Long, long ago, at the edge of a village lush with trees and blooming flowers, stood a vast estate. The Strett family resided there. The estate’s border was a sea of trees like a labyrinthine garden; at its center stood a grand, castle-like mansion, four stories high including the attic.
The inheritance left by their ancestors, combined with the land rent collected from the villagers, was enough to ensure at least four generations of the family lived without want.
Upon the old master’s passing, he bequeathed all his property to his only son. The son, who had spent his life meekly obeying his father, attended a prestigious school but emerged without any practical skills, idling away his days squandering the family fortune. He was notoriously known in the area as a profligate heir, constantly attending balls with his fellow aristocratic friends and flitting between noble ladies. However, the very day after the old master’s death, this dashing, philandering young master brought a commoner woman, dressed in a simple white gown with long, flowing red wavy hair, to live in the manor.
This woman was the daughter of the village’s old blacksmith. Her family had only settled here from the distant east two years prior. No one knew exactly when she and the manor’s new master had become involved, but by the time she moved into the estate, she was already two months pregnant.
The new master paid no heed to the servants’ gossip within the manor, nor the rumors flying around the village and even noble circles. He seemed to love this woman, love her to the point of obsession, love her recklessly…
Soon after, their daughter was born, named “Shion”. The girl was both lovely and exceedingly clever, starting to speak and run around early! The family of three lived happily within the manor. Villagers often heard beautiful music emanating from the estate – the sound of the new master playing the piano, accompanied by the new mistress’s enchanting singing. Whenever the father played and the mother sang, little Shion would run up and down the stairs, twirling like a dancing butterfly…
What puzzled everyone was that the couple never held a wedding. They didn’t go to church, didn’t register their marriage, didn’t even formally announce their relationship. They simply lived together naturally, had a daughter, and lived the life of an ordinary family of three, albeit far wealthier and more luxurious than “ordinary”. And not long after the mistress moved into the manor, the villagers noticed that the usually low-profile, inconspicuous old blacksmith and his wife had vanished, leaving only an empty smithy. No one noticed when they left or where they went. But soon, people forgot about the old couple.
The manor and the village remained peaceful and serene. Time flowed, year after year…
However, not long after Shion’s seventeenth birthday, an upheaval turned everything upside down. Everything… changed completely…
The night before, the manor’s master was to attend a party in town. But the mistress felt unwell, perhaps having caught a chill; her voice was hoarse. She gave her husband a few instructions, saw him off alone, and returned to her bedroom to rest early. She asked the old maid who usually cared for her to fetch some medicine for the chill and instructed a servant to tell Shion she was feeling ill and not to come say goodnight, lest the child catch it too.
Upon receiving the message, Shion asked the servant to tell her mother to rest early and to convey her goodnight, then returned to her room.
The old maid fetched the medicine but found the mistress unusually tense. When asked what was wrong, the mistress only replied, “Nothing,” told her to leave the medicine and water by the bedside, and sent her away.
The master returned home in the early hours, the large amount of alcohol he’d consumed leaving him in poor spirits. He took off his coat, went to the bedroom, didn’t see his wife there, assumed she’d gone to the bathroom, and thought little of it. His head heavy and dizzy, he collapsed into bed and fell into a deep sleep without even bathing. He thought his wife would surely complain about his drunken state when she returned, but whatever, he just wanted to sleep…
The night passed uneventfully…
However…
The next morning, the master woke up, glanced at the cold medicine and the now-cold water left on the bedside table. He felt the side of the bed where his wife usually slept – icy cold, not like she’d woken early and left the room. Finding it strange, he stepped out of the bedroom and asked the servants where the mistress was. Astonishingly, none of them had seen her.
Just then, his daughter Shion also emerged from her bedroom and wished him good morning. Seeing her father’s grave expression and the servants’ flustered looks, she asked what was wrong and where her mother was.
But as soon as Shion finished speaking, a woman’s scream echoed from upstairs!
Shion followed her father, accompanied by a group of servants, rushing upstairs. They saw the old maid who cared for the mistress stumbling down from the attic. In her haste, she twisted her ankle on the stairs and nearly tumbled down! Fortunately, nearby servants rushed to catch her.
“Was that you screaming?” the master asked, displeased. “What happened? Ghosts in the attic?”
As soon as he spoke, a few servants couldn’t help but snicker.
But the old maid’s reply froze everyone’s expressions!
“The mistress… the mistress… she’s collapsed in the attic… not breathing…” the old maid gasped in terror, glancing nervously back towards the attic door upstairs.
“What?” The master immediately led the charge up the stairs and into the attic room. Shion and the servants followed closely.
But shortly after rushing in, the master turned back and slammed the attic door shut! Blocking Shion and all the servants outside!
“What… what’s happening?” Shion asked, bewildered.
The old maid then recounted in detail what she had seen the previous night. Shion didn’t hear anything particularly strange in her account.
A moment later, the master opened the attic door a crack and called out to the servants outside, “Call the police.”
“Shouldn’t we call a doctor?” a servant added.
The master shook his head slightly, looking exhausted. “Too late. Just call the police.”
