Chapter 88
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Behind the Fireplace
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The room was pitch-dark. We hadn’t lit the torches yet. Ethan was the first to step slowly inside. Even so, moonlight shone through the window, so it wasn't impossible to see.
I took a lighter from a desk drawer and lit the torches and candles. In the meantime, Ethan and Harrison were examining various parts of the room.
“What is this? It’s creepy. Is it a ghost? A ghost? This is an abandoned house, after all. It might have been abandoned because someone died here.”
Amy muttered, having followed us out. I thought her words sounded quite plausible, but Jose just tutted.
“There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
“How narrow-minded. What about the monsters, then? Did you think creatures like that existed in the world?”
Ethan, who had been scanning the room, shot an irritated glare at Jose and Amy.
“Tch, the children should go back inside.”
Knox said, gesturing toward Amy and Jose from his spot at the entrance.
“That’s right. The children should go back.”
At Knox’s words, Amy and Jose protested that they weren’t children.
While Amy and Jose grumbled, I searched the room diligently, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find anything that could have made that sound.
It was enough to make me wonder if it really was a ghost, just as Amy had said. The whole situation was utterly baffling.
“Help me.”
Just then, the voice came again from somewhere.
For a moment, silence hung in the room. Everyone stared at each other, their faces filled with shock.
“Aah! I told you! It’s a ghost!”
Amy’s shriek cut through the silence. Jose glanced nervously at the rest of us before finally dragging Amy back toward the banquet hall.
Harrison and Ethan quickly swept their eyes over our surroundings, while Knox stood at the entrance, staring fixedly at the fireplace.
“What is it?”
I asked Knox. His expression as he gazed at the fireplace was far from ordinary.
Only then did Knox pull his gaze from the fireplace to look at me. Ethan and Harrison also paused what they were doing to watch him.
“Miss Cherry, doesn’t that fireplace seem a bit odd to you?”
At Knox’s words, we all turned to look at the fireplace.
‘Come to think of it…’
Hadn’t I tried and failed to use that fireplace before? There was no visible opening for the smoke to escape.
The chimney seemed to be blocked. It was as if its true purpose wasn’t to be a fireplace at all.
Heeding Knox’s words, I approached the fireplace and knelt. I recalled finding what looked like a piece of a man’s jacket inside the fire grate last time.
I peered inside, wondering if the sound had come from the chimney.
“I don’t see anything unusual.”
Ethan’s low voice sounded from right behind my ear. Harrison calmly knelt beside me on one knee and peered into the grate.
“What are these?”
Harrison had found the same piece of a man’s jacket I’d discovered before, along with a piece of chalk.
‘Why would there be chalk here?’
There didn’t seem to be any use for chalk in this room.
*Thump—*
Just then, a sound came from within the fireplace wall.
Crouching down, I flinched in surprise and nearly fell backward. Ethan, who was right behind me, caught me just before I hit the floor.
“Thank you.”
I thanked him and turned my attention back to the fireplace. Harrison and Knox were now carefully examining the inside, running their hands over its surface.
“The sound is definitely coming from behind this wall.”
Harrison agreed with Knox, fumbling along the wall. Just then,
*Thump, thump—*
Once again, it sounded as if someone was knocking from the other side of the wall. Even Ethan, who was helping me up, looked perplexed.
“What the hell. It really sounds like something’s behind there. Shouldn’t we just break down the wall?”
“There might be a monster inside.”
As I muttered, Ethan pulled the revolver from his belt.
“If it’s a monster, I’ll blow its head clean off.”
Just as Ethan finished loading his revolver, I noticed the ashes in the fire grate stirring gently, as if from a faint breeze.
The chimney was supposed to be blocked, so where was a draft coming from?
“Wait.”
I moved closer to the fireplace. I grabbed the fire grate to move it aside, but…
*Clunk.*
Suddenly, the wall opened.
“Fuck, this is insane.”
“…I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Ethan and Knox spoke one after the other. Harrison helped me pull the grate with all his might.
Pulling the grate toward me caused the floor to slide, opening the wall like a sliding door.
*Clatter—*
Together, Harrison and I pulled the grate, stepping backward.
*Clank—*
At last, the wall was fully open.
Beyond the wall, it was pitch-dark. With no torchlight, I couldn't see inside clearly, but I recognized the figure before me.
