Whispering Verse

Talking to strangers and looking for clues cannot be accomplished in a short time, so Shade spent two hours in the afternoon visiting and questioning different people in the North Mountain Opera Company.

Similar to what the bearded landlord said, people here also said that after Mr. Bundy's eye was cured three months ago, he was very happy for a few days, but then his mood became gloomy and he gradually became fearful. Darkness and fear of being alone.

He became nervous and even made some mistakes during the opera troupe's performance.

As for the bearded landlord's mention of taking illegal drugs, no one in the opera troupe noticed it. In their impression, Frank Bundy was a friendly and extremely self-disciplined person. Mr. Bundy did not even smoke, but he only tried playing Rhodes after his eyes healed.

As for the suicide note, the musician spent a lot of space writing about his life and lamenting his life in it. The subsequent inheritance distribution was consistent with what the bearded landlord said. Finally, he mentioned the cemetery location chosen by the musician for himself, and thanked his neighbors, landlord, and friends of the North Mountain Opera Company for their care over the years.

The suicide note was dated the day Mr. Bundy committed suicide. The description in the text was clear and the arrangement of the property's cemetery was very well organized. It's just that the writing method is very crazy, and those letters are simply like the terrible language written by a frantic lunatic in a state of madness after witnessing an unknown existence.

Because Mr. Bundy was blind before, Shade specifically asked the troupe director if he could write normally before, and learned that the musician could write, and the handwriting was not bad.

"Well, it's getting worse and worse."

So Shade asked for the manuscript of the music score that Mr. Bundy wrote after his eyes were healed. After comparing it with the suicide note, detectives concluded that it was indeed written by Frank Bundy himself. But the clear writing ideas and crazy writing style made him very concerned.

The musician did not mention the reason why he became crazy in his suicide note, nor did he write down the reason for his suicide. He simply wrote at the end:

[I was once trapped in darkness but never lamented my fate, but why should I see the light now? 】

【I'm so tired. 】

The penultimate sentence was basically consistent with what the bearded landlord said, which made Shade more and more suspicious that it was eye problems that led to the musician's suicide.

Frank Bundy also left a lot of relics in the band. The band leader asked Shade to open the door of the storage room and let him rummage through the shelves.

So Shade checked the musician's notebooks, personal clothes, water cups, unused tea bags, pencil sharpeners and other items one by one. However, after looking at them one by one, he did not see the diary in the carton.

In just three months, he still hasn't developed the good habit of writing a diary.

In the end, there were only two items that caught Shade's attention. One was a notebook with Mr. Bundy's own music score written on it, and the other was a small, flat, arc-shaped bottle with a trace of bright yellow and... A liquid like oil.

The notebook was purchased by Mr. Bundy after he was cured of his eye disease. Each page has a date. After the musician regained his sight, he composed almost at a rate of one song a week. But the farther back the date goes, the more slender, sharp, and crazy the musical notes written in black ink become. By the last page, they are almost exactly the same as the font on the suicide note.

As for the liquid in the bottle, only the bottom layer of the bottle remains. After Shade carefully poured them on his fingers, the voice in his ears actually suggested that there were extremely small traces of spirit in the liquid.

Not the four elements, but pure spirit, because the traces of occultism are really weak.

"The content is so weak. Has it been diluted, or is it just occasionally contaminated with traces of spirits? Can this be considered a magic potion?"

To be cautious, Shade informed the director of the opera troupe and took away the notebook with the music scores and the empty bottle.

Before leaving, Shade also learned the purpose of those liquids. Many people in the band had seen the musician Mr. Bundy drop the liquid into his eyes and claimed that it was medicine prescribed for him by an ophthalmologist.

"Things are getting more complicated."

Because he spent the entire afternoon investigating and questioning the North Mountain Opera Troupe, it was already close to the evening by the time Shade left the orchestra with two clues.

Seeing that it was late, Shade had no intention of taking advantage of the night to visit the ophthalmologist and client Mr. Mandis involved in the commission, let alone continue the investigation at the Three Cats Hotel in Anthem Square.

It happened that the North Mountain Opera Troupe was not far from Miss Carina's manor outside the city. After thinking about it, Shade decided to pay a visit.

It's not that I want to have dinner, but I want to find Miss Carina and ask her to arrange musicians to play the last few tunes from the music scores that Shade obtained. Shade wanted to use this to determine the other person's specific mental state during the last period of his life.

