Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The stairwell was long, narrow, and dark. Only the faint, flickering orange glow from Eve’s lantern illuminated about a meter around her.

The silence was unnerving, making her uneasy. There was no wind, no sound—the air felt like a stagnant, cold marsh. Fortunately, Eve was brave; as she descended, she deliberately counted her steps, estimating her progress.

Since the starship was not a conventional structure, with many small compartments and functional rooms, Eve couldn't determine how long the staircase was or where it ultimately led.

"Tap."

Her heel finally touched the bottom corridor.

It was an utterly ordinary passage. Directly opposite the staircase exit was another door—a simple, unlocked solid wood door with a handle that could be easily turned. Eve pressed her hand against the handle, uncertain of what lay beyond.

This scene inevitably reminded Eve of a story she had once read:

The protagonist, Bluebeard, gave his new wife the keys to all the rooms in the house but specifically forbade her from entering the last one. However, driven by intense curiosity, the wife couldn't resist. While Bluebeard was away, she secretly opened the last room, only to find it filled with the corpses of his previous wives, all killed for succumbing to their curiosity.

Admittedly, this story bore a slight resemblance to the current situation.

Scaring oneself was the worst kind of fear. Eve’s hands trembled slightly from her own unfounded fancy, and she pretended to calmly wipe the sweat from her forehead.

At this point, even if she didn't enter the last room, the cloaked figure wouldn't let her off if they found out she had been here. She might as well go all the way.

Steeling herself, she turned the handle.

The door opened silently.

However, the scene inside was not as restricted as she had imagined.

Gentle light leaked through the door crack. Eve peeked inside and saw an ordinary single living quarter with a simple wooden style. It was small—just a wardrobe, a desk, a single bed, and a bedside cabinet. It somewhat resembled a standard single hospital room. An open book lay on the desk.

It was clear that this room had an owner, and it likely wasn't the cloaked figure.

Eve had woken up in the cloaked figure's room on her first day at Duya. It was extremely comfortable and luxurious, and close to the laboratory. She didn't think the cloaked figure was the type to inconvenience himself just to work a little longer.

As she pushed the door open, she noticed a small door on the right wall—a washroom. She glanced inside but quickly closed the door, avoiding intrusion. But as she turned around, she couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Someone was lying on the bed!

So the room's owner was here after all. Eve's heart raced. She stood frozen for a few seconds to calm herself, then realized the person wasn't moving—likely unresponsive. She slowly approached with her lantern.

A handsome young man lay quietly on the bed, his slightly curly black hair loosely spread across the pillow. His face was pale, his hands resting flat on his abdomen. There were faint dark circles under his eyes, but they did little to detract from his tranquil beauty.

If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Eve would have thought he was dead.

And he was actually someone she knew. She placed the lantern on the desk and stared blankly at Lorca's face, wondering why the eldest son of the Oliver Family would suddenly appear on a Black Star criminal organization's starship.

The original story mentioned that Alice was able to enter the Oliver Family because after Lorca died from an incurable illness, Ludwig passed through the Black Star, fell in love with her at first sight, and brought her home.

Now, thinking about it, it seemed suspicious: Why would Ludwig, grieving the loss of his beloved brother, travel all the way to the remote Black Star instead of holding a funeral at home?

Moreover, Lorca didn't seem like someone with only a year left to live. The last time she saw him at the Medici family's banquet, he was talking and laughing normally. How could his condition suddenly deteriorate to a life-threatening state?

—There must be something missing from the story.

Eve noticed a glass of water, a few pills, and an empty medicine bottle on the bedside cabinet, with faint brown residue on the glass. She bent down to examine it but couldn't identify the medicine's composition. However, she recognized the name on the nearly empty blister pack next to it—it was a powerful sedative.

Did Lorca have insomnia?

Or was someone trying to keep him asleep?

The sense of incongruity grew stronger.

Originally, Eve had guessed that the surgery involving Leng Tian and the cloaked figure was to treat Lorca, with Luo Wenzhou also involved. It seemed plausible, but upon closer thought, there were many inconsistencies.

The Oliver Family and the Luo family had sought medical help for their treasured son for years, consulting countless experts. Why would they lower themselves to seek help from a small organization on the Black Star?

Moreover, Luo Wenzhou's presence here was also somewhat unreasonable. At best, he was only Lorca's cousin—wasn't there a younger brother, Ludwig?

And why couldn't Lorca appear openly, forced to live in a small room beneath the laboratory?

Eve sat in the chair at the desk, lightly tapping her knuckles on the armrest. Alice's words to her resurfaced in her mind:

"You can't just view it from the perspective of human traffickers..."

"—Dismembering bodies, smuggling rare alien creatures and sentient beings, helping space pirates transport goods, even human experiments—as long as there's money, they'll do anything."

