The Hand of Confession – Chapter 76

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

The Cardinal

“But our church doesn’t have any cardinals…”

The six people’s expressions were solemn, and Dongfang continued after his words: “Later, as we kept wandering around the castle, we saw the maid and guard who you confirmed had died on the first night.”

Shen Maomao suddenly realized something: The “herself” and the maid and guard that she and Lou Jingmo had seen in front of the garden on the second morning hadn’t seemed to encounter anyone else.

Thinking this, she tentatively said: “Actually, they came back to life early the second morning. I saw them walking toward the dining hall. Didn’t you see them?”

“Was it that early?” Dongfang shook his head, “After you left that day, we all split up and didn’t run into them.”

So it seemed they hadn’t seen the one pretending to be her.

Shen Maomao got the answer she wanted and immediately asked: “It doesn’t matter when they came back to life, why were you being chased?”

“Because we saw another version of ourselves,” Dongfang answered, “Perhaps we can call them ‘duplicates.’ These duplicates took over our work, and would immediately stop whatever they were doing to hunt us down when they saw their original selves…”

They didn’t dare resist inside the castle and could only passively run away. As for why they led them to the garden here, even without saying it, everyone understood their thinking.

The optimistic view was that there’s strength in numbers, the pessimistic view was that they wanted to pull someone down as cushioning when dying (meaning: wanting someone to die with them). Shen Maomao never liked to assume the worst of others, so she didn’t judge the two too much.

Freckles told the two about their experiences, while Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo went to the front of the rose garden.

Lou Jingmo crouched in front of a small flower, gently touching its bud.

The little rose nuzzled her hand like it was being coquettish.

Golden Retriever sighed: “Who would’ve thought that in the end, it would be roses that saved us…”

Just as he finished speaking, a large patch of roses suddenly “swoosh” surrounded him, scaring him into making a strange cry as he kept backing up until he hit the fence.

The roses then formed a heart shape in front of him.

Shen Maomao laughed out loud, while Golden Retriever maintained his head-covering pose, not knowing what expression he should wear.

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After digging for a while longer, all the skulls were excavated and neatly arranged on the empty ground.

Below were stark white bones, but above bloomed bewitchingly bright red flowers of love, the two colors clashing against each other, as if fighting a battle to the death (literally: “fighting until you die and I live”).

The roses swayed their heads in unison, mumbling something incomprehensible. Shen Maomao nudged Lou Jingmo’s shoulder: “Sister Lou, what are they saying?”

Lou Jingmo: “? How would I know?”

“Don’t you understand rose language?”

“Love, love and beauty, courage.”

Shen Maomao: “??”

After being stunned for a while, she finally realized that Lou Jingmo had literally just stated the traditional meanings of roses in flower language.

A cold wind blew out from the castle, making the leaves of the trees on both sides rustle. Dongfang’s pupils suddenly contracted twice, and he shouted: “Back up!”

Lou Jingmo grabbed Golden Retriever with her left hand and Shen Maomao with her right, pulling the two who hadn’t yet reacted quickly backward, soon retreating behind the rose bushes.

The two were still have faces full of confusion, not knowing what had happened, when they saw that evil wind blow over the roses in the skull flowerpots. All the roses bent their stems and then, bit by bit, from far to near, turned to ashes.

The wind carried the ashes up to the sky, bringing the gray mass back along its original path, heading straight back into the castle.

Shen Maomao opened her eyes wide, looking up at the little roses that had just been giggling with them suddenly turning to ash, feeling an inevitable sadness in her heart.

Lou Jingmo suddenly grabbed her hand: “They’ve just been set free.”

It wasn’t the roses that had become supernatural, but the skulls beneath them.

Who knows what stories they experienced while alive, and after death, they were skinned and stripped of flesh, made into skull flowerpots – their skulls pierced by rose stems, buried deep underground, enduring such suffering…

Shen Maomao’s eyes inexplicably started to sting.

She remembered the picture frames on the wall, and thought of those piercing screams behind the locked door, making her heart ache.

“They’re free now.” Lou Jingmo gently scratched her palm, a hint of smile appearing in her eyes, “Want to go court death?”

Shen Maomao nodded vigorously: “Let’s do it!”

Golden Retriever sidled up to the two, rubbing his hands and asking: “What are you guys going to do? Take me with you? After all, I’m the gold master (meaning: financial backer), right?”

Of course they had to bring the investor! Shen Maomao let go of Lou Jingmo’s hand and switched to tugging Golden Retriever’s arm: “Great Investor, don’t worry, we’ll definitely protect you!”

Hearing her say this, Golden Retriever immediately became uneasy, even a bit worried.

Meanwhile, Lou Jingmo was already telling the remaining three: “From here on, it’s every person for themselves. There’s an expert player in the instance working on clearing it, probably will complete this dungeon today or tomorrow.”

Freckles said: “It’s that Shang Zhou, right?”

Lou Jingmo neither nodded nor denied it, just said lightly: “Until we meet again.”

