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"I suddenly remembered that Karasuma-chan probably doesn't remember my name anymore, right?"
As if she had put down something very heavy, the woman in kimono breathed a sigh of relief, raised her head, looked at Vermouth, and the smiling expression appeared on her face again.
As her mood changed, the depressing atmosphere in the room completely disappeared at this moment.
"Yes, yes, I heard from the old butler that we met once when we were young..." Vermouth replied.
"Yes, I have indeed seen it."
The woman in kimono nodded, then raised her hand and gestured beside her.
"You seemed to be only three or four years old at the time. I remember you were about this tall, right? Well, I'm not much older than you, though... Keiko."
The woman in kimono suddenly spoke, and her tone was so lively that Vermouth had to concentrate very hard to keep up with her.
"Eh?"
But even so, she still didn't react immediately.
"Hatoyama Keiko, this is my name." The woman in kimono said to her with a smile.
"Don't forget this time, okay?"
Chapter 362 The turning point of fate
In Vermouth's opinion, Keiko Hatoyama is a very special person.
Although she came from a Japanese family that was still very traditional at the time, she was completely different from the women in the family that Vermouth had met before.
She doesn't give people a feeling of being oppressed, nor does she follow rules after being numb.
On the contrary, her lively personality allows Vermouth to talk to her easily without having to worry about those weird rules and etiquette.
At the same time, she also knows a lot about Western countries. Whether it is literary novels or historical allusions, she can always keep up with Vermouth's topic, even though she has never left Japan.
This made Vermouth very happy, because the ladies from noble families she had met before, no matter how talkative they were, could not keep up with the conversation at all as soon as she brought up these topics.
In the end, she would be the only one talking, while they would just sit there with confused looks in their eyes.
Therefore, after discovering this, Vermouth, who had been feeling depressed for a long time, immediately talked to her incessantly about all the interesting things she could think of at that time.
Keiko Hatoyama is special.
Vermouth was extremely sure of this, and at this moment she swept away all her previous regrets.
She suddenly felt that her trip to Japan might not be a completely wrong decision, at least she met a friend who she got along well with.
They talked heartily in this small room isolated from the severe cold, ranging from "the relationship between hemophilia in the European royal family and Queen Victoria" to "why the grassroots people were not involved in the revision of laws when the United States was founded"...
At that time, neither of them knew that a tragedy that would completely affect and change their future had quietly occurred at this moment.
"Sister Huizi, are these the books you have read?"
Keiko Hatoyama took Vermouth and opened a closet in the corner of the room, where a pile of books were neatly arranged.
Unlike the brand new books that Vermouth often saw in the United States before, which were specially used by their owners to fill the bookshelves, the books in this closet all showed signs of having been read. Among them were not only literary works, but also many famous novels of all kinds in the society at that time.
"Well, because I seldom go out, I can only look for these books to read when I'm bored."
Keiko Hatoyama nodded, and while Vermouth wasn't paying attention, she quietly stuffed the erotic novel on top into the corner.
"That's amazing... If it were me, there's no way I could read so many books no matter how bored I was." Vermouth couldn't help but sigh.
"Well... I was like this at the beginning, but when I had enough free time, I could naturally get into it." Keiko Hatoyama replied with a smile.
"Miss!"
Just then, the old butler's voice was heard outside the room.
"What's wrong?" Keiko Hatoyama turned around, looked at the blurry figure of the old butler outside the shoji door, and asked.
"I...have something important to tell you."
The old butler seemed very anxious, and his tone was no longer as calm as before.
It was obvious that what he wanted to say to Keiko Hatoyama was definitely something very important and urgent.
But he seemed to be concerned about Vermouth who was in the same room, so he didn't say it directly.
And Hatoyama Keiko obviously realized what he meant. Without saying anything else, she quickly stepped forward and opened the shoji door.
In an instant, the cold air outside rushed in again, and snowflakes drifted into the room with the wind.
"It's Shirakawa..."
At the door of the room, the old butler whispered quickly in Keiko Hatoyama's ear.
Vermouth only vaguely heard the last name "Shirakawa".
Not knowing what the old butler said, Vermouth noticed that the expression on Keiko Hatoyama's face changed drastically at this moment.
She subconsciously took two steps back and leaned against the shoji door. Her face, which was originally much paler than that of an average person, was now even paler.
"Miss?!"
The old housekeeper hurriedly tried to support her, but she raised her hand to stop him.
"Have you told your grandfather about this?"
"Not yet. The Patriarch is still discussing important matters with the Patriarch of the Karasuma Family..."
