Edited by musk
Castle instance world
The group of three found the way to the chapel quite easily. There were servants and guards hurrying in both directions, giving the players a chance to have a look around inside without appearing suspicious.
The chapel itself was quite small, just big enough for everything that needed to be done in such a place to be done. It had no windows that could be opened, so they could only try to aerate the heavy rusty smell penetrating the air through the entrance.
There weren’t many servants inside, only four women who were busy cleaning the floor.
Although their efforts were worthy of praise, it didn’t seem like they would ever be able to clean the chamber of every one of the darkening stains.
This wasn’t to say that their endeavor wasn’t efficient enough, but it was more so because the thick streaks of blood had flowed into the cracks in-between the stone tiles, staining the floor possibly forever.
Tian Xihua only took a brief look inside before he stepped back to give way to the other two. He couldn’t get himself to examine the room for too long, as he felt that he would quite possibly throw up after spending even a minute longer in the chapel engulfed in that sickeningly sweet odour.
There was no real necessity to investigate the place at all in the end. They knew the murder weapon while the killer had been one of their own.. The affair didn’t require much afterthought at all.
At this time, the lord of the castle had already gone back to his study, where he was currently busy interrogating the maid and the guard who had found the body.
Shen Qiu had already told the Lord everything she came up with earlier. At the moment she listened to the old man’s words with a frightened expression.
The Lord was a man who could be considered an important figure of the kingdom, a venerable ban who had seen the rise and fall of multiple kings and princes, and was well versed in the ways of the human mind.
Throughout his life, he had dealt with countless nobles who tried to get their way through lies and fawning, and he could hardly be tricked anymore.
Thus, naturally he didn’t believe anything the girl had told him to be completely true.
Maybe if she wasn’t so soft spoken, the stutters in her words consciously organised to a point of ridiculousness. He didn’t put it past her though, after all, the maid didn’t seem more than what, sixteen years of age?
He didn’t care about her. He didn’t need to ask about the real owner of the dagger either, as he was sitting at the head of the table when his daughter presented the gift to her lover as a birthday gift.
He frowned thinking to himself, thinking, gifting knives really was a bad omen after all.
Although he thought that way, his words didn’t stumble even for a moment as he pronounced every syllable slowly in a low voice, ‘If what you’ve told me is indeed true, you only discovered Amelia because you went to look for her in the afternoon, which is to say that she had been alone for how long exactly?’
Shen Qiu didn’t dare look straight into his eyes, and she replied while a suspicious blush slowly tainted her pale neck. ‘Since breakfast, my Lord. More than seven hours.’
The guard next to her glanced at her after hearing her speak up. She almost sighed. This girl.. If she really was this awful at lying, wouldn’t it have been better to just lie low and ignore the deed?
If she was aware that she couldn’t do it, why did she still have to run around and tell people that she was the one who found the body? It was true that sometimes being too careful would do more harm than good.
‘So in those seven hours there was no one with her? How would you know that?’ The Lord’s eyes narrowed momentarily before his somewhat indifferent gaze returned.
Shen Qiu hid her shaking hand in the folds of her skirt as she replied, still not daring to look at anything but the floor, ‘I do not. This servant isn’t.. I’m not one of the Lady’s direct subordinates, I only happened to be asked to..’
The Lord didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence before waving dismissively. ‘What about Janos?’
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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‘This servant has never spoken to Lord Janos.’ After all, she really hadn’t.. She had only completed the order he gave to someone else.
The Lord nodded slowly, obviously not believing her words. He asked, ‘Where is he then? Have you seen him today? What about you?’
The second sentence was clearly directed at the guard who hadn’t spoken a word ever since they had stepped into the room. Now she bowed lightly, stating, ‘The Lord has left the castle grounds in a haste this morning. He took with himself two horses and a carriage. He’s yet to return.’
The old man scratched his beard as he fell into thought. After a while he looked up again, seemingly surprised that the two were still standing there silently, the maid still shaking slightly and the guard with a somewhat bored expression.
He coughed, ‘No matter what, whoever is behind today’s happenings.. It cannot be called anything but cruelty beyond words. It is still important not to let these things hinder our efforts. The ones that have to work for our lives to not stop cannot lose countenance at this time.’
He waved as he urged them out, ‘Go, go, don’t bother me. I’ve lived through much, and I’ll live through this day too as long as it depends on me. Now, go.’
Shen Qiu didn’t dare relax completely until she reached the kitchen again, even after having left the study long behind.
She stood outside the window for some time, looking around for anything suspicious before finally sitting down on the narrow bench.
