Dinner.
Simone and her party once again encountered the Viscount Delang, who had returned to his mansion after finishing his work.
“Did you find out anything?”
As soon as Viscount Delang sat down in his chair, he got straight to the point as if there was no need to speak at length.
Simone smiled at him.
“Unfortunately, not yet. Did everything go smoothly for you last night, Viscount Delang?”
The Viscount Delang frowned at Simone's statement that she had found out nothing last night.
Then suddenly he realized that he had not experienced anything like that last night and nodded.
“Nothing happened.”
“You didn’t hear any knocking on the wall yesterday.”
“This is the first time since I heard that sound. Is there something wrong with me that you guys haven’t figured out anything either?”
Simone nodded to the question of the Visount Delang.
“I guess so.”
“Then what are the chances that it could have been resolved like this?”
“Well, I can’t be sure since I haven’t seen any phenomena yet.”
Simone spoke vaguely, pointing to the door with her thumb while curling her other fingers.
“If you think it’s been resolved, should we put this request on hold until the phenomenon reappears?”
He asked if she should go back to Illeston Manor.
The Viscount Delang hesitated for a moment to answer Simone's suggestion, but soon shook his head and said.
“Stay here until you’re sure you’ve figured it out.”
“Okay, then let’s spend the night a little differently tonight. First, I will stay in your room.”
“So, you?”
"Yes."
Although the Viscount Delang seemed reluctant to allow strangers into his room, he reluctantly agreed.
“It can’t be helped since it was a condition. But try not to touch anything and just check if you can hear the sound.”
“Yes. And Your Grace you may go to your own room. However, please do not leave the mansion.”
“Yeah. I really hope we find out something tonight.”
Viscount Delang seemed tired and finished his conversation roughly before leaving the audience room.
A meeting room with only the party members left.
Simone started talking about what she was going to do tonight.
“Does everyone remember their roles today?”
"Yes."
“Yes, of course.”
"Then!"
“Thank you for your consideration, and also, Lord Wren and Abel, please check the location of the Viscount from time to time...”
Simone stopped talking and looked at the curtained window.
Not only Simone, but everyone's eyes turned to the window at the same time.
They felt it.
They felt dozens of eyes staring at them silently.
As Simone looked at Orkan without saying a word, Orkan nodded and closed his eyes, reciting a spell in his mind.
After a while, a gust of wind blew through the air, and the curtains were quickly drawn back. And the group could not help but be astonished.
“...”
Simone also just blinked her eyes, her mouth wide open, at the sight outside the window.
Outside the window with the curtains drawn.
Dozens of Delang's servants were crowded together, watching this place with their eyes wide open.
“...”
“...”
They looked at each other in silence.
Simone placed her hand on her pounding heart and watched with a surprised face what they would do next.
Then the servants opened their eyes wide and calmly stepped away from the window, disappearing somewhere.
It seemed like they each went off to do their own work.
That was the identity of the gaze she had felt until now.
“...What just happened?”
“Did they watch us?”
“Are those people?”
The group's embarrassing questions continued one after another in the sudden situation, but they already knew the answers to their own questions.
The servants who were just watching the group were definitely not human.
The servants were hanging on the window in a ridiculous position that made it seem like they were simply possessed.
And even though the curtains were drawn, the whole group felt a thrill.
Could a person who has lived a life like that really exude such energy?
A tasteless meal, a servant who repeats the same actions without meaning and observes the group with wide eyes, and the Viscount's family who disappeared.
...Is this mansion the mansion of the dead?
'Then what about Viscount Delang? What about the sound coming from the wall? What about the eyes that Viscount Delang saw?'
What on earth is this mansion?
“Simone, let’s not overthink it, for now.”
Simone stopped thinking at Abel's calm words.
“When things get too complicated, you should just solve the problem right in front of you. The more you think about it, the more you get lost in a maze.”
“It's peaceful.”
Louis clicked his tongue.
