Back in the hall, River was watching everyone’s interactions quietly.
The married woman had come in and talked to the tall man, who in turn gave her a few soothing words and a kiss before heading out. The tall man and the married woman were a couple.
From his limited viewpoint, he couldn’t tell if there was any unusual behaviour.
He wished he could take a look at the corpse but… It would probably be only a shadow and he did not know how to read the signs for different causes of death anyway.
He wouldn’t be able to tell if discoloured nails were a sign for something, that wasn’t exactly knowledge he had. That sort of medical knowledge wasn’t commonplace.
The unmarried woman entered the hall and some of the children that had been around the tall man before went over to her. She rubbed the younger ones’ heads in a familiar motion before softly shooing the children to be more quiet.
The longer he saw them talk, the more River believed that she was their aunt. Not only would it make sense for her to be here, it also made sense how she interacted with the married woman and the children.
So far, two of three men were very likely siblings, as were two of the women here.
River closed his eyes to go through it.
The bearded man was married. Either he or his wife needed some connection to here, by being the child of the dead person or sibling to someone married into the house.
The tall man was married to the docile woman. They had a number of children together, including the little girl.
The docile woman was likely the sister of the unmarried one.
The timid man was likely the tall man’s brother. He, too, often had children around him.
If you said that two brothers were married to two daughters of the house, River found it less likely. He was more prone to believe that the men were the sons of the family.
Neither the bearded man nor his wife had reacted to the worried docile woman coming in, they shouldn’t be related to her. That meant one of them was related to the brothers or the docile man’s wife.
Family was not a pure thing. He knew that from reality, so River did not doubt for a second that one of them might have killed or would kill their relative in cold blood.
The question was, how was this setting made up that he would be able to solve it in twelve hours without being able to listen to conversations or see faces? His only option was reading and watching their interactions.
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.
Ycis ktfc tf kjr regf atja tf tjv ibbxfv jgbecv atf gbbw fcbeut vlv tf qffx bearlvf.
Lbcfs jiwbra kjixfv lcab tlw jcv tf pbiafv yjmxkjgvr, tlr jgw tlaalcu atf vbbg.
Snfgsbcf mibrf ab atf fcagjcmf aegcfv jgbecv, ibbxlcu abkjgvr atf vbbg. Vbwf wbnfv j rafq ab ibbx bearlvf yea rbwfbcf rjlv rbwfatlcu jcv fnfgsbcf gfijzfv jujlc.
River exhaled.
Damn all those other people around.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” Honey was earnest in her apology. Making movements here was dangerous and not a joke. “We’ve taken a look around this place.”
As she spoke, she backed out again. It was clear she expected the youth to follow her, so he did with a lowered head.
Crisis and Rhythm were talking.
“…-be somewhere hidden, right? Didn’t they have all kinds of hidden doors in these times?”
“I’m… not sure if that’s accurate. If it was, then it would be inside a private room, don’t you think? And I don’t think it would be easily visible, so it might be something like a trapdoor under the bed. How do you expect us to go out through that without alerting anyone?”
Rhythm cursed.
Honey explained without being asked to. “There’s a barrier right around the building. We think there might be a secret path to escape somewhere, but we haven’t found anything yet. There are a lot of smaller rooms here and a number of locked ones.”
She talked as if remembering something. “The two of them have information from a friend of theirs. A reliable friend. She said, she saw someone leave a nightmare once, not through the white door. The whole group had been split and because the whole setting was very busy, some people died and they don’t know who it was, but she said she was a figure leave through a hidden door. When she herself went to check it, the door vanished. We believe there might be something like a special escape route somewhere.”
She paused and smiled wryly.
“Better than wasting away in panic with nothing to do, right?”
River nodded. Nod along, don’t reject her words.
Whether they were right or wrong, was it his business? Either way, he was here for the puzzle. If this was his last night, he wouldn’t cry about it and Aspen was a death row convict. No one would care for his death, either.
Two half-dead people working together, that was fine with him. It was purely for the enjoyment of the puzzle.
Ah, although he didn’t like the first round. The first round was only watching to see the general line of what was happening, which was very boring. The next round would be nicer, when he could start gathering ways to solve it.
“Where’s the creepy guy?”
“Rhythm, don’t be so rude. Call him by his name.”
“Excuse you? You saw him. You saw his eyes. Heck, he’s scarier than the instructor!”
“Don’t be absurd! He’s a kid.”
“And kids can’t be criminals?! Oh come on!”
Rhythm and Crisis were talking in hushed whispers that weren’t so hushed anymore at the end.
River perfectly agreed with Rhythm, actually. Crisis was being too naive to not suspect someone as openly suspicious as Aspen. In this place, anyone was suspicious to begin with.
And Aspen was an actual murderer. Not only inside the play, but also out of it. If even River, who was a civilian, could tell that there is something off about the guy, then others should be able to tell as well.
Honey clicked her tongue. “Guys, we are all in this together. Is a thin child like him going to pose any problem against the two of you? Besides, he can’t be far. We’re stuck.”
Admittedly, Rhythm and Crisis looked more than well trained. River didn’t know much about actual fighting, so he had no way to gauge how well the slender Aspen would fare against the two of them.
The three quibbled while River stood at the sidelines.
He was a silent bystander until things moved and every Actor outside, including the tall man with his daughter in his arms and Aspen following behind, entered the hall.
Seeing everyone line up neatly, River had a feeling that part of the funeral was about to begin. He watched a servant close the door and stand watch outside.
Did that mean that excluding the servants, no one else was out right now?
Was this the period for investigation?
That suited him well enough. He wanted to get a look at everyone’s rooms.
Aspen strolled over to him, arms stretched over his head. His bones made some sounds and he let them fall again.
With the other three around, Aspen did not feel like talking, so he merely stared a hole into River’s lowered head.
Honey uncomfortably smiled. “Did you… find anything of interest?”
Aspen shot her a glance.
A shudder went through Honey. At this point she had to admit that Aspen was not planning on cooperating with them in any way and sighed in resignation.
“Let’s go look at the eastern part”, she said to her two comrades who followed. Rhythm had a wary expression on his face but Aspen was already back to looking at River.
Only when the three were out of sight did he talk. “The girl’s acting weird. Can’t say why though, and I don’t think she told that guy. So? What did you find out is happening?”
River’s lips gave a twitch. Without a pause, he ran down all the information he had and why certain things were more likely to be one way than another.
Aspen was secretly astounded. Everything that River was saying did make sense, but looking at those people, he wouldn’t have tried to find out their family relationships. Yet, River talked as if it was natural, with his gray eyes glowing through the lenses of his glasses.
“Let’s find that old guy’s room and look around”, Aspen suggested while turning around and already walking to the western area, from where the second player group had come from.
Because that was the best area to continue their investigation, River had no complaints. He was almost walking faster than Aspen.
There were numerous rooms in the western courtyard, but River decisively walked away from the area near the entrance and more into the quiet backyard. The decorations grew a bit more lavish here.
All servants were centered around the funeral hall and neither of the two could find anyone around. Opening the last door in the hallway, they stepped into a surprisingly large room.
Time had stood still inside.
Wilted flowers were on the table and a flask of water was placed next to the bed. The curtains were drawn, dimming the light inside.
It was a bit dusty. River coughed lightly before he went to look around.
Thank you for the chapter💕
Thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
(人´∀｀)｡ﾟ+