Salted Fish Chapter 34.1: The Flames Were Blazing (Part 1)

In this novel, the chapters are 3x times the length of an average novel, so starting with chapter 34 (this chapter), all chapters will be split into two separate parts. I know I never really do this, but I cannot publish 10,000+ character chapters daily. So to keep it a daily release, chapters have been split. If you wish to read further than what is available on the site, do not forget that we do have a Patreon that releases 7 chapters once weekly (every Sunday) per tier. The 20$ tier is 20 parts ahead, 12$ 12 parts ahead, and so on.  https://www.patreon.com/ExiledRebelsScanlations

 

Chapter 34.1: The Flames Were Blazing (Part 1)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Lady Edith stared blankly at the giant curtain woven by white hands.

One shadow after another emerged. There were many women. Some wore large ruffled collars and clutched folding fans in their hands; some had long hair pulled back into towering coiffures, adorned with ornate hair ornaments; some wore elaborate lace and feather hats with their floral dresses that swayed without wind…

These women were the Ladies in the portraits. They had been dead for a long time, but were more vivid and beautiful than their portraits.

“Get out of the way. Don’t block us.”

Suddenly, a bright golden light shot in between the cracks of the giant white hand curtain. As if afraid of that light, the white hand retracted like the ebbing tide of the sea, revealing a huge hollow.

Duan FeiZhou held aloft the wind lamp. The lamp blazed, fierce as never before. Beads of sweat seeped out of his forehead, and just holding up the lamp consumed almost all of his strength.

“Get everyone out of here!” Z roared.

Xenophon pointed his cane at Hart, who was wrapped in a cocoon of white hands, and his bindings were suddenly released. He pointed again at Lord Perlilla, who was struggling with the white hands. The Lord kicked at a white hands, but they suddenly disappeared, and His Lordship lost his balance and fell onto his butt.

“Do you hear that? Everyone run for the hills!” Xenophon’s tone was cynical.

Hart was the first to reach the door, but it was locked and refused to open, no matter how hard he pounded on it.

“Get out of the way!” Duan FeiZhou raised Sword in the Stone and slashed the sword diagonally.

How could his rusty sword possibly cut through the heavy wooden door? Just as everyone was filled with doubt and despair, a loud boom was heard and the door was torn apart.

Hart ran ahead of the others, as his hair blew in the wind. Lord Perlilla, who was holding Melissa in his arms, rushed out with his head down. The old Lady was dragged out by Xenophon, her face covered with tears. White hands rushed towards them like a torrent, but had barely touched their clothes when Duan FeiZhou dashed up with his wind lamp, and forced back the white hands with his light.

Barney’s thin figure was held up by the white hands, as if he were riding the waves while he looked down on him from above.

“You shouldn’t have come,” The boy said faintly. “None of you should have come. Tonight is the new moon, the day when the ladies are at their strongest. They were going to sanction Hart and ‘the man’ tonight, and had the mansion move you to a safe place for that purpose. But you people interfere. If it weren’t for you, Hart would have gotten his due punishment by now. Why did you interrupt the Ladies’ plans?”

Duan FeiZhou and the boy looked at each other. “Hart is a living man, and the laws of the living are there to punish him. What is the difference between all of you doing this and lynching?”

“The Ladies are just trying to guard the land in their own way.” Barney sounded a little sad. “Sometimes justice doesn’t always come in time.”

Duan FeiZhou raised the wind lamp. “Stay away!”

Barney didn’t flinch. “The light will burn me, but I’m not afraid of pain.”

Duan FeiZhou frowned. “Then what are you afraid of?”

The boy smiled faintly. “That justice won’t be served.”

After he said that, the boy swooped down at Duan FeiZhou.

Duan FeiZhou subconsciously waved the Sword in the Stone, and the sword blade cut through the boy’s body, but didn’t hurt him a bit. Barney stretched out his hand, and at the same time, Duan FeiZhou also raised the wind lamp.

“Pop.” The glass of the lamp shattered, and flames rose into the air.

The fire surrounded them.

Duan FeiZhou had lit the lamp with his own flame, and now it began to burn uncontrollably. The scattered canvases on the floor were scorched and curled, and the Ladies disappeared into the blaze.

Duan FeiZhou stared steadily at the flames. All sound disappeared from his ears. The burning Perlilla Manor turned into the burning Chester Clinic, with smoke rising into the sky, as men and women screamed and ran through the streets. Someone took him by the arm, and dragged him out of the soon-to-be-collapsed clinic.

— My father is still in there!

— Give it up kid, he’s dead.

“Leo! Leopold Chester!”

A hand shook him ferociously by the shoulder. Duan FeiZhou blinked his eyes and shook himself clear of the vision.

Whose memory was that? Was it the memory of Leopold Chester, the original soul of this body? The Leopold Chester who saw his family’s clinic engulfed in flames, and his father buried in the fire before he transmigrated?

