The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 43: Dead and Alive

A few days later...

Chloe's family reported the case again.

The Inspectorate intends to continue to pass this "big trouble" to Fernandez and Roland - or rather, only Roland.

Fernandez said it was a nice way to get familiar with the process, saying, "You should learn from small things and train yourself." He left Roland and went to do other things.

As a result, Roland was the only one who visited Chloe's mansion every now and then by carriage.

Or…

Eat and eat.

What puzzled him was that, except for the first time, he had never seen Mr. Mince Croy again.

Is that lord so busy with his daily affairs that he doesn't even have time to entertain guests?
"He was too busy gambling..."

Cherry-Chloe sat on the sofa and spoke sharply for a moment, but then she immediately reacted, smiled in a disguising manner, and changed the subject.

"Eat something, little Roland."

"I eat non-stop every time I come here, ma'am. I've probably gained ten pounds recently." Roland pinched his face helplessly, pinching the flesh and pulling it out - compared to before, he could indeed pull out a small piece now.

This behavior tickled the funny bone of the woman opposite.

She was twisted into the sofa like a lilac petal, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

Although her face was thickly powdered, Roland could still see that she looked haggard.

She seemed to have not had a good rest for a long time.

"Yes, I can't avoid the harsh sound of nails scratching the iron plate..." The woman let out a long breath, lowered her eyes, and played with the matchbox on the table with her fingers, "It's like in my ears, in my mind..."

Roland went back and looked through many books, but had never seen a similar situation.

"Later, he hired someone else." Cherry glanced at Roland and revealed a secret that was not a secret: "Official, real detective from the Supervisory Bureau. But the result was the same..."

Roland hooked his teacup and took a sip.

"It's really boring." She dismissed the servant and lowered her voice: "Roland, can you tell me about it?"

"what?"

"Those stories about magic tricks. I—" Cherry suddenly remembered something, stood up holding up her skirt, and stealthily took out a book from the locked wooden box at the bottom of the cabinet—it said:

"Bloodthirsty Demon".

She held it up like a child presenting a treasure and placed it on the coffee table, her expression a bit like that of Miss Rose who had succeeded.

Roland discovered that she seemed much younger at that moment.

There was curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

"I asked someone to buy it for me, and it cost me a lot of money," she said, carefully opening the book: the title page repeatedly stated that this was just a fabricated story, a fabrication and biased interpretation, and the narrator was not responsible for any actions of the purchaser - of course, this was of no use.

If Fernandez really finds the author, he will definitely beat him up first and then take him to the court.

"Shall I read it to you?"

Cherry picked up the book, looked into Roland's amber eyes, and cleared her throat.

"'A Tale of a Bloodthirsty Demon, by Ryan Masters.'"

"'I cannot imagine how long I shall have to remain in this dark cellar, where I have never been since I was locked up in it that year when the snow came.'"

"'It was a night in late winter...'"

The story is very crude, describing what a man saw on a winter night:
He was captured by a bloodthirsty monster and locked up in a cellar somewhere.

For many years, he lived on rats and cockroaches, and had his blood sucked by monsters every month.

It's such a simple story.

It cost Cherry-Chloe twenty pounds.

Twenty pounds!
The benefactor is above!
Just hearing this number, Roland's heart ached.

"Who told you to ban it? The more you ban it, the more expensive it becomes."

The facts are just as she said.

Such "banned" books are very expensive on the black market. At least the poor cannot afford them.

They just rely on word of mouth - and then, the story starts to get distorted.

"Isn't that so? Like your shoemaker friend?"

She took out a fan from somewhere, and fanned it gently with her chin, her eyebrows curved: "I saw through your little trick a long time ago."

She was referring to Roland's promotion of leather shoes.

"I would say that you should spend some money to have him make some time-consuming and exquisite works. If possible, send them to congressmen, big businessmen and nobles - and then make up some scary family history, and then give them away for free."

"If we have them to wear, why worry about no one buying them?"

"A pair of shoes goes from shillings to sovereigns—"

Roland held his chin in his hand and watched her talk without saying a word.

The dead face and powder began to breathe at this moment, and became full of spirit.

They came alive.

Bright and hot.

"If I were to run the business, first of all, I would have to find—"

Like a proud swan, she held her neck high and talked charmingly about how she would run a shoe store and how long it would take to turn it into a bigger shoe store.

