Chapter 5
Alexis was obviously satisfied. He lowered his head and pressed a gentle kiss to Vanessa's forehead, his eyes showing a barely concealed sense of contentment.
Maybe, in his mind, Vanessa was already wrapped around his finger by his gentle ways—a naive, foolish pawn, hopelessly devoted to him, someone who'd never mess up his plans.
Early the next morning, Alexis set out with his crew.
As Alexis's team disappeared at the end of the street, Vanessa's smile slowly faded, leaving her face cold and expressionless.
Her chance had come.
She remembered in her previous life that the secret mechanism to Alexis's study was hidden on the spine of The Art of War on the third shelf.
All she had to do was pull that book out, and the hidden door in the study would open.
During those five cold years in her previous life, with nothing else to occupy her in the massive mansion, Vanessa had memorized every corner and every hidden mechanism.
But back then, she'd been too numb and disheartened to ever consider uncovering his secrets.
Now, though, she was ready to find out just how dirty the truth behind this whole scam really was.
Once night fell and all the servants were asleep, the mansion was eerily quiet, with only the occasional footsteps of the night patrol echoing through the halls.
Vanessa changed into a low-key, dark outfit, took the hairpin and tinder she'd prepared in advance, and, avoiding the night patrols, slipped silently into Alexis's study.
The study was just as she remembered—rosewood desk, brushes, ink, and paper all neatly arranged, and a huge bookshelf lining the wall, filled with military manuals and ancient tomes.
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might leap right out of her throat.
She walked over to the bookshelf, her eyes landing on The Art of War on the third shelf.
Taking a deep breath, she reached out, grabbed the spine, and gave it a gentle tug.
With a soft click, the bookshelf slowly slid aside, revealing a dark secret door behind it.
The entrance to the secret room was unlocked.
Vanessa used her tinder to light the candleholder by the entrance, and the soft, yellow glow cast its warmth across the small secret room.
The place was bare—just a rosewood table, a single chair, and a long sword hanging on the wall. Nothing else.
It was a far cry from the secret room in her previous life, which had been packed with Ida's belongings.
On the table sat a locked rosewood box, its brass lock so finely crafted it was obvious this wasn't just any ordinary piece.
Vanessa couldn't take her eyes off that box, her gaze fixed with unwavering intensity.
Her gut told her she was right—inside this box lay all of his secrets.
She stepped up to the table, lifted the box, and its heavy weight pressed into her palms.
She pulled out the hairpin she'd prepared in advance—custom-made by a craftsman, its tip filed to a needle point, just right for picking locks.
In her previous life, when boredom hit, she'd picked up lock-picking tricks from old storybooks and practiced with her hairpin just to kill time. Who'd have guessed that after two lifetimes, this random skill would actually save the day?
Her hand trembled as she slid the hairpin into the keyhole, slowly working the pins inside, one by one.
Time crawled by, cold sweat trickling down her forehead and soaking the back of her shirt.
With a soft click, the lock popped open.
Vanessa felt her heart clench in an invisible grip, her breath caught in her throat.
With shaking hands, she lifted the lid of the box.
Inside, there were no jewels or rare treasures—just a thick, hand-stitched journal. The cover was blank, no title at all, and the pages were worn from being thumbed through again and again.
She reached out and picked up the journal. The chill of the paper sent a jolt through her, as if she'd touched a live wire, making her fingers tremble.
She took a deep breath and flipped to the first page.
The familiar, powerful handwriting jumped off the page at her—it was Alexis's. She'd spent seven years with those letters; there was no way she could be mistaken.
[March 7th, Year three of King Edward's reign.
[I'm back.
[Heaven must have had mercy on me. Somehow, I really made it back, a whole year before everything happened to Ida.
[In my final moments, the last thing I saw was Ida's face, right before she died. She looked at me, her eyes full of despair and disbelief, and asked me, "Alexis, why didn't you save me?"
[Five years. Five whole years, and not a single day has gone by without me regretting it.
[In my previous life, I was foolish, obsessed with power, and blinded by ambition. For the Morton family's influence, and for a woman who never truly mattered to me, I lost Ida.
[She was the only light in my youth, the one person I ever wanted to protect, and yet I sent her to her death with my own hands.
[This time, I swear I'll never make the same mistake again.]