Chapter 25
“…You’ve seen a lot, haven’t you? That amount won’t kill you instantly. And it didn’t rain yesterday.”
“What? It didn’t rain? I thought I heard rain… Oh, I must have been confused. …Then if it’s not arsenic, what could it be? Is the cause of death not poisoning?”
Regina, who had momentarily confused her dream with reality, tilted her head and looked down at the teacup lying tilted on the desk. Noah then removed the white gloves he was wearing, dipped his finger in the remaining tea, tasted it, and answered.
“It is poisoning. Lily of the valley root was mixed into the black tea. Enough was added to cause instant death with just a small sip.”
Regina, who had been watching blankly, forgetting to stop him due to the naturalness of his actions, belatedly startled.
“…Huh?! Did you just put poisoned tea in your mouth?!”
“Don’t make a fuss, I won’t die from this. I’m not human. You’re the same, want to try it?”
“No, no. I’m fine!”
Noah chuckled at Regina, who was pale and vehemently refusing, and approached the side of the bookshelf to examine the wall. He tapped the wall as he moved sideways, then stopped at a certain point and examined that area. Regina, having calmed her startled heart, approached Noah and picked up a few books from the bookshelf.
“By the way, what have you been doing?”
“When I walked down the corridor, I noticed this area was unusually long. It was different from how it looked from inside. So I thought there might be something behind here.”
“Ah, I’ve seen that in novels too. Could there be a secret place? For example, removing a book from the bookshelf or turning an ornament in a different direction to open a wall door?”
-Rumble rumble.
As soon as she finished speaking, the wall where Noah was standing shook slightly and a gap appeared.
“Oh my…”
Regina looked wide-eyed, alternating between the books in her hand and the wall. Noah muttered, looking at the wall that had opened before him, as if dumbfounded.
“…What on earth is the title of that detective novel you said you read?”
“…Haha.”
Regina laughed awkwardly and quietly placed the books she was holding on the desk.
* * *
The space behind the wall was so narrow that it would be cramped with just two or three people. However, the bizarreness that filled the space was so overwhelming that there was no time to feel claustrophobic. Regina, who had stepped inside, stumbled back.
“Whoa, that startled me…!”
The entire walls of the space, even the ceiling, were densely covered with portraits. The frames of varying sizes contained images of women, all of whom had red hair. Just standing in that space was enough to feel the intense obsession towards red-haired women.
A chill ran down her spine, as if hearing the sound of insect wings near her ear. Regina brushed off her shoulders a few times as if shaking off something invisible and quickly left the space. Suddenly, she remembered the story of the red-haired maid she had heard from the old coachman on the way.
“Could it be, is the woman in this picture that dead maid?”
As Regina turned around with a changed expression, realizing something, Noah shook his head. He examined the portraits carefully and answered.
“No, not a maid. Looking at the clothes, jewelry, and sitting posture, she’s a noblewoman. Well, the answer is obvious, isn’t it? It must be Viscountess Epola. If you look closely at the ring and necklace here, you can see the Epola family crest engraved. Moreover, these pictures aren’t of just one person. The faces are different. Roughly speaking, there seem to be about three different women.”
“Then, could it be…! The dead maid wasn’t a maid but the viscountess?”
“…Well, it’s too early to be certain she’s dead just based on what that old coachman said. She could still be alive, couldn’t she?”
Regina blinked at this reasonably valid point. It was certainly true. However, when she considered the assumption that ‘she might be alive,’ Regina tilted her head. Something felt off.
“That’s true…. But why do I feel certain that ‘she is dead’?”
“…What?”
“It’s strange to me too, but I can’t explain it, I just have that feeling.”
Noah furrowed his brow at these words. He had been fixated on the portraits, but now he turned to look at Regina.
“…Don’t tell me, did you have a dream yesterday?”
Regina nodded readily to Noah’s question.
“Huh? Oh, yes! I had a short dream where it was raining heavily and a woman was in a forest. I could hear a baby crying nearby, and then I woke up…”
Regina trailed off, her eyes widening as if realizing something.
“Could it be… Did I do it again?”
“Yes, it seems you’ve absorbed a Black Fairy’s memories, like last time.”
However, last time she had clearly absorbed the Black Fairy’s corpse before dreaming. This time, she hadn’t even touched a Black Fairy, let alone its corpse, so why did she have the dream?
“…Ah, I see!”
Suddenly, a brief realization crossed Noah’s mind.
“What, what is it?”
Seeing Noah’s expression change, Regina hunched her body defensively at his sudden shift in attitude.
“You’ve already made contact with a Black Fairy! When was it? Who brushed against you or bumped into you since we entered this mansion?”
Despite the successive questions, Regina couldn’t give a proper answer. She couldn’t think of anything.
“I don’t know. There wasn’t anyone, was there? Everyone kept their distance, and I carried my own luggage. In my room, they just left what I needed without even exchanging words.”