I didn’t know where it led, but a young woman lay collapsed at the entrance to the dark passageway.
Her light brown hair, styled in a low bun, was a mess. The palms of her hands were covered in blood where she lay.
I knew who she was.
“Susanna!”
I called out her name instantly and reached into the fireplace, only for my dress sleeve to rip.
Only then did I realize why that scrap of fabric had been in the fire grate.
But right now, all that mattered was Susanna.
“Are you okay?”
I pushed past Harrison, scooped Susanna into my arms, and carried her out.
My mind was reeling. I couldn’t understand what was happening. Hadn’t Susanna turned into a monster? If not, then the monsters in the banquet hall, and Susanna’s dress…
It was only then that I realized Susanna was just in her chemise.
Her outer garments in the banquet hall must have been torn off as she tried to escape. Seeing her condition now, it was the only explanation.
Susanna was unconscious and frail. It made sense; she must have been trapped in here for weeks, not days, without anything to eat or drink.
I rushed her to my room and laid her on my bed. After checking her breathing, I called for Knox.
“Mr. Ludpersher, hurry. Come here, quickly.”
Shaken from his shock, Knox finally came to his senses and rushed to my side. Ethan and Harrison, who had been staring at the fireplace, also gathered by the bed.
Hearing the commotion, the others gathered at the doorway. Of course, I was in no state to pay them any attention.
Susanna was burning up. Both her hands were bloody, as if she had been pounding relentlessly on the wall while trapped behind the fireplace.
The injuries on her shoulders and forearms were also severe, as if she had slammed her body against it as well. These were definitely not monster bites.
“We need water and a towel, first. Bringing down the fever is the priority. I’ll tend to her wounds after we get some medicine in her.”
At Knox’s words, Vanilla, who was standing nearby, hurried to the kitchen to fetch water from the cistern.
In the meantime, Amy and Jose, who had returned to the room, sat quietly in a corner. We turned our attention back to Susanna, who was groaning in pain.
“I thought she was dead.”
I sat numbly by the bed, holding Susanna’s hand. Her sweat-drenched hair was plastered to her forehead, and I gently brushed it aside.
“I should have searched harder. Just a little harder…”
As I muttered, I suddenly recalled the voices I had heard in this room.
“Don’t go.”
“Help me.”
So those had been Susanna’s desperate cries before she lost consciousness. She had been calling out to me for help. The hand holding hers began to tremble.
How terrified she must have been. I didn’t want to imagine what might have happened if we had been even a moment later.
“This isn’t your fault. It couldn’t be helped. You know what the situation was like.”
Ethan said to me then. Harrison simply brought a blanket and draped it silently over my shoulders.
“Who is she?”
Amy, who must have been curious the whole time, finally voiced the question. The others looked at me, seemingly wondering the same thing.
“She’s a maid I care for deeply. She went missing right after the world fell apart. To think she was trapped in here all this time…”
Just then, Vanilla returned with the water. Emma immediately came forward to wipe Susanna’s face and body with a towel, also cleaning her hands so the wounds could be treated.
Knox sat beside the bed and treated Susanna’s hands, while Emma diligently wiped her face with a cool, damp cloth.
I sat on the floor beside Knox, gazing endlessly at Susanna. Her face, which always held an angelic smile, was now completely drained of color.
How difficult it must have been, trapped in that small, dark space. And yet, I was so grateful that she was alive.
“Shouldn’t we check this out? Are we just going to leave it open?”
Jose said, peering intently at the fireplace. Harrison and Ethan glared at him in unison, a silent command to be quiet. Jose paled slightly and quickly shut his mouth.
“She’s dehydrated. We need more water.”
Knox said, checking Susanna’s condition after he finished treating her hands.
“I’ll go this time.”
Emma rose to her feet.
“Thank you, Emma. There’s a cistern in the kitchen. You can get water from there.”
Emma nodded as if she already knew and left the room. Ethan remained on guard in front of the fireplace, while Harrison stood at the foot of the bed, observing the situation.
Watching over Susanna, I asked Knox,
“Do you think she had no water? It’s been so long without any… how is she…”
“It’s impossible that she had no water at all. Do you know how many days it’s been since she was trapped in here?”
“About two weeks, I think.”
“A person can only survive for three days without water.”
But Susanna had been trapped in that dark passage for nearly two weeks.