Welcome to the Rose Mansion - Chapter 88
The moment her mother died, Richelle’s way out disappeared. No, Richelle herself had destroyed it. Now, the only path left for her was to move forward.
Alan, who had been watching Richelle silently, suddenly asked.
“Just coming to meet me was dangerous enough. Aren’t you afraid of this mansion? What exactly are you trying to achieve by risking your life like this?”
“A choice without lingering regrets.”
Richelle picked up the note on the table. Her fingers gently traced over the letters.
“Up until now… I’ve had too many regrets. Those regrets slowly ate away at me, pulling me into an endless swamp of misery.”
“…”
“If I run away now just to keep myself safe, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I don’t want that anymore.”
Richelle sighed softly and lifted her head. The veins stood out on Alan’s tightly clenched hand.
Richelle waited until the boy had gathered his thoughts. It took a while before he finally parted his lips.
“There’s no guarantee that facing it head-on will improve the situation. In fact, it’s more likely to make things worse. What if you regret not running away when you had the chance?”
“That would be something I’d have to deal with. But you know, Young Master Otis, I find that I regret the things I didn’t do more deeply than the things I did.”
It was always like that. She regretted not talking more with her mother. Not standing up to Mr. Thomas, who pressured her to repay the money. Not seizing countless opportunities she avoided out of fear.
When she lay in bed, the problems she chose not to face bubbled up around her. The self-loathing and guilt choked her.
Running away never solves the problem. The problems she ignored always came back in some form eventually.
She realized this too late.
Richelle took a small breath and met Alan Otis’s hostile gaze squarely.
“And besides, my mother is already dead. Even if the opponent is royalty, shouldn’t I at least spit in their face?”
The boy’s eyes wavered. His shoulders, which had been tightly tensed, drooped.
“…You’re right.”
Alan laughed bitterly and clenched and unclenched his hands a few times. His hands, which had been tightly gripped for so long, were trembling slightly.
He spoke again when the nail marks on his palms began to fade.
“I don’t know exactly what Rogéros Walter is. One of the past heads of the Otis family defined him as a demon created by human desire.”
Alan intertwined his fingers and leaned forward.
“That guy almost never talks about himself. The story I’m about to tell you is something I heard from my father when he was still sane. And he must have heard it from his father as well. So it might not be entirely accurate.”
“Anything is fine. Please tell me.”
“…The story begins with Neil Otis, the first head of the Otis family.”
This was before Otis was known as the golden hand. One day, when Neil Otis was struggling with poverty and looking for a way to revive the Otis family, an extraordinarily beautiful man appeared before him.
The man introduced himself as Rogéros.
“Rogéros offered to grant Neil Otis’s wishes in exchange for a price. Neil Otis accepted, and from that day on, every venture he touched turned into a massive success.”
“And, that price…”
“I don’t know. The nature of the price has not been passed down. In any case, Neil Otis used the wealth he gained to purchase Bertrand. He married a noble lady, had a son, and enjoyed a happy life. But then Rogéros reappeared.”
Rogéros demanded an additional price from Neil Otis.
The price was none other than the Bertrand mansion and everything in it.
“Neil Otis tried to refuse, but how could he overcome an entity with supernatural powers? In the end, Bertrand fell entirely into Rogéros’s hands. From that day, Bertrand became a literal hell.”
The anomaly started in the garden. Roses sprouted among the beautifully arranged flowers. The overwhelming scent of roses spread throughout the mansion.
“You know the Bertrand roses, don’t you? They’re markedly different from ordinary roses, those horrifying things.”
“Yes.”
“Bertrand’s roses are inhabited by something similar to Rogéros, but of a lower rank. Rogéros brought them when he took over the mansion. The beings roaming the corridors at night are those things.”
The roses took over the bodies of the servants, transforming them into entirely different beings. Those soaked in the scent of roses became beasts blinded by desire.
Thus began the long tragedy of the mansion.
