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Chapter 36
“Ellie, you don’t really need to know Lady Alice Noma’s face. If it’s a ghost and it looks like an old woman, then it’s obviously Lady Alice Noma. There can’t be any other ghosts in this mansion, right?”
“Yeah. A noble dress, and her hair all stiffly pinned up in that old-fashioned style.”
Amy and Carol spoke one after the other, as if they had personally witnessed Lady Alice Noma’s ghost.
“So there are maids who actually saw this old woman ghost?”
“Yes! Margaret and Grace from the west wing kitchen saw her! I heard it directly from them!”
Carol emphasized that she wasn’t lying by naming real witnesses.
“They said it happened the night before yesterday. They had finished work late and were heading quickly back to their rooms in the annex, passing through the second-floor corridor of the west wing. But then, the candles they had lit in the corridor suddenly went out—without any wind.”
“They were startled because it suddenly went dark, and then a woman in black clothes with gray hair suddenly passed by over there! She was muttering something incomprehensible!”
“I’ve heard that when a ghost passes by, candles go out suddenly! It must be Lady Alice Noma’s ghost!”
Amy nodded in agreement, and Carol grew even more excited.
“It was late at night, and she wasn’t even holding a candle.”
“Of course not! She’s a ghost! It would be funny if a ghost carried a candle. Ghosts hate light!”
“She just walked past them, ignoring the maids completely, staring straight ahead. No footsteps either!”
“Ghosts don’t have feet!”
“They couldn’t confirm under her dress, but they were sure she had no feet. That’s why she made no sound and disappeared into the darkness.”
Carol nodded.
“In any case, they were so terrified that they ran straight back to the annex. They were so scared they couldn’t even speak. Margaret only burst into tears after reaching the annex.”
“And that’s it? They just ran away?”
I interrupted after hearing that much.
“Didn’t they chase after her to check her face?”
“What are you talking about? Chase a ghost? And get cursed?”
Before Carol could respond, Amy shuddered and snapped at me. I was speechless.
“So it might not even be a real ghost, right?”
“Think about the description! Who else could it be but Lady Alice Noma’s ghost?”
“No, I am thinking about it.”
I shook my head.
“Lady Melissa Noma is similar too. She’s an elderly woman, wears old-fashioned dresses, has gray hair pinned up. And she sometimes comes to the east wing at night to look at paintings in the study. Maybe the maids just saw her returning from the east wing to the west wing that night.”
Amy and Carol exchanged looks, then both shook their heads.
“Come on, Margaret and Grace know Lady Melissa Noma’s face. They wouldn’t make such a stupid mistake.”
“It was late at night. There are ghost rumors in this mansion, and someone recently died suddenly. The atmosphere is already tense.
In that situation, candles suddenly go out, it’s dark, no one is there, and then someone mutters strange words and walks past. Even if it’s someone you know, you could easily mistake them.”
“But the candle went out on its own.”
“It must’ve been wind. They were just too panicked to notice properly.”
At my objection, both Amy and Carol fell silent. After thinking for a moment, Carol shrugged.
“Your explanation makes sense too. But there are still mysteries in this world. There’s still a chance it really was Lady Alice Noma’s ghost.”
“Right. And there’s also the painting.”
Amy added.
“If it wasn’t Lady Alice Noma’s ghost, the painting wouldn’t have fallen in exactly the same way. Whether seen or not, the ghost of Lady Alice Noma is definitely wandering this mansion.”
‘Even if it isn’t a ghost, a painting can still fall.’
There was something bothering me about the recent rumors.
‘If people hadn’t seen that painting of <“Alice, who only loved dancing, falls and breaks her leg”> on the floor, would the rumor that Jane committed suicide have spread so quickly?’
During the police investigation, Jane’s death was ruled an accident, and that seemed correct based on the circumstances.
But among the maids, a rumor spread that Jane had been possessed by Lady Alice Noma’s ghost and committed suicide. Because a painting resembling the circumstances of her death was found on the floor, people easily believed it was a ghost’s curse.
‘Even though I deliberately covered it up, someone still spread rumors about the painting.’