There weren’t many people outside at this time. It appeared that most were dealing with the unexpected death of the Lady and didn’t have time to deal with their usual tasks..
Shen Qiu shuddered suddenly. She could recall what the Lord had said word for word.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t told him her theory about the Lady’s suicide, but that the man had seemed to think the idea to be ridiculous and didn’t believe her words at all.
The Lord was quite confident that the deathly wound could not be self-inflicted. Shen Qiu didn’t know where his confidence came from, but she didn’t dare try to convince him otherwise.
It wasn’t unusual for the servants of the outer court to let the poultry run around freely on the small plot in front of the kitchen.
Shen Qiu showed her empty palms to the chickens but it was as if they didn’t know what she meant. A dozen of them crowded around her feet in less than a minute’s time, all of them asking for spare grains.
She watched as they pecked the pebbles from the ground, not knowing how to feel.
After all, she finally had the time to think about what she had done; no, had been forced to do.. So what? Her thoughts felt somewhat muddled, and she shook her head helplessly.
Now wasn’t the time to try to evaluate these things. If she tried, she might as well just get herself checked into an asylum as soon as she gets home.. She had no other choice but to sit and wait for the others to return.
There really wasn’t much to see at the crime scene.
After looking around for a while, gradually both Lan Kejia and Chu Anzhi grew bored of loitering around.
Although the hall outside wasn’t as spacious as the main halls, it was still somewhat bigger than the small chambers the inhabitants of the castle spent most of their time in.
There wasn’t an overabundance of furniture or any excessive decorations either, which, coupled with the warm shade of the stone tiles and the overflowing sunlight coming from the outside created a pleasantly comfortable and bright atmosphere.
Tian Xihua let his thoughts drift freely as he observed the landscape on the other side of the tall windows. The castle was on top of a moderately tall hill, which meant that there wasn’t anything that could obstruct his gaze no matter how far it wished to wander.
The lowlands and mounds were bathed in the golden light, and the harmony of the tender green of the expanding forests and the light amber of the fields gave an inexplicable feeling of familiarity and warmth.
Near the horizon, a few small houses could be seen in the distance, probably about a day’s walk away. Looking all around, it was the only sign of people in sight.
Tian Xihua watched the flowing clouds draw nearer and nearer, bringing the promise of the cleansing and reviving rain with them. After a while, he couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
There were too many matters for him to think through, too much to feel – and yet, he couldn’t rid himself of the thoughts he most wished to forget, even if only momentarily.
Rainfall would follow the scorching warmth of sunshine, the brilliance of night, the afterglow of the day just the same way as seasons would come and go, and no day could be the exact imitation of any other from afore.. And yet, in this never-ending cycle of orderly chaos, only mortal lives wouldn’t have a chance to even hope for change.
Humans were so fragile after all. Even something with the mere strength of a light breeze could leave them so utterly helpless.. And then, humans could be so powerful. Only for a moment, but remembered for the tenfold of it.
And even then, in the glory of eternity, what did those few decades matter? And if even those didn’t, what did he matter then? What did the dead, and what did the living matter?
And yet, there was such a thing as resurrection in this world.
Something that had already been titled a lost cause, a mere person could go against the order of the word, and against all that could be trusted, rise to see another day.
Tian Xihua didn’t know what that could be called if not hope.
And yet, this hope wasn’t anything worthy of wishing for. It was for a vicious pattern of loving, of believing, of disappointment and limitless agony, a rhythm so rapid that no one who had been drawn into it could even think of escaping it.
It was a promise that had long lost its meaning, a world abandoned by all those its inhabitants called for in its darkest times.
It was a curse masked as something to guard, something to adore.
It was the destiny of someone he had nothing to do with.
A light hum he didn’t even notice left his lips, a sound that was almost inaudible but carried a deep, ineffable meaning.
He didn’t think anymore, but turned to leave instead.
As he thought, the time they had spent there had been enough for the other two to see for themselves everything they wished to. It was just.. He really hadn’t expected to come face to face with them directly.
A barely visible daze flitted through his gaze before he coughed and asked, ‘All done? Can we leave now?’
Lan Kejia nodded, ‘There’s nothing much to see.’ She had already stepped aside when a sudden thought made her stop in her tracks.
She had seen the inexplicable expression on the youth’s features when she and Chu Anzhi had made their way over from the chapel. The other appeared to be deep in thought, and just when she was about to call out to him and pull him back to reality, he turned abruptly and spoke those words of utter indifference.
