She is not an investigator.

Seeing Igris suddenly looking troubled, Olivia's worry became more and more obvious.

She wanted to believe Igris, but she seemed... really mentally unstable.

She might really need to consider whether Igris is under too much pressure and needs to relax.

“Igris, calm down. I’m willing to believe you, but right now you need to rest. I will investigate all of this. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Igris's expression returned to normal, and most of the confusion and bewilderment she had just experienced dissipated.

“No…you don’t understand. You don’t trust me. You can’t see any of it. You don’t know what I’m talking about…I can’t even describe how I feel. How can I expect others to believe me? But…Olivia, listen to me. I know what I’m doing. Can we just pretend nothing happened? I’ll find out what’s wrong.”

Olivia's expression turned sour, but Igris's words were resolute and earnest, and she had no reason to refuse Igris, even though she was genuinely worried about Igris's current situation.

"...Okay, I promise you, I'll pretend none of this happened, but please take care of yourself, okay? That's my only request."

"Thanks…"

Igris took a deep breath, glanced intently at the characters in the book, and then turned and walked towards the door.

"Igris".

Olivia called out to Igris again, and when she turned around, Olivia took Igris's hand and put something into her palm.

"If you believe you are right, then continue to pursue the truth. I will support you no matter what."

Igris felt the little thing in her palm, nodded silently, and left the library.

Watching Igris leave, Olivia's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Whether Igris's words were true or false, and whether what happened to her actually happened or not, Olivia chose to believe Igris, so she couldn't possibly do nothing at all.

For example, right now, she probably needs to determine something more important.

Right now.

……

Igris walked down the stairs, slowly opened her palm, and looked at what was in her palm.

Those were the ten bullets that Olivia gave her.

At least for now, Igris has gotten one thing wrong.

Olivia believed in her from the very beginning.

Igris didn't understand, nor did she comprehend it. They hadn't known each other for very long, and their understanding of each other was pitifully limited. Igris also knew how nonsensical her behavior had just been.

But she was still willing to believe, or rather, willing to gamble on that trust.

Igris doesn't hate detectives as much anymore, but it's also possible that she simply doesn't hate Olivia anymore.

Who cares? At least she really enjoys the feeling of being recognized.

"Next... let's go check out the basement."

If it's true that flames devour everything, then nothing could truly cause effective damage than a blocked fire escape route.

As long as the road is open, they still have a chance to escape. Even if the castle is completely burned down, as long as people are alive, there will always be hope.

Whether the disaster was real or not was no longer important. What mattered was that Igris was willing to believe it was real, even if it might be fake, and she was unwilling to gamble on that possibility.

No one should simply throw away their own life; no one should.

The Gods' Fool's Play - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Fifteen, Searching for the Tears of the Ocean

At the same time, Olivia also began searching for Nanke's whereabouts.

After casually asking one of the cleaning maids, Olivia learned that Nanko was resting in his room. Without hesitation, she went to his door and knocked heavily.

After a brief pause, Nan Ke gently opened the door. Upon seeing Olivia, he was visibly taken aback, seemingly not expecting her to come looking for him.

"What's wrong…?"

"Where are the tears of the ocean?"

Nan Ke shook his head with some suspicion, and then said.

"The plan hasn't even started yet, and no one has opened the secret vault. The Tear of the Ocean should still be inside. Why are you asking this?"

"I don't have time to explain to you. When do you plan to steal that thing?"

As they initially suspected, let's steal the key to Yibuze, open the secret vault door, take the Tear of the Ocean, and return the fake.

What Olivia needs to determine now is whether there is anything unusual about the Tear of the Ocean, and all of this can only be determined after opening the door to the secret vault to see the gem's current condition.

"It's too early now...it's not convenient to move around. My initial plan was to do it around dusk."

"Then forget about the plan, grab the key, and come with me to find Buze. I need to see the Tear of the Ocean."

"and many more!"

Faced with Olivia's unquestionable tone, Nanko promptly stopped her and raised his own questions.

"Why? I remember you weren't interested in this."

After saying that, Nan Ke frowned and continued, somewhat uncertainly.

"Or have you discovered something else?"

"Isn't all the legends surrounding that gem enough to make it stand out?"

"No... I understand what you mean, but it can't be made of this gem. Didn't the Special Investigations Department send someone to investigate? The reason for everything was just that he was frightened. Although the murderer who killed his mother has not been completely identified, it is estimated that it is not far off. Do you still think it is made of that gem?"

Nan Ke knew what Olivia was worried about. The gem was indeed precious enough, but no one knew its material or origin. Even though the Special Investigations Department had conducted a special investigation, they couldn't find anything. If it really had something special about it, it would have been sealed away until now without being revealed.

