Chapter 83 – A Little Princess’s Journey from Darkness to Light Novel

Filed To Story: A Little Princess's Journey from Darkness to Light Novel

“But Uncle Val… your mother is up there!” Lilly remarked innocently.

“Wh… what?” Valentine stammered.

“The old granny up there looks exactly like you!” Lilly explained.

Based on Lilly’s description, it was only then that Valentine realized the ghost the little girl had been seeing was the ghost of his own mother!

“Oh! Come, let’s go in right now!” he exclaimed upon his realization. As Lilly glanced at Valentine, he was already rushing to the front of the Rosewood home himself. “Mr. Rosewood, it’s me, Valentine Taylor, your neighbor!” he shouted out loud after ringing the doorbell several times to no response.

“Mr. Rosewood doesn’t like people disturbing him, especially more so after Mrs. Rosewood’s pa*sing. He barely even steps out of the house nowadays,” Valentine explained to the entourage.

Finally, after several long rings, a tired, raspy voice spoke through the intercom at the door. “Who is that?” the voice asked.

“Mr. Rosewood! We… Uhh…” Valentine began, but he soon realized he did not know what excuse to give Mr. Rosewood for turning up at his doorstep so abruptly. He could not possibly tell Mr. Rosewood his mother was lounging at Mr. Rosewood’s balcony! He looked at Lilly helplessly.

“Mr. Rosewood, I know where her remains are,” Lilly spoke into the intercom. She did not have to mention who she was talking about.

There was a lingering silence in the air for a few moments before the group heard the door unlatching. The door had opened automatically!

“Come in…” Old Mr. Rosewood’s voice rang through the intercom again. His voice was soft and weak, yet somewhat urgent.

The group entered the Rosewood house in a line. Jake swallowed nervously and clung on nervously to Anthony’s pants as he took a step forward. He promised himself this was the last time he was going to be reckless.

As they entered the hallway, Lilly raised her head to peer at the second-floor balcony that was right above the main door. She found the old lady in the green dress holding onto the balcony rails, still staring intently at her. Lilly narrowed her eyes and stared back at the old lady.

Anthony, who was always constantly observing Lilly, could already guess what, or who Lilly had seen. On the other hand, Jake felt an imminent sense of dread when he looked at the balcony only to find no one there. He gripped onto Anthony’s pants a little tighter.

Feeling Jake pulling at the fabric of his pants, Anthony glanced at the boy. “What are you afraid of?” his tone was rather flat and unemotional, even with his own son.

“I’m not afraid!” Jake shook his head, but he did not let go of his father’s pants. Wordlessly, Anthony offered a hand to his son who took it without thinking twice.

As the group ventured further into the house, they began to smell an unpleasant stench wafting through the air. It was the kind of scent a*sociated with medication, elderly people and death.

A voice called out from above them. “Come upstairs… I’m on the second floor.”

Josh jumped in fright at the sudden voice, but Lilly was already eagerly rushing toward the staircase, dragging Josh along. “Josh, quick!” she urged

Together, they approached the master bedroom on the second floor and pushed the door open.

The room was pitch black, save for a sliver of sunlight peeking through the thick curtains. The old lady in the green dress was floating in a corner silently, her beady eyes still trained on Lilly.

Lilly breezed past the old lady, aiming straight for Old Mr. Rosewood’s bed. “Mr. Rosewood, could you open the windows? Just a little bit will do…” Lilly asked. There was a figure lying on the bed. Although his face was not visible, the room was filled with an eerie vibe.

The man lying on the bed was as still as a stone. Valentine Taylor began to feel slightly creeped out. If he had not heard Mr. Rosewood’s voice through the intercom just a few moments ago, he would have thought… Hold on. If Mr. Rosewood was indeed dead, then whose voice was that through the intercom…? Valentine felt the hairs on his back stand as the thought occurred to him.

“Mr. Rosewood…?” Valentine called out cautiously.“Go ahead and open it,” the figure lying on the bed finally croaked out weakly.

Charlie immediately walked toward the windows and pulled the blinds open before unlatching the windows. Sunlight filtered into the room together with a breeze of fresh air, brightening up the dreary space. It also made it possible for the group to see Mr. Rosewood clearly. He was a gaunt old man with gray skin, sunken features and skinny as a bag of bones. His eyes could barely open as his unfocused pupils finally landed on Lilly.

“Did you say… you found Amelia’s remains?” he rasped, clearly struggling for breath. It was like he was summoning all his remaining energy to speak to Lilly.

Josh covered his face with his hands, while Valentine’s legs felt shaky. How could a living person look so terrifying? Lilly on the other hand walked up to the old man fearlessly and placed her hand around his bony arm.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Rosewood. I know where she is,” Lilly comforted the old man. The red string bracelet around her tiny wrist began to emit a weak flow as she spoke, and the energy from the bracelet seemed to ebb and flow into the old man’s body. Everyone else could almost sense the dreadful energy in the room lifting and disappearing slowly as the old man’s eyes seemed to come back to life.

