Chapter 250: Caught in action
Ryle’s expressions grew complicated, his gaze lowering.
’’Tell me what it is,’’ Daisy’s voice held no signs of backing down, as if she would hold his hand and stand there for hours if he refused to answer.
Ivy felt like it was inappropriate for her to keep standing there. She took a step back, ’’I will wait outside.’’
’’No need,’’ Ryle said calmly without taking his eyes off Daisy, ’’This painting reminded me of a place I am rather familiar with,’’ his eyes shifted to the painting, ’’It is not the same place but it holds a striking resemblance to it somehow.’’
But Daisy did not look away from him, ’’What place?"
’’The place where my mother was punished everytime my father was upset.’’
The room sunk in an eerie silence.
He did not elaborate further and Daisy did not ask him anything more.
She quietly intertwined her fingers with his, holding his hand tighter than before.
Ryle tilted his head to the side, looking at her aloof face. The warmth of her fingers stroked his heart. He squeezed her delicate fingers.
Surprised, Daisy raised her head to look at him but when she found him staring at the painting, she blinked. Did he do that unconsciously and he was still angry?
Slightly discouraged, she gazed back at the painting and in the process, she missed how he looked at her the moment she looked away from him.
"_" Meanwhile, Ivy, who was an eyewitness to the entire exchange, stood frozen behind them as she glanced at their intertwined fingers.
What was she doing here in the first place?
The last painting in the collection, was, as expected by Ryle’s expressions, did not look as cheerful or possess the romantic ambience that had been there in the remaining paintings. It was a dark room and not a single window could be spotted in sight.
Only rays of moonlight seemed moonlight seemed to be cascading inside the room from a small crack in the high walls. The place did not seem to be in great condition but what was more wrecked was the woman who sat there on the floor, head buried in her knees.
The pale glow of moonlight reflected bloody streaks on her body and one of her hands was flailing by her side. In her palm, she held three tiny, fairly discernible crystals. Those looked the same as the crystals from the hairpin before that she had been holding in the previous painting.
’’How many times have I met you in dreams at night?’’ Daisy read the sentence that was penned at the bottom of the painting, breaking the silence in the room.
’’Why... does it sound a little different from the rest of the pieces?" Ivy’s words represented their collected thoughts, ’’Not just the art style... but also the poetry.’’
’’The tone of the art has changed to something dark, almost abstract in a sense,’’ Daisy scanned the painting for a last time before she turned to face them, ’’And the poetry is an incomplete one.’’
’’Incomplete?" Ivy’s eyes widened.
Daisy nodded, ’’Then came the time to part but you are deep in my heart. How many times have I met you in dreams at night?’’ she paused for a moment before saying, ’’Perhaps, they intended to mention one line or perhaps here is not the entire collection of paintings. It is not impossible that a particular piece of painting with the missing sentence might have been missing from this collection.’’
To that, the other two people had nothing to say.
While curiosity had led them to the underground room, they did not linger there any longer now that they had already seen the contents of the secret room.
’’The path opened very abruptly but how do we close it? Can it go back to how it was?" Ivy asked the other two people.
’’The hairpin box caused it to move,’’ Ryle said.
Daisy nodded, ’’Probably there is some mechanism there.’’
As expected, once they arranged the glass case that contained the hairpin back to its original position, the gap in the floor started moving, beginning to close.
Ryle looked unbothered. But on the other hand, while Daisy and Ivy did not say anything, their faces carried a hint of relief. It was, afterall, not a very ideal thing to do, sneaking around the host’s secrets like this.
But it was a good thing that they were out before Caleb could catch a whiff of their actions.
’’It took us a little too long in there..." Ivy trailed off, her footsteps coming to an abrupt halt as she reached the door.
Ryle and Daisy halted in their tracks.
’’In where?" Caleb stood at the entrance of the room, a small frown in between his brows as he looked past them, his gaze settling on the hairpin in the corner of the room and his frown turned deeper.
He then looked at the three people before focusing his gaze on Daisy, ’’Where did you all wander off to?"
But before his eyes could linger on her for long, his line of sight was cut off by a muscular chest.
Ryle stepped to stand in front of Daisy, calmly holding Angel on one arm while he met Caleb’s gaze. Not for a single moment he seemed bothered about the fact that they were caught in action.
Caleb glanced at the man coldly.
Ryle did not back down from the gaze.
Caleb opened his mouth to say something but it seemed as if his words were stuck in his mouth.
He turned around and walked away, ’’I thought you guys are gonna settle in here permanently. Come on now if you had enough of playing around. The dinner is ready.’’
His tone had shifted back to his usual playful as if the intimidating aura just now had not emanated from him.
The trio stood rooted to their spots, unable to respond for some time.
’’That...’’ Ivy’s eyes grew wide, ’’He was obviously angry a moment ago but he switched back just like that...’’
