Vol 1 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Chapter 4 - The Pop-up Book
Episode 00: The Harlequinade
Part 1
This stone-built residence was half a day away from the capital, going by car and train.
However, the aristocratic owner of this cottage was just a come-down regional lord. So it wasn't all that palatial. It was just a very old building, really.
One could see the courtyard behind the thrown-open gate.
A wide range of flowers were blooming in all kinds of colours, and the morning fog had wet the gra.s.s that was growing thickly there.
The yard had probably not been cared for in years. It looked much more like a wilderness than a garden.
It was quite hard to believe that this place was occupied until just half a month ago, looking at this pitiful scenery.
A man was walking on the stone pavement of this garden.
A man was walking on the stone pavement of this garden.
It was a young man wearing a frock coat. In his left hand, he held a small travel bag.
The face under the hat looked still young; he was probably about 18 or 19 years old.
His walk gave off the impression of a trained soldier, yet one could not sense any rudeness in the atmosphere enveloping him. His mien resembled the one of an earnest boy.
The young man arrived at the door at the end of the stone paving and stopped.
After gazing at the dilapidated mansion for a while, he laughed wryly at last.
”Did I inherit something troublesome there, I wonder...? Jeez, grandpa...”
He searched his pockets and took out an old key.
The key was golden with a rather strong tinge of red. A red jewel was worked into its shaft and the key was connected to a thin chain.
”I had always thought that he didn't care about others, but I didn't expect him to live at such a place,” he murmured, mixed with a wry smile, and brought the golden key towards the lock of the entrance.
However, he instantly gave up on that and lowered his arm.
The key obviously did not match the shape of the keyhole.
”It's not the key to this door, huh... well, no big surprise I guess,” he sighed lightly and hung the golden key around his neck like a pendant.
Then he searched his pocket again and took out an old bunch of keys.
They looked ordinary and weren't decorated in particular.
After trying out several of those keys, the door finally opened.
He slowly pushed the oak door open and entered the mansion.
After looking around in the dark with narrowed eyes, disappointment flashed on his face.
There was nothing inside.
The minimal things needed for living such as a leather sofa or a dining table were there, but other than that, there was nothing.
The book shelves were especially strange.
They were embedded in the walls of this mansion.
But not a single book was stored in them.
The young man touched the board of a shelf and stained his finger with the thick dust that had acc.u.mulated there.
This was proof that this shelf had not been used in years.
”What does that mean...?” he frowned suspiciously, and proceeded further to the inside.
The weak light s.h.i.+ning in from the windows illuminated the dancing dust white. It looked almost like a deserted building.
The walls of each and every room next to the corridor were covered by giant book shelves.
But all of them were empty, without exception.
Not one book remained in this mansion.
Although there were no traces of them being carried out, they all had disappeared mysteriously.
Still confused by this fact, the young man finally arrived at the last room.
The room was inside a tower on the courtyard side.
The inside was small like a storeroom. The cold stone walls weren't coated with anything and an empty bookshelf was at the corner of the room.
The young man briefly looked around in the room. He was about to return to the corridor when he suddenly noticed something.
Below the thin cotton dust on the carpet, one could see something that looked like a rail.
”...I see.”
A wry smile flashed on his face, upon which he lightly pushed the book shelf next to the wall.
The deep sound of gears resounded and the big book shelf slowly turned around.
A cavity appeared behind. It was a narrow staircase leading deep underground.
Taking a lamp that had been left in the mansion, the young man started to descend the dark stairs.
When he opened the door at the end of the hidden tunnel, he arrived at a broad bas.e.m.e.nt.
The walls of the dark, damp room were dimly lit by faint lights. Furthermore, constructs that looked like half-destroyed pillars were scattered throughout the whole room and were casting long shadows.
At this sight, the young man flashed an amazed smile.
Those pillars consisted of books.
All those countless books of the mansion had been gathered and piled up in this bas.e.m.e.nt, filling up half of its s.p.a.ce. It was like looking at oriental grave stones, built by piling up stones.
It didn't seem like they were carried here for a purpose. It looked like someone had been reading books and had just thrown the ones he was done with somewhere, which finally led to this sight.
There were all kinds of books. Everything from cheap yellowbacks to complicated books about philosophy.
There were also many books written in old or foreign languages. It looked like someone had been reading through any paper with letters on it in reach.
Almost buried in those thousands of books, a small silhouette had bent its back without making any sound.
