Edited by musk
Warning: description of gore, blood
Castle instance world
Lady Amelia felt quite tired.
It was a sort of fatigue devoid of any momentary explanations, the sort that was often felt by those who had tragedy written in their close future.
Although she couldn’t exactly place the feeling, she still recognised it as something she had felt countless times before, like a bad premonition from a long forgotten memory of a past life.
She didn’t mind the feeling. It brought with it a certain sense of peace, an air of redemption.
Regret.. It was a strange feeling. She hoped that what the youth had said would prove to be true, that even if she couldn’t have the things she yearned for, there would be a new, brighter day to live and see.
She felt the pressure on her knees as she straightened her shoulders.
Her eyes followed the winding lines of the stained glass window behind the altar. She kneeled with clasped hands, a soft smile playing at her lips.
Although in any outsider’s eyes, it would have most definitely seemed that she was immersed in prayer, but in truth, her mouth had never moved.
She didn’t feel the need for the solace of the heavens, because on that day, someone had already given her hope.
She remembered the earnestness and clarity of the youth’s words, and she could see the glimmer of sincerity in his gaze in front of herself.
She wanted to believe him, and so she did. The prospect of a new future didn’t seem as impossible as it did before.. And this could only be so because she chose to take a chance, one that she would definitely regret not taking otherwise..
And the one thing he told her was, to not fear what is to come but to be wary of it, because dreadful is not what the unknown brings but the memory that haunts oneself throughout the passage of years without a promise of easement.
The rays of midday sun shone into the small chapel, painting the woman’s skin with the vividity of the fragmented colors.
The thread of fresh breeze that found its way inside made her closing eyelashes flutter, and feathery threads of hair landed around her neck softly.
Those eyes flickered open with a visible hint of determination hidden in that bottomless gaze.
Shen Qiu was rather nervous.
It was the simplest kind of anxiety one could feel, the kind that felt ridiculous to admit, but was heavy and inevitable nevertheless.
She stood under the shadow cast by the columns of the side corridor as she glanced carefully towards the inside of the hall from time to time.
One of her hands stayed hidden in her sleeve, clutching a familiar brocade pouch with pale knuckles.
The inhabitants of the castle were the most occupied at this hour, and none of them had the time to wander around these parts, causing the nearby corridors to be engulfed in deep silence.
Shen Qiu felt fidgety. A sense of impatience gradually grew in her, the pressure slowly squeezing the last strands of rationality out of her mind.
Back when she had just left the kitchen, she inadvertently caught sight of the Lady returning to the castle.
She didn’t dare attack her directly, and could therefore only trail the woman through the narrow and tall, suffocatingly dark passages that led to the distant court that gave home to the small and neat chapel.
At first she was afraid that if she acted rashly, she would be discovered right away. She didn’t know whether the Lady was praying by herself, or came to the chapel to meet someone there.
Shen Qiu listened for any noise coming from inside, but the only sound was that of the rustling of clothes which was then followed by deathly stillness.
She was most likely alone. If she could take advantage of these circumstances, her chances of remaining undiscovered would almost double.
If she wanted safety, this was the best time to act. It was just that..
Shen Qiu shook her head and held her breath as she took a careful step towards the other side of the hall.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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She swallowed inaudibly. The hand that held the shoes shook lightly, and she almost dropped the footwear.
Her frame froze for a moment as she stared down at her shaking hands, her gaze almost pleading. Only after a couple of deep breaths did she take a step yet again.
The air of this unused hall was quite peaceful. The high windows of the southern wall gave way to the warm sunshine and light overflowed in the hall.
The stone tiles under her bare feet felt warmer than the ones on the outside did. She could feel the touch of warmth linger on her skin, and she subconsciously slowed her steps.
Although it felt like an eternity, after a couple of minutes she finally reached the entrance of the chapel.
Her steps halted as she peered inside through the half open door, looking around as if searching for a reason to turn back.
Her fingers fiddled with the knife behind her back, and the lavishly embroidered pouch fell to the ground soundlessly. She gripped the cold hilt and felt the gems grow slippery with sweat under her palm.
The Lady was alone inside the chapel. She kneeled wordlessly, seemingly immersed in prayer.
