Miss Planeswalker, are you free for romance?

She pushed open the door in simple clothes and peeked into the place where she would live in the future, which might be a long time or a short time.

It's a completely old-school decoration style.

However, what surprised her was that no matter the entrance, the living room, or even... the bathroom.

There are no mirrors.

There was a polygonal aged copper candlestick on each side holding a thick burning candle, and in the middle, the rectangular vertical mirror disappeared without a trace.

The reason she was so sure was that there were still nail marks from the mirror on the wall and an outline that was different from the wall color.

Where have all the mirrors gone?

"Mrs. De?"

After groping around for ten minutes on the first floor, Caroline walked up the creaking stairs to the second floor. The dark wooden floor reflected the flickering lights of the candles in the corridor. The odorless candles were like beacons in the darkness, silently guiding the young girl's steps.

A half-open door.

Caroline pushed it away gently.

The music transferred from the old vinyl record seemed to be a bit weird because it was played too many times and the tunes were sometimes disconnected.

Surrounded by grass-green wallpaper, the old man, Ben, was lying on his back in the bed, with his neck propped up by three pillows.

His mouth was open, dull and lifeless.

Poor old man.

Caroline sighed.

Chapter 3 The Strange Old Man

"Ben, this is Caroline."

Caroline tucked him in and said, "I will take care of you for a while until you get better."

Ben's eyes moved slightly and turned to her.

"Book?"

The old man just looked at her quietly.

“Is the light too dim?”

Caroline looked around. The corridor and the first floor were already dark enough, only lit by thick candles. This room was even darker, without even a candle.

Isn't the bedside lamp right here?

Caroline reached out to light the desk lamp, and suddenly, Ben grabbed her arm!

Hold it tightly.

"…Book?"

Caroline was a little scared and struggled a little.

"Book?"

The old man rolled his eyes frantically.

"Ben...let me go! You're hurting me..."

The grip on my wrist tightened.

Just as Caroline was wondering if she would hurt the old man if she continued to struggle, footsteps and the sound of a door being pushed open appeared behind her.

The hand holding her suddenly gave up the strength it was exerting.

He landed softly on the bed.

Madame de was entering the room carrying a glass.

A glass of white turbid water.

"He should take his medicine."

The fat woman with her blond curly hair looked at Ben and said, "Get out of the way, kid." She walked to the bed and fed the old man some water while instructing Caroline, "At nine in the morning and seven in the evening, he will take the powdered medicine. I will show you how to grind it."

She held the back of Ben's head and gurgled the water into his mouth. Suddenly she turned back and said, "Make sure he drinks it all."

“…What kind of medicine is it?” Caroline was a little nervous.

Who made the atmosphere so weird?

There was not a single mirror in the entire house, no electric lights were turned on, and the entire house was lit by candles - and Ben's behavior.

“Some doctors prescribe things that would bankrupt us and keep people healthy.”

Mrs. De said to Caroline in a bad mood: "He is like this sometimes, shaking and suddenly startled. If you are afraid, it proves that you are not competent."

——In front of outsiders, her husband is despised.

——Of course the wife will be angry.

This is how Caroline viewed Mrs. De's sudden anger.

"I think I can."

She whispered.

Mrs. De lay on the pillow and kissed Ben's forehead gently, then shook her loose green nightgown and stood up.

"You look better than I thought."

Caroline raised an eyebrow.

What does this mean?

Before she could think about it, Mrs. De began to talk about precautions again: "He has to take a bath and change the sheets every day. Oh, you don't have to do housework - I'm the only one who knows how to do housework."

"How long have you lived here?"

"Let me think... decades ago?" The fat woman adjusted the roses on the hallway table. "Decades ago, we bought this house from a pair of siblings."

“This looks like a manor.”

Caroline looked around. Whether it was decoration or furnishings, the place followed some old-fashioned rules that she had read about in books.

Mrs. De stared at her body meaningfully, and then quickly withdrew her gaze when she turned around.

The rough fingers pointed at the palm-sized metal photo frame.

"Martin, Grace, brother and sister. Their photos." Mrs. De shook her head: "They are nice people, but they are having a hard time - so hard that they have to sell their house."

Caroline was surprised that the woman still had a photo of the previous owner.

“I respect all the memories in this house.”

Another weird statement.

After saying that, the woman turned and walked towards the door.

Caroline picked up the photo frame curiously. In the photo, a brother and sister, about five or six years old, one was sitting on a chair, and the other was standing behind the chair.

They are all very beautiful.

I don’t know if it was because the photo frame had aged or because of a careless touch, but another photo suddenly slipped out from the back of the frame.

It fell right into Caroline's hands.

It was still the white brother and sister.

The difference is that behind the two children, there are two more people.

A man and a woman, both black.

They were just like parents taking a family photo, supporting their two children's shoulders and smiling at the camera.

There is a line of words written on the back of the photo.

"Father Jasper and Mother Cecil"

Very strange.

Two black parents and two white kids?

Parents?

Or something else?

"Caroline?"

As he was thinking, Mrs. De's voice came from the restaurant.

…………

……

"Come on, come here, kid. You'll always have a chance to take a good look at this house. Now listen carefully to what I say." The old woman shook her fat body and took Caroline to the restaurant: "You should have noticed that this house is not very popular. It's normal because we only use half of it."

"Most of the rest are Ben's antique collection."

No wonder it's so decadent.

"He likes a lot of things, old and precious." Mrs. De held the back of the chair, her narrow eyes suddenly raised upwards, moving her thin eyebrows, and her finger also pointed upwards: "Except the attic."

"Except for the attic."

She spent a long time observing Caroline's reaction.

Then, he slowly hummed.

“It was all crystals, gemstones and ceramics.”

"I will check it frequently."

His face was full of distrust and warning.

“Take inventory often.”

After that, he reached into a box on the table and flipped through it: "The main building has more than 40 rooms. In the past, they gave each room a different key." He flipped through the boxes and said, "The owner has a different one."

The wrinkled hand delicately produced a key.

It was exactly the same as Caroline had imagined it to be: old pattern, porous handle, long metal body, and dense teeth.

A very old key.

Mrs. De held the key head and shook it in the air.

"A different one."

She said, "The master key."

"It can open any door."

The key was handed to her, and Madame de stared into Caroline's eyes with a very uncomfortable look: "This is for you. Keep it safe, Caroline."

Caroline grabbed the key by the head and pulled it out.

Taking a half step back: "Ms. Violet, has there ever been a mirror here?"

"What did you say?" Mrs. De seemed not to have heard clearly, and tried to pass it off vaguely: "The pantry needs you--"

"I said, mirror." Caroline was unmoved: "I noticed that there are no mirrors in the bathroom?"

The Fat Lady rubbed her face and sighed, "Kid, when you're our age, you'll know."

"Old people don't need to look in the mirror."

Snapped.

The old woman lights a cigarette.

"do you mind?"

Caroline shook her head.

"I smoke a lot, and I'm a heavy smoker." Mrs. De squinted her eyes and puffed out smoke. After a while, the whole area was filled with unpleasant odors. "I won't change my lifestyle because of you. Do you understand?"

Caroline nodded.