It was a young girl.
A little girl was sitting all alone on an armchair and had a book laid open on her knees.
In the bas.e.m.e.nt of a deserted mansion, she was reading a book.
Upon seeing this unexpected spectacle, the young man held his breath, surprised.
The girl was so beautiful one could hardly believe she belonged to the living.
Her elegant black hair reached to her waist and was bound together by a lace headdress.
The colour of her eyes was as black as the night.
Her skin had a characteristic, oriental colour and seemed smooth like honey that was melted into milk; she looked almost like a valuable porcelain.
Her dress was jet black.
The dress reminded one of the ceremonial robes of medieval knights; an odd mixture that couldn't be called dress or armor.
Her skirt was layered smoothly with many frills and her waist was decorated with a ribbon and seemed as frail as a fragile article. The metallic protectors on the back of her hands and the unrefined ta.s.set that enfolded these outlines of her were rather strange, as they didn't fit to the dress that was decorated with laces.
She didn't make a movement; her gaze was focused on the book. There was no change in her artificial-seeming expression either.
”A doll...?” the young man murmured spontaneously. But then, one could hear the sound of a turning page.
In the next moment, she had already raised her head and was directly gazing at him.
His own surprised face was reflected in her insensate eyes that seemed like a clear morion.
But still unsure whether she really was human, the young man stood there dumbfounded until she said,
”Hey... who are you?” Moving her jewel-like lips, she continued, ”What business does a human have here?”
Her voice sounded as lovely as the chirping of a songbird.
”What did you... come here for?” the girl asked the young man once again.
Her choice of words was confident and brash, but her voice wavered slightly at the end of the sentence. Her expressionless black eyes seemed kind of fearful.
At first, the young man appeared slightly surprised, but then he took off his hat and bowed.
Her demonstration that she was a human made of flesh and blood and not a doll had apparently reminded him that such a gesture was a matter of course in front of a lady. Although she was a younger girl---
--- or possibly a diabolical figure.
”Please excuse my rudeness. My name is Huey. Hugh Anthony Disward. The grandson of the former owner of this mansion, actually.”
He may have introduced himself politely, but that didn't change a thing about the girl's distrustful stare.
With the thick book in her arms, she stood up and carefully stepped backwards.
She was wary of Huey.
Or rather, she was afraid of him. Like a timid, shy child.
”You are... Wes' grandchild?”
She asked sceptically, upon which the young man, Huey, raised an eyebrow.
”Are you acquainted with grandpa? How have you been related?” asked the slightly confused young man, while being glared at by the black-haired girl.
When Huey came a step closer, she became startled and hid half her face behind her book as if it were a s.h.i.+eld.
”You may not come even a single step closer.” She tried to scare him off. ”I was the first to ask.”
”Huh?”
”Tell me... why does Wes' grandson come here after such a long time?”
The young man stood surprised for a moment, but then he got a grip and slightly shook his head. ”I am looking for the library.”
”Library?” The girl c.o.c.ked her head slightly.
Huey nodded. ”Ah, it seems to be some kind of odd private library of which no one knows exactly where it is. I thought I might hit upon a clue here by searching through grandpa's collection.”
”What's the name of that... library?”
”Ahh... what was it again... oh, right, Bibliotheca... Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian, I think...,” said Huey, pondering while searching his blurred memories with squinted eyes.
The girl's face tensed. Her eyes, resembling the ones of a fearful cat, quivered in surprise.
”How... how did you get to know that name?” For some reason, she seemed to be irritated.
Huey noted her excessive reaction with surprise. The girl stared back wordlessly.
The young man gave in with a sigh. ”...it was written in his will,” he said without beating about the bush any longer.
”His will?” She made a bewildered face.
Huey took a crumpled envelope out of his coat and showed the girl the names of the sender and the receiver. ”Grandpa sent me this letter shortly before his death. It says that he leaves all rights for this mansion to me. Under one condition.”
”Condition...?”
”Actually, that is a mystery to me as well. 'Take over the «Bibliotheca Mystica».' That's all it said.” Huey shrugged.
The girl eyed Huey without a word. She seemed to ponder something. Finally, she lowered her stare and murmured by herself, ”...there is no such thing here. Nor anywhere in this world.”
”So there's no book here where I could find a clue, either?” Huey grimaced out of unease. He looked around, at the mountains of books that filled this bas.e.m.e.nt, and then he asked with a slightly astounded face, ”...How can you be so sure about that? Or do you even want to tell me that you've read all these books?”
