Outside the manor, night was falling.
After the candlelight dinner that made Luo Wei eat nervously finally ended.
The maids filed in to clear the food from the dining table, and Ophelia walked over slowly.
She gave Luo Wei a gentle hug, as if saying goodbye.
"I still have some matters to attend to. It's getting late, so be good and go to bed."
"Attend to matters?" Luo Wei asked instinctively.
Ophelia nodded gently and complained a little.
"After returning to the palace, father gave me many tasks. It's my first time handling them, so I'm inevitably a bit overwhelmed..."
"That's a good thing," Luo Wei smiled.
Ophelia had been left to grow up freely outside the palace, rarely appearing in public view. She was quite mysterious, to the extent that many citizens didn't even know there was such a youngest fifth princess.
While her brothers and sisters all wielded some power, which was why Luo Wei said this was a good thing - at least her father had started paying attention to her.
Ophelia smiled along, "If you need anything, you can always ask the servants here, but..."
She stared intently into Luo Wei's eyes and added:
"Remember what I said earlier, don't wander around."
Luo Wei thought about the three "manor rules" she had mentioned earlier and nodded silently.
"Well then I'll..."
Ophelia gently released her embrace, gazing at the person before her with slightly reluctant eyes.
However, when her gaze slowly moved downward, she suddenly froze.
As if she had seen something that bothered her.
"What's this..."
She touched the checkered neckerchief around Luo Wei's neck, frowning slightly.
"Did Helena give this to you?"
"Uh..." Luo Wei actually wanted to say he bought it himself.
But he felt that as soon as he opened his mouth, he wouldn't be able to fool her eyes.
"Yes..."
Ophelia immediately let out a cold snort.
She yanked the neckerchief off his neck.
"Such a tasteless thing, don't wear it around your neck."
Saying this, she ignored Luo Wei's expression, folded the neckerchief Helena had given him a few times, and casually tossed it aside.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow, "Looking at your expression, are you reluctant to part with your sister's gift?"
Luo Wei shrugged helplessly, thinking it wasn't really about being reluctant, but rather...
Were all the gifts between the siblings poisoned?
Whether it was the teddy bear he gave his sister or the checkered neckerchief his sister gave him...
So far, none had survived beyond three days...
While he was internally complaining, Ophelia crossed her arms and looked Luo Wei up and down.
She smiled ambiguously, her voice growing increasingly cold.
"From now on, your clothing and appearance will be entirely under my arrangement. I want my man to be an elegant and proper gentleman, wearing only the finest things."
"Not looking like some nouveau riche factory owner desperately trying to chase urban trends."
Her expression grew increasingly disdainful as she looked at his clothes.
"Throw away these clothes later, and don't let me see you wear the same clothes twice."
With that, she turned and left.
[Contamination +1]
[Contamination +1]
...
After Ophelia left, Luo Wei sighed helplessly.
Well, after losing his dietary freedom, he had now lost his freedom to dress...
Silently following the wordless maid back to his room, Luo Wei saw that the "new clothes" Ophelia mentioned were already laid out on the bed.
It was a three-piece suit: jacket, trousers, and vest.
The style was indeed more formal and proper than what he usually wore, and just touching the fabric, he knew it must be extremely expensive...
The kind of clothes that Teacher Evelyn couldn't afford with a month's salary...
Besides that, there was also an exquisite pocket watch.
Looking at the time, it was now ten o'clock at night.
Quietly putting away the clothes to the side, Luo Wei sat motionless on the soft bed, his gaze slowly drifting to the window outside.
In his mind, he vaguely remembered Ophelia's repeated instructions: must follow those rules, otherwise, the punishment would be death.
Luo Wei suddenly smiled inwardly.
Follow my ass!
What's life for if not for trial and error?
He immediately opened his system panel, and the system rewards he had been ignoring appeared before his eyes.
[
[You can choose one from the following random items]
[1. Eye of Insight: Accessory (★★★★) Greatly enhances inspiration and strengthens perception of mysterious things when worn]
[2. Large-caliber Alchemical Rifle: Weapon (★★★) Can hold 7 alchemical rounds at once, has strong dispelling effect on low-level heteromorphic creatures]
The reason he waited until now to receive the reward was precisely to deal with this kind of situation.
The time had finally come.
Without hesitation, Luo Wei added the attribute points to [Agility].
[Agility +10]
[Attributes: Strength: 32, Constitution: 25, Agility: 48, Charm: 100, Inspiration: 49, Sanity: 45]
When each attribute reaches around 50, it's almost a qualitative improvement. The large bonus to [Agility] immediately made him feel his body become light as a feather.
Gently opening the door, Luo Wei's figure instantly vanished from his room without making a sound.
Inside the manor at night, it was eerily quiet. Luo Wei tiptoed through the long corridor.
He had always felt there was something strange about the atmosphere in this manor, and now he finally had time to investigate personally.
As he walked, this strange atmosphere grew stronger and stronger.
Luo Wei looked around - none of the rooms here had their lights on, and the entire manor was as silent as death.
But he clearly remembered there were quite a few maids in the manor?
Growing increasingly puzzled, he curiously pushed open a random door.
The room was empty, with no signs that anyone had lived there, yet it was clean, as if it had been deliberately tidied...
Almost every room was like this.
To keep such a large manor this clean would certainly require very careful maintenance, and the number of attendants and servants couldn't be small...
But as he explored step by step, he was surprised to discover.
All these rooms were empty! And not a single one had its lights on!
An unusual emotion spread through Luo Wei's heart.
How was this possible? That maid had just escorted him to his room not long ago, how could all the maids have vanished in the blink of an eye?
A cool night breeze gently blew past, giving Luo Wei goosebumps.
Something wasn't right... very wrong...
Luo Wei immediately walked back to his floor, then along the long corridor, found Ophelia's room.
Besides his own room, only her room still had its lights on.
Arriving at her door, Luo Wei took a deep breath and knocked gently.
After a while.
No response.
Luo Wei frowned and knocked a few more times.
Still no response.
"Ophelia?"
Luo Wei asked softly: "Are you there? I need to talk to you about something."
After still not hearing a sound, Luo Wei directly turned the handle and pushed the door open.
In the room, a bright gas lamp was lit on the desk, with some documents like reports on the table.
But Ophelia wasn't here.
Luo Wei picked up those documents and took a look - they were about things like fief tax collection, probably the tasks the old emperor had given her.
The confusion in his heart grew stronger - not only had the manor's maids disappeared, but even Ophelia was gone...
In this huge manor, was he really the only one left?
Weren't they afraid he'd run away?
Instinctively, Luo Wei said softly to the air, "If you don't show up, I'm leaving, okay? I'm going home."
"Come out, stop trying to scare me, this trick won't work..."
What answered him was still dead silence.
Luo Wei grew suspicious and finally decided to leave this room.
He put down the documents in his hand and slowly walked toward the door.
And at this moment.
In the quiet and empty office, a strange slithering sound suddenly rang out.