She started with small things, from how to win the favor of customers, to distinguishing between male and female customers, because the two have different purposes and uses for their purchases;
Then, gradually, the conversation expanded to the shoemaker's craft, and the factory, the cost of employing people and machines;

After that, we talked about publicity, cocktail parties, the difference between what men talk about when they get together and what women talk about when they have fun, and how to spread the new product more effectively.

She was so lively and real. Roland even discerned a similarity between her eyebrows and eyes—the exuberant look of Miss Nina at the last moment.

however.

All of this disappeared after a loud bang.

Cherry-Chloe's face turned pale and she became panicked and terrified.

Roland stood up with the help of a cane.

——The lord who had not been seen for many days came back.

Without waiting for the servant to inform or serve him, he kicked the door open with the tip of his dusty leather shoes and walked into the room like a hurricane with a gloomy face.

He glanced at Roland's face, said hello slowly, and then turned to Cherry Chloe.

"I told you to put that thing on the table...after you get up."

Roland caught Cherry's momentary distraction—she was looking at the dressing table:
Dressing table.

A jewelry box was visible from under the cover.

"I didn't find it, dear." Cherry forced a smile and said, "You are..."

"I said!"

"Let you put things on the table." Mingsi paused for a moment, his thin body approaching Cherry, his eyes wide and bloodshot: "Do you want to embarrass me in front of so many people?"

He seemed to want to reach out and strangle Cherry's neck, but then he realized there were other people in the room. His eyes rolled around, and he reluctantly let go and shook her off.

"That's my jewelry..." Cherry whispered back.

Mingsi immediately shouted angrily: "You have no personal property! Idiot!"

He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as if there was a storm hidden in it.

Then, he bypassed Roland, roughly pulled open all the drawers, uncovered every piece of cloth and every box, and searched everywhere.

After a while.

Found a cloth bag.

It was filled with some heavy little gold beads.

"I've already told someone. You can't wear all your jewelry anymore. Please find them for me tomorrow."

"Just tomorrow."

"please."

He rubbed his face, hugged the box, and greeted Roland: "Good afternoon, kid, your name is... your name is... Steven, right?"

His mental state was also not very good. He looked very tired, yet unusually...excited?
"Good afternoon, sir." Roland smiled brightly: "Yes, you have a good memory."

"The weather is nice, would you like to go to a banquet with me--"

Cherry stood up suddenly, clutching her skirt and spoke loudly, her voice becoming shrill.

The woman, who had endured almost the entire process, finally exploded after hearing this sentence.

"Don't even think about taking him to gamble with you—"

"That's not just gambling! You ignorant woman!" Mingsi Chloe's face was full of disgust: "That's a way for men to bond with each other. This activity allows me to meet many important people! What do you know? How many books have you read? You can only open your mouth..."

He shut his mouth angrily, shook his hands, raised his face, said goodbye to Roland politely, and left without looking back.

Cherry's skirt was wrinkled and she curled up tightly on the sofa.

She covered her face with her hands, and her tears flowed through her makeup, making her look strange.

The room became very quiet for a moment.

At this moment, no servant came in to serve food or drink, or stared at Roland as if warning.

They disappeared just as the workhouse director had promised, without a trace.

"Don't look at me, Roland. I'm so ugly..."

After waiting for a while, when the crying subsided a little, Roland took out the jewelry box hidden behind him and carefully placed it in front of Cherry-Chloe.

"You will..."

"Don't spend any more pounds on these stories."

And tapped it with his fingers.

The box thumped.

"I have a whole lot of stories if you want to hear them, but they won't cost a penny."

Cherrie Chloe looked at the jewelry box, raised her head in surprise, and her eyes became more complicated.

A strand of black hair hung down from the boy's forehead.

His eyes were like the rich amber wine in a glass, which inevitably drew people into a whirlpool of drunkenness and madness.

But just when the atmosphere was getting thicker...

He raised his head and pinched his face.

"Just don't let me eat anymore, ma'am." Roland puffed up his cheeks like a pufferfish. "I'm getting bigger and bigger like a cat that always visits the fish market."

Cherry-Chloe just stared at him.

"Roland."

"Ok?"

"I would like to invite you to a salon."

(End of this chapter)