The girl nodded without hesitation. Then, she briefly and succinctly declared with an emotionless voice, ”I was bored.”
Now Huey was completely bereft of speech.
The giant anthology of his bibliomaniac grandfather, who had collected these over half the time of his life, was placed in this room.
Among the books were quite a few written in old, no longer used languages or ones written in strange signs. Even ancient doc.u.ments, which would have to be deciphered by linguists, were among them.
But the girl in front of his eyes claimed to have read them all.
He couldn't believe it. But the girl didn't convey the impression of talking nonsense, either.
”Who... are you?” asked Huey, puzzled. ”Why are you all alone in here? How are you related to grandpa?”
The girl's answer was simple, ”Wez and I were friends.”
”Friends?”
”Yes. He... was, a good man. It is really unfortunate that he pa.s.sed away.” She spoke with an absent look. A slight undertone of loneliness was in her voice.
”Really?” Huey didn't seem to be able to share her feelings. ”Well... in his own way, even he was a lonely old man. I'm sure he was happy that a little girl from close by like you kept him company,” he said. ”But I don't think it's good to just break into other people's cellars,” he added with a slightly contorted face.
The girl however, kept quiet.
”Whatever. Tell me, might you have seen a cat or a dog around this mansion?” Huey composed himself and stated a question.
”No. I have seen no such thing around here,” she shook her head indifferently.
Huey, puzzled, touched his cheek and said, ”It might also be some kind of reptile... its name is 'Dalian'.”
”Dalian?” The girl frowned.
Huey nodded with a sigh. ”I actually didn't care about grandpa's will. I only came because I incidentally had some business in this town. But the annex of this letter had me a bit bothered...”
Out of the envelope he took out a crumpled sheet of paper, which was stuck between the will.
On the paper was a short text in messy handwriting.
”'Take care of Dalian', it says... since it's from that man, I guess he wanted to tell me to take care of his pet.” Huey showed her the text with a serious expression.
”P...Pet?!”
”That's why I thought I should hurry and and find that poor thing. After all, it would be a problem if it raged around the house, or if it were hungry, not to think of the excrement---”
”You... idiot of a grandson!”
Before Huey could finish talking, the girl let out a deep, angry voice from her lips.
A moment later, the young man contorted his face in pain. The black-clothed girl, who had fearfully stood by the wall beforehand, had suddenly run up to him and kicked his s.h.i.+n with the heel of her boot.
”Ouch. Why suddenly...?” Huey immediately protested, but was interrupted.
”Dalian is my name.”
”...eh?!”
Huey could not hide his surprise in front of her beautiful, but angry face.
Then confusion appeared in his face. He had finally noticed what a peculiar trinket the girl wore.
Placed in the chest area of the n.o.ble dress, which was made of countless frills and laces, It was s.h.i.+ning dully at the place where a ribbon or an adornment of flowers was supposed to be.
A steel box, affixed to a black leather band by silver chains.
A big, old lock hung in front of the girl's chest.
Part 2
That coa.r.s.e lock didn't fit the girl's slender body at all, and rather reminded one of jougs used to shackle criminals and prisoners.
Huey looked at it with mixed feelings.
Judging from his face, he feared that his grandfather had locked her into that bas.e.m.e.nt.
”Let me get this straight,” Huey asked her with a serious mien. ”You have not been confined to this bas.e.m.e.nt, have you? Grandpa did not kidnap you here and... well, do something indecent with you... right?”
”The only indecent thing around here is your imagination,” whispered the girl that had introduced herself as Dalian. Meanwhile, she had sat at the table in the corner of the kitchen and was nibbling on some fried bread like a small animal.
”I have merely waited in that room.”
”Waited? For whom?”
”That is of no relation to someone as insolent as you.”
Dalian looked up at Huey, who c.o.c.ked his head, and sighed, disenchanted.
Then she lowered her gaze to her partially eaten fried bread and asked, ”You should rather tell me where I can find the sugar.”
”Sugar? Don't tell me you want to add sugar to that bun?”
”It is a firm tradition to sprinkle sugar onto fried bread,” claimed Dalian point-blank. Huey seemed slightly flabbergasted, but refrained from arguing with her and instead, gave her the sugar pot from the cupboard. After sprinkling plenty more sugar on the already ginger bread, she nodded contentedly while Huey looked at her with an amazed face.