After speaking, she started walking out of the garden, with Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever hurriedly following behind her like two loyal followers.

They hadn’t taken two steps when the newcomer Wen Muyan suddenly called out: “Please wait!”

Lou Jingmo turned back to look at her.

Wen Muyan had already figured out who had the most authority among the three. Looking at Lou Jingmo’s expressionless face, she felt intimidated but still gathered her courage to ask: “Could you take me with you?”

Lou Jingmo remained silent.

Wen Muyan gritted her teeth and said: “I’m quite clever, I definitely won’t hold you back. All the surviving women are in your group, and as a woman myself, it would be more convenient to be with you all.”

Golden Retriever: “…” What? Was he not a man or something?

Wen Muyan was actually very beautiful, and when she made a pleading expression, there was a pitiful quality to it that would involuntarily soften people’s hearts and make them agree to her request.

However, Lou Jingmo had an iron and stone heart: “No.”

Just these two words made the light in Wen Muyan’s eyes dim. But she didn’t give up, immediately looking toward Shen Maomao, who was obviously showing signs of softening.

Shen Maomao bit her lower lip and turned her head away, no longer looking at her.

Wen Muyan lowered her head, softly said “Sorry to bother you,” then walked step by step toward the garden, looking like she intended to waste away the entire morning there.

Golden Retriever: “?? Why don’t you ask me?”

Wen Muyan let out a long sigh: “There’s no point.”

Golden Retriever: “…” Was his low status that obvious?!

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The three sneaked to the stable, but didn’t find the other Golden Retriever there. However, the old horse that Golden Retriever had previously possessed was missing, possibly taken away by his duplicate.

The guards at the manor gate changed every hour, so even if the duplicates went out, they wouldn’t be exposed.

Golden Retriever grabbed a horse from the stable, hitched it to a cart, had Lou Jingmo and Shen Maomao lie in the dry straw, and then casually drove the cart, using the excuse of “going to gather fresh grass” to openly leave the manor.

The horse they brought out was entirely date-red in color, a young and handsome little horse with a temperament as fiery as its color.

Before leaving the manor, the little red horse behaved like a horse and dog (meaning: well-behaved), but as soon as it left the guards’ line of sight, it turned into a wild, unruly horse, as if desperate to make up for all the steps it couldn’t take in the stable. Shen Maomao almost got thrown off and quickly grabbed Lou Jingmo’s hand, instantly feeling overwhelmed with security.

Lou Jingmo let the horse prance around while she remained perfectly still, steady as a rock.

The outside world had changed dramatically. The once clean and tidy streets were now covered with a thick layer of ash. The ash swirled up as the cart passed, drifting into unnamed alleys, bringing forth waves of sorrowful crying.

The road was completely empty. The little red horse ran freely for quite a distance before finally slowing down amid Golden Retriever’s terrified shouts, leisurely walking around on its four hooves.

Lou Jingmo fixed her wind-messed hair and asked Shen Maomao: “Why didn’t you bring her?” referring to Wen Muyan.

Shen Maomao answered without hesitation: “If I wanted to bring her, would you agree?”

Lou Jingmo: “That’s your own business, no need to ask me.”

Shen Maomao smiled: “I can’t even protect myself, how could I dare add another burden for you? Besides, we’re out here courting death, she’d be safer staying in the castle.”

Lou Jingmo’s lips curved up as she raised her hand to mess up Shen Maomao’s “puppy head” (an endearing way to refer to someone’s head).

Shen Maomao: “? Just talk normally, why are you getting physical?”

Golden Retriever: “…”

Feeling like he should be under the cart, not in it.

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When they drove to the Church of Light they’d passed that night, Golden Retriever pulled the reins tight: “Whoa—!” The little red horse slowly stopped and lowered its head to eat the roadside grass. He tied the reins in front of the church and, like a courteous gentleman, slightly bowed while inviting the two ladies to get off the cart.

This church wasn’t particularly large, entirely beige in color, with intricate patterns carved on its exterior walls. The stained glass on the second floor sparkled with rainbow colors under the sunlight. The church had two floors in a symmetrical structure, with a clock tower in the very center. The huge clock face was marked with twelve Roman numerals, with the hour hand currently pointing to ten.

From inside the church came the faint, gentle music of a viola, accompanied by dozens of people chanting hymns.

The three walked into the church, stepping on the red carpet inside.

The interior was filled with all kinds of people, each bowing their heads in devotion, as if wanting to humble themselves into dust just to receive divine forgiveness.

A priest saw them and immediately came forward, saying to them: “Please follow me to change clothes…” He had mistaken them for worshippers coming to pray.

Shen Maomao grabbed his robe hem: “Wait, we’re here looking for someone.” The priest turned back, asking puzzledly: “Who are you looking for?”

“Well…” Shen Maomao explained, “He’s a cardinal from the church who rode in our carriage yesterday. He left something in our cart, and we’re here to return it.”

The elderly priest paused for a moment, mumbling: “But… our church doesn’t have any cardinals…”

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