Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 118

When Lichfield learned that Ronan and his group had only found the painting and were just pretending to come over to take a look, Ronan and his group had just taken apart the frame and were piecing the painting back together like a jigsaw puzzle.

The connection that Ronan and his team found was that these paintings of different sizes but the same subject matter were originally a single, enormous painting.

The next step is to complete the puzzle.

Chapter 266 Candlesticks, Correspondence, Everything is Under Control

After more than an hour of painting in the lobby on the first floor, the painting was finally completed.

More than thirty paintings of varying sizes were pieced together to form a complete picture. Upon closer inspection, the background of the painting reveals that it is the small concave basin where the large villa is located. Judging from the growth of the plants, it is late spring or early summer. The main subject of the painting is more than thirty couples. Some are acting very intimately, some are sitting with their heads turned away from each other, some are chasing and playing, and some are standing quietly together. There are all kinds of couples, and anyone can see that these couples are very close.

In Ronan and Dinia's eyes, all women are not women, but skeletons.

However, Agustina and Elena are normal, and you can tell that the man and woman are not of the same race.

The man's physical characteristics are similar to those of an indigenous person, but he is definitely not an indigenous person. The woman is more like someone from the Western Continent, white, but she cannot be accurately classified into any particular ethnic group.

After the painting was completed, there was no further activity for a long time. Unlike the legendary poems of some wandering poets or the novels of some novelists, there was no sign that something would start to glow and then display some miracle after it was pieced together.

The content of the painting doesn't offer any clues, because it only depicts scenery and people, nothing else, and it doesn't involve the building at all.

But it's impossible to say that a painting like this, divided and scattered in different rooms, doesn't have some special significance.

“It’s not just this,” Ronan said.

All eyes immediately turned to Ronan.

“What I mean is, this fragmented, massive painting is just one clue. Only by gathering all the clues can we find the real one,” Ronan said, looking at Litchfield. “Am I right?”

Litchfield knew, of course, that Ronan had guessed correctly, but he wore a surprised expression. "Well, I didn't know that."

“Then let’s pretend you didn’t know,” Ronan said.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and no one spoke. Then the three groups returned to their respective rooms to eat something and rest.

"This dilapidated place was built by a duke, and there isn't even a single light."

Elena complained.

Although there weren't any particularly bright light fixtures back then, wealthy people would have ornate candle chandeliers in their homes. When they wanted to light them, they would pull down the lifting chain to lower the chandelier, light the dozen or so large candles on it, and then raise it back up.

Those who weren't very wealthy, like Ronan in the past, would only have two oil lamps for lighting in their rooms at night.

As for the poor, they can't afford lamps.

“It is indeed strange,” Dinia said, having heard Elena mention it; she also found it odd.

“There are candlesticks, quite a few, there are several in this room alone,” Agustina said.

At that moment, Ronan had a flash of inspiration. "Ha, it seems we've found a new clue—this candlestick." With that, Ronan picked up a candlestick from a low square table and examined it closely. Soon, he noticed something unusual.

The candlesticks are all the same shape, but the relief patterns in the middle are different. There are two kinds: one is a skull, and the other is a man's penis.

Ronan had picked up this candlestick before, but hadn't taken it seriously. At the time, he thought it was just some kind of artifact from primitive civilizations; after all, skulls and men's genitals were typical motifs found in primitive worship.

But at this moment, after the jigsaw puzzle incident, Ronan suddenly made a connection.

The skull likely represents the woman in the painting, while that thing represents the man.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll take all the candlesticks out and put them together."

Ronan said.

Another night passed, and morning soon arrived. Ronan and his group of four did not separate again. Instead, they ate a few bites of dry rations and immediately set to work, carrying all the candlesticks to the hall.

Everyone else looked puzzled, except for Lichfield, who had a strange expression flash across his face. He hadn't expected Ronan to find the candlestick so quickly, but he quickly put on an expression of confusion as well.

Ronan counted that there were thirty-three couples in the painting, and thirty-three pairs of candlesticks as well.

The fact that they correspond exactly can no longer be explained by coincidence.

It was obvious that the candlesticks and the figures in the painting corresponded to each other. Everyone realized this at this point. They were all highly educated people, and no one was an idiot. But how did they correspond? Even Ronan and Litchfield, who knew more about the inside story, did not know this.

All they could do was hold the candlesticks, lie on the ground, and compare them one by one.

"I see." By this time, Lichfield had figured out how the object corresponded to a man, but he didn't intend to reveal it immediately, nor did he intend to personally place the corresponding candlestick in the position of the corresponding person.

Ronan soon discovered how to respond.

