Chapter 2 — Chapter 2

I didn't ask her any more questions, allowing myself to eat and think a bit. After drinking some tea, I calmly inquired:

" Did your husband have a secretary?"

It seemed like an innocuous question, yet the servant recoiled even further from me.

"He did…"

"Please, show me to the study."

I had only one question left: what had been done to the already dead servants to make them so afraid? Even the footmen stood at attention as I passed by them.

Stefania timidly approached and offered her arm, which I used to stand up. However, I no longer needed much help. It felt like I was getting stronger with each passing minute, as if something was energizing me. I had a strange sensation, as if something was flowing into my body... It gave me strength and even instilled an inexplicable belief that everything would be okay.

We wandered through corridors and floors for a long time.

"Why is my room so far away?" I asked as we finally reached a door, presumably to the study. Inside, my irritation was growing, and I still couldn't understand what was happening, which no longer seemed like a dream.

"The master always housed his wives in the far tower…" the servant squeaked.

"How many wives did my husband have?" I asked.

"Who's been counting?" Stefania practically pressed herself against the wall. As crazy as it sounded, I could feel her fear. It was almost tangible, something you could reach out and touch.

"How do I open the door?" I looked around but saw neither a handle nor a lock.

"You need to summon the spirit, lady," the servant began to move away from me, hugging the wall.

"How do I summon it?" I asked softly, stepping closer to test my theory.

She shrieked and recoiled, and I realized something was emanating from me… I didn't know how to put it into words. An aura? Waves? Emanations?

"Abrit, lady," the poor woman said in a trembling voice.

I tried to gather mentally what was now surrounding me. I visualized it as a net and pulled it in like a fisherman. Stefania suddenly relaxed. "Ah, so my guess is correct... This needs to be added to the agenda," I realized.

"Abrit!" I shouted the name I'd been given.

"Yes, lady?" A ghost appeared above me. "Ghosts too?" I looked at it, but found nothing scary about it.

"The door!"

The ghost flew through it, and it opened completely silently. I entered a study that, like everything else around, was black, and then grimaced in displeasure. I had no desire to mourn my late husband...

The door closed behind me, leaving me almost alone.

"Are there any rooms closer to the central part of the house?" I asked, looking out the window. We were surprisingly high up, and from here, I could see an abandoned park and, if I wasn't imagining it, a graveyard shrouded in fog.

I wanted to breathe some fresh air. Unlatching the window, I flung it open and inhaled the autumn chill. I always loved this time of year.

"Yes, lady," the ghost answered. "You can choose them later; the master's wing is one floor above us."

"Is there a safe or a vault?" I asked, turning to survey the study. "The color should be changed here... Why is everything so black?" I voiced my thought more to myself.

"I can easily change that. Anything you wish!" With that, the ghost flew to the wall. "Here's the vault, but only you can enter it. Place your hand here, and it will recognize your aura as the mistress of the house, and then it will open."

"Make the furniture dark cherry, with dark leather upholstery. The carpet should be dark green with a cream pattern, and the curtains should match. Paint the walls gray with dark green and gold patterns. And let there be more light," I requested.

Everything around me shimmered and stopped, covered in a mist. I closed my eyes in confusion, and when my vision cleared, I saw a much more pleasing result than I'd expected.

"You're a designer's dream!" I couldn't help but smile, imagining the scale of renovations in this house.

"The estate is huge, lady. I'm always ready to help," the ghost's voice sounded cheerful.

"I'll keep that in mind," I nodded to him and approached the vault panel.

There was nothing on the desk except for an inkwell and a pen. There were no drawers, so I assumed everything was hidden elsewhere. I touched what seemed to be a completely flat wall, but my hand slightly sank into something springy. The barrier suddenly melted away, revealing a large room that was several times larger than the study.

"What is this a vault for?" I asked, shocked by what I saw. My eyes roamed over bookshelves, chests, shelves with vials, and strange objects.

"Everything the master considered valuable," the ghost reported.

"And how do I find what I need in all of this?" I stood frozen in the doorway, hesitant to step inside.

"Summon Secretary Sir," the servant behind me suggested.

"Sir?" I called into the depths, and from under a shelf, two gloved hands emerged.

"Sir, I need the documents about the wives. There might be records of something…" I hesitated and glanced at the ghost. How was I supposed to phrase the right question?

"Lady, don't worry. I can't reveal anything without your permission. We're all bound by an oath," he declared.

"I need records concerning me and the previous wives. Anything that will help me understand who my late husband was."

The hands skillfully climbed the shelves, and a couple of folders and a notebook flew into the air. Despite its leather cover, the latter was heavily worn and very old.

After receiving everything from Sir, I was about to return to the desk but decided to stop and ask the servant:

"Sir, don't you want to come out of there? I give you permission."

The hands hesitated but then scurried across the threshold. The opening in the wall instantly closed as if it had never existed.

I sat down at the desk and spread out my findings. Opening the first folder and taking one of the sheets, I immediately realized it was a marriage contract. It essentially stated that a guardian and senior relative married off a girl, receiving a substantial amount of gold in return and completely relinquishing any rights over her, as well as any claims in the event of the bride's death. At the bottom, there was a note: "Dead."

Soon, I stopped reading the documents fully and just checked the end of each sheet. I counted eighteen, with only one unsigned. I looked at the date.

"Abrit, what's today's date?" I asked the ghost hovering under the ceiling.

"The twenty-third day of the tenth month in the year ten thousand three hundred sixteen since the creation of this world."

The contract had been signed fourteen days earlier... Swallowing hard, I asked hoarsely:

"Can I have some tea? Sweet?"

I hoped that this would be the moment of truth about who I was and for how much I was sold to Bluebeard...

A silver tray clinked nearby. I grabbed the cup, choking on the sweet drink. The thought of being the nineteenth in that folder filled me with fear. Judging by the dates, he brought a new wife every ten years, but... Why such a strange interval?