[Zhongying] Rebirth meets a wizard

At the dance party with luxurious decoration and candles, in a corner away from the band and the crowd, Lydia was crouching alone in the sofa chair, holding a glass of decorative red wine, watching the lively dance party break into chaos after a scream. A pot of porridge.

In the chaotic dance floor, contagious panic is easy to appear. In the middle of the crowd, even if you want to keep calm, the people around you will not allow you to stand peacefully for even a moment.

The women who were hit and frightened screamed sharply, and the men screamed in pain one after another.

"He's dead! Someone's dead!" Such cries and the commotion of the crowd instinctively generate negative emotions.

Apparently, even the so-called "upper class" cannot escape this instinct.

Lydia was almost happily admiring this farce-like situation. The corners of her mouth were slightly curved. On her slightly immature face, which even had a little baby fat, this expression was an unconcealable mockery. disaster.

Of course, there are also those that have not been affected.

In the limited lighting of the candles, as far as Lydia could see, except for herself, she only saw a strange man who was not affected.

The man who was also protected from the impact of the crowd on the fringe was wearing a simple outfit, which was not the costume of most people who came to the ball, so it was not impolite, but there were some things that were not enough in the ball held by this viscount.

You must know that in a spacious ballroom, the more distinguished people dance closer to the band. For social convenience and to show their identity, there will always be a lot of people gathered not far from the band.

Compared with all the people who joined the crowd, this man who had been standing not far from Lydia and Lydia who was sitting in the corner watching the show looked a little special.

The panicked people had no time to take care of other things, so they didn't pay attention to the two survivors.

But the two of them looked at each other with appraising eyes.

The man didn't have any expression on his face, and he didn't know what he was thinking. He actually smiled at Lydia, although the smile just pulled the corners of his mouth, and he raised his glass to greet Lydia from a distance.

Lydia restrained herself after discovering this man with a mocking expression.

Seeing this young, calm, but simply dressed man greet her now, Lydia just watched his movements indifferently.

She didn't respond to the other party. It's not that Lydia judges people by appearance. Although this man is indeed not a handsome guy in the public's aesthetics, his thin appearance and expressionless demeanor seem very aggressive.

It wasn't Lydia who picked people up by their clothes, although his clothes were certainly not rich.

It was his chic gesture of toasting that showed his casual attitude, and Lydia also ignored the other party as she wished.

The other party obviously didn't expect any response, the eyes of the two separated immediately, and each quickly shifted their attention.

Instead of following the crowd towards the gate, he put down his glass of wine, which had hardly diminished, and walked in the opposite direction from where the dancers left.

Walking towards the garden calmly, he seemed to be familiar with this place.

Lydia couldn't see his movements, because almost at the same time, Lydia also put down the red wine that she hadn't tasted even a sip, and planned to follow the flow of people rushing towards the door and leave the ball with the flow.

The original flying dresses in the hall have been scattered, and they are each looking for their own servants, preparing to leave this already unknown place of accident.

Walking in the tail of the crowd, she will not be trampled by crowds. Lydia just followed leisurely. From a distance, under the light of the candles, she could vaguely see that Mrs. Smith was already waiting for her at the exit, and the carriage must have been prepared. alright.

As for what happened at the ball, she saw some and had some guesses, but it had nothing to do with her.

As the crowd moved, Lydia lowered her head slightly, not letting her relatively calm expression look too abrupt to others.

The crowd wasn't moving slowly, but it couldn't be called fast either. They could vaguely see someone blocking them at the gate.

As the number of people in front became less and less, Lydia couldn't help but shudder when she heard someone identifying the people who had left the hall. Of course, she had also left, and she realized that something was wrong before the screaming people.

Sure enough, before Lydia approached the gate, the servant had already accurately pointed out that Lydia had left.

Lydia also knew this servant, the page who guarded the entrance to the garden.

She did indeed, as he said, passed by him half an hour ago and walked into the famous garden of the viscount's house.

"May I ask what your name is, Miss Lestrade. I'm Police Officer Lestrade. Something happened in the garden. You may need to stay and cooperate with the investigation. Don't worry, it won't delay you for too long."

The police officer's attitude is very good, maybe it's because of this occasion, maybe it's because of Lydia's expensive dress, or because of Lydia's beauty that can't be concealed even though she is young, who knows.

But Lydia knows one thing, this attitude is not the best, if she is a nobleman, like the countess who left before her, she remembers the garden that the countess entered in front of Lydia .

The nobleman also went to the garden afterwards, but she walked towards the gate in Lydia's sight, and then boarded her carriage with the hand of the maid.

It's one thing to think in your heart, it's stupid to act it out.

Lydia replied almost meekly: "Lydia Bennet, you can call me Miss Lydia, and I understand your difficulties, but... I was a little surprised when this happened, so I can Is your governess with me?"

Lydia smiled slightly at the police officer, seemingly in a bad mood, but she still obediently stood aside, letting the few dancers behind her leave first.

What she thought in her heart was, who made her just miss Lydia, if she stays, she will stay, she admits it.

"Of course, Miss Lydia, who is your tutor?"

The police officer looked at the door, there were many people standing there, men and women, old and young, some were watching, some were waiting for someone.

"It's Mrs. Smith. Will you come this way, Mrs. Smith?"

Lydia waved to Mrs. Smith, who had been paying attention to her. Although the pseudo-girl was not so flustered, it didn't mean she was fearless. In fact, she needed her support.