The light that reflected off the whitewashed walls gave her features an otherworldly glow, an air of unimaginable cleanliness and abstinence.
Shen Qiu paused momentarily, stunned by the obvious difference between what she saw now and the image of the anguish from the night before.
The woman hadn’t noticed her yet. She didn’t dare breathe too loudly as she walked closer slowly, one step at a time.
Lady Amelia touched the lowest hanging bead of the rosary wrapped around her fingers. Her skin only made a brief contact with the wood, a caress as harmless and soft as autumn breeze when a sudden noise from behind her made her movements freeze.
She didn’t turn around to look for the originator of the sound, but was caught in some sort of a paralysis instead. She couldn’t look even if she wanted to, as if there was a wraithlike force clutching her neck, flooding her veins with a pressure that made her unable to move even a little finger.
Her eyes were riveted on a small, broken piece of glass at the very corner of the tall window. A piece of emerald green was missing from there, allowing her gaze to escape from this modest shelter of God, to have one last look at the fields and faraway hills before..
The indescribable feeling didn’t last for more than a fleeting moment, and the woman who previously had her back towards the door turned at once.
Her golden locks drew an arc around her seemingly fragile frame as she reached out towards the knife that stabbed through the air coveting her life, but those snowy fingers were still a second too late to shield her person.
She was only able to grasp the blade before the cold iron could sink into her back.
The sharp dagger came to a halt momentarily, but only in time for a flitting breath – then it plunged into the flesh of her hand, drilling directly through the thin palm.
The knife was stuck. Lady Amelia looked up at her attacker and frowned uncomprehendingly.
This girl.. What did she have against her to attack so blatantly, not to mention, in such a sacred place? Was she really so tired of living?
She cast a fleeting look at the dagger in her hands, the incomprehension dimming in her gaze.
The workmanship of the silver lining that held those viridian stones, the glint of the steel and the material that grew warm quickly after coming into contact with her scorching hot blood, those were all details she knew well, better than the creases on her own palms.
The pain was piercing, yet the teardrops that forced their way through even the Lady’s highest efforts weren’t caused by the physical pain. These tears of immense grief followed the lines of her skin only to drop onto her garments and never be found again.
The woman’s grip inadvertently tightened around the dagger, making the rosary’s beads wrap around the edge.
A sliver of self-doubt flashed in Shen Qiu’s gaze. She tried to pull the knife towards herself, but she only managed to pull the entire person closer, making the Lady let out a painful gasp.
The knife-edge was stuck, the rosary taut to the point of almost breaking apart and beads of crimson rolled to the ground.
Shen Qiu’s expression changed abruptly. It was as if she had finally realised that she really had no chance of turning back anymore if she wanted to see another day.
Her eyebrows relaxed and she glanced down at the cold glint of the weapon as the nervousness in her gaze was gradually replaced by a new, frightening sense of ruthlessness.
There was a recklessness in her actions only those that had placed their all on a single deed could have.
The grip of her hand on the hilt grew stronger, and she used all of her power to pull the knife out of the palm.
Lady Amelia couldn’t stop her, and the dagger cut another deep line into her skin. The blade was pulled out, and Shen Qiu didn’t hesitate to use the sudden force’s momentum to toss the knife back towards the person.
The woman couldn’t evade the attack this time. The knife sank into the flesh of her chest, staining her garments with the blood from her hand.
Lady Amelia couldn’t care less about the state of her clothes as she raised her fingers to the wound frantically. The knife-edge was completely embedded in between her ribs.
She didn’t spare any effort as she tried to grab onto the hilt of the knife. She felt the fierce pain, the biting of the iron but couldn’t place the pain. She saw the dagger’s hilt as she looked down again, her eyes hazy with unstoppable tears.
Shen Qiu stood above her as she watched this last, worthless struggle for the illusion of something that had already been taken from the other.. Her entire body was shivering.
Amelia finally connected the pain to the sharp object in her chest, and she focused whatever power she could find in herself in her hands as she tried to pull it out.
The periphery of her vision was blurry, and the world around her was darkening gradually. No! She couldn’t, she really couldn’t..
The blade gave way and she was able to pull it back, even if only a little bit..
