Magic Manor 6

What sort of face lay hidden beneath that mask that kept everyone at arm's length?

Lu Mi pressed his lips together and hesitantly curled his fingers.

No.

Roman had always refused to discuss his past. Lu Mi shouldn't pry into things other people chose to hide.

He was just about to step away and go to bed when a hand suddenly clamped around his wrist, pulling his whole body forward.

Lu Mi: "!!"

A pair of pitch-black eyes loomed before him.

Roman had woken at some point and was watching him quietly. "Curious?"

Lu Mi hastily took a few steps back, but his wrist remained firmly restrained. "No, I was tucking you in. Let go. Don't wake Noel."

As he spoke, he reached over with his free hand and carefully pulled Roman's blanket up a little.

Roman gave a slight nod, his meaning unreadable. "So that's what it was."

He let go and rolled over as if nothing had happened.

Caught in the act, Lu Mi felt both embarrassed and guilty. He hurriedly lay down and went to sleep too.

The howling wind outside the window faded away, replaced by a little girl's bright laughter.

What was going on? Had Roman decided to be an ass and wake Noel up to play in the middle of the night?

Lu Mi opened his eyes in confusion, only to squeeze them shut again at the dazzling sunlight.

After taking a moment to adjust to the light, he opened his eyes again and discovered that he was lying in the field where they had ridden horses during the day.

Dressed in a white dress, Noel ran with a little brown dog nearby, turning back now and then to shout with a laugh, "Daddy, come catch me!"

Behind her, a tall, straight-backed man called, "Slow down! Be careful you don't fall!"

Noel didn't listen. When she looked about to fall, Lu Mi hurried forward to catch her, only to discover that his hands passed straight through her body.

Looking around at the bright sunshine, birdsong, and flowers, then at the intact castle behind him, he realized-

He was most likely in Noel's dream, at a time before the war had ravaged this place.

He entered the castle. Servants bustled about everywhere, some polishing the armor in the corridors, others carrying fragrant dishes to the dining room.

Not one of them could see him.

When he reached the western tower, he heard a woman singing with a heavenly voice.

A maid happened to be carrying tea into the tower, and Lu Mi hurried after her. When the door on the top floor opened, he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.

No, if he had to describe her, only "peerless" would do.

Her golden curls were pinned up, revealing her fair, swanlike neck. Leaning sideways against the tower's narrow window, she sang one clear, stirring phrase after another.

The maid waited until she finished before bringing the tea forward. "Madam, your singing was wonderful. Tomorrow's premiere is sure to be a great success. The newspapers will be clamoring to cover it."

Mrs. Bart spoke gently, without the slightest airs of a noble lady. "Thank you, Anna."

Listening to their conversation, Lu Mi wandered around the room, which had been utterly destroyed in reality.

This seemed to be where Mrs. Bart practiced her singing. Numerous portraits hung on the stone walls. In one, the woman stood at center stage, bowing to the audience.

Lavish, elaborate court-style costumes filled the chairs and cabinets, with props scattered everywhere.

Lu Mi gave them a cursory glance, then something gleaming gold caught his attention-

It was a circular olive-branch crown, casually left in an inconspicuous corner.

It would look perfect on Roman. That was his first thought.

Mrs. Bart took an elegant sip of tea, looking a little sad. "But some newspapers will also say that someone like me is unsuited to my current station."

"Don't pay them any mind," the maid said indignantly. "All that matters is that you and Mr. Bart truly love each other."

Lu Mi crouched and gently touched the olive crown, still listening for information.

He could surmise that an unconventional woman and the manor's owner had bravely overcome society's prejudices and obstacles to be together.

"Oh, has my darling daughter had her afternoon tea?"

At the mention of Noel, Lu Mi immediately focused all his attention.

After receiving an affirmative answer from the maid, Mrs. Bart said, "Make sure you don't give her too much to eat. She always strives for perfection, and when the pressure gets too much, she can't stop eating. It's bad for her health."

This differed greatly from what the butler had told them. Lu Mi silently took note of it.

There seemed to be a time limit on the dream. The women were still talking, but Lu Mi could no longer make out their words.

Soon, the scene before him began to blur as well, until everything sank into dead silence.

The next day, Lu Mi slept until he woke naturally. He slipped out of bed, satisfied. There had been no screams, so it seemed the night had passed peacefully.

Noel was still sleeping soundly. The two butterflies had returned and were resting over her eyes.

After asking, he learned that Roman had also entered Noel's happy, splendid dream during the night.

"But I didn't go to the tower," Roman said. "The two dreams took place at slightly different times, too. When I went in, they were having dinner."

"Besides Mr. and Mrs. Bart and Noel, there was an elderly woman who was probably her grandmother. I also saw the butler."

Lu Mi quickly asked, "Did you notice anything?"

"The butler in the dream wasn't wearing that deathly pale paste."

In the hall, they exchanged information with the other players.

Everyone had entered Noel's dream. What they saw varied depending on when they fell asleep, but all the scenes in the dreams were happy and harmonious.

Lu Mi helped everyone sort through the information. "When the butterflies on her eyes fly away, Noel goes berserk and attacks people."

"There are two main situations in which the butterflies fly away. One is when it reaches ten at night. The other is when Noel eats too much."

Jin Bi followed his reasoning. "So all we have to do is get Noel to sleep before ten and not give her too much at mealtimes?"

The other players discussed this in light of their experiences over the past few days and unanimously agreed that they should stop following the butler's rules.

Someone said half-jokingly, "This instance doesn't seem to have a definite time limit. As long as we look after that little girl, staying here for a while might not be so bad."

Lu Mi rested his chin on his hand and neither agreed nor disagreed.

For breakfast and lunch, the players therefore prepared only enough food to leave her comfortably short of full.

Moreover, many of them had seen a little dog with Noel in their dreams, so they agreed to take turns cooking for her with ingredients from the Panel Mall.

"If the dog meat in the kitchen came from that little dog, it might have a bad effect too."

And so the dishes on the table became stir-fried pork with peppers and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, utterly out of place in the story's setting.

Noel finished eating elegantly without going berserk, allowing several players who had still been a little worried to breathe sighs of relief.

Lessons continued according to the schedule.

But some people couldn't help thinking that everything would be fine as long as they followed the two points Jin Bi had mentioned, so they put very little effort into teaching.

"Just read the book yourself. I don't really understand it either." During the afternoon language lesson, Yu Shaoqiang tossed out those words with a cigarette between his lips, then went off to chat with his companions.

As usual, the butler silently took notes in his little notebook, but the players had grown used to his haunting presence and continued doing as they pleased.

Lu Mi warned them to be careful of the butler, but their reply was, "All we need to do is keep that Noel happy."

"As for the butler, he's just an NPC who provides information. He's not important."