Master's Untamed Wife

1395  A Rat?

The castle at night seemed too quiet and it even gave a very eerie feeling. Maybe it was only Shui Xian who felt this way because Raelle seemed oblivious to the eerie feeling. But then again, she must be used to this atmosphere, right?

There were dim wall lamps lighting up the whole castle at night. It really made one feel like they had gone back into the medieval era. With Raelle holding his hand, Shui Xian stopped paying attention to anything else. As long as she was around, he was willing to travel to any era.

They were passing through the darkest corner of the castle and Shui Xian inadvertently glanced at the huge oil painting on the wall. He felt like the man in the painting seemed to be looking at him right now, this gave him a creepy feeling so his hold on Raelle's hand tightened.

Raelle noticed it and gave him a confused look. But when she followed his line of gaze, she understood it, "You also think the painting is looking at you?"

"You think so too?" asked Shui Xian in surprise.

"I don't," replied Raelle. "It's Hyson who always thought that the painting was looking at him. He always avoided this corner if possible. Especially at night."

Shui Xian nodded his head, "I can understand why he'd do that. Where did this painting come from?"

"It had always been here," replied Raelle as she noticed his interest in this topic and stopped to chat with him.

"Always?" repeated Shui Xian.

"Yeah. Hyson asked this question to Opa who replied that this painting had always been here. No matter how many owners changed, this painting stayed here. So, every new owner just let it stay here for some reason."

"What's the reason? There could be a mystery behind it."

"There is a mystery," Raelle lowered her voice to tell him.

"What is it?"

"Watch!" said Raelle as she held the edge of the painting and her fingers went behind the painting, with a click, the painting moved to reveal a huge iron door behind it. "Secret passage?" "No. This leads to the secret dungeon!" Raelle dropped a bucket of cold water on his adventurous heart and his eyes widened.

"Dungeon?" Shui Xian swallowed. "What kind of dungeon? The kind where prisoners were kept?"

"No." Shui Xian relaxed but tensed up when she continued, "They were tortured there."

Shui Xian pinched her cheek saying, "You are doing it on purpose, right? Do you want to scare me?"

"Oh, come on! You can't be so easily scared like Hyson who always shivers at the idea that this place must hold the resentful souls of those tortured prisoners. One time, I took him inside to see the dungeon. It's still filled with iron chains and nails and whatnot, Hyson got a fever the next day and refused to come near this place."

"With Hyson, it's believable and expected," replied Shui Xian as he smiled to himself thinking about the time when Hyson must have been tortured by his own imagination. Poor guy was really something else! He was only scared of one thing in life and that was ghosts. And he found a best friend who loved to scare him using this one weakness of his. "You did it on purpose, right?"

Raelle didn't deny his words as she had indeed done it on purpose back then but she really didn't think that Hyson would end up with a high fever, vomiting, and becoming delirious. How would she know how deep-rooted his fear of ghosts was? Besides, there were no ghosts here, he was just scaring himself with his own ideas. The only thing Hyson should be scared of was his own brain which was filled with such bizarre ideas. Only he could carry the weight of his own overthinking.

"Do you wanna go inside for a visit?" Shui Xian shook his head, "No thanks. Aren't you hungry? Let's go now. We'll explore some other time."

Raelle didn't tease him and agreed. They soon arrived at the kitchen but heard a loud noise from inside.

"Are there rats inside?"

"Is the rat supposed to look that big?" questioned Raelle as she pointed at the dark figure.

"True," agreed Shui Xian and stepped over to hold that dark figure and twisted his arm behind him. "Ouch! Let go! It hurts! It hurts!" That familiar voice made both Shui Xian and Raelle freeze. "Hyson?" asked Raelle as she walked to the side and turned on the lights. Once the lights turned on, she really saw a sleepy Hyson holding a half-bitten apple in his hands. "What are you doing here? No, when did you come here?"

"Xian Ge, you should let go first. It really hurts," reminded Hyson, and Shui Xian finally loosened his grip. Getting his freedom, Hyson looked at his wrist which turned red. It showed just how much force Shui Xian used on him just now. "Why abuse me like this?"

"I thought there was a thief," said Shui Xian as he defended himself. "Who told you to sneak around with the lights off? Is it my fault that I was mistaken?"

"Xian Ge, can a thief get inside this fortress? You underestimate the security of this place," retorted Hyson while rubbing his wrist. He felt like his wrist was rather weak right now. He couldn't even hold the apple properly as his hand trembled. "Can't you be nicer? Even if you thought it was a thief, use less force. You almost broke my hand."

"I'm sorry!" Shui Xian knew that he was wrong so he apologized readily. "I asked you a question," Raelle spoke at this time to get their attention back to her. "What are you doing here at this time? When did you come? Did you come alone? What is going on here? Also, why should my husband be nicer to a thief? That doesn't even make sense."

Hyson sighed, "Can you stop defending your husband? I am also your best friend. Don't forget the old and love the new! It's not a nice thing to do."