Isidore glanced inside at Milo, who was lying there, bleeding out. For a moment, he couldn't tell if it was him running a fever, or if Eloise was the one burning with heat. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently pressed down, pondering for a moment. "Go put on your jacket." Eloise walked to the side, taking off her blood-stained camisole and changing into a clean T-shirt.
Isidore squatted down, took out a phone from Milo's pocket, and quickly formulated a plan in his mind to safely get Eloise out. "Come here and do as I say."
"I don't want to," Eloise rejected immediately without a second thought. Isidore looked up, his face showing a hint of disbelief. "You want to die here with me?" "I don't want to die either," Eloise squatted down beside him. "Didn't you say that once he's dead, you'd be willing to leave? Well, he's dead."
Isidore was left speechless. Such a blunt and direct method of killing, especially in Milo's territory, would only lead to both of them being shot to pieces by the guards outside, more mangled than the man on the ground.
Eloise rolled her eyes at his expression and said, "Otherwise, I'd have to wait for you to mobilize the forces outside, wait for Milo to self-destruct, and finish setting up your grand scheme. How long would I have to wait for that, the next lifetime?" At this point, Isidore couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. "With that temper, you'd make a real talent in the underworld."
"It's because I've been hanging around with you for too long," Eloise muttered. Isidore sighed. "I don't have any invisibility magic to swagger out of here."
Previously, under the delicate balance between the two, he wasn't concerned about his and Eloise's safety in this place. But now that she had disrupted that balance, once the people outside discovered what had happened, their chances of survival would be slim.
Milo probably didn't expect her to be audacious enough to court death, which was why he appeared here without any precautions. Now, the only solution was... to abandon the him to save her. He grasped his phone, planning to stay behind and delay, creating the illusion of calm, buying time to contact people outside and find an excuse to send Eloise away.
Just as he was about to speak, Eloise beat him to it. "Do you think I'm stupid? I've already thought of an escape plan." She stood up, hands on her hips, looking at the ceiling, and mysteriously said, "There's a secret passage in this villa." Isidore's pupils trembled in surprise. What he didn't know was that Eloise had left out the word "possibly."
Eloise's confidence came from her familiarity with the original story. Although the plot had deviated, the basic settings should still be the same… right?
"Do you know how Milo's mother died?" Eloise looked at Isidore. Isidore shook his head. Milo's father was sensitive about the past, and Milo himself would never speak of it. Eloise sighed. "She was trapped in a room by Milo's father's enemies and burned alive. At that time, she gave the only chance to escape to young Milo."
Since then, Milo had developed a deep psychological trauma, which manifested in his constant design of an escape passage in his residence. He was very cautious, and few outsiders knew about this habit of his. In the original story, it was Lucienne, with her female lead halo, who accidentally triggered the passage.
Although in the original story, Lucienne was kept in a different place from where they were now, Isidore had mentioned before that this house was built by Milo for his own amusement. Given that, the possibility of secret passages… was probably more than eighty percent.
Isidore looked at her with an expression of helplessness at her certainty. "The secret passage, where is it?" In the original story, the passage appeared in the study. Eloise added after speaking, "Hmm, but it requires a trigger to open." "What trigger?" Isidore asked. Eloise replied, "Fire."
"You mean, we have to burn this place down?" Such an absurd thing…
But this was the only method that Eloise knew. She got to work immediately, hauling a bucket of oil into the study. Isidore stopped her. "You'd better listen to me and let me arrange for you to leave." Eloise pouted, "Step aside!"
If she did not cooperate in the act, even Isidore, with all his boundless abilities, would find it difficult. However, without the matter she spoke of, drawing the outside world's attention would mean death; whether they were burned alive inside the house or perished in the fire, there would be no turning back. He confirmed, "Where did you learn about this matter?"
Eloise paused for a moment. She couldn't exactly say she knew everything because she had transmigrated into a book. So, she quickly shifted the blame to the now dead Milo. "He told me." Isidore's lips twitched. "How could that be?" Eloise shrugged him off with her shoulder. "If you don't believe me, then forget it!"
"Wait!" Isidore tapped around the walls of the study, then turned back, his gaze full of doubt. He left the room, tried a few others, repeating his actions. Finally, in the small room where they had slept together on their first night, he heard a different sound from one of the walls. Pressing his lips together, he murmured, "If you want to burn it, burn it here."
Isidore's eyes were filled with a decisive determination, as if he were willing to gamble. From his experience, if there was really an underground passage, it could only be at the spot where he had just heard the different sound. Yet, that could also simply be due to the unique structure of the room. Nevertheless, he chose to trust Eloise, which meant he was gambling with his life, indulging her absurdity.
