Doll Castle (23)

"Shh-"

"Shh-"

Shoes made a dull scraping sound against the thick carpet as an elongated, distorted shadow slowly approached the master bedroom.

The shadow's owner seemed in no hurry at all. Humming a tuneless song and toying with the long blade still dripping blood in his hand, he strolled to the door.

"Could they be in here?"

"Knock, knock." He made a show of knocking twice. "Excuse me~ Is there a guest inside?"

The room was utterly silent. Clearly, no one was going to answer him.

The man knocking didn't care in the slightest. With a click, the door handle slowly lowered. "Let me see..."

His voice rose slightly, his face brimming with excitement. "Where~ has~ my~ honored~ guest~ gone~?"

Dust drifted in the air currents stirred by the opening door, but the dust-covered room was empty.

"Hmm?" The master of the house furrowed his brows in feigned distress. "Is my guest playing hide-and-seek with me?"

Deliberately heavy footsteps began sounding through the room, striking the hard floor one after another at an unhurried pace, as though he were intentionally treading on someone's taut nerves.

"Oh dear, what a naughty guest~ Unfortunately, we're running out of time..."

"The banquet is about to begin. Come out now, dear guest..."

Somewhere in the room, Bo Yi hid in the darkness, slowing his heartbeat as he strained to listen to the sounds outside.

The master of the house was still carefully searching each spot.

"Is my guest here?" His footsteps seemed to have reached the window.

With a swish, he yanked the curtains open-there was nothing behind them except a broad expanse of glass, the view outside obscured by black mist.

His voice rang out, full of regret. "Looks like they're not here..."

The footsteps that pounded against Bo Yi's heart began moving again. This time, the master of the house approached the bed.

"Is my guest here?"

He slowly stopped beside the bed, bent down, then abruptly lifted the sheet hanging all the way to the floor.

The thick dust beneath the bed rose in the disturbed air. The master of the house tilted his head and stared for a long moment before regretfully releasing the sheet. "My guest isn't here either..."

"Then where could my guest be hiding?"

"Thud-"

"Thud-"

The heart-stopping footsteps began moving slowly again. "Is my guest here?"

This time, the master of the house stopped in front of the wardrobe.

"Creeeak-"

The tightly shut wardrobe door was deliberately pulled open, inch by inch. Faint light spilled inside, revealing-

A wardrobe packed with dresses.

And nothing but dresses.

"Hmm?" A serious expression finally settled over the master's face. "My guest isn't here either..."

His gaze swept over the long-skirted dresses one by one.

After a moment, he released the wardrobe door and turned away, muttering to himself. "Could my guest really not be in this room?"

Hidden behind the dresses, Bo Yi quietly breathed a sigh of relief. To be safe, however, he maintained his position without moving.

But just then, a pebble that had no business being there was suddenly tossed in through the doorway.

With a thunk, it struck the wardrobe door at an odd angle, then ricocheted inside and landed on a hanger holding a dress. The impact set the hanger swaying gently, which in turn stirred the other dresses hanging motionless inside.

As the skirts swayed, the wardrobe that had been filled with dresses without a single gap exposed its flaw.

The master of the house slowly halted his departing steps.

"Thunk."

After throwing another pebble, Pan Lulu ducked back behind the corner. When she heard no further footsteps from the room, she finally smiled in satisfaction.

Ah, the master finally noticed...

She tossed and caught the pebbles in her hand, listening closely to the sounds inside the room.

If her guess was right, Bo Yi should be hiding in the wardrobe. After all, if she'd been the one choosing, she probably would have made the same choice.

But it didn't matter if she'd guessed wrong. All she would lose were a few pebbles, which she'd casually picked up on her earlier trip to the garden anyway. The only potential problem was that if she ran out before the master found Bo Yi, she wouldn't be able to "restock" in the garden now filled with black mist.

Playing with the pebbles, she leaned against the wall and waited patiently for a while, but she never heard the sound she wanted.

Strange... Pan Lulu frowned.

Had she really guessed wrong? Was Bo Yi not in the wardrobe?

But even so, why... why hadn't she heard the master's footsteps leaving?

Pan Lulu's breathing grew somewhat rapid.

Something was wrong...

Very wrong...

After weighing her options for a while, she decided to peek out. This was a critical moment in clearing the instance, and any clue might well save her life later.

So she cautiously poked her head out from behind the wall.

"!!!"

Her eyes flew wide. "How is this possible?!"

The master of the house was gone!

The space before the wardrobe was empty. Only the wardrobe door she'd struck with a pebble was still swaying slightly. The corridor was deserted too, with nothing but candle flames gently flickering in the faint drafts.

Had Bo Yi done this? Had he killed the master?

Pan Lulu stared fixedly toward the room, biting her fingertip in agitation.

No, even if that were true, there should have been some noise...

But now, it was as though the master had suddenly vanished into thin air.

Just as Pan Lulu wavered in alarm and uncertainty, wondering whether to investigate the room, a low, soft voice suddenly sounded beside her ear. "What are you looking for?"

A faint breath brushed her ear. Though the voice was familiar, an icy chill rose along Pan Lulu's back. Her feet seemed nailed to the floor as terror took tangible form and spread through her, gradually seeping into every cell of her body until she was too rigid to move.

"Drip-"

"Drip-"

Some liquid was falling, drop by drop.

The cold, sticky liquid landed on the bare skin at the back of her neck, then slowly slid down her involuntarily trembling spine, as though someone were lightly trailing icy fingertips over her skin.

On the wall, two shadows leaned intimately together. Yet above one figure's head, a blade was raised high, aimed straight at her.

"Shhk-"

Spraying blood splashed over the shadows, now utterly intertwined.