All possible suspects have been caught, and Qingdeng and the others have no reason to stay in the residence for any longer.

Anthony and his family helped Qingdeng and his family a lot today.

Now that we are leaving the residence, we cannot, emotionally or rationally, leave without even saying hello to Anthony and the others.

Aoto found a large cloak that could be used to cover his blood-stained clothes, and allowed Saito and others who had to escort Hanada Shichiro and others to escape first. After that, they returned to Anthony's mansion alone.

…

…

…

Outside Anthony's family's mansion, Anthony, Elodie and Leroy, who were standing side by side in front of him, briefly and comprehensively summarized their "capture operation".

"...Anyway, that's what happened. We successfully caught a few suspicious elements, so we are going back to the prison now."

When Qingden came to say goodbye, Elodie was still in class.

After learning from Leroy that Qingdeng and the others were leaving the residence, Elodie quickly took a 20-minute leave from her tutor Gerald, and then followed Anthony and Leroy to say goodbye to Qingdeng.

"Mr. Angouleme, thank you very much for your help today."

Although he had already said "thank you" to Anthony and the others many times today, Qingdeng still felt tired and once again handed over the gift of thanks to the old man, the young man and the maid in front of him at this moment.

"Mr. Tachibana, there is no need to be so polite. Compared with your life-saving grace, our small favor is nothing."

Qingdeng took the trouble to say "thank you", and Anthony, who was smiling, also took the trouble to say "you're welcome".

After thanking Anthony, Qingden turned to Leroy to thank him.

Leroy made black tea for them today... Although at the same time that Leroy made the black tea, Saito and the others discovered the bearded man who entered the confectionery shop, so Seito and the others did not have the opportunity to drink Leroy.

The black tea prepared by Roy must show some appreciation for other people's hard work.

The "old" and "maid" of this trio of "one old, one young and one maid" have already thanked and said goodbye... Qingden turned his attention to Elodie, who was now standing behind Anthony.

Elodie has been quite quiet since just now, not talking much, and just standing behind Anthony.

After Qingden looked over, Elodie, who felt Qingden's gaze, raised her little head and looked at Qingden. Then she blinked her big eyes as hard as she could and placed her bare hands in front of her belly button.

She quietly tightened her grip on the fabric of her robe in her belly...

Looking at Elodie's obviously different look, Qingden couldn't help but raise his eyebrows out of confusion.

At this moment, Elodie took a deep breath, and then showed Qingden a decent smile that looked like a "little adult".

"Mr. Orange, what a pity."

"I was thinking of continuing to play with you, Mr. Tachibana, after today's class is over."

"It seems... we have to wait until next time."

The fog that arose in my mind just now because I was wondering why Elodie looked weird now suddenly dissipated.

Elodie's words just now made Qingden suddenly recall the words Leroy had said to him just about half an hour ago -

(Mr. Orange, thank you very much for your willingness to play with the lady just now.)

…

(Miss...she has been very lonely since she moved to Edo.)

…

(Today I wielded a sword with someone for the first time in a long time...Miss, she must be very happy.)

…

Qingden looked at Elodie's face carefully. Although it was well hidden, he could still detect a hint of loneliness from her eyebrows, the bottom of her pupils, etc.

It took a lot of effort to find people who could play with her, but now these people are leaving, and she, grandpa and the maid are the only ones left in the spacious mansion... Although he doesn't know whether it is accurate, Qingden guessed that Elodie is probably like this now.

Get in the mood.

Qingden instantly understood why Elodie looked strange now, his cheeks relaxed, the corners of his mouth also relaxed, his eyes and expression softened due to the relaxation of the muscles on his face.

"...I'm sorry, Mademoiselle Angoulême. I can't play with you anymore today."

Qingdeng did not make any long remarks to this sweet, courteous little girl.

After briefly apologizing to Elodie for having to leave the residence now, Qingden squatted down so that his eyesight was half that of Elodie, who was only 142cm tall.

