Two hours later, Vera woke up from her shallow nap and sniffed, “It’s sweet.” She looked at the surface of the card, but it was still as blank as before.
It was Wu Jin’s turn to nap for the next two hours. When it neared evening, Wu Jin rubbed his eyes and almost choked when he woke up. The sweet and sticky smell wafted around the room, smelling like 10 birthday cakes had been knocked over. On the table, the card was still blank––
Vera noticed that Wu Jin was awake and was delighted to watch her idol disentangling himself from the warm quilt. His small round face was red and soft from sleep.
“The scent is coming out of the card. It started around three hours ago.” Vera studied the surface of the card carefully, then pointed to the gap between two stuck-together surfaces. “There’s two layers here, and it’s been coated twice in waterproof coating. It should have been preloaded with a scent, and it would begin to diffuse after receiving certain instructions.”
Wu Jin picked up the card.
There was neither music nor an oil painting on the card. The only clue that this card gave was targeted towards the players’ sense of smell––
“Perfume card.” Wu Jin opened his mouth.
After resting, the two of them quickly walked towards the library before dusk arrived.
Out of the five senses, humans relied on smell the least. They could even live without smell, and there was little information that could be deduced from the perfume card. Even if she had a small collection of perfume, Vera could only distinguish between one or two different scents.
“The middle and base notes contain vanilla, sweet enough to choke on, and the top note of the fragrance appears to be lime. The sourness is gone after a few seconds, and the layering isn’t very good. That’s understandable, given that it was the 17th century...” Vera sniffed analyzed, seeming to instantly enter a sideline beauty blogger mode. A few seconds later, she came to a conclusion, “Floral notes, feminine.”
Wu Jin pushed open the side door to the library and added, “Not necessarily. The perfume used by the King also contained floral notes. Louis XIV’s commonly used ‘Sun King’s Parisian perfume’ had notes of iris, which was the royal symbol.”
Vera was surprised, “The king used floral tones? Not wood?”
Wu Jin recited the supplementary materials from after the class, “Woodsy fragrances became the requirement for mainstream male fragrance aesthetics only after the 20th century. In Louis XIV’s period, they considered bathing an act that was ‘unclean and would lead to disease’. Even the king only took three baths in his lifetime. The French aristocrats relied on the floral fragrances to cover up their body odors.”
Vera covered her stomach, “Ew––”
The two finally found the ‘fragrances’ bookshelves.
Having cooperated twice in library searches already, Wu Jin and Vera had a clear division of labor between them, each starting from opposite ends of the bookshelf.
“’Perfume’ in Sanskrit is the same word as ‘red arsenic’...” Vera pulled the most obvious book off the bookshelf, read one line of it and then tossed it back, complaining, “Meaningless background information. Could this card possibly be about the Sun King’s little poisonous lover?”
Wu Jin looked up and read the name of a title high up on the shelf, “Perfume, the story of a murderer&#k2026; Why is this book here?” He also put the book back, but when he saw that Vera was curious, he read out the brief introduction, “19th century novel, based off the Bourbon royal rule of France, er,” Wu Jin’s ears turned a little red, “The murderer killed 12 attractive young woman in order to create the perfect perfume of desire.”
Vera commented, “Quite interesting.”
Then, she pulled out the third book, “The king himself participated in the creation of perfumes, and the perfumes of the Grand Mercure family in Paris were deeply loved by Louis XIV. The king even had a fragrance studio set up in the Grand Trianon where scents, raw materials and a large number of books were stored there––”
Both of them paused.
“The clue is at the Grand Trianon Palace.”
Dusk was about to arrive. The two of them quickly gathered up their supplies and weapons and headed for the Grand Trianon Palace before dark. The Grand Trianon was about 20 minutes away from the Palace of Versailles, and they had to pass through the Royal Manor and the canal tributary. Wu Jin also stuck out his head to take a look at the King’s stables.
A green card was pressed down in the mud, and a horse was neighing as though reminding contestants to come discover it.
“It’s a real horse, not a projection.” Vera expressed, “The program team finally spent a bit of money...”
The Great Trianon that was made out of light red marble finally appeared in view before night fell. The forest surrounding it was lush, and the grass was green. Wu Jin’s thoughts wandered off again, wondering where the big boss was busy clearing the jungle.
