Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 71.2

“Honestly speaking, I can’t say for certain either.”

Gu Liang was currently flipping through Servant A’s diary, and all the entries wrote about the love and adoration she had for the Duke and the jealousy she had towards Aimeili.

“Based on the timeline, both of them have equal chances. And where the crime committing tools are concerned, both of them have silver crosses. Regarding their motivations to kill… Servant A’s murderous intentions are very intense. As for the Eastern Magician…. I can’t make sense of what his story is.”

Gu Liang scowled, “The Magician’s room had Aimeili’s portrait with words of yearning written at the back.

“If he yearns for her so much, would he come to this ancient castle, for the sake of killing her?

“And why did he help the Duke find her reincarnation?

“Now that we’re speaking about this, there’s actually another crucial problem. But I don’t know if it’s relevant to our current task.”

Gu Liang glanced at Su Lan, “Your story clearly stated that vampires have no souls, right?”

Truth to be told, Gu Liang had already received an explicit card prompt about this plot detail— when he and Yang Ye were standing in the mirror back then, the card clearly stated that vampires have no souls.

However, he still needed to conceal his side task so he chose not to say it directly.

Su Lan nodded her head. “I’m certain.”

Gu Liang said: “Then do vampires have any reincarnations to speak of? Or should it be said that when the Duke killed her for the first time and turned her into a vampire, would her soul simultaneously reincarnate? I don’t really understand this point.”

No one could resolve Gu Liang’s doubt.

Gu Liang continued to speak: “Finally. I feel that the words written inside Servant B’s diary warrants more consideration. After the Eastern Magician left at 7:10, she was originally going to help Aimeili put on her make-up, but her job was stolen by Servant A. But when Servant A left, Servant B said— Her expression was peculiar, she seemed rather happy but a little sorrowful at the same time.”

“Judging from the diary, if Servant A killed the woman she had always envied and loathed, she should be very happy, or perhaps saying that she felt afraid is also understandable, because she killed the Duke’s most beloved woman, and she was scared that the Duke would discover it.

“But why was she sorrowful?”

Meng Qian Cheng asked with some uncertainty: “Maybe… she still had a part of her that was purely good in the end. Since she killed a frail woman, she felt a little upset in her heart.”

Meng Qian Cheng’s gaze swept past Li Xiao Yu, Su Lan, and Sister Mei one by one. “The ladies have the greatest right to speak. When all is said and done, Servant A was a woman. If you killed your love rival, would you feel sad for her?”

“I refuse to answer this question. First of all, I wouldn’t randomly kill someone because that’s against the law. Secondly, I wouldn’t snatch or fight for it.”

Li Xiao Yu said, “Feelings aren’t something you can snatch. When I should strive for it, I will strive for it; when it’s time to reveal my feelings, I will confess my feelings, but if nothing comes out of it… If he doesn’t have someone by his side, I might continue trying. But if he has someone he likes, I’ll definitely give up. I refuse to be the third party.”

“My opinions are the same as Xiao Yu. I can’t relate to that kind of mentality.”

After a moment of pondering, Sister Mei said, “In palace conflict dramas, when two originally close sisters start to fight in close quarters for the sake of being with the Emperor, and one party causes the death of the other, perhaps the victor would occasionally look back into the past and feel sorrow and pain. But this isn’t applicable to Servant A’s and Aimeili’s situation. Aimeili hasn’t been in the ancient castle for a long time, and from Servant A’s diary, there’s no chance of them having deep sisterly feelings at all.”

Lastly, Meng Qian Cheng shifted his gaze towards Su Lan.

Su Lan: “What are you staring at me for?”

Meng Qian Cheng: “I feel that you have a fair amount of speaking rights.”

“Fair amount of speaking rights your sister.” Su Lan spilled the fire she had been suppressing on Meng Qian Cheng, “Are all of you trying to make a joke out of me?”

“Aiyo, look at what you’re saying, since when did we do that? We’re just asking you to analyse the murderer’s mentality!” Meng Qian Cheng said.

Su Lan: “I don’t know. There’s nothing to analyse. It’s not like the Duke is bent. Even if I killed Aimeili, would he straighten back again?”

Once Su Lan’s voice landed, the discussion room became absolutely silent in an instant.

The atmosphere was so awkward it was about to congeal.

Li Xiao Yu could not restrain herself from giving Meng Qian Cheng a reproaching gaze.

A moment later, Meng Qian Cheng coughed lightly. “That&#k2026; let’s continue discussing the case, yes? Since we can’t reach any conclusions from the angle of Servant A, we can discuss the Eastern Magician next.

