shuhaige
Chapter 170
Chapter 170 The Locked Room Finished
The head maid hesitated, clearly conflicted. She swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on the room's locked door, widening with terror as if she had witnessed the story hidden behind those walls. She had indeed. experienced it all, being the oldest of all the stall. "What happened?" Mia frowned, noticing the head maid's silence. "I want to see this room. Where is the key?"
"Mrs. Valentino, this room belonged to Mr. Valentino's late mother-your mother-in-law," the head maid replied in a hushed tone, causing Mia to gasp in surprise.
"Oh!" Mia said, her curiosity piqued as she glanced at the room with renewed interest. "Open it!"
"But, madam," the head maid cautioned, "Mr. Valenting gave strict orders never to open this room."
"I am telling you to open it," Mia insisted, leaving the head maid with no choice. Reluctantly, the head maid retrieved the key from her key ring, which held many keys to the mansion's rooms, and unlocked the door.
Mia pushed the door open and immediately coughed as a gust of dust swirled around her. She instinctively waved her hand in front of her face, trying to clear the dirt from the air before it could further enter her nose and mouth.
She stepped inside and flipped the light switch on. Suddenly, the dark room flooded with brightness, revealing its long-neglected state. The room seemed to have been sealed for ages, with cobwebs draped over the furniture and a thick layer of dust blanketing every surface.
She glanced around, taking in the forgotten space, her eyes scanning the remnants of the past. Then her gaze settled on a small picture frame sitting on the bedside table. Slowly, she walked toward it and picked it up, cradling it carefully in her hands.
Mia used the cuff of her long silk gown to wipe the dirt off the glass, and her eyes widened in awe. She had, never seen a picture of Alessandro's mother before as there wasn't a single one displayed in the entire mansion. But as she looked at the woman in the photo frame, she instantly knew it was Alessandro's mother. The resemblance between mother and son was undeniable.
Then, something caught her eye. A large ruby ring with a unique design on Alessandro's mother's finger. Suddenly, it struck her-she had seen that ring before. But where? She frowned and closed her eyes, and at glimpse of that beautiful ring sparkled behind her closed eyelids. Her eyes flew open as the memory. clicked. She now knew where she had seen that ring, and it made no sense for the person who had it to possess Alessandro's mother's ring.
When Mia was forced to live as a housemaid despite being the mistress of the house in her past life, she had seen the ring in Maria's room several times while cleaning her room. Maria always kept it very carefully, almost like a prized possession. Mia had always assumed the ring belonged to Maria, but now she realized it had actually belonged to Alessandro's mother. How did it end up in Maria's hands?
As far as Mia knew, Alessandro's mother, Teresa, had run away with her lover and was executed by her husband, Antonio, the mafia don at that time, who had found his wife with her lover and killed them on the spot. It didn't make sense to Mia that Antonio, who despised Teresa, would have taken her ring and given it to his second wife, Maria. Moreover, Mia had never seen Maria wearing the ring, but Maria had always been very possessive of it.
This raised a troubling question: how had Maria come into possession of Teresa's ring? Was there more to
Chapter 170 The Locked Room
Finished
Teresa's death than anyone had realized? With suspicion igniting in Mia's mind, Maria became the prime. suspect on her list. Mia felt that something was amiss and was determined to uncover the truth.
She sent the head maid back to her duties and shut the door behind her. Glancing around the room, Mia felt an intense urge to search every corner, as if something was guiding her to do so. Her movements were frantic and swift as she rummaged through the room, desperately hoping to find something related to the truth. She dug through the wardrobes, looked under the bed, rilled through the drawers, and even lifted. the mattresses, but to her disappointment, she found nothing.
Only Teresa's belongings-her clothes and personal items-were still there, as if untouched since her demise. The room had been sealed immediately after killing her and her things had never been removed. Did her husband hate her so much? Mia shivered at the thought. She slumped onto the bed with exhaustion, her gaze scanning the room once more with hopeful eyes. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a painting hanging on the wall. It depicted a beautiful woman holding a baby in her arms. However, something seemed off about the painting, as if the woman in it were truly watching her.
Feeling a sense of unease, Mia rose from the bed and approached the painting cautiously. As she drew closer, she noticed that the painting was slightly tilted from its place on the wall. So, that was the strangeness she had sensed.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
Miá sighed in relief and reached to straighten the painting, slowly aligning it on the wall. Suddenly, she was startled by a faint yelp as something fell from behind the frame. Her eyes dropped to see a folded paper on the floor.
Curiosity piqued, Mia bent down and picked it up. The paper looked old and dirty, covered in layers of dust and cobwebs. She brushed off the grime and carefully unfolded it. Her eyes widened as she read through the letter, realizing it wasn't just any paper- it was a letter. 794