🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 40
“Lady Delia!”
Rosemary hurried to the collapsed Delia and managed to lift her upper body into her arms. Fortunately, Delia was still breathing. Upon closer inspection, there wasn’t a single injury on her. It seemed she had simply fainted from shock after being startled by something.
When Delia later regained consciousness, she explained that she had gone to the second-floor east wing library to read a book and was on her way out. As she said, two books were seen rolling beside her where she had collapsed.
But just as Delia stepped out of the library, she said she saw a dark shadow slithering through the corner of the second-floor east wing corridor.
“There was no one there, but suddenly something appeared!”
Delia said this while trembling violently.
“It was an old woman. She was wearing a black dress and had gray hair tied up! It was definitely Lady Alice No!”
Even without Delia’s addition, the only “ghost” that could possibly appear in this mansion would be Lady Alice No. The description of her appearance also fit perfectly.
This story, combined with the rumors of a ghost seen by the maids Margaret and Grace recently, only strengthened the impact of the rumor.
Delia’s sighting was near the east wing library, while the maids had seen the ghost in the west wing—but ghosts could pass through walls anyway, so whether it was east or west hardly mattered. It could appear anywhere freely.
Of course, as soon as I heard this news, brought excitedly by Carol and Amy, I immediately thought, “If we just check where Lady Melissa No was at the time, the identity of the ghost would be obvious.”
(I heard about the commotion late because I was locked inside the first-floor laundry room ironing clothes at the time.)
Delia had always been extremely timid. Even last time, she had mistaken a fluttering bedsheet for a ghost and ended up nearly falling into water in a ridiculous panic—at broad daylight, surrounded by people.
So this time as well, it was obvious she had mistaken Melissa No passing by or been startled by a shadow cast on a table and fainted on her own.
“Elly, you don’t seem to believe us again.”
Amy immediately read my thoughts from my expression.
“The number of people who’ve seen the ghost keeps increasing. If it were just one person, it might be a mistake, but if it’s three or more, it’s worth taking seriously.”
“Right. And Lady Delia is Lady Melissa No’s granddaughter. Do you really think she wouldn’t recognize her own grandmother whom she’s seen since birth?”
Carol added in agreement with Amy.
Delia is the same girl who nearly fainted at a bedsheet last time. If she can’t even recognize something she uses every day, she could easily mistake her grandmother too, I thought, but I didn’t say it aloud and instead said something else.
“But isn’t it strange for a ghost to appear in broad daylight?”
“Well, the east wing already has an eerie atmosphere. Even though it’s structurally the same as the west wing, it feels older.”
Amy said, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.
“No matter how much they renovate it, the building is still old. In a place like that, ghosts could be living there day or night.”
Carol chimed in.
“Right. And there’s Lady Alice No’s portrait in the east wing too, and the room she supposedly used in the past.”
“Lady Alice No’s room?”
When I asked, Amy looked at me as if I should have known already.
“It’s on the second floor of the east wing. The room next to the stairs beside Lord Penwood’s room. You manage the second floor there—how did you not know?”
“Are you talking about the locked room?”
I immediately realized which room they meant. I was in charge of cleaning the second-floor east wing, including Ian’s room, Eugenia’s room, and the library—but there was one room that was always locked, and I had never been allowed to enter it.
Even though empty rooms still had to be cleaned daily, that room was completely off-limits. When I asked Mrs. Pierce, she simply said, “You don’t need to worry about that room.” Since it meant less work for me, I didn’t mind.
Amy nodded.
“It’s said that when Lady Alice No passed away, she left a will instructing that the room be kept exactly as it was. No changing furniture or discarding anything she used.”
“So they just left an entire room unusable.”
Carol complained beside us.
“Who would want to use a room full of old furniture and a musty smell? But you can’t just ignore her will either—it’s Lady Alice No. If someone tried to renovate it and a ghost suddenly popped out yelling, ‘You’ve violated my will! Do you want to die?!’ then what would you do?”
“Have you two ever been inside that room?”
I asked, and both of them shook their heads.
“It’s been locked since we arrived here.”
“I don’t even want to go in. It’s probably a rat nest by now. There are already too many rats in the east wing.”