At first, Dalian was totally against going upstairs when Huey suggested so. One could almost believe that something terrible would happen if she were to go to the surface. She was that persistent.
She only followed him to the kitchen because she caught the scent of the bun in Huey's pocket. Apparently, she had actually been pretty hungry. It was only the remains of Huey's breakfast which he had bought on the train on a whim, but Dalian stuffed her cheeks without complaint.
Huey discovered tea leaves in the kitchen and put the kettle on for some black tea.
After the tea leaves had boiled long enough in the kettle, he poured the tea into the preheated cups. He did this with the aptness of a kitchen maid, and not anything like one would expect from a young n.o.ble.
At first, Dalian looked at him in wonder, but finally, she whispered without hiding her vigilance, ”Have you been... a soldier?”
Huey only shook his head, ”I am only a simple pilot, no career soldier. Apart from that, the war is already over, and fighting for my fatherland doesn't suit me anyways.”
When he told her so, something like sadness flashed over his face for a split second.
”...Is that the reason you came to this manor?”
Dalian hesitatingly accepted the presented teacup.
”In a way, yes. Right now it isn't worthwhile to return to the university anyway, so I thought I'd laze around a bit and live off grandpa's inheritance... my uncle and cousins won't come close to this manor anyway, will or not.”
Huey smiled weakly while dropping a sugar cube into his cup and stirring it.
Then the girl asked him, ”Why not?”
”They are afraid! Of grandpa... or rather, of his collected books,” said Huey, and smiled slightly mischievously, ”As you may know, grandpa was a bibliomaniac. Apparently he once gave away half his property for a single, rare book.”
”...so?”
”Um, there are rumours according to which there are also cursed books in his collection. Ones that teach their owner forbidden knowledge and ruin them that way. And sure enough, some incidents really happened close to grandpa which even the Scotland Yard had a tough time with.”
”I see... so why did you come here, in spite of knowing that?”
”Well, I thought that maybe I might find what I'm looking for here.”
”What you're looking for...?”
Dalian raised her face, still eating her bread. Her gaze was serious, but her neat face was full of sugar.
Huey could not suppress a quick laugh. Then he looked out of the window to evade her question and whispered, ”...Dantalian is said to be the name of a demon. A demon with unimaginable knowledge, depicted with countless books in his hands. Since the library has such a high-strung name, I was a bit expectant, to tell the truth. But it looks like my hopes have been deceived.”
”...this requires an explanation. How exactly have your hopes been deceived?”
Huey looked at her, slightly surprised, when she said so with an ill-humored voice.
”All of the books in grandpa's collection in the bas.e.m.e.nt are ordinary. Sure, there are a whole lot - even valuable ones - but in the end those are just old books. It certainly isn't a private collection worthy of the name of a devil. The way things are now, it's also doubtable whether the stories about the strange events are the truth or not.”
”It looks like you, as Wez' grandson, have an eye for books as well,” Dalian said strangely haughtily, ”But you really don't know anything at all.”
”What do you mean?” Huey asked back seriously, ”Do you want to say that grandpa had another, the real, library apart from the one in the bas.e.m.e.nt? If so, where did it disappear to?”
”Just that it disappeared doesn't mean that it has never existed in the first place.”
Dalian carefully sipped her black tea and pulled a grimace since she apparently had problems with the heat. She poked her tongue out like a child and blew into the hot cup.
”The Library of Alexandria in the ancient Egypt, the Library of Pergamum of the Attalid dynasty, the Library of Celsus of the ancient Romans... Phantom libraries that disappeared without a trace from this world are far from rare.”
Huey burst into an amused laugh.
”I see... but I can't fathom where else in this mansion you could hide books.”
Dalian sighed exaggeratedly.
”You really are incredulous... hey, do you know of the term 《vase world》?”
”The vase world? The tale of the Vaseman, right? It's written in, if I remember it correctly, the Biographies of Magical Techniques of the Book of the Later Han...”
Huey hesitatingly answered her question.
It was an ancient legend from the orient.
In the later Han dynasty, a man from Rǔnán found his way into the vase of a Xian. And what he saw there was a giant, solemn palace in a separate world. The world of the vase, in other words, the vase world---
”Oh, you are better than I thought. Well done,” said Dalian with a disinterested voice.
Huey sullenly showed a crooked smile. ”Oh thank you... but how is that related to grandpa's library?”
Dalian replied.