"Although I can't tell when it will be...but when I have the opportunity or time to come here again, I will continue to play with you."

"At that time, let me see more tricks in stabbing swordsmanship."

Qingdeng's tone was not passionate...and his tone was calm.

But the strange thing is that after listening to it, Elodie felt a strange sense of peace of mind.

The bursts of loneliness that flickered in the bottom of his pupils were mostly dissipated by the strange sense of security that emerged from the bottom of his heart.

She smiled.

Although Elodie had been smiling just now, the smile she showed now was completely different from the smile she showed just now.

More natural? More friendly?

It is difficult to describe it with specific adjectives.

If Qingden could use his own words to describe the smile Elodie is showing now...

This was a shy smile with a childish air that was unique to a girl of her age... Qingden felt that there could be no more accurate evaluation than his.

"Then you should try to come in the morning or evening!" Elodie half-joked with a smile, "I don't need to go to class only during these times!"

Qingdeng laughed loudly.

"Yeah! I'll try my best."

…

…

After escorting Shichiro Hanada and the archers headed by the "middle-aged man with a beard" back to the prison, and then continuing to deal with the handover of suspects and reporting on today's arrest operation and a series of complicated but necessary things,

The sun has sunk below the horizon.

Qingdeng has already done everything he can do.

Now we can only wait for the professional interrogation team - the prison guards to extract information from these people.

After dragging his tired body after a long day's work, he returned to the trial defense hall with Saito and the others under the stars, and Aoto spent the rest of the day peacefully as usual.

Have dinner, practice at night, and go to Chihiro House to take a shower with Saito, Nagakura, and Harada...

However - just when Aoto used the hot water in the Chihiro House bath to wash away most of the fatigue on his body, and returned to the trial hall with the wooden basin containing the dirty clothes, soap and other things he had changed... What made Aoto...

A situation in which "comfortable business as usual" was destroyed occurred.

As soon as the huge shadow of the Trial Guard Hall appeared within Qingdeng's field of vision, Qingden saw Youdao's familiar figure standing at the gate of the Trial Guard Hall from a distance.

It was Chiba Jutaro who had a pretty good relationship with Aoto.

I saw Jutaro Chiba standing outside the gate of the trial hall, with an anxious look on his face, talking to Kondo and Okita who were standing face to face with him.

Kondo and Okita's expressions were particularly solemn.

It was okay for Kondo to have a solemn expression...but Okita's expression was also very solemn, which made Qingto couldn't help but feel his heart sinking.

Okita, who was cheerful and cheerful every day, actually showed such an expression... Qingto vaguely guessed that something bad must have happened, and he had an unknown premonition in his heart.

Qingto hugged the bathtub tightly in his arms and led Saito and the others to speed up their pace slightly.

"Ah, Tachibana-kun!" Okita was the first to notice the returning Qingto and others. He waved vigorously towards them, "You guys came back just in time!"

I came back just in time... After hearing Okita's words, the ominous premonition in Qingto's heart became stronger.

Before Aoto could ask "What's wrong?", he heard Chiba Jutaro, who looked a little pale, said quickly:

"Tachibana-kun, have you seen Sanako today?"

"Miss Sanako?" Qingden frowned suddenly.

…

…

Although Chiba Jutaro was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on his forehead, he had not lost his basic language skills.

After his relatively clear and detailed explanation, Qingto, who understood what had happened, suddenly became as solemn as Kondo and Okita.

Sanako is missing!

Sanako, who had the task of "going to teach little Princess Date" today, was supposed to return to the Little Chiba Sword Hall at noon today, but as a result, Sanako was nowhere to be seen until the afternoon.

The return figure of the son.

At first, Chiba Jutaro and the others didn't pay much attention to it, because Sanako suddenly had an idea and wanted to go somewhere for a walk before going home. It was common for him to relax.

Time passed bit by bit...it was not until the night sky gradually became darker that Chiba Jutaro and the others gradually realized that something was wrong.

Sanako has never stayed away from home for such a long time...
To be continued...