Most importantly, he still refused to believe that what killed his mother was the treasure his father had pursued his entire life.

For Raymond, that gemstone almost symbolized the glory of the Noval family and could no longer be considered an ordinary gemstone. Although Nanko would not think so, it was, after all, his father, and he would not question his father's choice.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I just want to confirm whether it's still there, so that we don't find out the gem has already been stolen when we actually start the plan."

Olivia clearly didn't mean that, but she used that sentence to cover up her true purpose, and Nanko didn't want to expose her, since the real key wasn't with him.

“Although I don’t think anyone could steal that gem directly, we need the key in Buze’s hand. Would he really allow such a precious thing to be taken out just to show us? To tell you the truth… I’ve never even seen that gem myself. It’s been sealed in a secret vault ever since I got home.”

“If you’re worried you can’t convince him, then give me the key and I’ll go find him.”

"You seem to care a lot about this. What's causing this anxiety? Perhaps you're being a little too tense..."

"Do you think I have the time to listen to your lectures? I only do what I think is right, so either give me the key or come with me to find Buze."

"This isn't meant to be lecturing... but never mind, I'll go with you."

Nan Ke eventually gave in. After all, he shouldn't have refused his friend's request, even if it sounded absurd. But from a sense of duty, all he had to do was accompany Olivia to find Buze. The rest was up to Olivia to decide.

"Thank you, at least you made a decision on this matter."

Olivia turned around and, almost without hesitation, began searching for Buze, just as she always was—quick, efficient, and highly proactive.

In fact, Olivia's actions not only allowed her to determine whether the Tear of the Ocean was truly dangerous, but also helped her ascertain Buze's attitude towards the gem.

Is it doubt, or faith?

Boozer seemed like the kind of person who would become the next Raymond, but Olivia could also understand that, compared to Raymond, what was truly important to Boozer was not family honor or rare treasures. There was only one person he truly cared about: his younger brother, Nanko.

If Nanko and Olivia really make the request to Buze together, this older brother who treats his younger brother almost as his everything, even if he is somewhat unwilling, will still not easily refuse.

If they can discover something amiss during this opportunity, they can react immediately and carry out a reasonable evacuation and security operation for everyone in the castle.

Even though Nanko is the head of the family, for everyone in the Noval family, Buze is indeed the most suitable person to lead everyone.

If everything can be foreseen, then the likelihood of subsequent disasters will be minimized.

Of course, all of this is predicated on the premise that there is indeed something wrong with the gem, but if the problem is not with the gem, Olivia would find it difficult to imagine what could have caused the disaster.

However, Olivia slowed down and turned to look at Nan Ke, who was rushing over behind her, and asked.

"Do you recognize that stone tablet in front of the castle gate?"

"Stone tablet?"

Nan Ke paused for a moment, then shook his head suspiciously.

"I don't know what kind of stone tablet you're talking about. Maybe I just didn't notice? After all, I rarely go out for a stroll."

"You don't know, what a coincidence, I don't know either, how many years have we lived in this castle? There's such an obvious stone tablet at the gate, yet no one has noticed it."

Olivia finally realized something was wrong: she had no memory of this stone tablet whatsoever.

If Nan Ke is someone who doesn't like going out and always stays in her room, how could someone as lively and active as Olivia not notice?

In fact, if Igris hadn't been there to remind her, she wouldn't have even had the chance to notice that particularly conspicuous stone tablet.

"...Now I can understand why she was so nervous."

"what?"

"It's nothing. Let's go find Buze first, and we can talk about it later."

Olivia shook her head, her expression growing increasingly somber as she walked toward Buze's room.

……

basement.

Igris used the key Nanko had given her to open the door and continued down the stairs.

The basement was indeed darker than the other places, and the stair handrails were covered in dust, looking like they hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

Soon, Igris reached the bottom of the long spiral staircase and arrived at the basement corridor.

This place was much more spacious than she had imagined, almost half the size of a hall. Although it was very dark, Igris had night vision, so she didn't have to worry too much about not being able to see the way and bumping into the wall.

But as she glanced at the blurry landscape, a figure suddenly flashed past her line of sight, immediately drawing her attention.

Her hand rested on the pistol at her waist as she carefully surveyed her surroundings. Finally, her attention settled on a figure.

That was herself, and also a mirror.

"It's probably best to cover mirrors with a cloth when storing them..."

Igris looked at herself in the mirror and gently poked her cheek, and the reflection in the mirror did the same.

It's cute. Although it's not very useful, it at least shows that the mirror looks pretty normal so far.

The Gods' Fool's Play - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Sixteen, The Illusion in the Mirror

After Igris looked away, the woman in the mirror did not do the same thing as Igris. Instead, she remained in the same position, staring intently at Igris outside the mirror.