Welcome to the Rose Mansion - Chapter 61
Someone had broken into her room.
Richelle pushed the empty suitcase aside and dashed out of the dress room. The usual view of the bedroom approached her, carrying an eerie awkwardness.
She slowly rolled her eyes around the room. Was there anything different? Now that she noticed, the blanket seemed slightly askew. Not only that, the direction of the sofa, the bookshelf, the desk, and the chairs…
Her heart pounded furiously. Her eyes felt like they were burning with heat.
“…Snap out of it!”
She slapped her cheeks hard with both hands. Her mind, loosening with dismay, tightened up just a bit. Richelle took a deep breath and calmly strategized.
‘Unless I allow it, it’s impossible for someone to enter this room.’
She was sure of it because she had experienced it herself. Even the servant who persistently followed her would only stay by the door once refused.
However, the fact that entry was possible for work-related reasons bothered her…
Could it have been the cleaning maid?
No, that couldn’t be. The time for cleaning Richelle’s room was always from 2 PM to 3 PM. They never came beyond that time.
It was now 4 PM, and today she had personally checked that the cleaning was done before locking the door. Until then, the marmalade had definitely been in its place. Therefore, this incident was not the act of someone who entered for ‘work-related reasons.’
Richelle examined the door to her room. There were no signs that someone had forcibly opened the locked door. It had been securely locked when she returned.
She looked around the room again. She had initially thought the positions of things were slightly altered due to the panic the intruder caused, but upon calming down and inspecting, nothing had changed.
‘Did they not touch anything else, or did they clean up perfectly after themselves?’
Or, perhaps the marmalade had been the sole target from the start.
Richelle recalled Bertrand’s rules once more. The ‘it’ that likes meat dishes and would come if someone possessed outside food.
What is ‘it’? If the intruder’s identity was truly ‘it’, how did it enter a locked room? Unlike the ‘they’ vaguely mentioned in the rules, could this entity freely enter and exit anyone’s bedroom? Did it possess a set of keys that could open all doors?
If it had merely taken the marmalade and left, perhaps that was fortunate.
She returned to the dress room. Richelle’s gaze swept over the disarrayed floor and scanned the room.
Her bedroom’s attached walk-in closet was shaped with three walls, excluding the one with the door, filled densely with wardrobes. Richelle, who did not have many clothes, was using only one of these wardrobes.
Normally, there was no reason for her to open the other wardrobe doors.
Richelle stared intently at the wardrobe in front of her. It was not a misconception.
The door of the wardrobe was slightly ajar. Definitely a trace left by the intruder.
‘Surely, they aren’t hiding inside.’
She stared quietly at the wardrobe. There was no sign of movement. Richelle hesitated for a moment, then approached the wardrobe. It was frightening, but if she didn’t accurately figure out the intruder now, she could never trust the safety of her bedroom again.
Her trembling hand grasped the handle. Rather than opening it slowly, better to do it all at once!
With a swing.
“…Haah.”
Contrary to the intense tension she had carried, there was nothing inside the wardrobe. Richelle awkwardly cleared her throat and was about to close the door when she suddenly stopped her motion.
‘The wood grain pattern on the wall of the wardrobe…’
It was slightly misaligned.
She reached out and touched the wall. It wobbled weakly. Feeling around, she found a handle-like depression in the left corner. Richelle placed her fingers in the depression and shook it. The wall of the wardrobe slid open like a sliding door, revealing what was behind it.
There was…
“…A door?”
Unquestionably a solid, white door.
She stared blankly at the door. What room was across the dress room? Considering the layout, it was probably the children’s room…
“Impossible.”
It felt like she had been struck on the head with a giant meat hammer. Impossible, impossible!
Richelle gathered her long skirt in her hands and dashed out of the bedroom. The destination wasn’t far away—the children’s room. The room that belonged to Richelle as well as the twins.
She kicked open the door. The children were nowhere to be found. They had been playing with dolls until she stepped out to meet the head maid for a moment.
Gasping for breath, Richelle turned her gaze toward the wall adjoining her room. An exquisite tapestry embroidered with deer covered the wall.
“No, please.”
Absentmindedly chewing on her lip, she carefully drew back the tapestry. And there, as expected…
…was a white door.
Although she prayed it wasn’t so, when she opened the door, she saw her dress room. She could no longer deny it.
The twins who had entered the dress room had taken Richelle’s marmalade.
