Chapter 124
“Why? A ten-year age gap is socially frowned upon, but a century is somehow allowed, right?”
“Seriously… who even says that?”
“Isn’t that how it’s always been?”
Cassius cupped his face like a flower.
“Especially for someone like me, a hundred years older, with this… immortal beauty.”
“Cut it out, Cassius.”
“Yes, Lady.”
Eugenie clicked her tongue at the cheeky reply. Setting aside the fact that the husbands’ average age had just gone way up…
“This place became an abandoned mine roughly a hundred years ago, right, Percival? So that would be 1805?”
“Yes. The mine was suddenly depleted of magic stones and was shut down.”
“Oh. The year I was modified.”
Cassius agreed brightly, and Eugenie slowly nodded.
“So perhaps something happened here during the Sabnac family’s modification of Cassius. Maybe it’s why the mine was abandoned right after that experiment…”
And the person behind that ‘something’ was…
‘Obviously that perverted tree guy.’
She already had suspicions. But she hoped there’d be something here to deal a blow not just to him, but to the connected Schroder family as well.
Ding!
The elevator chimed again, reaching another level. As the doors opened, darkness greeted the group once more. This was finally the mine’s last level.
They had searched the previous levels but found nothing. Carter shone his lamp on the mine walls, muttering,
“This looks… ordinary.”
“Same to me.”
Percival raised his violet eyes to look around. The final level had been hollowed out only to allow the elevator’s passage; the rest was sealed off, probably not originally meant for excavation.
Yet Cassius stared straight ahead, wearing a faint, grim smile. He gently asked Eugenie, who stood motionless beside him,
“How does it look to you, Lady?”
“…Ugh.”
“I think you’re seeing its true form right now.”
Eugenie twisted her lips into a grimace that one makes after witnessing something hideous.
“Disgusting. Very much so.”
“Right? Our family has a bit of a taste for that sort of thing.”
“Sigh.”
On the wall opposite Eugenie and Cassius was a thoroughly grotesque scene. Bones were embedded densely in a large pattern, evoking revulsion in any observer.
‘Do we have to push this wall?’
Though it made her feel very uneasy, if they had to look inside…
Eugenie touched the wall where no bones protruded, feeling the wavering heat inside her body.
“Ugh…!”
“Eugenie, be careful with your hand—”
Before Carter or Percival could finish their warning, Eugenie pushed with magic and the heavy wall swung open like a revolving door.
As a passage large enough for a person opened, Carter glanced between the darkness inside and Eugenie.
“When did you get this strong? I’ll call you whenever I need a bottle opener from now on.”
“You’re so annoying, Carter. Let’s go inside.”
The husbands’ pleased smiles made her cheeks flush, but their smiles and Eugenie’s blush quickly faded after seeing the relics inside.
The room was filled with rusted, dust-covered experimental tools.
“To think they hid this place here.”
Percival lamented, surveying the endless rooms and corridors.
“They’ve built their ant nest beneath the mine.”
“No wonder the Troys family didn’t discover it… But don’t you hear water running somewhere?”
Eugenie held up her lamp and looked around, hearing what seemed like a bubbling stream.
“That must be underground water flowing below.”
Percival tapped the ground with his boot.
“There’s been a source of underground water here for ages. As we get closer, it must sound louder.”
“Ah.”
“The castle once used it as drinking water, but later switched to a closer source.”
“Hmm, I see…”
Eugenie frowned.
‘Not much different from what Cassius remembered.’
Seems like the sealed-off area held no clues. She felt deflated, thinking they had just wasted time wandering a dusty, damp, dark place.
“Sorry everyone, but I might have made a wrong guess… huh?”
Before she could finish, Eugenie looked up at Percival with wide eyes.
“Percival, are you alright?”
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