Leo didn't speak for a long time.

Kang Mucheng didn't force him, and waited patiently for his answer.

After a long time, he rubbed his face and smiled bitterly: "It seems that I am not a person who is suitable for lying."

"Good people usually don't like to deceive." Kang Mucheng's tone was soft, with an inexplicable persuasiveness, "You have no choice."

Leo hesitated and leaned against the wall decadently. The old wallpaper exuded the dust of history, which was very uncomfortable when it got into the nose.

He sorted out his thoughts: "To be honest, I thought I could control the situation-do you understand? I invited you to my wedding, and I never thought of letting you get hurt-Kimberly's death was too unexpected, which made me not know for a while... I didn't know how to face it."

Kang Mucheng listened quietly.

In the long and narrow corridor, the windows at the end let out luxurious winter light, and everything was hazy.

Leo stared at the ice and snow in the distance, and in an instant he returned to the winter night in Boston. Neither of them were Native Americans, and they didn't like parties and staying up late. After being classmates for two years, he and Kang Mucheng finally struck up a conversation one day.

They were only in their early twenties at the time, very young.

The two chatted in the dormitory.

Although there are countless sons of celebrities, heirs of billionaires, and successors of politicians in the top Ivy League schools, the title of aristocracy can still attract the attention of many people.

Leo disliked this kind of attention. This was the first time he mentioned his background to someone.

His stories about the town of Bana surrounded by blizzards in winter and the evil and ancient Winter Castle seem to be taken from an obscure fairy tale book, which is out of tune with the 21st century.

It is difficult for his classmates to imagine their teenage years without Star Wars, the Beatles, French fries, popcorn, and Hollywood, and so is he. He

can't understand the impetuousness and noise of his peers.

But Kang Mucheng is very similar to him. They are both silent and introverted people. Compared with beer, parties and women, they prefer things that are boring to others.

For example, movies that are more than six hours long.

After watching this long movie, it was exactly five or six o'clock. Leo remembered that the windows of the dormitory also had such a hazy light.

It seemed like another world, it was already another world.

"I don't want to believe that she killed Kimberly." Leo began with a bizarre conclusion, "but I don't have any evidence, and I can't prove it for her... This is really a terrible thing."

Sure enough, there was a woman. Kang Mucheng thought and asked, "Who is she?"

Leo: "My sister, Margaret."

Once the taboo is broken, it no longer has oppressive pressure. Without waiting for further questioning, he took the initiative to say: "If there really is a curse in our family, it should be this - she has a rare allergy and is extremely allergic to sunlight. Even a little sunlight will put her into shock."

"Peggy suffers from this disease. From childhood to adulthood, she has been unable to appear in the daytime." Leo said while gesturing, indicating that he should follow him, "But this is not the worst."

He gently pushed open a carved door at the end of the fourth floor. Inside was a portrait room with portraits of every generation of the Sal family hanging around it.

"Remember I told you that my ancestors always had loveless marriages, and so did my father. He married my mother—the daughter of an American steel tycoon—because he wanted to repair the castle, and the Sal family went bankrupt due to the devastation of the war.

"They gave birth to me, but neither of them was happy, so my mother left me and left here—I don't blame her, it's much better than the past, isn't it? Then, my father married Peggy's mother. I was actually happy for him at that time, but it was probably a curse that a man who abandons his wife will always lose his lover.

"Peggy's mother suffered from mental illness. She encountered some difficulties when giving birth, and her mental state was extremely unstable. She even wanted to kill the newborn Peggy. Our father wanted to stop her, and the two of them fought. My father accidentally pushed her down the stairs, and she also cut his artery with scissors. When I found them, the blood had already stained the entire floor red." Leo

's tone was very complicated. He was unwilling to believe in the so-called "curse", but the various tragedies that happened all showed the weirdness of the Winter Castle.

"This is an accident." Kang Mucheng tried in vain to comfort him.

"It's always an accident, it's always an accident." Leo muttered to himself.

The air was silent for a moment.

Leo took a deep breath and cheered himself up: "Let's not talk about this. Peggy inherited her mother's disease. I hired a doctor for her and treated her regularly. In the past ten years, her condition has been well controlled."

Kang Mucheng asked: "Is the singing her?"

"I think so, she is a little naughty." A helpless smile appeared on Leo's face, "Sometimes, she will run out along the secret passage and scare people with pranks."

This can explain his previous explanation of "strange things."

"I don't know much about crime, but Jingjing has been doing creations in this area, and I have a little understanding of it." Kang Mucheng pondered for a long time and comforted him tactfully, "□□ is a very clear murder, it doesn't seem like a prank gone wrong."

Leo paused and turned to look at him: "Do you think so?"

Kang Mucheng nodded.

"I think so too." Leo was obviously relieved, however, his friend's trust could not change Margaret's situation. He immediately became worried again, "If it's not her, then who else could it be?"

He thought for a while and asked, "What about Jane? She seems to be very - uh, knowledgeable about this kind of thing?"

