Editing Dantalian no Shoka:Volume2 Chapter1 (section)

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Like what Thalia and the farmer said, the land surrounding the villa was very confusing. It wasn’t because there were collapses in the land, but some huge differences in the ground level that made one halt.

In the end, after spending more time than they had anticipated it would take, Huey finally approached the villa.

The two of them stood in front of the door to the villa, both were frowning.
[[Image:Dantalian_no_Shoka-vol2-p33.jpg|thumb|The two of them stood in front of the door to the villa, both were frowning.]]

It was a huge metal door stuck between two high walls, many thorny vines crawled on it, blocking anyone from exiting or entering.

A few grey glowing things were tightly entangled in the thick mess of vines.

These were corpses.

Wearing clothes whose colours had faded away, suspending in the air, they were genuine human bones. They were white bones that were dry, just like that they were entangled in the thorny vines exposed to sunshine and rain. And from the number, it wasn’t only one person.

“If these are the ornaments for the front door, then this is an impressive hobby…”
Dalian said coldly.

“These bodies are fresh. Although the skin and flesh have been peeled off, but the clothes aren’t damaged… It looks like they have only been here for a few years. From the clothes, they probably were servants of this villa…”

Huey calmly analysed.

From the condition of the corpses, it was hard to tell if it were the growth of the vines that suspended them in midair, or were they strangled by the vines until they died.

But it could be deducted that, the person who threw these bones in front of the door, was the resident of the villa, this had to be true.

“What do we do, Dalian? If we don’t deal with these vines, we can’t even enter the villa from the door.”

“Do you need to remind me? Of course we destroy them first. How nice, there is a suitable tool there.”

Dalian said emotionlessly, the axe was dropped by the body she was pointing at. It was probably brought by someone who wanted to save their companions from the vines.

And since that axe was dropped here, that person probably met the same end as their companions, it could be said that the axe was not a good omen.

“You say destroy… You want me to do it?”

Huey picked up the axe reluctantly.

Then he settled into an accurate posture and chopped down on the vines on the door. The blade of the axe was slightly rusty, but that did not affect its sharpness. The vines were quickly taken down, revealing the path to Huey and Dalian.

As what the farmer had said, there were no lights in the villa. Huey and Dalian stepped past the eerie white bones, walking towards the door of the villa.

The door was not locked. Huey gently pulled it, the door opened with a creak. The house was in darkness, Huey pulled out a lighter that he had used during army and flicked it, allowing the flame to illuminate their way.

“I don’t feel anyone’s presence… But this place is very clean.”

After he turned a circle in the hall before the door, Huey commented.

Although there was a thin layer of dust on the carpet, but there weren’t any signs of a fight, the furniture weren’t damaged either.

If anyone had told him that this was a villa that the owner had left for several months, he probably would have believed them. Of course, that would be if he had not seen the thorny vines surrounding the house, and the bodies in front of the house that no one seemed to know about.

Huey dragged the axe as he carried the lighter and walked up the stairs to the clock tower.

The owner of this villa—the Rose Princess Florence Calobos should be on the observatory room of this clock tower. A few hours ago, Huey had personally seen her figure.

But when he entered the observatory room, Huey stopped in surprise.

In front of him was definitely a girl’s figure.

She wore an expensive outfit and she had long hair. She was as if looking down on the village that she owned, standing by the window that was covered with thorny vines. She was about the same age as Thalia. She would have been a beautiful woman—if she were still alive.

“What exactly…”

Huey couldn’t help but moan after his eyes scanned the room.

The girl was definitely standing by the window, but it was only the part of her from waist up.

And her lower body, cut off by someone, collapsed on the sofa.

Her head and arms were cut off from her body as well as her clothes.

And these decapitated body parts, were hung from the vines trailing down from the ceiling, suspended in the air. Although it looked like she was living, it was probably due to the efforts of the vines. Her body parts that were strewn all over the place were like parts of a marionette, suspended by the vines by the window.

“Is she Florence-san?”

Huey walked over to the body by the window, he couldn’t help himself but sigh.
There wasn’t any need to check to know that she was already dead. Although the body had become withered, but from the faded colours of her clothing, the time of her death wasn’t too long ago. At most a few months to half a year, the bodies outside the door were probably dead within the week.

“It looks like this can’t be suicide.”

Huey looked at the blood marks on the ceiling and said. Dalian emotionlessly agreed.

“Yes. As long as the dead person’s feet did not walk to the couch by themselves, then this is indeed a murder.”

“Is it the same person who committed the arson at the Calobos’s house—no.”

After muttering to himself, Huey shook his head in denial. He found a basic contradiction.

“Then the other people who saw Miss Florence at the foot of the mountain, who can it be?”
From this body of Florence Calobos, it could be seen that she had been dead for half a year.

But one month before, someone had seen Florence in the village at the bottom of the mountain.

The witness was a merchant who had frequent dealings with the Calobos family. It was hard to think that he would seen wrongly.

“Dead people can’t run around living. Unless, this is the power of the Dark Green Book, Dalian?”

“No.”

The black haired girl shook her head firmly.

“Dead people can’t read books. Even if the Phantom Book “The Dark Green Book” really existed, there could be other people other than her holding it.”

“That means, after killing her, someone else took the book?”

Huey said with a stern expression. But Dalian continued to calmly speak.

“There is also a possibility that she was never a keeper of the Phantom Book.”

Huey asked a little dubiously:

“Not Miss Florence? Then who can it be?”

“There is only one person who can fit this, can’t you see that? Idiot.”

“Eh?”

Dalian used a slightly superior expression to look at Huey’s dazed expression.

“Didn’t that farmer say so just now? The people who can read in this village, aside from the people in the villa, there is only one.”

“Yes, it’s Thalia.”

Huey’s voice turned hoarse.

“But, why would she…”

“I don’t know that either. But, there is definitely a Phantom Book in this village.”

The girl dressed in black finished speaking, her eyes looking out of the window.

Her emotionless face, had already turned pale.

In the night sky exposed by the sides of the window, there was a small wave.

Those were the vines with thorns. Under the red light of the moon, there were thick green thorny vines wriggling as if they were alive, wanting to envelope the villa that Huey and Dalian were in.