I’m Trapped in a Bloody Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 159

Even aside from the butler, there was someone else I could obtain information from. The servants likely didn’t know as much as the butler, but there was something that caught my attention.

“The flower vase and the greenhouse…”

The keys to escaping the illusion had been those two things, and what they meant was clear.

The system’s inaccessible placeholder had hinted at the gardener I encountered the day I arrived at the mansion.

<Information has been updated!>

<Meet more people to acquire information.>

• Conversation with ‘Butler’ completed.
• Speak with the ‘Gardener’ to obtain information.

As if to confirm my suspicion, the system guidance updated.

Satisfied, I closed the system window and made my way to the garden.

“Where is he…?”

Upon arriving at the garden, I muttered blankly. The garden was so large that there were multiple gardeners.

I figured that only one among them would be the one who could provide me with the meaningful information I needed.

The gardener I had seen appeared to be a young man in his twenties. If the gardeners divided up the zones for maintenance, maybe he would still be in the area where I first saw him?

Pondering this, I headed toward the garden where the terrace was in view.

Ah, there he was.

“Hello.”

The gardener, sitting absentmindedly in the garden, slowly turned his head at the sound of my voice. His gaze, which had been directed at the air, landed on me.

“Sorry to disturb your break, but may I ask you a few questions?”

“Oh, you’re the one who stayed in that room…?”

“Yes, we met briefly before. You remember me.”

He stammered as he spoke and stood up. His movement as he rose from sitting was sluggish.

“W-what kind of q-questions?”

The gardener asked, stuttering. It seemed that was simply the way he spoke.

As I hesitated, unsure how to begin, his cheeks flushed red. He scrubbed his deeply tanned face with both hands and said, in that same stuttering tone:

“I-I’m a slow talker. I-if it’s f-frustrating, I c-can go get s-someone else…”

I had thought he was off by himself in the corner because he preferred solitude, but now it seemed it was due to his speech pattern keeping him from mingling well with others.

I shook my head and asked, “No, it’s not that. I was just thinking about what to ask.”

It was certain that this man was the key to the information I needed, but judging by his demeanor and speech, he didn’t inspire much confidence.

The butler was someone who knew and managed the affairs of the mansion thoroughly, but this gardener was not.

If he didn’t interact with others, he’d likely be unaware of any mansion gossip, which meant the chances of him knowing anything about the previous head of the family were probably slim.

As I continued pondering, the gardener cautiously spoke, “I-it’s t-time for me t-to go h-home soon… If y-you have questions, p-please ask them n-now.”

“Oh.”

“O-once it’s time f-for me to l-leave, I h-have to g-go out of the m-mansion…”

Ah. Right. Quitting time. That’s important.

It seemed Dion’s household was quite considerate about the welfare of their gardeners.

<You can obtain information from the ‘Gardener’.>

• Remaining question count: 3

Thanks to that, my plan to keep asking questions until I got an answer was scrapped before it even began.

I looked at the system window and sighed, then nodded. Rather than asking about the previous lord, it seemed better to ask him something else.

Since he’s a gardener, something related to the greenhouse would be a good topic, right?

Even a gardener without much interaction should know if one of the former heads built a greenhouse for a wedding.

I calmly used my first question.

“I heard there’s a greenhouse that was made for a wedding. Do you know anything about it?”

“Ah, y-yes. It’s a p-place no one c-can enter now, but I-I manage it.”

“You take care of it by yourself?”

“Y-yes.”

When I widened my eyes and asked again, the gardener nodded slowly. He explained with his usual stutter.

“B-because they s-say it’s h-haunted, no o-one w-wanted to t-take it, so I-I ended up d-doing it…”

I pressed with another question, sensing an opening in his response.

“You really saw something? Have you seen it yourself?”

“I-I haven’t s-seen a w-woman, b-but…”

“So it was a woman.”

“Uh, th-that is…”

The gardener stepped back awkwardly as he replied.

<Information Acquired!>

• Information obtained: (2/3)

I narrowed my eyes and examined his face. Realizing he had said something he shouldn’t have, the gardener now wore the expression of a child on the verge of tears.

He mumbled to himself, repeatedly insisting that he had really seen nothing.

<Seek out the ‘Greenhouse’ to obtain information.>

• Conversation with ‘Butler’ completed.
• Conversation with ‘Gardener’ completed.

Asking about the greenhouse had been the right move; with just one question, I had completed the information objective.

What the gardener muttered now was no longer my concern.

“Can you take me to that garden?”

