The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 3: Ritual
New...

Unlucky guy?
"My name is William, William Collins."

The woman was silent for a moment.

The gas lamp was unscrewed.

She seemed to be waiting for Roland to continue speaking, but Roland did the same.

He didn't know how to face his 'sister', and at the same time, he was worried that she would say something even more unpleasant -

The two of them were in a stalemate for a while, and finally, the woman couldn't stand it anymore:
"Come here, come forward, let me see you."

Roland did not suspect anything and walked straight forward - but after taking a few steps, he kicked the chair that was lying on the ground and fell forward.

With a thud, he hit the bed leg, and his forearm felt hot.

The room fell into a brief silence again.

“…You can’t see?”

Perhaps it was an illusion, but Roland heard a hint of guilt in her voice.

Oh, fresh.

This was inconsistent with the 'Collins' he met along the way.

“As you can see.”

Roland patted his sleeves and arms, then stood up with the help of the bedpost. He was already used to this.

But this 'sister'...

"As I see it? As I see it, you probably won't make this fortune."

She tried her best to sneer, panting: "And I didn't hear that I had a younger brother."

Roland said in a low voice: "I haven't heard of it either. I still have family."

He squatted down gently, then sat on the ground.

He tentatively told the woman in the bed his story - and when she didn't make any sarcastic remarks, Roland just kept telling it.

Keep talking.

He kept talking until he received the letter.

A bastard who knew nothing and meant no harm.

The difference between boys and girls - there is no question of seizing family property.

He has no ill intentions, and likewise hopes not to become a target of ill intentions.

He just wants to live in peace.

So, just like Yam taught him: he couldn't blame his 'father' or 'sister' - at least... at least they still 'remembered' him after all these years?

These are a group of people whose virtues deserve to be praised.

"So I'm here, Miss Collins." Roland guessed that perhaps her sincerity touched the person on the bed - she stopped being sarcastic. "I'm very grateful to my father... and you."

"You don't have to flatter him in front of me." The woman heard the caution in Roland's words, and the sharpness in his words seemed to disappear. "...and you don't have to flatter me. I don't have any—"

She wanted to say something to Roland, but after the sound of leather shoes, both of them shut their mouths at the same time.

Someone came to the door.

"Master Collins, are you in there?"

Roland heard Nina's breathing suddenly become rapid.

"I'll be right out."

He shouted to the door, groped his way out of the darkness.

"The housekeeper said that I will be in the evening——"

However, the person on the bed stopped talking.

…………

……

The lunch was extremely sumptuous.

Most of the dishes on the table were things Roland had never heard of or tasted before.

Some kind of soft and dense sugar (he guessed) and pudding, juicy small steaks, sweet drinks with a fruity aroma that lingered on the tip of the tongue for a long time, bread that tasted much better than the bread in the poorhouse, hot pies with indescribable amount of ingredients...

A variety of flavors exploded in his mouth.

At this moment, the sound of the servants' footsteps was like heavenly music to Roland:

Every time the sound was heard, a new dish would appear in front of him.

If there is one thing that is troublesome, it is the neatly arranged rows of knives, forks and spoons next to my hands, which are of slightly different shapes.

There are at least a dozen.

He couldn't figure out what it was used for.

But it doesn’t delay eating.

At this moment, old Collins, who was sitting across the table, was in great pain. He saw Roland eating and had no appetite at all.

This bastard actually used a bread knife to cut meat?

This was outrageous enough, but he was about to drink the soup with his dessert spoon. His fingers were already in the soup bowl!
How long would I have to endure living under the same roof with this rude, uneducated, inferior blind man?
A month?

Or two months?
"You have to teach him, Seth."

Unable to suppress his dissatisfaction, Thales Collins picked up the tablecloth and gently tapped the corners of his mouth which had never been touched by food.

"As soon as possible. I don't want others to talk about why the Collinses put an animal on the table."

He ignored Roland, threw down the tablecloth, pushed away the chair, left the table, and returned to his room angrily.

The restaurant suddenly became quiet.

Roland stuffed the apple slices on the fork horizontally into his mouth and chewed them happily.

His dusky eyes blinked a few times, but never moved away from the tablecloth in front of him.

Take blood yourself...

Is it so important Mr. Collins?

After dinner, he was taken back to his room.

Seth told him emphatically:

He was not allowed to leave the Collins mansion, not allowed to hang around the front door, not allowed to do anything dangerous on the balcony, not allowed... not allowed...

Not allowed.

In short.

He was only allowed limited movement within his own room, to Nina Collins's room, and in the gardens on the ground floor and in the back courtyard.

Then, the butler Seth handed him a metal needle.

The needle was very thick, and there seemed to be some emblem-like pattern engraved on the needle tube - the pattern extended all the way and wrapped around the entire needle tube.

Cold and hard.

It feels expensive.

"Money means nothing to the Collins family." Butler Seth put the needle in Roland's hand and said meaningfully, "You need to do it yourself. The other servants can only simply guide you..."

personally.

"Sir. Is Miss Nina important to... Master?"

"Very important." said the butler.

Roland recalled the smell of excrement and decay that filled her room.

quite important.

"I see."

In the afternoon, he went to Nina Collins' room again, and the woman still answered his knocks by smashing things.

Roland thought that she was too weak, and perhaps she was worried that the people outside the door wouldn't hear her.

"I just wanted to smash it, you little idiot."

To this, Miss Nina Collins responded:

"I suppose you got that thing?"

"You mean, to draw blood..."

"That's it. At night, do whatever the servant tells you to do. Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. I know that you are more curious than most people because you are blind."

Roland shook his head: "As long as it is beneficial to you."

The room fell into strange silence again.

This time it lasted longer than any other time.

Just when Roland almost thought she was asleep, the patient on the bed suddenly said:
"What if it will hasten my death?"

These words were obviously carefully considered, making the atmosphere a little tense.

Accelerate death?

Roland was puzzled.

What do you mean?
Is this... murder?

How is that possible? Why would Tyrese Collins do this?
Or, he doesn't know?

housekeeper?

servant?

Or the whole Collins House...

But why?
Roland felt again that something was staring at him in the darkness.

"You're scared."

Roland raised his head, sighed deeply, and stroked his forearm with his palm. His rare eyes were dazzlingly beautiful in the dim light:
"I do not understand what you mean."

Nina suddenly laughed, as if she was rubbing an iron plate with the end of an awl: "William Collins, you have to consider your life."

She said: "When you stepped into the Collins house, your life and mine were linked to that ceremony..."

(End of this chapter)