Chapter 31
Empress Wilhelmine and her younger brother, Count Wiegelhofen, were talking about their plan to kidnap Roseline, the hostess of the Postenmeyer villa.
“Even though I sent her a present, she wouldn’t hold the wedding in private, would she?” asked Wilhelmine.
“That’s something you don’t know.” Could it be that your ulterior motive was discovered, Sister? “Replied the count, Wiegelhofen.
The Marquis Auberweichman sighed and said, “If the ceremony is held privately, you cannot enter disguised as a guest.”
“Is there any way to bring that lady named Roseline to the empress’ palace before she leaves for the East?” “We need to make sure she passes on her ‘power’ from Count Crimson Rose to us,” said Wilhelmine.
“How about infiltrating with an assassin and kidnapping her?” suggested the Marquis.
“Even if it’s a villa, it’s the mansion of the Postenmeyer family. Is there anyone skilled enough to enter there and kidnap the hostess?” asked Count Wiegelhofen.
“The main building is strictly guarded, but there is an old building on the outskirts of the mansion. They said they plan to tear down the building in the winter, so there is usually no staff to manage it,” said the Marquis.
“Really?” Wilhelmine perked up.
“So, I have a plan,” said the Marquis.
The Marquis’s plan was to pay off a company supplying oil to the Postenmeyer villa and have an oil barrel hidden in a building on the outskirts of the villa. At night, assassins would set the building on fire. Even if it was on the outskirts, the mansion’s servants and guards would be unable to ignore the fire. It would take time for the fire brigade to arrive after being contacted, so the servants would have no choice but to wait. While they were distracted with putting out the fire, the assassins could infiltrate the main building and kidnap Roseline.
“Right, so we set fire to the outskirts to distract the guards and infiltrate in the meantime…” Wilhelmine considered the plan.
“Sister, isn’t that a good plan?” asked Count Wiegelhofen.
“But what about when the hostess is gone and we have to face the consequences later?” asked Wilhelmine. “We can’t just leave her in the empress’ palace forever.”
***
Roseline returned to the villa of the Postenmeyer family, where she was greeted by servants gathered at the main gate. The atmosphere was tense.
“Madam, you’re back?” they greeted her in unison.
Hugo, the butler, approached Roseline and reported, “Madam, there’s been a fire.”
Roseline’s steps stopped abruptly. “A fire? Where did it start?” she asked.
“It started in an old, unused building on the outskirts of the villa,” Hugo explained. “One of the servants said they were using the kitchen there when the fire started.”
Roseline was puzzled by Hugo’s calm demeanor. “Why didn’t you deal with the fire and just wait for me to return?” she asked.
“I decided the first priority was to report to you, Madam,” Hugo replied. “Fortunately, the fire didn’t spread to the western annex.”
Roseline’s suspicion grew as she listened to Hugo’s explanation. “What about my mother?” she asked.
“She was brought back to the main building with her own strong will,” Hugo replied.
Roseline couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the situation. She remembered the conversation between the servants that Alfons had told her about, where they had suggested causing an accident to embarrass her. Could this fire be part of a plan to discredit her as the mistress of the Grand Duke of Postenmeyer?
She resolved to get to the bottom of the matter and find out the truth.
Roseline realized that the fire in the old building on the outskirts of the Postenmeyer villa was likely a test set up by the seasoned employees to see how she would handle the situation. They were trying to get rid of her as mistress of the villa by making her look like she couldn’t do her job.
She couldn’t believe that the butler and the other servants would intentionally cause an accident and wait for her to solve it, just to test her abilities. It was a ridiculous and disrespectful way to treat their employer.
But she couldn’t let her anger get in the way of handling the situation. The first priority was to put out the fire. She couldn’t afford to waste time worrying about the motivations of the servants. She needed to take control and make sure the fire was extinguished as quickly and safely as possible.
Roseline walked calmly towards the old building on the western outskirts of the villa, where the fire had started. She knew that she had to act quickly to contain the fire before it spread.
When she arrived at the building, she saw that black smoke was billowing from the windows. She remembered that the location of the fire was the kitchen, so she tried to look inside through the windows.
“How about contacting the fire brigade?” she asked the butler.
“I did, but I’m worried that the fire will start to spread before the fire brigade arrives,” he replied.
Roseline knew that she had to take matters into her own hands. “Then I have no choice but to turn it off on my own,” she said.
The butler tried to stop her, saying, “Madam, it is dangerous!” But Roseline pushed him aside and kicked open the old door. She could see that the fire was in the kitchen, and hook, acrid smoke was rising. She quickly covered her nose with her sleeve.
She noticed that no smoke had risen when she arrived at the mansion, which meant that the perpetrators had installed something to keep the smoke from escaping the building. She knew that she had to find the epicenter of the fire and extinguish it before it spread.
She quickly assessed the situation and realized that the fire might have been caused by boiling oil igniting. She called out to the other servants, “Bring the wheat sacks!” Wheat sacks could be used to absorb the oil and extinguish the fire.
Roseline worked quickly and efficiently to contain the fire, determined to put an end to the dangerous test set up by the butler and the other servants.
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