”The story of the Vaseman is not over yet.”
”Eh?”
”When the imperial family of the ancient orient fell, the vase world as well left the possession of the Vaseman. From then on, the vase went over many generations from one owner to the next.”
Dalian continued, with an oral fluency unbefitting her young voice.
For some reason, maybe because of this discrepancy, her words seemed somewhat lively, as if she had seen the events with her very own eyes.
”When the Mongolian shepherd people ruled over the continent almost a thousand years later, the vase finally got went from the Near East to Europe. And 300 years ago, the ruler of a certain country obtained its possession---”
”Ruler?”
”Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Rudolf II... The king of Prague, the capital of magic.”
Huey listened, engrossed in her story, since it sounded strangely true to him.
Rudolf II, also called the ”the eccentric emperor”, was known as a fanatic collector of artistic objects and books and for his pa.s.sion for alchemy and magic, in spite of being a strict catholic. The exhibition room in his royal residence was decorated with artistic objects from all over the world and consequently called ”Wunderkammer”.
One could say that, in a way, he had been the most appropriate owner of the vase world.
”That king tried to gain something outrageous through the power of the vase.”
”Outrageous?”
”The knowledge of... the demons.”
The girl in black raised her chin a bit haughtily. Huey showed a serious mien now.
”I see... the demonic knowledge, bound into the form of books by the demon Dantalian...”
The girl nodded.
”That is the way it is. The king thought he could gain infinite knowledge with the power of that vase world, what even the greatest sages and mages have failed to achieve. The king intended to collect any kind of rare and strange books in which demonic knowledge was written down. Books from the lost ancient libraries. The innumerable amount of books destroyed by the book burners. And finally, the forbidden Grimoires... even if it meant to invade different countries now and then, he wanted to collect all the demonic knowledge in the vase world... a foolish endeavour,” Dalian whispered, and averted her eyes to the ground.
”How so?” Huey asked back with a sceptical mien.
Dalian looked at him pityingly and spoke with a dreadfully sharp tone, ”There are things in the world that n.o.body should know, human.”
For a split second, her voice led one to believe she had become something inhuman.
”Maybe so,” Huey sighed faintly. ”This reminds me: allegedly the collection of Rudolf II later triggered a war when the king of some other country got wind of it, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Holy Roman Empire...”
Boundless grief showed on Huey's face when he muttered ”war”.
Seventeenth century. It happened shortly after the death of Rudolf II.
Just before the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Swedes invaded Prague and forcefully intruded into the residence of the king there. It was told that as good as all of the collectibles there were stolen or went lost.
”Yes... and the vase taken from the castle was later sold to a n.o.ble from another country. To a dilettante on this island separated by the sea.”
Huey looked up surprised.
”Don't tell me it was grandpa who bought this vase?”
The black-clothed girl nodded slowly.
For a while, Huey silently watched her. Then he suddenly held his belly and bent forwards. However, he was not able to completely suppress his laughter, so his shoulders started trembling.
”I see, so that is the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian... Your fairytale was pretty amusing, I have to admit!”
Huey finally started laughing out loud, which was noted by Dalian with a surprised expression.
”...Fairytale?”
”Mhm. A horror story, just like one of grandpa's. Really not bad!” Huey nodded and wiped away the tears from his eyes, before starting to laugh again.
All the while Dalian watched him with big eyes - apparently she couldn't understand his reaction.
Finally, her cheeks turned red from anger surging up inside her. Her closed lips vibrated bitterly.
”...You moron...”
Dalian spoke with a deep, unaccented voice.
”Eh?”
Huey finally stopped laughing. But that didn't calm Dalian's rage by far.
”What kind of... irredeemable moron are you? Getting all haughty just because I showed a little bit of restraint, since you are Wez' grandson... It was foolish of me to expect for even a second that an impertinent character such as you could be the Key Warden. I haven't waited for you, but---”
Her train of words suddenly broke off.
Huey questioningly followed her gaze. Her shocked look lay on Huey's chest. On the key which could be seen between his clothes. A golden key, with a red gem embedded in it.
”That key... how did you get it?”
Dalian's expression was again full of fear.
Huey wordlessly produced the key.
Engraved on the dead-straight shaft was a line from an old poem.
《I ask of thee, art thou mankind?》
It was a strange text, somewhat like a magic spell.
”Do you know something about this key?”
