Chapter 77
The room was pitch-black. It was because the torches had not yet been lit. Eden stepped inside slowly first. Still, the moonlight streaming through the window provided enough light to see where they were going.
I pulled a lighter from the desk drawer and lit the torches and candles. Meanwhile, Eden and Harrison scanned the room.
“What is this? It’s creepy. Is it a ghost? A ghost, right? It’s an abandoned house. It might have been deserted because someone died here.”
Amy, who had followed us out, muttered to herself. I thought her words sounded quite plausible, but Hose tsked and shook his head.
“Where in the world would you find ghosts?”
“Talk about narrow-minded. Then what about the monsters? Did you ever think monsters like those existed in this world?”
Eden, who was inspecting the room, glared at Hose and Amy with irritation.
“Tsk, you kids stay inside.”
Knox, standing at the entrance of the room, pointed at Amy and Hose.
“Right. You kids go back in quickly.”
At Knox’s words, Amy and Hose protested that they weren’t children.
While Amy and Hose aired their grievances, the rest of us searched the room thoroughly, but no matter how hard we looked, there was nothing that could have made such a sound.
I even began to wonder if it really was the work of a ghost, just as Amy had said. It was truly a bewildering situation.
“Save me.”
Just then, a voice drifted out from somewhere again.
A moment of silence hung over the room. Everyone looked at each other with startled expressions.
“Agh! See? I told you! A ghost!”
Amy’s fuss broke the silence. Hose glanced at our reactions before finally dragging Amy back toward the banquet hall.
Harrison and Eden quickly scanned the surroundings, while Knox stood at the entrance, silently staring at the fireplace.
“What is it?”
I asked Knox. The look on his face as he glared at the fireplace was unusual.
Only then did Knox look away from the fireplace and turn to me. Eden and Harrison also stopped what they were doing and looked at Knox.
“Lady Cherry, doesn’t that fireplace look a bit strange?”
At Knox’s words, we all looked toward the fireplace.
‘Come to think of it…’
Hadn’t I failed to use that fireplace before? I couldn’t see a flue for the smoke to escape.
It was as if the chimney was blocked—or rather, as if its true purpose wasn’t actually a fireplace at all.
Following Knox’s lead, I approached the fireplace and knelt down. I remembered finding something like a scrap of a man’s jacket inside the iron grate last time.
Wondering if the sound had come from the chimney, I peered closely into the fireplace.
“I don’t see anything unusual.”
I heard Eden’s low voice right behind my ear; he must have been standing just behind me. Harrison calmly knelt down on one knee beside me and inspected the inside of the grate.
“What are these?”
Harrison found the scraps of the man’s jacket I had discovered before. Along with them was a piece of blackboard chalk.
‘Why was there chalk?’
It didn’t seem like there would be any particular use for something like chalk in this room.
Thump—
Just then, a sound echoed through the wall of the fireplace.
Crouched as I was, I flinched and nearly fell backward. Right before I tumbled, Eden, who was behind me, caught me.
“Thank you.”
I thanked him and looked back at the fireplace. Harrison and Knox were carefully examining the interior, running their hands along the walls.
“The sound is definitely coming from behind the wall.”
Harrison agreed with Knox’s assessment and began fumbling along the wall. Just then—
Thump, thump—
Once again, a sound like someone knocking came from behind the wall. Even Eden, who was helping me up, took on a bewildered expression.
“What the… It really sounds like something is behind there. Shouldn’t we break the wall?”
“There might be a monster inside.”
As I muttered that, Eden drew his revolver from his waist.
“If it’s a monster, I’ll blow its head off immediately.”
And just as Eden loaded his revolver, I saw the ashes in the iron grate fluttering slightly, as if caught in a breeze.
The chimney was supposed to be blocked, so where was the wind coming from?
“Wait a moment.”
I moved closer to the fireplace. I grabbed the iron grate to move it aside, and then…
Click.
Suddenly, the wall opened.
“Shit, this is crazy.”
“…This is a first for me, too.”
Eden and Knox spoke in turn. Harrison helped me pull the grate with all his strength.
The structure was built so that when the grate was pulled toward me, the floor shifted and the wall slid open like a pocket door.
Rumble—
I stepped backward, pulling the grate along with Harrison.
Clang—
Finally, the wall opened completely.
It was pitch-black beyond the wall. Without a single torch, I couldn’t see inside properly, but I spotted a familiar silhouette lying right there.