“But if you had a dream, you must have already made contact with a Black Fairy. It seems that when you touch a Black Fairy, you absorb their power or memories.”
“But I can’t think of anything right now.”
“Alright, take your time to recall. And even if you remember, don’t approach alone. As you’ve already experienced, Black Fairies who have molted are almost devoid of reason. They’re very aggressive because they only think about survival. I’m telling you not to approach carelessly and get into trouble.”
Regina, who was already pained by seeing the Black Fairy’s memories, inwardly winced at his words. Although she was moved by sympathy, she nodded, remembering the violence of the Black Fairy she had seen at Margaret’s mansion.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Noah, who had been looking at her with suspicious eyes as she readily agreed, soon turned his head back to the portraits.
The red-haired women in the portraits were all wearing green dresses. And the viscountess’s room was wallpapered in the same color. Even the unusually small window. He slowly looked around again.
‘If we rule out the possibility that the viscountess is alive…’
Noah thought that perhaps Regina’s casual deduction when she first saw this room might be correct.
Death by arsenic poisoning.
‘Even if it wasn’t instant death, the “viscountesses” were probably slowly poisoned by arsenic from the dye painted in this room and the dresses the viscount made them wear.’
He likely dressed her in maid’s clothing and disposed of her in the forest, thinking she was already dead. The servant who moved the body probably didn’t know the viscountess’s face, as she spent most of her time confined to her room. If they had known, they would have been disposed of as well.
The servant mistook the viscountess for a maid based on the clothes the body was wearing, and if a Black Fairy that happened to be near the discarded body absorbed it, it could explain the sudden disappearance of the corpse.
-Click.
Noah took out his pocket watch again and examined it. The place the watch hands were pointing to hadn’t changed since yesterday. It meant there was still a Black Fairy in this mansion.
“If so, where on earth is it hiding?”
If it had taken on the appearance of the viscountess, it would be impossible to hide as a servant. This meant it was secretly hiding somewhere in this vast mansion, but would it be possible to hide for nearly a month without anyone’s cooperation?
“…I need to call the butler.”
“Yes! I thought he was suspicious too. Let’s call him quickly!”
Hearing Noah’s words as he came out of the secret space, Regina quickly ran to the bed and pulled down the cord to summon a servant. Of course, she didn’t forget to be careful not to brush against the cloth covering the viscount’s corpse as she crossed the room.
* * *
-Knock knock.
“You called for me.”
A moment later, there was a knock at the door, and the somewhat pale butler entered.
“Yes, come in.”
Noah, standing by the window next to the desk, turned to him and spoke. The window was abnormally small, too small for a person to exit, which made Noah’s presence in front of it even more prominent.
At Noah’s command, the butler stepped into the room, then stopped abruptly. He had just noticed the exposed secret space in the right wall. Seeing this reaction, Noah could be certain. The butler knew about this space.
“…”
“Well, don’t you have anything to say?”
The butler, who had been staring blankly at the space beyond the wall with a dazed expression, seemed to come to his senses at Noah’s question and turned his head. He looked into Noah’s eyes for a moment, then laughed dejectedly and lowered his head.
“Ah… I see. You must have figured it all out. Well, what’s the point in me hiding anything now, when the person in question is dead.”
Still with his head bowed, he looked down at the white cloth covering the viscount’s corpse and continued speaking as if he had given up everything.
“The viscount, or rather, the young master, had a strong obsession with the color red since childhood. He collected red jewels, red clothes, rare animals with red fur, and so on. But it wasn’t to an excessive degree, so no one took it too seriously. This strange obsession started to go overboard after the young master got married.”
The butler’s face was lost in memories, as if recalling the viscount’s childhood. But soon his expression darkened. He hesitated several times, as if overwhelmed by guilt, but didn’t stop speaking.
“…When the first viscountess started showing strange symptoms, no one suspected anything. We just thought she must be feeling suffocated in this rural area, coming from the capital.”
“The first? You mean he married multiple times?”
The butler nodded at Regina’s question.
“Yes, this wife is the third. And they all…”
“Died, I suppose. Was the cause of death arsenic poisoning?”
Regina turned to Noah in surprise at these words. He continued, pointing to the space inside the wall.
“Looking at the portraits hanging behind that wall, all the dresses are green to a sickening degree. The room here is the same. Did he use dye containing arsenic in the clothes and wallpaper and slowly kill them by absorbing it through the skin? You said rumors of a maid’s death circulated about a month ago, so I guess it rained around that time? The wallpaper would have absorbed moisture, increasing the arsenic concentration in the room.”
“…That’s correct. There was a tremendous downpour for three days. In fact, the third wife seemed to have noticed the true nature of this room early on. Unlike the previous wives, she was quite clever in many ways. It seems she tried to escape, but…”
“The viscount confined her in this room before that. Keeping the baby in another room as a hostage.”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
The butler’s expression contorted as he answered, his voice strained. He seemed to realize that he too was no different from an accomplice, knowing everything but being unable to do anything but watch.
