Chapter 138: Lila's Blood Stained Key
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
"I know." Lin Sanjiu gave Lila a perfunctory reply while she remained in her daze. From her previous experience, she knew that every time she left the particular storyline, she wouldn’t return to the point she left. The story would continue to move forward even without her—which meant, the next time she returned to Red Riding Hood’s story, she would have missed the opportunity to save both Emma and Red Riding Hood.
If both of them were really attacked by the werewolf, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t imagine how they would survive. If the main character of the storyline died, Lin Sanjiu wondered what would happen to the pocket dimension and herself. Just when Lin Sanjiu was at wit’s end, Lila stopped with her knife and fork above her plate, and scrutinized Lin Sanjiu.
"Hey," Lila called her softly while pouting as if she was a little dissatisfied, "What are you thinking about? Why are you ignoring me?"
Lin Sanjiu finally got a grip on herself. In any case, she was already out of Red Riding Hood’s story. The only thing she could do now was to look for clues within this current story.
"Nothing much. I'm just curious about that key," she smiled at Lila.
With that, she managed to change the focus of their conversation. Lila stopped, straightening her blue silk dress, "Oh... what do you think he keeps in that room?"
Lin Sanjiu took a sip of water, trying to conceal her intentions as she calmed herself. She had taken a spectator role for both Red Riding Hood’s and Cinderella’s story, and without her involvement, there was a weird turn of events in both stories... This time, she decided to do something different here with Lila.
"Why don’t we…" Lin Sanjiu picked up a piece of prawn nonchalantly, "...take a look?"
She did not expect that her words would startle Lila. Lila nearly dropped her fork, "Huh? We can’t do that. My husband had emphasized that I must not open the door. If I enter that room. He will never forgive me…"
From her reaction, Lin Sanjiu realized that Lila had never considered peeping into the room before. This was something different from the normal story. [Maybe this is a chance to change something.] Lin Sanjiu skipped a beat. She froze, but then asked gingerly, "Aren’t you curious? What is your husband hiding from you…"
Lila closed her eyes as her brows furrowed. Even though she was usually in a drunken stupor and always seemed preoccupied, she was surprisingly prudent. After thinking for some time, Lila picked a long key off the bunch of keys at her waist and placed it on the table. "This is the key to the small room," she shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu with a conflicted expression. "You’re right, I really want to know what is in that room, so… I hope you can help me."
Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned, "Does it mean that you want me to look into the room on your behalf?"
Lila nodded, there was a glint of an inborn craftiness in the young woman’s eyes. "If you look into the room and tell me what is inside, we aren’t technically breaking my husband’s rule."
[This is obviously different from the original story! Is this a critical turn?]
"Sure, I will do it now." Lin Sanjiu agreed swiftly and grabbed the key. She ran upstairs while Lila watched a little nervously. Bluebeard’s castle wasn’t that large, but it was about four stories tall. After staying here for a few days, Lin Sanjiu was fairly familiar with the place. She reached the corridor of the second story, it was the most elaborately decorated and most luxurious-looking level in the entire castle. The walls on both sides of the corridor were filled with paintings after paintings of Bluebeard’s ancestors. The people in the portraits seemed to be watching anyone who was walking along the corridor.
When she was just about to reach the last room, Lin Sanjiu suddenly stopped. She took two steps back and slowly turned her eyes towards something. It was a full-length mirror which could show a person’s reflection from head to toe. With the technological level in the current era, a mirror of such clarity wasn’t something which could be seen anywhere—besides, the silver frame of the mirror looked very familiar to Lin Sanjiu. The mirror in Emma’s cottage seemed the same... or rather it was the exact mirror she saw in Emma’s cottage.
Even though Lin Sanjiu could not understand the significance of this matter, she could feel her blood flow speeding up. This was the first time she found something common among the three stories. After contemplating for a while, she curbed herself from rushing downstairs to question Lila about the origins of the mirror. Instead, she touched the mirror cautiously and gritted her teeth before she walked toward the room.
Anyone who knew the story of Bluebeard would clearly remember what was behind the door. Even though a room filled with corpses wasn’t a pretty sight, just to be sure, Lin Sanjiu stuck the key into the keyhole and turned the key. The lock clicked and the door opened. A gush of cool air escaped into the corridor.
Oddly, the room did not have a single scent of blood. Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes and looked into the room. It was very dark and other than a few vague silhouettes hanging from the ceiling, she couldn’t see anything else clearly. She did not plan to scrutinize the dead women. Her hand was still on the handle as she looked casually into the room and decided to leave. Just then, she spotted a light blue dress and she froze. It was a blue silk dress with a very recognizable design... Lin Sanjiu had just seen it, a few minutes ago.
Lin Sanjiu looked upwards slowly. The woman hanging from the ceiling had long black hair which had been styled into a beautiful hairdo. She was slightly over 20 and had eye-catching red lips.
Lila.
She wasn’t holding a goblet of wine and she wasn’t smiling. The Lila she saw hanging from the ceiling had a pale white face and dead brown eyes which were staring at the entrance. Her neck was branded by two greenish-purple hand prints which dug into her skin. Her fair face was covered with a cobweb of greenish veins and red arteries.
Lin Sanjiu was certain that it was Lila. Lin Sanjiu quickly covered her own mouth. She did not know if she made any sound. Ever since the apocalypse, she really thought she had already seen and been through a lot, but this… this...
As she was panicking slightly, she lost balance and staggered a little. She held onto the door frame and managed to support herself. However, the key fell noisily from the keyhole. "Thud." It fell on the floor.
Lin Sanjiu took a few deep breaths but she couldn’t muster the courage to look at Lila’s dead body. She picked up the key and it was stained with blood, just like in the fairytale. The dead Lila looked at her.
The suppressed thoughts and emotions she had ever since she entered this pocket dimension suddenly emerged and erupted. The irrationality of the three stories, the confusion and disorder, the unexplainable developments, the anxiousness to get out of this pocket dimension, her concern for her companions...
She just turned and ran. Lin Sanjiu moved so fast that she flipped a few of the portraits. When she was downstairs, Lin Sanjiu was stupefied.
Lila was perfectly fine and was still sitting at the dining table. The woman was sipping the wine from her goblet, her skin and hair looked well. She tapped her crystal goblet lightly with her finger, making a soft tinkling sound.
[But she looks alive…]
"Oh, you’re back. What did you see?"
Lila heard Lin Sanjiu and turned to her, asking a little impatiently, "Why do you look so pale? What did you see?"
Lin Sanjiu opened her mouth and stared blankly at the woman. She unconsciously looked toward the corridor once again. The woman in front of her was definitely alive, so what was the explanation behind what she saw hanging in the room?
Meanwhile, Lila noticed that the key in Lin Sanjiu’s hand was stained with blood. In a moment of panic, she snatched it from Lin Sanjiu and wiped it feverishly with a napkin. As she cleaned the key, she anxiously asked, "Why is there blood on the key? Quick, tell me!"
Lin Sanjiu looked at the woman carefully from head to toe. She suddenly had an idea. "Come with me," she grabbed Lila’s wrist and dragged her upstairs without giving her a chance to resist.