The white-haired detective who shook his shoulder was Z. The Nightman picked him up, and carried him through the wrecked foyer, then leapt out through the broken doorway. Those who had escaped the mansion collapsed on the lawn, as they looked back in shock.

The dark sky was bathed in red, sparks danced wildly in the wind, and tongues of fire erupted from every window.

The blazing fires were like twisted human bodies, and the women were screaming, laughing, chanting. All their shackles and cages were falling apart and burning away at that moment.

There was shouting from afar. It turned out that the residents of the nearby villages saw the fire, and rushed to help. There was a man carrying a stretcher, a woman carrying a bucket, and a child holding cloth gauze. Duan FeiZhou also recognized the owner of the Clover Inn. She was holding a large wooden bucket, with a wet cloth wrapped around her shoulders.

However, once they saw the fire, they understood that such a fierce fire would be difficult to put out by human power alone. The only choice was to wait for it to burn out on its own, or pray the heavens opened their eyes and sent heavy rain to douse the blaze.

The good news was that the owner of the manor was safe. Lady Edith was pale, but still managed to maintain her usual dignified demeanor, while Lord Perlilla was shivering with his fiancée, Miss Melissa, in his arms. Hart, the butler, was sitting on the ground with a meaningful smile on his face, as if he was celebrating something.

Everyone was standing on the manor lawn, as they stared at the mansion surrounded by flames. Some whimpered, some prayed silently, and others were beaming with joy at having escaped.

“So, it’s all over.” Lady Edith gazed at the blaze, and said softly. “Just like thirty years ago, the fire burns everything clean.” She smiled to herself. “That’s good. It saves the demolition bill.”

“I’m afraid it’s not over yet, Madam.” Duan FeiZhou stepped forward, exhausted, as if the flames had burned his insides out as well. He stumbled and almost collapsed, but Z held him up and supported him.

He threw a grateful smile at Z. The white-haired Nightman kicked up the corners of his mouth, but said nothing.

Duan FeiZhou continued to speak to Lady Edith, “Hart didn’t commit the crime alone. He had an accomplice, or rather, the mastermind behind it.”

The old Lady pressed her chest, forced herself to calm down and stared at Duan FeiZhou, “Who is it? Is he here?”

Duan FeiZhou nodded and scanned the crowd, lingered for a moment on each face before finally stopping on Lord Perlilla.

“Me?” The Lord pointed to himself. “Are you crazy? I am the owner of this place! Why should I harm myself?”

Duan FeiZhou shook his finger. “It’s not you. It’s the lady you are holding.”

The Lord looked at the pitiful Miss Melissa in his arms, “Huh? You say Melissa and Hart are co-conspirators? That’s ridiculous! Don’t you know who Melissa is?”

Duan FeiZhou grunted, “Just now the undead didn’t want to hurt you, my Lord, but to capture Miss Melissa. The youth in that picture looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen him. Now that I’m looking at Miss Melissa, I finally remembered.”

As Duan FeiZhou said that, Z took out his photo and handed it to Lord Perlilla. He took a look at it and shivered.

“Miss Melissa and the youth in the photo are extremely similar. Miss, is he your brother? How could your brother be working in a place like an opium house? Are you…really the daughter of the Duke?”

Miss Melissa’s face instantly sank. She was just like a soft flower, but now she was covered with spiky thorns. Even Lord Perlilla, who was deeply in love with her, couldn’t help but let go of her and take a step backwards.

It was the first time the Lord had seen Melissa with such an expression. He suddenly realized that he had never known this woman.

Xenophon suddenly burst out in a loud and shocking laugh. Everyone shot him a disgruntled look.

“Sorry, sorry,” Xenophon laughed. “Oh, boss, this newcomer of ours is really something. He has guessed the truth to a great extent. Scotland Yard has made a fortune recruiting him.” He turned to His Lordship and Lady Edith. “The two of us came to your treasured land, not only to investigate Hart, but also because we had shouldered another, more important and difficult task. This task concerns the noble Duke of Merrihorn, who secretly reported to Scotland Yard that recently it seemed someone had been impersonating his daughter, and causing great damage to the Duke’s reputation. So, if I may ask Lord Perlilla,” he said with a slight bow and a sarcastic smile. “How did you and Miss Melissa meet?”

 

That was last year.

Albert Midlov had just inherited the title of Lord Perlilla from his deceased father and was on the move to sell the family estate. His family had been prominent local nobles, but in his father’s generation, the family had gradually fallen into disrepair. Lord Perlilla was determined to change this situation. At the very least, he wanted his family to have a good life, and not to live in poverty like other poor noblemen who hadn’t kept up with the times.

He had just met a business partner in London that day. He was returning to his residence when he passed through a poor neighborhood, and came across the shocking scene of a noble and beautiful lady being pestered by some ruffians.

This scene immediately inspired his inner chivalry. He drove the hoodlums away and saved the lady. He wanted to escort the lost lady home, but she raised her head proudly. “I’m not going back! Please take me to the nearest poorhouse!”

