Chapter 7 – Unfathomable Heights

That was a discovery. Our bedrooms and bathroom had no windows, and yet one existed in this mysterious library.

Upon a closer look, I mused that it really was a window. Where the lines made by bookshelves stopped, in the s.p.a.ce formed by the opposite wall and the bookshelf, a small window was letting in a faint light. So that was why it seemed so murky.

“Let's see how outside looks like here.”

“How will you do that? It's so high?”

“There's a ladder over there.”

Benya triumphantly pointed to a wooden ladder next to the library. Since the bookshelves were so tall, a ladder would be necessary to shelve and take out books.

I stared at the two boys hauling the ladder. The scene looked so out of place to me.

To me, Letis and Benya had been the model examples of young n.o.blemen for the fourteen years I have lived here.

While we did play freely in our childhood and none of the siblings ever preached cla.s.s to me, I always knew that there was an insurmountable wall between them and me.

Those very boys were now struggling like workers who have come to replace the chandelier in the living room. I did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Letis stared at me with his eyes suspiciously narrowed while Benya frowned as he lined the ladder to the window. “I think the ladder is too old and weak. What do you think, Sasha?”

It also looked too dangerous for me. I went close and touched the ladder, and the wood felt soft and breakable under my fingers.

“Should we search for another ladder?”

“Everything will be the same.” Letis voiced his disapproval.

“What should we do, then?” His brother asked, disgruntled.

“I have a good idea.” Said Letis, perking up. “Sasha, since you're the lightest, how about you go up there?” He suggested, confidence lacing ever word. I didn't say a word about his opinion, but Benya wasn't as polite as me and openly laughed at his brother's idea.

“Wow, and you were pretending so well to be nice before when you carried the trays.”

“It's not like that! What I mean is, if Sasha falls, you and I can catch her, but if I fall, you guys will all step aside!” Letis tried to explain.

“Does that mean you won't catch me either?” Benya asked.

“Of course not. Do you think I'm crazy?” Letis scoffed at his brother.

“Pfff. And you're supposed to be the eldest.” Benya retorted disdainfully, but Letis easily sneered back at him.

“Since when have you treated me like the eldest?”

After much bickering, we decided that I would go up the ladder. Honestly, at this point I still had no idea when or why opening the window became our goal for the day.

With b.u.t.terflies fluttering in my stomach, I hastily tried to object to the task. “Hey, do we really have to check that out?” To my despair, everyone just nodded in agreement as if the window discovery was something they'd been waiting for a long time.

“Of course!” One sibling exclaimed.

“The window upstairs shows only the sky. We need to see what's around this place, then we'll know our location.” The other explained, but I still wasn't convinced.

“Wouldn't this be much easier if we just asked the Viscount where we are?” I argued back weakly, but somehow it was enough to make Letis swallow the retort he had readied. Benya lowered his gaze, brows furrowed in contemplation… Or perhaps something else.

Hmm. Something was going on. I didn't know what it was, so I didn't comment on it.

And so, we stood in silence for a moment in front if the stairs, until I couldn't bear the chilling atmosphere any longer and asked the question that was bouncing around my mind. “… You didn't forget to ask, did you?”

Both boys stayed silent, only exchanging awkward glances and mumbling some incomprehensible sentences. Watching them fidgeting around made the anxiety I had worked so hard to suppress during our stay rise again.

Why hadn't they asked the Viscount about our location? They had every right to ask where this place was located within the manor, especially with the authority granted to them as the heirs of the ducal couple.

It wasn't that they had forgotten to ask. They simply hadn't asked, but I didn't know if it was an unconscious maneuver or an intentional one. Either way, I couldn't figure out why. Were they afraid of hearing the answer? Or were they afraid of not being able to hear the answer? Did they somehow unconsciously know that they wouldn't get an answer?

It seemed like I wasn't the only one feeling a strange disharmony ever since we were confined in this place.

I turned around and started climbing the ladder without any more comments. There was no need to make them more anxious than they already were.

With each step, the entire ladder seemed to shake, but I managed to reach the storm window without it collapsing beneath me. I carefully placed both my feet on the top step and reached out, stretching my arm to open the old wooden panels.

Unfortunately, the moment I started pulling on them, it fell off the windowsill. The old panels slipped from my hand and banged loudly on the floor, making a thunderous noise. Benya instinctively shouted out as he hastily stepped back, avoiding the falling wooden boards.

“Wah! Hey, did you do that on purpose?!” He screamed at me, a bit frazzled. Of course, I didn't drop it intentionally, but I didn't bother correcting the brat. I hummed gently, not responding, and turned back toward the uncovered window.

The fall of the panels revealed a small hole, barely even large enough for a child to crawl through. Through it I saw a small cloud lazily drifting by. Could it be that we'd only see the sky from this window as well?

I opened the gla.s.s panels and stuck my head outside, trying to see where we were. What greeted me was a fresh breeze on the tip of my nose. It was such a refres.h.i.+ng feeling after being confined in a musty room that I felt my energy being recharged.

However, that refres.h.i.+ng feeling didn't last long, because the two boys standing down below were beginning to get restless.

“What can you see? Tell us!” One shouted from below, while the other asked, “Do you know where we are?”

I actually had no idea.

I turned my head around, trying to find any identifiable landmarks. I thought I'd be able to at least locate the fresh gardens or the gla.s.s greenhouse in backyard, but all I could see was the boundless blue sky and the wide roofs beneath the windowsill. I couldn't see the ground at all.