He had expected Xia Qingtian to at most discover some abnormalities, but he never thought that Xia Qingtian would have already had direct contact with that maid, and not just once!
Seeing Mobius so concerned about her, Xia Qingtian felt much better. It wasn't that she felt so precious that she needed someone to protect her closely. What she was more worried about now was Mrs. Camille's safety.
"The maid has an accomplice at the Camille Estate," Xia Qingtian said softly. "I think the most important thing now is to find that accomplice, preferably catching them all in one go."
Mobius was stunned. The maid had an accomplice?
This was something he hadn't investigated before. He had always thought the maid had come alone for revenge.
"Who could it be?" Xia Qingtian tilted her head, her gaze falling on the busy servants not far away.
There were quite a few servants at the Camille Estate, and it was estimated that the guests tonight wouldn't be few either.
Xia Qingtian wasn't afraid that the accomplice was a servant now. She was more afraid that the person was among tonight's guests, which would truly make it impossible to guard against.
At this moment, the butler, Werner Norman, acting on Mrs. Camille's orders, invited Xia Qingtian and Mobius to rest in the small reception room first.
There were still three hours until the banquet officially began, and combined with the usual timekeeping habits of some French people, it was estimated that the other guests would start arriving gradually in at least two hours.
Mrs. Camille had prepared a small reception room for Xia Qingtian and Mobius to rest in temporarily.
With the two of them having no choice but to express their thanks, they headed to the small reception room.
As soon as she sat down, Xia Qingtian had a very subtle feeling, her gaze landing on the teacups that had already been filled with water.
When Mobius reached for a cup to drink, just as the cup was lifted from the table, Xia Qingtian casually waved her hand, knocking over Mobius's teacup.
Water splashed onto Mobius's suit jacket.
"Sorry," Xia Qingtian said, apologizing as she got up and simultaneously knocked over the teacup in front of her.
The water spilled onto the tabletop and flowed down the edge of the table in streams.
At this moment, someone immediately came to clean up, and Werner Norman stepped forward to ask Mobius to take off his suit jacket to be cleaned.
After the situation was handled, a maid came to refill the water.
Xia Qingtian looked up and noticed that the maid had something placed in the pocket of her top.
At first glance, it felt familiar. Looking behind the maid's ear, there was no particularly noticeable mole.
As if noticing Xia Qingtian's gaze, the maid looked up and took a hasty glance at Xia Qingtian after pouring the water, then retreated to the side.
With this glance, Xia Qingtian realized that this maid was indeed not the one who had intended to confront her earlier. However, the outline of the object in her pocket...
"What's wrong?" Mobius asked, noticing Xia Qingtian's strangeness.
"I'm not sure," Xia Qingtian said softly. "Those two cups of water just now had a problem."
"A problem?" Mobius's gaze shifted to the two freshly poured cups. "Then what about these two?"
"I don't know, they just give me an uncomfortable feeling," Xia Qingtian said, supporting her face with one hand.
Xia Qingtian now trusted her intuition completely. At least, before her luck doubled failed, she believed it was safer to follow her instincts.
"How about... we try it?" Mobius glanced at the maid who had not left, then looked at Xia Qingtian and raised an eyebrow.
"Okay." Xia Qingtian then put on an act of chatting happily with Mobius. The two of them simultaneously picked up their teacups, brought them to their lips, and pretended to drink.
After placing the cups back in their original positions, Xia Qingtian was the first to tilt her head, feigning a lack of energy.
Mobius also lowered his head.
Xia Qingtian then seemed to realize something was wrong, reaching out and struggling to push over the two teacups, so that the person wouldn't realize they hadn't drunk the water.
Then she tilted her head and [fainted].
If the water was problematic, the maid should have cried out and run away.
Conversely, if it wasn't...
The maid raised her hand and forcefully pushed Xia Qingtian and Mobius twice. Seeing that they seemed to have truly fainted, she let out a cold snort, took out a communication device hidden in her top pocket, and spoke in Spanish, "Amiya, I've found the location of the secret room in the small reception room. Did you get the item?"
"Got it," Amiya replied. She cast a glance at Mrs. Camille, who was still speaking with Jean Lingol in the distance, then tightened her hand hanging by her side, turned, and secretly left.
Jean Lingol glanced at Amiya's retreating figure. His hand moved unnaturally behind his back, and a pocket watch with an antique design flashed between his fingers before disappearing into his sleeve cuff.
Who would have thought that he would encounter a fellow traveler in the Camille Estate~
Soon, Amiya arrived. After locking the door, Amiya handed over a brooch in the shape of a rapier with a red gemstone embedded in it. "Kara, this is the key to the secret room."
"Well done, Amiya. Your father will be proud of you!" Kara's eyes lit up when she saw the key in Amiya's hand, and she immediately reached out to take it.
"Hurry up." Amiya's voice trembled slightly. She turned to look at Xia Qingtian and Mobius, who were nearby, and was slightly stunned. "Who are they?"
"I was originally looking for the secret room when Camille suddenly ordered guests to rest here, so I simply drugged them." Kara pushed aside a shelf along the wall of the small reception room. "Don't worry, my medicine is potent enough to keep them asleep for a few hours. By then, we'll have already taken the item and left."
Amiya recognized Xia Qingtian as a guest she had encountered twice before.
She had even wanted to kill Xia Qingtian before. Hearing Kara say that, Amiya temporarily put aside her thoughts.
"Amiya, give me a hand," Kara said after pushing open the shelf, then tapped the wall with her hand. "It's here!"
Amiya then withdrew her gaze from Xia Qingtian and went to help her companion.
At this moment, Xia Qingtian quietly half-opened her eyes, just in time to see Amiya and Kara open the secret room.
Mobius next to her also saw this scene. His head tilted slightly to the side, as if he was looking up to confirm the structure of the secret room's entrance.
After seeing both Amiya and Kara enter the secret room, Mobius immediately rushed forward and pressed a corresponding area in the groove at the entrance of the secret room.
The door to the secret room then immediately closed again.
Kara seemed to realize something was wrong at this moment, but it was too late to stop it.
"Damn it! Let us out!" Kara impatiently slammed her fist against the door of the secret room. "Damn it! Amiya! Hurry up and push this damn door with me! Quickly!"
After shouting for a long time, seeing no reaction from Amiya, Kara finally looked back, only to find Amiya staring blankly ahead, looking shocked and taken aback.