Upon hearing his question, Dalian shook her head without saying a word. With her expressionless face, she seemed somewhat magical, like a delicate porcelain doll. Her appearance was groomed to that extent.
Just when Huey wanted to ask the silent girl once again, he heard a carriage stopping close by the mansion.
Dalian's face tensed when she noticed it as well.
She hurriedly turned her head around like a small animal looking for a place to hide.
Dalian stuffed the rest of the bun into her mouth, stood up and was about to start running. She intended to flee into the bas.e.m.e.nt. Seeing that, Huey let his shoulders slump.
As if to calm down a timid child, he smiled gently. ”Don't worry, that's probably my guide coming to pick me up.”
”Guide?” asked the black-clothed girl, not rea.s.sured.
The moment she pushed the book in her arms against her chest, the bell at the entrance rung.
Part 3
Huey was examining the key hanging around his neck while inside the carriage that had come to pick him up.
Next to him sat Dalian who was busy watching the panorama of the pa.s.sing streets with curious eyes.
After hearing the name of the person who had sent for Huey, Dalian suddenly changed her mind and wanted to accompany him in spite of her refusing to leave the mansion even by a single step before.
She seemed very tense since she was not used to leaving the house.
With her right arm, she still held on to the thick book she had started earlier. And with her left, she clutched the seam of Huey's coat.
”I am very grateful for your acceptance of my master's invitation,” the footman politely said to Huey, sitting opposite him.
He, Richardson in name, was a footman of an affluent figure that maintained a high-cla.s.s hotel in this city.
Huey had made arrangements for a dinner with Richardson's master.
”My master, Henry Conrad, was an old friend of Lord Wesley Disward, which is why he was devastated by the news of the lord's pa.s.sing...,” said Richardson while wiping sweat off his brow.
In spite of his polite choice of words, he seemed oddly tense.
It was not Huey's gaze he shunned, but Dalian's.
It almost seemed like the footman feared the little girl.
Perhaps he had heard of some kind of repute the girl in black had. The fact that he did not rebuke her when she suddenly tagged along substantiated that idea.
”...Therefore it is our pleasure to be able to welcome you as the lord's son today. Please make yourself at home.”
”Well, actually I am the grandson... not the son.”
Huey softly corrected him and took an upright posture.
”The pleasure is all mine. I am indebted to mister Conrad for allowing my sudden visit. Apparently he shared my grandpa's... no, my grandfather's pa.s.sion. I have been looking forward to an occasion to see his collection for a long time.”
”My master will certainly be delighted to hear that. Furthermore, if you could please leave the accommodations for tonight to me. I have been told by my master to take care of it.”
”Much obliged.”
Huey showed the sincere-looking footman a friendly smile.
Dalian observed their exchange of words wordlessly, but after a while, she whispered to Huey. ”Hey... what are you up to?”
”What do you mean?”
”What are you thinking, leisurely leaving for Henry Conrad's estate just like that? You can't tell me you don't know that it was him who killed Wez. In order to steal an old book that Wez had purchased in an auction, that man made it seem like a robbery and---”
”I am aware of that rumour,” Huey shook his head without erasing his smile. ”But there is no proof. Therefore, I thought I'd investigate it myself. The one thing we definitely can't rely on is the local police after all.”
With those words, he touched the slight bulge on his coat. He did so without even noticing. This movement he had taken to resembled a soldier habitually checking for his gun.
”There is a proof.”
Dalian quietly whispered. Her view was turned towards the sky beyond the window. It's been some time since sunset. A strangely red moon shone down from the night sky shrouded in darkness.
Huey gave Dalian a slightly puzzled look.
”Tonight there is a full moon. If it really was Conrad who stole that book, then he should currently be seeing what n.o.body should ever be allowed to see.”
”...what are you talking about, Dalian?”
Dalian only calmly shook her head upon Huey's question.
”You will understand soon. As long as you are permitted to see...”
Huey listened to her enigmatic, auspicious words in silence.
He beheld her even face, lit by moonlight, as if trying to see through her character.
”You are quite a peculiar girl, Dalian,” Huey finally said with a deep sigh, shrugging.
”And you are a truly rude man,” she replied while staring at Huey from the side, pouting.
”It is the building that has come into view just now.”
When the carriage finally left the forest behind, the footman pointed at a manor on top of a hill.
It was a large house, built in Tudor style.
The building itself was in no way inferior to the country estates of n.o.bles. Most likely there were more than a hundred rooms.