[Bonus chapter] The Hidden Passageway From The Library

(From Ella's Perspective)

I was sure that the red marks that I had gotten on my wrists because of my stupidity were going to stay there for at least two days. It did not matter. I did not care about this kind of thing anyway.

Leandro was right about being careful in the dark stairwell. It was very dark with no sign of light. I felt as if I was blind. I clutched the book tightly under my right arm as I almost tumbled my way down the stairs. But somehow I managed to keep my balance.

The place reminded me of the basement of the so-called haunted mansion in the forest of my town. The stairs that led down that basement were dark as well, but not as dark as this one though I could match the smell of dirt.

I was placing my foot carefully down the stairs thinking what if I stepped on a spider or a cockroach. It would be disgusting. I still remembered when last month I had stepped on a cockroach barefoot and it got smashed under my right foot with a pop.

At last, when I had gotten down the last step, I found out that it was not over yet. There were more stairs. I sighed and kept descending. As I was very careful and was taking one step after kind of examining the place, it took me almost ten minutes to get down the final step.

It was a room, but even in the darkness, I could feel that there was nothing here except a spider web and dirt. There was a door as well. I approached the door and pulled the door handle. There was dust on it because of not using it for a long time.

The way the room smelled made me wonder if anyone had come here in at least one year if not more. The door opened without making a single sound. It was odd. Even the door of Linda's room opened with a creak albeit it was not too old. But this door- it seemed to be very old, yet it did not make any sound.

The sudden light made me blink my eyes several times to adjust. I was outside in front of a gate that seemed to be unused for a long time. There were no guards here as well. I wondered why. Anyone could get in from here. Besides, the gate was not locked either.

I opened the gate and found myself in front of a narrow alley. There was no one in sight. It looked like the abandoned streets in horror movies. There were several houses there, but they seemed to be abandoned.

I moved forward, glancing here and there. It was weird. Why would no one live in these houses? Suddenly I heard a voice. It was more like a whisper.

It came through the door of the hut right beside the place where I was standing. I stopped in my tracks and stood still, holding my breath to hear if anyone was coming this way. But no one was coming this way. Someone was talking to another person, almost in a whisper as if he was very careful about not letting anyone else find out about what they were discussing.

I pressed my ear against the door, clutching the book tightly against my chest, while also looking around to make sure that no one was there.

"Remember, we can't lose our chance now. Tomorrow night when the king's men will go into the forest to attack the Beast, we will take our chance. We need to kill the king. We can't let the shifters rule forever," a man's whisper came.

"Shifters are more powerful than us. We are just human. We can't turn into Orgades. I'm not sure if it will work," another man's voice came through his voice was a bit clearer than the other man.

"Yes, we're humans. But just because they are shifters doesn't mean that they can't be killed. They're not immortal. We have to do something very quickly. I don't want to bow to these shifters all my life."

"But what if our plan fails?"

"It won't. The first class shifters are going to kill the Beast on the king's order. The king won't have his main shifters with him. That's our chance. We'll kill him."

"Are you sure? I'm still..."

"Don't worry. We'll be five and he's just one. He might be a shifter, but we have our weapons. He won't have any chance to live anymore."

"He might be just one, but I've heard that he's really powerful. He might not be as powerful as the Beast, but he is not someone we can underestimate. We need to be careful."

"We are careful, Walter. We have planned this since we found out about their plan of killing the Beast. Our world needs to get rid of the shifters and for that, we'll go to any length."

"Tomorrow night then?"

"Yes, tomorrow after midnight. They will go inside the forest near the place where the Beast is said to live at around eleven. We will have our chance then."

"Alright. We better leave this place now. No one should find out that it's our meeting place."

The man who talked in a whisper chuckled. "No one comes here. There is a rumor that it's the place where the Beast was seen two months ago. People say he killed ten shifters and three humans here. All of them have left this place and no one dares to come here anymore. No one has the heart to enter this place. How will they? The shifters have made sure that humans lost all their spirit and live in their fear all the time."