Eloise was supremely confident in her plan, never once considering that it might be nothing more than a one-sided assumption. But when she saw Isidore's gaze, she realized that this was a moment of life or death, not a game, not following a storyline. It was life or death for both of them.
Isidore didn't have the reader perspective, but he was willing to accompany her in this absurd act. She looked away and decided to listen to him. "Fine."
The flames ignited from the corner of the curtain, quickly spreading across most of the room. In Eloise's pupils, crimson tongues of fire danced, and she began to feel a visceral fear. One hand reached out and grasped her trembling one. Not a single door swung open.
Soon, a searing pain spread across her skin, the water that had soaked her surface evaporating, replaced by a layer of sweat. Still, no door sprang open.
The wet towel pressed over her mouth and nose became ineffective, and the thick smoke seared into her nostrils, drilling painfully into her lungs. Still, no door sprang open.
Eloise's consciousness began to blur as she allowed Isidore to carry her body to a corner untouched by the flames, until there was nowhere left to escape. Before losing consciousness, she felt him tightly hold her in his arms, using his body to shield her from the fire.
"Click." The door opened!
"Cough! Cough!" Eloise coughed violently, her face scrunching up like a little kitten, yet her mood was inexplicably light. They had descended a long, narrow corridor, and it appeared they had reached a basement. Aside from the lack of windows, it was much like any ordinary residence—furniture and appliances were all in place, and there was even a considerable amount of food.
There were other exits ahead. However, neither of them had worked out their next move and decided to stay here for the time being.
"You really are something," Isidore chuckled bitterly, coughing. He truly hadn't expected that Eloise's wild suggestion would bring them a chance at survival.
However, it was still too early to call it a chance for survival. Some of the forces behind Milo would likely stop at nothing to hunt them down for the sake of power. He glanced at Eloise, at least needing to plan for her future.
He washed his face, rummaged through the room for a spare communication device, and after assembling it, contacted the big shots Eloise had seen him communicate with before.
She couldn't quite figure out what he was up to, but after listening for a while, she couldn't help but admire his acting skills. Isidore used the information and time gaps to hide the news of Milo's death, arranging safe houses, cars, supplies, and money in the name of the Ravenscroft family.
Eloise asked, "You're using Milo as a front. Once they find out he's dead, won't they cause trouble for you?" Isidore smiled, "By the time they find out, everything will be in place. With just this, those people won't bother to get involved in this mess."
He gestured for Eloise to log into her bank account. Eloise had never seen so much money in her life; her eyes turned into two dollars symbols in astonishment. Isidore found it amusing and patted her head, "You can finally realize your dream of traveling the world." His expression seemed to tell her that everything would be fine from here on out.
It turned out that not only had he heard it that day, but he had also remembered it. Eloise felt a strange unease rise in her heart. "Then... what are you going to do?" As soon as the words left her mouth, the light in Isidore's eyes dimmed, and he collapsed from the chair.
Ah! Eloise slapped her head in frustration. How could she have forgotten to inject him with the antidote that Sylvana gave her? She struggled to turn the unconscious Isidore over, inserting the syringe into his arm, ensuring every drop of the antidote was injected. Then, she let out a sigh of relief. This should be enough.
In the afternoon, fearing she wouldn't believe it was the antidote, Sylvana had tested a small amount of the medicine for her. However, Sylvana also mentioned that the antidote would take some time to take effect, maybe two or three days, or even four or five. Eloise asked her why she was helping them, and Sylvana answered, "I will always be loyal to Mr. Ravenscroft's wishes."
Eloise squatted on the floor, resting her chin in her hands as she gazed at Isidore's face. His earlier arrangements were likely based on the assumption that he might die. A strange pang of sorrow tightened in her chest. She fetched a pillow and placed it between his head and the cold floor.
When Isidore woke up and opened his eyes, everything was black, and he couldn't see a single speck of light. He waved his hand, knocking over the cup of water Eloise had placed beside him. He froze, standing still like a statue. Eloise noticed the unusual look in his eyes and quickly ran over to tell him about the antidote.
Isidore turned his face toward the sound of footsteps, closing his sightless eyes. "Elly, do you want to know how my father died?" Since death was certain, he wanted to tell her everything himself. Even the darkest parts of his past were better shared with her than leaving her to hear an uncertain version from someone else.
Eloise immediately swallowed the words she almost blurted out. "Tell me."
