Chapter 134: Neapolitan Cake (2)
Carrying the drunken woman was like carrying a large heavy rock wrapped in a long, beautiful dress, she definitely weighed heavier than usual. Despite that, it wasn’t that hard for Lin Sanjiu to carry Lila into the house.
"Ah... you’re so strong." Lila blurted, sending a waft of alcoholic breath in Lin Sanjiu’s direction. Lin Sanjiu turned her head aside and Lila giggled and touched her face, "It would be great if you were a guy."
Luckily, the [Versu Poison] on Lin Sanjiu’s body had already been used up in Garden of Eden, otherwise Lila would have died on the spot. Lin Sanjiu kept a straight face and ignored the woman. She walked wordlessly through the garden until she reached the side door of a small castle. She bumped the door with her body and the wooden door squeaked open. Lila must have left it open.
"Go upstairs. Go upstairs. My bedroom is upstairs, I want to let you see my gorgeous bedroom…"
Lin Sanjiu sighed and shifted the woman onto her shoulder, carrying her like a sack of potatoes. While Lin Sanjiu climbed up the stairs, Lila lit the candles on the wall in her drunken state.
Under the flickering light of the candles, the gothic ceilings of the castle appeared higher and even more mysterious. Lila wasn’t exaggerating. The interior of the castle had an exquisite architecture. There were all sorts of tapestries of some unknown style on the walls. Silver candle holders with carved flower motif filled the entire castle. There was a clock covered with jewels and gems...
Somehow, the sky had darkened. When Lin Sanjiu dumped Lila on a big bed, she could see from the window in the bedroom that the sky had already become a navy blue. Lila laid on her bed, face down. She mumbled something and finally kept quiet. The room suddenly became silent.
"You don’t even have a single servant?" When Lin Sanjiu saw that Lila had fallen asleep, she massaged her own temples. She did not know what she should do next. Considering her present circumstances, it seemed like she would have to stay here for the time being. With the main character of the storyline near her, she was sure that she would find some clues soon...
"When will Bluebeard return?" Lin Sanjiu murmured. She walked to the window to pull the red velvet curtains. The moment she touched the soft curtains, the sensation disappeared and she suddenly found herself stepping on a dried branch. It broke with a crisp sound which quickly melted into the dark silent forest.
A girl with a red cape and a basket was just some distance ahead of her. Lin Sanjiu was stupefied as she surveyed her surroundings.
Though this wasn’t her first time, she could not repress her shock. Lila’s room had disappeared and when Lin Sanjiu looked up she could only see the branches of countless old trees form the canopy of the forest which blocked the sky from view. There was barely any light in the forest so her white shirt was now closer to a shade of dark blue.
A cold, emotionless wind swept through the forest, rustling the leaves on the trees, making the forest more isolated and gloomier than it really was.
"What’s wrong? If we don’t hurry, it will be night soon." Red riding hood turned to look at Lin Sanjiu.
"It’s nothing. I’m just distracted," Lin Sanjiu said quietly, letting out another sigh.
"Hey, if we walk a little more, we will reach it soon." Red riding hood chirped as she pointed to somewhere in the distance. Apparently, she did not hear LIn Sanjiu’s previous reply. Lin Sanjiu made an affirmative sound and looked in the direction she pointed. Amidst the old trees, she managed to make out the roof of a wooden cottage.
"The sky is a little overcast. I hope it doesn’t rain." Red riding hood looked up at the sky, pulled her hood closer to her face and quickened her pace. "My granny hates rainy days."
"Why?" Lin Sanjiu asked casually.
"Because there are fewer guests on rainy days."
"Guests?" Lin Sanjiu was sure that the story did not mention that the grandmother ran any sort of business...
"Oh, I haven’t mentioned this to you," Red riding hood suddenly lifted her chin, her eyes sparkled and she said proudly, "My granny is an erotic dancer."
"Erotic... what?"
Red riding hood seemed blissfully unaware of the impact her words had on her listener. "That’s right! Even though my mom doesn’t like granny’s job, and I’m not supposed to tell other about it, I feel that my granny is so cool!"
If the girl’s grandmother was in her teens when she had a child, she might be in her late thirties. If she maintained her figure, it wouldn't really be that unreasonable that she was a dancer...