Simply put, it's about posture and the shape of the body, which corresponds to the curved shape of that thing. Every man's posture is different, and so is the thing on each candlestick.

Once Ronan mentioned this, the thirty-three corresponding items were quickly placed on the appropriate people.

But this is only half the battle. How can a skull correspond to a woman?

Litchfield was completely taken aback.

Just then, Ronan began rapidly placing the skull candlesticks in their corresponding positions. When the last one was placed, the landscape in the painting began to change, gradually transforming from late spring and early summer to a desolate winter.

At the same moment, everyone felt an inexplicable force eroding them, and a piercing pain spread from their chests throughout their bodies.

Administrative assistant Lex collapsed to the ground, falling into a state of weakness.

Worse still, my mind started to go haywire, and all sorts of crazy thoughts popped into my head: killing, destruction, sadism, self-harm.

Only Lichfield knew best that this was a curse, but he hadn't expected that everyone would be cursed. He had thought that only Ronan and a few others who were directly involved would be affected.

According to those diary entries, this curse usually only occurs ten days after the guards enter the place, and it is relieved as soon as they leave.

Yes, all those caregivers were able to leave from here back then, but without exception, they all returned as if possessed by demons, and eventually all died here.

The reason why this villa is now inaccessible is probably due to the people he sent in five years ago. Unfortunately, he still doesn't know what exactly happened five years ago.

At this moment, Lichfield fell into thought. "The skull can accurately correspond to the woman in the portrait. Sure enough, they have obtained some special power related to this place."

"The act of piecing together clues led to the triggering of the curse."

"If we're going to use the same approach of piecing together and matching, then the carpet should be done in the same way. Once the carpet is finished, the real clues should start to emerge."

"Everything is under my control, and everything will eventually belong to me."

In addition to the three clues, he also possessed a relic of Flagg, which was the very thing that gave Lichfield the confidence to sit back and watch Ronan and his men's actions, deciding to only come out at the last moment to reap the rewards.

Chapter 267 The Black Gate, Reversal, Scattering

Around noon, Ronan and his three companions sat together inside the house.

At this moment, the so-called curse had been fully unleashed. Dinia was as if nothing had happened, Ronan was in alright, although he was somewhat uncomfortable in terms of his mind, magic, and body, but it was not enough to affect his normal thinking or casting spells. Elena was in a slightly strained state, but as a second-tier being, and with the power of the Moon Goddess, she was still able to laugh and joke.

Only Agustina had a somber expression, one hand tightly covering the eye covered by the eyepatch. Although she was almost at the third tier of the second level, she wasn't weak enough to collapse, but the fact that she, who usually loved to talk, was now silent was enough to tell the story.

“The countdown has begun,” Ronan said. Under this curse, he and Dinia could hold out for a very long time, but judging from Elena and Agustina’s condition, they would only last three to five days at most.

“It seems we still don’t have enough clues,” Dinia said. The painting and candlestick brought changes, but no real clues emerged, let alone the divine object Litchfield mentioned at the beginning, which meant there was something else.

“Based on previous experience, there should be something in every room that can be combined to form a set,” Ronan said.

“The bed?” Elena interjected.

"Duh," Ronan tapped Elena on the head, "It's a carpet."

Each room has a carpet, and the patterns on the carpets are all different.

Before Dinia could speak, Ronan continued, "Regardless of whether the carpet is the last one, it's foreseeable that Lichfield will make his move the moment they're all gathered. We've all seen it; he clearly has the most information, but he's been sitting back and watching for the past two days. I can't think of any other possibility than him deciding to let someone else suffer the curse and reap the rewards himself."

"Of course, the curse spread directly and affected everyone, which I guess he didn't expect."

"Should I kill him first?" Dinia asked.

She was absolutely confident that she could overcome this negative state and crush Lichfield.

“If we kill him, we might never get out,” Ronan said. “How could he remain calm if he didn’t have something on him? After all, when he set off the candlesticks, he should have already determined that we possess some kind of power related to this place.”

At first, Ronan was just making things up about obtaining power related to this place, but unexpectedly, the power of the crystal skull actually became connected to this place.

Given these circumstances, the fact that Lichfield hasn't taken action can only mean that he has something that makes him confident that he can reap the rewards.

It's like a group of people planning to break into a vault and steal some treasure. The box containing that treasure is locked, and he's the only one who can unlock it. So he sits and waits for the others to open the vault, since the treasure will eventually be his turn to open it anyway.

"Then how do we do it?" Dinia asked.

