Chapter 49: Rose Manor [14]

“I already apologized.”

Yan Xin didn’t notice Jiang Nan’s strange behavior. She only knew that Jiang Nan’s expression suddenly turned gloomy and that the look she gave her was unusually cold.

She pouted, thinking that she was just kindly trying to get Luo Ning to stop her from acting crazy and courting death. Just as she was about to say something, she was interrupted by Yang Yi.

Yang Yi looked at them apologetically and said, “Don’t mind her, she’s been spoiled and her words are a bit thoughtless.”

Jiang Nan released Luo Ning’s wrist, only to find her palm covered in cold sweat. She looked up at Yan Xin for a long time, then shook her head slightly and said, “It’s nothing.”

Yan Xin frowned, glared at Yang Yi, and snorted, “How dare you scold me?!”

Seeing that she was about to cause a scene again, Yang Yi didn’t even have time to finish her breakfast. She grabbed Yan Xin and started to pull her away, whispering, “Didn’t you want to go outside to look for clues? Let’s go now.”

“There’s no need to rush…”

The two women’s voices faded, leaving only four people.

Although Jiang Nan didn’t look at them, Lin Jia’s eyes darted between the two for a moment before she forced a sweet smile and said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back.”

Su Yue simply nodded, then left the banquet hall as well.

After the breakfast, which was punctuated by one of Anne-Liya’s outbursts, no one else had the heart to finish their meal.

Once everyone had left, Luo Ning rested her hand on her chin, nonchalantly looking at Jiang Nan. “What is a ‘girlfriend’? From the way you reacted, it must be a bad word.”

After saying this, she felt that her understanding was correct, so she nodded and waited for Jiang Nan’s further explanation.

Jiang Nan was taken aback. She met Luo Ning’s eyes, which were both enchanting and otherworldly pure. The stark contrast was surprisingly harmonious on her face.

She lowered her gaze, contemplating how to explain it to this person.

“Are you curious?” Jiang Nan asked.

Luo Ning shook her head, her fingers toying with a strand of Jiang Nan’s hair. She spoke with a light tone, “I’m not curious, but you don’t like that word, and I want to know why you detest it.”

Jiang Nan’s eyelashes fluttered, hiding the sadness in her eyes. She said, “Just think of it as a friend relationship.”

Hearing this, Luo Ning looked at her, her eyes deep. Just as Jiang Nan thought she knew she was lying, Luo Ning nodded thoughtfully, as if to herself. “No wonder…”

Jiang Nan didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. When she looked at Luo Ning again, the smile on her face was still impossibly gentle, making her feel as if she were sinking into soft cotton, unable to struggle free.

Luo Ning thought to herself, no wonder Jiang Nan hated that word so much. It must be because she didn’t like being thought of as just a friend.

The two of them were lost in their own thoughts, unaware of what the other was thinking.

Since there were no other plans for the day, they went outside to look at the corpses that Chen Lei had completely dug up.

They were called corpses, but by the time they were unearthed, their decaying bodies had already been consumed by vultures. All that remained were the clothes, which lay quietly in a pile of pits.

The clothes were all, without exception, those of noblemen.

But they searched through several pits and couldn’t find what they were looking for.

The flower farmer had previously let it slip that Anne-Liya’s family was also buried here. From the portrait, at least her father and mother were among the dead.

However, these many pits were just casually dug and used for burial. They didn’t seem like the kind of place a person of Anne-Liya’s status would use to bury her own parents.

During their search for answers, they stabbed a vulture that came to attack them. Just like last time, a noble’s ghost appeared from the dropped bird egg.

The noble male ghost that emerged wasn’t as boisterous as the last one. Instead, he seemed very confused, looking at the surrounding roses and instinctively shrinking back.

“Who are you?” Jiang Nan asked.

“The baron’s only son…”

Jiang Nan didn’t catch the name that followed, and she didn’t care. What interested her more was his identity.

As a noble’s son, why was he buried here?

“Why are you here?”

The noble ghost shook his head, looking very confused. “I remember I came to ask for Miss Anne-Liya’s hand in marriage.”

This was one of Anne-Liya’s suitors, who had died in the flower field for an unknown reason.

“Where is Miss Anne-Liya?”

When Anne-Liya was mentioned, the noble ghost regained some clarity. But after asking, he looked at the crimson, bl00d-like sea of flowers and couldn’t help but tremble, clutching his throbbing head, his face twisted in a look of terror. His eyes were filled with dread.

“This flower field eats people, it eats people. That person, that person, he killed…”

He kept muttering to himself, as if he was very afraid of the flower field.

“Do you remember why you died?” Jiang Nan interrupted his rambling.

The noble ghost’s eyes suddenly widened, and he started to rave frantically. “A woman, she came over, and then I fainted…”

He was speaking incoherently and nonsensically, so Jiang Nan and Luo Ning couldn’t get any useful information from him.

The sun was setting, and the sky was as red as fire as it fell behind the distant mountains, casting a golden glow upon them.

Yan Xin and Yang Yi, who had left earlier, returned to the mansion before sunset. Like Jiang Nan and Luo Ning yesterday, they were dragging a cart full of roses.

Yan Xin’s face was sullen. After setting the pile of things down, she and Yang Yi entered the door.

Just as they walked in, they saw a figure entering the door of Room 1.

From the person’s clothes and appearance, it didn’t look like Jiang Nan, but rather Lin Jia.

