บท 10: Chapter 10 There Really Is Something Out There
The pitch-black sky rumbled with thunder, accompanied solely by lightning, with hardly any sign of rain.
Miss Zhan turned and hurried back to the villa, her frightened heart pounding rapidly. Her trembling hands fumbled to latch the door, as if this could somehow prevent any ghosts from entering.
After all, the task had already been completed.
Her hands, clutching the candle, wouldn't stop shaking, and even after several deep breaths, her heart continued to race. Zhan Qian quickly walked back toward the hall.
The high vaulted ceiling of the villa was shrouded in darkness, like an Abyss ready to devour anyone, and several times she wanted to turn the lights on but refrained.
Zhan Qian turned toward the staircase, deciding to return to her room first to calm down, but then she remembered that next to her room, there was a corpse, and her lifting foot abruptly stopped.
Why did she have to be in such a miserable situation...
Zhan Qian stood at the foot of the stairs, silently pitying herself.
Just then, a low and hoarse voice suddenly came from behind her, "It's very easy to get hurt walking around in the dark like this."
The raspy voice, even more sinister and terrifying in the darkness, was like that of an Evil Ghost summoning souls, sending a chill across her skin and plunging her into bone-chilling despair in an instant.
Zhan Qian's body broke out in goosebumps.
She whirled around hastily to see who, or what, it could be.
The faint light from the white candle revealed the silhouette of a figure standing erect in the middle of the corridor, half its face veiled in darkness, staring emotionlessly into her eyes.
It wasn't the white figure she had seen before, which caused Zhan Qian to breathe a sigh of relief, and her face, fraught with fear, relaxed slightly.
It seemed that the person opposite her was dressed all in black.
"I am sorry, Miss Zhan, I seem to have frightened you," the person spoke again.
"The butler?" Zhan Qian asked hesitantly.
"Yes, it's me." The figure took a step forward, coming a bit closer, but perhaps sensing Zhan Qian's nervousness, stopped without getting too near.
By the light of the candle, Zhan Qian was able to see his face clearly and also noticed the shadow cast on the wall by the candle.
It was then that Zhan Qian truly let her guard down.
She may have been afraid of ghosts, but she was not fearful of a flesh-and-blood person.
In the next moment, the previously panicked mysticist, once again, donned an air of grace and composure, nodding demurely to the butler as if the scared person from before was not her at all.
Suddenly the butler asked, "Miss Zhan, why are you walking around outside so late?"
Zhan Qian initially wanted to say she was looking for the bathroom, but after considering some things, she changed her answer, "Butler, you should know the purpose Mr. Guo had for calling me here. Even though Mr. Guo is now… deceased, the task I was given, I will still fulfill it diligently."
"Understood, thank you for your efforts," said the butler with a nod.
"I just attempted to summon spirits in various parts of the villa and received some rather unsettling responses. This situation is more complex than I thought," Zhan Qian continued in a gently persuasive tone, laden with a mystic's allure, "Butler, perhaps Mr. Guo's death is related to this matter."
Upon hearing this, the butler's previously calm expression shifted subtly, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, "Miss Zhan, follow me, please. There are some things that the late master intended to show you."
Had she triggered a clue?!
Zhan Qian felt a small thrill of excitement, but she maintained her elegance, nodding in agreement, "Very well."
She was eager to discover the secrets hidden within this manor.
…
In the darkness, the butler expertly escorted her down the corridor, taking a left at the second hallway to the study.
Intending to enter graciously, the butler pressed down on the doorknob, but the door did not open as expected, and his forward-leaning body nearly collided with it.
He paused, then apologized, "I forgot the door was locked. The master usually does not like to lock the door; it must be the recent events that have made him somewhat tired."
Zhan Qian, following behind him, acknowledged with a sound, "Is that so?"
But inwardly, she grumbled, locking doors on one's own turf, probably hiding from something, like that thing outside…
As she pondered this, the butler had already found the key to the study from his pocket. The vintage bronze key was inserted into the lock, twisted, and then he pushed the door open.
The two entered one after the other, with the butler turning on the lights in the study. Zhan Qian casually scanned the room's arrangement but suddenly felt that something had flashed past the edge of the window.
She started slightly, then inconspicuously raised her hand to touch the cross necklace she wore.
The butler walked straight to the desk, his back to the window, and pulled out another small vintage bronze key from his pocket, squatting down to unlock the bottom drawer.
As Zhan Qian approached, she took advantage of her height to discreetly peek out the window.
The courtyard outside was pitch-black, and upon a swift glance, she indeed spotted something surging in the dark at the far corner of the yard, a white figure flickering on and off.
Damn! There really was something out there?!
Zhan Qian quickly withdrew her gaze, struggling to maintain her composed expression. She looked to the butler, eager to complete the remaining tasks and then retreat to the safety of her blankets in her room.
The butler produced a stack of letters from the drawer and handed them to her, saying, "These are the recent items the master has received."
Eager to finish her duties, Zhan Qian flipped through them quickly yet gracefully, nearly trembling with shock as she did so, immediately frowning and asking, "When did he start receiving these?"
"A month ago, every night they would appear. Moreover, along with these letters, there would also be a rose," sighed the butler. "Out of anger, the master eventually uprooted all the roses in the estate, but still, each night both a threatening letter and a rose continue to appear here."
Upon hearing this, Zhan Qian instinctively glanced outside.
From their side, all the windows faced the outer courtyard, but during the daytime, she had seen nothing but lush, well-trimmed grass there, without a single flower to add color, drab and lifeless.
So they had been uprooted before?
"Is it Mr. Guo's enemy, or is someone playing a cruel prank?" Zhan Qian ventured.
The butler hesitated for a moment, then leaned in and whispered, "The master suspects it's the former lady, returning. She was very fond of roses, and the master even said he saw her specter wandering in the courtyard."
"I didn't believe in such things at first, but with the master's spirits declining over this affair, that's why we've asked for Miss Zhan to come over."
Zhan Qian shuddered discreetly.
Perhaps your master is not mistaken, as she too had just seen something.
There truly seemed to be something strange in the yard; if you don't believe it, you can look for yourself now.
But if the ghost really is the deceased lady, why would she write such chilling letters to Mr. Guo?
From what she heard at the dinner table, Mr. Guo's tone suggested that the couple had a good relationship.
As Zhan Qian pondered the letter with a furrowed brow, an idea struck her—Mr. Guo's son, the depressive young man who seemed autistic.
Perhaps… this could be a case of aristocratic Resentment?
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