I turned my head toward the direction Vanilla and Victor were staring, but no matter how hard I looked, there was nothing visible.
What is this? Why are they acting so creepy?
"Miss Cherry, careful. It drops off here," Ethan said, grabbing my arm as I unconsciously tried to move forward.
Startled, I glanced down and saw a steep incline beneath my feet.
Ethan hesitated for a moment before subtly taking my hand. The unexpected touch made me flinch, and I stared at him in surprise.
"We don’t know what’s ahead. It’s dangerous, so hold on tight," he said, his voice calm but betraying an effort to appear composed. He didn’t even meet my eyes, instead awkwardly scanning the surroundings.
"What an enormous place," Theodore remarked, inspecting the area with Nikolai.
Hearing them, I turned my gaze back to the surroundings. Past the steep, dirt slope, I slowly scanned the expansive, plaza-like area. The dirt walls encircling the space were covered in vine-like growths, though they were shriveled and dry, tangled into a brittle mesh.
The walls stretched endlessly upward, merging into a ceiling so high it was barely visible. When I craned my neck to follow the walls, I noticed a round hole at the top, revealing a starry night sky.
It felt as though we were inside a hollowed-out mountain, with an opening at the summit offering a view of the heavens.
The dry, sunken ground beneath us looked like it might once have been a lake, but now it was nothing but cracked earth.
"Is this the spring? Looks like it’s completely dried up," Theodore murmured. His words stirred a memory from the novel.
**[Ezra Dante Rudbelt. Rudbelt was a family name I’d never heard of before.
When asked where he came from, he left a cryptic answer.
‘I don’t know. I woke up because the spring dried up.’
—from Love in a Ruined World]**
This must indeed be where the spring once was—a massive space now devoid of even a single drop of water.
Why had the spring dried up?
And what connection did Ezra have to this place?
But right now, the bigger issue was Vanilla and Victor.
They were still dazed, their gazes vacant. Ethan shook their shoulders one by one.
"Are you all right? Snap out of it," he urged.
After a long moment, their eyes began to regain focus.
"...Huh?"
Vanilla blinked, startled, her eyes darting around. Upon seeing us, her expression turned to shock.
"When did you get here? How did I even end up here?" she asked, looking around in confusion as though she’d woken from a trance.
"What were you doing? Why were you so out of it?" I asked.
Vanilla glanced around, then gasped as her eyes fell on the dried-up ground before her.
"Wait... What? Why is the water gone? It was completely full just a moment ago!"
"What? No, it’s been dry the whole time," I replied.
"That’s impossible... The spring was here!"
"The spring?"
When I questioned her, Vanilla finally calmed enough to explain what had happened.
"Victor and I were clearing Route 3 when suddenly, we heard singing from deeper inside the passage. It was such a beautiful sound. We followed it for a while, and eventually, we found paradise. This place was full of water. Warm sunlight poured in from above, and the shimmering surface of the spring reflected golden hues, like it was sprinkled with gold dust. The vines were lush and green, and beautiful birds rested on the water. There was a peaceful sound of water trickling from the far end of the spring. It was breathtaking. But... it was all an illusion?"
"What I saw was different from Lady Ruskin’s account," Victor said, now composed enough to interject. He contradicted Vanilla, sharing his own experience.
"I witnessed something else. There were invaders at the spring. Or rather, looters. They were drawing water from it. As the water moved through the air, it seemed almost alive, writhing as if resisting. This wasn’t ordinary water. And as they began to draw more and more of it, the trickling flow of water into the spring suddenly stopped, as if it had sensed the theft. The looters didn’t stop, though. They kept drawing water until the spring was completely dry, leaving nothing but this barren ground."
"Did you see the looters’ faces?" Theodore asked, his expression serious.
Victor shook his head. "No, I only saw shadows. It’s almost as if the spring itself showed me this vision, like it was replaying what happened."
A heavy silence fell after Victor’s words.
If what they saw was so different, it must have been some kind of illusion.
Yet we, who had walked the same path, experienced no such visions or effects.
Vanilla muttered, her face serious, "Why would Victor and I see different scenes? If these were illusions, was the spring trying to convey something to us?"
"Hold on. What do you mean? The spring? Are you saying the spring showed you illusions to complain about being looted?" Theodore asked, incredulous.
Vanilla and Victor both fell silent, realizing how absurd their words sounded.
"You two are clearly just exhausted. Let’s head back, get some rest, and discuss this later," Theodore said.
