C59
It was easy for the three male members, who were not interested in flowers, and Liena, who was adopted after the duchess's death, not to know.
Furthermore, it was after the death of the duchess that Cassius began to seriously search for the time capsule.
"So are you saying there is a problem with the mountain behind this? But a hundred years have passed since the bell tower was built."
The duke responded to his son's question.
"...Now that I think about it, the bell from the bell tower doesn't ring three times at dawn."
"What are you talking about? The temple bell is supposed to ring three times a day."
"Yes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But in this poem, it says dawn."
"Doesn't this dawn mean morning? Actually, it doesn't ring early in the morning."
"It's struck, to be precise."
Detailed explanations were given elsewhere.
"The temple in the Cassius territory originally had the custom of ringing the bell four times at dawn. It was a unique feature that didn't exist anywhere else in the empire."
Leandro, with dark circles, was standing at the door leading to the hallway.
"Thanks to this, it was criticized as heresy that was abolished a long time ago."
"Brother! Is it okay if you go out like that?"
"... It's fine. If they're talking about our mother's time capsule, I can't not come. Besides, I have a conversation to share with my wife."
Not me, idiot.
Leandro, perhaps surprised by my look, didn't sit and continued pacing nearby.
The duke moved on to the topic with the sound of the bell tower.
"I also thought it was strange, but until now, I thought it only meant morning. The custom of morning bells disappeared even before I married Cheryl. I never thought you would know that..."
I asked.
"Actually, you didn't want to get rid of it, did you? The unique culture of your hometown."
"I was thinking of reviving it someday. When we become so powerful that no one can say our family is an agent of the devil."
"Perhaps the duchess wrote this poem imagining a future in which the duke would achieve that goal. In the future, the dawn bell will ring four times."
"...Thank you for your words."
Although it seemed like a strangely sarcastic comment, I could feel the slight sincerity contained in it.
I only mentioned the end of the novel, but did it sound encouraging?
"Anyway, the important thing is that these three passages have their own contradictions."
"Isn't it just a mistake? Now that I think about it, Mom was quite silly."
"You can't say that about our mother, Leheim."
I picked up the pen, ignoring the two brothers' discussion.
"If it's a complex encrypted text, we have to find some kind of hidden meaning in this contradiction."
Three passages were crossed out.
"But from what I've heard so far, the duchess doesn't seem to have that kind of temperament. Here, I boldly omitted these three sentences."
"Do you want to omit it completely?"
"Yes, what are the words at the beginning of the poem?"
"Purity."
"What is purity? A state of cleanliness, we don't normally describe a lie as pure."
"Are three verses lies?"
"Yes. This is incorrect information. So the remaining sentences are..."
"The spring of purity has returned without fail! In all those places, I hid treasures!"
"Leheim, my ears hurt."
"The first sentence was probably written to include the word 'pure.' Maybe it literally means it was written in spring."
Duke Cassius recalled the past.
"I think it was spring back then."
"The important thing is the last sentence, the passage that explicitly mentions the treasure."
"In all those places, I hid treasures."
"All those places are places mentioned in the three previous verses. But since we decided to omit those three verses, let's consider omitting this one too."
"So the only thing left is "I hid treasures."
"That part is important. The fact that the duchess hid the treasure.
Immediately, Leheim's protest resumed.
"Of course, it's our mother who hid the treasure, not father, right? What the hell is important, sister-in-law?"
"Speak courteously, Prince Leheim."
Leheim stammered at my point.
"Well, what is important?"
"That..."
I deliberately paused. Then the duke looked at his younger son as if he were about to kill him.
"Oh...! I'm so sorry for all this time, sister-in-law!"
"On the other hand, this hall has a particularly large amount of artwork representing the duchess."
The duke seemed frustrated, but he responded as if he didn't want to go against my wishes.
"Cheryl especially liked this hall. Her hobby was meeting new people."
I walked towards the artwork.
"Did the duchess like these too?"