He seemed fine.. But wasn’t that what kids were the best at doing? She came to her conclusion just as Chu Anzhi also stopped next to her.
Lan Kejia only waved as a reply to his unsaid question. ‘Go, go. Let’s go and find that little girl first. And you..’ Her words grew gentler unconsciously as she glanced at Tian Xihua, ‘Don’t worry too much. Some things really are bothersome and terrible like this.. There is nothing you or I could do about them. Some things just need to be done. It’s enough to feel sorry later, and there is no need to mull over the inevitable too much. It’s going to be fine.’
Tian Xihua nodded at her words, although it wasn’t clear whether he really believed or even understood what she had said. The woman let out a sigh, and didn’t bother with him anymore, turning to Chu Anzhi instead, ‘These small doors are really the invention of the devil. Who on earth told these people to disregard everyone who isn’t midget-sized for their own comfort.. If you look at them, most of them aren’t even that short. Why in the..’
The words of complaint mixed into the background noise gradually, and Tian Xihua didn’t bother to pay any more attention to them than he was forced to.
His thoughts wandered to matters that appeared somewhat more significant. After all, this instance seemed to hold many secrets, most of which they had hardly any way to acquire about.
The greatest issue was the matter of the missing rule plaque.
Without knowing the exact tasks, how were they supposed to complete them?
It could be that the plaque had really been hidden too well. If this was an issue of simply being incompetent at finding clues, the explanation could be called flawless and even disappointing.
Or maybe.. But no, it couldn’t be that there was no plaque at all. After all, the rule plaque was a fundamental part of the solving of each instance. Without it, the players could only wait for death helplessly or try to figure the tasks out by themselves.
On the other hand, there was an explanation that could still remain reasonable when all of those above failed.
If the period of time that the players were allocated for familiarising themselves with the environment of the instance still hadn’t ended.. Then there was no reason for the group to find the plaque just yet.
But the Lady had already died twice, what was the instance waiting for? Tian Xihua really couldn’t wrap his head around this reasoning.
Then again, there was an extremely simple way to find out which of these was the truth.
Even after more than an hour had passed, Shen Qiu remained the only person in the court.
She was starting to feel fidgety, and stood up to walk around the kitchen and the small garden, afraid that the others might just completely forget about her.
She glanced left and right, only heaving a sigh of relief when the group really did show up.
She followed them inside the kitchen, finally sitting down at the table.
Lan Kejia patted her back soothingly before gesturing for the other two to sit down as well. She didn’t sit, merely leaning on the tabletop.
After some time she asked, ‘No one?’
Chu Anzi raised his eyebrows as if wanting to say something, but the woman didn’t leave him the time to. ‘No one found anything? Even after so long?’
This, of course, was said regarding the rule plaque.
Chu Anzhi shook his head, ‘It’s not here.’ He turned to explain to the other two, ‘I spent a long time searching today. It’s not in here, nor any of the greater halls, it isn’t in any chambers I could get into and it isn’t outside either. There simply isn’t any other place we haven’t checked yet that we would be able to.’
This only confirmed Tian Xihua’s suspicions. He spoke up, ‘It’s probably not in the castle at all.’
He glanced at Shen Qiu, who, although looked extremely fatigued and stressed, was undeniably alive. ‘Look at it like this. If this was really, actually the instance itself, there is no way she would still be alive. Harming NPC’s.. Seems like a sort of a big taboo in this situation.’
He of course didn’t mention that he himself didn’t not break this taboo on purpose. It appeared that his mindstate had been quite unstable earlier that day.. The gaze he looked at Shen Qiu with softened somewhat with pity.
‘And yet, Shen Qiu isn’t dead. This is to say, that there’s a great probability of it not even having started at all.’
The author has something to say:
Happy late 20th of august everyone! A somewhat-update on my personal life: recently I’ve found that there is a very fine line between being a patriot and appreciating your own culture. Watching the news, the line seems nonexistent, and things don’t seem too great at the moment. It’s hard to watch knowing that I’m not able to do anything at all, and it hurts to see that things I used to value so much are being turned into propaganda that’s very obviously directed against people like me. Anyway, these are just some personal grievances.
On another note, later, in the beginning of October I will be going abroad for vocational training to Portugal for a month. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have then, but I’ll most definitely try to keep up with updates and writing new chapters.
One more thing; in a week, on Wednesday, I’m going back to school. The current number of updates/week is very low, which makes me very confident in the fact that I’ll be able to do them as usual. If there’s an issue in the close future or if I’m a bit late, I apologise in advance.
thanks for the chapter <3