Amy shivered. Compared to that, ghosts almost seemed less frightening.
I was certain Delia had simply mistaken Lady Melissa No and caused a fuss, but as a low-ranking maid, I couldn’t say that outright.
If only someone in the family would say it—but it seemed they were all taking Delia’s ghost story seriously.
Well, the very foundation of the Plenigan family was built on superstition, with the mansion constructed around a central pond because they believed they needed to receive the “energy of water” for prosperity. So it wasn’t surprising that the descendants were also deeply superstitious. That likely explained why rumors of Lady Alice No’s ghost spread so easily.
Apparently, believing in superstition or fortune-telling wasn’t considered a matter of dignity for the family.
Still, I was a bit stunned when I heard that Helen had decided to invite a famous fortune teller to the mansion.
“Lady Jenkins must be taking it seriously since Lady Delia said she saw a ghost and other maids also reported sightings.”
Amy said this, and Carol added:
“More than that, three young ladies have passed away in the past few months. The mansion’s atmosphere has been eerie for a while, so they probably already thought about calling a fortune teller.”
According to them, it was customary for the Plenigan family to invite fortune tellers at the end or beginning of each year to ask about their fortune. So it wasn’t unusual at all.
“A fortune teller is coming? Lady Marcella!”
Carol brought new news the next day in excitement.
“Marcella? The famous crystal seer?”
Amy asked in surprise.
Lady Marcella was a highly popular fortune teller these days. There were so many people waiting to meet her that even after paying large sums of money, one could only manage a brief conversation after a long wait.
She was often featured in newspapers and magazines. Whenever a strange case occurred that baffled the police, she would be invited for interviews.
For example, if a noblewoman’s sapphire mysteriously disappeared from a locked room, Marcella would explain it by saying a spirit had taken it due to the gem’s “pure energy.”
“There are so many mysteries in the world we do not understand,” she always ended her interviews with.
“Some people dismiss fortune-telling and astrology as fraud, but we must keep an open mind toward things beyond our understanding.”
A few days later, it was discovered that the noblewoman’s grandson had simply taken the sapphire to play with and dropped it behind furniture—but even so, Marcella’s popularity did not diminish. That was the true mystery of the era.
“Typical Plenigan family,” Amy said admiringly.
“To summon Lady Marcella herself…”
“They must have paid an enormous sum. Probably more than several years of our wages combined.”
Carol looked slightly bitter.
“I should have become a fortune teller instead. I’d earn much more than cleaning dust and scrubbing floors every day.”
“That’s not something you can just learn, you know. You have to be born with the ability to talk to spirits.”
“Still, being a fortune teller means meeting ghosts every day, right? Ugh, I’d rather not.”
The two of them were excited about the news. I didn’t believe in ghosts or fortune telling either, but I was a little curious about what this famous fortune teller would be like.
And a few days later, Lady Marcella arrived at the Plenigan mansion in grand fashion.
She looked to be in her forties, a tall woman wearing an extravagant foreign-style hat that immediately drew attention. She was covered in all kinds of jewelry—on her neck, wrists, and fingers—but rather than looking gaudy, she carried an air of overwhelming authority.
In her hands, she carefully held a massive crystal sphere, resting on a cushion. It was said she used it to see into the spirit world.
Her arrival meant more work for me, since the guest rooms of the Plenigan mansion were mostly located in the second and third floors of the east wing.
Ian already occupied one room on the second floor, and Eugenia used the room next to it. The room once used by Lady Alice No remained locked.
Lady Marcella was assigned to the guest room directly opposite Ian’s room. It was a high-quality room, usually reserved for important guests, similar to Eugenia’s room but slightly farther from Ian’s.
I often had to clean even unused rooms, but with a guest staying, my workload would increase significantly.
“Elly, you will also handle Lady Marcella’s errands.”
Mrs. Pierce called me that day.
“She is an important guest, no less than Lord Penwood. Make sure she lacks nothing. Lord Penwood himself praised you for being diligent and quick at cleaning and errands, so we’re trusting you with this.”
Ian praising me is nice, but now I just have more work, I grumbled inwardly—but there was nothing I could do.
