Chapter 93
As I mentioned before, the original novel never specified where Ezra had been during that time.
As a side character, I had no chance of meeting him, nor did I have any way of finding him.
‘Ezra said he escaped after being trapped somewhere… but the novel went on hiatus without revealing anything else.’
Lost in thought, I carried my lantern and walked in silence. Behind me, Eden, who had been following, spoke up.
“Are you sad to see me go?”
He asked from behind, stealing a glance at me as he spoke. His eyes looked as if he were anticipating a certain answer.
What is this? What kind of answer is he expecting?
After a moment of deliberation, I shrugged and replied.
“It’s more like the feeling of having a nagging tooth finally pulled.”
“…That sounds like you’re saying you’re glad I’m leaving.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m glad.”
I figured I’d mostly feel relieved. Having him around had been a constant source of concern for various reasons.
Although I had twisted the original plot from the very beginning, the situation in the capital seemed to be following the original trajectory.
Aurora’s words over the phone about ‘being caught by those guys’—that might have been a reference to Prince Lloyd’s faction.
Right. Then for now, I should put that aside…
“I cannot fathom who built these passages or for what purpose. Moreover, they don’t seem to have been made that long ago.”
At the sound of Eden’s voice, I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him.
“You think they were made recently?”
When I asked, Eden nodded and slowly brushed his hand against the earthen wall. He then picked up a bit of soil and rubbed it between his fingers.
“Look. The soil is soft. It’s as if it was dug out not too long ago.”
I followed his lead and touched the wall. Of course, the wall was solid, but just as Eden said, the surface felt slightly soft and moist.
“Vanilla said she didn’t know there was an underground passage. If that’s the case, it might be a path made by the previous owner of this mansion.”
“Or perhaps Baron Ruskin made it without Lady Ruskin’s knowledge.”
Come to think of it, the Village Chief had brokered the sale of the houses in the village, so it seemed like a good idea to ask him. Fortunately, the Village Chief was still alive.
‘I should ask Vanilla to bring the sales contract from her inn room.’
According to Vanilla, there might be records in her room from before Baron Ruskin purchased Happy House.
While I was lost in thought, Eden took the lantern from my hand and began to lead the way. After a long march in silence, he finally stopped.
“The path has split in two.”
I stopped behind him and finally looked up.
Just as Eden said, the path branched off in two directions. It was pitch black, and I couldn’t see even an inch ahead. Standing before two paths that stretched into the unknown was chilling.
“I wonder how many paths there are. This place is designed like a maze.”
“Wait a moment, Lady Cherry. Do you see this?”
Eden shone the lantern light toward the center wall where the two paths diverged. Just as he said, there was something carved there, like white chalk marks.
The left was marked with a 2, and the right with a 3.
“Huh? This is…”
“Aren’t these the numbers you said were written on the back of the mansion blueprint you showed me before?”
<Things to remember at all costs.
Number 1 is Brunel, 3 is the Spring, 6 is Haig, 8 is Notium.>
That’s right. It was definitely written like that on the back of the blueprint! I nodded vigorously as I searched my memory.
“You’re right. One of the numbers it said I must remember was ‘Number 3, Spring.’ And Mr. Ruskin definitely said it was Baron Ruskin’s handwriting.”
“That means… Baron Ruskin knew about this underground passage. Though we can’t conclude from that alone that the Baron was the one who actually built it.”
That was true. I stared silently at the numbers written on the wall.
Come to think of it, those white chalk marks… there had definitely been chalk on the grate of the fireplace.
The scraps of clothing and the chalk found with the ashes weren’t that old. That meant it was Baron Ruskin who had written the numbers on this wall and marked the blueprint.
‘Is Vanilla really uninvolved? Does she truly know nothing?’
When I asked about the map, her expression had been one of genuine ignorance.
With those thoughts in mind, I looked at the numbers and pointed to the number 2.
“There was no number 2 on the blueprint.”
“Then let’s try the path that was on the blueprint first.”
Eden said, pointing to path number 3. I nodded and headed toward the left path with him.
However, we didn’t get very far before we found that this way was also blocked. It looked like we’d have to dig through with a shovel again.