Those last strands of power she placed her entire life on gradually faded from her fair fingers. She reached an arm out when she felt herself falling, but the powerless limb buckled under her weight.
The body fell forward into the pool of blood, and the strands of pale hair were dyed a vermilion shade quickly.
Shen Qiu crouched down. She didn’t know how long had passed by the time she came back to herself. At some point during the tussle her hair became disarrayed and multiple dark strands fell to obstruct her vision, but she really couldn’t care any less for her appearance at the moment.
She glanced down at the body that was quickly losing color as the blood flowed out of its wounds in small, swift streams before looking away quickly. It was as if the cruelty in her eyes had only been the play of light, and at this moment her gaze only reflected blankness and a faint hint of an inexplicable emotion.
Shen Qiu didn’t know whether the other was really dead or if she had only just lost consciousness. She prayed for the former, but she had to make sure. If it was possible to save the woman at this point she couldn’t even imagine what her fate would be..
She couldn’t stop the shaking of her hands, so it took quite some time until she could lift the body by its frail shoulders and turn it over.
She let go as soon as she could, examining the deathly pale features of the woman. The way the light shone into the chapel through the stained glass.. She couldn’t decide whether the faint rising and falling of that chest was reality or only an illusion.
She held out a finger, almost touching the woman’s nose to feel if she was still breathing.
A small breeze met her skin and she couldn’t help shivering from fright, but she soon realised that the air didn’t come from the person but instead from the direction of the half-open door.
It was as if there was the afterimage of something outside there.. But nothing moved, even after minutes of watching the hall. Shen Qiu let out a breath as she took her hand back and focused on the corpse again.
The woman’s right hand, the one that had been pierced, was still holding onto the hilt of the knife.
At first, Shen Qiu wanted to pry her fingers off it, taking the weapon with herself, but right as she touched the quickly cooling fingers and glanced down again.. She took her hand back.
She glanced down again, and what she saw caused a strange idea to form in her mind.
This pose.. Didn’t it appear just as if the wound had been self-inflicted?
If she took the knife away now, anyone seeing the body could evaluate that the cause of death had been murder. But if the weapon was left behind, with the way the woman was holding it.. Didn’t it seem just like a regular suicide scene?
Well, maybe not regular.. Nevertheless, with the possible level of this era’s investigative professionalism.. It was highly possible that she would never be caught.
She made a decision and quickly stood up, looking around to see if she had left anything behind in the chapel that could possibly be traced back to her person.
Right before she first stabbed, she had accidentally dropped a shoe. The noise this made was what alerted the Lady and what made her original plans fall through, making her only able to act rashly without thinking.
She picked the shoe up, looking around for the other one she simply let go of when she saw that she had to act quickly.
The shoe was lying in the scarlet pool near the corpse. It was completely drenched in blood.
Shen Qiu let out a sigh. She stared down at it for a moment before taking her apron off and wrapping the shoe up in it.
She looked around with the bundle under her arms. It seemed that she had settled everything..
Her steps were steady as she left the chapel, then the hall. She wasn’t stupid enough to take the same pathways the two of them used to approach the court.
Although this slowed her down significantly, she thought that it was better to be slow and efficient than to make such a small mistake now and lose her life because of it later.
When she thought that she was close enough to the main hall, she hid the bloody bundle in an obscured corner of a corridor, took a deep breath and started running.
The ability to think every step through so clearly and logically, it required immense mental strength, but the girl didn’t even realise that.
The guard who had been trailing her for some time now though.. She wrote something into her notebook quickly as she shook her head while frowning. She didn’t follow the girl anymore, but focused on the apron and shoe instead.
This really was an efficient way to get rid of those things, but this.. Wasn’t it simply better to keep wearing them?
Someone who had found a dead body and is still covered in blood, or someone who took the time to get rid of the garments that were dyed with red, which one appeared more believable?
She kicked the bundle lightly, making it slide out of the cover of darkness and into plain sight, then wrote another sentence into the small book.
Gazing down at the words, she hummed to herself before turning around and heading back towards the chapel. She wanted to see how exactly Shen Qiu planned to deal with the mess she had gotten herself into.
Some time later, the door to the kitchen opened abruptly.