"Even the shifters don't dare to come here. I don't know. What if the Beast comes here one day? We're dead for sure. There's no way we can tackle him. He has unusual power."

"We haven't seen him, but I'm sure that we'll find a way out."

"Not many people have seen him. And whoever did is dead now. People say that no one can stay alive if they see the Beast's face. The Beast kills everyone who comes across him or who, god forbid, comes across him. No one manages to escape him if he doesn't let them go which is not something that usually happens or ever will happen. Our Hector said before death that he has white fur on his face and blood-red eyes. He also said that the Beast's teeth were sharp and they got bigger from the sides. The Beast is ugly, he said."

"Oh yes, I remember Hector. He was so young. His wife had to become a widow at such a young age. It's all because of that Beast. Don't worry. He won't be alive for so long. The king's men will kill him and we'll kill the king. And the king's father. I heard the king's father killed Hector's wife saying that she was not delicious enough."

"All the Royals are the same. They use humans as slaves, especially women. They do not even leave young children. By the way, did you hear the new rumor about the human girl?"

"The girl whose corpse is not found yet? I've heard about her. We just don't know what she looks like. But there is a saying that she was wearing strange clothes- something like a bag. The Orgades chased her and then no one knows what happened to her. They haven't found her corpse yet. But I'm sure that the Beast has killed her. He doesn't let anyone live if they invade his place."

"Yes, poor girl. I feel bad for her. But I wonder what she was doing in the forest. No one goes in there, let alone a girl. People say that the girl was not so big. She might be sixteen or seventeen," the man whose voice was clearer than the other person said, sighing. "But what if the girl managed to escape? What if she has come back?"

"Impossible! No one managed to come back alive from a shifter's grasp, let alone the Beast. He is more ruthless. Some say he has horns too. He surely has killed the girl."

"But what if? What if she somehow managed?"

"It's not possible. And if she did, it doesn't matter. We'll kill the king tomorrow night and they will kill the Beast. Then we'll deal with others. But if we fail anyhow, then we'll look for the girl. She might know some important things about the Beast or the shifters. She can help us. But now, we need to focus on the current plan."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Did Rose say anything about the king? Something that's his weakness?"

"No. She said that the king is very secretive. He might enjoy fucking, but he has control over himself. He doesn't lose himself in it and spill out everything. She said he barely makes a sound."

"That's a bit disappointing. But she needs to keep doing what she's doing. One day, he might spill out something."

"We hope so. We better leave now. It's... oh, it's one already. Lilac is going to be angry. I promised her that I'll be back before twelve. Let's go now."

"Yeah, let's go."

The sound of pulling chairs on the floor came to my ear. I quickly ran inside the next house through the open door. Thankfully, they did not hear my footsteps or sense that I was there. I heard them going away. I waited five minutes more to be extra sure that they were fully gone.

So, this was news. I had a lot to tell Leandro. And more importantly, I had a new person to keep an eye on. I was not sure if it was her, but my mind said that I was right. They said about a girl named Rose. I did not know anyone named Rose. But I knew someone named Rosaire. She was King Nicklaus's slave.

I had seen her on the first day I had come to the castle to work. Edrich had brought her there as well along with Jed and the red-haired girl named Miera who the king's father had killed.

I had a feeling that the two men meant Rosaire by Rose. She was the one who the king took sexual pleasure from any time he wanted. Perhaps she was working as their spy. There was a possibility. This girl always looked a bit off to me. It was mostly because of the way she looked at everything. It was as if she was taking a mental note on everything. I had the habit of doing the same thing as well, but I was sure that I did not look like her while doing so.

I got out of the house where I hid and got inside the castle through the same hidden passageway. But before that, I hid the book in that house under a cabinet. I would get that book after nine at night. I would tell Jed to wait for me outside and I would grab the book as soon as possible.

Thankfully, no one was in the library when I returned. It was time for lunch. So, I made my way to the dining room where all the servants used to eat. I found Jed in the furthest cornered table.

I went towards him. My mind was jumping inside to tell Leandro about everything I had found out. His life was in danger. But I was sure that nothing was going to happen to him. He was too powerful.