After letting her in, Jiang Nan spoke calmly. “Is there something you need?”

Lin Jia glanced at the door, her smile still sweet. “That guy Su Yue just scolded me and told me to come apologize to you.”

Hearing this, Jiang Nan frowned, listening to her continue.

“I think you must already know, I was the one who tampered with your perfume. I just wanted to see if Anne-Liya really hates birds.”

Yan Xin and Yang Yi were still in the mansion at the time. Luo Ning didn’t seem to be going back to her room, and as an ally, she wouldn’t deliberately harm Su Yue. That left only Jiang Nan.

Seeing that Jiang Nan hadn’t replied for a long time, Lin Jia smiled again and said, “Out of guilt, I can go upstairs in your place, and I also have a way to survive.” Her tone wasn’t one of fear, but of curiosity.

“No need,” Jiang Nan refused, then sized her up for a moment.

The other woman looked like a little white flower coated in poison. Every smile and frown had an air of fragility, but one could easily forget the horror that lurked within.

“More than that, I want to know how you knew Anne-Liya hates birds.”

From the very beginning, all they knew was that Anne-Liya liked perfume. Corelay had never mentioned that Anne-Liya hated birds, so how did Lin Jia know?

Lin Jia smiled, raising her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I have a special ability. When I enter a dungeon, I can target one person and know something they hate.”

That’s how she used her teammates to draw the dungeon boss’s aggro, but she only used it on people she disliked. Jiang Nan was just an innocent bystander.

“Why are you telling me this now?” Jiang Nan asked.

Lin Jia could have kept it a secret. Even if they all left the dungeon, there shouldn’t be any more interactions between them.

Hearing her question, Lin Jia once again discreetly glanced at the door, then spoke.

“Someone doesn’t like me this way.” She said this because Jiang Nan’s words from behind the door made her remember that she wasn’t always this hypocritical and ruthless.

As for the person in her words, it was someone she never expected. In a place like this, there was someone so righteous and out of place. She felt that she had idly found herself a moralistic caretaker.

Truth be told, she had also asked that person why he disliked her using such methods to harm others when he clearly wanted Jiang Nan and Luo Ning to go upstairs.

Before Luo Ning returned, Jiang Nan still refused Lin Jia’s offer.

Lin Jia looked at her and didn’t seem to mind her refusal. She smiled and said, “You still have a chance to change your mind before the butler comes down.”

With that, she left Jiang Nan’s room.

Luo Ning came in carrying over a dozen ropes, pulling the struggling vultures. Seeing the distressed look on Jiang Nan’s face, she asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”

Jiang Nan rubbed her temples and didn’t answer. Then she heard a sharp bird cry and frowned, looking at Luo Ning.

When she saw what Luo Ning was holding, she asked, “What are you doing with them?”

Luo Ning casually tied the bundle of ropes to the leg of the table, letting the dozen birds bump into each other. Then she answered Jiang Nan’s question.

“As kind-hearted people like us, of course we have to help Miss Anne-Liya by getting rid of the things she hates.”

Hearing Luo Ning’s words, Jiang Nan frowned, deeply suspecting that Luo Ning’s kindness had an ulterior motive.

Luo Ning glanced at the sky outside the window and said to Jiang Nan, “Remember to leave a window open for me.”

Seeing that Jiang Nan didn’t answer her, Luo Ning just took it as a yes.

While they were talking, there was a polite knock on the door.

After three knocks, Corelay’s voice sounded from outside.

“My dear perfumer, my master has been waiting for a long time.”

The noisy bird cries inside made Corelay frown, the emotion in her eyes unclear.

But at that moment, the door opened, and Jiang Nan walked out. Luo Ning, who was “playing” with the birds behind her, waved goodbye to her.

They didn’t try to hide the things in the room. When Corelay saw them, she tried her best to maintain her elegance.

Corelay had brought two people with her this time, but she didn’t seem to intend to have them drag Jiang Nan away. She just smiled, extended her hand, and said, “Let’s go. Don’t worry, my master is angry, but as long as you behave well, she won’t make things difficult for you.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Nan had no intention of resisting. She nodded and took a few steps, but then Luo Ning spoke from behind her.

“Can’t I come with you?”

Corelay stopped and smiled politely. “No, you can’t.”

“That’s a shame,” Luo Ning said with a smile, a flicker of something in her eyes.

Lin Jia stood by her door, watching them, as if she was still waiting for Jiang Nan to change her mind. But she didn’t. She watched Jiang Nan go upstairs until her figure was no longer visible.

“I told you, I apologized,” Lin Jia said to the person beside her.

Su Yue’s expression remained unchanged as she said calmly, “Then you should go back to your room now.”

Lin Jia leaned into her ear and said with a light laugh, as if she were a spoiled child, “Don’t want to. My room is so dirty right now.”

There was still a corpse in it. Even if she wasn’t scared, it must be starting to smell.

Luo Ning’s gaze turned toward the stairs leading to the second floor. After a moment, she let out a small, light laugh, but the warmth in her eyes vanished at that moment, as if all her gentle disguises had been shed, and what remained was her true self.

Her eyes filled with a coldness and a hidden killing intent that was chilling.

The surrounding bird cries were still noisy, and for the first time, she felt a sense of irritation.

Why was this?

She asked herself, but she couldn’t get a satisfactory answer.