So we returned to the fork and tried path number 2, but that path was blocked in the same way.
“It seems the path was intentionally blocked.”
Eden said, crouching down in front of the dead end and touching the soil.
“Do you think it was to avoid being discovered?”
If these were paths that led somewhere, like the one at the Brunel Police Station, wouldn’t that mean someone could come over to this side from the other end?
“At the moment, that is the most likely possibility.”
“Hmm. Shall we head back for now? It’s late, so it’s probably better to start the digging tomorrow.”
Eden agreed with my suggestion. Since it was already dinner time, and Eden was set to leave tomorrow, tonight would be the last night we spent together.
‘Right. I’ll discuss the underground passage with Harrison.’
Thinking that, I retraced my steps with Eden. Watching me, Eden’s lips parted as if he had much to say, but he ultimately kept his mouth shut. It was a demeanor that wasn’t very like him.
“Well? What’s down there?”
Vanilla and Emmy, who were standing at the entrance, asked us. I shook my head.
“The path is blocked. It looks like we’ll have to dig through with shovels again.”
“Again? No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem like a collapse; it feels like it was blocked on purpose. There’s no way soil would pile up like that only at the entrances.”
Emmy replied insightfully, then grumbled about how annoying it was to have to dig again. I gave her head a playful pat with a smile and looked at Vanilla.
“Lady Ruskin. Do you really not know anything about the underground passage? There were numbers written in chalk at the fork. The same numbers Baron Ruskin wrote on the back of the map.”
“I want to know too, believe me. But I don’t know anything about the mansions my father left behind.”
Vanilla answered with a frustrated expression. She swept her hair back and let out a pained sigh.
“To be honest, it was incredibly difficult because my father left me nothing but debt and a bunch of trashy mansions. What’s the point of being a noble? We were poor.”
“So that’s why you like money so much, Unni.”
“I had to sell all the mansions to pay off the debts.”
Emmy looked at Vanilla with quite a bit of pity. But I was startled by what she said next.
“My father was a victim of real estate fraud.”
‘Good heavens. Real estate fraud.’
I couldn’t help but empathize, as it reminded me of how my father in my past life had been scammed while trying to buy land for a farm. Vanilla suddenly began to vent her grievances.
“Foolishly, he was lured by the idea that if he bought dozens of mansions and rented them out, he could live off the rent.”
Well, it seemed his dream was to be a landlord.
“But it was a scam. Every mansion my father was talked into buying was just like this one.”
Vanilla said, pointing to my ‘Happy House.’
“That’s why I was so puzzled. Why would the famous Sinclair heiress buy such a useless mansion?”
I had nothing to say to that. Happy House was certainly a mansion I wouldn’t have purchased if I weren’t preparing for the end of the world. As the villagers said, it was practically a ruin.
“What happened to the person who scammed him?”
If that scammer was the owner of this mansion, couldn’t I find something out from there?
However, Vanilla shook her head gloomily at my question.
“I don’t know. I heard he was a noble, but whenever I tried to ask, my father would dodge the question… He kept protecting the person who scammed him.”
Something was incredibly suspicious. It was clear Baron Ruskin was a soft-hearted man who had been taken advantage of.
“All I remember is the hair color of the man who visited the Ruskin mansion once. He was heavily cloaked, so I couldn’t see anything else, but I saw that he was a man with long, dark pink hair. He was around my father’s age.”
Huh? Wait. Dark pink hair, long, and a middle-aged man? That’s a very unusual combination.
My father’s appearance was exactly like that.
‘No way… My father wouldn’t commit fraud…’
No. If it’s my father… If it’s the Chairman Sinclair I know… He’s the chairman of the villainous Sinclair Corporation…
Suddenly flustered, I quickly shut my mouth.
“Wait, if he had dark pink hair, isn’t that the same color as Star Candy Unni’s?”
Emmy raised a chilling question. But Vanilla replied noncommittally.
“It’s not a common color, but there are people with pink hair every now and then.”
But for some reason, I felt incredibly uneasy and uncomfortable.
‘Something is strange.’
