Chapter 183: Dark side of the Storm castle
Emily stared at the door as it closed behind Lauren.
Outside, raindrops were beginning to patter against the closed windows while the wind bustled and pushed against them. The view outside appeared hazy, and the sky seemed noticeably darker than it had been when they had left for town to do some shopping.
Upon hearing footsteps outside her room once again, Emily wondered whether her maid had returned. She then walked to the door and opened it, saying,
"Julia, I think the gown might need—"
However, there was no one in sight. Before she could step back into her room, she heard the faint creaking of the floor, as though someone was walking away from her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as her brown eyes scanned through the empty corridor.
As the creaking sound shifted to the adjacent corridor, faint piano music drifted through the air, sparking Emily’s curiosity and compelling her to investigate its source. The back hem of her dress swept behind her as she moved along the corridors, eventually coming to a stop at the top of a staircase leading to the lower levels of the castle. She made her way down the steps, and the moment her foot made contact with the floor below, her gaze was drawn to the high ceilings and intricately carved walls.
Emily moved through the dimly lit corridor until she came to a stop in front of a wall adorned with family portraits, yet these were far from ordinary. Most of the faces depicted in the frames bore scorch marks, making her wonder whether they had been Raylen’s family before he turned into an archdemon.
’I am not an earthling like you,’ she recalled the archdemon’s words.
Emily understood that his statement was in the context of the present, given that her brother and former soulmate had been earthlings reborn as demons in the living world to fulfil specific purposes. Raylen, on the other hand, had always remained a pure demon.
Observing the eight individuals depicted in the portraits, Emily guessed that the Storm family was as large as her own. Upon hearing another creak from the end of the corridor, she tore her eyes away from the gallery wall and began to walk in the direction of the sound.
Spotting a door, she grasped the doorknob when she reached it and picked up a nearby lantern to peer inside, since it seemed the creaking sound had led her here. However, her attention was so focused on what lay ahead of her that she failed to notice that the haunting piano melody had abruptly ceased, enveloping the walls of the corridor in a melancholic, eerie silence. When she stepped inside the room, the wooden floor creaked louder beneath her arched foot, and the lantern’s light spilled onto the space just ahead of where she stood.