Lin Sanjiu’s initial thought was that she could get some clues to leave the pocket dimension if she followed the main characters of the stories, but now she genuinely wanted to meet Red riding hood’s grandmother.
Grey clouds loomed over their heads as if it was about to rain. The two people walked for some time and finally the green scenery around them abated, revealing a plot of open land. A small wooden cottage sat in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It looked old and the paint on its wooden walls was peeling. The only sign that someone was living in that house was a single fresh red flower in a vase by the side of the door. Not far from them, there were a few other cottages hidden within the forest.
"Is this your granny’s house?" Lin Sanjiu pointed at the dilapidated cottage.
"Yes! The other cottages are resting huts used by the hunters around here." Red riding hood noticed that Lin Sanjiu seemed curious about the other cottages nearby so she explained, "But they are weird people."
"Why?"
"They always badmouth my granny. But when she walked past them, they would just stare." Red riding hood suddenly used a serious tone, "Do you know, my granny is really awesome! She danced for the king in the past. You have never seen the king before, right?"
Lin Sanjiu stealthily pulled her mouthpart weapon from behind her. In the fairytale, the wolf was posing as the grandmother by this point, and though they did not meet any sort of wolf-like person on their journey here, Lin Sanjiu reasoned that it was because this was a pocket dimension.
A woman coughed. "Red riding hood, is that you? Why did you travel such a long way here?" a woman asked from behind the door, her voice sounded nasally.
The person opened the door while she said this and a normal female face appeared from behind the door. As Lin Sanjiu had guessed, the woman was perhaps only in her late thirties and her hair was a healthy brown. Though the woman looked pale, she had a pair of alluring, uptilted eyes and an aura of matured beauty.
[It is not a wolf.] Lin Sanjiu breathed a sigh of relief and turned her weapon back into a card.
Red riding hood’s grandmother looked at Lin Sanjiu, puzzled, "This is?"
—
"I told you about her. She is a traveler from a faraway place." Cinderella spoke cordially in her gentle voice to a middle-aged woman, there was a hint of caution in her voice.
Lin Sanjiu was about to take a step into the wooden house when she pulled her foot back. She lost her balance and nearly fell to the ground. This instantly drew the attention of the middle-aged woman and the two younger women behind her.
Lin Sanjiu saw a well-decorated living room with a thick wool rug on the floor. The wood in the fireplace in the living room was cackling noisily. Lin Sanjiu watched the middle-aged woman’s judging eyes and regained her balance while Cinderella’s stepsisters chuckled. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, "Um, hello madame." Lin Sanjiu felt as if she could still see the afterimages of the wooden cottage in the forest despite the fact that the situation had changed.
The middle-aged woman was probably a little worried about the weird, clumsy woman. She sat up straight on her comfortable couch and glared at Lin Sanjiu, "You wish to stay in our house for a night?"
"Yes," Lin Sanjiu remembered what she said to Cinderella, "if you let me stay here for a night, I will let you and your daughters choose something from my many treasures."
The middle-aged woman immediately leaned back in her chair and pursed her lips. "I don’t care for your treasure. As you can see, we are rich." While she said that, she flicked her hand at Cinderella as if chasing a dog away. "But, I am interested in exotic things…"
From her tone, Lin Sanjiu could tell that the woman wanted to have a look at what she could offer. Cinderella’s two stepsisters were not as restrained as their mother. They beckoned for Lin Sanjiu to show them what she brought.
"Okay. Okay. My bag is outside so I just have to go get it…"
Lin Sanjiu was not going to take her things out from nowhere in front of the women, so she made up an excuse and headed for the door while she considered the items she had.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and Katy whispered to each other behind her back, though Lin Sanjiu could easily hear their conversation.
"I wonder if she really has anything good."
"I wish she had some nice hair accessories…"
"Oh, or maybe some wonderful fabrics. Just like the dress that the princess wore last week…"
Lin Sanjiu paused and quickly turned behind in shock. "Which princess? Where is she from? Is she so unbelievably beautiful that the prince spent the entire night dancing with her and no one else?"
—
[So Cinderella had already danced with the prince? How many times did she dance with the prince? Did she already lose her glass slipper?] As she thought about this, she found herself walking into Lila’s bedroom.
She was really going insane...