“If we can’t gain anything from discussing the Eastern Magician, we can continue talking about Princess Rose.”

Meng Qian Cheng directed his attention towards Su Lan again and asked: “Supposing that, supposing that the Duke bestowed Aimeili with great powers, it would then require more than three hours for the silver cross to kill her, which means that you are suspicious as well! You went to find her twice that afternoon okay! Two full times!

“And when you add both instances together, you stayed in her room for two and half hours. What were you doing then?”

When Su Lan heard that, she knitted her eyebrows together and shook her head: “I don’t know.”

Meng Qian Cheng said hastily: “Stop being annoyed at me ah. Yes, blame me, I ran my mouth off without paying attention to the occasion, but we’re solving a case—”

Su Lan shook her head again. “I don’t have the time to be annoyed at an old man like you. I really don’t know. I don’t remember it.”

* * *

At 6 o’ clock exactly.

The time for discussion came to an end.

The voting began.

The time limit for voting was one minute.

The suspects that appeared on the interface included: Duke Dahl, Eastern Magician, Earl William, Princess Rose, and Servant A, but Aimeili was not present.

Gu Liang stared at the sentence “Please select the person who pierced Aimeili’s chest with the murder weapon” on the interface for a long time, before he chose Eastern Magician in the end.

After a minute had passed, the system announced the voting results. “The Lord Duke would like to say a word of thanks to the ladies and gentlemen present. After all, everyone has been busying about for so long for the sake of helping him solve a mystery that has been perplexing him for a long time.

“That being said, who killed Aimeili 300 years ago?

“Woah, [Eastern Magician] has 5 votes, [Servant A] has 1 vote, and [Princess Rose] has 1 vote.

“Therefore, is the Eastern Magician the real murderer who killed the Duke’s wife?”

“Congratulations everyone, your answer is correct!”

“Towards the players who have chosen correctly, your rewards will be settled in the final segment.”

Gu Liang studied his card interface. He, Yang Ye, Chief Mei, Su Lan, and Li Xiao Yu all chose Eastern Magician.

Sister Mei selected Servant A, and the most confused was still Meng Qian Cheng, since he picked Su Lan.

Meng Qian Cheng was extremely vexed. “Damn, I was hesitating the entire time and my original intention was to pick the Magician, but I changed it at the last second. It’s mainly because you’re too strange, Su Lan. You’re definitely Princess Rose, but why don’t you know anything?”

Su Lan did not acknowledge him, so Meng Qian Cheng asked Gu Liang: “Why did you pick the Magician?”

Gu Liang: “Under the assumption that we didn’t miss out on any crucial evidence, the reasons that you said cannot stand, Old Man Meng, and we didn’t find any clues which suggested that the Duke made Aimeili stronger.

“Since that is the case, the analysis of the timeline tells us that the suspects are primarily focused on either the Magician or Servant A. Servant A’s story isn’t special by any means. But the Magician drew all the wall paintings in this ancient castle, and even taught the Duke how to travel over.

“This magician isn’t simple and he definitely has a story behind him. The possibility where he killed Aimeili is even higher. His killing motivation and the reason why Aimeili attended the night banquet with a cross in her chest, might be the crux of the final problem we have to solve.”

The system sounded again at that moment. “The system puts a lot of heart into taking care of its players. If you return to the main hall, you will discover that the corpse has disappeared. When you go into the back kitchen, you will discover that the mice have also disappeared!

“All of you can go and prepare your dinners, and enjoy your meals!

“Everyone will be receiving the new script enactment at night. After the script enactment concludes, everyone will be ushering in the third segment of investigation, which is also the final segment in the case. Hope everyone enjoys the game!”

* * *

At night.

The players finally managed to have a moment to take a breather in the tense and task-packed case solving game, and all of them returned to their respective rooms to rest.

Naturally, Yang Ye and Gu Liang were still staying together.

But instead of Yang Ye staying in Gu Liang’s room, it was the opposite.

— After all, there were still bats in Gu Liang’s room.

The two of them sat in personal armchairs separately as they drank their alcoholic beverages.

They discussed some of the case details, tried opening brain holes for a while, and Gu Liang even praised Yang Ye for the delicious roast chicken he made in the interim.

As Yang Ye poured him a small glass of red wine, he probed him with a question: “That… matter with Su Lan, you’re not angry, are you? I will deal with it properly.”

Gu Liang looked towards him. A hint of the red wine’s colours were reflected in his pitch-black pupils. “Why would I be angry? Her matter is not related to me, and the truth is that it isn’t heavily related to you either.”

