Chapter 8 – Prison

Where was a place with a roof like this in the Duke's manor?

I leaned my body further beyond the window, standing on my tiptoes, and tried to check our surroundings a bit more.

“Hey, watch out!” One of the boys shouted a warning from below, but I didn't pay it any attention. I focused my gaze on something above us that I had never seen before. It was a structure that I couldn't tell if it was a roof or a decoration, shaped like a huge iron cover, like the one used on trays. It hung on the blue sky above me, blocking my sight from whatever existed beyond it.

What was that?

It took me a few moments of intensely staring at the 'strange iron driver's until my brain finally processed what I was seeing. It wasn't a roof or a decoration.

It was a giant bell.

I had never seen one from so close before, so I hadn't recognized it.

Then, right at that moment, the top bar that I was standing on chose to crumble away and I fell to the floor abruptly.

The boys were startled as one of them was about to ask for information.

“What is- wha!”

“Sasha!”

I landed on the floor with a muted thump. I was lucky that the ladder didn't fall over me as I laid on the floor. My bones protested fiercely, and it felt like another adventure like this one would be the death of me.

“Are you okay?!” Letis asked me, worry visible in his pale blue eyes. But I only glared at him in response. Didn't he say he would catch me if I fell?! Instead of him, apparently someone else had taken up the saviour role, if the strange texture of the floor beneath me was any indication.

“Benya, are you dead?”

“No. You're heavy. Move.” He snarled, as p.r.i.c.kly as usual.

I quickly stood up, hoping he hadn't broken anything. Then again, to think I'd fall on Benya of all people—he deserved it, as a comeback for all the times he teased me in the past!

He stood up silently and rubbed his arms, probably trying to offset the impact of me falling on him. I thought he'd go all snarky on me the moment he got up, but he didn't mention his brief stint as my cushion, so I kept any comments to myself as well. Still, I felt sorry, so I meekly asked, “Are you hurt?”

“At least you know you're heavy, so I guess that means you have a conscience.” Benya snapped at me, moody, and the guilty feeling washed away from my heart. Suddenly, I wished I had landed a bit more soundly over him.

Our brief adventure ended with us coming out of the library on a messy state. As the adrenaline of the fall wore off, all three of us realized how parched we felt, thanks to being in a dusty place for so long.

“I'm thirsty. Where can I get water?” One of the siblings asked.

“There's a faucet in the bathroom, you can get water from there.” I answered.

“Uh, are you telling me to drink the water we use to wash things with?” They sent me a disgusted look, as if I had told them to shovel p.o.o.p.

Right. Being the pampered heirs of a n.o.ble house, of course they had no way of knowing that the water from the faucet and the water they drank from gla.s.ses were the same. However, instinct tended to crumble rationality. Driven by thirst, they put away their disgust and we all grabbed the cups on the tray cart, taking them to the bathroom and drinking until we were sated.

Afterwards, we sat together to discuss about what I saw while hanging from the window.

Letis was the first to open his mouth once I finished explaining, with a facial expression that was the same as when I told him to drink water from the bathroom's faucet: like I was attempting to grab his private parts. “Bell tower?! This is the bell tower? What in the-”

“Do you remember the bell tower in the manor's chapel? I think it's the same bell.” I explained.

The Cervantes manor had a chapel constructed on its grounds for the comfort of the family. It was built on the northern side of the manor, with a huge golden bell on top of its tower. The bell would toll every day during noon and during praying time in the evening. It was estimated that the chapel tower stood higher than the main chapel in town.

“… This is inside the bell tower? Wait, the bell tower had a place like this hidden inside?” Benya mumbled, confused. He didn't look like he believed me. Then he exchanged a meaningful glance with his brother. It was just for a moment, but both pairs of pale blue eyes held a strange question on them before the brothers blinked and it disappeared.

Their actions were very suspicious. “You two didn't know about this place?” I asked them.

“Of course, I didn't. Did you, Letis?” Benya said, looking at his brother.

“No. I never heard anything about the tower having this kind of hidden s.p.a.ce inside.” Letis spoke in a pensive tone.

I had never heard of it either. Sure, I had imagined many times that the manor held some secret hidden room somewhere, but I never thought it'd be in the chapel's bell tower of all places.

This was our hiding spot. No one would discover us here because no one would be able to hear any noise that we made. However, at the same time, it was very much a prison, since we had no way of leaving here aside from going through the mirror door. If any of us tried to escape via the window, we'd only be sending ourselves straight into the arms of Death.

But there was something else to be concerned about, something more immediate. “The bell will ring loudly at noon. Could the crack in the wall be because of the bell?” I pondered out loud, concerned.

How loud would that sound be? I hoped it wasn't loud enough to scare Estelle. With how scared she was of heights, if she knew that we were in the bell tower, I was sure she'd do anything to try and escape from here.