I thought carefully.
‘Maybe someone did it on purpose? To spread rumors of a ghost’s curse and make the Plennigan mansion feel ominous? But why would someone do that?’
There was definitely something here. But I still couldn’t figure out what it was.
Once the police investigation ended, the Plennigan mansion was busy preparing Jane’s funeral.
The family considered Jane’s late return from the dance party and her death an embarrassment, and wanted to finish the funeral quickly, as if discarding an unpleasant matter.
But at the same time, they had to maintain the dignity of the family. Even if rushed, they couldn’t use a cheap coffin or a poorly made tombstone. Proper arrangements took time and effort.
Edward was furious from the morning because the tombstone had been ordered incorrectly. He shouted at Lande, the butler, saying he couldn’t even write letters properly.
Most paperwork and correspondence were done in the second-floor study of the east wing. The study door was, unfortunately, wide open. I, assigned to the second floor of the east wing, had no choice but to hear his yelling.
‘And there’s also the honored guest, Count Fenwood, in the east wing…’
Annoyed, I absentmindedly brushed dust off a flower vase in the hallway.
‘Shouldn’t he be more mindful? Why is he losing his temper like that…’
It was almost time to clean the study, but there was no need to enter a place where another outburst might happen. I decided to postpone it and clean Eugenia’s room first.
Eugenia had left right after breakfast, saying she had something to do. I planned to quickly clean while the room was empty.
She kept her room quite clean, so there wasn’t much to worry about. Usually, I just aired the room, dusted the corners, and emptied the trash.
But that day, papers were scattered all over the desk. I frowned slightly.
‘Eugenia is a playwright, right? Maybe she was working on something?’
From a maid’s perspective, this was troublesome. I couldn’t tell which papers could be discarded and which couldn’t, and if I left them, I might be accused of neglecting my work.
I tried to organize them and glanced at the papers. Then something caught my eye.
< Aileen – “Alice, who pretended to be educated, is struck by books thrown by people.”
Anne – “Alice, who flirted with men, is thrown upside down into water.”
Jane – “Alice, who only loved dancing, falls and breaks her leg.” >
Order of paintings in the study – Alice struck by books, Alice thrown into water, Alice stripped of her wealth, Alice breaking her leg.
Order of the paintings? >
Eugenia seemed to be thinking about her cousins’ deaths in relation to the paintings.
‘Now that I think about it, the order of paintings in the study…’
Because I saw them every time I cleaned, I could recall them clearly even with my eyes closed.
There wasn’t really a narrative order, but there was an arrangement in the study.
If we take the painting <“Alice, who pretends to be educated, is struck by books thrown by people”> where Aileen’s body was found as the starting point, then the current order matched Eugenia’s notes. After the broken-leg Alice came the soiled Alice, the Alice with stomach illness, and the Alice who is expelled from her home.
Until now, I had only considered whether the deaths matched the paintings. I had never thought about the order of the frames.
‘Maybe Eugenia is right—maybe a murderer is killing people in the order of the paintings?’
I felt a chill down my spine, but immediately shook my head.
‘No. There’s still no proof those three people were murdered. Even if something feels suspicious…
And in that order, after Anne, the next should have been the death related to <“Alice, who indulged in luxury and was robbed of all her wealth.”> But instead, Jane’s case matched the broken-leg painting.’
I concluded Eugenia’s suspicion was more of a guess than a real lead.
‘Still, it’s worth considering. Eliminate the least likely possibilities one by one.’
As I stepped back from the desk, I suddenly thought I saw the word “Ellie” among the messy writing, so I leaned in again.
On a sheet partially covered by another, my name “Ellie” was faintly visible. I carefully pulled the paper out.
It read:
< Ellie and Count Fenwood arrived at the Plennigan mansion on the same day. >
‘So I’ve been found out!’
My heart sank instantly.
‘No one had suspected anything between Ian and me until now!’
All my past actions that might have been noticed by Eugenia suddenly flashed through my mind.
But what worried me even more was the line written below.
It made it even harder to think clearly.
< Be careful of these two. >
