Chapter 133

"Respected Sir Henry, your family truly is an ancient one. All of this matches my exact impression of an ancient lineage." Luo Hanya gazed at the stained glass on the narrow, ancient windows—dripping with a thick sense of history—the delicately crafted rafter paneling, the lion-head specimens and dog-head coat of arms hanging on the walls, and the large chandelier casting a soft glow from the center of the ceiling. He smiled as he spoke to Sir Henry.

"Indeed, the people of our family have lived here for a full seven hundred years. When I first moved in, I was also crushed nearly breathless by the sheer weight of this place," Sir Henry said with a trace of pride.

"I've heard that your family's misfortunes are due to a curse?" Luo Hanya probed cautiously.

Sir Henry fell silent for a moment, his emotions stirring somewhat. "Do you really believe that? Can that absurd nonsense kill my uncle and our grandfathers? And along with them, your six colleagues? This is most certainly a murder! A murder! It's a conspiracy!"

"Relax, do not get agitated, Sir Henry. Maintain your gentlemanly composure."

Henry grew quiet, slumping into the sofa to smoke the tobacco he had brought back from his days living in Africa. Luo Hanya wisely sat beside him in silence.

……

"Milord, dinner is ready," Remo said softly, keeping his head bowed.

"Let's go."

Luo Hanya walked into the dining hall and frowned slightly. Quite different from the clean and bright dining room he had imagined, this was a gloomy and somber place.

It was a long room, divided down the middle into two sections of differing heights by a flight of steps. The higher portion served as the dining area for the family members, while the lower section was left for the servants. At the upper end stood a minstrels' gallery. Blackened wooden beams crossed overhead, and above them lay a soot-stained ceiling. Almost the entire room was dominated by dark tones, radiating nothing but gloom and oppression.

Perhaps only the lighting of two massive braziers could have chased away the somberness here, if even for a moment. Luo Hanya sat awkwardly with Sir Henry within the small circle of light cast from beneath lampshades, speaking in low voices about mundane trivialities, while feeling an immense weight pressing down upon their spirits.

A row of dim portraits of the Bach family ancestors hung along the walls, dressed in various strange garbs. They all stared fixedly with wide eyes at the two people eating, keeping a silent, intimidating company that made Luo Hanya's scalp tingle, as if this were the ancestral shrine of the Bach house.

"To be honest, I truly don't think this is a place that can make anyone very happy." Luo Hanya accepted a cigarette handed to him by Sir Henry and sighed.

Sir Henry remarked, "I had thought I might gradually grow accustomed to such an environment, but now I always feel something is not quite right. No wonder this place is so unsettling."

"A place capable of terrifying anyone."

"Haha, rest assured, I have decided to install a row of one-thousand-candlepower Edison lightbulbs in the front hall within six months. By then, you won't even recognize this place anymore."

"Then I shall look forward to a dramatic transformation here!"

"Provided that both you and I are still alive by then." The baronet pointed a finger between himself and Luo Hanya. "The person spreading that absurd curse will definitely make a move, that maniac."

"With me here, no one can harm you."

"I hope so... Ah, if you are willing, let us rest a little earlier tonight. Perhaps in the early morning hours, things will appear rather more pleasant."

"I still wish to step outside for another look. I shall return shortly, and for the foreseeable future, I'll be staying in that room closest to yours, Baronet."

"Remo, accompany Detective Jackdaw Luo for a look around and show him the ropes."

……

The courtyard consisted primarily of a vast European-style lawn surrounded by numerous buildings. Under the dim light, one could only make out that the central structure was a solid mansion, with a projecting porch at the front.

The facade of the house was blanketed in ivy, trimmed back only around the windows and where the coats of arms were mounted, making it look like patches sewn onto a black mask. Atop the central building rose a pair of ancient towers, pierced with loopholes and numerous observation ports. To the left and right of the towers stood newer wing buildings constructed of black granite. A dim light filtered through the solid window frames, and a black column of smoke billowed from the tall chimneys set in the steep, sloping roof.

"What a bizarre place," Luo Hanya muttered, shaking his head. He had originally intended to explore a bit more. "Remo, is no one else living here?"

"The previous baronet was a reclusive figure who only ever hired three servants, so you hardly ever see anyone across such a vast estate..."

"That's practically asking for death. Knowing someone is out to get you and still living with so few people around—are they artificially increasing the difficulty?" Luo Hanya cursed inwardly while losing any further desire to explore, turning back toward the house.

Passing through a square veranda lined with balustrades and ascending a double staircase, Luo Hanya came upon a corridor. Two long hallways extended from the central hall straight through the entire building, and all the bedchambers opened onto these corridors.

His bedroom and Sir Henry's were on the same side and nearly adjacent. These rooms appeared much newer in style than those in the central block; brightly colored wallpaper and countless lit candles managed to dispel at least a fraction of the gloom that had settled in his mind upon arrival.

Before going to bed, Luo Hanya pulled back the curtains and peered outside. The window looked out over the front lawn and the moon beyond. Under the bleak moonlight, stretching out behind the woods, came the jagged silhouettes of the hill edges and the long, low, gently rolling expanse of the gloomy moors.

Though fatigued, Luo Hanya found himself unable to sleep. Tossing and turning, the more he tried to fall asleep, the more elusive it became. He crawled out of bed with a curious thought: "Isn't this script supposed to have an automatic sleep time-skip? Could there be some nighttime task after all? Indeed, I haven't encountered the main quest yet, or is it that the higher-ups aren't even bothering to dispatch missions to me anymore?"

The ancient house was enveloped in a deathly silence, and in the distance, the clock chimed the hours, quarter by quarter. But then, suddenly, in the dead of night, a sound pierced Luo Hanya's eardrums, clear and distinct.

He halted his thoughts, retrieved a revolver from his suitcase, and cautiously stepped out of his bedroom.

There was no mistaking it: the sound of a woman weeping, like the repressed and choking gasps of someone wracked by an unbearable, agonizing grief. Luo Hanya stepped out into the hallway, tilting his head to listen with rapt attention. The sound could not be coming from afar; it was certain to be right here within this very house... (To be continued.)