The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House-Chapter 178

To be more precise, the Duke of Lancaster had asked Baron Ruskin, "What do you think about stealing the spring from Segrave?"

Fragments of memory began to assemble in Vanilla’s mind.

When she first saw the notes on the Happy House blueprint, she hadn’t connected them to her past. But as more clues piled up, long-forgotten memories started to resurface.

Ten years ago, in Kintne.

While plagued by debt, Baron Ruskin had settled in a townhouse in Kintne, moving from village to village.

It was a rainy day.

Baron Ruskin and his wife stood with Vanilla at the entrance of the mansion.

“Vanilla, we’re expecting guests soon,” her mother said. Since this was the first time visitors had come to the Ruskin household, Vanilla felt a flutter of excitement.

At that moment, the mansion’s front gates opened, and someone appeared.

A middle-aged man with golden hair, a tall stature, and strikingly handsome features strode in with commanding presence.

Baron Ruskin greeted him warmly.

“Thank you for coming such a long way, Your Grace, the Duke of Lancaster.”

“A long way? Kintne is close to the capital. Besides, it’s always good to catch up with our partners and take a little outing.”

“I never expected you to suggest this meeting. Didn’t Your Grace prefer to keep our dealings discreet?”

“The Sinclair chairman is an impatient man. Besides, it’s not me who fears exposure—it’s Segrave.”

“Ha ha, true enough. Lord Segrave detests attention.”

“We must understand him. His family has lived this way for centuries. They deserve our respect. Meeting Segrave was an honor and an extraordinary opportunity for us.”

Baron Ruskin and the Duke of Lancaster exchanged pleasantries with evident camaraderie.

Shortly after, another guest arrived—the Sinclair chairman.

“He’s beautiful,” Vanilla thought.

The Sinclair chairman was a man with deep pink hair cascading to his chest. His delicate, elegant appearance rivaled that of any woman’s. Contrary to his infamous reputation as the head of a blacklisted conglomerate, his looks were anything but harsh.

After introducing their young daughter to the guests, the Ruskin couple ushered them into a private room, strictly forbidding Vanilla from approaching.

But Vanilla, who had no friends or acquaintances, was brimming with curiosity about the rare visitors.

The reception room where the guests were hosted was connected to an adjoining room, and Vanilla happened to have the spare key to it—a fact her parents were completely unaware of.

Even as a child, Vanilla had a knack for sneaking, hiding, and pilfering unnoticed. These skills were born out of necessity for survival.

Slipping into the adjoining room, she quietly eavesdropped on their conversation.

“What do you mean, Chairman Sinclair? I told you not to touch the Segrave family,” the Duke of Lancaster said, his tone sharp with anger.

Sinclair’s response was calm and unbothered, a picture of composure.

“Even after hearing about the spring, Your Grace is still on their side?”

“Of course. They’re good people.”

“Good people? That’s an awfully unpolitical sentiment. The spring cannot remain in Segrave’s possession.”

“Leave the Segrave family alone. That’s a warning.”

“Your Grace, you came to °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° me for help, did you not? You requested Sinclair’s financial backing to awaken Rudbelt, which has been dormant for 300 years. And you said it was a personal request from Segrave himself. But you must know that the very thing that cursed him was that spring.”

“I may have asked for your help, but seeing your attitude now, I’ve changed my mind.”

“If you intend to change your stance so easily, it puts me in a difficult position. Now that everyone knows about the spring and its value, I can’t back down either.”

Sinclair set his teacup down with a soft clink and stared at the Duke with quiet intensity.

After a long pause, the Duke reluctantly turned to Baron Ruskin.

“What do you think, Baron? About stealing the spring from Segrave?”

“This doesn’t seem like the right time for that discussion. Lord Segrave is expected to arrive shortly,” Baron Ruskin replied, checking his pocket watch to deflect the question.

Sinclair’s faint smile remained as he listened to the exchange.

Even as a child, Vanilla had found Sinclair’s smile terrifying, chilling in its false warmth.

