She is not an investigator.

He looked at the wall and suddenly frowned.

The frame wasn't there, and the painting wasn't there either.

There was just a blank wall there, without even any information or signs.

If no one had told him that there used to be a priceless painting here, he would never have imagined that there was actually something there.

But if that's really the case...

"If that's really the case, then it's impossible that the staff checking here wouldn't have noticed. Even if they were negligent, the fact that the painting is missing should have been difficult to discover."

"That's right! I made a point of checking it out when the banquet started, and that painting was still there the whole time!"

"Ah, don't be too hasty. I was just suggesting a possibility, wasn't I? You should continue to investigate the specifics. After all... I'm just an assistant."

Igris shrugged and silently shrank back to Olivia's side.

Olivia was about to say something when she suddenly froze, unable to move.

"However, your idea is indeed very interesting. If such a condition could be met, allowing the painting to remain in the exhibition hall when the banquet begins, but the actual painting has already been taken away, the first murderer I can think of would probably be those witches who know magic."

Igris didn't try to discuss anything with them; it was pointless. Igris wasn't there to actually solve the case; she was there to help Olivia solve it.

"But... I mean, if."

Olivia suddenly interrupted Byron, and said hesitantly.

"Is there any way to really sneak the painting out of the staff's inspection... and tamper with it before the banquet starts without anyone noticing?"

Essentially, the biggest limitation of this painting is that if you want to take it with you, you either have to leave with the frame or take the painting out of the frame and leave separately.

"For example, Lag."

The staff member who doesn't exist.

"He... became a non-existent staff member, and knew everyone who worked here, and those people knew him... so he was naturally able to gain everyone's trust and do some of the more troublesome work that only staff members would do."

For example, inspect the layout of the exhibition hall.

"And because of the painting's value, and some of his guidance... it might lead him to specifically leave this painting, which is most likely to have problems, for his own inspection during the gallery check, and perhaps even tamper with it a little?"

"Of course, because this painting is indeed priceless, most of the staff will take a second look at it when the banquet begins."

嗏

"But they'll just glance at it, instead of getting closer to it, or even taking it off to examine it."

Olivia's voice slowly stopped, and she turned to look at the empty wall.

"Then... let it disappear."

"...?"

Byron was listening attentively to Olivia's story until the word "disappeared" appeared, and he almost couldn't help but laugh.

Indeed, even if everything above can be explained, the biggest problem is how to get this painting out of the country.

Even if all these schemes succeed, what about the painting? What about the frame? Who stole the painting? And how did he leave?

All of this remains unresolved, and all the problems have returned to square one.

"So, let's look back at the question I raised."

Igris snapped her fingers and said in a low voice.

"What if this painting wasn't here in the first place?"

The Gods' Folly - A Regret: Chapter Seven, to be discussed another day.

"…you mean?"

"That man named Rag might be misleading everyone into believing there is indeed a painting here worth 30,000 gold coins, but what is the truth?"

Igris tapped her chin and slowly curled the corners of her mouth into a smile.

"Perhaps there aren't any paintings here at all?"

"How is this possible! I, I absolutely saw that painting, it must be here, and it's been stolen!"

"But you can't even say what the painting actually depicts."

Igris snapped her fingers, pointing at the staff who were stunned after hearing her words.

“What I mean is… you mistakenly believe that a painting worth 30,000 gold coins has been lost here, and there is indeed a painting worth 30,000 gold coins in this museum… but you have no way of being sure that they are the same one.”

Because no one noticed the content of the painting itself, and no one actually went up to examine it.

"So, do you remember the name of this painting?"

The staff member was stunned. The name that could have been said out loud suddenly got stuck in their throat.

He seemed to have never actually seen the painting, yet subconsciously he never questioned it.

A chill ran down his spine, and seeing his silent demeanor, everyone understood what was going on.

"...But what did he see? Besides, when the banquet started, he certainly wasn't the only staff member present. Even if he really did ignore it, what about the others? They couldn't possibly have missed the missing painting."

Byron still couldn't believe this reasoning, which sounded like a joke. It was not only absurd but also outlandish.