But it was also true. No matter how hard she racked her brain, there was no way she could come up with an answer with the few clues she had now.
Simone decided to listen to Abel.
“Yes. It’s only the second day. If we stay another night, we’ll be able to find out more facts.”
If she think about it, it only took two days for her to realize that there was something strange about this mansion.
If they spend about a week here as planned, they will be able to find the answer.
“Besides, today we can investigate the interior of Viscount Delang’s room.”
Simone said ambitiously.
In fact, her promise not to touch Viscount Delang's belongings was a complete lie.
Tonight, Simone planned to call Bianchi, a former thief, to his room and search it thoroughly to see if anything was suspicious.
“First of all.”
Simone spoke casually and glanced out the window.
She feels a little uneasy because something like that just happened.
“After resting for a while in each room, we will decide on a room for Viscount Delang to stay in and then begin our work.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Then I will go out for a bit tonight and contact the servants of the Illestone family.”
Louis got up and was the first to leave the meeting room, saying.
At some point, Crown Prince Louis volunteered to deliver the group's lunch boxes and letters to the Illeston family.
Starting with Louis, the entire group came out of the reception room and headed to their respective rooms.
***
It became a complete night.
The Viscount, who seemed to be very anxious about handing over his room to someone else, did not vacate the room for a long time and only moved to another room on the second floor at around midnight.
As soon as the Viscount Delang left, Simone hurried to his room.
“It’s more rustic than I thought.”
Unlike the Grand Duke's room, which was a large space filled with marble, this place looked like the room of a medieval scholarly researcher you see in movies.
The room was slightly larger than a typical studio apartment, had a wooden floor, a bed with simple patterns, a desk, and a table, and was filled with various research materials, papers, and books.
It was a room that was not particularly suspicious, but if you saw it during the day, it would be a room that would feel warm and cozy with the sunlight streaming in.
Simone glanced around the furniture in the room and then turned to the wall.
Viscount Delang said that he could hear a constant knocking sound coming from this wall.
The wall continued to be plain and unadorned, but a hole slightly larger than a person's face at the head of the bed showed a clear view of the dark outside scenery.
Did Viscount Delang sleep yesterday with the wind blowing through this hole?
Simone tapped the wall, looked through holes, and put her hand in to see if anything happened.
It's already midnight. It's a time when you can come out if you want.
Simone sat on the table chair and stared into the hole.
There was a knock on the wall, and someone's eyes were looking into the room through the hole.
If she thinks simply...
'Aren't those the servants from earlier?'
If she thinks about it, doesn't that make sense?
The thing that was hanging from the window earlier, acting like it wasn't human.
They crawled up the wall like that, knocking on the wall and watching for reactions.
Could that be it?
No, but why?
Perhaps the spirits of the servants who died from the suffering of Viscount Delang's hysteria have come looking for revenge.
Simone, who had been passing the time by doing simple deductions of her own, soon woke up in surprise when Bianchi burst open the door and came in without even knocking.
“I’m here – why are you so surprised?”
As soon as Bianchi entered the room, she naturally approached her, carrying a handful of Viscount Delang's papers.
“...I was thinking about those servants earlier. I thought you were here again.”
“You’re cute. You used to be so calm, but you’re surprisingly weak when it comes to things that look like people? I’ve seen them so many times that I’m not scared anymore.”
Bianchi quickly glanced over the documents she had brought, then put them back on the table as if there was nothing special about them.
“Abel gets involved in so many strange things. He says that when he hangs out with me, he sees all sorts of strange things.”
Bianchi laughed, saying something that seemed like a joke but wasn't, and helped Simone up.
“Well, shall we take a look now? That’s why you called me, right?”
Bianchi led Simone to stand in front of the desk.
“Simone, you search this desk until you hear a knock on the wall. I’ll search the rest.”
The desk. It was the place that required the least amount of stamina and was likely to yield the most suspicious items.
Simone nodded and began to search through the items, following Bianchi's tips.
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