Keiko Hatoyama didn't say anything else. She just leaned against the shoji door. From her eyes, Vermouth saw a very obvious emotion.
Confused.
There was completely uncontrollable panic in her eyes.
"Sister Keiko?" Vermouth looked at her worriedly.
【What happened? 】
It seemed that it was her shouting that brought Keiko Hatoyama back to consciousness. She suddenly turned her head to look at Vermouth in the room and forced a smile at her.
"Karasuma-chan, I'm sorry, I have something to do and I have to go out for a while. Can you stay in the room now?"
After saying this, Hatoyama Keiko left quickly, and behind her, the old housekeeper followed closely.
The two of them walked away, leaving Vermouth alone.
Countless times afterwards, Vermouth had imagined: if she had not impulsively chosen to follow him at that time, would her life have taken a completely different path?
But there are no ifs in life.
Perhaps it was out of the desire to help her new friend, or perhaps it was just out of curiosity in her heart, but at that moment, Vermouth chose to follow with almost no hesitation.
She quickly put on her boots that she had left at the door, ran forward without saying a word, and caught up with Keiko Hatoyama and the old butler in front of her.
As if she heard her voice, Keiko Hatoyama turned around and looked at her.
"Sister Huizi, I want to help too." Facing her puzzled gaze, Vermouth mustered up the courage to speak.
This was actually a very naive and irresponsible statement, because she didn't even know what Keiko Hatoyama had encountered, but she said she wanted to help without considering whether she could do it.
Keiko Hatoyama just looked at her helplessly, opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.
The three of them left Hatoyama's residence in a hurry.
It was still snowing lightly, and the thoughtful old butler seemed to have been prepared. He held a large umbrella and followed closely behind the two of them, shielding them from the falling snow, while he himself was soaked.
Probably because she seldom goes out, Keiko Hatoyama's physical strength seemed to be very poor. She started panting heavily after running a short distance.
Her chest heaved violently and white mist kept coming out of her mouth, but even so, she did not slow down her pace at all, as if she couldn't slow down even for a moment.
Having said that, this distance is actually not far, only a few hundred meters.
In just three or four minutes, the three of them arrived at their destination.
It was an old house on a small road in the old town of Tokyo, surrounded by several police cars.
Chapter 363 The Calm and Indifferent Boy
It was an old house on a small road in the old town of Tokyo, surrounded by several police cars.
"call……"
It was not until this moment that Keiko Hatoyama finally stopped her hurried steps. She tried hard to adjust her breathing, hide the panic in her eyes, and then walked towards the old house.
In fact, when she saw those police cars, Vermouth had already vaguely guessed what was happening inside, but she didn't understand who was inside that would make her seemingly pampered sister Keiko so concerned.
Vermouth remained silent and followed Keiko Hatoyama towards the old house.
There were two young detectives standing in front of the door of the old house. They were originally lighting cigarettes. When they saw Hatoyama Keiko, they seemed to be startled. They quickly straightened up and stammered nervously:
"Miss!"
At this moment, Vermouth suddenly remembered that the head of the family had briefly mentioned to her once before that the Hatoyama family had a very deep influence in the Japanese police community.
"Um……"
Keiko Hatoyama just nodded at the two of them, then raised her red, frozen hands and pushed the door open with trembling hands.
The two detectives were obviously aware of what had happened in the house. They originally wanted to stop Keiko Hatoyama, but after seeing the old housekeeper following behind Keiko Hatoyama, they shut up again.
The door opened and three people walked into the house.
There was little heat in the house, and the entrance was covered with dirty muddy footprints. There was a small pile of brand new newspapers in the corner.
The three of them followed the muddy footprints, walked through the empty corridor, and finally came to a room.
At first glance, Vermouth did not see anything stimulating in the room.
There were only three or four detectives inside, and a half-squatting teenager with his back to the three of them, half-kneeling beside the mattress in the middle of the room.
Looking past the boy and the detective, Vermouth vaguely saw that there seemed to be a person lying on the mattress.
But unlike the detectives in the room, this young man was dressed very ordinary and looked like he had nothing to do with the police.
Vermouth didn't understand why the boy was here? And why was he so close to the scene?
But she soon guessed the reason from Keiko Hatoyama.
Unlike Vermouth who hadn't fully understood the situation, after seeing the scene in the room... especially after seeing the boy and the figure lying on the mattress in front of the boy, her cheeks, which had originally looked a little sickly rosy due to the intense exercise, turned pale in an instant, and she staggered two steps.
If the old butler behind her hadn't supported her in time, Vermouth had no doubt that she would have fallen to the ground.