gate.
The old guard had a serious face and a scar that ran diagonally across his left eye, making him look somewhat hideous and scary.
He seemed to be aware of Wu Wanying's gaze, and when Wu Wanying looked over, his intact right eye also looked over here.
After their eyes met for a moment, the old guard looked away and walked away from the villa.
Karasuma Ying also withdrew her gaze and followed Mary and Hans in front of her.
Since the banquet had not yet officially started, Hans took the two of them to see the banquet hall on the first floor of the villa, and then took them to the second floor.
There were many rooms on the second floor of the villa. Hans took the two of them straight to a room and opened the door with the key.
"Ladies, this is your room."
Chapter 2 A little later
Chapter 196 The Kingdom's Secret Treasure
After sending Mary and Karasuma Ying to the room, Hans completed his guidance mission and left directly.
“The decoration of this room is really luxurious.”
In the room, Mary took off her windbreaker and looked around the room.
The expensive carpets, the sofa beds and chairs made of luxurious materials, and the celebrity paintings on the walls whose authenticity may or may not be known... this room is filled with the smell of money.
And Hans said that this room is just one of the many rooms in this villa... Is this the life enjoyed by the nobles in a feudal country?
"Yeah." Nodding in response to Mary's words, Wu Wanying put down the luggage bag and looked at the two large beds in the room.
Fortunately, there are two beds, so at least I don’t have to worry about sleeping...
After solving the problem she was most worried about, Wu Wanying secretly glanced at Mary again.
I have to say that Mary's figure is really good, especially after she took off that windbreaker, it became even more obvious. It is to the extent that just one look at it can make most women feel inferior.
Once again moving his eyes away from Mary's chest, which could easily cause shoulder and neck pain, Karasuma Ying glanced at the sunglasses on her face, feeling a little confused.
[He's still wearing those sunglasses even in his room. Is it a personal preference?]
"Click."
At this moment, the door behind him suddenly opened and a young girl looked in.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" Mary asked first.
"Hello, I'm Belinda, the maid in the annex."
The girl was wearing a maid outfit and looked young and cute. She was probably about the same age as Karasuma Ying, no more than twenty years old.
She walked into the room, bowed to the two of them, and replied in fluent English:
"While you two are staying in the annex, I will be responsible for your daily living. If you two need anything, you can contact me directly through the landline in the room. I am always here."
"Are you only responsible for entertaining us?" Wu Wanying asked following her words.
"Yes."
Facing Karasuma Ying, Belinda lowered her head and replied, "There are many maids in the annex. The guests who come to the annex this time have their own maids responsible for taking care of them, and I was assigned to take care of the two guests."
"Exclusive maid? It really feels like a noble life..."
After a little joke, Mary looked at Belinda, her eyes narrowed slightly under her sunglasses.
"Little maid, can I ask you a few questions?"
"Ask me anything, and I'll do my best to answer it."
"What exactly does your Commander Birun want us to do to help him?" Mary asked directly.
"Eh?" Belinda was stunned when she heard that. She replied with difficulty, "Well, the commander didn't tell us, so I'm not sure..."
"Isn't it clear at all?" Mary looked at her and continued to ask.
Her tone suddenly became sharp at this moment, completely different from her previous kind and cheerful appearance.
Karasuma Ying, who was silent on the side, glanced at her but did not say anything to stop her.
"Well, this..."
Belinda was questioned by Mary and lowered her head in embarrassment, holding the hem of her skirt with both hands. She hesitated for a long time before finally speaking:
"I think it might be related to the secret treasure of our kingdom..."
"What secret treasure is it?" Mary asked.
“It’s the Blue Sapphire. It’s said to be an extremely precious gem mined within the kingdom by the first king.
It is a gem that emits a faint blue light. It is as big as an adult man’s fist. After it was mined by the first king, it has been passed down as a royal treasure until now. But not long ago, the blue gem disappeared..."
[Blue sapphire? ]
As Uramaru Ying listened to Belinda's description, she suddenly remembered the blue gem that El Pharmaceutical was originally researching, which Mori Ran had mentioned to her on the phone before.
The blue sapphire of the Andrew Kingdom disappeared, and El Pharmaceuticals had another blue sapphire that sounded similar, but this sapphire was finally snatched away by Onimare, who was suspected to be related to the Andrew Kingdom...
Faintly, she seemed to have sensed some truth, but she was not yet sure of the authenticity of this guess.
"By disappeared, do you mean stolen?" Mary pointed out the unclear point in Belinda's words.