I didn’t know where the path led, but a young girl was collapsed at the entrance of the dark passage.
Her light brown hair, pinned up in a low bun, was a mess. The palms of her collapsed hands were covered in blood.
I knew who she was.
“Susanna!”
I called her name instantly and reached into the fireplace, only for my dress sleeve to catch and rip with a loud r-rip.
Only then did I realize why that scrap of fabric had been in the iron grate.
Of course, the important thing right now was Susanna.
“Are you okay?”
I pushed even Harrison aside, scooped Susanna up in my arms, and carried her out.
My mind was a whirlwind. I had no idea how this had happened. Had Susanna not turned into a monster? If so, then what about the monsters in the banquet hall and Susanna’s clothes…?
Only then did I notice that Susanna was only wearing her chemise.
I presumed her outer clothing had been torn as she fled to the banquet hall. Looking at her condition now, that was the only possible answer.
Susanna was unconscious and lacked any strength. It wasn’t just a few days; she must have been trapped in here for weeks without eating anything, so it was only natural.
I hurriedly laid her down on the bed in my room. After checking her breathing, I called for Knox.
“Mr. Rudfercher, quickly. Please, come quickly.”
Knox, who had been in a state of shock, finally snapped out of it and rushed toward me. Eden and Harrison, who had been staring at the fireplace, also gathered by the bedside.
Perhaps having heard the commotion, the other people gathered in front of the room as well. Of course, I was in no state of mind to worry about them.
Susanna was burning up with fever. Her hands were bloodied, likely from constantly pounding on the door while trapped behind the fireplace.
The injuries on her shoulders and forearms were also severe, as if she had been throwing her body against the wall. They were definitely not bite marks from a monster.
“First, we need water and towels. Bringing down the fever is the priority. I’ll tend to her wounds after we get some medicine into her.”
At Knox’s words, Vanilla, who was standing nearby, headed to the kitchen to get water from the dispenser.
Meanwhile, Amy and Hose, who had returned to the room, sat quietly in a corner, and we went back to watching Susanna as she groaned in pain.
“I thought she was dead.”
I sat blankly in front of the bed and held Susanna’s hand. Her sweat-soaked hair was stuck to her forehead, so I reached out and gently brushed it away.
“I should have looked a little more. Just a little more…”
As I muttered, I suddenly recalled the sounds I had heard in this room.
“Don’t go.”
“Save me.”
So those sounds were the desperate cries Susanna had let out before she lost consciousness. She had been calling out to me for help. My hand holding hers trembled.
How terrified must she have been? I didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if we had been just a little later.
“It’s not your fault. It couldn’t be helped. That was just the situation.”
Eden spoke to me then. Harrison silently brought a blanket and draped it over my shoulders.
“Who is she?”
Amy, who had been curious all along, finally asked me. The others looked at me as well, seemingly just as curious.
“She’s a maid I cherish. She suddenly went missing right after the fall. To think she was trapped here…”
Just then, Vanilla arrived with the water. Emma immediately stepped forward and wiped Susanna’s face and body with a towel, then cleaned her hands to treat the wounds.
Knox sat by the bed treating Susanna’s hands, while Emma worked hard to wipe Susanna’s face with a cold towel.
I sat on the floor next to Knox and stared at Susanna endlessly. Her face, which used to glow with an angelic smile, was now deathly pale.
How difficult must it have been in that cramped, dark place? Even so, I was grateful she was alive.
“Shouldn’t we check this out? Are you going to leave it open?”
Hose said, peering intently at the fireplace. Harrison and Eden both glared at Hose at the same time, as if telling him to take a hint and be quiet. Hose, looking a bit pale, quickly shut his mouth.
“She’s showing symptoms of dehydration. We need more water.”
Knox, having finished treating the back of her hands, said as he checked Susanna’s condition.
“I’ll go this time.”
Emma stood up from her seat.
“Then please, Emma. There’s a dispenser in the kitchen. You can get the water from there.”
At my words, Emma nodded as if she understood and left the room. Eden remained on guard in front of the fireplace, while Harrison stood at the foot of the bed, watching the situation.
I looked at Susanna and asked Knox.
“Could it be that she couldn’t drink any water? Quite a bit of time has passed without water, so how…?”
“It’s impossible that she didn’t drink any water at all. Do you know how many days it’s been since this young lady was trapped here?”
“I think it’s been about two weeks.”
“A human dies in three days without water.”
Yet, hadn’t Susanna spent nearly two weeks trapped in that pitch-black passage?