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"A spring that shows visions—it’s like something out of a fairy tale. Maybe they were just affected by being down here in this stale underground air for too long," Ethan said, sounding sympathetic as he glanced at them.
Vanilla and Victor, now understanding the improbability of their claims, nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, maybe it’s just exhaustion," Vanilla murmured, rubbing the back of her neck. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she exclaimed, "Wait, hold on. Could this really be the spring? Segrave’s Spring?"
What? Segrave’s Spring? What did she mean?
I stared at Vanilla, puzzled by her sudden remark.
"Talking about the spring recently brought back some forgotten memories. Ten years ago, someone mentioned Segrave and the spring," she said, beginning to recount a story from a decade ago involving the people who had visited the Ruskin Manor.
The Sinclair patriarch, the Lancaster Duke, Baron Ruskin, and the head of the Segrave family.
She explained that during a storm that swept across the Graydon Kingdom ten years ago, those individuals had gathered at Vanilla’s estate in Kintene.
Vanilla began to carefully detail the conversation she had overheard that day.
"Chairman Sinclair insisted that they had to steal the spring from Segrave. He confronted the Duke of Lancaster, asking why he still sided with Segrave after learning about the spring, something everyone would undoubtedly covet."
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Ethan and me.
I froze, stiff as a board, as the unexpected mention of our fathers caught me off guard.
My father knew Ethan’s father? And they were partners?
This didn’t make any sense. Not a single word about this was ever mentioned in the novel Love in a Ruined World.
"Wait, are you saying the looters Victor mentioned were led by Chairman Sinclair?" Ethan asked Vanilla, his confusion evident.
"That’s just my assumption based on the context," she replied. "They talked about needing to awaken Rudbelt, who hadn’t stirred for 300 years after drinking the spring water. And apparently, they needed Chairman Sinclair’s financial resources to accomplish it."
What? I gasped internally, startled.
Rudbelt, who hadn’t awakened for 300 years after drinking the spring water...
Was this referring to Ezra?
Beside me, Ethan muttered under his breath, "Rudbelt... where have I heard that name before?"
Nox, seated next to me, trailed off, "Wait, Rudbelt... could it be..."
I could tell he was thinking about Philip Montaine Rudbelt, the previous owner of Happy House before Baron Ruskin.
Was Philip Montaine Rudbelt Ezra’s father?
It seemed plausible. If this strange mansion and Ezra were connected, it wouldn’t be surprising.
After taking a deep breath, Vanilla continued her story.
"Originally, it was the Duke of Lancaster whom Segrave approached for help. But it seems the duke involved Chairman Sinclair in the plan. Chairman Sinclair didn’t know anything about the spring at first, but once he learned about it, he insisted it had to be stolen."
"What exactly is this spring, anyway?" Theodore asked. It was a question we all wanted answered.
"I don’t know," Vanilla admitted regretfully.
Silence lingered for a moment. Gradually, everyone began to glance at me.
It wasn’t hard to understand why.
Whether or not this had anything to do with the virus outbreak was uncertain, but from Vanilla’s story, my father seemed like the root of all these problems.
"My apologies to Lady Sinclair, but considering Chairman Sinclair’s notorious reputation, it’s not surprising. Honestly, it’s hard to believe Segrave was even a real person. I’d wager it was someone impersonating them. And someone sleeping for 300 years? That’s just absurd," Theodore said, dissecting the tale with calm logic.
Chairman Sinclair’s reputation precedes him... As much as I hated to admit it, even I, his daughter, had to agree. I couldn’t argue with Theodore’s statement.
If the Duke of Lancaster was a looter, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» it didn’t make sense that he and Prince Lloyd’s faction wouldn’t know about these underground passages.
But if my father was the looter...?
I clenched my eyes shut, forcing myself to confront an idea I didn’t want to consider.
"It’s hard to believe such an absurd conversation took place between Chairman Sinclair and the Duke of Lancaster. But if it did, I’m curious about what exactly they were planning," Theodore added.
Could this be related to the virus outbreak?
Considering the involvement of Ezra, who would later develop the virus cure, and Baron Ruskin, who had left behind Happy House, it seemed likely.
"For now, it’s late. Let’s head back to the mansion and continue this discussion tomorrow. We’ll also resume clearing the path to the capital then," Theodore suggested.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
I glanced back at the dried spring, feeling unsettled as I turned away.
Despite spending so much time there, none of us had experienced the hallucinations that Vanilla and Victor described.
Hearing their accounts made the space feel eerie and unnerving. Yet, there was also something mystical about it.
Regardless, we decided to return to the mansion for now.