It had been difficult to reach the gargoyle, and it was just as difficult to climb back inside the window. Benya had jumped over the frame skilfully like an escape artist, while I barely managed to climb back up, even with his help.
Benya climbed down first, and I prepared to follow, but then a stray thought grabbed my attention as I held tightly onto the narrow window.
Where is the bell ringer? How do they ring the bell?
I couldn't ponder about it for long since I still had to get down from the ladder. Once I reached the floor, I left the library with Benya. Then moment we stepped outside, we were greeted by Letis. He stared at us, yawning and scratching at his tousled hair. "What were you two doing in there?"
"I was checking for the last time, since important information about our family might be in there. You know, something the named heir should be doing." Benya, as usual, was quick to shoot barbs at his brother.
Letis lowered his head, feeling ashamed. "I thought of doing that too."
Benya scoffed. "Yeah, right. How about handing over the title of an heir?" He suggested.
"Are you crazy? I won't be able to endure the guilt of seeing our family be ruined with you as the heir." Letis frowned.
"Who said anything about me? I was talking about Sasha." Benya pointed at me, and both brothers turned to look at me in an inquisitive way.
After a dramatic pause, Letis opened his mouth. "She would drive us out without even the clothes on our backs."
"You have a point." Benya chuckled.
Wait, how did they reach that conclusion? I was glad that they were somewhat reconciling, but their comments made me seriously question how they usually saw me.
I shook my head and walked past them, heading upstairs to wake up Estelle. We needed to prepare to leave, and I knew no one wanted to touch that disgusting meal.
However, we ended up having to eat that disgusting meal after all, because no one came to pick us up even after the bell rang for prayer time. There were no news, and we kept waiting until the sliver of sky we could see from the ceiling window turned dark.
It was the same for the next day and the day after that.
* * *
No one was surprised when Estelle finally flipped. In fact, I thought it was commendable that she had lasted this long.
"I want to get out of here! They told us we had to endure this for only a week! Why are we still here?!" She shrieked.
Letis spoke up, trying to rein in his incensed sister. "Eat the rest of your meal. The situation probably became worse, or maybe a complication appeared. Perhaps one of our relatives got infected, and that's why no one came for us." His voice was strangely sunk, with none of its usual strength. He had been dispirited playing with his cold omelette for a while, and the odor was tiring me out.
Two weeks had already passed since we were brought here, and that meant being confined a full extra week past the promised seven days.
Viscount Jerome and butler Harris hadn't shown their faces around here at all, and there was a chance that they too had been infected with the virus. Because our living conditions were like torture for these young nobles, the atmosphere these days was gloomy and sensitive due to their stacked anxieties.
Even if it weren't Estelle, one of the brothers would have flipped out by now too.
"No! I don't want to! The food is disgusting, and I'm tired of it!" Estelle threw down her cutlery, angry.
Poor Estelle. I knew how much of a picky palate she had. These repeated meals must have been unbearable for her.
I gently pat her back, trying to calm her down. "Try drinking some juice. You need to eat to stay healthy."
"I said I don't want to!"
"Just for today, alright? You should not skip meals." I try to coax her into eating even a little.
"That's what you said yesterday!" She exclaimed, and I had nothing to say to that.
Indeed, we had already reached our limits of waiting around and believing that someone would come for us if we just waited another day.
The only person who could explain to us what was going on outside and why we were still being kept in here was the person secretly delivering our meals. We never knew when they were around since, by the time we woke up in the morning, the food in the cart had already been renewed.
But tonight, they won't be able to sneak away. I planned to stay awake all night long to meet them.
We ate breakfast slowly, in a somber mood. Estelle barely touched her juice and pancakes doused in syrup. Benya was the only one of us apparently unaffected by the atmosphere and willingly ate his sister's leftover food.
"Damn, I don't know who the idiot who planned this menu was, but when we get out of here, that fool will eat only pancakes for a month."
I sympathized with those thoughts. Wasn't it a humane duty to provide decent meals to children under these circumstances? Aristocrats paid no attention to how this ascetic world condemned luxurious meals as a crime. And I couldn't argue against their stance. What would life be worth without good food?
Because the current situation was so deplorable, people were forgoing their luxuries, hoping to avoid divine punishment. It was indeed wrenching to see these children, who had just lost their parents, suffer and have nothing to do about it.