A man wearing rough and dirty clothing looked outside, watching the commotion. His expression darkened gradually as he turned to walk back inside, shutting the door behind himself as if what those on the outside were in frenzy over had nothing to do with him.
Lan Kejia didn’t bother asking him what the matter was. She simply looked at him, her gaze seemingly questioning but with a sliver of indifference in its depth.
Chu Anzhi shook his head as he stated, ‘The Lady is dead.’
The woman nodded, ‘What is the cause?’
‘You don’t seem too surprised?’
Lan Kejia shrugged her shoulders. ‘It seems.. It wasn’t unexpected in the end.’
Chu Anzhi appeared somewhat frustrated with nowhere to vent his emotions to. ‘Yeah, I mean it’s already happened once. It’s just that we really..’
‘We have no idea who is the one responsible for yesterday, and now today too. There are no clues regarding why she was even resurrected. There is nothing to start off from.’ He rested his face on the table, looking at the other from a sideways angle.
Lan Kejia looked at this childish version of the young man who had seemed to have the situation firmly in his hands earlier. She smiled as she patted his shoulder reassuringly.
She didn’t plan on hiding anything from Chu Anzhi, and told him about everything that had happened while he wasn’t around.
The other didn’t say anything for a while. His expression was cloudy, and he seemed to be contemplating something. In the end, it appeared that he had made a decision.
He stood up before turning back towards Lan Kejia, ‘There isn’t really that much to say about these things. If Shen Qiu is involved like that.. It’s best if we go and see the situation.’
Lan Kejia thought that his words were reasonable. The two of them had just left the kitchen when they saw the worn-looking Tian Xihua hurrying by.
He didn’t seem to notice them as he directly went to bypass them, clearly occupied by other matters.
‘Hey, hey..’ Lan Kejia noticed him first, reaching out to hold his sleeve before he could disappear from sight.
Tian Xihua appeared somewhat dazed as he looked back at her, seemingly unable to place her person. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, someone running by bumped into him.
The abrupt collusion almost made him fall, but he managed to grasp onto Lan Kejia’s outstretched arm. When he looked up at her again, the confusion had already cleared from his gaze. He apologised quickly, ‘Sorry, I didn’t notice the two of you. I just heard about the chapel thing.. I’m guessing that’s where you’re headed to?’
Lan Kejia didn’t hide it, ‘It’s best to see for ourselves.’
‘Do you know where this chapel is?’ At first, Chu Anzhi only intended to follow the people around them, but wasn’t it just right if they could find the place directly? It could spare them some time at the least.
Tian Xihua thought for a moment before saying, ‘I think it’s towards the south-eastern gate. I’ve never been there before, but it should be fine to just follow the crowd..’
Lan Kejia agreed, ‘Even if we did know, that wouldn’t change the actual location. There’s no need to worry, after all, the castle itself isn’t big to the point of confusion.’
Of course, Chu Anzhi knew these things. Still, assurance had a soothing quality of reassurance to it, just as it was better to be ridiculed for being careful than to cut the tree beneath oneself simply for the comfort of convenience.
The author has something to say:
I decided to put the locations (city names/whether it’s reality or an instance world) the chapters start in at the beginning of each one since there will be some filler scenes/other storylines later on. I think the story is easier to navigate this way.
Another thing; I’m planning on rewriting the synopsis because I do not think that the current one is fitting. I’ll update it sometime in the future.
On another note! We’ve had quite a few bloody chapters recently. I feel that I use knives as the murder weapon too often.. Well, I’ll change that up soon. I’d love to hear any other methods you all want to see!
sometimes, when reading these horror stories, I tell myself that I would never be able to hurt anyone. then, I think of my meimei and my nieces, and I just know I could.
I feel like that’s what Shen Qiu thought of when she had to stab Lady Amelia..
but I see there is an unknown person here too, what’s up with that?
thanks for the chapter <3
Falling from a high place and being impaled ……impaled by the sharp pointy fancy looking fences. More poison a poisonous spider maybe a snake. Being injected with a syringe the injection site would be hard to find so it seems as if they died a mysterious death (under the tongue)
I’ll try my best, these are very good suggestions, thank you! thank you for reading, too