(Happy New Year, everyone. Eat well and have fun during the New Year's Day holiday.)
Soleil hid in the bookcase for quite a while longer. At last, from the commotion outside, she made out that the Tax Bureau had come to investigate something and had been blocked by the Cultivators.
She immediately breathed a sigh of relief, stuffed the stack of booklets into the cloth bag she carried with her, and crawled out of her hiding place.
Such a chaotic situation was simplicity itself for her. Light as a cat, she slipped out through the window and prepared to sneak out of the rear hall.
Just then, she suddenly saw someone in the distant corridor reporting to an official in a Tax Bureau uniform:
"Captain, we didn't find it..."
Several Clerics nearby looked disdainfully at the Tax Bureau personnel.
After hesitating for a moment, she quietly approached behind the Tax Bureau Staff member standing farthest away and whispered:
"Check the upper side beneath the cabinet. There may be a hidden compartment there."
The Support Team members turned back in surprise, but all they saw was the retreating back of a servant.
Satisfied, Soleil called for Courage and the others to withdraw. They first returned to the Brotherhood's base and handed the books they had found to members skilled in auditing, then she changed into her usual clothes and left through the back door.
By the time she took the Steam Tram back to Versailles Palace, the sun was still hanging above the horizon. A burst of crying in front of the Marble Courtyard caught her attention.
Curiously, she moved closer and saw a man in his thirties or forties clutching his head and weeping bitterly, while two others, slightly older, spoke accented French as they explained something to the people