The phantom thief stole something that doesn't exist? How is that possible?

"If Rag did have time to tamper with things, is it really that difficult to set up a disguise that wouldn't seem out of place to anyone at first glance? Let me remind you again, Mr. Byron, what is the name of this painting with a five-kilogram border and worth thirty thousand gold coins in the information you obtained?"

"I remember it was called..."

Byron frowned deeply and uttered a somewhat awkward name.

"A lonely watchtower."

"Yes, doesn't this name sound familiar?"

Iglesias seemed to have been prepared; she took out a newspaper from her pocket that was clearly cut and extremely wrinkled.

The newspaper had probably been around longer than the time she had experienced since she woke up, but Igris still managed to get her hands on it.

"This painting was stolen from this museum six months ago... no, to be precise, it has been returned."

The person who stole the painting was none other than the infamous Phantom Thief.

"That's why this painting wasn't on the museum's list of stolen items, and naturally, it was sealed away and better protected... instead of being displayed here."

Igris snapped her fingers, drawing everyone's attention, and continued.

"And the existence of that Rag is misleading the staff in this museum. This painting has already been exhibited and even placed in the exhibition hall on the second floor. Moreover, he deliberately emphasized the price of the painting itself, rather than its inherent value and content. This museum has a lot of collections. Apart from the staff who check these collections every day, no one can remember them all."

But here is the problem.

"The people inspecting this museum are not its organizers, but the staff who usually run and clean it, that is... the person that Rag is playing."

So the tricks Rag did were actually quite simple.

"What he did was not to make the painting disappear, but to make you believe that the copy of the painting, which is not here, is here... and then disappear."

Igris looked at the staff member again and asked softly.

"Since you say you saw that painting, can you describe roughly what colors you saw?"

"Was it...white? There were so many people...I..."

He couldn't be sure if his memories were still real, because Igris had begun to deny his past experiences, causing him to doubt and deny himself.

Iglesias nodded and turned to look at Olivia.

"So, Olivia, what is the most striking color in this painting?"

"I do not know."

"?"

Igris paused for a moment, then asked in a low voice with a strange expression.

"Isn't this your family museum...?"

"To be precise, it belongs to my uncle's family, but there are too many things here, how could I possibly remember?"

"Cough cough."

Byron coughed lightly, interrupting their whispered conversation, and replied.

"It's blue, and the background is a dark blue sky."

"so."

Igris clasped her hands together and said with a bright smile.

"All the questions have been solved. There was no painting here at all, and the painting he saw was just something Lag did. He was sure you wouldn't examine the painting closely, but you would still unconsciously look at it to make sure it was still there, because it was indeed very valuable."

"Then, Ms. Igris, if what you say is true, where should this painting be now?"

Byron looked at Igris with interest. Although everything she said sounded unbelievable and absurd, it was surprisingly logically consistent in some places. Perhaps they could try to start from this point and investigate.

"Perhaps you could ask the person in charge here at Yishanliu, or the organizers of this museum?"

Igris shrugged. She was just offering her opinion; whether the answer was correct or not depended on the specific circumstances.

However, it was clear that Olivia was completely captivated by Igris's impressive performance and almost forgot that she was the detective.

However, Olivia still has her uses, after all, her status and position remain.

A short while later, the temporary director of the museum came over and bowed to Olivia.

While it is indeed quite absurd that Olivia's uncle wasn't personally overseeing the situation under these circumstances, the temporary person in charge was there precisely to deal with such situations.

In a sense, they can also become scapegoats.

When Olivia showed interest in the painting of the lonely watchtower, he also looked visibly confused.

Clearly, he didn't know, or rather, this guy probably didn't know enough about most of the collection in this museum.

Faced with this situation, they encountered the first dilemma of today's investigation.

"So why doesn't your uncle care about his own family museum?"

Igris looked at Olivia with some resentment. If he were here, their investigation would most likely have made great progress.

But Olivia couldn't say anything. First, he was her uncle. Second, these nobles always seemed to be extremely busy. She was already quite satisfied that he was willing to call the police to keep an eye on the surroundings.

"How about we come back tomorrow? Maybe he'll be back by then."