Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 57
Daphne and Alice used a long tablecloth twisted into a rope to firmly tie Miss Callia to the table leg and then tightly bound Mistress Daisy’s hands together to prevent her from scheming any further.
Erica instructed the girls to wait there while she personally escorted Mistress Daisy to retrieve the keys.
Although all the guests were asleep due to Dr. Salman’s medicine, leaving the girls alone with them was still worrying, so Erica planned to take a detour to the stables to ask Dr. Salman to temporarily accompany the girls.
Perhaps because of his profession, Dr. Salman exuded a gentle and wise aura that made people feel at ease—but that was assuming he and Charlie had indeed incapacitated the castle’s effective forces.
In truth, a few rough workers weren’t much of a challenge, but several hours had passed since they infiltrated the castle and captured Mistress Daisy, and the fact that the shopkeeper and Dr. Salman hadn’t entered the greenhouse made her cautious. Otherwise, she would have tied the wicked woman up right there and gone to the study herself to fetch the keys. As a knight of Brandenburg, she wasn’t afraid of a mere dog.
However, her doubts about this issue were resolved as soon as she stepped out of the greenhouse.
Charlie was sitting on a neatly trimmed holly bush, smoking, with white smoke rising slowly from his long pipe, making his rabbit head appear somewhat unreal in the moonlight.
Seeing him donning his high-top hat again, Erica knew the fight was over and felt relieved.
The rabbit-headed shopkeeper put down his pipe when he saw them come out and listened as Erica briefly explained what had happened.
“Those girls really are brave. I hardly had to do anything, and they managed it all by themselves,” Erica sincerely said. “Just as you said.”
“The ‘doctor’ went to the kitchen. He wants to examine the potions they were using,” Charlie said. “I’ve been waiting here since I couldn’t enter without an invitation—I can only see a big, dark glass house.”
He said this while staring intently at Mistress Daisy.
The woman before him was obviously not a mage, nor did she have any accessories with magical fluctuations. If it weren’t for those will-sapping soups and the bizarre invitation system, no one would associate her with mystical powers.
Erica also thought of this and frowned, turning back to ask, “What’s going on? You’re not a mage. How can you set such a broad rule?”
Mistress Daisy lifted her eyelids reluctantly and said, “It’s not me. It’s the castle. It’s been this way before I was born—don’t look at me. I don’t know who did it.”
“You’ve managed to enter the ball, which means you must have gotten an invitation somehow.” Charlie nodded slightly to Erica. “So I’ll go with her to get the keys, and you go back and comfort those girls.”
With no other choice, Erica handed Mistress Daisy over to Charlie. She was about to remind him about the hound when she saw him give her a secretive wink. Understanding his assurance, she turned and returned to the greenhouse.
“You were lying just now,” Charlie whispered softly as they left the garden and entered the dim stone hall of the castle.
Mistress Daisy didn’t speak.
“You expertly use the castle’s rules to lure women and beguile guests. That can’t be explained with a ‘don’t know’. Such range of magic is usually set by the original landowners, and this castle is very old. That person no longer exists, right? So you’ve bypassed the founder and taken over as the master to manage the rules. What’s your relationship with the castle’s previous owner?”
This made Mistress Daisy stumble a bit, but she still didn’t speak.
‘How troublesome,’ the shopkeeper thought.
If the Duke were here, he would have unraveled the logic chain of this strange event sooner and prodded Mistress Daisy into revealing everything in the most cutting way.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t here, and strictly speaking, this matter had nothing to do with him. That he had Erica come to assist was unexpected.
He pretended not to care about Mistress Daisy’s silence, continuing as they walked. “Those girls, so young yet imprisoned here as tools for your profit. You were once a girl with your moments of innocence. How can you do this to them? Aren’t you afraid—if you had children, that someone would treat them the same way?”
Mistress Daisy scoffed. “I wasn’t that fortunate to have children.”
“But you had parents,” Charlie said gently. “You know the love and expectations parents have for their children. They would give their lives to protect their own. I’m sure your parents would never let you suffer through this, yet you commit these sins against other people’s children…”
It was probably the empty corridor that made Mistress Daisy not as tense as in the greenhouse, or perhaps because her fate was entirely in his hands, but it took her a while to speak. “I said, I’m not as lucky as them. I don’t know what crazy things you’ve heard from them, but I don’t make them work. I provide them with food and beds, as well as beautiful dresses—all the most fashionable styles each year—and all sorts of earrings and bracelets. Do you know how much that costs? At their age, I only had one stiff, thick dress that I had to wear all year round, struggling for the warmest spot by the fireplace just to stay a bit warmer. Protection from parents? Hmph, I lost my parents a long time ago.”