Mrs. Smith walked over quickly, her identity as a governess was clearly shown by her cold and polite smile and the skirt still in place during her brisk walk.

"You two, please."

Police officer Lestrade, who had no doubts, led the two of them to a small parlor that was not open to the host of the ball.

There were many people in the small meeting room, and a lot of candles were lit, making it very bright.

Most of the men and women inside were sitting in their own way, and some were pacing up and down restlessly.

Lydia was the last one to appear, and everyone cast their eyes on her, but quickly moved away.

One of the hosts of the ball, the eldest son of Viscount Harris, was the main force handling the accident and said hello to Lydia.

After placing Lydia on the sofa, he left and entered the small room next to the drawing room.

Lydia has been keeping an eye on this small room, and the police officer who brought Alina and the stranger who greeted her with a toast also followed in.

Another, younger officer started calling people into the small room.

Lydia observed quietly, but in fact, everyone in the living room was paying attention to this small room either explicitly or secretly.

Lydia found that some people stayed in the room for a long time, some people stayed in the room for a short time, there was no regularity, and it seemed that the people who had been questioned just left instead of being taken away, that is to say , The murderer has not been found yet.

As the number of people entering and leaving the small room increased, the number of people in the living room became less and less, and there was no one around Lydia.

Unfortunately, according to her observations, the order of departures is "from most expensive to least expensive."

And Lydia visually predicts that she will be the last person to be called, which shows Lydia's current status.

Seeing that there were no more than five people in the small meeting room, Lydia was called.

The police officer asked her to enter the small room alone.

"Sir, Miss Lydia is not allowed to enter such a private room alone, I ask to be accompanied."

Mrs. Smith disagreed with Lydia entering alone, her already dogmatic face was serious.

"Uh... well, I'll ask for instructions first, please wait a moment."

Either guarding the door of the small room, or the young police officer who came to call someone looked at the girl sitting on the sofa, hesitated, and finally agreed to ask.

Moments later, the policeman returned.

"Sorry, you still need to be alone when you ask questions, but Mr. Harris said that you can open the door when you ask questions, and if you are worried, you can watch from a distance."

In this way, a step-back approach was adopted.

Lydia got up and straightened her skirt, and Mrs. Smith helped with it.

After making sure that there was nothing wrong with her attire, Lydia walked to the small room where she was asked, while Mrs. Smith stayed near the sofa where she could see part of the small room.

This day's ball was held at the Viscount's house, and most of the people who came were dignitaries. Lydia's clothes were expensive and exquisite but not high-profile. At first glance, there were complicated dark patterns on the plain skirt, which was low-key yet luxurious.

Stepping into the small room, the first thing she saw was three gentlemen standing politely inside. A lot of candles were lit, and Lydia could clearly see the faces and expressions of the three.

On the other hand, Lydia's face and expression can be seen at a glance.

The gorgeous Mr. Harris couldn't see whether the situation was good or bad. He smiled and said, "Miss Lydia, thank you for your cooperation. This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the detective I invited, and Ray, whom you have met. Officer Strade."

In fact, Lydia met them all face to face.

At the same time, Mr. Harris also introduced Lydia's name to the two. As for more information, since Lydia was new to London, Mr. Harris also knew very little.

After ceremonial greetings and greetings, everyone took their seats.

The routine questioning of the police officers began, and Officer Lestrade, who was sitting in the corner, seemed to be the main questioner and recorder of this questioning, and the questions were also very routine.

"Name."

"Lydia Bennet."

"Age. Sorry, this is routine, Miss Lydia."

Officer Lestrade seemed to answer the question out of habit.

"It's over 15. I guess age is not an offense to me."

Lydia smiled and made a joke.

"Of course..."

Because of Lydia's little joke, the atmosphere in the room became better. Lestrade smiled face-to-face. Although the other two gentlemen didn't smile, their expressions were still slightly relaxed.

Just like Lydia hinted, she is still so young, she can even be said to be young, so it is obvious that the question does not need to be too serious.

"Let's continue. When did Miss Lydia go to the garden and when did she leave?"

Inspector Lestrade's tone softened.

"Because I didn't check the time, I'm afraid I can't provide the exact time, but according to my feeling, the time I went to the garden was about... about half an hour before the riot happened, and I probably stayed in the garden for a few minutes before returning gone."

Lydia answered while recalling.

"Did you see anything when you were in the garden?"

Officer Lestrade recorded Lydia's answer and continued to ask.

This kind of busy action made the two gentlemen beside him very leisurely, but neither of them offered to help, which made Lydia look strangely at Mr. Holmes who just knew he was a detective.

As for why he didn't look at Mr. Harris, of course it was because of his status as the eldest son of the Viscount, and he should be idle. It is estimated that if he asked to help, Officer Lestrade would refuse.

"Although there were some candles lit in the garden, they were not bright. So I didn't stay long, and I didn't meet anyone, ah... except Countess Cameron, who walked into the garden in front of me, but Soon, I didn't see her, and I left very quickly."

Lydia maliciously confessed to the departing countess.

"OK……"

Thank you for your cooperation. Before the second half of the concluding remarks could be said, Officer Lestrade was interrupted.

"I don't know what Miss Lydia was doing in the garden, why did she come back so soon?"

It was Mr. Holmes who interrupted Inspector Lestrade.