Chapter 9: Crimson Tears

The next morning, Alicia, Haru, and Ali woke up early and had their breakfast in the banquet on the ground floor.

That long, golden table apparently doesn't dry off good foods no matter how much they eat.

And so, they didn't hold back.

After their meal, Haru and Ali decided to continue exploring through the castle.

"I think I'll be sleeping some more in the bedroom," Alicia said, yawning. "Take care and don't do anything dangerous! If you can, just stay inside this castle."

"Alight," Haru replied. "We'll return soon, so go ahead and rest up."

As Haru and Ali strode away, Alicia was left at the long, golden table packed with food.

Looking idly, she accidentally noticed something shining from behind the heaps of food.

"Hmm? What's that?" Alicia whispered, peeking through the apples and strawberries.

Blended among the red fruits was a solid, hard gem that looked like some kind of jewelry.

Alicia grabbed it and stared at it, feeling indifferent now after seeing the lump of treasures in one of the castle's rooms.

Alicia shrugged her shoulders, uninterested in the red gem that looked like a balloon to her, so she dropped in back at the table and returned to the bedroom.

While walking, Haru noticed the little boy still flinching every now and then, reaching for his head.

"Does your head still hurt?" Haru bent down to talk closer to the boy. "It must've been from yesterday when we're having Camille's memory. Are you okay?"

Ali nodded, "Hurts. So much."

Haru felt distressed, not knowing what to do, "Ahh, do you wanna rest some more, then?"

The little boy shook his head, "No. Want to go. With you."

Haru sighed, "A-Alright, let me know if it feels unbearable. We can just take it easy."

It passed Haru's thought that he wished he had a little brother like Ali, instead of having the worst brother he had back home.

Ali was gripping on the hem of Haru's shirt as they walked along the elegant hallways.

"There's a lot of clues in that parchment paper we saw last time from the treasure box room. If we could collect more of those, maybe we could find some answers."

Haru stopped when he felt Ali persistently tugging his shirt, so he looked behind and saw the boy pointing at a wall.

It had a different motif than those beside it, so it really stood out.

There was a certain section in the wall that had a unique and intricate design in jet black, which looked like symbols or ambigrams coated on it.

Haru wondered if there was any meaning behind it or if it needed to be deciphered.

Soon, Ali was tampering over it, pressing and pushing that wall's section.

"Ah, hey! Don't play with it like that! It might be dangero--"

A block in the wall that was coated with the intricate design was mechanically pushed back, revealing a whole new space in it.

The section slowly descended, revealing a pentagon-shaped stone with unusual carvings.

Haru stood in awe, realizing he's only seen these in movies.