He exited the attic and instructed the butler to lock the door with a key and wait for the police. Shion cautiously asked her father if she could see her mother one last time, but he refused.
“Your mother has passed. Seeing her won’t bring her back. We don’t know what happened to her from last night until now. Let the police handle it. Don’t look, or you won’t be able to help and will only be traumatized.”
Shion, always obedient to her parents, though longing to see her mother one last time, reluctantly stepped aside as her father insisted.
“The police will likely question everyone in the house soon. Go back to your room, collect yourself, and try to recall if anything unusual happened last night,” her father instructed, escorting her back to her room and closing the door behind her.
Anything unusual…
Shion racked her brain. During dinner the previous night, her father had already left for the party. Her mother sat opposite her at the dining table. As usual, her mother spoke little during meals, only smiling gently when their eyes met occasionally. After dinner, when instructing the servants to clear the table, her mother’s voice was hoarse, and she seemed tired. She told Shion she wasn’t feeling well and might sleep early. Later, Shion saw the old maid leave her parents’ bedroom and thought her mother would soon be asleep. She was just about to go say goodnight when a servant told her that her mother, to avoid passing on the chill, asked her not to come. So… she returned to her room alone. She read for a while, felt sleepy, and went to bed, sleeping until she woke up this morning and left her room.
Nothing unusual…
The police arrived… They conducted investigations and interviews, then covered her mother’s body with a white sheet and carried it away on a stretcher. Shion never saw what her mother looked like in death. The police finally informed the family of their conclusion: with no signs of external injuries or struggle, homicide was essentially ruled out. They determined the mistress likely died of sudden cardiac arrest after entering the attic alone.
But Shion had never heard of her mother having heart problems or a family history. What happened in the attic to cause her heart to fail remained unknown.
According to the old maid, she heard the master return late at night and came out of the servants’ quarters to check if the main door was locked. Returning to her room, she heard footsteps going upstairs. The sound didn’t seem to come from the direction of the master and mistress’s bedroom or Shion’s room; it sounded more like it came from the attic. In the dead of night, the house was silent. The old maid, alone and frightened, didn’t dare go up to the attic to investigate. The sound quickly disappeared, so she didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep.
Since no one else in the house provided any murder motive or suspicious findings during questioning, and the servants all slept in pairs or groups with alibis, and despite the mistress dying mysteriously, no clues pointing to the cause of death were found inside the house, the case was closed as sudden cardiac death due to the mistress’s own physical condition.
Helpless, that seemed to be the only conclusion for now…
But immediately after the mistress’s death, the master underwent a drastic change in temperament and dismissed all the household staff! The vast estate was left inhabited only by the father and daughter. To avoid starvation, Shion had to go to the village to buy groceries, ask villagers how to cook, then return to the manor to prepare meals for herself and her father.
Days passed like this, with her father locking himself in his study all day, researching who knows what…
Until one day, as Shion had just woken up and left her bedroom, her father put on his coat and went out. When he returned, a tall, slender, handsome young man followed him.
Shion had just finished preparing dinner and came forward to greet her father when she noticed the boy. The youth appeared around her age, dressed in a white shirt and khaki overalls, wearing a khaki-checkered cap. His hair was light flaxen, his eyes deep brown, his features delicate yet refined. He seemed shy and reserved, not much of a talker.
“This is ‘Canon’,” her father introduced him to Shion. “He’s the nephew of the police chief in town.”
“Oh!” Shion stepped forward to take her father’s coat, curiously glancing at the shy, handsome boy.
“Shion,” her father called. “He will be living with us for quite a long time, perhaps even for life.”
“Huh?” Shion was surprised. Wasn’t he just here for some matter or dinner?
“I’ve already spoken with the chief and with him,” her father gently patted Canon’s back. “First thing tomorrow morning, the two of you will go register your marriage. From now on, he is part of our family.”
Hearing this, Shion was even more astonished!
What… she was suddenly getting married? And to a boy she’d never met before tonight? But seeing the boy offer no objection, and Shion being always obedient to her parents’ arrangements, and with her mother gone, her father finally seemed in better spirits tonight… Thinking she had no sweetheart at the moment, perhaps her father had already carefully chosen a suitable young man for her…
So, Shion didn’t question it, just looked at the boy’s face and responded with an “Mm.”
During dinner, since Shion’s bed was small, Canon was assigned a guest room. Her father said he’d get Shion a larger double bed, and Canon offered to handle it.
So the next day, they went out together.
“What do you do for work? Solve cases with your police chief uncle?” On the way, Shion couldn’t help but chat with her suddenly-appointed future husband.
“Occasionally. I’m a detective,” Canon replied. “But my investigative focus isn’t quite the same as my uncle’s, so I just help him out sometimes.”
“Hmm…” Shion didn’t fully understand but politely responded.
Just like that, two young people who barely knew each other went to the church, bought a new bed, and began their married life with astonishing speed. Like Shion’s parents years before, there was no wedding ceremony, no honeymoon trip. After registering, Shion simply took Canon’s hand and led him back into the manor – that was the extent of their ceremony.