Moments later, Mr. Rosewood was able to prop himself up weakly, trying his best to sit up. Noticing this, Valentine immediately went over to help him. “Mr. Rosewood, why are you alone in this big, old house? You can’t possibly take care of yourself in this state…” Valentine asked the old man out of concern.

The strange thing was that Old Mr. Rosewood was dressed in a clean set of pajamas, and apart from the strong smell of medicine, Valentine could not discern any other rotting scent coming from the old man. As he looked around the bedroom, he noticed that it was rather clean and well-kept, despite the dark and gloomy interior. Old Mr. Rosewood was just a regular elderly man.

Old Mr. Rosewood let out a slow sigh. “What’s there to take care? My days are numbered…” he said faintly.

Lilly felt a pang of sadness fill her as she took in the old grandpa in front of her. There was an incense candle burning weakly on the top of his head. Master Pablo had once told her that the burning incense represents how long more a person got to live. Once the flame ran out, the person’s life would end.

“Mr. Rosewood, her bones are buried under the school’s football field,” Lilly told him without waiting for him to ask again. “Her name was Amelia Rosewood, and her best friend was Roxanne Larson… am I right? Amelia was a nice lady. She gave all her pretty dresses to Roxanne, but Roxanne killed her,” Lilly continued.

Old Mr. Rosewood blinked in surprise. His eyes filled with tears as the memories of his daughter’s death returned. “Bring me there… Bring me to Amelia…” he wheezed. It had been more than ten years. He never thought he would live to find his daughter’s remains, but there was hope now!

“Be patient, Mr. Rosewood. The police won’t let you near the scene even if you head there yourself,” Valentine tried to calm the old man down.

Noticing Anthony’s expectant look, Charlie immediately sprang into action and rushed out of the room to call the police.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Rosewood! I’ll keep an eye too!” Lilly offered.

Old Mr. Rosewood’s eyes seemed dejected as he looked away from Lilly, leaning against the bed frame. “I spent my whole life building and running my business without ever going against my conscience. When my worker’s parents turned ill, I gave them money to get treatment and even helped them contact an overseas specialist. I lived an honorable life. The only mistake I ever made… was murdering that young lady…” he sighed.

Valentine’s jaw dropped ever so slightly. Did the old man just confess to murdering Roxanne Larson?

Lilly nodded as Pablo whispered something in her ear, before turning to Old Mr. Rosewood again. “Grandpa Rosewood, why didn’t you find out where Amelia was buried? How did she die?” she asked.

Old Mr. Rosewood let out another long sigh. He was looking better just a few moments ago, but now he seems to shrivel up again. “Amelia was our precious kind-hearted sweetheart. She was the kind of person who would give her favorite limited-edition dresses to her best friend. She was also always considerate of Roxanne’s feelings, so she would tear the tags off her dresses and tell Roxanne she didn’t want them,” he told Lilly. “We were also always fond of Roxanne and let her walk in and out of our house freely… But who would’ve known that a seemingly kind, innocent girl like her would turn out to be the devil incarnate!”

Pablo wrapped his arms around himself and listened on intently.

“Don’t be too nice to someone, for you never know their true intentions…” Old Mr. Rosewood warned. Unfortunately for him, he had learnt this lesson the hard way. The truth finally came to light as he described the events from more than ten years ago.

After Roxanne Larson left her job at the printing factory, she got herself into a burgeoning amount of debt as a result of unhealthy spending habits to maintain her lifestyle. Yet, she was still unsatisfied and eventually harbored a desire to replace Amelia Rosewood.

“One day, she called and told us that she had been scammed by an illegal clinic when she tried to buy some medicine for her parents. She said she was being held hostage by the clinic for a ransom of ten million dollars, and someone had to bail her out in person. She was crying desperately on the phone and sweet Amelia rushed to her rescue without thinking twice,” Old Mr. Rosewood lamented with agony in his voice. He regretted raising his daughter to be too kind and considerate as he never expected that to be the cause of her eventual death.

Old Mr. Rosewood shut his eyes as he continued. “Roxanne Larson wasn’t being held hostage in a clinic. She was at an illegal plastic surgery clinic that preyed on young girls’ vanity and lured them into signing expensive cosmetic surgery packages. It was the kind of business that was filthy to the core… Roxanne offered the clinic ten million dollars for them to perform a surgery on her using another person’s skin so that she could look exactly like the person. Heavens, the clinic accepted the job! Can you believe it? There was an actual syndicate performing surgeries using real human skin!”

It was not just the outer skin. The clinic could dissect and replace every internal organ in the body! By the time Old Mr. Rosewood heard of the news, Amelia was nowhere to be found. Roxanne returned with her face and clothes stained full of blood, crying frantically as she told the Rosewoods that Amelia had been captured by the criminals when she tried to save her.

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