The reason why professional musicians in the opera troupe are not allowed to perform is because Shade is worried that problems will affect ordinary people. It is better to be more cautious about this kind of thing.

Although Miss Carina's manor is outside the city, because it is surrounded by noble manors, forest farms and high-end horse farms, the coachmen in the city are also willing to go there. On the carriage, Shade still thought that it would be inappropriate to visit empty-handed, but it seemed even more inappropriate to get out of the carriage and pick a bunch of wild flowers.

So in the end, I could only get off the car empty-handed in front of the manor gate. After paying the fare, the manor housekeeper who knew Shade had already ordered someone to open the manor gate to welcome Shade.

"Is Miss Carina here? There is no appointment for this visit. If she comes to town, can you find a carriage to take me into town?"

This will save you the cost of going back.

"The lady is in the manor, but is meeting with important guests."

The middle-aged housekeeper said carefully and arranged for Shade to wait in the lounge. Shade also happened to have time to look more carefully at the notebook with the music score, but for him, a foreigner who knew nothing about music in this world, the music score was even more obscure than ancient documents.

Because at least he can understand ancient documents.

Shade did not wait long in the reception room on the second floor of the manor. The maids of the manor brought him tea and snacks, and even asked Shade if he wanted to have dinner at the manor.

But Shade still wanted to go home and have dinner with Mia, so he shook his head and refused.

And when he finally finished reading the music score again, Miss Carina's personal maid, Miss Tifa Servitt, opened the door and walked in. She always seemed to wear this set of maid's clothes. Since Shade knew this lady, he had never seen her wearing anything else.

"Mr. Hamilton, Miss is going to have a dinner with important guests today, so I don't have time to meet with you tonight. She asked me to ask you if you have anything important. If it's not urgent, I will handle it for you."

Miss Carina is the powerful duchess of the Kingdom of Delarian, and of course she does not have such a leisurely life like Shade. Therefore, Xia De did not expect that the other party would abandon important things to meet with him.

He stood up from the sofa:

"It's not an important thing. I got a piece of music that might be weird and I want someone to help me play it."

After briefly describing the ophthalmologist's commission, Shade handed the notebook to Miss Tifa Servit.

She flipped through it from front to back, and she frowned when she saw the last page. She is a six-ring warlock, and she can most likely understand this music score, so she can see that the problem is even bigger:

"You made the right idea not to let ordinary people from the North Mountain Opera Company perform. Mr. Hamilton, please come with me and I will play for you."

As he spoke, he invited Shade to the soundproof music room on the second floor of the manor house, where Miss Carina practiced violin.

"Miss Servit, what instrument are you proficient in?"

Shade asked curiously and walked out of the door with her.

"Some piano and violin."

She said it very implicitly.

In order to prevent the music scores left by the blind musician before his death from affecting ordinary people, after arriving at the music room, the maid asked other servants of the manor to wait in the music room, leaving only her and Shade in the room.

This was the first time for Shade to come to this room. Compared with the so-called professional music rooms he had seen in his hometown, the decoration style here was more...expensive, with red carpets on the floor and uneven sound-absorbing walls. It is light yellow, and most of the musical instruments that can be seen are gold. The oil paintings on the walls are probably antiques. Each of the musical instruments in the white wood cabinets and glass showcases should be worth more than Xiao Mia.

But at least the piano was black. After lifting the cover, the black and white keys reflected the light of the gas lamp in the room. The neat and cold look made Shade like it very much.

Although the world is different, the types of musical instruments are very similar, but to a foreigner, there is actually no difference, because he knows nothing about the musical instruments in any world.

To make Shade mentally prepared, the brunette carefully held the fabric of her long skirt behind her body and sat down in front of the piano. She turned the notebook to the last piece of music and stood it up. The hands that were used to pour tea almost every time Shade appeared, flexibly shook a few times, ten slender white fingers moved up and down, and then landed on on the piano keys.

Shade sat on the cushioned high stool nearby. When the first musical note suddenly sounded, he was still guessing the possible selling price of the instrument, and once again tried to use "Mia" as the unit of measurement. measure.

And when the musical notes burst into his ears in succession, he felt that it was nothing at first, but then he became more and more irritated, and his brows couldn't help but frown.

Miss Tifa Servit's piano skills are quite good, her fingers are dancing on the keys, and the manic music makes Shade feel more and more uncomfortable. Although he doesn't understand music, he agrees that a skilled score and performer can express his feelings through tunes.