Chapter 22:Castle Past 22 Encirclement
Li Hua, having said his piece, fell silent.
Fu Ruxue, recalling his interrupted words, hurried to ask, “What were you about to say?”
“Yesterday, I met someone in the garden. He’s different from the others here.”
“The armless guy? The gardener?” Fu Ruxue asked.
“Yes… the gardener?” Li Hua chose his words carefully. “He feels… alive.”
Fu Ruxue sat up straight, alert. “Alive? What do you mean?”
“I studied painting for a bit, so I’m sensitive to colors. His skin looks normal. Everyone else’s is unnaturally pale, almost… ghostly.”
Li Hua paused, adding, “Like a corpse’s.”
Fu Ruxue nodded, thinking of the maid and butler’s pallor. “And then?”
“This morning, I went to find him again. On the way, I saw the butler standing motionless by the pond. Thinking it was safe since I wasn’t breaking rules, I got closer. His neck had stitches.”
Suddenly, the butler’s neck stretched backward, his upside-down head grinning maniacally, scaring Li Hua into a sprint.
The butler chased him to the castle door but stopped when he entered.
“That’s it. Also, the butler had no reflection in the pond. He’s not human.”
“Not human…” Fu Ruxue wasn’t surprised. A neck-twisting creature didn’t fit the human category.
“Where did you meet the Duke?” Li Hua asked, sipping coffee.
“…The butler is the Duke.”
“Pfft—”
Li Hua sprayed coffee, coughing violently.
This cup was cursed—choking him twice, most of it gone.
“What did you say?” he asked, incredulous.
Fu Ruxue glanced around, ensuring the Duke wasn’t near, then whispered, “The butler is Duke Caesar. The real butler’s the corpse in the garden.”
“So Xu Nian’s ‘cut off the Duke’s hand’ means the butler?”
“Exactly.”
“I see.” Li Hua’s brow furrowed deeper.
The butler’s odd aura and red eyes, like the Young Lady’s, made sense now.
Everything had clues.
“Want to team up to take him out?” Fu Ruxue’s delicate face held a friendly smile, as if asking about the weather.
The old wooden door creaked open, revealing the room.
Light streamed through ornate arched windows, illuminating a wooden table, the room starkly clear.
No different from others—cabinets and desk even older, shabbier than the basement.
The Young Lady lived so plainly?
Xu Nian hadn’t expected entering her room so easily.
Was the Young Lady that trusting? No defenses at all?
She glanced at the Young Lady, who held her hand, a faint, silly smile on her lips.
Xu Nian’s heart skipped, an indescribable emotion flickering.
She let go, turning away from the Young Lady’s adoring gaze, picking up the room’s only unique item: a bear plushie the Young Lady always carried, missing an eye, cotton spilling from its neck, crudely stitched.
Blood dripped from the stitches onto Xu Nian’s hand, leaving a red streak.
A hand covered the bleeding spot. “Dirty,” the Young Lady said softly.
Xu Nian looked up, seeing her downcast eyes and furrowed brow. She wiped the blood off Xu Nian’s hand, her gaze dim.
Xu Nian sighed silently, holding the bear and tapping the Young Lady’s shoulder. “Got a needle and thread?”
The Young Lady’s eyes lit up, lips curving. “Yes.”
Cheng Li’s door opened. Fu Ruxue stepped in, peering out. “Not coming?”
Li Hua, caught up in the moment, had agreed.
Partly for clues—the deepening blood moon fueled his anxiety. Day six, and he had little to show.
Partly because Xu Nian’s claim of nearing the key drew him. If she found it first, he’d be stuck. Teaming up was smart.
But could two unarmed people defeat the castle’s master?
Fu Ruxue’s impatient voice urged, “Hurry, we need to talk.”
“Coming.”
Li Hua paused, then followed.
Seeing the room’s chemicals and reagents, he swallowed hard, eyes wide.
“So Cheng Li really killed Zhang Zhuanghao.”
Only Cheng Li had this room’s advantage—and squandered it.
Li Hua smirked.
He’d use it well.
“By the way,” Fu Ruxue dug out a bottle, “Xu Nian found this in the Duchess’s room.”
The bottle Xu Nian slipped her, likely for investigation.
Cheng Li, holding a bottle, rubbed its label, eyes gleaming. “Let’s take out the Duke.”
He’d devised a simple, effective plan using the drugs, without breaking rules.
The Young Lady’s room was warm.
Xu Nian sat on the bed, sewing the plushie. The Young Lady brushed her bangs aside, tucking her hair back.
She watched Xu Nian silently, breathing lightly, not to disturb her.
“Done.”
Xu Nian tied a knot, finishing the bear.
Oddly, it stopped bleeding.
A firm believer in science before this world, Xu Nian checked it—no blood anywhere.
Her lips twitched.
She handed the bear to the Young Lady. “Here, fixed.”
The Young Lady hugged it, still gazing at her.
The bear, no longer creepy, looked cute with her angelic face and soft smile.
Xu Nian averted her eyes. All that joy over a sewn plushie?
She noted the Young Lady’s happiness, storing it away.
She’d miss it after leaving.
Pity—if she met such a face in reality, she’d ask for her number.
“Can I hug you?”
Innocent, pleading eyes met hers.
“Sure.”
Softening, Xu Nian was enveloped in a fragrant embrace, the Young Lady’s heartbeat deafening.
The Duke roamed the castle, steps aimless.
Passing a room on a long corridor, he froze.
The air turned icy.
Books, specimens, and rats were strewn at the door, discarded.
His eyes blazed with rage.
Who?
Who threw out his treasures?
Fuming, he gathered them, heading to his room to restore them.
Opening the door, a strange scent hit him.
In the shadows, two figures—one inside, one out—watched.
The Duke didn’t react.
Li Hua, hidden, flipped open a book to a page.
Sleep Incense: A potent scent inducing sleep in breaths.
Clear as day—a drug, not a sleep aid!
Yet it had no effect on the Duke.
Half a minute passed, nothing.
Li Hua gritted his teeth. Plan A failed. Time for Plan B.
Clutching an opened vial, palms sweaty, he saw the Duke nearly done. He lunged.
Too late—the Duke looked up, smiling “kindly.”
Li Hua couldn’t stop…