Ronan shrugged. "I can't do anything about it. To be honest, everything so far is still under his control. Cleverness is useless now. Once he gets that so-called 'divine object' to break the curse, Elena and Agustina will flee immediately, and we'll fight him with all our might."

"Anyway, it's either him or us who die."

“That’s easy,” Dinia said.

Whether she lived or died, things returned to the area she excelled at.

“We can’t afford to waste time. Let’s go, let’s start with the carpets,” Ronan said. Every second, his spirit, magic, and body were weakening, and he couldn’t afford to delay any longer.

Ronan and Dinia carried all the carpets from the rooms to the lobby on the first floor as quickly as possible.

Soon, the two began piecing it together, while Agustina and Elena sat nearby watching.

Just as Ronan had predicted, the carpet was originally a huge, complete piece, but it has now been divided into pieces. Compared to a painting, the carpet is easier to piece together because the pattern is simpler and the pieces are all the same size.

The carpet was put together in less than half an hour.

By this time, Lichfield had been standing there for quite some time.

The old butler, Duden, helped the weak Henry to stand aside. Henry was only at the second rank. He had inherited the special summoning magic of the Freigo family and was born at the right rank. At over twenty years old, being at the second rank was only barely passable.

Rita, Lichfield's niece and secretary, was also nearby. She was also a second-tier magic user, barely able to stand by supporting herself against the wall. However, at only twenty-six years old, and not inheriting magic, she was a hardworking genius. As for the administrative assistant, Lex, he was now completely bedridden and unable to get up.

The moment the carpet was pieced together, the painting suddenly seemed to stick together and gradually floated into the air, carrying the candlestick with it. The carpet did the same, as if it had been stitched together, forming a whole, and then floated down to the bottom of the painting.

Suddenly, candles sprouted from the candlesticks and spontaneously combusted. The burning candlesticks then sank into the painting as if they were on a fluid. The painting burst into flames, and blackened ash danced in the air, but never strayed from the vast carpet below.

The carpet began to gradually shrink inward, eventually enveloping all the swirling black dust like a bundle.

After a long while, when the carpet was unfolded again and landed on the ground, a black door stood on the carpet.

Litchfield's face lit up with excitement and joy, his mind repeating to himself, "So that's how it is, so that's how it is," before he walked step by step toward the black door.

At the same time, the curse began to intensify further, and Rita sat down directly.

Only Henry's old butler, Ronan, and Dinah were still standing.

Litchfield suddenly stopped and looked at Dinia, his eyes seeming to ask, "What, aren't you going to kill me to stop me?"

Before Dinia could react, Ronan pointed at Lichfield and said, "When you come out, it will be your death day."

“Ha, I’ll be waiting for you.” Lichfield had barely finished speaking, and before he could take a step, a hand emerged from his chest.

Litchfield's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he turned around in shock.

Ronan and Dinia also stared at this scene in disbelief.

Because the first person to fall was Lex, whose chest was pierced by a hand.

Lex then kicked Lichfield to the ground, and pulled his hand out, revealing a key in his bloody hand.

While everyone was still in shock, the key in his hand turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared. Then, the black door opened on both sides, revealing endless darkness inside. He flashed into the black door.

As he entered, the intensity of the curse within the entire villa increased dramatically, and the black door slowly closed on both sides.

Ronan didn't care about anything else at that moment. He picked up Agustina, who was closest to him and had already fallen to the ground, and sprinted into the Black Gate.

Dinia grabbed Elena and went through the Black Gate.

Seeing this, the old butler Duden risked the backlash of the curse and rushed inside with Henry at top speed.

Severely injured and affected by a powerful curse, Lichfield could only clutch the bloody hole in his chest and drag his feet as he slowly moved forward.

As long as you get in, there's still a chance.

Just as he was a few steps away from the black gate, suddenly, a hand grabbed his foot.

"Uncle, I don't want to die."

"go away!"

Chapter 268 Light, Heart-to-Heart Talk, People Will Always Grow Up

Upon entering the black gate, instead of entering a passage, one immediately begins to plummet as if falling from a great height.

Ronan conjured a levitation shield and landed on it with Agustina.

Looking around, there was no sign of "Lex," nor of Dinia or Elena.

In the far distance, there is a vertical line emitting a dim white light. No matter how high you look up, you still can't see the end of the line. This line may be a tower that breaks through the sky, or it may just be a pillar of light extending infinitely upwards.

Beneath the suspended shield lies an endless swamp of mud, and on its surface, clusters of flames rise everywhere.

"Are you alright?" Ronan asked Agustina behind him.

"I'm fine," Agustina replied, recovering rapidly without the curse's influence. "But you, flying like this all the time, can your magic hold up?"