Chapter 2553: Dear Detective Mr. 05

Only the two of them remained in the room; Aleric took out an extremely thin leather glove from his suit's inner pocket, put it on, and began to carefully inspect every corner of the desk.

Jin Chen admired his long, strong fingers for a moment, then shifted his gaze, standing at the chair behind the desk and looking forward.

"Actually, the view here isn't bad either," he commented.

Suddenly, Jin Chen's gaze found a focus.

He walked over to the antique porcelain display cabinet by the curtains, and behind one of the blue-and-white porcelain vases he discovered black orchid petals.

"Black orchid." Jin Chen gently pinched the petal with his gloved finger.

"Does this belong to the one Vincent was holding?"

He called out to Ling Gun Gun in his mind, 【Test it.】

【Testing……】 Ling Gun Gun, 【Host, there's no poison on this petal.】

Jin Chen examined the petal carefully for a moment, then gently placed it in his notebook.

After thinking for a while, he picked up a steel pen and skillfully sketched the black orchid on a blank page.

Aleric walked over, saw it, and was somewhat surprised, saying, "Not bad."

But immediately afterward, he saw Jin Chen draw a strange mouthpart beneath that flower.

With a few more strokes, the whole flower turned into a ferocious monster.

Aleric raised an eyebrow: "?"

Jin Chen closed the notebook, lightly brushed his knuckles across Aleric's cheek with an innocent expression, "Aleric, why are you acting dumb?"

Aleric grabbed his wrist, his eyes lowering dangerously.

"You'd better behave, Cyril."

"Oh." Jin Chen replied, shrugging his shoulders.

——

Leaving the study, they came to the living room and happened to meet Sheriff Bruce.

He appeared to have just finished a conversation with Joshua, his face showing confusion and annoyance.

Jin Chen looked toward the fragile, handsome boy who had already walked up the stairs.

【Protagonist bottom!】 Ling Gun Gun suddenly exclaimed in his mind, 【Host, this is Joshua, the second son of an old friend of Count Olga.】

【He comes from the Clare family of Beier City; last year, Count Clare was looted by rebellious gangsters, who sent his deeply beloved young son here to take refuge.】

Jin Chen raised his eyebrows, suddenly realizing something.

Looking at this case from the outside, if Joshua isn't the murderer, how could Aleric's investigation make him the villain in this story?

Of course, this is still up for debate.

Bruce flared up at Aleric, saying, "As you wished, Detective, this case is definitely fishy!"

"Damn it! What the hell have those new inspectors been investigating?"

He glanced at Joshua on the stairs, "Young Master Joshua said that on the night of April 10th, he felt unwell and even took painkillers from Vincent's study, around ten-thirty."

Bruce continued, "I just questioned a maid again; she said that at eleven p. m., she still saw Vincent open the window and play the violin!"

And Vincent's death was discovered at eleven-thirty that night by his personal valet.

The inspectors' preliminary investigation result was poisoning from specially cultivated black orchids.

"Damn it," Bruce fumed, "the poison from black orchids takes at least forty minutes to an hour to take effect, during which the victim gradually loses mobility."

"How is this suicide!"

A sneer appeared in Aleric's eyes, "Yes, you inspectors are always useless."

Bruce: "……"

Bruce's face turned red with anger, and unexpectedly he did not retort.

Joshua stood at the top of the stairs listening to their conversation, his face growing paler, his eye sockets slightly red, his body lightly leaning on the valet Silas, appearing utterly fragile.

Noticing Jin Chen's scrutinizing gaze, he politely nodded, whispered "sorry," and hurriedly left with the valet's support.

Jin Chen withdrew his gaze, his azure eyes meeting Aleric's probing stare.

Their gazes locked; Jin Chen gave Aleric a harmless smile, his handsome features causing the sarcastic words on Aleric's tongue to roll around and finally be swallowed.

"Let's go check the garden," Aleric suddenly said, turning and walking toward the door.

Jin Chen smiled and followed his steps.

——

That afternoon, as evening approached, they returned to the cylindrical house.

The setting sun's afterglow streamed through the high windows, casting a warm-yellow column of light across the empty floor, dust drifting.

Jin Chen was assigned his first formal work task: organizing all the clues collected today, as well as the inspectors' initial investigation records.

Several thick stacks of documents piled on the desk, looking quite impressive.

"This is also part of assessing your ability, Cyril," Aleric said, standing at the desk's edge and lightly tapping the cover of the topmost document.

Jin Chen tried not to think about how much work this would require.

"Alright,"

He sighed, lifted his eyes to Aleric, and asked, "And what about you?"

Aleric raised his eyebrows, seeing through Jin Chen's curiosity.

He suddenly reached out, thumb and forefinger firmly gripping Jin Chen's nape with noticeable pressure, "Don't be too curious; it'll bring you trouble."

At that moment, Aleric seemed to temporarily detach from his detective identity, revealing the wildness and danger within.

Those green eyes regarded him coldly.

Jin Chen blinked, didn't struggle, and whispered, "Alright, but… I'm a bit sore, Aleric."

Perhaps because of the pain, his trailing tone carried a slight tremor.

This made Alaric's heart inexplicably tighten, and he loosened his grip.

He turned around, took a Candy cube from the Candy jar on the table, and casually tossed it into Jin Chen's coffee cup in front of him.

"You're too fragile." Alaric said mockingly, then turned and left.

Jin Chen remained seated, the corners of his mouth curling up pleasantly.

He lifted the coffee cup, took a sip, then placed the remaining cream candy on the table into his pocket.

The cream candy hadn't melted yet, and the coffee's bitterness carried a strange sweetness.

The peculiar mixture, just like Alaric.

After finishing the cup of coffee, Jin Chen got up and walked to the big table where Doxi often stayed, squatting down with practiced ease.

Sure enough, he saw the freckled girl under the table.

She was holding a thick book, reading by the light that seeped through the gap in the table.

"Doxi, do you mind chatting with me about Alaric?" Jin Chen said.

Doxi clung to her skirt as she crawled out from under the table, patting the dust off the hem.

"Can you let me skip the lady's class, Cyril?" she blinked her big eyes, tone pleading, "You don't know how awful it is there."

Jin Chen raised an eyebrow, "Of course, no one can restrain your nature."

"That's great." Doxi cheered, quickly taking a sheet of paper from the drawer and pushing it toward Jin Chen, "Help me sign it, I don't need to go this week. Cyril, you're much easier to talk to than Alaric."

Jin Chen took the pen and smoothly signed Cyril's name.

He crossed his legs, leaned back against the chair, "Well..."

"Wait, Cyril," Doxi suddenly interrupted him, giving a sly smile, "I forgot to tell you, I don't know Alaric at all."

Jin Chen: "..."

He watched Doxi grab that sheet of paper and run, quickly picking up a small wooden block from the table and accurately throwing it at the mechanism beside the door.

The door to the stairs slammed shut with a bang.

"Going back on your word is a bad habit." Jin Chen tilted his head and smiled at her.

Doxi turned away with a worried, grim face, knowing she couldn't escape this time.