Yang Ye laughed. “Mn, your words make sense.”

As Gu Liang mulled over it, he reclined his body and placed the cushion on the backrest of his armchair. Then, he uttered: “I can actually imagine it. She looks like an eldest daughter from an affluent family, who has always lived among the love and adoration of tens of thousands. She has been pampered ever since her childhood and no one would go against her. Therefore, when she encountered a wall with you, she could never reconcile herself to it.

“Whether it is her arrogance or her wilfulness, they all have reasons. In reality, she has the capital to act that way.

“If you said that she had a bad temper, I honestly feel that my temper and personality is much worse.

“She’s a younger lady too, whereas I am a man, and I’m not young anymore.

“In fact, if you weren’t bent—”

A pause. Gu Liang’s voice lowered and there was a trace of self-deprecation as he spoke: “How could I compare?”

When Yang Ye heard those words, he placed his wine glass down. His entire person became severe as he stared into Gu Liang’s eyes and asked: “What are you trying to say?”

At this moment, Yang Ye’s gaze was extremely oppressive.

Under his attentive stare, Gu Liang slowly swallowed the wine in his throat.

During that span of time, Yang Ye had taken away his wine glass and placed it on the cabinet at the side.

Consequently, Gu Liang had nothing he could hold in his hands so he could only settle for placing it on the armrest. Unconsciously, he dug into the material.

Upon lowering his eyes, Yang Ye could see the emerging faint green veins on the back of his hand, and the red cord on his right wrist.

Gu Liang did not know why but he felt stifled under his gaze, so he chose to lower his head. “Nothing really. I’m merely stating objective facts.”

As he was saying that, Yang Ye noticed that the folds in his armrest had deepened. It seems like Gu Liang was exerting more strength.

From the creases at the corners his mouth, down to his shoulder blades and arms, and lastly to the back of his hands, all of them displayed indications of nervousness.

This person would only show such subconscious reactions when he was unsettled, nervous or guarded.

Gu Liang relaxed the strength under his hands very quickly, reverting back to his relaxed and unperturbed appearance that was as unmoving as a mountain.

Half a beat later, Gu Liang continued to say: “Yang Ye, when all is said and done, you don’t understand me enough. Her character is a touch more arrogant and wilful than most, but she is a good woman intrinsically, who is clean, innocent, and behaves with integrity. Whereas I—”

“What do you want to say? Are you trying to say that you’re not good enough?” Yang Ye asked him with a heavy voice.

When Yang Ye heard him say that just now, he was a little angry, but after he saw that smear of red on his wrist, all of his anger disappeared.

Only overwhelming distress remained in his heart.

Gu Liang lowered his head, unspeaking.

After all, Yang Ye did not know enough about the portion of his life which he deemed as his dark past.

He probably felt that, if Yang Ye was a bisexual, and yet remained adamant about choosing him when it was a choice between him and Su Lan, he had to be insane.

Upon seeing Gu Liang being like this, Yang Ye stood up directly, took hold of his wrists, and dragged him up.

“Yang Ye you—”

Before Gu Liang could finish speaking, he was pulled by Yang Ye forcefully, until he was inside his tight embrace.

Yang Ye wrapped his arm around Gu Liang’s waist and pressed his other hand on the back of his head so it could lean on his shoulder properly.

With Yang Ye hugging him in such an unrelenting fashion, he had no way of retreating.

“Yang Ye…”

“Mn, I’m here.”

Yang Ye attached himself next to Gu Liang’s ear and spoke in a hoarse voice: “Regarding your past and the things you don’t wish to say, you can choose to never tell me. But you’re not allowed to deny the affections people hold for you.

“You can dislike yourself, you can constantly deny yourself, that’s fine, because that’s your own choice, you have the right to make that decision. But you don’t have the right to deny the feelings I have for you. I like you.”

Gu Liang was immediately shaken by his logic and he could not utter a single word.

Yang Ye continued, “Who said you can’t compare to her? If she has the love and adoration of tens of thousands, you can have it too. Let me cherish you. I will cherish you more than anyone else in the world, I will treasure you for the rest of your life.”

“I know, your father didn’t care for you and your mother didn’t love you, and I really don’t know how you managed to grow up to this age. But that doesn’t matter, I will love you from now on.

“Gu Liang, I will give a lot of, lots of love, I will give you all the best things the world has to offer.

“Therefore, you’re not allowed to say that you can’t compare to others in the future.

“If you continue saying that, then you can only blame me, blame me for not giving you enough just yet.”

Translator: *silently takes some tissues to wipe her eyes as she is reminded why she loves this novel so much*