Ayla’s hearing was extremely sensitive so she could hear it well, yet it was a strange sound.
When she glanced out of the corner of her eye, She saw that he had a sad face. His face clearly showed what he was thinking.
‘Is it okay to keep this little girl locked up even though she likes to go outside like this?’
What are you thinking?
Ayla pretended not to hear and concentrated on putting the sandwich in her mouth.
There was no way Cloud would betray Byron and help her, no matter how guilty he felt towards her.
Sympathy that could not be put into action was discouraged.
* * *
Why does time pass so slowly?
When she was young, She hated being locked in a room alone. It was a lonely, scary time for her. But that time always came back too quickly.
But what about now? She wanted to go back to my room as quickly as possible and find out what that hidden space was, but time didn’t pass.
Even while eating dinner and leaving Laura to take care of her hair, Ayla was feeling impatient due to the lack of time.
“It’s done. Your hair looks so beautiful today as well.” I’m sure the master will be proud.”
After finishing her work, Laura put down the comb and said It meant liberation at last.
“Thank you, Laura.”
So hurry down and lock her in this room.
When Ayla expressed her gratitude without even thinking about it, Laura responded in a soulless voice.
“you’re welcome.”
It was a conversation that was no different than usual. Opening her trapdoor, Laura climbed down the ladder. Not long after, the sound of the trapdoor being locked was heard.
Ayla, who was lying on the floor with her ear against the door, sighed when the sound of Laura’s footsteps completely disappeared.
It was all her time going on.
‘Let’s investigate here first.’
She approached the north wall and looked at it with a lamp. It was just a simple stone wall, and there was no decoration whatsoever.
Usually, there is some kind of device attached to a secret space. A brick with a pattern on it, or at least a torch holder.
However, it was a monotonous wall with nothing to be seen.
‘I thought there must be something there.’ Maybe it’s my mistake.’
For some reason, the steam was leaking. She had hoped that she would be able to find something, but there were no clues at all.
But she couldn’t give up yet.
‘There must be some reason. Otherwise, there would be no difference between indoors and outdoors.’
Ayla sat cross-legged on the floor, resting her chin on her right hand and glaring at the wall. She wanted to find something unique anywhere.
She stared at it with her eyes wide open until they stung, but she didn’t see anything different. It was time to wonder if she should give up.
“what.”
The gap between stones seemed to be a little wider than in other places.
‘Maybe I just made a mistake during construction…’
Still, if there were any differences, it was something that should not be ignored.
An adult would not have been able to fit even a finger inside the space since it was so small. It appeared like she would need to use a dagger-like object, but fortunately, as she had a child’s body and thin fingers, she was able to fit it in.
Ayla inserted her finger into the gap. Her skin stung slightly as it chafed against the stone wall, but she held on and pushed her fingers deeper.
Not long after, she felt something catch on my finger. And at that moment, the stone wall opened with a clicking sound. It seemed like she had pressed a button that opened a hidden door.
‘That’s interesting.’
She’s studied a lot of secret places, but this is the first time she’s seen a secret place like this. It seemed to be the way of the ancient people.
She shined the lamp she had placed nearby into the open wall. And then she couldn’t help but make a disappointed expression.
This was because all sides were blocked. It felt like a secret safe, not a passage. The only thing inside that safe was dust.
‘no. It’s still too early to be disappointed. There’s also a wall on the other side.’
She thought as she closed the open door again.
Perhaps because it was made of bricks, the door was quite heavy. She could barely close it by pushing with all her might. It was so hard that sweat beaded on her forehead.
After finding it once, she was able to find it again without much effort. It was a little different from the north wall, but once she got the hang of it, the wide gap quickly became visible.
And this time, when Ayla pressed the hidden button, the door opened with a rattling sound.
‘found.’
Ayla couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she looked into the open wall with the lamp.
Hidden within the wall was a deep passage whose extent was unknown.
There was no need to hesitate. All she had to do now was find out how far this passage led.
