The moment I entered the study, I began to scan the room.
As one would expect from a study, there were multiple shelves filled with books of various sizes and colours. A large mahogany desk dominated the center of the room, with papers, an ink bottle, and a quill resting on top its surface. The faint scent of old paper and polished wood filled the air, mingling with a hint of something more subtle—perhaps lavender or an herbal tea left to cool.
Were it not for the encroaching darkness beyond the single window, this place would have felt utterly tranquil.
I continued my survey of the room.
A dark carpet stretched toward the center, while a small armchair, neatly positioned in the corner, invited quiet reflection. On the side table next to it rested an ornate lamp and an open book, as if someone had been interrupted mid-read.
Shifting my gaze, I noticed a clock mounted above the fireplace on the adjacent wall. Its steady tick echoed through the room, yet the hands remained frozen in place.
It was the same as the one in the parlor on the first floor.
Moon Jiyeon narrowed her eyes.
"There's nothing here."
"Were you expecting to find something?"
"Wasn't the Family Head supposed to be found dead in the study?"
"That's only in the memory. If I remember correctly, the incident occurred sometime in the 1980s, meaning the body would have long since been discovered and decomposed."
"So we have to find another memory fragment."
"Everyone, let's spread out and search around."
The group scattered, searching a different section of the study.
On closer inspection, Reginald's study was neatly divided into four distinct sections: a
study, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen.
As expected, these amenities made it a self-contained sanctuary, leaving Reginald with little reason to venture outside.
But why would he design it this way? Could it be that he didn't trust his own family?
No matter how I tried to reason it, his actions defied logic. I couldn't understand why anyone would choose to confine themselves to a single place.
Perhaps some introverts might relish the solitude, but even they might struggle to fathom the overwhelming silence it brings.
A kind of silence that gnaws at your spirit and mind, reducing you to a lifeless doll trapped in an endless cycle of repetitive actions.
I despise it.
Anyone who has experienced that kind of suffocating silence would loathe such solitude. More importantly, It was incredibly dangerous for someone to be left alone with nothing but their own impulsive thoughts.
It was not uncommon for people to resort to extreme measures to escape such isolation.
Despite knowing the dangers of isolation, Reginald chose to do the opposite, deliberately locking himself away from the outside world in his study.
I couldn't understand his actions.
What could have driven him to make such a choice? Perhaps the answer lay hidden somewhere in this very study.
My days are numbered. A terminal illness has taken hold of my body, and my physician has given me less than six months to live.
To make matters worse, my children circle me like vultures, eagerly awaiting my demise to claim their share of the inheritance, my wealth.
Julian is a fool squanders money as if it were water, carelessly throwing away two gold coins just to gain one!
Elena is a fool, blinded by her obsession with money! She's no different from her older brother, yet she parades herself as if she'd make a better successor! A hypocrite through and through!
Dante is a fool who only wants to mess around with multiple women, and he even blessed the family with an illegitimate child!
Isabella is an utterly incompetent fool, incapable of accomplishing anything on her own! It's a cruel irony that she inherited my late wife's beauty but none of her intelligence or charisma! Even her designer company teeters on the brink of collapse because of her incompetence!
Iris is no better than a disgrace, flitting from one man to another while disparaging money, much like her father!
Victor lacks every ounce of what it means to be a man!! Beatrice is a mute, and her appearance is utterly disgusting!! The only one worthy is Adrian, but, he's an illegitimate child!!
I do not understand. Why must I be cursed with such incompetent descendants?! Why must I be cursed with such misfortune?!
Ah, I see. This must be the curse my dead wife, Minerva left behind! That's right! It has to be that!!
Hahaha! She really is the Black Witch! Is she trying to take revenge against me for taking away her silence?!
I don't understand! No matter how many times I try to make sense of it, I can't! How can I lose to a man who doesn't even exist in this world? How can I be defeated by someone who is nothing but mere fiction?!
If such a perfect man existed, then would Minerva have been taken away from my hands just like that? Would she have ran into the hands of that person and abandoned everything we built together?!
No no no no no! I refuse to accept that reality! Even if that reality is the truth, I would continue to deny it with all my might!! I won't be defeated by fiction!!
You can run all you want, Minerva, you can hate all you want and curse me and my family, but I won't let you go! I won't let you go! I won't let you go! I won't let you go! I won't let you go! I won't let you go! I won't let you go!
You are mine! You are mine alone! I won't let you into the arms of another man! Even if he's fictional, I'll completely obliterate him into nothingness!! I'll lock you up so you won't be taken from me!
Why? Why? Why... won't you smile at me? Not even once....? Why... won't you whisper to me? Why.... are you not in my arms?
Minerva..... Minerva... Ohhhhhhhhhhh..... OHHHHHHHHH..... MinerVVVa.... MINEEEEERRRRVVVVVVAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...
The journal stopped there.
"....."
I blinked.
The contents of the journal were disturbing, to say the least. Reginald's obsession with his late wife, Minerva, seemed to have driven him to the edge of madness. His words were filled with a desperate, almost delusional rage. He fixated on the idea of losing her to an impossible entity, someone who, according to him, did not exist in the real world.
The thought gnawed at me.
Was Minerva really in love with a man that didn't exist?
Could Reginald's paranoia have been a reflection of something deeper? Was it about Minerva's past, something the family had never been privy to? Was this 'fictional man' something she had created in her mind, or was it a symbol of something else entirely? A lost love, a forbidden desire, or perhaps a metaphor for Reginald's own insecurities and the horrors of his own isolation?
The questions that emerged were countless, and the possibilities seemed endless. It would be futile to find the right answer just by reading these texts.
Did I need to flip the game board and examine the situation from an outside perspective? No, that would be pointless. Without the missing pieces of information, I'd only be left with empty speculation.
"Did you find anything useful?"
A voice emerged and snapped me out from my own thoughts.