Kang Mucheng said, "I went to her room this morning and she wasn't there. I haven't seen her until now."

Leo was stunned and shocked: "Oh, no, could it be..."

Kang Mucheng gave him a look that said "that's what you think."

Leo took a breath and immediately locked the door of the portrait room, then opened the mechanism on the painting. The decorative panel next to the fireplace was removed, revealing a secret passage that was exactly the same as the corridor outside.

"Follow me." He said.

The two walked into the secret passage. Although it was called a secret passage, it was not narrow or dark. It was just like an ordinary corridor, except that it had an extra section and several rooms hidden inside. Leo pushed open the door at the end of the corridor, and inside was a large bedroom similar to his master bedroom.

A dazzling crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, a red tasseled bed curtain was dragged on the four-poster bed, there was a beautiful floor-to-ceiling mirror, ivory carved decorations, and a Rococo-style powder blue armchair.

Sitting on the chair was a skeleton dressed in court clothes.

Kang Mucheng's heart sank, and he asked, "Is this the missing skeleton?"

"It's Peggy's mother." Leo said succinctly, "Peggy couldn't accept her leaving."

He apologized, "I'm sorry to have deceived you. I have already talked to Peggy about this later. She didn't know it was scary. I just wanted to take her to meet Melanie's relatives. Kimberly suddenly spoke up, which scared her and she left her behind."

Kang Mucheng: "..." He could only shake his head.

"Peggy." Leo walked through the bedroom and into another corridor that had never appeared before, "Where are you?"

"Is that Leo?" Someone spoke from the room on the left, "Please come in."

Leo pushed the door open and was stunned: "What happened?"

This is a dollhouse, filled with dolls collected from all over the world, and even a full set of Barbie. At this moment, a blonde girl wearing a soft turtle shell fell on the soft wool carpet, her hands and feet were tied tightly with straps, like a big overturned turtle.

"Woo woo!" Her tongue was pressed by the cloth in her mouth, and she couldn't speak.

"Oh My God!" Leo hurriedly said, "Jane, let her go."

"Please don't worry, I didn't hurt Miss Margaret, but she is very interested in this unsafe toy," Jane Jing turned the steak knife in her hand, "--isn't it?"

Leo was shocked: "Peggy, where did you get the knife?"

Jane Jing untied the cloth on her face.

Margaret burst into a sharp scream: "Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell!"

Leo was ashamed, and he stepped forward and held her shoulders: "Peggy, calm down."

"Leo, I hate her." Margaret saw her brother and stopped screaming. She sobbed on his shoulder, "Let them go, let them go, I don't want to, I don't want to see them."

Leo hugged his sister and patted her back soothingly: "It's okay, don't be afraid."

Kang Mucheng glanced at Jian Jing with a hint of reproach: Is this what you call not intense?

Jian Jing apologized immediately: "It's my fault. Brother Yingjie was frightened yesterday. I was afraid that everyone would get hurt again, so I chased in, and it seems that I frightened her."

"Peggy has hardly seen strangers before, and she can't be stimulated." Leo seemed to be talking about the matter at hand and not blaming her, but his tone was not as friendly as at the beginning.

"I'm really sorry." Jian Jing said.

Prying into other people's secrets and exploring the hidden truth will naturally cause displeasure to others. This is the price that must be paid.

She waited for a while before saying: "I need to eliminate Margaret's suspicion."

Leo said: "I believe it's not her."

Jian Jing's eyes flashed: "Just believe it? Please don't be offended, I don't mean anything else, but you concluded that the matter has been resolved before. I thought you temporarily restricted her movements?"

"Yes, I locked her up." Leo said.

"Then why do you just believe it?" Jian Jing was extremely sharp. "When you heard the singing, you should have confirmed it through the secret passage in the library as soon as possible, right? That's why you are late."

Leo nodded: "Yes, but at that time..." He frowned and said with a little surprise, "The door was open."

"Is it the bedroom door?"

"Yes."

Jian Jing pondered in silence.

Last night, after she cracked the mechanism of the mirror room and entered the secret passage, she carefully studied the bedroom door. It cannot be locked from the inside, but three bolts can be put on from the outside to ensure that the door is completely closed.

With Margaret's strength, it is impossible for her to break out alone.

Who let her out?

"Margaret." She squatted down and opened the charm card. "You came out the night before last, right?"

Margaret leaned on Leo's shoulder and smiled with her head tilted: "I know she will die."

"Why?"

"She is cursed."

Leo said sadly: "No, Peggy, don't talk about this."

"What did you see that day?" Jian Jing continued to ask.

Margaret said: "Leo, don't marry her, I can't live without you."

"Peggy, even if I get married, you won't lose me, you will have one more person to love you." Leo looked into her eyes sincerely, "I won't leave you."

"NO!" Margaret's emotions fluctuated violently again, and she kept screaming, "NO! NO!"

Her face was distorted by resentment, which made Leo's heart beat wildly.

Is it her?

Did Margaret kill Melanie because she couldn't accept her?