This frightened Lord Perlilla, but also aroused his curiosity. This young lady, with her elegant speech and manners, must be the daughter of a high-class family, so why did she want to go to the poorhouse?

As he questioned her, the lady confessed that she was running away from home. Her father was forcing her to marry a man who was forty years older than her and physically handicapped, just to make a political alliance. When she heard that the Home for the Destitute would arrange work for orphaned women, she naively wanted to go to the Home.

The young lady’s spirit impressed the Lord, but Lord Perlilla was amused by her naivety and childishness. She obviously had no idea what a terrible place the Home was, and probably thought it was similar to an aristocratic girls’ school.

When confronted with such a young, naive girl, the Lord’s chivalry burned brighter and brighter. He secretly decided to be the young lady’s escort, and sent her to his aunt’s house for a temporary stay.

The lady called herself Melissa Menta, but insisted that she would not say who her father was, and her surname was obviously made up. However, the Lord had his own methods for investigating her origins. One day when Lord came to visit, he “accidentally” found one of the lady’s letters, and the address on the envelope turned out to be the residence of the Duke of Merrihorn!

She pleaded with Lord Perlilla not to contact Merrihorn House, otherwise she would definitely be caught and taken back.

This was obviously another poorly conceived lie. How could a butler’s daughter have such elegance as her? How could a butler have the authority to break into another nobleman’s house and arrest him?

HIs Lordship immediately sent his butler, Hart, to Merrihorn House to inquire, and his butler reported that the Duke’s youngest daughter was indeed engaged to an old man, while the butler of Merrihorn House had no daughter at all.

The Lord subtly asked Melissa several times whether she was related to the Duke of Merrihorn, but she denied it and begged Lord Perlilla never to tell the Duke about her.

If she had directly admitted that she was the Duke’s daughter, and also flaunted her identity everywhere, Lord Perlilla might have been suspicious. He had also heard that some criminals liked to impersonate famous people to commit fraud.

However, Miss Melissa not only wouldn’t admit that she was a noblewoman, but also tried to hide her relationship with the Duke of Merrihorn. What was this if not a silver bullet?

By then, Lord Perlilla had no doubt that Miss Melissa was the Duke’s runaway daughter.

Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to rush into the Duke of Merrihorn’s house and ask the Duke to his face if this was the case. His daughter fleeing from a marriage was a big scandal in noble society, and would expose the Duke’s shortcomings. What good would it do him? Besides, once the Duke found out where Melissa was staying, he would come for her without saying a word.

Lord Perlilla had fallen in love with that maverick girl, whose beauty, grace and gentleness had turned him on his head.

Also at that time, strange things often happened around Lord Perlilla, such as when the roof collapsed for no reason and almost killed him, or when the living room caught fire and almost burned him to death. When Melissa heard about these tragedies, she gently comforted and encouraged his Lordship, so he simply regarded the girl as an angel who came down to save the world.

He vowed that he would marry Miss Melissa. It wasn’t only for love, but also for the family business. At that time, the old Lord hadn’t long passed away, and the Perlilla Estate business encountered some trouble. If he and the Duke of Merrihorn could become in-laws, the financial difficulties would be solved.

He formally expressed his love for Miss Melissa and brought her back home to introduce her to his mother, friends and family. Everyone thought that the marriage between the two was near. Little did they know…

 

“Gee, what a classic con.” Xenophon shrugged. “Deliberately using ambiguous words to lead you to link her and the Duke, then once you ask, she makes an ‘Oh no, I’ve been exposed’ look, so that you think her denial is in fact a lie. I have to say, this lady is a really good actress. If she had been an actress, she might have become famous.”

Lord Perlilla looked at his lover incredulously. “Melissa, tell me that it’s not true! You…You’re Miss Merrihorn, aren’t you?”

Miss Melissa brushed his hand away coldly, and smiled sarcastically at Xenophon. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I never said I was the daughter of the Duke of Merrihorn. If anyone mistook me for one, it was entirely their misunderstanding.”

Lord Perlilla’s body shook twice, and if Xenophon hadn’t held him up in time, he would have collapsed on the spot. He mumbled, “No, Melissa…” 

“I neither claimed to be a noblewoman, nor did I rely on the name of a duke to get money. Are you going to arrest a person who isn’t lying?” Miss Melissa raised the corners of her lips, and gave them a sarcastic smile.

Duan FeiZhou sneered. “Your real purpose certainly wasn’t to impersonate Miss Merrihorn and give Lord Perlilla a fairy tale, but to use more subtle and profound means to gain greater benefits.”

 

He looked down at Hart, the butler, whose aura had completely wilted, and was drooping like a frosted eggplant. “From the very beginning, you bought Hart and conspired with him. The reason why the Lord met you in the first place was because Hart deliberately drove the carriage to that neighborhood. Later, when the Lord sent Hart to the Duke of Merrihorn’s house to spy, he also deliberately conveyed false information. The purpose was to convince the Lord that ‘Miss Melissa’ was the Duke’s daughter.”