"I'm not sure..." Belinda shook her head and explained, "Because by the time anyone noticed, the blue sapphire had already disappeared, and no one knew if it was stolen...
But the king's younger brother, His Royal Highness Preben, was very angry about this. He believed that the theft of the sapphire was caused by the lax guarding of the palace.
So His Highness Preben gave the task of finding the blue sapphire to Commander Birun, who was in charge of guarding the royal palace, and asked the commander to find the blue sapphire within one month.
Otherwise, His Highness Preben will report Commander Birun's dereliction of duty to the king, and ask the king to throw Commander Birun into the dungeon..."
After listening to Belinda's explanation, Mary was thoughtful.
"I see. So this Commander Birun invited so many detectives to the palace in order to find the secret treasure that disappeared from your kingdom?"
"No, this is just my personal guess. Commander Birun never told us the real reason!" Belinda explained quickly.
"What about the blue sapphire? What are its characteristics?" Mary continued to ask, ignoring her explanation.
"Its features are that it is very large and emits a faint blue light..."
"What else? Like its shape, round? Square? Or irregular?"
"I don't know about this either, because the blue sapphire is not open to the public..." Belinda replied weakly.
"Not public?"
“Yes, because the blue sapphire was once stolen due to war in the kingdom’s history, and it was the current king of the kingdom who found it back ten years ago.
Since then, the blue sapphire has been sealed in the royal treasury and not displayed to the public..."
【Ten years ago...】
Wu Wanying was keenly aware of this time period.
If she remembered correctly, Hans had also mentioned when he introduced the Kingdom of Andrew to them that ten years ago was exactly when the current King Heninggu began to reform the Kingdom of Andrew.
The return of the secret treasure and the booming economy, it seems that this period of time has some special significance for this country... Is this an unintentional coincidence?
"Um, the two guests..."
Just as Wu Wanying and Mary were lost in thought, Belinda quietly reminded them:
"The banquet is about to start. If you don't have anything else you want to ask, can you come with me to the banquet hall?"
Chapter 197 It’s just a small country
"There are quite a lot of people coming..."
A lot of people had gathered in the banquet hall on the first floor of the annex, including guards responsible for protecting the annex, maids constantly shuttling in the hall, detectives in different costumes, and luxurious and beautiful noble men and women.
These people gathered together and formed distinct small circles in the lively banquet hall.
"Ms. Mary, are there any colleagues you know among these people?" Wu Wanying asked after finding an empty dining table and sitting down with Mary.
"No, I'm actually just a low-level detective with little fame. I'm not familiar with any of them." Mary replied self-deprecatingly, still wearing the thick sunglasses on her face.
"You are too modest." Wu Wanying replied with a smile, but she already had doubts in her heart.
[You claim to be a low-level detective, but you were able to get an invitation from the royal family, and you don’t know any of your colleagues present... Your identity as a detective is very questionable. ]
There must be something wrong with the woman named Mary in front of her, Wu Wanying is certain of this.
Even so, because she still needs Mary at the moment, Karasuma Ying does not intend to take the initiative to dig deeper into this issue.
After all, no matter what Mary's plan is, it should have nothing to do with her.
Wu Wanying knew very well that her decision to come to the Kingdom of Andrew was very sudden, so unless it was her sister who guided her here, there was no possibility that she would be targeted in advance.
And her sister obviously wouldn't be so bored as to take her to a distant foreign country and then arrange a mysterious person to be by her side to play this time-wasting guessing game with her.
Based on this information alone, we can make a preliminary conclusion that there is definitely something wrong with Mary, but her problem is most likely unrelated to Karasuma Ying.
The two of them now have a relationship of mutual cooperation and exploitation. Wu Wanying wants to participate in this royal commission, and Mary needs an assistant who can cover her identity as a detective.
Of course, having said that, Karasuma Ying herself would also be more careful. After all, he is a person with a questionable identity, so it is always better to be careful.
Although Karasuma Ying feels that her identity is not very good...
Just when Wu Wanying's mind was full of thoughts, the banquet hall suddenly became noisy. She looked back and saw a middle-aged man walking in surrounded by a group of officers.
The middle-aged man looked to be in his forties. He was wearing a burgundy suit, had his hair combed back, and was holding a gorgeous and exquisite cane in his hand. He walked into the banquet hall step by step.
"It seems that he should be the Commander Birun." Mary said.
"Much younger than I thought." Looking at Birun who was walking towards the podium, Karasuma Ying replied.
She had always thought that the commander-in-chief would be an old man with gray hair, but she didn't expect him to be so young compared to his position.