She suddenly realized why she had assumed that just because someone came from one of the four great families, no one would dare to mess with them.

First, the original female protagonist single-handedly took on the heirs of the four great families and became friends through rivalry. Then, there were the aristocratic power struggles, with lower families both flattering and waiting to replace them. Could it be that... there was another conspiracy behind it all?

If the cloaked figure, or the person behind them, had lured Lorca to Duya under the pretense of curing him, only to place him under house arrest upon arrival, then Lorca would be powerless to resist. Luo Wenzhou didn't seem very clever either and likely hadn't noticed anything wrong.

But were the two of them really that weak and easy to bully? Even if Lorca and Luo Wenzhou weren't very clever, their families wouldn't be so slow or easily deceived.

The lantern on the desk continued to emit a steady warm orange glow, casting a soft light on Eve's pensive profile.

She sighed, feeling a headache coming on. She hadn't taxed her mind this much since leaving the Medici family. The only thing she could confirm now was that this matter definitely involved more than one party working behind the scenes, which was why the whole situation was so contradictory and bizarre.

The threads were tangled like a spider's web. Eve could have walked away, but Lorca was a key piece in her plans. As long as he was involved, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

From Cecil to Lorin, even Frank, the alternate heirs of the Medici family all had their own supporters. Alice had started too late and was still in her training phase, so she couldn't be relied on for the time being.

If she had gone to all this trouble but failed to secure the Oliver Family's favor and support, it would all be for nothing.

Eve didn't think the family would give her a second chance. If she returned, the only path left might be to enter into a marriage alliance with Cecil—a dead end leading to a predetermined outcome.

"What a case of position dictating perspective."

Eve rubbed her temples, unable to think of a better solution for the moment. Plus, every second she spent in the laboratory basement, she worried the cloaked figure might return, keeping her on edge. She decided to wrap up today's exploration hastily.

She picked up the lantern again.

Lorca was still in deep sleep on the bed, his breathing faint and almost imperceptible. He was completely unaware of everything happening around him—neither the strange cloaked figure who had entered his room nor the fact that his own cousin was being coerced elsewhere on the starship. He lay there peacefully, as if he had already been gone for a while.

Eve: "..."

Honestly, after working hard for so long, it was hard not to feel some unreasonable longing toward someone sleeping so soundly.

Before leaving, Eve took one last look at the dark shadow under the desk. She felt like something was off, but after staring for a while, she couldn't find anything wrong.

Maybe she was overthinking it.

The cloaked figure wearing the silver mask didn't linger. The door was closed gently, and after she left, unseen by her, a shadow slowly crept out from under the desk, transforming into a jet-black python that slithered into the pure white bedding.

On the bed, the beautiful, sickly young man remained oblivious, fast asleep.

-

Time passed, and eventually, the basement door opened once more.

The cloaked woman stepped in, her right hand holding a brown medicinal vial. As soon as she entered, she frowned involuntarily.

The basement had no windows, making the air stale. To avoid disturbing Lorca, only low-capacity ventilation hummed.

Normally, she only smelled medicine here, but today, a faint, familiar scent lingered in the air—so vague it made her uncertain.

She paused briefly before walking further in, placing the potion on the small cabinet by the bed. Lorca was burrowed under the blankets with a book, his pale face devoid of color and fragile, like a stray cat in winter.

It wasn’t until the cloaked figure, instead of leaving immediately as she had done the past few days, stood still by the bedside that he seemed to suddenly notice her, putting on a surprised expression.

"Good evening, Master Agnes," Lorca greeted with a faint smile. "Is there something else you need?"

"Good evening, Master Oliver."

Agnes stared at him unblinkingly, her golden eyes full of suspicion. "There’s a strange odor in the room. I want to ask—did anyone come in during the day?"

"Probably not."

Lorca turned a page, his tone casual and unruffled. "But I was asleep all day. I wouldn’t know anything."

"Is that so?" Agnes scrutinized his face, which showed no sign of unease. "I must be overly suspicious. As long as you’re alright."

With nothing more to say, she nodded to Lorca and turned to leave.

The room fell quiet again. Lorca closed the book he hadn’t been able to focus on and set it on the bedside table, then lay back under the covers, silently enduring the pain in his head as if being stabbed by countless needles and knives.

The new potion was within arm’s reach, but he felt exhausted by such stopgap medications, too weary to even move.

He hadn’t been awake long. His spiritual state faithfully replayed everything that had happened during the day.

Lorca didn’t know why he had just lied to protect that masked cloaked figure. He only felt that the person seemed familiar—especially the distant, appraising gaze in their eyes as they sat in the chair watching him.

Whatever.

Numb and blank-faced from the agony, Lorca thought:

It didn’t matter who that was. In the end, everyone on this starship was going to die anyway.