Ayla stepped on a protruding brick. And she began to move downward, step by step.
It seemed to be structured so that one could go up and down by holding on to the protruding part and stepping on it, like rock climbing.
No matter how carefully she stepped, the sound of her footsteps rang out because the space was narrow and long. The sound echoing in the narrow space was extremely eerie.
It must have been countless years ago that a living person entered this passage.
After going down like that for some time.
She finally got her feet on the floor. Then she was able to find a small hole through which light was leaking.
‘Where am I?’
Ayla looked outside into the light-filled space. The gap was so narrow that she could hardly see anything, but she was fortunate to still be able to check the situation outside.
‘Is it the lobby on the first floor?’
It was a familiar space. The light she saw seemed to come from a torch held by a patrolling guard. As the guard moved away, the light that had been leaking through the gap also disappeared.
Anyway, how did she get out of here?
Ayla looked around. Since she did the same in her room, she figured there must be a button to get out.
‘Ah. ‘Here it is.’
Without looking too far, there was a button hidden in the hole she looked through. It seemed to have a structure that could be pressed from both sides.
As long as she could get out of the room, from now on, the night was her world.
Because she was better than anyone else at avoiding people and carefully digging for information.
Ayla smiled sinisterly and pressed the button. Slurp. Her stone walls quietly gave her her way.
Once she got out, she had something to do.
The first thing she had to do was take some comfortable clothes to move around in.
As expected, training clothes were more comfortable than pyjamas when moving around without being noticed every night. After stealing a dark-coloured training uniform from the room where Laura and Capella had stored Ayla’s clothes, she returned to the lobby and opened her passage.
But she didn’t plan on going back to my room like this.
The most urgent thing for her was to sneak into Byron’s room.
Even if she couldn’t go in right away, she had to see if there was a way to sneak into Byron’s room.
After changing her clothes in the narrow passage, she looked outside and came back outside.
Fortunately, once the security guard passed by, he did not come back soon. He would be looking elsewhere.
Concentrating closely to see if she could hear any footsteps, she quietly walked out of the building.
She could see torches flickering in the distance as if guards were moving around outside, but for her, trying to outrun them was easier than breathing.
She quietly slipped out like a cat and looked up to the second floor, where Byron’s room was. The light streaming through the window showed that she wasn’t sleeping yet.
After all, it was too early for Byron, who was nocturnal, to go to sleep. She was sure he was drinking profusely.
Coincidentally, there was a tree with thick leaves in the perfect position to spy on Byron’s room. Ayla easily climbed a tree, hid herself among the leaves, and looked into the room.
As she expected, Byron was drinking wine, wearing a silk bathrobe, and barefoot. His red hair was soaked with moisture as if he hadn’t even dried it yet, and his eyes were hazy due to how much he had drunk.
“… … “Ophelia.”
Byron muttered as he looked out the window with a wine glass in his hand.
“My Ophelia… why… “You didn’t choose me.”
Byron, who was heavily drunk, looked into space with a pitiful expression. It was as if he was looking at Ophelia, who wasn’t even there.
And Ayla, who was hiding and watching the scene, clenched her fists.
If possible, she felt like tearing that mouth that called her mother’s name to pieces. It was not a name she could dare to put on that dirty tongue.
It is said that Rodrik ‘stole’ Ophelia, and it seems that Ophelia’s choice from the beginning was Rodrik, not Byron.
The very expression of taking Ophelia, not an object, and being taken away again was uncomfortable, but as Byron expressed it, he never had Ophelia in the first place.
Well then.
As she expected, it seemed that Byron had intervened between Roderick and Ophelia, who were in love with each other.
“… … doesn’t care. No matter who you love, I want you… Because I love you.”
Byron put his glass on the window sill and took something out of his robe pocket. A purple gem sparkling in the moonlight caught her eye.
It was his dagger.
And Byron kissed the cold metal as if the dagger were his precious Ophelia.
“You are the only woman who can stand by my side. ” Beautiful Ophelia.”
