The Story of the Red Butterflies

Beyond the door was an enormous room. Not only was its floor area larger than the entire floor of Shade's home, but its height was fully three times that of an ordinary room.

It was clear that Grandma Cassandra had carefully arranged this room. The antiques, oil paintings, furniture, even the Music Box and Crystal Ball ornaments on the tables all looked exceedingly valuable.

The room as a whole had a bronze-toned palette. The surrounding walls and ceiling were covered in runes written with copper powder, resembling spreading vines. Upon closer inspection, they were runes from many different Sealing Rituals across different eras, pieced together to form this house's seal.

If the floor had not been covered by a soft red wool carpet, Shade believed he would have seen similar runes there as well.

A fireplace stood against the wall to the left of the door, with crossed swords hanging above it. At that moment, the roaring flames in the fireplace provided light for the dim room. Shade did not know what kind of firewood Grandma Cassandra had used, or whether incense burners had been lit in unseen corners, but a fragrant scent permeated the air.

Other than the fireplace, there were no light sources here, leaving the room somewhat dim. The first time Shade entered, he saw white and black gauze dresses tossed onto the carpet. Looking ahead, the four-poster bed at the center of the room occupied the greatest area.

It was a large mahogany bed, seeming spacious enough to accommodate thirty people with ease. Its four posts reached all the way to the ceiling, their shadows swaying across the walls with the flickering firelight. Three layers of curtains hung around it: white gauze, pink gauze, and black gauze on the innermost layer.

The curtains and the dimness