Suddenly, Victor’s voice snapped her out of the memory.

“Lady Ruskin?! Are you all right?”

Vanilla blinked and realized she had lost herself in thought, only to find Victor supporting her as she got back on her feet.

“Are you okay?”

“I... I’m fine. I just remembered something from my childhood,” she replied, her voice steadying.

Even as Vanilla tried to delve further into her memories, the conversation beyond that point had little of significance.

The Duke of Lancaster, frustrated, had abruptly left the room, and Baron Ruskin had followed to console him.

Afterward, it seemed as though someone named Segrave had visited, but Vanilla had not been able to meet him. Everyone had suddenly disappeared to somewhere else.

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“Looks like we’ve cleared the path, but Sir Nikolai hasn’t returned,” Victor muttered.

Vanilla stared blankly at Route 3.

“They did say it was a spring coveted by everyone... but what exactly is this spring? Could the spring at the end of this path be the one they were talking about?”

The conversation between Sinclair and the Duke of Lancaster kept echoing in Vanilla’s mind.

The Duke had been adamant about protecting Segrave. Vanilla never expected a figure from legend like Segrave to be involved in reality.

“Could the spring be related to the way the world ended? And Segrave and Rudbelt seem connected somehow.”

And why had Sinclair been so obsessed with the spring?

Vanilla recalled Sinclair’s words to the Duke:

"Your Grace, didn’t you seek Sinclair’s financial backing? You said Rudbelt, dormant for 300 years, needed to be awakened. And you claimed that Segrave himself had made the request. But the cause of his plight was none other than that spring.”

The head of the legendary Segrave family, passed down in myths, had asked the Duke of Lancaster to awaken Rudbelt, dormant for 300 years.

For some reason, awakening Rudbelt required Sinclair’s financial resources.

Sinclair had agreed to help but had learned of the spring along the way and had become greedy for it, presumably because it belonged to Segrave.

“The Duke referred to my father as a partner. What role did my father play in all this?”

Vanilla tilted her head, unable to discern her father’s part in the matter.

It seemed the Duke of Lancaster and Sinclair had started with the same goal but ended up clashing over the spring.

Which one of them was in the right, and which was in the wrong?

From the fragments of memory, it appeared that Sinclair had wanted to exploit the spring for his gain and oppress Segrave.

“Does that make Sinclair the villain?”

“It’s unbelievable that Segrave wasn’t just a figure from legend but a real family. Could Segrave have survived even in this ruined world?”

There was no way for Vanilla to know that.

“Lady Ruskin, don’t you hear something?” Victor suddenly asked.

She paused, focusing on the faint sound of singing coming from somewhere. With a puzzled expression, Vanilla stood up.

The sound was coming from within the newly cleared Route 3.

*****

Before heading into the underground passage with Nikolai, I decided to sedate the mutant monster.

“Mr. Ludfisher, you have sedatives, right? Let’s sedate it first, take some samples, and then get it out of here.”

Nox looked at me, startled.

It seemed he only now realized that the whole point of dragging the mutant monster here was to take samples.

“Huh? Leonardo? That’s Leonardo, isn’t it? I can’t believe he’s still alive...,” Michelle stammered as she emerged from the mansion and saw the mutant monster, her face pale with fear.

Hearing Michelle call the creature by name, Ethan grimaced in disbelief.

“Leonardo? That’s an awfully grand name for a monster. Doesn’t suit his face at all.”

“Ethan, even if it’s true, isn’t it rude to insult someone to their face?” Theodore remarked, his tone teasing.

“If it understands what I’m saying, Your Highness, I think it’d be more hurt by your words,” Ethan replied coolly.

I had expected the mutant monster, which had brought Michelle all the way from Hondorf, to show some reaction to her. But to my surprise, it didn’t react at all.

“Were you close to Leonardo, Michelle?” I asked.

“No, not at all. He was just my boss, nothing more, nothing less,” Michelle replied, scratching her cheek awkwardly.

So, had the monster taken Michelle along simply because it retained some faint trace of human instinct?