“Is that why you decided not to have your own family and children?” Charlie asked unexpectedly.
Mistress Daisy suddenly looked up at him, then quickly lowered her gaze.
“Kinship is the most laughable thing,” she said. “Let me tell you, those girls in the castle—do you think their parents don’t know where their children have gone? Just hire a fierce guard or adopt an arrogant noble demeanor, throw them some money, and they will easily be scared off, not daring to come close. They go back home, pretend to cry for a few days, acting as if nothing happened, as if their children never existed.”
As they walked up the last step to the third floor, Mistress Daisy continued, “Do you know? All the girls have a price tag. I set their prices based on their background, looks, and age. If their families are capable of finding this place, I tell them their children were here but have died of illness. I express my regret and give them some money—money solves everything. So don’t fantasize about using kinship to persuade or move me. Regardless of whether or not I repent, you’ve won.”
“So everything you do is for money?” Charlie mused. “Because you were tormented by poverty, so you seize every opportunity to pursue wealth?”
They walked along the corridor. The hound, seeing Charlie, immediately stood up, its gaze fixed intensely on his rabbit head, as if ready to pounce.
Charlie chuckled softly, tightening the scarf that was binding Mistress Daisy’s hands.
Mistress Daisy said quietly, “Go away, sweetie.”
She had to say it twice before the hound reluctantly moved aside, its gaze never leaving Charlie.
Erica opened the greenhouse doors, coaxing the girls to come out and feel the moonlight of freedom.
“There’s no smell of cigars or alcohol outside. The moonlight is brightening the ground. We should…” celebrate our victory.
Before she could finish her sentence, she saw several figures rushing toward the greenhouse. Erica, on alert, pushed Daphne, who was at the forefront, back and grabbed the dagger in her sleeve to confront them.
Only when she got closer did she clearly see the faces of the newcomers. “Dr. Salman… Shiloh?!”
The round-faced young man looked just as surprised. “Erica?!”
Dr. Salman interjected, “You know each other?”
Erica relaxed, playfully slapping Shiloh on the head—her force causing his head to tilt. “Where have you wandered off to? I sent so many scouts and none found you, you big lost cause!”
Shiloh was indignant, but he couldn’t beat Erica yet—Erica was freakishly strong, and nothing about her was delicate.
“I’m also a member of the knights. Stealth is a compulsory course. How could ordinary scouts easily track me?” He proudly puffed up his chest.
“So you were planning to meet up with me, relying on your sense of direction?” Erica scoffed. At that moment, she noticed someone else by Shiloh’s side—a tin soldier?
The less-than-half-human-height tin soldier hadn’t had a chance to enter the conversation until Erica finally noticed him. He cheerfully said, “Hello Erica! I’m Columbus! Dr. Salman said his rabbit friend was coming to rescue the ladies. Is it Charlie? Is it Charlie?”
Erica nodded with a smile. “So you’re the shopkeeper’s friend. Nice to meet you. I’m Erica, the boss of this directionally challenged guy here. He must have been a handful for you.”
Shilo loudly claimed, “Shivers is my boss!”
Erica ignored him.
Dr. Salman, realizing everyone was indeed allies met by chance, remembered why he had rushed here and quickly asked in a low voice, “Erica, did you eat anything from the ball?”
Erica, seeing Dr. Salman’s serious expression, knew this was serious and also adopted a more sober tone. “No. I don’t eat casually in such situations.”
“Did you drink any tea? Alcohol? Or other beverages?” Dr. Salman asked urgently.
“Our plan involved the beverages, so I didn’t touch a drop,” Erica confirmed.
Dr. Salman seemed relieved, but there was a hint of sadness in his expression.
“I have something to tell you,” he said, glancing back at the greenhouse door where a few girls were cautiously peeking out, unsure of what was happening but guessing that Dr. Salman and his companions weren’t Mistress Daisy’s henchmen, though they were hesitant to come over just yet.
He turned back and sighed deeply.
“There’s an old cook in the kitchen who has been in the castle for twenty years, very timid. Mr. Charlie and I didn’t have much trouble getting him to surrender. The thing about Shiloh and Columbus being locked in the cellar was also something I got out of him after Charlie left. The key is that he also revealed some secrets of the castle… secrets only a few people know: apart from water, nothing in this castle should be eaten—whether it’s just a sip of wine or a raisin from a piece of bread, you’ll be bound by the will of the castle’s master, and without permission, you can never leave.”
Erica turned sharply back just in time to see Alice standing at the door, leaning on the frame, looking at them, her gaze full of innocent joy.
<<< || Table of Contents || >>>
Kinky Translations 