The top of the drooping curtain trembled under the weight of the two people, and Shi Jinzhe slid to the edge, barely managing to be blocked.
Shekh grabbed his wrist with his left hand and prepared to attack with his right. Just as he was about to make his move, a deep voice came from outside the door, drawing the woman's attention away.
"Madam, please have some self-respect."
"What are you doing here? I can't order you around as the patrol team leader."
The woman loosened her grip on the curtains and ordered the servants behind her, "Quickly change all these sheets and carpets, they're disgusting to look at. And what about that woman who just died? Peel off her face."
Patrol captain: "Madam, this is inappropriate."
"What's wrong with it?"
The woman, addressed as "Madam," suddenly shouted, "I am the mistress of this manor! Do as I say: skin her and throw her out to feed the dogs! Now!"
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Cassian, this is the master’s order, you cannot dispose of her without permission.”
"Why can't I?"
She gritted her teeth and questioned him, but the patrol captain did not reply.
Shekh, perched above the bed curtains, felt a strange sense of familiarity with these words, as if there were a similar scenario in some other game.
The woman below, Cassian, was emphasizing for the second time, "I am the lady of the house. I am telling you to go. Go now."
“Anger makes it difficult to obey.”
"..." She took two steps back and leaned against the carved wooden cabinet next to her, pressing her palm against the edge of the cabinet, as if she was angry.
"None of you listen to me. I knew it. He's still hung up on that woman. None of you treat me like the owner of this place..."
Mrs. Cassian's tone grew increasingly dejected. "What's so great about that woman? She's been gone for over twenty years. She's just a worthless woman who abandoned him without a second thought. Why should he remember her for so long..."
"Doesn't my company deserve even a glance from him? Tell me honestly, where did he go? Did he go to inquire about Madam Mo again?"
“Madam, please leave now,” the patrol captain said calmly and without emotion. “You shouldn’t stay in this bedroom any longer.”
"...I'm not leaving."
Without giving her a chance to refuse, the patrol captain nodded to the team members behind him, "Take them away."
I said I'm not leaving!
Mrs. Cassian became agitated again. When she saw two tall and strong patrolmen about to come up and grab her arms, she immediately turned around and raised the vase behind her.
"Don't move!"
The patrol captain sternly ordered her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. She smashed the vase, picked up the shards, and held them to her throat.
"ah…"
A flash of silver light streaked across the air as the sharp tip of the sword grazed Cassian's wrist, instantly drawing blood.
Ignoring her shouts, the patrol captain sheathed his sword, forcibly took her out, and gave a threatening look to the others inside the house before leaving.
"No one is allowed to enter this master bedroom without Mr. Gao Lun's permission, not even the Madam's order. Do you understand?"
"Understood…"
The orderly responses were accompanied by footsteps moving away from the bedside, and after a while, the door slammed shut.
Shekh and Shi Jinzhe landed on the ground and, without prior arrangement, walked toward the cabinet where Lady Cassian had just been leaning.
Although the patrol captain had little sense of awe and didn't seem to respect Lady Cassian much, he shouldn't have resorted to drawing his sword and injuring someone just because a vase was broken.
He only obeys Mr. Gao Lun, the male owner of this manor. Pulling down the curtains is fine, but lifting a vase is not allowed. The patrol captain is so sensitive, there must be something here.
Around the headboard, Shi Jinzhe found a warped piece of hard wood in the second drawer closest to the bed, while Shehe found a small wedge-shaped ceramic fragment where the vase had just been placed.
She picked up the ceramic shards and inserted them into the gap between the warped wood and the plank.
Immediately afterwards, the drawn drawer slid back inward, and the wooden floor beneath Shi Jinzhe's feet fell silently.
As the wooden flooring gradually decreases in height, a steep staircase extends downwards, revealing a passageway.
Shi Jinzhe stepped on the stairs forcefully to test their sturdiness: "The structure is quite advanced."
Shekh: "You'll find out what's going on once you go in."
The two of them entered the tunnel one after the other without lighting any lamps.
The floor was restored to its original state, and the tunnel below was narrow and long, with a 90-degree turn right after you came down.
Shi Jin walked ahead, only able to descend the stairs sideways. "The stairs are very steep, be careful." Not reassured, she reached her hand back, "Pull me along."
Shekh handed it over, "The staircase is in the mezzanine between the two bedrooms. It's a clever design. Most people would assume the secret passage is on the first floor, but Goren put it on the third floor."
"This shows that this tunnel is more important than we thought." Shi Jinzhe rubbed her palms. "What are your thoughts on what Cassian just said?"
"I don't have any particular thoughts. Madam Mo is a key figure. If they were ever together, there must be a reason why Madam Mo left Gao Lun. If they were never together, then it means he has a lot of resentment towards Madam Mo. The so-called 'what you can't have is the best.' Cassian must be skinning the dead woman because she looks somewhat like Madam Mo."
Judging from Cassian's words alone, they should be the former, and they were together, but I don't trust what people say when they're angry; this needs to be verified.
Shekh scoffed, "The main thing is that I don't believe anyone who truly loves someone and can't forget them for twenty years would do something like looking for a fake."
She said seriously, "Looking for her only shows that he can only think of the woman he once deeply loved when he has desires and needs. This is not love. It is just finding an excuse for his loneliness in the name of deep affection. In essence, it is a self-degrading act of self-pity. The real woman who was replaced is probably disgusted to death."
"...Don't swear." Shi Jin squeezed her hand.
“I didn’t say that. I just repeated what Lady Cassian said. It’s true. Just like Lady Cassian’s self-pity, she thought that years of companionship would make Goren cherish her. But in reality, she was just a decorative vase, a dispensable lady of the house. Maybe Lady Mo saw through Goren’s true nature and that’s why she didn’t want to be with him.”
"So this Mrs. Mo is quite remarkable. Not only has a wealthy man been infatuated with her for over twenty years, but now that she's ill, even the Queen is going to visit her in Frozen Harbor..."
After much deliberation, Shi Jinzhe changed his mind again, saying, "Icebound Harbor sounds like a frigid place. Its importance is definitely different from what ordinary people understand. It is the Queen's weakness or threat."
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