Chapter 17 - The door

The day passed much faster than Aina would have expected and against all expectations, without a hitch. Despite the young woman's apprehension at seeing Chagrin again, her work today had been more than peaceful. Envie, despite his usual difficult and merciless character, had not rejected her presence any more than that and Mistress Chagrin had not addressed their altercation of the day before, behaving as if everything that had happened had never existed.

Aina had expected the entire household to condemn her for her behavior, but no one had brought up the subject, as if all members of the family had made a tacit agreement not to mention the recent events.

'Not that it bothers me.'

It was now break time for her, although she had no intention of resting. She hung up her apron in the kitchen of the manor and slipped her hand into her pocket to take out the mysterious note, which had been left for her that morning. This tiny thing had tormented her all day long, playing over and over in her mind to the point that she couldn't even concentrate on her work. This little white card was decorated with a lily, which had troubled her so much.

"Go back." she read discreetly, before heaving a sigh.

'Alright.'

She had little hope that this wasn't just a joke, but the slight possibility that someone wanted to tell her this made her sneak silently into the bedroom of Désespoir, whose door she saw had been closed. She stood in front, thoughtful and undecided. She waited a few moments, looking somber, before turning the handle, somewhat nervous at finding herself in this unfamiliar place again.

She was somewhat surprised to see that the room – or what was left of it – was still empty. She didn't want to admit it, but she had harbored a vague hope that everything she remembered was just a dream. Yet the room was still desperately stripped of all those things that still seemed so real to her, to her great despair.

She closed her eyelids for a few moments, letting the silence and woody aroma of the room envelop her like a comforting embrace.

Then she opened her eyes. She was always alone, in this great void, this bare expanse of which nothing would remain, only scraps of an uncertain and probably imaginary past.

She had come back to this room, to the very place where the anger and terror had seized her the day before and she couldn't help but feel afraid that all of this would happen again, that these emotions that had devoured her like a hungry beast returns, taking her with them.

'Now what?'

She had followed what her mysterious informant had told her and entered Désespoir's room again, but what...? What was she supposed to see? Discover? Everything in front of her was identical to the day before. Everything was gone. She moved a little further between the walls, scanning the surroundings to try to find what her raven wanted to show her. She observed and observed again, so hard that her eyes began to hurt, to the point that she had to close them.

And then she saw.

A gasp of astonishment escaped her parted lips when her gaze caught somewhere in a corner, right next to the window. The thing could have gone unnoticed if one wasn't a little attentive, but she noticed it almost immediately.

Under the frame, just behind a slightly loose piece of tapestry, there was a small stone which was embedded in the wall. What disturbed her much more than this element which seemed totally out of tune with the rest of the room, was the fact that she had never noticed it, even after having spent more than thirty minutes inspecting the room.

An unpleasant feeling crept into her and she grimaced. All of this gave her the impression of a crude set-up, to which an ill-intentioned person had indulged in making fun of her, and for the first time, she considered dropping everything and leaving the room. Yet something urged her to approach. The piece of stone looked like a white brick, which had been forced into the wall as if a child had wanted to insert a diamond-shaped toy into a square slot. The contours of the object were imprecise, as was the recess in which it was placed, which a person seemed to have dug in haste and with very little effort, to be sure that they would notice it even if they were distracted.

'Like a house in the middle of a forest.'

Intrigued, Aina knelt and slipped her fingers on the stone, the dust of which spread on her skin and her black tights. She slipped her nails into the gaps and pulled, trying to get the object out of its container. The task was arduous, and she had to place her feet against the wall and use all her weight backward so that the crude mechanism would finally give way. She struggled to catch herself and fell heavily on her buttocks, a grimace on her face.

She came face to face with a small hollow cavity, barely larger than a shoebox, in which a tiny rectangular object lay in the darkness. She carefully slipped her hand into the hole and grabbed it. The thing was light and seemed to be made of wood, given the feeling it left on her skin. She felt the contours of it with her fingers, before sliding the object into the light.

She discovered a small brown thing, which reminded her of nothing until the object that was affixed to it forced her to widen her eyes.

" The door... !" she exclaimed, overwhelmed by surprise.

The small object she held in her hands was none other than the door of Désespoir's dollhouse, the one on which Aina had stopped when she spoke with her in her room.

[It's the door to the other side] she remembered the words of her young mistress.