“B-but th-that p-place is off-l-limits…”

“I’ve been given permission, so don’t worry. If it’s too hard to escort me there, just telling me where it is would be…”

The gardener, hesitating, glanced at me and said he would guide me. After briefly looking toward the terrace, he led the way with slow steps.

“This way…”

The greenhouse was nearby. Perhaps because it was difficult to manage alone, it wasn’t in great shape, but the parts within reach seemed relatively well maintained, likely from consistent care.

The gardener rummaged through his pocket, pulled out a key, and skillfully unlocked the door. Holding the door open, he waited as if to tell me to go in first.

<You have entered the hidden stage, “Greenhouse of the Past.”>

<Capture Event Triggered! – [Dion] Mansion Search (4/5)>

• Objective: Solve the problem in the hidden stage and escape the greenhouse.
• Reward: Increased progress in Mansion Search (3), significant affection increase with [Dion], progress toward [Dion] single route increased.

The Greenhouse of the Past?

I frowned at the system window. While I was rereading it, the gardener still holding the door spoke to me.

“Th-the greenhouse, if the d-door closes, it l-locks automatically. T-to get out, y-you’ll need the key i-inside…”

“The key…?”

While looking around the greenhouse, I turned back at his words. He held out the key he had used to open the door and showed it to me.

Lifting the key slowly, as if telling me to confirm its shape, his movements were sluggish and mechanical, like he was following a pre-programmed routine.

“It looks like this.”

The gardener spoke fluidly.

Ah, this is…

As I looked at the key in his hand and heard his uncharacteristically smooth tone, I exhaled in a daze and snapped back to reality.

<During the exploration of “Greenhouse of the Past,” the use of the ability “Eyes of the Wraith” is recommended.>

Wait, Dion’s not even here! Are they seriously expecting me to escape this place alone?

Regaining my senses, I hurried toward the still-open door.

“If you find the key inside and open the door, you can come out.”

Yeah, I figured that. But if you’re going to lock me in, couldn’t you at least throw Dion in with me?

I reached out in a panic, but the door shut without a care for my desperation. As it closed, the interior of the greenhouse began to change.

The greenhouse walls, which had shown signs of long neglect, sparkled like they had just been built. The few scattered flowers bloomed magnificently, filling the entire space.

The area around the platform I’d seen in the vision was especially covered in vibrant flowers. It was the same kind as the one arranged in the vase.

“If I’d known this would happen… I should’ve come with Dion…”

I slumped against the locked door, regretting too late what I hadn’t done.

***

Dion’s hands stopped as he flipped through the documents. He was reading a particularly eye-catching page with focus.

“Married a commoner, and later took six mistresses…”

Dion, reading the document, let his mouth hang open in shock.

“Took six mistresses…?”

He had never heard of anything like that being allowed in his family. From a young age, Dion had been taught that a man must give his body and heart to one person only.

Though it seemed his sister had been taught differently, at least Dion himself had been raised with that belief.

For Dion, raised with such strict values, the contents of this document were hard to believe.

He continued reading through the unbelievable record.

“After the mistresses were brought in, the wife passed away…”

It stated that after the woman died, strange events began to occur among the men of the family.

If the family heir was male and took a mistress, he would die young. The same applied if he became deeply involved with more than one woman.

Since then, the document said, the boys in the family were educated with a conservative perspective during their sexual education.

If someone raised with that conservative mindset spent their life with just one partner, they would live normally.

“Was it a kind of curse?” Dion touched his neck as he thought.

It felt like he was finally getting close to the source of what had plagued him since childhood, but the feeling wasn’t satisfying.

Dion had always thought the thing tormenting him was something evil.

But considering what he had just read, combined with what he experienced in the illusion, didn’t it seem more like his ancestor was the one closer to being evil?

He didn’t want to reveal his family’s disgrace to the Saintess.

Dion returned the document to its place and left the study. He planned to tell the Saintess she didn’t need to investigate any further.

Even if the issue wasn’t resolved, as long as the male descendants of the family stayed faithful to one partner, there wouldn’t be any major problems. It wasn’t something to be too concerned about.

Dion immediately went to find the butler.

“Where is the Saintess?”

“I heard she was walking around the garden. If you ask the gardeners, they’ll probably be able to tell you exactly. Please wait a moment—”

“No, I’ll go myself.”

Dion dismissed the butler and went to search for the Saintess himself. The gardeners pointed him in the direction she had gone and spoke with worry.

“She was muttering to herself as she walked… We’re worried she might have gone toward the greenhouse.”

“The greenhouse?”

“Yes, there have been more than a few who got bewitched going over there…”

“No way… she went in there alone…?”

At the gardener’s words, Dion’s face turned pale. Without hesitation, he bolted toward the forbidden greenhouse.