Chapter 10: [World 1] Castle Stories 10 : Jealousy

The clock on the wall showed:

7:30

There was still some time before breakfast.

“By the way, did you sleep well last night?” Xunian sat up and glanced at the person by the window, casually asking.

“Me?” Fu Ruxue smiled in response. “I slept very well.”

“Oh, come with me.”

Fu Ruxue suddenly remembered something and hurriedly pulled the still groggy Xunian, opened the door, looked around, and seeing nothing unusual, stepped outside.

Two figures with long hair flowing behind them crossed the second-floor corridor and stopped in front of the Duke’s Room.

The character for “Death” painted on the door had solidified, the entire word glowing a bright red, exuding a strange aura, and a faint but unpleasant smell lingered in the air.

Because of the rush yesterday, Fu Ruxue only now realized something was off.

How could solidified blood still be bright red?

She pressed her finger against the dried word on the door and brought it to her nose, inhaling sharply—the pungent smell of paint instantly assaulted her senses.

“This is… paint?”

Fu Ruxue’s face turned grim as she frowned deeply, just discovering the truth.

Whose prank was this?

Xunian caught up and, upon recognizing the smell of paint, revealed an expression of understanding. “So that’s what it is.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Housekeeper’s Diary.”

“Diary?”

Fu Ruxue’s eyes widened, her expression shifting from confusion to sudden clarity.

“You mean the diary entry on what date—was it?—said there was paint on the Duke’s Room door?”

Xunian reminded her, “November 1st.”

“The diary events are repeating?!”

Fu Ruxue nearly exclaimed aloud but quickly lowered her voice, realizing she was too loud.

Xunian nodded knowingly, unsurprised, as if she had long expected this.

“I learned from the Housekeeper that the day she died was the Birthday of the Duke’s Daughter. The diary confirms this. The so-called disappearance was probably because the Housekeeper herself didn’t know what had really happened. Most likely, after the Housekeeper disappeared, she was already dead.”

On October 31st, the Housekeeper died—corresponding to the first night’s headless girl’s death.

On November 1st, the Duke’s Room was painted over—matching the second day’s ‘Death’ character on the Duke’s Room door.

It wasn’t a prank after all, but genuine, pure malice.

As if an invisible hand from the abyss was dragging them into darkness, controlling them to watch helplessly as they were swallowed by the shadows, dying here and disappearing completely from this strange land.

Fu Ruxue opened her mouth, feeling as if something was caught in her throat, unable to speak.

“Come with me.”

She pulled Xunian to open the door and enter the Duke’s Room.

The moment they stepped inside, even the usually calm Xunian was slightly startled.

The room was large, with several wooden tables arranged neatly in the center, each lined with rows of specimens: insects, mice, rabbits—all spaced evenly.

One entire wall was lined with bookshelves, where books were organized by type and length from largest to smallest, arranged with meticulous order from top to bottom.

The room’s extreme tidiness gave off a peculiar vibe.

Even the pens on the nearby desk were perfectly aligned, and the leather-bound notebook on the desk had every edge parallel to the desk’s edge, adding to the surreal feeling.

It seemed the Duke suffered from a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“I didn’t dare touch anything on the tables, I only guessed this was the Duke’s Room based on the writing in the notebook.”

Fu Ruxue pointed to the notebook on the desk, where elegant handwriting in standard regular script was inscribed in the bottom right corner:

Duke Caesar.

Xunian was speechless. “Have you noticed a bug in this game?”

“What?”

“The setting is medieval, but all the text here is in Chinese.”

Looking again at those four characters, Fu Ruxue felt nothing but a strong sense of dissonance.

It felt like the game had suddenly switched from a horror game to a children’s educational program.

“Looks like we’re about to find the maid’s head soon.”

Xunian’s gaze landed on the bookshelf, where the old books were all academic texts.

“Let me borrow two.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

Fu Ruxue watched uneasily as Xunian pulled two books from different shelves and wiped the dust off with a clean cloth.

“What’s there to be afraid of? The Duke hasn’t been in this room for a long time.”

Xunian flipped through the books without looking up, reassuring her.

“How do you know?”

Xunian didn’t answer but blew a puff of air at the bookshelf and stepped back.

Immediately, a thick cloud of dust billowed up, almost covering Fu Ruxue’s face.

She reacted a bit slowly and didn’t dodge in time, dust settling on her clothes. “Cough, cough, cough.”

“Xunian!”

“It’s time, we should go downstairs.” Xunian hugged the two books and turned around.

“Hey! Don’t try to change the subject.”

Fu Ruxue hurried over and followed her down the stairs.

“What subject change?” Xunian leaned close to her, speaking mysteriously. “Actually… the blood on the door last night was real.”

“Don’t scare me…” Fu Ruxue said skeptically, the hairs on her neck standing up.

Xunian looked her in the eyes with a calm gaze that felt sincere and serious. “Paint smells extremely pungent when it’s freshly applied. If it had been paint last night, you wouldn’t have been completely unaware.”

Fu Ruxue shuddered at the thought, the fear growing stronger the more she thought about it.

Seeing Fu Ruxue’s attention shift, Xunian walked forward without guilt until she saw the golden-haired figure sitting at the dining table.

Fu Ruxue followed uneasily, not noticing the person in front suddenly stop, causing her to bump softly into the warm back.

She rubbed her nose. “What’s wrong?”

The blonde woman turned around, still holding that strange doll, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Her blood-red eyes stared unblinking at the two of them, cold and venomous like a snake’s gaze, utterly devoid of warmth.

Fu Ruxue felt a chill down her spine and shivered.

Why did the Duke’s Daughter look at her so strangely, as if staring at a corpse?

The thought appeared briefly but she dismissed it immediately.

She must be overthinking it. The Duke’s Daughter looked at everyone like they were dead flesh on a chopping board—how could she be any colder toward Fu Ruxue?

The gaze made Fu Ruxue’s skin crawl, and she clung tightly to Xunian’s arm.

The Duke’s Daughter’s eyes grew even colder.

So terrifying.

Xunian was oblivious to Fu Ruxue’s inner turmoil. Standing there unsure, she hesitated whether to sit down at the dining table.

The other men were already seated, watching the two latecomers expectantly.

The clock was now pointing to 7:58.

“Click, click, click…”

Fu Ruxue quickly released Xunian’s arm and took her seat.

Xunian remained standing, motionless.

She was gambling.

Betting on something that seemed impossible but was actually very likely.

Time ticked slowly by.