She remembered asking Désespoir about this strange detail, which had seemed so detached and different from the rest of the little household.

'It wasn't a dream!'

She realized in that moment that she had been lied to, just like the message that had been left on her doorstep had said. More than the person who gave it to her, it was Chagrin and Elvan's lie that intrigued her. She couldn't understand why everyone wanted her to believe that Désespoir didn't exist, that the youngest in the family was just a vulgar invention. It didn't resemble these two. Her mistress was entirely capable of lying, but she did not see why she would have voluntarily concealed the disappearance of her precious daughter, claiming that she did not exist. Unless...

It was clear that Madame would never have harmed Désespoir and that she would never have made her disappear like that, but nothing said that someone even more powerful had not forced her to lie.

'Rage.'

The patriarch. He was the only one who could thus force the wife to say and do these kinds of things because she could not oppose him. Perhaps he was threatening to harm Désespoir if she said the slightest word...

She hadn't seemed scared or nervous when Aina questioned her and yet... Madame was a pretty good liar and it was certainly within her power to deceive the whole world if she wanted.

As for Elvan... This also explains his strange attitude and his inability to tell her what had happened to Désespoir. He was after all just a simple servant, who could only obey his owner with his finger and eye. Aina rubbed her chin thoughtfully, thinking about their conversation in the kitchen.

[I'm sorry...] she remembered hearing him answer when she asked him about Désespoir's disappearance.

'Now that she thought about it...'

He never confirmed anything.

He had apologized with a sad expression, but the word "no" had never come out of his mouth after all. Perhaps he wanted to send her a message? Perhaps he too had been forced to remain silent...?

This whole thing seemed to get darker and darker and more incomprehensible the more Aina delved in, and she had no idea where it would all lead. Something was happening in the mansion... Something that had caused someone to silence everyone in the family and caused Désespoir to disappear without a trace.

'But what?'

She had a bad feeling and a wave of unease shook her, imagining what could have happened to her young mistress, from whom she had not heard from for two days.

'What if she was injured?'

Or even worse...

No, she didn't want to think about it. Now she had to focus on all of this and try to understand what was happening within these walls. After all, she could not abandon this family especially Chagrin, who had always been considerate and attentive to her.

'I have to find out what's going on.'

But how? Where to start? Who to see?

And especially...

Who could she trust in this house, now that she knew someone wanted to bury the whole thing? The situation was taking a particularly dangerous turn and she wasn't sure if she was the best candidate for this kind of adventure ...

Yet she was the only one who could do something. Elvan and Lady Chagrin were visibly silenced and there was nothing to suggest that the other manor members were not as well. She wasn't yet sure why she was the only one who had to be kept apart, but she didn't care at that moment.

All she was convinced of was that she was the only one who could act. The mastermind of this story was, after all, unaware that she had received information and understood that something was wrong with this story.

'I have the advantage in this situation.'

And then there was her informant. The only member of this house who had been brave enough to put his life in danger. His willingness to reveal everything to her proved that Aina had an important role to play in all of this, even if she didn't yet know what it was.

That being said, this could also have been a trap, the purpose of which she wouldn't understand, but she preferred to think that maybe there was something she could do to save Désespoir, even if it meant risking getting punished, or worse. She couldn't just pretend not to see anything, she couldn't.

It might seem stupid, but she couldn't forget the image of her childhood, facing her parents. The one where she had pitifully fled to save herself, without even trying to do anything for her mother. Who knew what happened to her because of her choice? Aina no longer wanted this heartbreaking guilt, this creeping fear of being in the dark and imagining what might happen while her back was turned.

She no longer wanted to be that woman who abandoned others to save herself, the one who pretended to see nothing and hear nothing, when the screams made the walls shake.

She had to be strong and face the truth, no matter what it was. She didn't want to be a coward. Not again.

So she resolved to unravel the secrets of the manor and this family, whatever the cost would be.

'This time I won't run away.'

She would no longer let herself be convinced by the deceiving words of her mistress or Elvan, nor those of her informant, who was like a sword of Damocles hanging above her head, ready to pierce her at the slightest misstep. This time she was only going to listen to her instinct and her heart.

She clenched her fists, suddenly driven by a determination she didn't know she had, originating in her frustration and her never-expressed remorse. She was going to see this story through to the end.

[It's the door to the other side, into Father's office.]

And she knew exactly where to start.