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Chapter 32.3

Chapter 32.3

Moments later, they came to one of the rooms on the first floor.

Although there were candlesticks in the room, the light wasn’t bright enough. Xiao Tangqiu took out his flashlight and lit up room.

Lu Si’er walked to the bedside table, opened the drawer, took out a yellowed newspaper and handed it to Xiao Tangqiu.

Xiao Tangqiu looked down and saw that it was indeed a newspaper with unfamiliar words. He frowned slightly, “Is this German? What does it say?”

Lu Si’er took the newspaper back again and began to translate its contents. After all, she was still a student so her translation wasn’t very good. Some parts were bumpy, but she understood the overall meaning of the article – this was a marriage solicitation letter published in the newspaper.

The man who wrote the letter was Lippinobert, the Master of the castle.

“......Is there a date on the newspaper?” Xiao Tangqiu frowned and asked. Since the newspaper had turned yellow, it should have been a long time ago.

Lu Si’er turned it over, then stared in surprise, “Yes, but...... but....... this is impossible!”

Tang Mianmian merely shrugged his shoulders, “Why is it impossible? In this world, anything can happen.”

Xiao Tangqiu asked, “What’s the date?”

Lu Si’er replied in a daze, “......April 1922.”

“1922?” Xiao Tangqiu paused, but wasn’t surprised. “Are there any other clues in the newspaper?”

Tang Mianmian was even more calm, “It’s completely normal. Sit down and continue translating the rest of the newspaper.”

He froze; when did the puppet appear? He remembered that it wasn’t there earlier.......

It was a wooden puppet that resembled a person. Its appearance wasn’t very good. Even from a distance, he could see that the puppet’s hand wasn’t well made and its small skirt was simple and crude. Its facial features were skewed and twisted, like it had been abruptly pieced together.

Compared with the other puppets that Xiao Tangqiu had seen in the display window before, this puppet’s workmanship was terrible, just like that of a child.

In the dark room, the puppet appeared even more horrifying. Its twisted facial features were very strange. Clearly, the painting technique used was ugly and crude, but it gave him the feeling that it would come to life at any moment. Even its eyes, which seem to have been casually glued with two stones, looked rather lifelike the more he stared at it.........

Xiao Tangqiu kept his gaze fixed onto the puppet until Tang Mianmian’s cry came from behind him, “Look what I found! Eh? Qiuqiu, why did you turn off the flashlight?”

Xiao Tangqiu’s footsteps came to a stop – he had been unconsciously walking towards the puppet in the corner and had turned off the flashlight when he wasn’t aware!

He immediately turned the flashlight back on but was surprised to find that the puppet was missing!

He felt a shiver run down his spine and quickly shone his flashlight at the other corners of the room but couldn’t find any traces of the puppet. He wanted to tell the other two about it at once. However, as soon as he turned around, he saw Tang Mianmian squatting down to pull something out from under the bed. Xiao Tangqiu looked confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Searching under the bed!” Tang Mianmian made an indubitable expression as he quickly got up from the floor, “If we’re looking for clues, of course we have to search every inch of this room! I just discovered that there’s space underneath the bed, so I went down to take a look. I can’t believe that I actually found something!”

Xiao Tangqiu looked at the item in Tang Mianmian’s hand and found that it was a delicate, small wooden box. After shaking it a few times, he realized there was obviously something inside. He tried and actually managed to open it.

“It seems to be unlocked,” he opened the wooden box and examined its contents. There were some jewelry such as rings, earrings, brooches, and several letters that had turned yellow. “........Letters! Lu Si’er, come and look at them!”

Lu Si’er immediately put down the newspapers and took the letters. The envelope was open like it already had been read by someone. She looked at the contents of the letter and was a little surprised, “......This is a letter from Lippinobert.”

“Lippinobert?” Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly. “To whom?”

“......This is a letter from Lippinobert to a woman named Maria. It seems to be in reply of another letter.” After skimming through the letter, Lu Si’er summarized it to Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian. “I think that the woman named Maria wrote a letter to Lippinobert after reading his marriage solicitation letter in the newspaper, and then Lippinobert wrote back to Maria. He roughly introduced himself and then asked her some questions, such as her appearance and family circumstances, and asked Maria to attach a photo with the letter next time.”

Tang Mianmian appeared interested in gossip, “Is this the online love of that era? Pen pal love connections? Even wanting photos of her...... I really didn’t expect this Lippinobert to be so superficial ah~ Then, is there a photo of Maria?”

Lu Si’er shook her head, “No, these letters are all from Lippinobert, not Maria”

“This wooden box is obviously Maria’s. There are so many small ornaments inside. Maria must have collected letters from Lippinobert. As for Maria’s letters, they should be with him,” Xiao Tangqiu calmly analyzed.

Tang Mianmian suddenly looked disappointed, “I thought that I could see the photo of a beauty........”

Lu Si’er took up the second letter. “......Lippinobert wrote that he liked Maria very much and wanted to marry Maria as his wife. He hoped that she could move into his castle as soon as possible.......”

“Wow! Living together so soon! Foreigners are so open, even from over a hundred years ago! Tsk, tsk!” Tang Mianmian grinned widely.

“The third letter is almost the same as the previous one. Perhaps Maria also thought their progress was too fast and temporarily rejected his proposal. Lippinobert said that he was willing to wait for Maria, but he still hoped that she could move into his castle and become his wife as soon as possible.”

Very quickly, Lu Si’er took out the last letter, and after going through it, she said, “It seems Maria finally agreed. Lippinobert said in this letter that everyone in the castle was very happy to have her move in and become the Mistress of the castle, and that he had everything prepared for her......”

Xiao Tangqiu wasn’t surprised. If Maria hadn’t agreed to Lippinobert, this wooden box of hers wouldn’t be here. It seemed that Maria ended up marrying Lippinobert.......

“It’s strange though, if Maria is one of Lippinobert’s three wives, how could her room be just like any other ordinary room? It’s not at all like what the Master’s room should look like. Moreover, she’s the Mistress of the castle.....” Lu Si’er mused with a slight frown, influenced by a woman’s sensitive intuition. “Apart from the small jewelry in this wooden box, there aren’t any other women’s articles or traces of a woman living here, but this wooden box is clearly Maria’s. How can this be? No dressing mirror, no wardrobe, no clothes, no portrait of her........ “

“Women’s articles? Do puppets count?” Xiao Tangqiu suddenly remembered the puppet earlier and immediately narrated that strange incident. “......If Tang Mianmian hadn’t stopped me just now, God knows what would’ve happened.” It wouldn’t be anything good anyways.

After Xiao Tangqiu finished speaking, he found Tang Mianmian and Lu Si ‘er standing opposite him, ashen with horror. He couldn’t help wondering....... Was his story so terrifying? Why did these two have horrified expressions, as if they had seen it with their own eyes?

..........Wait a minute, with their own eyes?

He didn’t know why, but he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Tang Mianmian’s voice trembled like a leaf, “Is.... is.... is the puppet you’re talking about........”

He swallowed down his saliva with difficulty, his expression petrified as though he would faint in the next second, “.........the one on your back now?”