“How could a Grand Trianon card end up in Versailles?” Wu Jin was still thinking, “Here... there doesn’t seem to be any other players here.”
Vera followed the information in the book and walked through the pale building to finally come to a stop in front of the fragrance room.
Following the gentle orange light cast by the sunset, the two of them pushed the door open.
Vera quietly sucked in a breath.
This was almost every girl’s dream paradise. A soft carpet was laid out on the floor, and a series of bottles and containers were on light-colored display racks. Hundreds of scents were kept separate from the light in crystal bottles, and beyond that, there was also countless bottles of lotions, facial oils, and essential oils––
Wu Jin held Vera back with difficulty, “Don’t splash the lotion on your face. The Crosson Show will save money where it can, who knows what they’ve put in it!”
Vera could only stop, “Did these already exist in the 17th century...”
Wu Jin nodded, “Yes, French fashion.”
The two of them split up the work again. Wu Jin went to look at the books, while Vera compared the fragrance on the card with the base scents. “Yes, the top note is lime, the middle is vetiver and jasmine, and the base is vanilla and amber.”
Wu Jin’s fingertips slid across the page, and he spoke quickly, “Louis XIV, the Sun King’s perfume used an iris floral note, with notes of resin and bergamot. Louis XV liked strong amberlis scents. Queen Marie Theresa liked roses, Madame de Maintenon liked oak and amber, while vanilla and jasmine was favored by Madame de Montespan...”
Wu Jin stilled.
Vera quickly came to her senses, “Yes, vanilla and jasmine. It’s Montespan... wait, who is this lady?”
Wu Jin flipped to the next page, “... Louis XIV’s favorite mistress, the foremost beauty of France.”
Vera made a sound of understanding, “The foremost beauty––wait a minute, who’s outside?”
Wu Jin caught the sounds outside the door at the same time and turned back in surprise.
A quarter of an hour ago, the Great Trianon Palace had been empty––
A tall and powerful figure was now leaning against the door.
Wu Jin quickly pressed down his small curls.
Vera reacted within a breath of time, stepping in front of Wu Jin out of conditioned reflex.
From the other end of the corridor came Chu Chu with a pile of cards, “Someone picked up the cards! We caught a fish! Let’s see who we caught... Oh, it’s a Little Witch fish!”
Wei Shi, who was leaning against the door, glanced over at Chu Chu.
Chu Chu quickly stood properly, “Sister Vera, Contestant Wu, which card do you have?”
Give up any resistance! You two have already been surrounded by the great god! All the clues for the entire Grand Trianon Palace are in Lord Wei’s hands!
Chu Chu was looking forward to appreciating Wu Jin’s panicked, rabbit-like, frightened expression, but was taken by surprise when she saw Contestant Wu smiling softly at Brother Wei––
However, Wu Jin reacted instantly and made a gesture to signal his partner to remain on guard.
Chu Chu rubbed his eyes and continued talking, “Sister Vera, who is it, who is it?!”
Wei Shi: “Montespan.”
Chu Chu was confused, “Who?”
Wu Jin finally figured it out. The card that the two of them had found at the foot of the low table didn’t belong to the Palace of Versailles, which was why the clue had led them straight to the Grand Trianon. And the entire Grand Trianon had been a trap set up by the big boss.
If the big boss was coming up to block them, then he had to have chips in his hands.
Wu Jin simply came clean. The two teams weren’t in the same instance, and those who weren’t opponents could do business together.
“Montespan, Louis XIV’s mistress.” Wu Jin spoke calmly.
Wei Shi: “Whose mistress.”
Wu Jin was stunned for a moment, then repeated, “Louis XIV...”
Wei Shi waved his hand, and Chu Chu quickly searched through a pile of cards. Vera and Wu Jin’s eyes almost fell out of their heads––where had this person gotten so many cards from?
Chu Chu respectfully handed a purple card to Wei Shi.
“Come here.” Wei Shi gestured towards Wu Jin with his chin and spoke coldly.
The foremost beauty of France, Montespan (Wu Jin), was very smart and didn’t go over. Instead, he walked back two steps.
Wei Shi lit up the surface of the purple card and indicated that Wu Jin should keep up.
The extremely familiar portrait of the French monarch was painted on the surface, and it was the face that appeared in many history textbooks––
Louis XIV.