IBRIP l CH 21

Chapter 21

The office was dark, and the curtains seemed to be drawn, making it feel dim.

I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, and then I realized that the door I had opened led into a bookshelf.

The lower part of the bookshelf had been modified into a small secret door.

After closing the bookshelf door quietly, I looked around the room. Once my eyes got used to the dimness, I moved directly toward the safe near the fireplace.

The important items of the house head are usually hidden in a safe that only the head can open, so I planned to check the safe first.

The safe didn’t have any locks. It only had a lion-shaped handle with a ring in its mouth.

‘A safe that only Rohia can open.’

This safe contained a spirit. A special spirit that responds only to the bloodline of Rohia.

Yudis had tried many ways to destroy this spirit.

One of the reasons Yudis ignored his their training and focused on swordsmanship was because of this spirit.

I grabbed the handle of the safe.

Suddenly, my vision blurred, and a genderless voice came from inside the safe.

『My young enemy, do you know who I am?』

“You are a star fallen into the sea.”

『Then who are you?』

“I am the one who stole the heart of the star.”

『…Welcome back, mixed child. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Please, do not go to the basement. Something dangerous is sleeping there.』

“…What?”

I quickly raised my head.

The blurry vision cleared up, and with a small click, the safe door opened.

But instead of checking the inside, I grabbed the door handle and shook it again, asking,

“Wait, say that again. Why should I not go to the basement? What dangerous thing is there?”

When Yosef opened this safe, he never said anything about waiting for me.

Also, why was there a warning about the basement?

‘Why is it saying this to someone who is about to go to the basement?’

I shook the handle wildly, but the voice didn’t come back.

It made sense though. This spirit was merely a guardian of the safe, and apart from opening and closing the door, it couldn’t do anything else.

‘Mixed child? What does that mean?’

The spirit clearly knew something about me. But for some reason, it didn’t reveal more and only warned me about the basement.

However… if it tells me not to do something, I must do it. It’s just the way things work.

Yosef went to the basement without any issue, so does that mean there’s a problem if I go?

‘But I can’t let Raglia be taken by Yosef.’

I had to take it, or Yosef would never be able to challenge Winter Orsherus.

I decided there was no need for more thinking and began checking the safe. Inside, there were many miscellaneous items.

Among them, there were several scrolls made of parchment, and I picked only those up.

Each scroll was tied with a ribbon of different colors. I untied them one by one.

“This is it!”

I shouted without realizing it and quickly covered my mouth.

The scroll tied with a yellow ribbon had a very complicated blueprint drawn on it.

The other scrolls contained Rohia’s family tree, a map of the continent with something marked on it, and some writing in an unknown language.

After putting away the scrolls except the blueprint, I spread the blueprint on the floor and began to quickly scan it.

A smile of joy appeared on my face.

‘It’s here, it’s here!’

Looking at it, the Rohia mansion was even more complicated than I expected. It had secret passages everywhere, like an anthill about to collapse.

And at the very bottom, the word “treasure” stood out clearly, and I shouted “Eureka!”

‘There are two secret passages. One is right here. The other is in the training ground.’

I confirmed that the underground warehouse is connected to the current treasure vault. I kept repeating these locations in my head and then rolled the scroll back up.

After returning everything to its place and closing the safe door, I heard a voice from outside the door.

“Hello, Duke. And Young Master Yosef.”

Startled, I quickly tried to open the secret passage again.

“Huh? Why isn’t it opening…?”

I gripped the bottom of the bookshelf and pulled hard, but no matter how much effort I put in, the bookshelf wouldn’t budge.

I felt a coldness spread through my fingertips in my anxiety.

‘Is there another condition to open the passage from the inside?’

Maybe I need to pull a specific book or something else. Why didn’t I think of that?

Damn, why didn’t I think of that? I’m really not cut out for this possession.

Clink!

Just then, I heard the sound of a doorknob turning.

I quickly crawled under the desk in the office.

The door opened just as I hid under the desk, barely making any noise.

“Yosef, sit down. You’ve done a great job. Everyone’s singing your praises.”

“It’s just some empty words.”

“You brat, what do you mean by that? Sigh, if only Boris had even half of your humility…”

“Father, please don’t be too hard on him. He’s doing his best.”

“Don’t defend that brat! The eldest son can’t even tell right from wrong…! It’s a bigger problem if he’s trying that hard and still fails! Sigh, fine. Alright, Yosef, sit down in the chair.”

I heard Yosef’s footsteps coming closer to the desk, and I held my breath as I shrank further, hiding.

But soon, I felt my back touch the wall and curled my body as tightly as I could.

However,

“If you dislike your brother concentrating on swordsmanship, why don’t we have him duel with Tradi Young Master? He hasn’t lost badly yet, so if he loses, he might finally realize his limits, and if he wins, it’ll prove he’s a genius…”

What the hell.

I had just pulled out a chair and locked eyes with the reddish-brown eyes of the person who found me.

[“Brother, thank you for everything. If there is a next life, I hope you’ll be born as an unknown bug or stray dog.”]

“What nonsense is that?”

“Believe me. I think you’ll be much happier that way. I sincerely regret how things have turned out.”

Yosef smiled as he looked at Boris, who was frowning. Then, he pushed Boris down the stairs.]