After the initial astonishment and admiration passed, everyone examined the photographs more closely, and someone soon spotted the problem.
"Ah, that's Mr. Kiichi Kousaka, isn't it? We saw him in the study earlier."
"Yeah, so the person beside him must be Miss Natsumi Kousaka's great-grandmother. And you know what, she really does look quite a bit like her."
"Wait, over there, that's..."
Hearing the detectives discussing it, Natsumi Kousaka finally pulled her gaze away from the photograph of her great-grandparents and looked over the other images projected around them.
As she watched, Tangze's earlier reminder replayed in her mind. Quick-witted as she was, Natsumi Kousaka instantly understood what Tangze had truly meant.
Her great-grandmother's true identity was...
"No wonder her great-grandfather brought back so many treasures from the Tsar." His curiosity thoroughly satisfied, Kaito Kuroba nodded in contentment and poked Tangze, who knew what he was looking at. "They were all brought back by her great-grandmother."
She had been Nicholas II's daughter. Naturally, she had carried jewelry and valuables from her own home while fleeing, including the Egg of Memories.
Kiichi Kousaka truly had not done anything that violated professional ethics. Not only had he not betrayed his employer, but he had also risked his life to bring the Tsar's third daughter back to his homeland for refuge.
—Of course, the fact that he eventually got together with her, making the Tsar's inheritance his wife's dowry, was another story.
As they noticed Princess Maria appearing repeatedly in the photographs, the detectives' expressions grew increasingly varied.
All their doubts about Kiichi Kousaka, even their questions about this secret chamber and the castle's hidden passageways, were answered in that instant.
At the time, Maria, who had fled to Japan while concealing her identity, had an extremely sensitive status. She certainly could not